Playstation 2 – How Many Do You Think Sony Has Sold?

Yes, it is a lot. But how many?

Posted by Staff
It’s actually a phenomenal 90 million. Yes, gamers around the globe have bought 90 million PlayStation 2 hardware units since the platform launched in March 2000 in Japan. And only a few of them were used for guiding stealth bombers built by Middle Eastern dictators. The rest were all used for playing Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto.

So, now for a regional breakdown, looking at which region is the most loyal to Sony’s current generation, an exercise we will shortly try and manipulate into a reason we shouldn’t have to be at the end of the line for new hardware every time:

Japan and Asia: 21.04 million units (launch date: March 4, 2000)

North America: 36.48 million units (launch date: October 26, 2000)

Europe/PAL: 32.48 million units (launch date: November 24, 2000)

Worldwide Shipment: 90 million units

You see! What does Asia offer except the most sluggish of all territories? Even though they’ve had the longest run at the market, they’re still lagging way behind the milk-scented masses! And America doesn’t count, meaning Europe should be the natural place to debut the PlayStation 3.

Now, where’s our PSP…?
Companies:

Comments

ozfunghi 3 Jun 2005 13:18
1/15
Of course they shipped and sold almost as many in Europe, a friend of mine is responsible for almost half the numbers in Europe since he had to buy a new PS2 over and over again because the piece of crap starts malfunctioning every damn time the warranty ends.
Joji 3 Jun 2005 13:46
2/15
That's nice for them, still yet to smash the GBs sales though.

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Ditto 3 Jun 2005 14:29
3/15
That makes it the best selling system ever, with Nintendo having their worst ever round.

It also shows just how much the market has grown. At the end of the 16 bit generation, 1998, Nintendo had shifted 52 million Super NES units.
NiktheGreek 3 Jun 2005 15:07
4/15
Adam M wrote:
That makes it the best selling system ever, with Nintendo having their worst ever round.

It also shows just how much the market has grown. At the end of the 16 bit generation, 1998, Nintendo had shifted 52 million Super NES units.

Nintendo's own figures (up until the end of March, 2001) suggest you've gone 3 million overboard. The exact number was 49,080,000. With the Mega Drive selling roughly 28.5 million units, that makes for a total market of about 77.5 million.

The original Playstation sold 100 million units, the N64 about 33 million, and the Saturn about 10 million. That generation gave sales of around 143 million units.

This current generation has seen 90 million PS2s sold, about 20 million Xboxes, 18.5 million Gamecubes, and 10 million Dreamcasts. 138.5 million consoles sold this generation, so far.

The main growth was really had with the last generation of consoles, with this generation looking to exceed it - but not by a great deal.
Ditto 3 Jun 2005 16:07
5/15
NiktheGreek wrote:

Nintendo's own figures (up until the end of March, 2001) suggest you've gone 3 million overboard. The exact number was 49,080,000.


Is that including the 2nd American Super NES re-release?

The original Playstation sold 100 million units, the N64 about 33 million, and the Saturn about 10 million. That generation gave sales of around 143 million units.


I stand corrected, however by the end of this generation the PS2 will have outsold the PS. So I was kinda riht :p.

The main growth was really had with the last generation of consoles, with this generation looking to exceed it - but not by a great deal.


Yeah, but with more pie for Sony!
NiktheGreek 3 Jun 2005 22:42
6/15
Adam M wrote:
NiktheGreek wrote:

Nintendo's own figures (up until the end of March, 2001) suggest you've gone 3 million overboard. The exact number was 49,080,000.


Is that including the 2nd American Super NES re-release?

Well they're Nintendo's own figures, and they go up to March 2001, so I'm thinking that probably does include those systems.
OptimusP 4 Jun 2005 12:21
7/15
Now Sony isn't honest with these numbers...
At least 10% of the people who bought a PS2 did that twice because the first one broke down. A another 5% had to buy 3 or more PS2's for the same technical reasons.

So in short, you got about 18-20 million PS2's that were bought by people that allready bought one but it broke down. The same amount of sold Xbox's and GameCubes (not combined).

Bad bad Sony indeed! And where's is that PSP damnit...it's faster (and cheaper!) to just import one out of japan.
NiktheGreek 5 Jun 2005 00:40
8/15
OptimusP wrote:
Now Sony isn't honest with these numbers...
At least 10% of the people who bought a PS2 did that twice because the first one broke down. A another 5% had to buy 3 or more PS2's for the same technical reasons.

