Sony confirms PS2 has sold over 160 million

[XtremeBG]

PAOerfulone said:

The last official number Sony themselves stated was “over 155 million.”

Meanwhile, Nintendo just revealed the Switch passed 146 million, bringing it within 10 million and now in striking distance, with the holiday season coming up and still doing respectively well.

And then, just like that, BOOM, Sony says, “Oh yeah, it’s actually over 160 million.”

If you don’t think that’s a coincidence, I got a bridge in San Francisco to sell you!

But even with that updated number, which I’m pretty sure a lot of us assumed was the case anyway, the Switch still has a shot at passing it. It’ll be back within 10 million and striking distance following the holiday season anyway. Even assuming that widely suspected 161.90 million number is true, it’s still got a shot.

I legit think it’s 50/50 right now on whether it does it or not.

It would certainly help if Sony would give us an EXACT number! Because if the Switch finishes within that 160-162 range and we don’t have an exact number from Sony, the debates will rage on forever!

It was first when Nintendo announced 139M I think after the last holidays and then Shawn Layden went out and said 160M, after that Nintendo reported recently 146M and Sony now go back and reaffirming 160M again. It's like cat and mouse. And if Switch actually finishes in the 160-162M range, trust me Sony will go out and announce exact figures ONLY if PS2 is more. For example if the last given Switch numbers are let's say 160.8M, Sony will give exact numbers only if they are more than 160.8M. If they are below the given 160.8M Switch number, they won't go out and give exact figures.

PAOerfulone said:

The other interesting thing about this ongoing chase is that Nintendo still has several cards they have yet to play regarding Switch sales.
The obvious one being - price cuts. We are now in Year 8 of the Switch, and all three models are STILL selling at their launch retail prices of $199/$299/$349 respectively. If they were willing to ease up and drop the prices, I've no doubt in my mind the Switch will pass the PS2.

While shipments for the Switch OLED model are down almost 50% YOY, the regular Switch SKU and the Switch Lite are both flat or even up slightly YOY. And unless I'm missing something, that comes down to pricing. The two cheaper models are just easier to afford and invest in now that the Switch has such a massive and incredible library of games behind it. A library that will now by fully supported on Switch 2, so that way buyers of Switch 1 won't feel scorned for investing in one and buying games for it now, because they'll be able to play those games on the next system, when they're good and ready to make that jump.
If they did it so that all three of them would be cheaper and more affordable, that's going to give the Switch the shot in the arm it needs to reach that finish line and take the PS2's place on the podium.

Very good explanation of the Price situation with Switch. That's how should people approach it, like you here. Because yes, the Switch hasn't had official price cut yet, however the effect of a price cut has been there over the years with the Lite. Because what is the target of price cut ? The people who can't afford the original item at the full price. And the Lite model surely got a big chunk of people who couldn't afford the original model, but could afford the Lite model. In other words, it's not price cut, but it has taken at least half if not more of the effect a price cut would do on the sales. The second part you wrote, again reconfirms what I just wrote. The availability at all time of a cheaper model over the years, helps, and it's surely easier to afford for more casual people that are not so much into gaming, or even hardcore ones that can't afford the normal or the OLED model. Something that people don't often think about when talking about the " no price cut ever " thing.

And yes they still has the card of price cut to play, since they hadn't done it yet, and it will surely add more sales to it since Switch at 149$ looks really appealing. Personally given the economy and the latest prices of different tech items I don't believe they will do any, but time will show. I also agree with price cut, Switch chances of passing PS2 grow way bigger and it's probably a lock.

JackHandy said:

Yesh. I was just having to debate this in the news section.

The Switch is not a home console. It's a handheld with a dock. If it was a home console, you could not natively play it using batteries in the middle of a forest. It would simply be a useless plastic brick, like the PS5 etc. So even if it hits sixty-one-mill, it still won't beat the PS2's home console record. It'll be the number-one-selling handheld of all time, besting the DS... which should be enough for people. After all, no one in their right mind ever thought Nintendo would release a handheld that could top that beast. Ever.

I absolutelly agree.. But the conversation, debate, and the comparison is still here .. and not just here, but everywhere. So it may not be exactly fair, however PS2 can still win this one. Personally with the Switch performance lately in Europe and especially US market's I am seeing the end of the road and numbers around 155M for the Switch, when it's all said and done. Unless they don't put price cut out. Then it will be different beer.

Norion said:

So turns out the former president of SIE who will have had access to the sales data wasn't rounding up after all as some claimed. They shouldn't have waited this long to finally update the sales total but nice to at last get a confirmation of it reaching 160m though it's still annoying they finally updated it but didn't give an exact number to fully settle things. At least the range has been significantly shortened and Zhuge says while the theoretical maximum is 161.8m it's definitely below that so I expect it to be around 160.5m.

It was rounding after all ... He said 160M. Like exactly. Sony said over. What are the chances PS2 sold exactly 160.000.000 ? So it's rounding. But rounding down, not up.