PlayStation 2 reaches 100 million milestone
by Blake Snow 
{ Nov 30th 2005 at 11:00AM }
As of November 29, the PlayStation 2 has reached 100 million units in worldwide shipments, and Sony has achieved
this in record time. After only 5 years and 9 months, the PS2 has managed to do what the original PSX did in 9 years
and 6 months. From the article: "There is currently over 14,000 PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles, with 6,200 for
the PlayStation 2 alone."
That's an impressive feat for a game console, and kudos to Sony for the achievement. Nintendo and Microsoft have
their work cut out for them if they wish to eat in to the high market share of the PlayStation brand. What do you
attribute to its success?
[Thanks, JamesO]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pennywise969 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I think it has something to do with the devil.
jc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
games
Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Lots of defective units. ;)
Sorry...just had to tweak the PS-fanboys out there.
solomon_rex @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
In all seriousness, the cd format allowed Sony to bring the record industry experience to bear on videogames. Without expensive cartridges, they could offer the 'Greatest Hits' bargains and use established CD printing techniques to drive prices down over the life of the consoles. That, and recruiting third parties like Squaresoft, won them the market.
DPG @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Marketing, hype, strong presence among casual and non hardcore gamers, huge but not consistent catalog where any kind of gamers can find what they're looking for and last but not least the name SONY itself generally sells.
Ninegauger @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
It got some must have games this generation oh, and most of them break eventually so at least two per person. To be fair I bought one of the slim ones for my room as well as having to replace another so it's not all about the tendency to break.
Nico @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Branding + GTA + cheap dvd player = 100 000 000 sold
CapAmerica @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I think the only reason they have sold so many is cause the damn things break so fucken easly.
I own a 1st gen GameCube and Xbox and they are both alive and kicking still. The PS2 on the other hand I have had to replace it 3 times and I have friends who have had to replace their PS2 too.
Cem @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Pretty amazing number. With all the great PS2 games available (and a couple great upcoming games), I think it's still a good choice to buy one. It would be nice if the price would drop a little.
Thryon @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Thinking that $ony is less a gian evil empire than Microsoft.
G-T3K @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
All the games. PS2 has its share of crap games, but just about anything you'd want usually comes out for PS2. XBox probably has the second largest lineup, but until recently, its price kept it from competing as seriously as it might. Nintendo just completely screwed up with developers...
soco @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
i'd say defective ones can easily count for at least a million of those. i've got two :)
granted these are numbers that are shipped and not bought.
the only company i know of who seems to have few problems with their consoles is Nintendo. so i guess i should say Kudos to them. although i've had no problems with my xbox either, i've read that there are quite a few.
Ginnal @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
This number is alot less impressive when you consider that out of 6200 titles there probably less than 40 titles that can be deemed classic.
Ph{i]l @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
correct me if im wrong (please!)
but doesnt the article - and quote for that matter- indicate that 100,000,000 units SHIPPED.
i know this is a huge feat, one in which i give huge credit to sony for (and im a nintendo fanboy!) but wouldnt the number SOLD be a more important number to analyze. it seems that people always seem to count these two factors as the same.
just saying....
nick @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
"What do you attribute to its success?"
Successful branding and people inexplicably equating Sony with good products. Not true, of course, but I think mainstream gamers will find that out sooner rather than later. I do think it's Sony who's got their work cut out for them this tiem. They've gotten lazy, hubristic, complacent.
LSSLAVE @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I agree with #6, I had to replace my PS2 and I didnt even play mine that much. I play classic RPGs on classic consoles (Secret of Mana + Snes) and my Gamecube the most out of all my games. The Playstation stopped working anyhow, and I had to buy the new slim model.
I know people who have owned 3, and one person who has had to buy 5 (He is a sony gamer so his burn out quicker)
Say what you will as a fanboy, you have a right to your own opinion, but sometimes you have to look at it realistically. The system breaks down, quite possibly intentionally so that people HAVE to buy new ones and that makes it seem like their market share goes up. If everyone only needed one system they might have only sold 30-40 million consoles, like the origional playstation did.
I dont plan to replace anything next gen, so I doubt ill get a PS3 :/
LSSLAVE @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Also:
I meant the origional playstation also broke down, eventually it just stopped reading discs on many people I know, I went through 3 PS1..
