PlayStation 3 production officially ends in Japan

PlayStation 3 has reached the end of its life.

Sony recently ended shipments of the remaining PS3 models in Japan, in preparation for a the console's end of life. Well, that moment has now come, and the Japanese giant has ceased manufacturing of PS3.

The news comes by way of the official Japanese PlayStation site (via Gematsu). Shipments have now "ended," which means no new units are being manufactured.

This is another way of saying PS3's life has come to an end. An end to manufcaturing in Japan almost certainly means the West will soon follow. Being part of the same generation, Xbox 360 by comparison ceased production over a year ago.

PlayStation 3 was released in North America, and Japan in November 2006, before launching in March 2007 in the rest of the world. Sony always said it would support the console for ten years, and it looks like it's kept that promise.

Over the years, there has been two iterations of the console, not including the "fat" launch SKU. The Slim and Super Slim models launched with increased HDD capacity and a lower profile. Sony has sold over 80 million units to date.