It's not just a vague average and like "oh yeah the Switch had a couple of peak years better than the PS2 but otherwise the PS2 was more popular".

No the Switch has kicked the PS2's ass every year for basically 8 straight years now. It has a massive 20+ million unit lead over the PS2 launch aligned. The PS2 is not even close. For the important years of even the PS2's lifespan (can you even name a significant PS2 game released after 2008?) it's been dominated in sales by the Switch. 

So lets state that for the record and not get that twisted, this isn't really even a race, it's a *blow out* for the Switch right now, the PS2 was never, ever even close to this popular from 2000-2009 when basically all of its major games were released and the majority of its product cycle. 

The only reason Switch may not get to 160 is only because Nintendo is going to force that platform into premature retirement because they want to sell the successor system (same exact thing that happened with the Nintendo DS, which also could have easily surpassed 160). Everyone and their grandma knows full damn well Nintendo could drop the Switch 1 to $200-$250 and let it sell for another 3-4 years it and would easily surpass 160 million and probably even 170 million. Who here is even going to debate that? 

So what are we even talking about? Like I feel like this needs to be stated in blunt terms, because people act like this is some kind of neck and neck when it really is not. This is really hilariously badly characterized. 

The Switch has completely thrashed the PS2 for 8 full years now and the only reason it may not hit 160 is because Nintendo is calling off the dogs, not because it couldn't do so if given the chance, not even because there isn't demand. I think most anyone would agree the Switch 1 could easily sell 3-4 million units/year for a few more years past 2026 if Nintendo was willing to give the system a proper "budget price senior platform phase" where it gets to sell for say $200-$250 for a few more years. That's why I don't really consider the PS2 the king of anything, it's been beaten and beaten badly in sales year after year for almost an entire decade by other systems. Head to head the Switch has beaten the PS2 badly. If you're actually the legit no.1, the PS2 should not be that far behind and shouldn't actually be behind after 8 years at all. How are you supposedly "more popular" while you're also more than 20+ million units behind after what is a full generation cycle of time (I think we would all agree about 8 full years of a sample size is full generation's worth of time), lol. 

All this discussion derives from the common assumption that sucess = sold units and, therefore, the most sucessful console is the most sold one. I think you are claiming for people to separate sucess from sold units, which is a valid thing to speak out. But, at the end of the day, the final number of units solds is indeed what most people care about. This final number is influenced by a lot of factors, of course, but all these stuff is included in this "competition" of who's gonna be the most sold console ever. Personaly, I think that Sony dropping the PS2's year after year to the point where it costed $100 vs the Switch never getting a official price cut is something to be talked, but the extremely high demand for the PS2 in its final years is also a merit of its. "There was only demend because the price was low", we'll never know the answer for it. Anyways, as I said before, I think it's better to separete things and conversations. One thing is talking about the most sold console ever and how the Switch still can or cannot get this tittle for it or how the PS2 got it, another thing is talking about which console is the most successfull or even which one was the most popular

I mostly agree though there is a point to be made about just how long the lifespan of the PS2 was even if a big factor in that was them screwing up the PS3. Its peak popularity is lower than the DS and Switch but it retained popularity for much longer than the DS and will retain it longer than the Switch will even with its successor platform coming out years sooner compared to the Switch so I do think it counts for something if it remains the best selling despite the Switch having years longer to itself before being replaced.

There's also other factors like how the Switch benefited a lot from covid and gaming being significantly bigger now compared to the PS2 days though it did never get a price cut so was never really cheap like the DS and PS2 after they got price cuts. In terms of hardware sales I'd actually argue that the most impressive one of the three is likely the DS, it was such a behemoth during its peak period when gaming was smaller. If software sales are included then the winner is probably the Switch though.

I would add to this comment that nowadays we have so much competition for our attention if we compared to the PS2's time. That's one thing in favor of the PS2

The PS2 is older today than the Atari 2600 was when the former was launched, and ended selling over 5 times more. How many Playstation fans gloated about its peak years being higher than 2600? Console sales significance is dictated by the popularity and circumstances of the medium itself. PS2's 160 million impresses more in a sense than today's equivalent. NES's 60 million is much more impressive than 3DS's 75 million. And Atari 2600's 30 million crushes N64 and Xbox Series XS's totals.

A successor's failure or bumpy start don't necessarily equate to higher demand for its predecessor. Unlike the PS2, the once crazy popular DS and certainly Wii didn't have particularly high demand at the end of their generation despite the 3DS's lackluster performance and Wii U's failure. They were never going to have a PS2-like tail. And let's not forget that the "oh so awful" PS3 ended selling nearly as many units as 3DS and Wii U combined.

