14 DAY TRIAL // No one can deny that the PlayStation 3 had a really, really weird year in 2008. A lot of analysts said that it was supposed to be the year the PS3 would make its mark, helped by such exclusives like Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet and by the dual platform release of Grand Theft Auto IV created by Rockstar.
It all seemed to go well in the first few months of the year, as the console sold at times better than the Xbox 360 from Microsoft but once GTA IV was released, the Sony made platform entered a steady yet clear decline, which was accentuated once the price of its rival went down in September. The end of the year data was not encouraging, with the PlayStation 3 selling less than half the Xbox 360 sold in the same crucial month.
Yet, even if the perspectives for 2009 look bleak, with the company losing money, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment, Kaz Hirai, continues to believe in the product his firm is creating, telling the Official PlayStation Magazine that “I'd like to think that we continue official leadership in this industry.”
He talked about the Nintendo Wii saying that Sony did not “look at their console as being competitors. They're a different world and we operate in our world - that's kind of the way I look at things.” Still, the numbers posted by Nintendo are sure to make Sony a bit envious, especially as the Wii is selling better in its first two years than the PlayStation 2 did back in the day.
Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 is described as “something that lacks longevity,” with the PlayStation 3 projected to catch up with the sales its rival currently posts within the life time of this console generation.