150m PlayStation 2 consoles shipped, over 1.5b units of PS2 software

by Christopher Grant on Feb 14th 2011 11:30AM

So just how much is 150 million? If Sony was limited to shipping only one PlayStation 2 per minute, it would've taken over 285 years to reach the milestone it announced today; instead, it took only 10 years and 11 months since the console debuted in Japan in early 2000 to ship 150 million units.

Curiously, nearly 30% of the press release is dedicated to the EyeToy camera, which (get this!) "tracks the users' hands or body movement through the camera" – if only Sony paid that much attention to the promising peripheral when it was released! Other fun facts: The PlayStation 2 library is a whopping 10,828 titles deep (that's nearly three titles released every day since the console was released!) with more than 1.52 billion units of software sold.

Let's put it another way, if a Tyrannosaurus Rex bought one piece of PS2 software every ... hey, where are you going?

Source: SCEI

Tags: eyetoy, sales

Reader Comments (61)

Long live the king!

@Dannyboi68

Indeed!

@Dannyboi68

Until the DS passes it up which looks to be soon.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Your desire to always be first or close to first in the comments sometimes shows through too much.

@ItsameMatt03

Why was he downvoted? The DS has sold over 145 million so far. It'll definitely end up passing the PS2.

The PlayStation 2 library is a whopping 10,828 titles deep (that's nearly three titles released every day since the console was released!)

holy shiiiit

I owned a PS2 for about a year before I traded it towards an Xbox about 3 months before the release of Halo 2.

Despite my collecting of old consoles, I've not had the desire to add a PS2 back into my collection.

@ItsameMatt03 You should look up how many actual "good" games xbox had. Because out of that 10,000 about 4/5 of those games were "great." I hope it was worth it just to play Halo....

@tidus5ffx

Actually, if I had only played Halo, it would have still definitely been worth it, but luckily the Xbox was a great console too. It just appealed to me more, and most of my friends got Xbox's to play XBL. Plus I had my GCN too, so I was plenty occupied.

This generation I've still played Xbox (360) most of my time, but the first couple years of the Wii's life cycle took a lot of my gaming time, and since I got my PS3 a year and a half ago I've caught up(and am still catching up) on all the PS exclusives.

@tidus5ffx

Although I was mainly an xbox gamer, I agree with you that there were quite a lot of good ps2 games (ignoring the junk)

No question, the PS2 is my favorite console of all time, followed closely by the Super NES. I've got over 60 games in my PS2 library, and ALL of them are stellar AAA titles.

It's the system I recommend for getting people into gaming. My girlfriend loves hers to death.

@bigwhiteyeti

It's ridiculous how many good games it has. I still have a PS2 games backlog. I can barely keep up with my current-gen backlog. Not enough hours in a day...

@WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot I guarantee most Americans AND Japanese would disagree with you. That is why they have sold so many consoles..what do people just buy the dumb thing to look at????

Wow!

Well, if people wanna still buy PS2s then Sony keep the PS2 in production.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S A LOT OF PS2'S!!!!!!!!!!!

Am I the only one who thought the title of this article meant 150 metres, and the image was a comparison pic with with Godzilla?

Seems just a little bit silly now that I think about it...

@Haywire

I also throught it meant 150 metres at first but then I realized this is an American site so what would they be doing with metres?

I loved my GameCube more, but credit due where credit owed. Those are sone staggering numbers PS2. Very pro...

@religiousjedi Amen. I love the PS2, but I can never get enough of Paper Mario:TTYD. It's a shame the GameCube was so underrated.

@religiousjedi Hey back in those days as far as I was concerned the PS2 and Gamecube were the same system because both had outstanding games.

And precisely zero of those titles work on my PS3. Sigh...

@Level 5

on your PS3..

@Level 5 Here's a novel idea, play your PS2 games on a PS2. I know, crazy!

@Level 5
Maybe they dont work on YOUR PS3, but they do on mine! :)
Lets just hope that when the PS4 comes out people dont complain about the available library of games again causing Sony to remove backwards compatibility to force people to focus on the native titles... again.

The PS4 will likely be based on some quad-core ARM CPU and not compatible with the PS3/PS2, even at launch.

@PointlessPuppies

Here's an even crazier idea:how about a product keeps some of it's most important features! A PS2 looks like SHIT on an HDTV*, and means more cables/shelf space as well.

*it still isn't great looking playing on a PS3, but it is nicer.

@PN04 Lets hope when the PS4 comes out that Sony actually goes back to what they USE to do and actually make GOOD games that aren't ALL about multi-players. They day Sony tried to compete with the 360 making COUNTLESS multi-players is the day the PS3 failed....with a few exceptions: (uncharted, metal gear, god of war, killzone, etc.)

Love my PS2! Awesome software as well as hardware.