Scythe @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I have had my PS1 and 2 since day 1 they came out. No problems at all and I play(ed) them like a religion. I have 2 PS2's one in my room and one in my truck, no problem from either one. Now if you don't clean the dust from the vents or if you just toss it around sure it's going to break. Also understand it is Electronics and they do wear out over time. I bought a $3000 computer from dell and the damn CD burner didn't work and the Hard Drive crashed only after 2 weeks. It's all a risk that you have bad parts or defective products.
one of my friends had a x-box that he got last christmas and he put a game in turned it on and the damn thing over heated and caused the cd to warp. He took the game and system back. it's all luck if you get a good system or not.
Leomar @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Money, Money, Money!
matt @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Fun fact
ive had my ps2 for almost 4 years now..never once have a had a problem(its the big bulky one too)
Anyways id have to say the great games. There are so many amazing games for the PS2 and you cant deny it. So congrats Sony now lets see what you can do with the PS3 :D. And I highly doubt Sony sold that many systems just because of Ps2's breaking....
Thomas Crymes @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Sony was in the right place at the right time. They seized the market at the time when video games were shifting from focusing primarily on children to being concerned with the college crowds and beyond. Sony was a familiar brand and was able to cash in on its mind share.
Meanwhile Nintendo decided to stay focused on the children's market, Sega mismanaged itself out of the hardware business, and Microsoft was a day late and a dollar short.
Jack @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I lost my old ps2 because of Disc reading errors. replaced it with the slim version from what I herd the slim version wont have that problem, instead some games issues not really problem for me, but kinda put me off buying sony products. My 'cube and xbox havent had any problem.
nk @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Kids seeing their favourite celebrity play/praise/touch/be anywhere near the thing on MTV.
Same reason the xbox360 will do well.
OffTopic Man @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I don't know what you guys are doing w/ your PS2s. I've had mine since about a year after it came out, it was then modified, and has been rock solid through GT3, GT4 and every other classic game to completion. I agree the laser is a bit weak and sometimes games won't load on a first try, but when they do load, they load and play smoothly.
Rollin @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I don't think this is an achievement in the slightest. Why are shipments the milestones? Tell me how many households have PS2s, not how many u sent to the factories. There were prob 10 times that number of NESs shipped for all we know, cept Nintendo didn't tout it. I don't see it as something to brag about.
Shipment numbers are shouted from the rooftops to make you think that they're more popular than they really are. Not even half of that amount of homes own PS2s.
Christian Glz @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I been with my ps2 for over 4 years now and still alive and kicking, I haven't made a single service to this baby :)
88m8 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Sold units will catch up to shipped in a month or two. They have for every one of these milestones (90 million, 80 million, etc..). Just search the gamasutra article database if you're curious.
Benben @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Globaly 100million consoles shipped thats pretty huge imo. Man why are many Americans are playstation crazy i dont know why. I own a ps2 but im more crazy about my gamecube and xbox maybe because im a hardcore gamer but not a casual gamer a la ps2. 100million ps2s shipped shows how the ps2 is mainstream and popular is the playstation2 and how the ps2 is a gaming icon and a workhorse icon for sony. But I know many that had bought 2-3 ps2s during ps2s 5 year life cycle. With a broken ps2 and with alot of ps2 games it seems logic to pick up another ps2 instead of picking up a rivaling gamecube or xbox. My sis had 3 ps2s many of my best friends are on thier 2nd or 3rd ps2s. I still have my xbox from launch and my gamecube from 2002 and both still work perfectly. I really try to take care of my ps2 and not end up like those casual gamers who constantintly buying ps2s every single year. Luckly for sony they have many casual gamers worldwide waiting for the ps3, hopefully I hope nintendo and microsoft gain some ground against sony like MicrosoftXbox360 launching first and Nintendo Rev catering to non-gamers.
DG @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Why did people buy PS2? DVD player, and that's it. That's how I got mine.
Krys @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Dvd player was a good suprise and MGS 2 helped. I'm still however on my first ps2. It's never fail to read a disc and it's working perfectly. I got it a month after it came out to.
Hmm @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I've had my PS2 since launch day without a problem....I've played it for days straight on many occasions....it has seen 4 different addresses in that time as well...so its been shipped, dropped, manhandled and its fine!
So what the hell is with some of you people talking like the PS2 breaks if you sneeze??
Quit throwing your controller at it when you get owned fools and s*** won't break!
