Sony admits PS3 price was "a factor" in 3rd place current-gen finish

Yes, in terms of what was in the box” the PS3 has always represented good value.

But Sony has at last conceded – albeit in a roundabout way – that the console’s 425/$600/60,000 launch RRP has played a part in its fall from the top of the console race to third place.

After enjoying a market-leading position with both PSOne and PS2, PS3 has been well and truly beaten” by Wii this time around, and the ongoing strength of Xbox 360 in the US means that, in global sales terms, PS3 is the third most popular machine of this generation.

"It’s a lot of factors," SCEA’s hardware marketing boss John Koller told Kotaku when asked why PS3 hadn’t won” the current generation.

"We’ve been pleased with overall sales. And also very pleased with just how well then consumers who have purchased PS3s have attached and buy software. We have a very profitable consumer.

"Why we’re in third… you know, there’s a lot of things that happen in the market that cause sales to occur. I think we’ve been very staunch in our belief that there’s a certain value behind the PS3 and there’s certain kinds of games for the PS3 that have stood behind that.

There’s no secret that we opened behind a high price point. And certainly others got a relatively nice head start on us because of that. That’s certainly been part of it.

"But we absolutely have no regrets. This has been a very good cycle for us, and I think if you ask any publisher they’d say the same thing. It’s been good, and we think it does portend good things for the future for PlayStation."

When pressed further on whether PS3 would have sold better at a lower RRP at launch, Koller replied potentially”.

It shouldn’t be forgotten, of course, that PS3 has still sold a whopping 63m units worldwide. It’s hard to categorise that as anything other than a success.