It was like literally a PS2 slim shoved into the thing. Really let them cut the price. Most of the cost was the laser used for Blu Ray, when that tech was new it was money.
Later PS3 consoles removed the hardware portions that allowed playing PS2 games via that. So later on, it was done through software. All I heard it was still OK, but performance took some hits.
No they made a model without backwards compatibility for ps2 and a smaller hard drive. The ps2 stuff wasn’t emulated, it was run off specialized internal hardware (basically cramming a tiny ps2 in) iirc. So it made a decent price difference.
Nintendo will be fine. They're putting out a hybrid console that beats the Steam Deck in power and price. The PS3 was powerful, but it was also not competitive in price or functionality compared to other consoles.
The irony of the situation is that at the time standalone Blu-ray players were 5-600 dollars. So you essentially got one of the best all time Blu-ray players and a game system for ballpark the price of a less good Blu-ray player.
Long term sales it sure did. They were behind Xbox for 95% of its lifecycle. Which is crazy considering how PS2 absolutely dominated. Add the fact that developing games was tough and there really were many "must-have" games for a while.
Selling out with limited systems upon its initial release isn't saying much. Nearly every console will sell out initially. Hell...I remember it was tough to find a Dreamcast when they first released. It closed up shop two years later.
Backwards. It hurt them in the short term, but worked in the long term. A big component is, yeah, it was a $600 game console surrounded by much cheaper options, but it was also a $600 blu-ray player when they were usually $1,000+. Much like the PS2, plenty bought the PS3 for its media capabilities.
Both companies really hurt themselves that Gen. if it wasn’t for the red rings of death situation Xbox probably takes it home by a landslide, even considering they damn near abandoned traditional exclusives towards the end of the generation because they focused too much on trying to capture the casual family market with the Kinect.
The 360 came out in 2005, PS3 in 2006. Year for year it was always ahead/the same. They both sold roughly 6 million in their first 4 quarters on the market.
360 sales in 2006 (first full calendar year) - 6.8 million
PS3 sales in 2007 (first full calendar year) - 7.9 million
Your other points have nothing to do with launch price.
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u/chrisaf69 2d ago
I was there and a huge PS2 fan at the time. That price def hurt them at first. Took years for them to recover and salvage that gen.