• Welcome to Install Base!
    Join the Community and gain access to Prediction Leagues, Polls, specific answers and exclusive content now!
Headlines

Sony shares new sales figures for PlayStation consoles, confirming PS2 sold over 160M

Part of the 30 years of PlayStation roll out. I wonder if this is all they're doing or if there's something else planned for Dec. 3.
 


@Astral_lion02 investigative work a dew years ago:

Astral_lion02 said:
By giving the final PS2 numbers, Jim Rayan also give the final PS Vita number:

Cumulative worldwide sell-through of overall PlayStation hardware as of July 22 2018
  • PlayStation®: 102.49M
  • PlayStation®2: 160M
  • PSP® (PlayStation®Portable): 82.52M
  • PlayStation®Vita: 11.5M
  • PlayStation®3: 87.4M
  • PlayStation®4: 81.2M
Total give 525.11M while Sony give 525.3M in the PR so this is close enough.

Sony Interactive Entertainment Introduces “PlayStation®4 Pro 500 Million Limited Edition”

August 9, 2018 – Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) today announced that it will introduce a specially designed PlayStation®4 Pro (PS4™Pro) “PlayStation®4 Pro 500 Million Limited Edition” (HDD 2TB) from August 24, 2018, and will be available at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of 49,980...
sonyinteractive.com sonyinteractive.com

Given it's sell-trough and not sell-in and that PS Vita was not yet discountuned, PS Vita final number is slighty over that so the best number to kept would be ~12M (2M less than Wii U basicly).

And since PS Vita was the last hardware with missing LTD here we are:

Cumulative Worldwide Hardware Unit Sales (estimate)
  • PlayStation®: 102.49M (As of March 31, 2012)
  • PlayStation®2: 160M (As of March 31, 2013)
  • PSP® (PlayStation®Portable): 82.52M (As of March 31, 2015)
  • PlayStation®3: More than 87.4M (As of March 31, 2017)
  • PlayStation®Vita: 12M (As of March 31, 2019)
  • PlayStation®4: More than 117M (As of June 30, 2022)
  • PlayStation®5: More than 51.8M (As of Dec 31, 2023)
Sony have sold more than 613M consoles as of Dec 31, 2023.
Click to expand...
 
I wonder what the PS4's leg would have been like had the pandemic not happened. Maybe Sony would have pushed the PS5 over it due to backward compatibility, but with how many games it's still getting I feel like it could have had a longer tail, but sales just dried up so fast.
 
In my opinon, Sony is really pissed to lose the number 1 spot to switch.... it's irrelevante what ps2 has sold just as it will be switch sales in 15 years.
 
TheSilentWombat said:
I wonder what the PS4's leg would have been like had the pandemic not happened. Maybe Sony would have pushed the PS5 over it due to backward compatibility, but with how many games it's still getting I feel like it could have had a longer tail, but sales just dried up so fast.
Click to expand...
The pandemic drove interest in PS4, the reason hardware sales went off a cliff were purely down to Sony's production priorities and wanting to funnel audience to PS5 asap. That wouldn't have really changed without the pandemic tbh.

Same thing happened with Xbox to a lesser extent.
 
Thats a pretty big last year jump. Do these numbers include refurbished units?
 
I am almost more impressed with the PS1. The PS2 became the DVD player of choice which is the biggest "gimmick" of any console ever and boosted sales like crazy, but the PS1 selling over 100 million during that time period is absurd.
 
Demoli said:
I wonder if the switch can reach these figures now, what are the odds looking like?
Click to expand...

Switch will surpass 150m units at the end of the current FY.
The only thing that may stop the Switch from surpassing 160m units is Nintendo stopping production very early.
 
Demoli said:
I wonder if the switch can reach these figures now, what are the odds looking like?
Click to expand...
Switch's revised forecast, if it manages to hit it (which is looking doable), would place the console roughly in the 153M range by the end of this fiscal year. With the sunsetting year approaching, lurching to 160M would depend on how soon Switch 2 launches and how long Nintendo keeps production chugging passed that, but as long as Switch 1 remains a low cost option and maybe finally cuts the price ahead of the successor launch, I think odds are more in its favor than not. There's a reason Sony's milestone here is pre-empting things by saying "one of the biggest-selling" instead of "the biggest", its crown is more vulnerable now than it's ever been.
 
Sony.jpg


TV Console: 532M
Handheld: 94M
Total: 626M

This should be considert definitive for evrything beside PS5.

