PlayStation 2: 50 million units sold
Sony is in all probability planning on the new PlayStation 5 (PlayStation 4 design is probably finished by now). Still PlayStation 2 hasn’t lost it’s touch with the 50th million unit now sold to someone in the US. Those 50 million units is just in the US mind you.
Looks like Sony is not stopping the production of the PlayStation 2 just yet. Although it’s competition, the Xbox, has not been around for quite a while, the PlayStation 2 got sold to about 200,000 customers in November of 2008 alone. One reason for this is most definitely the cost of a PlayStation 2 which is about US$ 130 for a new unit compared to US$ 400 for a PlayStation 3.
Although the PlayStation 2 sales is still going strong, the PlayStation 3 sales is below it’s competitors like the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. The Xbox 360 goes for about $200 while the Wii is at about $250.
The most recently available figures from the NPD Group show that Microsoft sold 14.5 million of those Xbox consoles. Nintendo’s GameCube sold 12 million units in the US. NPD puts US sales of the PS2 through November at 43 million.
When the PlayStation 2 debuted, its early popularity was enhanced by its inclusion of a DVD player, which was innovative in 2000. These days, beyond its price, the PS2 is still attractive because Sony nurtures it. Now-iconic titles like “Grand Theft Auto III” and the original “Guitar Hero” made their name on the PlayStation 2, and Sony continues to churn out new games for the console.
