Sony PlayStation 3 sales finally start grinding to a halt as Japan lists final unit as sold

Sales of the Sony PlayStation 3  (PS3), launched in 2006, have finally come to a close in its home country of Japan. The PS3 had a rich library of 1,433 games available on disc and digital, including 317 exclusive titles but as of 2017 only seven games were released on the platform, all of which were download-only titles.

On the official Japanese website of PlayStation, the last PS3 model with 500 GB hard disk being manufactured in Japan had its status listed as “Shipment Completed.” The page also mentions that shipments for the console have “ended.” This marked the beginning of large-scale PS3 discontinuation in the worldwide gaming market, starting with Japan. It remains to be seen when the PS3 shipments will stop in US and other major markets.

As for India, several retailers speaking to Gadgets 360 have confirmed that the 500 GB PS3 has been unavailable for the better part of a year, while the 120 GB variant has also been tough to get a hold of. During its lifespan, Sony had shipped more than 80 million units (as of 2 November, 2013), with Grand Theft Auto V being the best-selling title on the system (20 million units sold, as of 8 January, 2014) on the PS3.

After the launch of the PS4 in in November 2013, the console has sold more than 60 million units and Sony is expected to sell around 18 million more before wrapping up the fiscal year. Interestingly, rumours have it that Sony is planning to launch a next generation PlayStation console in 2018.