Sony PlayStation 2 remains the most popular gaming console in history – 160 million units sold

Sony celebrated the 30th anniversary of the PlayStation brand by launching a special website that introduces the history of the company’s gaming consoles, starting with the original PlayStation and ending with the modern PlayStation 5. Among the updated data on the website, attention was drawn to information about the sales of the PlayStation 2, which remains the most popular gaming console in history.

Since its debut in 2000, the PlayStation 2 has sold more than 160 million units. This success is explained by a combination of technical superiority, a huge catalog of games and the ability to use the console as a multimedia center for playing movies and music on DVD, which was especially appreciated in the era of the popularity of this format.

The only serious competitor to the PS2 in terms of sales is the Nintendo Switch, which has sold 146 million copies since its release in 2017.

The current-generation PlayStation 5 console is also performing well, with over 65 million units sold in the four years since its launch in 2020, highlighting the brand’s consistent success in the gaming platform market.

Sony announced that it had sold 65.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles by the end of the second quarter of 2024. Despite a 1.1 million year-on-year decline in console sales, the company made up for this with an increase in game sales. It sold 77.7 million games in the quarter, up 10 million from the same period last year.

Even with the increase in console prices at the end of 2023, the number of active PlayStation Network users remained at 116 million, contributing to a 9% increase in revenue and a 73% increase in operating profit, reaching 445.1 billion yen (about $2.91 billion).

The main factor in the success was the high number of games sold, including the action role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong, which sold 20 million copies. By the end of the fiscal year, Sony expects strong releases such as Assassin’s Creed Shadow and Monster Hunter Wilds, which should support the positive dynamics.