The new PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console from Sony Computer Entertainment and is a successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. This model game console comes to compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.

Sony launched its third version of PlayStation first on November 11, 2006 in Japan, on November 17, 2006 in North America and Asia, and Europe. The Sony PS3 is capable of playing back content from a Blu-ray Disc(BD) at a rate of multiplex 48Mbps, the maximum bit rate defined in BD standards. It is the third generation of the Sony PlaySation that is making waves now.The official unveiling of the Sony PS3 to the public was held on May 16, 2005, during the E3 2005 conference. A functional version of the system was not present there, as a working system was not readily available due to power failures and hardware problem. On September 6, 2006, Sony declared the delay of the launch of the PlayStation 3 until March 2007 due to a shortage of diodes used in the Blu-ray Disc drive.

Later, the release of the PlayStation 3 in Japan was held on November 11, 2006. The PS3 from Sony created a record by making a sale of approximately 600,000 units in its first two days of launch in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Sony later announced that the 80 GB PlayStation 3 would be launched in South Korea on June 16, 2007, in one configuration featuring an 80 GB hard drive. It was for the first time that the Sony PS3 was released with an 80 GB hard disk.

Sony discontinued the 20 GB PlayStation 3 model in North America on September 2007. It was after citing "lack of consumer demand" although the 20 GB model is still on sale in Japan. It is widely speculated that the removal of the 20 GB model from the North American market was to save manufacturing costs, as there is a difference in cost between the two aforementioned models of around $30.