Sony Sees 10-Year Life for PlayStation 2 Console

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Sony Sees 10-Year Life for PlayStation 2 Console
Thu Mar 25, 8:11 PM ET Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Ben Berkowitz

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites). believes that its market-leading PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) video game console can continue to sell until 2010, twice as long as most in the industry had assumed was possible, an executive of Sony's U.S. video game unit said on Thursday.

In a keynote address at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California, Andrew House, executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said the success of the original PlayStation, nearing its 10th anniversary, had convinced the company that two-thirds of its potential PS2 sales were yet to come.

The PlayStation 2 was released in 2000 in the United States and game industry observers have expected Sony and rival Microsoft Corp to shift their marketing efforts to next-generation game machines in 2005 or 2006.

"There are some huge potential gains for us later in the life cycle," House told a packed auditorium.

But with the lengthening of the sales window for PS2, he said, Sony and the industry will also have to consider the advancing age of the people who own and buy the hardware.

"We have to think very carefully about the type of audience we're reaching with our games," he said.

House also sought to quash speculation that Sony might accelerate development on its next console, the PS3, to keep up with Microsoft Corp., which many in the industry have speculated is preparing the successor to its Xbox (news - web sites) console for 2005.

"Competitive movement will not be a factor in determining our launch release plans," he said.

But what drew the closest attention from the developers on hand was the few words House said about the PSP, a portable system expected to rival the PS2 in power and capabilities.

The device will have a wide-screen format, wireless Internet connectivity and a proprietary storage device, the UMD, with three times the capacity of a CD-ROM.

House was joined on stage by a team from Backbone Entertainment, which showed a brief demo of its game "Death Jr." running on a PC with PSP emulation software. The game drew heavy applause from the crowd, with those who saw the demo admiring the platform's graphics capabilities.

While "Death Jr." was popular, though, the star of the keynote was an unlikely American pop hero -- William Hung, who gained fame as a talent-show contestant with limited talent on the TV series "American Idol."

Hung, who has devoted legions of fans and a record deal, sang and danced to the song "YMCA" with Sony's EyeToy, a device that connects to the PS2 and translates the player's motion into on-screen action. He was using "EyeToy: Groove," an upcoming game for the system.
 
Well, I certainly don't think we're going to see 140 million more selling until 2010, but the PS1 has sold some 27 million since the PS2 launched, and likely with a wider bracket of game possibilities (EyeToy among them, PSP connectivity, alternate forms a la PSX, and whatever else they have coming down the pipe), I can certainly see it doing better. In part it depends what next gen's consoles will look like compared to now, and how long it takes for HDTV to get commonplace, as more and more people will be "fine" with the previous generation's games--especially when the consoles get cheaper and have "more to do."

But two thirds yet to come? Phsaw. The market isn't going to swing too far THAT way either.
 
cthellis42 said:
But two thirds yet to come? Phsaw. The market isn't going to swing too far THAT way either.

I do believe the origional comment was talking about software. Although hardware should do pretty well itself :)
 
I believe one of the reasons the playstion had a 10 year long run (is it ?) was that it was redisgned to be so small. Can they release a pstwo that would be as small as the psone was or close to it.

Will they even want to considering they have the psp out .

I think if they don't it will shorten the life of the ps2 .

Of course for a year or two it may be smarter for devs to keep making ps2 games as they could be played on ps2 and ps3 .
 
Can they release a pstwo that would be as small as the psone was or close to it.
I sure hope they do - I would buy one in a heartbeat.

Plus, imagine the multicolor models, a nice small sakura colored PSTwo would make a great Valentine's day present :LOL:

Anyway, PS2 is on route to break 100M before PS3 is out, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of 140M mark if we do get a sub 100$ redesign later on.

Whether that could clash with PSP I don't know though, that's their problem to figure out anyhow :p
 
About 3 to six months ago Sony trademarked the PStwo name, so that alone increases the chances of that happening.
 
