Pfff.

you understand it will last as long as sony wants it to last ? If they hold of from launching a replacement 3rd partys will make games for the hardware that available.

Its that simple, now what they will end up doing no one knows.

Just thought it would be interesting to point out. Since the economics may acutally help Sony in this case. With the rise in hardware cost this generation and the possible rise in cost due to the changes in technology needed for the next big jump next generation could be interesting. Many people have complained that the jump in graphics between this new generation and last generation weren't that noticeable. Where does next generation go? If HD graphics in 1080p is the big jump, destructable enviroments, realistic physics, AI, and huge vast amount of on screen objects. We've seen prices go from 300$ for the psx, 300 PS2, 600 PS3. Already many people stand by 200$-250$ being the sweet spot. What if the next gen comes out at $1,200. I would expect many people would still be buying PS3 games.

Um guys, you miss understood Sony. When they said the PS3 would last more than 10 years, they were talking about the Cell processor Architecture. This means that instead of changing the architecture for the PS4. Sony will have IBM develop a faster Cell Processor and ATI will develop a faster GPU. This will make the PS4 cheaper. Besides this is what Nintendo did with the Wii.

Sony Japan actually said "we will not ask consumers to buy another playstation in 5 years"

There isn't any wiggle room in that statement.  They either stick by it or they don't.

Hus:  Third parties will NOT just make a game for a console because it is there.  If it is financially viable, they will make it for that console.  If the playstation 3 is a viable console in 8 years, 3rd parties will make games for it.  If it is not a financially viable console in 2 years, 3rd parties will not make games for it (for the most part)

Game companies are just like any other business, they will not undertake a project if they don't think they will make money on it.

 And besides, Sony is a publically traded company, they will do whatever their investors tell them to do, unless sony execs hold more than 50% shares in the company, then the execs do what they want.  Even then, Sony's game division is a piece of Sony corp as a whole, so they have a responsibility to the company to be profitable

If new MS and Nin consoles are launching and Sony is sticking with the PS3 it will be the most financially viable option.

Well that was the point of the thread.  Will it be financially viable, and if not, where does that leave the PS3 and owners who were told they were investing in technology for the future.

First, let's get to the source of the quote. A Google search brings up a couple:

"If I'm going to buy a next-generation game console, I'm going to buy a console with next-generation media. It's going to last 10 years." - Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang (Gamasutra)

"No regrets whatsoever, and it's those kinds of decisions, painful though they were to live through in the last quarter of 2006, those are the decisions that are going to propel PlayStation 3 to be a platform that lasts for ten years, like we've seen with PS1 and PS2. And it will be, I believe, reflected on as the smartest decision we ever made." - Phil Harrison (GameDaily Biz)

So more than one person who worked on PS3 says it is a "ten year console". I'm going to speculate big-time here and guess that it was Krazy Ken Kutaragi that came up with the notion of a ten-year console, and then disseminated it to everyone else, and it's bollocks.

It's not bollocks because Nintendo and Microsoft will have more powerful consoles in ten years. It's bollocks because PS3 costs twice as much as PS2. It's bollocks because Wii is mopping up the floor with everyone on a system that's only slightly more powerful than last-gen consoles.

Most of all, it's bollocks because you can't afford to wait 3 years into the generation for your hardware to start selling - all the third parties will go elsewhere to make money and by the time your system is cheap enough to reach the mass market, your competitors will have far more compelling game lineups.

Of course Sony could decide to leave the PS3 on the market for 10 years, but who will care if the sales are terrible and hardly any third parties want to develop for it?

"We look at our products having a 10-year life cycle, which we've proven with the PlayStation," said Kaz. "Therefore, the PlayStation 3 is going to be a console that's going to be with you again for ten years. We're not going to ask the consumers to suddenly buy another PlayStation console in five years time, and basically have their investment go by the wayside. So for all those reasons, I think at $599 we're offering a very good value to the consumers."

- Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai, President and Group Chief Operating Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.

I think any console in the future needs to launch at no more than $300, and not taking a loss (maybe a small one) at that price.

What would be a good upgrade for PS3, and what year can you launch it at $300?

Also, your last console needs to be at a low price point at that time. When do you see PS3 hitting, say, $129? I'd say that's when we get the PS4.

At what price points were the predecessors when the follow-up consoles arrived?

Hus:

"If new MS and Nin consoles are launching and Sony is sticking with the PS3 it will be the most financially viable option."

Yes this may be true, for a while, but lets just say Sony had done the same with the PS2, the PS3 won´t be out till X-mas 2009, sure the PS2 would be doing better without the PS3 out but hardware and software sales would noth match the 360s or Wiis anymore, then when the PS3 launches in 2009 it may be the by far most powerfull machine but 3rd parties would still chose the (then much cheaper) 360 with 20mil+ consoles or the Wii with only god knows how many cosoles on the market. That would be an uphill battle Sony would not want to fight. The latest date Sony will release the PS4 is two years after Microsoft or Nintendo bring out a new one. I´ll eat a murder of crows if that doesn´t happen.