Sony still strongly supporting the PS2
via PSPSPS
Although most of this week’s convention was geared towards what’s next in the next-gen war, Sony took a sidestep to let the industry know that it plans to continue to support its seven year old PS2 for a while to come yet.
Over 100m PS2s have been sold since launch back in 2002, and now that its price is so damn low, consumers don’t even blink about buying one, and it also means that emerging markets are just getting used to the console and aren’t even thinking of the PS3.
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With this in mind Sony plans to continue backing the console for a few years yet. "We are committing funds for PS2 ... we encourage third parties to continue development for PS2. If they bring a PS3 version out, they can bring a PS2 version out as well," David Reeves, head of Sony's European games unit said.
Reeves expects PS2 game development to continue for three to four years; for those people who aren’t ready to move onto the PS3 just yet, and publishers also think this is a wise move, as these consoles get passed onto friends and family as people upgrade etc.
"Machines in the market may be handed on - not to the younger brother, but maybe to the older sister to play a party game," said Gerhard Florin, general manager of international publishing at EA.
Indeed, he believes that these party games are the kind of thing that will breathe life into the machine for a few years yet.
"'Rock Band' or 'Smarty Pants' are not necessarily driven by processor power," he said.
