Over 1.56 Billion Game Consoles Sold Globally With PS2 Remaining Dominant

Sony’s PlayStation 2 remains the best selling game console of all time, two decades after its release. Data gathered by Learnbonds.com indicates that by March 2020 approximately 1.56 billion game consoles of different brands have been sold globally with PlayStation 2 accounting for 10.07%.

Among the top sold units, Sony, Atari, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sega brands have more than one version of game consoles. Since its release in 2000, the PlayStation 2 consoles have sold 157.68 million units. The Nintendo DS is the second-highest selling game console with 154.9 million units globally followed by Game Boy at 118.69 million units. Notably, the PlayStation 2 has outsold the popular Playstation 4 which has 109.86 million units globally. In fifth place there is the first PlayStation console that has sold 102.5million units. The Wii console is sixth with 101.64 million units sold globally.

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Sony’s third PlayStation series has sold 87.41 million units globally followed by Microsoft’s Xbox 360 at 85.8 million. Game Boy Advance (GBA) total sold units stand at 81.51 million while the PlayStation Portable closes the top ten categories with about 81.09million units. On the other hand, Dreamcast’s first version has the least units sold at 8.2 million. Sega Saturn (SAT) only unit has the second least sold devices at 8.2 million.

The PlayStation 2 success is due to several factors for example the length of time it remained on the market before the release of PlayStation 3. Furthermore, the console has a huge library of games that made it more popular than the initial PlayStation. PS2 also had the functionality of a DVD player, something that sold the console both as a home theatre device and as a modern gaming device.

Europe accounts for more PS2, PS4 sales globally

The Learnbonds.com research also overviewed the sales of Sony’s PS2 and PS4 based on regions. Interestingly, Europe has emerged as the biggest consumer of Sony PlayStation platforms. The PlayStation 2 has sold more consoles in Europe at 55.28 million while in North America the units stand at 53.65 million. In Japan, there are 23.18 million sold units while the rest of the world stands at 25.57 million.

On the other hand, PlayStation 4 sales have dominated Europe with 45.12 million units followed by North America at 36.34 million. To date about 9.12 million PS4 consoles have been sold in Japan while the number for the rest of the world stands at 19.28 million.

Even with the release of its successor, the PlayStation 3, the PS2 remained popular with Sony continuing with production until 2013. Sony finally announced the end of the production after twelve years. The PS2 also had several hardware iterations following the release of the slim version. The PS2 slim was a much smaller version that took up less space with a built-in ethernet port in addition to fast processing.

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Sony game consoles popularity

Following the release of the PlayStation 4, it became a hit immediately becoming the second most selling console for Sony. It emerged a top hit even surpassing  Xbox One. With the release of PS4 it became a direct competitor to Xbox. However the Sony game console remained popular due to various factors.

One of PS4’s popularity is due to its technical superiority compared to Xbox One. Generally, PS4 offers gamers an immersive game experience. Additionally, Sony’s idea to include more independent game developers on the PS4 has also contributed to its success.

Over the years, game consoles released under Sony have been popular due to the brand name. It’s the clear sequential successor to a brand of consoles that has been in the public consciousness for at least two decades. The PS4 has an edge over Xbox due to clear messaging. From the start, Sony announced that the PS4 was meant for gamers while on the other hand, Xbox also confused consumers after promising controversial multimedia features. The confusion ensured Sony retained its loyal fanbase.

Despite the popularity of PS4, its sales might not surpass the PS2 considering that Sony is set to launch the PlayStation 5 in 2020. On the other hand Microsoft has announced it will also release the  Xbox Scarlett. With the upcoming PS5, Sony has assured gamers that additionally hardware enhancements like a much faster hard drive, a 4K Blu-ray drive, and a more adaptive controller in the console’s next iteration.

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