PS4 has sold through 35.9million units as of January 3rd!

[Zanten]

Great numbers!

since there seems to be a lot of PS2 related chatter going on, thought I'd chime in to point out that while I personally don't think the PS4 will end up selling to the extent of the PS2 in the long run, it's more due to the massive advantages that the PS2 had over its sixth generation competitors, advantages the PS4 simply doesn't have to the same extent. o.o I don't believe that not pulling 155 million units sold by the end of generation should be viewed as any form of failure, far from it, as (Looking at the factors that helped propel the PS2 to such overwhelming dominance) the PS2 reaching it was kind of akin to lightning striking a four leaf clover twice under a blue moon. O_O

Apples to oranges has been brought up earlier in the thread, with regards to how the PS2 only launched in Japan initially, but not sure if anyone has brought up the factors that actually swing things back in favor of the PS2.

For example, a good way to look at how the sixth generation began is to look at how the fifth generation ended; the original Playstation sold over three times the number of units as its nearest competitor, the Nintendo 64, and essentially annihilated other competitors like the Sega Saturn, and a smattering of others that barely got off the ground. Going into the pre-release period for the sixth generation, Playstation was the thing to own, and unlike the PS3's PR suicide, the PS2 took that success and built upon it to make the 'sequel' even bigger. By comparison, the PS4 certainly got a major hype boost after the initial stumbles of the Xbox One during the pre-launch period, I'd argue that the PS2 still held a hype advantage by the simple grace of being 'The Brand To Own' at the time, with Nintendo in an incredibly distant second place. (Albeit a much quieter hype since, y'know, no VGChartz back then. ;P )

Then there's launch periods when compared to the competitors. The first console to launch was the Sega Dreamcast, in November 1998 for Japan and September-November 1999 for everyone else... while it was the first to do so, it was coming off of the Sega Saturn, which (according to the number I could find anyway,) sold less than a tenth of what the original Playstation had sold. Soooo definitely an uphill climb, and ultimately the Dreamcast simply couldn't. The Playstation 2, meanwhile, launched in March 2000 for Japan, and then October-November that same year globally. Nintendo (its closest competitor in the fifth gen) didn't launch until September 2001 for Japan, and then November2001-May2002 globally, while Microsoft's new Xbox didn't launch until November 2001 for the U.S. and then Febuary2002-March2002 globally.

So in other words, PS2 had more than a year in every single market where its only sixth generation competitor was Sega, giving it the same kind of head start the Xbox 360 had against the PS3 in the seventh generation. What numbers I could find (admittedly Wikipedia,) suggest that the PS2 had already shipped more than ninteen million units by the end of September 2001, only two weeks after the Gamecube had launched in Japan only, and two weeks before the Xbox was to launch in North America only. That's an insane gap right off the bat, and God only knows it would have helped it secure lots and lots of third party exclusives going forward, to say nothing for the momentum. o.o In addition, this was the first console Microsoft had thrown into the ring, meaning they largely had to build up its fanbase from scratch. (Props to them in that case, as I do believe they edged out the Gamecube to secure second place.)

The PS4 DID also have a head start in many European and Asian regions when compared to the Xbox One, but it never had the same duration of a head start (the biggest gap I believe being maybe six to nine months, excluding really, really small markets?) and it launched nearly head-to-head with the Xbox One in many of the biggest single markets such as North America, the U.K., Germany, etc. In addition, by now the Xbox One had a sizable Xbox fanbase to draw upon, a far cry from the day it was the new kid on the block.

(Just to get this out of the way, the argument could be made that the Wii U had the same advantages, as they launched earlier than either competitor, and were coming off the very successful (though not PS2-level dominant) Wii, and they were even cheaper than their competitors. That's another story altogether, but basically the nature of the Wii's audience, some apparent marketing confusion amongst the casual non-game-following audience on whether the Wii U was just an attachment for the Wii, and obviously less-than-stellar third party support that subsequently turned into very poor third party support prevented them from capitalizing on those advantages. The PS2 had none of these issues, and indeed their third-party lineup was absolutely stellar.)

Then there's other possible factors, such as the PS2 also operating as a mulifunctional DVD player that could help get it into more homes (something far more common this generation,) and the fact that the thing kept going for more than a decade! o_O I think someone earlier in the thread mentioned a pricing advantage, but as I don't know much about the respective launch prices/price drops for the three consoles, someone else can feel free to pick up that thread if they have information to share.



tl;dr: The PS2 was an example of a perfect storm of things going right. It had the brand power, a substantial head start over its previous generation's closest competitor, and was able to rocket on from the success of its direct predecessor to attain new, lofty heights. And while the PS4 has had numerous advantages over its competitors this gen, the PS2's were all just bigger. =P IMO, it hitting the same overall figures by the end of the generation would be a miracle. (And to be clear, if it does just that, I'll be the first in line to eat delicious, delicious crow.)

That being said, let me reiterate, these numbers ARE fantastic, and that the PS4 can be favorably compared to the PS2's sales in any capacity are in and of themselves quite impressive.