Sony sells its 50 millionth PlayStation 2 in North America

Joining the all-important 50 million club today is Sony, which has just recently moved its 50 millionth PlayStation 2 game console here in North America. For those with short-term memories, the PS2 hit the scene in the year 2000, well before the iPod, Windows XP and America's current president took their rightful places. NPD numbers estimate that around 43 million of these 50 million units were sold here in the US of A, and if you're really looking for some staggering numbers, get a load of this: In November 2008, 206,000 PS2s were moved in America, while just 172,000 more PS3s were sold in the same window. Talk about longevity / sluggish adoption, respectively.

Update: We meant 172,000, not 1,720,000.

[Ali @ Jan 14th 2009 8:35PM]

172 million more??? someone is shoving in extra zeros somewhere

[Josh @ Jan 14th 2009 8:38PM]

You beat me to it...

[Pradster @ Jan 14th 2009 8:59PM]

Honestly! I didn't get that stat either!

[aznofazns @ Jan 14th 2009 9:12PM]

darn i'm never the first one to catch engadget's silly typos

[Chird @ Jan 14th 2009 10:04PM]

Either way, last I checked 200 thousand was WAAAAAAY more than 172 million

[DD @ Jan 15th 2009 4:07AM]

I was just thinking that 172 million is a staggering number for PS3... then I realized that it took PS2 near a decade to sell 50 million. heh I'm glad I wasn't the only one thrown off.

[max @ Jan 15th 2009 4:58AM]

so i'm guessing it's supposed to be thousand instead of million?
right?

[Nick @ Jan 15th 2009 8:57AM]

Engadget, where accuracy is prime.

[ImaYam @ Jan 14th 2009 8:37PM]

in 2009, who's counting?


but GJ sony! i love my slim! (since it doesnt depreciate anyway @ $129)

[Chery @ Jan 14th 2009 8:37PM]

Congrats Sony - that's a lot of models.

What are the chances they'll achieve the same with the PS3?

[ImaYam @ Jan 14th 2009 8:39PM]

..slim..

(c what i did here?)

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Jan 14th 2009 8:49PM]

Yes, I see what you did there...

[Jonathan @ Jan 14th 2009 9:55PM]

I hope so. Here's drinking to a good return on an initial investment. Maybe not but it sure is a great media server. Would be great for games too if I wasn't so cheap.

[LoVeRSaMa @ Jan 15th 2009 1:59PM]

I see what you did there, pretty smart.
Id praise you more if i didnt love my PS3 so much [=

[joshh @ Jan 14th 2009 8:39PM]

ya there's definitely a type in there LOL 172 'million' more.

[redfish @ Jan 14th 2009 11:40PM]

Oh yes, I see. There's definitely a 'type" in there ;-0

[absinthe party @ Jan 15th 2009 8:30AM]

You accidentally your comment!

[Bryan @ Jan 14th 2009 8:40PM]

Wow! That's a lot of PS3's sold. Makes the 50 million PS2's sold seem like nothing.

Didn't XP hit in '00 and the iPod come out in '01??

WTF is going on tonight??

[Nick J @ Jan 14th 2009 8:42PM]

...and

"...the iPod, Windows XP and America's current president took their rightful places. "

....really?

...America's current president is in his rightful place?

[solarpos @ Jan 14th 2009 8:55PM]

Yes, his rightful place. The way out!

[Charles R Hamilton @ Jan 14th 2009 10:11PM]

And Bryan wins the BDS award. Whatever are you people going to bitch about when George Bush is gone?

[Charles R Hamilton @ Jan 14th 2009 10:13PM]

Rather make that Nick J.....Sorry Bryan.

[Tony @ Jan 14th 2009 10:17PM]

Both Windows XP and the Apple iPod came out late 2001.

[Bryan @ Jan 14th 2009 10:18PM]

No prob Charles. I don't even know what a BDS is so I ain't sure if you're being sarcastic or not.

[Nick J @ Jan 14th 2009 10:45PM]

I too, have no idea what the BSD award. A quick google search turns up BDS Marketing, and the awards they present to some employees. But I doubt I won one of those.

And:
I won't have to bitch about anything at all...until someone else makes a series of idiotic decisions that ruins the country...thats the whole point...I'm not bitching just for the sake of bitching...

[slibbydoo @ Jan 14th 2009 11:21PM]

Pretty sure Windows 2000 came out in 2000, not Windows XP...go figure

[Rob @ Jan 14th 2009 8:40PM]

"In November 2008, 206,000 PS2s were moved in America, while just 172 million more PS3s were sold in the same window."

Am I missing something here?

[Sean @ Jan 14th 2009 9:13PM]

Yes, the previous 7 comments

[Dave Chappelle @ Jan 15th 2009 4:18AM]

what i dont get is wtf they used the word 'window' in there, it just further confused me.

[JohnTitor @ Jan 14th 2009 8:41PM]

they probably meant 172 thousand more
and I'm not sure I would agree with this one either "America's current president took [his] rightful [place]"

[Elvis @ Jan 15th 2009 12:26AM]

The way PS3 sales have been going, it might have just been 172 more...