Ps Vita is the only one that is not official now but 14M is the number that make sens with the 525M PR from 2018.

The PSP number of 82.523.607 and PS3 number of 88,159,116 are production and include unlsold units, so this explain why it's higher than what show above.
 
Demoli said:
I wonder if the switch can reach these figures now, what are the odds looking like?
Click to expand...
It's up to Nintendo. If they want to beat the 160M figure, they can (by dropping the price of Switch and keeping production for a while longer); I actually think it's likely that Nintendo keeps making Switches just for the specific objective of beating the PS2. At the end of the day, having the best-selling console of all time can be valuable as a brand.
 
adriandlte said:
It's up to Nintendo. If they want to beat the 160M figure, they can (by dropping the price of Switch and keeping production for a while longer); I actually think it's likely that Nintendo keeps making Switches just for the specific objective of beating the PS2. At the end of the day, having the best-selling console of all time can be valuable as a brand.
Click to expand...
All indications to the contrary notwithstanding, I'm not convinced that Nintendo cares that much about having specific hardware (or software) sales records
 
So PSP final shipment tally is 80.xx million?
Seems the other figures to all be within the million in which is said to be over.

Decoyman said:
There's a reason Sony's milestone here is pre-empting things by saying "one of the biggest-selling" instead of "the biggest", its crown is more vulnerable now than it's ever been.
Click to expand...
That's exactly the same thought I had when reading that statment.
 
adriandlte said:
It's up to Nintendo. If they want to beat the 160M figure, they can (by dropping the price of Switch and keeping production for a while longer); I actually think it's likely that Nintendo keeps making Switches just for the specific objective of beating the PS2. At the end of the day, having the best-selling console of all time can be valuable as a brand.
Click to expand...

It's absolutly irrelevant bussiness wise if Switch will beat PS2 lifetime sales or not.
Post automatically merged:

Celine said:
So PSP final shipment tally is 80.xx million?
Seems the other figures to all be within the million in which is said to be over.
Click to expand...

We know 82.5m were manufactured, so the final shipment is a little lower. Same as PS3 that had 88.16m produced and 87.4m shipped.
 
If I remember right, PS2 hit under 100 dollars near it's end of life. That helped boosted it's number since it's impulse buy territory. That's why I think it was hard for future Sony consoles to ever touch that again. The PS3/4/5 etc. will not hit that low of a price point ever again.
 
Astral_lion02 said:
Sony.jpg


TV Console: 532M
Handheld: 94M
Total: 626M

This should be considert definitive for evrything beside PS5.

Ps Vita is the only one that is not official now but 14M is the number that make sens with the 525M PR from 2018.

The PSP number of 82.523.607 and PS3 number of 88,159,116 are production and include unlsold units, so this explain why it's higher than what show above.
Click to expand...
I don't think PSP would have 2M unsold units. If PS3 had nearly 800K that weren't sold, PSP should be nearly 82M and PSV <13M
 
Gimmick said:
I am almost more impressed with the PS1. The PS2 became the DVD player of choice which is the biggest "gimmick" of any console ever and boosted sales like crazy, but the PS1 selling over 100 million during that time period is absurd.
Click to expand...
Yes, PS1 is an incredible achievement for a debut attempt in a market in the midst of a massive paradigm shift to 3D. Also highlights how important the shift to CD-ROM was - it didn't substantially change consumer pricing, but on the publisher side having an ubiquitous media format that only costs pennies to produce was a revolutionary improvement from cartridge production. Hard not to see why 3rd parties flocked to PS1 when you imagine how much margins improved by simply switching media format.
 
allan-bh said:
It's absolutly irrelevant bussiness wise if Switch will beat PS2 lifetime sales or not.
Click to expand...
I used to believe this but I don't anymore - not for the #1 position at least. I think there is legit marketing value in being able to say "best selling VG console of all time". Given how close the NSW will naturally land to the mark to begin with, a little nudge from Nintendo is worth it (if needed..).
 
Welfare said:
I don't think PSP would have 2M unsold units. If PS3 had nearly 800K that weren't sold, PSP should be nearly 82M and PSV <13M
Click to expand...
80M is what is claimed on the Sony website.

All consoles are rounded down to nearst million so I dont see why PSP would not follow that.

