well its a bit more complicated than that. The amount of consoles you can sell, even after the gen is over is just as much of a concern to devs. For instance, some big games were still being released on ps2 even after ps3 was released, so going into the end of the gen with a strong hand still matters to devs, especially when you consider that games often get ported across generations, like multiplats that hit both ps3 and 2.

Even thoigh the gen symbolically ends when new consoles come out, the overlap actually lasts for a long time and does indeed hold sway with developers. A 100mil ps3 in 2015 will still draw devs. It all depends on how the consumers decide to support it.

lol why is all the PS3 guys so blind to relevance? People wont care after all 3 next consoles are out. They just wont care. To celebrate is to celebrate lowering the bar.

Taking 2nd place, not 1st, after 7+ years with a history of being #1 for 2 gens is celebrating mediocrity. 360 will win in the timeframe of the generation being most current, and has done leaps and bounds better then last gen. There is no victory for you.

You take all this so seriously. As if your life depended on this. 
If people see a victory in the PS3's current achievements, so what? Do you need to constantly come crying like a little kid who argues with his mom "but, but, but...".

You need to take a heavy dose of chill pills. People on this site are constantly wondering what group of fans are the worst. There aren't that many 360 fans around here, compared to the other groups,  but you and 2 of your brethrens are giving a really bad name to every single one of them.

Take that high and mighty BS elsewhere. No matter what I do, its nothing to what thousands of internet fans from "the other faction" make themselves out to be.

Its a small victory.

Why? Because of the PS3s first 2 Years. Nobody expected it to break 70, 80 or even 90 Million... It will pass all 3 Milestones. People predicted it to be the next Dreamcast and ultimately drive Sony away from the videogame business.

Beating Microsoft, who had all the luck and played a perfect strategy, after the PS3 start... Its a good thing. Its a victory for the brand, showing that it is still massively strong. Stronger than the Xbox brand.

Sales, something like 40 million ps2s were sold after ps3 came out. I might be wrong on that number as it's possibly a lot more, but there are several reasons why it is important.
1. Brand strength: Coming out on top will be a significant mental victory that could help consumers tie the brand to strength and longevity.
2. The stronger sales remain, the better the chance sony has at recouperating losses incurred earlier, additionally, it helps with both the emerging markets introductions to ps3, and will help defer costs of any loss leading ps4 sales.
3 The more games ps3 can continue to grab, the better they will be able to push that backwards compatibility peripheral we've been hearing about for ps4.
4. The more consoles they sell, the higher the game sales.
5. The higher the discrepancy between sales, the greater the cascading effect of it. Beating 360 might actually create more sales AND will be a strong media blitz (free advertising).

200%+ gen over gen improvement......your post doesn't compute.

200% gen over gen improvement with only 2 out of the 3 major gaming territories....dont see the issue.

EDIT: As defined by the PS2 generation, whoever has more lifetime sales has the final say on rules and criteria over lesser sold bretherin. When PS3 takes 2nd, you can make the rules.

Some absolute gold in this thread

200% increase is pretty easy to do, when youre trying to improve on such a small number.

The 100% best effort from Microsoft is going to fall into 3rd place and be beaten by Sonys worst, fucked up effort.

It speaks volumes, really. Sony will be down GoG by over 50 Million, yet they will still beat the Xbox. THATS why it will be seen as a victory.