PS2 becomes the best-selling video game system of all time

By Ryan Fleming Published February 3, 2011

Sony’s games division has posted record levels of profits for the first three quarters of the 2010 fiscal year, topping $564 million after three quarters. Of the company’s recent sales, 6 million are from the PlayStation 2, pushing the total number sold to over 150 million, making it the best-selling console of all time.

Forget the PS3 or Xbox 360, ignore the Wii–even the Nintendo DS can’t touch the total number of PlayStation 2s sold globally. Sony’s ten year old system simply refuses to die, and following an impressive six million systems sold last year, the PS2 has officially moved to the king of the heap and become the best-selling console of all time.

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The total number of PS2s sold worldwide has officially reached 151.12 million. Despite its replacement celebrating its fourth anniversary last year, the PS2 continues to find an audience. New titles are still being released for the system, and nearly 14.2 million games have been sold for the veteran system in the first three quarters of the fiscal year.

By comparison, the six million PS2s sold in 2010 were just two million shy of the eight million that the PSP sold. The PlayStation 3 sold over 15 million, which makes the six million sold for the ten year old console even more impressive.

Of course it helps that the PS2 sells brand new for $99 (and less for used systems), but with 2.1 million units sold in December alone, the PS2 crossed an impressive milestone by reaching 150 million units. Its closest competitor is the Nintendo DS, which is about to hit the 145 million mark, but will likely continue to slow as the Nintendo 3DS looms. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined sold nearly 119 million, the PS1 sold 102.5 million, and the Wii has sold 84.64 million to date.

Sony’s gaming division was actually a bright spot for the company, after reporting a 1.7-percent loss overall. Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that the PS3 is also a happy camper, having sold 10 million more games than the year before at this same point, while the PS3 console has sold 15 million consoles, 2 million more than it sold all of last year.

Former Gaming/Movies Editor

Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…

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