PSP range is 80,000,001 to 80,999,999
 
Welfare said:
I don't think PSP would have 2M unsold units. If PS3 had nearly 800K that weren't sold, PSP should be nearly 82M and PSV <13M
Click to expand...
It's not only unsold units but inventory manufactured for R&D, testing, display, promotions, gifts, etc.

That said you're right that 14m is still too high for Vita given we have additional units beyond the rounded for each console (+490k PS1, +400k PS3, +??k PS2 & PSP). Vita best case is still going to be under 13m.
 
I'm glad Sony finally officially confirmed over 160 million for PS2 to put all of the rumors to rest. It's hard to understate how massive PS1 + PS2 was at the time on a worldwide scale. In the late 90s and early 00s, the PS1 + PS2 combo selling 262 million hardware units absolutely dominated the games industry, eclipsing all competition multiple times over for more than a decade. It was quite a magical run, the likes of which won't happen again.
 
Gimmick said:
I am almost more impressed with the PS1. The PS2 became the DVD player of choice which is the biggest "gimmick" of any console ever and boosted sales like crazy, but the PS1 selling over 100 million during that time period is absurd.
Click to expand...
The DVD factor was good but I think people overrate it. The PS2 had a better attach rate than the PS1 did. It was less of a gimmick and more of a ‘another reason you should get this’. People were buying tons of games on that thing
 
Reallytired said:
If I remember right, PS2 hit under 100 dollars near it's end of life. That helped boosted it's number since it's impulse buy territory. That's why I think it was hard for future Sony consoles to ever touch that again. The PS3/4/5 etc. will not hit that low of a price point ever again.
Click to expand...


the equivalent would be 200 or even 300 now. but, it seems possible ps5 wont even reach the latter (at least in standard msrp), forget the former.

anyway idk i never gave it much thought but i was a little surprised ps1 wasnt higher. just in my mind it was like, nearly ps2 level of ubiquity.
 
Broseph said:
The DVD factor was good but I think people overrate it. The PS2 had a better attach rate than the PS1 did. It was less of a gimmick and more of a ‘another reason you should get this’. People were buying tons of games on that thing
Click to expand...
Sure, we don't know how much the DVD player really helped at the end of the day, but the PS2 was what it was because of the PS1. Everybody and their mother wanted to make games on PS2, because of the PS1.

Think of all the studios they had to start and all the deals they had to close to get games on the PlayStation while being fresh on the market. It's peak management, they over-delivered to the highest degree, right out of the gate. Those guys were on the ball.
 
Astral_lion02 said:
80M is what is claimed on the Sony website.

All consoles are rounded down to nearst million so I dont see why PSP would not follow that.

PSP range is 80,000,001 to 80,999,999
Click to expand...
PSP doesn't have those same xx,000,000 counters like the consoles, it's just "over 80 million" in a text blurb, so I'm not taking that too literally like the consoles.
 
Gimmick said:
Sure, we don't know how much the DVD player really helped at the end of the day, but the PS2 was what it was because of the PS1. Everybody and their mother wanted to make games on PS2, because of the PS1.

Think of all the studios they had to start and all the deals they had to close to get games on the PlayStation while being fresh on the market. It's peak management, they over-delivered to the highest degree, right out of the gate. Those guys were on the ball.
Click to expand...


Sometimes I like to think back why I chose a certain console. as to insights why consoles become popular.

For Ps1 it was a few things that led me to purchase.

One, it was by Sony. It released first in Japan I believe, and was pretty clear already it would be a big hit, with the giant CE power Sony behind it, and the crucial software support would not be a problem.

but there was another really big factor, yet another reason i developed my mindset of power being so important. saturn came out first in USA, and I rented one (renting consoles was a common thing in that era!). I rented Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing IIRC.

later, i rented a ps1, and toshinden and ridge racer.

guess what, they looked SIGNIFICANTLY better than those games in the same genre did on Saturn. Saturn was somewhat weak in 3D graphics. The decision was all but made after that.
 
The DVD was important, but more important was the terrible launch of the PS3, like Nintendo did with the 3DS, Sony had to fall back to the PS2 for probably far longer than they wanted to, which obviously meant the numbers were much higher than anticipated. This is a record that, given the circumstances, sony is probably not happy to have, since they were probably expecting much higher profits given higher PS3 sales instead of more PS2 sales.

Also, i would be wary about comparing inflation in terms of what $100 is now compared to 2007-2008. Disposable income was much higher back in the day.
 
Smelly said:
I look forward to them revising this number when the Switch passes 160 million.
Click to expand...

