It’s just under 15 years since Sony closed out their E3 2006 show by announcing that their upcoming PlayStation 3 would retail at $499 for a base 20GB model. At the same time, they announced a 60GB model at a 3DO-bothering $599. That’s a cool $625 and $755 in 2021 respectively.
In the subsequent run-up to PlayStation 3’s launch, Sony faced accusations of being detached from reality. Some went as far as to accuse them of arrogance.
However, from that relative low-point, Sony laid the groundwork for a second decade of console dominance and counting.
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Context and Hindsight
When Sony officially announced PlayStation 3 at E3 2005, they had been the dominant force in the console space for a decade. For two whole generations, they were untouchable; their huge lead only growing as PlayStation 2 was on its way to becoming the best-selling console of all time. At E3 2005, they debuted Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo HD, MotorStorm and Heavenly Sword to amazed audiences.
Killzone 2 was the software showstopper though. A game that showed the true potential of PlayStation 3’s Cell-based innards.
Since 2000, Sony had been working on a new form of processor that supposedly had the potential to change everything. The Cell had been discussed in media as a revolutionary chip and had been rumoured to appear in PlayStation 2’s successor long before it had been announced as the PS3’s heart. Killzone 2 ‘s showcase gave the Cell’s power some meaning, it wasn’t just numbers anymore.
Pre-launch hype for PlayStation 3 probably reached its zenith during that presentation. As soon as it was over, there were questions as to the origin of Killzone 2‘s footage. Conflicting statements as to whether or not the trailer was pre-rendered or prepared to PS3-spec didn’t help. By the time, it was clarified completely a seed of doubt had been sown.
However, Sony’s confidence going into E3 2006 was still understandable. Many potential Xbox customers were still holding off to see exactly how massive the leap to PlayStation 3 would be. As Kaz Hirai famously put it at E3 2006, the next generation wouldn’t begin until Sony said so. With the Cell B.E powering their truly ‘next-gen’ system, Xbox 360 would be going the way of the Dreamcast. Right?
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Underwhelming, Overpriced
Sony’s E3 2006 presentation has been mostly forgotten bar the memes and its place in PS3’s eventual redemption story. The Massive Damage. The Riiiiiiidge Racer. Remember that one?
But in 2006, E3 and how the press responded to it was a huge deal. Livestreaming was a toddler and it was mostly left to after-the-fact online content for news of substance. Still images and blocky, compressed footage were still the meat of on-demand peeks at console showcases.
A hefty chunk of the second quarter of their two-hour show was a HD-ified Gran Turismo demo made from PS2 assets. In the words of IGN, it was “[…] very much like Gran Turismo 4 but in HD.”
This was followed by Eye of Judgement, an AR card came running with a PS2 EyeToy. Shortly thereafter, there was a SingStar demo. There was an unimpressive Genji: Days of the Blade demo complete with historically accurate giant crab. Sony showed off their store and beat the multimedia drum. In fact, the show was almost hour deep before promising in-game footage surfaced. And some incredible real-time footage was indeed shown from games that should have been the story.
But it would be the price that took the headlines and cast the spotlight onto the gaffes and weaknesses in their presentation.
All Around Me Are Familiar Faces
Gamers of a certain age and part of the world can remember where they were when they saw THAT Gears of War TV ad. They remember the moment an unusually large disclaimer appeared. “Graphics representative of game”, it read. Bear in mind, the 2007 YouTube footage below would have looked a lot better on TV.
In the era just before everyone was streaming video, television was still the place where the majority of high-quality footage was seen by the masses. Far from a grainy downloaded webm or aforementioned YouTube video, TV ads’ glorious 480i was uncompressed and on a then-big 25″ screen.
Before Gears of War, Xbox 360 games had looked good but unspectacular. Sony’s promises of the ‘true next-gen’ were believable but becoming less so as the pre-rendered nature of more of their demoes became apparent.
Tools of War
Gears of War looked like the pre-rendered trailers of the time. Including those shown at E3 by Sony and the third-party developers at their presentation.
PlayStation 3’s Japanese, US and European launch line-ups weren’t well received and save for Resistance: Fall of Man, showed little of the console’s power. For the first few years, cross-platform comparisons favoured Xbox 360 – the first Madden for both 7th gen. systems ran at 30fps on Sony’s machine but 60 on Xbox.
PlayStation 3 was more powerful than anything else that $599 could buy at the time but it was more complex than the 360’s related-but-simplified architecture. Xbox 360 had also had a head-start giving it a much larger install base in those early years. Developers were creating games with Xbox’s larger install base in mind, exacerbating the development headaches wrought by the Cell.
READ MORE: PS2 Modding – A History of PlayStation Piracy, Part II
Lessons Learned, Time to Grow
Sony would start turning the wheel almost immediately after E3 2006 but the ship wouldn’t show a change in direction for some time.
In September 2006, before PlayStation 3 had even launched in Japan, PlayStation 3 received a price-drop. Within nine months of its US debut, the 20GB model was gone and the 60GB model was cut to $499 then replaced by an 80GB model. Hardware backwards compatibility was removed, then its software counterpart followed.
Sony was serious about cutting costs. Perhaps more importantly, they were also serious about exclusive titles that showed off what the hardware could do.
A Stream of Software from a Slew of Studios
Whilst Sony had acquired a few studios in the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 era and developed cosy relationships with countless others, their current stable of first-party houses was built since PlayStation 3’s launch. Of the 13 that they have working for them now, five came under Sony’s wing between 2006 and 2011. Two entered their stewardship in 2019. One was founded in 2014.
Sony’s investment was paid off with exclusive titles of unit-shifting quality, technical mastery and bold themes that transcended the medium, all while showcasing a difficult but powerful chipset. Additionally, Sony’s refusal to milk their PS3-born franchises on that one system left room and hunger for follow-ups on PS4. Microsoft released seven Halo titles on 360, four Gears of War and five Forza titles. The Resistance trilogy and Nathan Drake’s three 7th gen. outings were as far as Sony went with their marquee series.
Sometime in 2013, sales of PS3 overtook Xbox 360. While Microsoft had long moved on to their ill-fated Xbox One, Sony supported their machine up until PS4 was on store shelves; some of PS3’s absolute best games came in the run-up to PS4. Customers who had paid $599 for their machines in 2006 had seen seven years of unwavering service. It would be an easy decision for many to stick with the brand. Newcomers would make their way over partially through the power of momentum and partially from Microsoft repeating some of Sony’s mistakes.
Never Again
The announcement and launch of PlayStation 4 showed how much Sony had learned from their PlayStation 3 journey. The price was eye-catching but in a good way. Their presentation was laser focused on games with a special emphasis on the sort of impressive exclusive titles that PS3 had become known for. Crucially, they skipped the groundbreaking architecture for something with which developers could immediately express superiority over its competition.
Microsoft would overcharge for their Xbox One and wax lyrical about its multimedia capabilities. They’d choose a weird architecture that, while innovative, would shame the system in side-by-side comparisons with its competition. But Microsoft would never redeem Xbox One during its lifetime.
More than Redemption
PlayStation 3 secured its esteem as a console but its legacy is greater than a packed library and dedicated fanbase that populate servers to this day. The lessons that Sony learned, the studios they acquired and the franchises they built are the most important part of PS3’s story. PlayStation 4 dominated the 8th gen. while PS5 has taken an early lead on Xbox Series X|S thanks in part to their humbling some 15 years ago.
We hope you enjoyed the first in our ‘Enduring Legacy’ series, where we look at consoles, peripherals and games that had a true impact on the history of video games. Next up is the Original Xbox.