Alex K. @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
yaay!
now you're almost as popular as the gameboy!
DSK @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
#25
You know you jus said that the NES shipped 1 Billion units ??? Highly doubtful.
Clint @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
They sold the most because the earned it. Ok! Nintendo doesn't have many defective units because nobody buys their lame consoles. I don't know anyone who has that Game Cube thing. Isn't that the purple monstrosity! Also...people are bored playing Mario for the millionth time. Mario Cart this, Mario that! If Nintendo is so innovative why can't they come up with something besides Mario?
The Xbox wasn't popular because nobody wants to buy a console for just one game HALO. I'm not going to put out the cash just so I can play one game that isn't on the PS2.
AssemblyLineHuman @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Nintendo sold plenty of consoles and I have almost NEVER heard of anyone having problems with their Gamecube. As for games, that's all about taste. True, the Gamecube has a lot of Mario titles, but they are all different kinds of games and are rarely even the same genre. Nintendo just uses the Mario name because it is something everyone is familiar with. For me, Mario in the title is a sign of quality because almost ALL Mario games do what they do well. Out of the PS2's 6200 titles, there are more Gamecube games that I would buy than there are PS2 games. You might like the games on the PS2, but they bore the Hell out of me.
As for the Xbox, you are absolutely correct. Some people may like the games that are out for the Xbox, but most people only bought it for Halo. This time around, the Xbox 360 is being marketted VERY well. Microsoft definitely knows what they're doing with it. As for the Revolution, Nintendo looks like they're getting the attention of a lot of developers. Then, there's Sony who doesn't really have anything to say. They've shown the PS3. It's gonna be powerful. It's gonna be expensive. No one's gonna care by the time it comes out, especially if Bungie gets out Halo 3 and Microsoft reduces the price of the Xbox 360. With Microsoft marketing the Xbox 360 well and Nintendo doing a good job presenting the Revolution to developers and getting people excited about a new way of playing games, Sony really needs to start making the news on gaming sites (about the PS3) or everyone will forget it exists and buy a 360. =|
AssemblyLineHuman @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
That should be "Out of all the PS2's 6200 titles, there are more games for the Gamecube than I would buy for the PS2."
Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
for all you people saying that "units shipped doesn't matter" because you want to know "how many were actually sold"..
you do realize, of course, that units are shipped to retailers based on demand? until last year when my friend got a PS2 i thought that you could just walk in and buy a new PS2 any time you wanted.. well, it turns out that mosdt of the time if you want to get PS2 that day it'll have to be used/refurbished.
what my friend had to do was put his name on a list and they told him when they'd be getting a shipment in. he was on a list with about 15-20 other people wanting PS2s. they ship units based on what stores need to satisfy customers.
so units shipped translates mroe or less to units sold. the actual number of units given to customers will match 100 million in a few days.
what do you have to say to that, haters? :-D
>>"The Xbox wasn't popular because nobody wants to buy a console for just one game HALO. I'm not going to put out the cash just so I can play one game that isn't on the PS2."<<
i did. and i regretted it. i have Halo 2, MLB 2005, and Burnout 3 for my Xbox. MLB and Burnout were only because a) they looked a little bit better and b) i felt guilty that i only had one Xbox game. i'm considering buying Ninja Gaiden Black just so i can say i own the Box for mroe than one exclusive title..
Todd Rabanus @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
first things first i am not a fanboy i am hardcore and have owned every console released to date (master system, nes, sega cd, 32x, 3do, jaguar....etc) and the only console i have ever had to replaced was the ps2, and i did it 5 times!!! i bought five of those things. And i take care of my stuff. From ventilation to dust my systems are very well taken care of, but I have never had more problems with a company than Sony, and that goes beyond video games. Sony is cheap on all their products.
