Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) President and CEO Jim Ryan has confirmed that PlayStation 2 sales reached a staggering 160 million units sold worldwide.
The soon-to-be-retired gaming boss offered an updated figure during a chat on a recent episode of the Official PlayStation Podcast. The conversation saw him covering his time at Sony while talking about the company’s direction for the future.
When asked about what the 2000s brought to mind, Ryan responded with, “The 2000s? That would be, I would say, 160 million, which is the number of PS2s that we sold. A high watermark.”
Our last update on PlayStation 2 sales put Sony’s second home console at 159 million units sold. Sony officially reported 150 million units moved in 2011, but the device remained in production for another two years after that. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad would later say that sales eventually rose to 155.1 million by March 2012.
“In the fiscal year ending March 2013 a total of 16.5 million PS3 & PS2 units were shipped," Ahmad said in 2018. "PS2 was still being shipped during this period so the info we're missing is how many units were PS2 and how many were PS3. Using PS3's 80m sell in announcements as a guide you can work backwards and ultimately work out that PS2 [sales from March 2012 through the end of its production] must have been close to 4m."
The PlayStation 2 has long dominated the list of best-selling consoles of all time. With 160 million units sold, the next closest game-playing device is the Nintendo DS with 154.02 million units sold. After that is the Nintendo Switch at 139.36 million units sold. Unlike the two devices ahead it, the Switch is still in rotation as Nintendo’s go-to console. Though rumors say that will change soon, there’s no telling what Switch’s numbers will be by the end of its lifecycle.
As for Ryan, his time at PlayStation will come to an end in only a few days. Starting April 1, this Monday, he will officially no longer be with SIE, with Hiroki Totoki set to take over as interim CEO that same day. The change marks the end of a 30-year run at PlayStation, so it was no surprise to see other figureheads like Xbox’s Phil Spencer chime in to pay tribute.
For more on Ryan’s thoughts on Sony’s gaming history, be sure to check out the list of his favorite PlayStation games, where he named Grand Theft Auto 3 as his favorite PlayStation 2 game.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
