14 DAY TRIAL // Just as the announcement made at the PlayStation Day Europe by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss, David Reeves, that the PlayStation 3 has outsold the Microsoft Xbox 360 in absolute numbers, is beginning to sink in the conscience of the video gaming world, there is fresh talk about the PS3 coming from none other than Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment. He just spoke to the BBC about the future of the gaming console.
Kaz Hirai classified the current "console war" as being more of a "marathon" than a sprint race. He thinks that a few years might be necessary to discern a clear winner from the pack. And the Sony president states that "I am very confident that after the 10-year lifecycle we will have the install base that we are looking for and that is obviously to be in the leadership position".
Numbers tell an interesting story by themselves. About 10.5 million PlayStation 3 units were sold worldwide as 2007 ended. Nintendo says that more than 25 million Wii consoles were sold in the world until April in 2008, and Microsoft claims that 19 million Xbox 360 gaming consoles made their way to customers since launch. The Sony product enjoys a high acceptance rate in Europe, where it shipped more than 5 million of its units.
But the Sony chief believes the PS3 will generate strong sales in all the territories, as "We've only really begun to scratch the surface with PlayStation 3" and the gaming line-up for 2008 is a formidable one which is sure to attract gamers to the Sony-made console. Hirai mentioned "Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance 2, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift , Little Big Planet" as the main must buy titles that will continue to make the PS3 more attractive than the Xbox 360 and will ultimately also help plug the gap that separates it from the Nintendo Wii.
Speaking about the future developments and about whether Sony is going to develop a new gaming console, Hirai just played it safe. He stated that "We need to take a look at advances in technology in various areas, such as semiconductors, graphics chips, output devices, mainly TV and monitors, to see where we would like to benchmark our next generation product". In other words, nothing is sure at this time and we really need to see how the PlayStation 3 does in the long term before taking on another similar development task.
Personally, I think the race between consoles will be decided largely by the end of 2009, as at least one of the developers will bail out as the cost of developing AAA games and of innovating in the hardware department becomes just too much to handle. What do you, more intelligent readers, think will happen in the "console war"?