The Switch covered two huge markets in a time where gaming is massive, it had no competitors in the handheld space. If Soundwave were in the wrong camp (Playstation), he wouldn't be quiet about the "fake/bloated" Switch demand from COVID, and how Playstation consoles were unfairly production capped for 3 years. In my mind, the Switch is definitely the most successful platform of all time due to its record profitability. But you can't really draw meaningful comparisons between it and a super dominant platform from 25 years ago. Gaming is several times bigger today.

The PS2 is worthy of its throne. I hope it retains it for another glorious 25 years of haters being mad salty about it, whining like Gargamel, and blaming the DVD drive!

That is another good point yeah. Compared to 20 years ago there is gonna be an increasing number of kids in developed countries growing up without ever having a console cause browsing sites like Tiktok for hours on end on a phone provides more than enough stimulation for them.

I disagree it retained popularity longer than the Switch at all. 

First of all lets get one thing clear, the Switch has sold more than the PS2 for basically it's entire primary product cycle and even late product cycle. The PS2 needed 11 years to hit 150 million, the Switch did that in 8 years and at present I think you'd be hard pressed to say the PS2 circa 2009 was more popular or relevant than the Switch is today in 2025. The Switch as of 2024 was still the 2nd best selling console on a monthly basis with new software titles still debuting in the top 10. The PS2 at the same age? Was well behind the Wii, DS, XBox 360, PSP, and PS3 in popularity at this point with virtually no new big charting games. It was essentially just a budget system at that point. 

The Switch has beaten the PS2 and been ahead of the PS2 sales pace basically since day 1 and that continues almost here almost 9 years later. With no price drop either, whereas the PS2 had several price cuts. 

The Switch is the more popular system, if it wasn't it would never be 20+ million units ahead at 8+ years into its product cycle. Nintendo is just prematurely going to shut down Switch 1 supply because they want people to be forced to buy a Switch 2. Nothing really too complicated about that. 

Again, who here honestly believes if Nintendo gave the Switch even one price cut (whereas the PS2 had like 4 of them) and let the Switch 1 ride for another 3-4 years that it wouldn't easily cruise past 160 mill? It obviously would. Anyone with any logical sense will admit that. 

If the PS2 was the more popular system it should be beating the Switch head to head in relevant prime cycle years at least some of the time, it should be getting to 120 mill, 130 mill, 140 mill, etc. faster. Not only is that not the case, it's not even close. Like I could understand if it was something like the PS2 is within about 5 mill of the Switch and then pulling ahead, but the Switch is country mile ahead, this isn't even a contest 8, 9 years in. It's not even competitive head to head, head to head the PS2 can't compete it needs several extra years tacked on where it got sell at $99 to barely eek out a 160 mill number that isn't even a sales figure, it's a production number (likely includes all kinds of crap like kiosk units, demo units, defective/returned units, quite probably even things like developer units, etc. etc.). 

You, on the other hand, mentioned COVID, at the same time that you minimized all the homes that got a PS2 just because it was the cheapest DVD player in the market.

I also want to point out the flaw of the "gaming is bigger today" argument. Gaming is bigger today because of the mobile market. That's it, that's where most players are, that's where the big bucks are made. If the console market really got so much bigger, then why isn't the PS5 getting anywhere close to the PS2 sales, as the PS4 didn't either. I know many players migrated to Steam, but that's what you get for letting go of your exclusives.

Lastly, I want to point out that, believe it or not, not only mobile is where most players are, mobile is also in competition with all the other platforms, because if before people had to buy a console or a gaming PC for their gaming fix, today many people get their fix from mobile games already. And handhelds are specially affected by the mobile market... Sony literally left the handheld market and blamed it on phones.

When it comes to hardware sales it's not a debate that it'll retain popularity for longer, the previous fiscal year for the Switch is 10.8m which is notably lower than the equivalent for the PS2 at 13.7m and that'll increasingly be the case over the next few years so in the last few years the PS2 will have greater demand. For the rest I literally said I mostly agree and that it had lower peak popularity so of course I agree that the Switch is the overall more popular system. I was just pointing out that the PS2 does have points in its favour one being its impressively long lifespan despite its successor coming out just six years in.

The only point in its favor is it may have higher sales in like years 11, 12, 13, lol. 

The Switch is ahead of the PS2 every year its been available and would cross 160 million if Nintendo allowed it to sell long enough to do so. I don't think there is much of an argument to even be made against that. 

The PS2 had like 4 price cuts, let the Switch have even 1 and let it sell for the same amount of time and it would go past 170 million. 

The only thing keeping the PS2 in this "race" is that Nintendo wants to sell Switch 2 systems more than they want this record. Has nothing to do with the relative popularity of the systems though.