NiNtEnDoWaRrIoR. @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Posted Nov 30, 2005, 4:36 PM ET by Clint
They sold the most because the earned it. Ok! Nintendo doesn't have many defective units because nobody buys their lame consoles. I don't know anyone who has that Game Cube thing. Isn't that the purple monstrosity! Also...people are bored playing Mario for the millionth time. Mario Cart this, Mario that! If Nintendo is so innovative why can't they come up with something besides Mario?
you're the one who is lame moron, and it doesn't matter if Sony shipped 100,000,000 anyway, they only broke even, microsoft lost 4 billion, and Nintendo made a big profit...so in the end Nintendo are still the winners here.
eric @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
great games, and to reiterate, mine broke and i got a new one, but most people if it broke it would be the end of it, they wouldnbt buy two
Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
..>>"first things first i am not a fanboy i am hardcore and have owned every console released to date (master system, nes, sega cd, 32x, 3do, jaguar....etc) and the only console i have ever had to replaced was the ps2, and i did it 5 times!!! i bought five of those things. And i take care of my stuff. From ventilation to dust my systems are very well taken care of, but I have never had more problems with a company than Sony, and that goes beyond video games. Sony is cheap on all their products."<<..
yeah... i seriously doubt that you own every console realeased to date. i don't think you can even name every console released to date.
and, for your information, i've owned my ps2 for about 3-4 years (and i bought it off ebay) and it's not given me even a hint of trouble. neither have any of my friends' PS2s. if you had to buy 5 consoles you OBVIOUSLY either threw them around or didn't take care of dust. dust is what causes the disc read errors the majority of the time. in fact, if you take your PS2 apart and clean the lens with compressed air the disc read errors will stop.
Paranoised @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I bought the Ps2 originally for one game --> GTA
The xbox soon after took over as my main console.
NiNtEnDoWaRrIoR. @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
well, if i were to go out and get another PS2 it would be my 3rd one, and it's not because i don't look after them because i don't play it any differently from how i play my gamecube, in fact i hardly ever played the PS2, the PS2 is just a poorly built console...another thing is my second PS2 stuffed up when playing GTA:san andreas...now, i was told that the PS2 i had at the time wasn't able to play it because the game was dual-layered and the laser in the PS2 wasn't capable of playing a dual-layered dvd...therefore SONY FAILED AT LIFE!!!
solidus @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
all you fanboys should realize that the PS2 not only has the largest game library, but the best. sure there are many casual gamers that buy one just for madden but it also offers the best exclusives for hardcore gamers. metal gear solid, devil may cry, god of war, final fantasy, socom, shadow of the colossus, ratchet and clank, jak, ico, dragon quest, shin megami tensei, gran turismo, virtua fighter, katamari, zone of the enders, onimusha, killzone, dark cloud, twisted metal... and those are just random titles i'm thinking of off the top of head.
plus it gets every multi-platform game, and the majority of the PS2 versions are either just as good as on the other platform(s) or even better, like RE4 (now there is no reason to buy a GC).
Anyone who thinks the PS2 doesn't have enough games for real gamers should compare its games to the respective libraries of the xbox/gamecube.
And by the way NiNtEnDoWaRrIoR, Sony has been making a profit on the PS2 since the second year. youre one dumb mothafucker if you think Sony just broke even. the PS2 has been one of their biggest sources of revenue.
Leto @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
People don't understand that shipping = sold. When a unit is shipped to a store, that store has paid for that unit, Sony wouldn't get any more or less money if the unit sells or not. By the way, Microsoft has stopped producing Xbox since August of this year because their contract with Nvidia ended, so 22 million units shipped is as high as it is going to go for the Xbox.
AssemblyLineHuman @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
solidus, as I said, it's all a matter of personal taste in games. Off that little list you made, the only games that interest me in the least are Metal Gear Solid, Ratchet and Clank, and Katamari.
For the Gamecube, there's Mario Party (I'm not listing each one since they ARE pretty much the same), Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Sunshine, Donkey Konga (1 and 2), Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Then, there's Metroid which I'm not a huge fan of, but a ton of people love it. And all the Mario sports games look fun, but I haven't had a chance to play them because I am saving up money for my long list of DS games I want. =X
CorrectingTheStupid @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
I can't argue with these numbers. They did amazing last round and deserve the credit for it.
Guy N. @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM
Their sucess in selling consoles I think is half due to a great lineup of games, some of which (like Katamari Damacy: my reason for getting the ps2) you just can't get for the box or the cube. The other half of their sucess (in sales at least) is due to their crappy hardware. And It's not just the ps2, every sony product is a flimsy piece of crap. Why else does nobody have a mini disk player (a great concept sacraficed with crappy hardware) and almost everybody have an ipod.
Honestly, if Katamari Damacy came out for the xbox, I would have one of those now.
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WARNING FOR SLIM PS2 OWNERS: DO NOT PLAY DVDs ON YOUR SLIM PS2. It drastically shortens the life of the console.
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