Released in late 2006, the Sony PlayStation 3 saw sales cross 88 million before it was eventually discontinued. While it had a rocky start, Sony’s little black box eventually surpassed its Microsoft rival by some 4 million units. It featured a number of classic titles such as “God of War III”, “Uncharted”, “Metal Gear Solid 4”, and more. Some major releases even got the remaster treatment on the PlayStation 4, showing how popular the console’s offerings were.
While official support for the console ended in 2016, the PlayStation 3 continued to be a very useful console beyond just gaming, thanks to its robust online and media capabilities. For many, the PS3 served as the media hub for their household. Beyond being a great Blu-ray player, its access to streaming services such as Netflix kept it relevant for nearly a decade after it was discontinued.
But nothing lasts forever, and on March 2, 2026, support for the official Netflix application on the PS3 will come to an end. Many users online were saddened by the news, especially as the PS3 was one of the only ways left to watch Netflix content natively on a 4:3 television.
The PS3 is dead, long live the PS3
Technology doesn’t have a habit of waiting around, so it’s impressive that the PS3 had Netflix application support for such a long time. With the rise of cheap Android streaming boxes and sticks from the likes of Amazon, Roku, Walmart, and more, the writing was on the wall for the PS3 as a streaming device long ago.
That doesn’t mean that the PS3 is completely dead in terms of what it can still do. In fact, there are a lot of uses for the console for those looking to continue to enjoy it for years to come. We’ve covered several clever uses for an old PS3 in the past, but the one most important for us is its media server capabilities. There exists a number of guides that show how you can turn a PS3 into a home media server through jailbreaking, something you might consider, as Sony has deleted purchased video content on their consoles in the past.
