Despite focusing much of its efforts on the next-generation hardware battle, Sony has stated that it still aims to support its PlayStation 2 console and has urged publishers to continue making software for the seven-year old machine.
"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," said Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President, David Reeves, in an interview with Reuters.
"There is a lot of money still. What happened last time with PS1 is that they left a lot of money on the table by making the transition too quickly.”
With a global user base of over 100 million since it’s launch in 2000, PlayStation 2 has remained one of the most successful selling consoles on a monthly basis in North America, surpassed only by Nintendo’s Wii. More recently, the company reported sales of 220,000 PS2 consoles for the month of July; compared to 159,000 PS3’s shifted.
Furthermore, Reeves said that he expects game development for the console to last another three – four years; however, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot was quick warn that these assertions may not apply to when developing content exclusively for PS2.
"The problem is that you have lots of machines that stay on the market, but very quickly the retail prices are going down, so the gross margins go down," observed Guillemot.
"If you can do the game on PS2 on top of other formats, it in fact is extra money. ‘Ninja Turtles’ sold lots of games, that was really extra money.”
Source: Next-Gen