Crown the king: Sony has finally revealed lifetime sales for the PlayStation 2, a long-speculated figure that cements the machine as the best-selling game console of all time. As part of a recently launched page celebrating the 30th anniversary of the PlayStation brand, Sony confirmed the PlayStation 2 sold more than 160 million units in its lifetime.
Sony last shared PS2 sales figures in 2011, saying at the time that it had sold 150 million units since its debut in 2000.
The successor to Sony's original PlayStation had some big shoes to fill, and it all started with a curious external design. Some might describe it as unique but that wouldn't be entirely accurate considering Sony modeled it after the Atari Falcon030. In fact, Sony's patent for the PS2 even references the "ornamental design" it purchased from Atari.
We have known for some time that the PS2 was the best-selling game console to date – we just didn't have an exact number to go on. At 160 million units, we now know it truly sits at the top of the mountain and is roughly six million units ahead of the Nintendo DS, a system that was discontinued in 2013.
The Nintendo Switch, released in 2017, still has a chance to break the PS2's record but with sales having slowed as of late, it is looking increasingly less likely. As of the end of September 2024, Nintendo has sold just over 146 million Switch consoles. A strong holiday season will only add to the total but with the Switch 2 on track to be announced by April 2025, eclipsing the PS2 will be tough. Perhaps a price cut could help, but such moves are few and far between these days.
Outside of the Switch, no other modern console has any chance of capturing the record anytime soon. Sony has only sold 65.6 million PlayStation 5 consoles and Microsoft is doing far worse with the Xbox Series with sales of just 28.3 million units since launch.
Image credit: Nikita Kostrykin, Vignesh Jayaprakash