PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console in history, even more than we thought: Jim Ryan, on his last day at SIE, reveals that it sold 160 million, updating the figure of 155 million consoles that we all handled.
PlayStation 2 It is the best-selling console in history, followed closely by the Nintendo DS. It is common knowledge that PlayStation 2 sold 155 million consoles, ahead of the 154 million Nintendo DS. But are they so close?
PlayStation 2 actually sold more consoles. The figure of 155.1 million comes from March 2012: This was the last time Sony publicly updated the number of PS2 consoles sold.
But today, on the official PlayStation podcast, on his last day as president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan has confirmed that PlayStation 2 sold 160 million units.
PlayStation 2 sold 160 million consoles, the best-selling in history
The bombshell was dropped by Ryan in episode 481 of the official PlayStation podcast, minute 14:50.
Ryan dice 160 millionand although it is not an official statement from Sony, it was said by Jim Ryan, still CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, so it is time to update the Wikipedia page.
In fact, many fans had already estimated that PS2 sales were close to 160 million. Specifically, the Welfare forum did an exhaustive analysis a month ago, and came to the conclusion that the most likely figure is 159.4 million consoles, at least.
To find out, he took into account that PS2 continued to sell throughout 2012being officially discontinued on December 28, 2012 in Japan and on January 4, 2013 in the rest of the world.
Sony even provided combined sales data for PS3 and PS2 in the fiscal year ending in March 2013.
Based on other sales figures concerning PS3, he was able calculate with great precision the total sales of PS2 until it was withdrawn from sale in early 2013 on at least 159.4 million consoles… a figure now confirmed by Jim Ryan.
Therefore, from now on we officially know that PlayStation 2 sold 160 million consoles worldwide, an outrage that distances it from the 154.02 million Nintendo DSfinal figure that comes from June 2016, long after it was discontinued.
So now the question is whether Nintendo Switch will manage, as many believe, to take the crown from PS2.
Its latest sales figure, until all of 2023, is 139 million consolesa figure that naturally grows every quarter, and will continue to grow without obstacles for another whole year, since its successor Switch 2 will not be released until 2025.
