Something we didn’t expect in the year 2024 is that PlayStation 2 would be news. With over a decade since it stopped being manufactured and sold, it is a console that, in commercial terms, is already completely dead and buried. But it seems that there are particular interests in not exactly letting this be the case. Because it turns out that there were still things we didn’t know about it.
Jim Ryan, who officially left his position on March 31, appeared on the official PlayStation podcast to talk about his career and his time at Sony. In those circumstances, he revealed a previously unknown fact. He stated that the PlayStation 2 had sold 160 million units worldwide to date. This contradicts the figures that had been reported, even by Sony.
The latest official figures we have date back more than a decade, to a slightly lower reference. On March 31, 2012, Sony declared that 155 million units of the PlayStation 2 had been sold, making it the best-selling console in history.
What reason is there for Jim Ryan to now come out and say that the figure is not accurate? Because the PlayStation 2 is very close to ceasing to be the best-selling console in history. Nintendo Switch has sold 139.36 million units worldwide as of December 31, 2023, and without a successor in sight yet, it has a good chance of dethroning PlayStation 2 as the best-selling console of all time. At least, it was when its total sales were 155 million.
Although it may seem made up, we actually have reasons to believe that it is a real figure. After all, the PlayStation 2 would not stop being manufactured until early 2013, with the remaining stock being sold in emerging countries, so those additional five million since March 2012 are not unreasonable. They have been brought up due to the proximity of the Nintendo Switch, there is no doubt about that, but that does not mean that there are no reasons to continue thinking that the PlayStation 2 will likely continue to reign as the best-selling console in history in the near future.
