The PlayStation 3 was supposed to be the future of entertainment in the 2000s. With the past success of both the PS1 and PS2, nothing stood in Sony’s way. However, this confidence in their ability to create systems and consoles was almost what brought it all down.
Flew Too High
On May 16, 2005, Ken Kutargi finally revealed the PS3 to the public at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo). The specs for PS3 were mind-blowing. It functioned not only as a console but could also be used for Blu-ray. It had built-in Wi-Fi, a web browser, backward compatibility with previous generations, a cell processor, and all sorts of other features. It wasn’t trying to be a console. It was trying to be everything.
This confused the public; they didn’t know what they were looking at. At the time, nobody could understand the true power of PS3. The console exceeded the power of PC’s during its lifetime. The problem was that the public simply wanted what Sony had always done: to make a console to play on, not some strange supercomputer. These capabilities may have been game-changing, but they cost some serious money. That’s where they faced their next roadblock: prices.
Affordable? Nah
The PS1 retailed at $299 on release, and the PS2 retailed at the same price. On release, the PS3 had two variants: the 20GB model for $499 and the 60GB model for $599. To casual players all over the world, this was insane. People were hoping for something affordable and accessible to all, but they were faced with the looming price. According to DollarTimes, if it were adjusted to present-day inflation, it would have cost around $950. People were only focused on the console aspect of the system and believed that the price was unreasonable, but that’s where it could get conflicting. At the time, it was one of the cheapest Blu-ray players on the market and could replace two consoles at once with its backward compatibility. Thus the price was actually quite reasonable considering that the console was not only powerful, but it could replace almost everything needed for entertainment. However, these features were part of the problem. It only brought the price of the PS3 further up, and even then, Sony was still at a loss for profit. Their main competitor, Microsoft, was the complete opposite.
Simple
A few months before the release of the PS3, Microsoft released the Xbox 360. The public absolutely loved it, and so did game developers. It ranged in price from $299 to $399. The console was affordable, simple, and functional. Its software and tech allowed game developers to run their games smoothly with hardly any problems. It was a gaming console, and it served its purpose well. Something that the PS3 failed to capture.
Slow and Steady
The PS3 nearly brought the end to Sony. People struggled to find a way to support this strange contraption. However, later in the years, Sony found ways to make the PS3 more affordable with different models and changes to some features. It removed many of the extra ports and made the console slimmer. Sadly, they also took some features that the public absolutely adored, like backward compatibility. The PS3 finally began to pick up speed. Game developers finally started to take on the complex software and content for the PS3, which was skyrocketing.
It may have been a rough journey, but Sony was able to find success in the PS3. People realized its true potential, and some even missed some of the old features of the original PS3. The PlayStation 3 became iconic.
