PlayStation 3
- Manufacturer
- Sony
- Production
- 2006–2017
- Generation
- Gen 7
- Type
- Home
- Region
- JP / NA / PAL
- Launch price
- $599
- Media
- Disc
- Units sold
- 87.4M
About PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, followed by November 17 in North America and March 23, 2007, in Europe and Australasia. It competed primarily with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.
Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).
Lifetime sales
Official manufacturer-reported figures.
87.4Munits
Final Sony figure (FY2016 results).
Source: Sony Interactive Entertainment, as of March 31, 2017.
Library & collector facts
1,450licensed games
- North America: 978
- Japan: 1,110
- PAL: 950
Lineage
Release timeline
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- November 11, 2006
- 🇺🇸 North America
- November 17, 2006
- 🇪🇺 Europe / PAL
- March 23, 2007
- Lifespan
- 11 years on market
Pricing
Launch price (2006)
- 🇺🇸 USD
- $599
- 🇯🇵 JPY
- ¥49,980
- 🇪🇺 EUR
- €600
Controller
Sixaxis / DualShock 3
Launch titles & exclusives
Resistance: Fall of Man · MotorStorm · Genji: Days of the Blade · Ridge Racer 7 · NBA 07 · Tony Hawk's Project 8 · NHL 2K7 · Marvel: Ultimate Alliance · Madden NFL 07 · Call of Duty 3
None standard; many bundles included Resistance, MotorStorm, or Uncharted
Uncharted trilogy · The Last of Us · God of War III / Ascension · Gran Turismo 5 / 6 · Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3-exclusive for years) · LittleBigPlanet series · Killzone 2 & 3 · Infamous 1 & 2 · Resistance trilogy · Heavy Rain · Beyond: Two Souls · Demon's Souls (PS3 original) · Journey · Flower · Ratchet & Clank Future trilogy · MotorStorm trilogy · Twisted Metal (2012) · Folklore
Shakedown: Hawaii (2019) was among the last licensed releases on PS3
Demon's Souls 'Asia English' import (~$200+ CIB); MGS4 Limited Edition Bundle sealed; God of War III Ultimate Edition CIB; Atelier series limited editions; Mister Mosquito-tier import oddities
Variants of PlayStation 3
Hardware specs
- Os
- PlayStation 3 system software
- Cpu
- Cell Broadband Engine
- Gpu
- RSX Reality Synthesizer @ 500 MHz
- Ram
- 256 MB XDR DRAM (system), 256 MB GDDR3 SDRAM (graphics)
- Sound
- AV Multi: (Stereophonic sound, 2ch), RCA connector, Analog stereo, Optical audio: (2ch, 5.1ch), Advanced Audio Coding, AAC, Dolby Digital, DTS (sound system), DTS, Linear PCM, HDMI: (2ch, 5.1ch, 7.1ch), AAC, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD*, DTS, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS-HD…
- Weight
- 5 kg (11 lb)
- Dimensions
- 325 × 98 × 274 mm
- Display Output
- 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
- Storage Internal
- 20500 GB hard disk or 16 GB eMMC
Hardware revisions
- Original 'Fat' PS3 CECHA/CECHB(2006)
60GB SKU had full PS2 backward compatibility (Emotion Engine + Graphics Synthesizer hardware), card readers, 4 USB ports — the most collectible PS3 SKU
- CECHC/CECHE(2007)
emulated PS2 compatibility, partial
⚠ CECHG/CECHH; 2007–2008; PS2 compatibility removed entirely
- CECHK/CECHL/CECHM/CECHP/CECHQ(2008)
Yellow Light of Death (YLOD, BGA solder reflow failure) the platform's signature defect, comparable to Xbox 360 RRoD
- Slim CECH-2000 / 2500 / 3000(2009)
redesigned cooling solved YLOD epidemic
- Super Slim CECH-4000(2012)
final cost-reduced top-loading SKU, sliding cover
Launch colorways & special editions
- Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Edition (JP)
- Metal Gear Solid 4 Bundle (2008)
- God of War III Edition
- Uncharted 3 Bundle (2011)
- The Last of Us Bundle (2013)
- Resistance: Fall of Man Bundle
- Gran Turismo 5 Bundle
- White Slim variants (JP)
- Blue/Red/Silver Slim color variants
Modding scene
- Difficulty
- soft-mod
- Custom firmware
- Custom Firmware (Rebug, Evilnat, PS3HEN); PS3 ToolBox for management
Reception & legacy
Catastrophic launch — $599 USD price (highest console launch price at the time), shortages, third-party developer complaints about the Cell architecture's difficulty; recovered after 2009 price cut and Slim redesign
$599 launch price became industry shorthand for hubris (the 'Five Hundred and Ninety-Nine US Dollars' E3 2006 moment); 2011 PSN outage (77 million accounts compromised) was a defining security failure; OtherOS Linux feature removed in 2010 firmware (Geohot lawsuit followed)
Cemented Blu-ray's victory in the format war; PSN outage reshaped industry security practices; The Last of Us and Uncharted defined cinematic Sony first-party output that continues today; one of the most architecturally interesting console failures-turned-successes
References
More from Sony
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PlayStation 3 in the news
Recent coverage mentioning the PlayStation 3, gathered from 80+ gaming-news sources.
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The Last Of Us: Naughty Dog Is Working On Two Projects That Will Expand The Canon Of The Series Beyond Part I And Part II
Naughty Dog kicked off The Last of Us with the launch of the first game on PlayStation 3 way back in 2013. Since then, it has released a beloved DLC, Left Behind; a remaster of the PS3 release for PlayStation 4; The Last of Us Part II on PS4; a remake of the first game on PlayStation 5; and a...
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RPCS3 is a multi-platform open-source Sony PlayStation 3 emulator that keeps pulling in some massive improvements - check out their new showcase. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/09/playstation-3-emulator-rpcs3-gets-a-new-showcase-of-big-improvements/