Simple question:  Is the PS3 a success?  Take into account the totality of things.  Did it succeed financially?  Commercially?  Did it live up to Sony's expectations?  DId it provide the type of games that justified its existence?  Is the PS3 the underdog console that overcame all odds to become a hit or is the PS3 the console that was groomed for to be king, only to be beaten by its two rivals?

Consider the PS3's competition.  Consider the PS3's legacy.  Consider the PS3's obstacles.  Consider the PS3's contributions.  Consider all of this and tell me if Sony and the gaming world are better off with the PS3 on the market.

Yes it is, sure it hasn't sold Billions which others use as a marker of success but in my eyes. Based on the games and innovations it's introduced this gen, I'm gonna say yes.

Financially it will never be. Otherwise I would say yes. It has a lot of quality games and HW/SW sales are great.

Yes, it is.

Of course it is. When it was released everyone was putting it down saying nobody will buy it for the price, blue-ray is going to fail, it has no games etc.. Now look at it. All the great exclusives its bringing out and top selling home console of 2011.

Financially no.
For consumers definitely. It took itself out of a bad launch and is currently the 6th best selling console ever; can't really argue with those results.

It was a financial failure and a market share failure in tterms of maintaining the dominance of the PlayStation brand. It was a success in terms of making BluRay the HD movie format and it did maintain the PlayStation brand fairly well after a rough start. So I'd call it a mixed bag, depending on perspective.

It will end up selling significantly less than its predecessor and lost market share to Microsoft so I don't consider it a success. I may have considered it a success if all it did was sell less consoles but letting Microsoft become a major player in the console market will haunt Sony for many years.

I guess it depends on the perspective.

Compared to the PS1 and PS2...of course not.. selling far less, losing exclusivity of important 3rd party games, erasing all the profits Sony made in previous generations.

Compared to the state the system was in back in 2007, with so many people asking for 'the final nail in the coffin'...it sure is, it´s still in 3rd place worldwide, but at the same time it´s a 3rd place system that´ll soon pass the 60 million mark and by the time the PS4 is released, it will have (probably) long passed 70 million sold.Not to mention the amount and diversity of the 1st party games.

So, lewis, as far as I´m concerned, I guess at the same time it is and it´s not a success.

I pretty much mirror this statement.  Financially investing so much in the Blu-Ray tech did not seem to pay its dividens.  But PS3 sales have continued to climb in general without having to primarily rely on gimmicky tactics.  Sony continues to focus on core and hardcore gamers with their 1st and 2nd party offering while 3rd parties continue to support the systaem as if they were a "1st place" console.  This is also not counting plenty of exclusive 3rd party support.  If Sony could not afford to keep pushing the PS3, they would have stopped pushing their 1st and 2nd party offerings.  If 3rd parties didn't think the PS3 was worth the financial investment, they could have cater to it like the Gamecube or the original Xbox or even worse the N64.  This all made it worth it to gamers.  Success.