Sony is about to end delivery of the last PlayStation 3 version still available. The company has confirmed this on its Japanese site. After more than ten years, the popular game computer has come to an end.
The Japanese page of the PlayStation Slim 500GB states that deliveries will end ‘soon’. This version has been available since August 2014. Gematsu refers to a tweet from a Japanese game store, reporting that production will end in March. The 500GB Slim is still available, also in Europe, including in the Pricewatch and via Geizhals.
The supply freeze ends the availability of the PlayStation 3, the console Sony unveiled in 2005 and which went on sale in November 2006. Sales in Europe followed in March 2007. The console marked, among other things, the broad arrival of Blu-ray in households. The high price was initially a stumbling block, but later sales started, partly due to the arrival of the Slim models. At Statista’s last count, in June 2016, 86 million units had been sold worldwide, slightly more than its major competitor, the Xbox 360.
The first and second generations of the PlayStation also lasted about ten years.