Ars Technica: Sony and the "ten-year" console: a look at the argument

[Zim]

The quote you posted c0rd shows the difference between Sony and Nintendo. Sony try and force everything. The PS3 will be on shelves in 10 years! Whereas Nintendo simply go with what makes business sense, if it's selling in 10years it will still be there.

It's nice to see an article that points out how stupid Sony's 10year plan is. If after 5 years the console starts selling awfully you better believe it will be dropped. But even if they did continue to put it on shelves there would be no 3rd party games so what would be the point? The popularity of a system dictates it's lifetime. Not how long the company is willing to produce it.

Oh and ssj12 Sony's 10year plan could also include releasing the PS4 in 6years. They just keep the PS3 there. They constantly talk about how the PS3 will have this 10year cycle too but the PS3 released far before the PS2 got to 10 years.

The funny thing is the PS2 got support because it was so popular but once the PS3 was out it was basically just 3rd parties supporting it. How many PS2 games have SCE developed since the PS3 was released compared to the amount of PS3 games? There were 5 PS2 games in 2007 versus 14 for the PS3. In 2008 there were just 3 PS2 games and there is just 1 announced for 09. So in terms of Sony's support even the mighty PS2 isn't going to reach 10years.

So 3rd party support is there because it's popular, which isn't the case for the PS3. Even with the incredibly popular PS2 Sony didn't support the system for 10years. People always say how Sony kept the PS2 going but they basically stopped supporting it at the end of 2007 (I don't think 3 games in 2008 counts as support, especially when 2 were PSP ports). The 3rd parties kept supporting the PS2.

Sony themselves only supported the popular PS2 for 7 years (2000-2007). We are meant to believe they will support the PS3 for 10 when it is far far less popular? I very much doubt it. They will support it for as long as it is profitable, the market decides how long that is.