With 160 million units sold, the PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console of all time, and for a long time it looked like it would never even be threatened. But then… the Nintendo Switch was released. In September, it was confirmed to have sold 146 million units, catching up quickly with Sony’s record-breaking console – and now it’s actually overtaken it in the world’s biggest gaming market.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella reveals via Bluesky that “Switch surpassed PS2 in US lifetime hardware unit sales” in November. There will also be a colossal amount of consoles under American Christmas trees, so it will continue to grow at a fast pace.
The PlayStation 2 sold 53 million units in the US, but there is actually one device that sold even more, namely the Nintendo DS with 57 million units sold. Presumably this will be overtaken in time by the Switch, and it’s not unreasonable to think that it will also overtake the PlayStation 2 on a worldwide basis in due course – although sales are likely to start to slow down once Nintendo launches the Switch 2.