Fal i know they can make the chips really small . But will they be able to cool them and fit everything else in there in such a small design ?
 
A while back sony talked of integrating sound/graphics/cpu etc onto a single chip with a smaller chip process. Im not sure if this is related to the new tech (psp) or a future small-sized ps2 (ala psOne). This would reduce system/board size and complexity with sony reaping the rewards with greatly reduced overall production costs.

If they expect the platform to last several more years, i wonder if they could possibly add psp emulation which is unlikely capable on new smaller ps2 systems (if they happen to occur)??
 
aZZa said:
A while back sony talked of integrating sound/graphics/cpu etc onto a single chip with a smaller chip process. Im not sure if this is related to the new tech (psp) or a future small-sized ps2 (ala psOne). This would reduce system/board size and complexity with sony reaping the rewards with greatly reduced overall production costs.

If they expect the platform to last several more years, i wonder if they could possibly add psp emulation which is unlikely capable on new smaller ps2 systems (if they happen to occur)??


Isnt that what the EEGS@90nm is? Or do u mean, even smaller?
 
Crap, I just re-read that part, they are actually saying that they expect to sell 210Milion? That I find a bit harder to swallow, that's like more then doubling the best selling console record to date :oops:

Fal i know they can make the chips really small . But will they be able to cool them and fit everything else in there in such a small design ?
I don't see a problem with cooling (the new chips are pretty damn low on power consumption already), the one thing that might be iffy is the HDD bay (should they want to keep it).
A PCMCIA slot would solve that problem though - and would also make for some nice irony, considering they used to have one in the early Japanese models already...
 
They've talked about selling several hundred million systems before with the first PlayStation, back in an interview a few years ago where they were asked where they thought they could go from there. Their reasoning was that people would eventually buy multiple units to hook up to different TVs in their houses, so you could have one in your TV room and also your bedroom without having to lug the system.
 
cthellis42 said:
Well, I certainly don't think we're going to see 140 million more selling until 2010, but the PS1 has sold some 27 million since the PS2 launched, and likely with a wider bracket of game possibilities (EyeToy among them, PSP connectivity, alternate forms a la PSX, and whatever else they have coming down the pipe), I can certainly see it doing better. In part it depends what next gen's consoles will look like compared to now, and how long it takes for HDTV to get commonplace, as more and more people will be "fine" with the previous generation's games--especially when the consoles get cheaper and have "more to do."

But two thirds yet to come? Phsaw. The market isn't going to swing too far THAT way either.

+70 million shipped, and they have kept the price high untill now (PlayStation was cheaper much faster). If they can supply great software, PSP connectivity, cheap price, Eye Toy games,.... They can surely double that 70 million mark...
 
Right but if they do it around the time of the psp and ps3 they will have some trouble .


Think about it . You have the ps2 at a 100$ redesigned to be smaller and more attractive to those with tvs in their car or small areas .

But then you have a psp at 100-200$ that has better graphics and is portable plus mabye it will also act as a phone / mp3 player / video player / slash milk shake maker .

So those with a 100$ to spend may end up passing on the psp or passing on the ps2 . Loosing sales on the ps2 wouldn't be a problem because of ps3 .

Then you have p3 .

Which while i am not expecting a huge graphical leap over the ps2 or xbox it will have much better graphics and most can easily see the diffrences .

So that will also eat into ps2 sales esp if launched at around the same time .



Imho opinion it should have happened already or its going to happen a year after the ps3 launch .
 
jvd said:
Right but if they do it around the time of the psp and ps3 they will have some trouble .


Think about it . You have the ps2 at a 100$ redesigned to be smaller and more attractive to those with tvs in their car or small areas .

But then you have a psp at 100-200$ that has better graphics and is portable plus mabye it will also act as a phone / mp3 player / video player / slash milk shake maker .

So those with a 100$ to spend may end up passing on the psp or passing on the ps2 . Loosing sales on the ps2 wouldn't be a problem because of ps3 .

