To mark the thirtieth anniversary of the PlayStation, Sony has launched a website dedicated to the history of its console. Here is a chronology of the production of game consoles from the very first system to the PlayStation 5 and PS VR2. Among other things, thanks to the new site, it turned out that sales of the PlayStation 2 exceeded more than 160 million units – this is significantly more than the previously announced figures, writes Hardcore Gamer.
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Released in 2000, the PlayStation 2 was Sony’s second home gaming console and a major upgrade over its predecessor. The gaming system received a unique Emotion Engine processor unit, which Sony produced in collaboration with Toshiba until the end of sales of the console in December 2012. Compared to the previous console, the PS2 offered higher resolution, making it especially suitable for 3D graphics.
During its 12 years on the market, the console was home to various games from Eastern and Western developers. Among the hits are Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Final Fantasy 10-12, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3. And some popular series even began on the PS2 – God of War, Kingdom Hearts and Devil May Cry. Sony’s now-defunct Japan Studio also worked with Fumito Ueda on the adventure games Ico & Shadow of the Colossus, which later became PS2 classics.
The PlayStation 2 is the most successful console system in gaming history, followed by the Nintendo DS with approximately 154 million units sold and the Nintendo Switch with approximately 146 million units. Previously, Sony officially listed “over 155.0 million” PS2 unit sales on its business data and sales page.
However, back in March 2024, the then head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan, named other numbers. On Official PlayStation Podcast Episode 481, he discussed the PlayStation brand with Sid Shuman, Kristen Zitani and Brett Elston as a sort of going-away party before retiring in April. In his comments, Ryan indicated that sales of the PlayStation 2 had exceeded 160 million units, which sparked debate on the Internet. Despite the official nature of the podcast, there were no updates on the company’s other business pages after it, so it could be concluded that Ryan was rounding the number “for the sake of words.”
Since these are already official numbers, it will be much more difficult for the Nintendo Switch to reach this figure during its life cycle, especially with a successor due in 2025.
Let us add that other Sony consoles showed much more modest sales figures. The original PlayStation sold 102 million consoles from 1994 to 2006. The PlayStation 3 was not very successful and showed only 87 million sales since 2006, but the PlayStation 4 corrected itself and sold 117 million consoles since 2013. The current PS5, released in 2020, has already reached the 65 million units sold mark. The portable PSP was sold in quantities of more than 80 million units, but Sony is silent about PS Vita sales, but according to estimates they did not exceed 15 million units.