Point 1: Where are your sources for those figures? To claim 1 in 10 PS2 owners has one break down on them is a little bold, to say the least.

Point 2: Sony doesn't keep data on the people purchasing consoles and their motivations for doing so. To suggest so would be absurd. They can't possibly hope to provide an accurate figure for "re-buys".

Point 3: Nobody else provides data on "re-buys" either, and technical problems aren't exclusive to the PS2. I've known at least four Gamecube owners personally who had systems break down, and the Xbox power cord recall suggests Microsoft issues defective units too.

Point 4: It would have been far easier (and far more realistic) to point out that these are worldwide shipment figures to retailers, and as such not all of them (but admittedly, a vast majority) have been sold on to gamers yet.
DoctorDee 5 Jun 2005 06:35
9/15
OptimusP wrote:
At least 10% of the people who bought a PS2 did that twice because the first one broke down.


Now that smells of being a TOTALLY MADE UP STATISTIC.

Where the hell did you get the facts to come to that conclusion?

Sure, of hardcore gamers who's PS2 is on 18 hours a day there were a fair number who had to buy a second one. But the same goes forother platforms too.

But of all the casual gamers I know (and that's a LOT) none have ever had to replace their PS2... indeed, mine at home has been humming along happily since UK release day with no problems, and it's used a lot.

I understand that you wish to discredit Sony, but citing spurious 'facts' merely discredits you. There is no published evidence to indicate that "at least" 10% of all PS2 buyers have purchased a second console...
OptimusP 5 Jun 2005 09:32
10/15
Well actually i was being very cynic and not serious. So in no way are those numbers real. I hope that clears some things up.

However i was insuating that Sony's hardware is the most crappiest of the three and i do know quite a lot of people who bought more then 2 PS2's because the thing breaks down.

And if i don't bring up a source, i'm being cynic.
vault 13 5 Jun 2005 20:43
11/15
OptimusP wrote:
However i was insuating that Sony's hardware is the most crappiest of the three and i do know quite a lot of people who bought more then 2 PS2's because the thing breaks down.


I used to work in an Electronics Boutique here in the states and I've seem equal number of X-Boxes and PS2s come in to get fixed. Gamecube on the otherhand, only one, and that was Lupos'. They both suck manufacturing wise. Cheap shoddy jobs.
Ditto 6 Jun 2005 09:16
12/15
OptimusP wrote:

I used to work in an Electronics Boutique here in the states and I've seem equal number of X-Boxes and PS2s come in to get fixed. Gamecube on the otherhand, only one, and that was Lupos'. They both suck manufacturing wise. Cheap shoddy jobs.


It's interesting to see reliable stats on that. When I had a Playstation it broke down twice. On the other hand my 10 year old Super NES and my newer Gamecube continue to run fine.

Trust Lupos to pick the dud!
vault 13 7 Jun 2005 04:06
13/15
I've been quite lucky with my game systems. Not one has stopped working. I did have to replace my PS2 at one point, free of charge of course (a good perk of EB and my kind manager), but that's only because of me tripping over the draped controller.
esveno 7 Aug 2005 20:22
14/15
vault 13 wrote:
I've been quite lucky with my game systems. Not one has stopped working. I did have to replace my PS2 at one point, free of charge of course (a good perk of EB and my kind manager), but that's only because of me tripping over the draped controller.
esveno 7 Aug 2005 20:34
15/15
Well, sony said 90 million. how many do you think they hav sold? less than that? well we have 100 million ps1's out there (including mine - never bogged down either), so its not bad to say that's 90 million. However how many OWNERS do we have? probably less than that. so if what they say is true that ps2 bogs down (mine never had. i am average gamer =majority of all ps2 and ps1 players) there are probably 70 million OWNERS out there. XBOX OWNERS are probably 15 million. However, if majority of XBOX OWNERS ALSO OWN PS2 then microsoft's XBOX360 can never BEAT PS3. trying to convince 60 million casual gamers (loyal even) to buy xbox360 that could not play ps1 and ps2 games they already own and maybe could not play even old xbox 1 games will be really hard indeed. and coming from a software company with bad history of HARDWARE products and bad history of trying to MONOPOLIZE the world's digital media (NOT democratic at all), an average gamer like me WON'T BUY an xbox360 at all. i'll buy ps3 to protect my previous games and investment
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