[Kevlar @ Jan 15th 2009 1:01AM]

My cousins bought one of those.
It sits on their shelf like a little black obelisk of doom.

Funny thing is, they still don't own any PS3 games. None at all. And they're all pretty big gamers on the Wii.
It just sits there... kind of like a shadow... there, but not really "there".

Until someone wants to watch a Blu-ray, that is.

[THizzle7XU @ Jan 15th 2009 1:05PM]

Are you Al Gore?

[Jeff @ Jan 14th 2009 8:42PM]

Engadget = 0
Numbers/Counting = 1

[BigD145 @ Jan 14th 2009 9:31PM]

Psh. I'm pretty sure 'numbers' can 'count' higher than 1.

[Jeff @ Jan 14th 2009 10:43PM]

Engadget - 0
Dyslexia - 1

[xValentine @ Jan 15th 2009 2:58AM]

Engadget just divided by 0.

[Jon Niola @ Jan 14th 2009 8:42PM]

Maybe if Sony adjusted pricing to accommodate both the current competitive marketplace and economic climate they would be able to improve their rate of adoption.

[Game_playa @ Jan 14th 2009 8:43PM]

Enough guys, I think they've realized they made a typo.

[kavendano14 @ Jan 14th 2009 8:45PM]

NO ONE CAN STOP US!!!

[Ignatius @ Jan 14th 2009 9:03PM]

Well, they haven't changed it yet as of this post, so no, they haven't realized it yet.

[Jay Voorhees @ Jan 14th 2009 9:44PM]

Don't worry, I'm sure its because Murph's head is still tired from CES.

[Bash2cool @ Jan 14th 2009 8:44PM]

wow 172 million more?

didn't know the wii had competition.

[Homeboy @ Jan 14th 2009 8:55PM]

The PS2 is one of the biggest contributing factor for the sluggish PS3 sales. With Singstar and other fun games there is very little justification for non-traditional gamers to buy the much more expensive PS3. Even hardcore gamers can easily satisfy themselves with an Xbox 360 as has many titles that are no longer exclusive to the PS3. Not to mention PGR3 and Forza which are great racing games while the new Gran Turismo is taking half a decade to be released. And oh, Bluray is is now a dead benefit as the prices for standalone players have rocked dropped during the recent 6 months and by the end of the year Bluray players will be much more affordable.

In order for the PS3 to remain competitive Sony has to do something drastic as the Bluray novelty has complete worn off and the console and left with no major competitive advantage at the price its sold at.

[Bryan @ Jan 14th 2009 9:02PM]

I ain't up on all the new $200 Blu-ray players cause I own the PS3 but don't these 'cheap' players skip out on a lot of the features like the 2.0 profile and are missing the TrueHD compatibility.
The PS3 makes a great media center. Toss in a $200 Blu-ray player and a standalone media player and you're looking at $350-$400 spend.

[Tabajara Labs @ Jan 14th 2009 9:37PM]

I do agree. For me, the only thing that makes me THINK about buying a PS3 is GT5. And only when I'm rich enough to get a true-hd plasma. I still play GT4 everyday on my PS2 :) And it is a great videogame, and more if you think it is some 9 years old.

BTW, the 42 million in america...well, much of this 42 million was exported to Brazil :) Here, almost all homes has at least one (!) PS2 :oD

[Colin Potter @ Jan 15th 2009 12:56AM]

@ Bryan: Players that have a list price of $200 are crap... but a lot of the better name brands like Sony and Samsung have been seeing players on sale around/under the $200 mark since november... soon enough the new models will come out with an even lower list price, meaning lower sale prices.

[Michael @ Jan 15th 2009 5:12AM]

Yeah, Sony shot themselves in the foot when they insisted on the blu-ray player as the premier feature in the PS3. What they did so well when they introduced the PSX to the world, even when it seemed like suicide to face giants like Nintendo and Sega was produce an affordable console that had a great library and was relatively easy to program for. Hell, they even made it affordable for anyone to program for the Playstation (Net Yaroze).

Now they've made it clear that they're far less concerned about what people want in a game console, but what Sony wants for technology, and that's to be the dominant force behind a new media format. They chose the wrong time to introduce Blu-ray, though. High Definition streaming is quite possible now and network capable consoles without mechanical drives will very probably be the future of all consoles. Microsoft made a very wise decision in working with Netflix to bring their service to the 360. I've watched very many HD programs on my 360 now and have only been using the service for the past week or so. I can safely say that I don't need Blu-ray for HD content now.

[Homeboy @ Jan 15th 2009 5:54AM]

Bryan: PS3 is a decent BluRay player but quite a few of all the players just under 300 dollars/euros offer better performance than the PS3 i.e better sound, colours, clarity, sound support and image.

[ED @ Jan 14th 2009 9:01PM]

In A.D. 2101, 172 million PS2s were sold.