PlayStation 3 Lifecycle 10 Years at Minimum, Sony Says

The PlayStation 3 home console will live on for a minimum of 10 years, as Sony is confident that its device still has a long life ahead of it, after recently confirming that 50 million units were sold all around the world.

The current generation of consoles has been available for around 5 years, and already plenty of people are looking forward to brand new devices, especially since Nintendo has already presented the replacement for the 2006-launched Nintendo Wii last week, in the form of the Wii U.

Microsoft is also reported to be preparing the new Xbox 720, which is rumored to be unveiled as the successor to the current Xbox 360 next year.

Sony, on the other hand, is adamant that the PlayStation 3 will remain its flagship console for another few years, as the company wants to stay true to the 10-year lifecycle it has pinned to the device a long time ago.

"I've always said [PS3's life-cycle will be] ten-plus years and the only question mark is how long the 'plus' is," Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Andrew House said to CVG, adding that "ten years I think is the minimum."

The executive is certain that the PS3 will continue to see strong sales for a few more years, and once again highlights that the PlayStation 2 is still being sold successfully in lots of areas around the world.

"What we've said many times before and we're confident about is we launched a device that is very, very powerful, that has a whole range of possibilities and that's at the very least a ten-year life-cycle. I know I'm guilty of repeating myself but I think it's always worth pointing out we're still selling PlayStation 2 in its millions around the world, 11 years after it was launched. That's different markets and a different profile of consumers but there's still some vibrant demand. That for me bodes extremely well for where the potential of PS3 will go."

Until the inevitable announcement of a PlayStation 4, Sony is getting ready to debut the PlayStation Vita, a replacement for the original PSP launched just two years before the PS3.