Playstation 3

The PlayStation 3 launched in North America in November 2006 at $599, and that price dominated every conversation about it for months. Sony had packed in a Blu-ray player, a Cell processor, and HDMI output at a time when those things carried serious cost, and the gaming public was not ready to absorb it. The PS3 had a rough start, losing significant ground to the Xbox 360 which had launched a full year earlier at a lower price point. What followed was one of the more remarkable turnarounds in console history.

As much as I loved DC Universe Online and the Last of Us, PlayStation 3 was far from my favorite PlayStation console. It seemed like every time I turned the system on, it had to update. Then one day, as I was playing DC Universe Online, it told me I had to update, I turned it off and I never turned it on again.

PlayStation 3 Games and Library

Once the PS3 found its footing, the exclusive library became genuinely impressive. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, The Last of Us, Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, God of War III, and Demon’s Souls all defined what the hardware could do and gave players reasons to stay invested in the platform. Third-party support recovered as developers became more comfortable with the Cell architecture, and by the end of its lifecycle the PS3 had built a library that stood alongside any console generation before it.

PlayStation 3 Hardware

The PS3 was built around the Cell Broadband Engine, a processor co-developed by Sony, Toshiba, and IBM that was powerful but notoriously difficult to develop for. Its Blu-ray drive helped win the format war against HD DVD and positioned the console as a legitimate home entertainment hub. The console launched in fat, slim, and super slim models over its lifecycle, with hardware revisions bringing down both the size and the retail price significantly from that infamous $599 launch.

PlayStation 3 Online and PlayStation Network

The PlayStation 3 introduced the modern PlayStation Network, offering free online multiplayer at a time when Xbox Live required a paid subscription. PlayStation Plus launched in 2010 and added free monthly games and additional benefits. The PSN outage of 2011, which took the network offline for 23 days following a security breach, was a significant blow to Sony’s reputation but ultimately led to stronger security infrastructure and a more resilient service going forward.

PlayStation 3 Legacy

The PS3 sold around 87 million units, well behind the Wii’s 101 million but ahead of the Xbox 360’s 84 million by the end of the generation. More importantly, it reestablished PlayStation as the premium destination for story-driven single-player games, a reputation that carried directly into the PS4 era and defines the brand to this day.

The PS3 proved that a console could recover from almost any launch. It just had to give people a reason to believe in it.