I still got my phat PS2 from 2004, and it still works today just as fine as it did back then.

@DjiegoMoz
Mine randomly lost PSone BC, but apart from that, mine still works as well! It really shows the quality of the console that it lasted this long!

@DjiegoMoz

I still have my 2001 Ps2. it still works, even though I've had to replace the lens and laser once each. Best console I've owned.

Since my PS3 got nerfed, I went back to my PS2. And by god, I missed the simplicity.

So...what about the T-Rex?

Am I the only one who wants to know what the "Other Way" was!?

@Danjcb

If a T-Rex bought PS2 software everyday, it would've never died of boredom

@Corsico

Are you saying the PS2 doesn't have quality titles? Because if so, I'm going to have to call you a complete idiot.

@TraceurRyuk Prepping for LBP2 where do you see "corisco"'s comment?? I don't see it??

@Corsico

It's quantity AND quality.
Unlike the Wii.

Congrats Sony and PS2. Truly a god among consoles.
Too bad the PS3 likely wont achieve that kind of success. I love mine.

@scratchh Actually, it will probably still outlive all the consoles of this generation because of Sony's commitment to their consoles. The PS2 passed the projected 10 year lifecycle Sony gave it when they launched it last year and it's still putting out. With Nintendo and Microsoft showing absolutely no interest in supporting their past consoles then all Sony has to do is keep it alive and it will grow because it will be cheap. It'll be child's play to move PS3s in the next generation if they hit the $100-150 price point and the Wii and 360 are no longer supported.

@oJMan240o

Microsoft and Sony both have a 10 year life cycle view for the PS3 and 360.

Neither is going to be randomly left on it's own any time soon.

@Corsico Yeah... Kingdom Hearts, Grand Turismo, Killzone, FF X through XII, Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter/Jak series. And obviously those are just dust on the surface of the mountain of great games on that console. You need to get your head checked.

Congrats! It's just sad to think that not even 10 percent of those PS2 owners have Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, or ICO, but I digress ... three cheers on a sales milestone, a hearty library of treasured classics, and a truly enviable lifespan.

PS2 is the king of consoles, DS is the king of handhelds.

And I highly doubt either will be superseded.

@tendoboy1984

Ok, ok we get it!

@Shockwave
Wait I didnt get it.
Something about PS2's and Window messenger.

It's still fairly strong in Japan AND is rampantly hacked.

@oJMan240o The WORST of the FF's? Why mention those in the same list as Sly and others? Replace FF___ with Shadow of the Colossus and you're golden. At least put in ICO which is an absolute classic for the console.

What an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations, Sony!

@Corsico
God of War and GTA FTW.

"Curiously, nearly 30% of the press release is dedicated to the EyeToy camera, which (get this!) "tracks the users' hands or body movement through the camera" – if only Sony paid that much attention to the promising peripheral when it was released! "

You got that wrong, it's the consumer that didn't pay attention. Sony continued to support the camera in South America because that's the only place the games were selling. I know you guys like to play the sarcasm card but at least try to get your facts right. The EyeToy didnt fail because of sony, the EyeToy failed because no one wanted to play motion controlled games.

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150m PlayStation 2 consoles shipped, over 1.5b units of PS2 software

Reader Comments (61)

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:32AM Dannyboi68 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:50PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 4:16PM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 4:41PM JasonA said

Posted: Feb 15th 2011 1:40AM Esposch said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:34AM puffvater said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 4:15PM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 6:42PM tidus5ffx said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 9:35PM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Feb 15th 2011 1:14AM Veetzs said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:34AM bigwhiteyeti said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:20PM Finito said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 6:55PM tidus5ffx said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:36AM MLC said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:39AM TheManEl said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:40AM Haywire said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:02PM TaintedKane said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:41AM religiousjedi said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:42PM Silent Intent said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 6:44PM tidus5ffx said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:41AM Level 5 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:45AM dishwasher said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:01PM PointlessPuppies said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:27PM PN04 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 2:23PM Elranzer said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 6:17PM ThePenIsMightier said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 6:49PM tidus5ffx said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:42AM DjiegoMoz said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:45AM Danjcb said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 6:20PM ironneko said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:42AM CaptainProtonX said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:44AM Danjcb said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:56AM PSN StaticShock said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:51AM TraceurRyuk Prepping for LBP2 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 7:01PM tidus5ffx said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 11:58AM Dizazter said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:01PM scratchh said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:18PM oJMan240o said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 7:52PM This Little Man Says His Name Is said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:11PM oJMan240o said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:17PM Epoque said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:27PM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:29PM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:35PM Shockwave said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:16PM glamajamma said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:29PM BigD145 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:35PM BigD145 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:51PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:14PM glamajamma said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:32PM PN04 said

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