For over a week, we’ve known for certain what we’ve long assumed: PlayStation 4 is real, and it’s coming out later in 2013. Obviously, the fact that new hardware is on its way raises all sorts of exciting possibilities, but it also draws into question the future of PlayStation 3.
Launched in 2006, PS3 has sold well over 70 million units worldwide, but its heyday is rapidly coming to an end. Yet, Sony has traditionally supported its “older” console when a new one comes out. PlayStation 2 came to market in 2000, but PSone games were released with regularity into 2003. After PlayStation 3 launched, not only did the PlayStation 2 continue to thrive (it’s the best-selling home console of all-time), but Sony released one of its biggest first-party games – God of War II – on PS2 the year after PS3 launched.
So it should come as no surprise that when PlayStation 4 launches, PlayStation 3 will still be in the equation, even if PS4 doesn’t support native backwards compatibility. In a conversation on the PlayStation Blog, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s CEO Jim Ryan confirms as much, noting that big games both known and unknown are in PS3’s future, even with PS4 on the horizon.
Typically history can help us only so far here. We’re actually still selling PS2s in regions such as the Middle East seven years after we introduced PS3. There are a number of reasons why the transition might be a bit more accelerated this time round, but PS3 is a very important part of our portfolio, certainly in 2013, 2014 and probably beyond that.
I’d point to the software line-up on PS3 that we have coming up – God of War: Ascension next month, The Last of Us, which is looking great, and Beyond later in the year. And there’s other stuff yet to be announced which is highly significant too. There’s a lot coming on PS3 and it’s going to be very important to us for some time yet.
We already know about Ascension (IGN’s review is coming soon!), as well as The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls. What’s most interesting here is that he notes that “there’s other stuff yet to be announced which is highly significant too.” He could very well be referring to Gran Turismo 6, which his colleague, Michael Denny, let slip during an interview. Nonetheless, Sony refuses to confirm that Gran Turismo 6 is indeed a PlayStation 3 game due out in 2013, so for now, take that with a grain of salt… even if a high-ranking Sony executive said with much conviction that it’s real.
How will you juggle PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in the coming years? Once PS4 comes, will you still buy PS3 games?
Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.
Source : ign[dot]com
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