PS2 builds addiction for PS3

Mike Bantick
Monday, 06 April 2009 10:11

Your IT - Entertainment

Sony has lowered the price of a PlayStation 2 below the US$100 barrier.  According to Sony, the PS2 is aimed squarely at getting consumers enticed to the PlayStation brand, so much so that they will quickly upgrade to a PlayStation 3

At the sub US$100 mark for a brand new PS2, the aging console has never been more attractive to the casual gamer sector.  Those that haven’t picked up a second-hand PS2 or a Wii in the mean time.

In a recent interview with Ars Technica , John Koller, Director of Hardware Marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America is fully aware of this fact.

"From a pure gaming perspective, the PlayStation 2 provides a ton of value to those who want a gaming system that feeds into family night or other social activities, considering the low cost of entry for the hardware as well as for the games themselves."  Koller said.

And he takes the concept a step further, suggesting that those that pick up a PS2 today, will at some stage in the near future want to graduate to a PS3:  "We've found that almost 80 percent of PlayStation 3 owners either currently own or have in the past owned a PlayStation 2, so that statistic on its own speaks volumes," Koller said. "One could argue that there's no richer source of PS3 purchasers than the 50 million PlayStation 2 owner base, and we're engaging those PlayStation 2 owners as they get ready to jump into next-gen with PS3."

Koller, hints at Sony research backing up this migration over time, with franchises such as God of War making the jump between platforms (GOW III is set to make its PS3 debut later this year) as a catalyst for consumers to like-wise increment the number of their PlayStation model.

God Of War could indeed spark further PS3 sales from series fans, it is difficult to say if similar franchise jumps had the same affect, but they have certainly been high profile.  Killzone 2, Ratchet & Clank, Gran Turismo and Metal Gear Solid have all packed up PS2 bags and gone to the PS3 light.

"We're almost nine years into its 10-year lifecycle, but I really don't see an end date in sight for the PlayStation 2, because the consumer demand is still there and developers are continuing to support the platform with new games," Koller said. "We've always said that the only way that the PlayStation 2 stops selling is if we stop supporting it."

The reality is, that new PS2 owners will be playing old PS2 games, SingStar, Guitar Hero, Buzz, and not much else from now on.