Then you have p3 .

Which while i am not expecting a huge graphical leap over the ps2 or xbox it will have much better graphics and most can easily see the diffrences .

So that will also eat into ps2 sales esp if launched at around the same time .



Imho opinion it should have happened already or its going to happen a year after the ps3 launch .


In the end Sony don't care, as long as people keep buying their products... If the profit margin is the same for every platform (highly unlikely), then they would make as much money for selling a PS2 as a PSP...
I don't expect PS3 to be profitable for the first 2 years...
If people keep buying Sony (whatever the platform), Sony will be happy...
Remember that PS1 kept outselling all the competitors by a long margin, including PS2, long-ish after PS2 was released...
 
Well not the gbc .

But yes it did . Mostly because it was 100$ and the new model was launched before ps2 and the shortages of ps2 .

I think sony doesn't care as long as people buy the games in the truck loads .

If a pstwo is going to eat into sales of its multi billion dollar ps3 then it will never get launched .
 
jvd said:
Well not the gbc .

But yes it did . Mostly because it was 100$ and the new model was launched before ps2 and the shortages of ps2 .

I think sony doesn't care as long as people buy the games in the truck loads .

If a pstwo is going to eat into sales of its multi billion dollar ps3 then it will never get launched .

But when u think about it, selling millions of PSTwo's and PSPs might be the only way Sony will be profitable (or close to it), seen the losses they will make by selling PS3s at much lower price than it takes for them to make them.

So, if they have PSP and PSTwo which make a profit, and PS3 that doesn't (initially), they will be very happy to recoup the losses made by PS3 with sales of PSP and PSTwo. (of course, including software into the equation)
 
The only problem is the more it eats away at the ps3s user base the longer it will take for the ps3 to become profitable .

If ms takes the lead from the ps3 or is even with the ps3 sony will have alot of problems .

With a ton of pstwos sold many devs will stay on the system too which will also hurt the ps3 .


Its much diffrent than i twas when the psone launched.
 
jvd said:
The only problem is the more it eats away at the ps3s user base the longer it will take for the ps3 to become profitable .

If ms takes the lead from the ps3 or is even with the ps3 sony will have alot of problems .

With a ton of pstwos sold many devs will stay on the system too which will also hurt the ps3 .


Its much diffrent than i twas when the psone launched.


I actually think it is very similar to when PS2 launched:
- Shortages (which i'm sure will happen for PS3 too, whether for "chip shortages" or Sony's strategy [see: increase demand]),
- PSTwo keeps selling a whole lot, many people will wait to buy PS3 but there will be enough die hard fans who will buy the thing at launch,
- a sprinkle of marketing, a pinch of hype and PS3 launch will be just like PS2's. Crappy launch games included ;)
 
Yes but instead of going up against a broke sega they will be going up against a rich ms

INstead of having a year longer to develop and release a higher spec machine they will be within the same time frame as ms and will most likely be very close in specs. The only way to change this is to increase the costs of the system which means its even more important for the ps3 to succeed .

Last time sony was going against it self which was fine because of shortages and the fact that the next system was a year away .
 
jvd said:
Yes but instead of going up against a broke sega they will be going up against a rich ms

INstead of having a year longer to develop and release a higher spec machine they will be within the same time frame as ms and will most likely be very close in specs. The only way to change this is to increase the costs of the system which means its even more important for the ps3 to succeed .

Last time sony was going against it self which was fine because of shortages and the fact that the next system was a year away .


You're perfectly right, it will be interesting to see what will happen...

Would be nice to have (at least) 2 consoles at the same level in terms of sales, like having 2 market leaders... I expect Nintendo to "always be there" anyway, not really worried about them, and they don't seem too worried about being market leader either...

We'll see, but i still think that strong sales of PStwo and PSP will only help Sony, at least in the short term, against MS. They do need the profits after all they've spent and will spend on PS3...
That would explain the fact that they are not willing to sell PSP at a loss too, if you think about it...
 
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