The last report was before it ended production, this came after. There would be no way for them to update what's already a final number, since no PS2 was produced or will be produced after that.

Unless you're suggesting a publicly traded company is lying and providing false sales data... which would definitely be a very bad take.
 
Belthazar said:
The last report was before it ended production, this came after. There would be no way for them to update what's already a final number, since no PS2 was produced or will be produced after that.

Unless you're suggesting a publicly traded company is lying and providing false sales data... which would definitely be a very bad take.
Click to expand...
It is funny though

"Switch hits 159.1M after shipping 300K this past quarter, inching closer to the PS2's final reported figure of 160M"

Sony:
2f9d31267929a91f51f673f5d5dc101b.jpg


*releases generic PlayStation PR* "... and the PS2 was one of the biggest-selling video game consoles of all time, with over 161M consoles sold worldwide since 2000."
 
Welfare said:
It is funny though

"Switch hits 159.1M after shipping 300K this past quarter, inching closer to the PS2's final reported figure of 160M"

Sony:
2f9d31267929a91f51f673f5d5dc101b.jpg


*releases generic PlayStation PR* "... and the PS2 was one of the biggest-selling video game consoles of all time, with over 161M consoles sold worldwide since 2000."
Click to expand...

Nintendo announced they have stop production and the final number of nsw shipped WW is 159.99mil!
 
Aquamarine said:
I'm glad Sony finally officially confirmed over 160 million for PS2 to put all of the rumors to rest. It's hard to understate how massive PS1 + PS2 was at the time on a worldwide scale. In the late 90s and early 00s, the PS1 + PS2 combo selling 262 million hardware units absolutely dominated the games industry, eclipsing all competition multiple times over for more than a decade. It was quite a magical run, the likes of which won't happen again.
Click to expand...
The way they dominated and secured support from basically every third party, with lots of exclusives, yeah probably won't be repeated. But if we go just by numbers, I feel that Switch + Switch 2 could surpass 262 millions if Nintendo doesn't fumble it.
 
I don’t know what they’re doing, but they should’ve rounded the number to at least 180 million. The folks over there must not have been following closely how the Switch is actually doing. 160 will be passed with ease. They thought they ate lol.

It’s very likely that the Switch will be around for a very long time, even when the successor is out. The Switch will just be relegated to a lower priced entry point in the ecosystem, similar to how the Switch Lite functions as a portable and a lower priced entry point to the main Switch. Nintendo will be continuing selling a family of systems.
 
Last edited:
Belthazar said:
The last report was before it ended production, this came after. There would be no way for them to update what's already a final number, since no PS2 was produced or will be produced after that.

Unless you're suggesting a publicly traded company is lying and providing false sales data... which would definitely be a very bad take.
Click to expand...
It’s not 160 million units, but over 160 million units. It can always be revised upward.
In fact, Sony displayed "over 155 million units" for 10 years straight. /s
 
Godzilla said:
The DVD was important, but more important was the terrible launch of the PS3, like Nintendo did with the 3DS, Sony had to fall back to the PS2 for probably far longer than they wanted to, which obviously meant the numbers were much higher than anticipated. This is a record that, given the circumstances, sony is probably not happy to have, since they were probably expecting much higher profits given higher PS3 sales instead of more PS2 sales.

Also, i would be wary about comparing inflation in terms of what $100 is now compared to 2007-2008. Disposable income was much higher back in the day.
Click to expand...

Another thing going in PS2 favor is that it had an extremely long tail as a budget console for developing and secondary markets, which is another factor that doesn't really exist in the same way anymore. PS2 was perfect storm in many ways
 
Because it cost me only 90$ when I bought the second one too.

Wake me up when they sale console at that price again.
 
Reallytired said:
If I remember right, PS2 hit under 100 dollars near it's end of life. That helped boosted it's number since it's impulse buy territory. That's why I think it was hard for future Sony consoles to ever touch that again. The PS3/4/5 etc. will not hit that low of a price point ever again.
Click to expand...
PS2 hit the $99 price point on April 1st 2009 (end of production was 2013). Going by Wikipedia, at that point there were 136-137 million units produced, so after the price drop, an additional 23-24 million units or so were produced.
 
Notsowise said:
In my opinon, Sony is really pissed to lose the number 1 spot to switch.... it's irrelevante what ps2 has sold just as it will be switch sales in 15 years.
Click to expand...
In 15 years the only sales that Sony will care will be the ones from PS7 or PS8
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom