In an update to the PlayStation 3 product page on the official Japanese PlayStation website, Sony has revealed that “shipments are scheduled to end soon” on the 500GB model, which is the only model still in production in Japan.
Spotted by Games Talk, and translated by Gematsu, the product page doesn’t give an exact date for when PS3 production will end, but a tweet from a game shop in Fukuoka suggests that it’s ending this month.
The PS3 first released in Japan in November 2006, and had sold 10.26 million units lifetime as of December 25, 2016, according to Famitsu. After starting 2017 by selling around 1,000 units per week, the PS3 is now selling around 600 units per week.
Worldwide, PS3 sales reached 80 million units in November 2013.
[Source: PlayStation Japan, Game Shop via Games Talk, Gematsu]
