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PlayStation 2 Reaches 60 Million Units

Thanks to IGN for reprinting the Sony press release announcing that worldwide shipment of Sony's PlayStation 2 totaled 60 million units on September 6th. This can be split up into Japan/Asia (14.17 million units since March 4th, 2000), North America (26.42 million units since October 26th, 2000), and Europe/Australia (19.44 million units since November 24th, 2000.) The press release points out that: "Shipment of 60 million units within 3 years and 6 months since the launch is 1.6 times more in volume compared to the same period after launch of the original PlayStation." GamesIndustry.biz also note: "It's been quite a haul for Sony, who shipped their 50 millionth PS2 on January 15th 2003, having hit 40 million just four months previously and 30 million four and a half months prior to that."

51 comments

  1. Just a note... by vitaflo · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Shipped != Sold.

    1. Re:Just a note... by rwven · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, shipped != sold to the STORES. shipped DOES = sold to Sony. they have the luxury of getting their $chaching$ up front

    2. Re:Just a note... by macrom · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Question, one that always fails to make sense to me :

      How in the world can the FIRST POST, which is a full minute (since that's as granular as we get on Slashdot) before the SECOND POST be moderated as Redundant? Anyone?

      Are the moderators suddenly members of the Slashdot Pre-Karma Police, suspended in some sort of aqueous solution, determining if something is redundant in the future?

    3. Re:Just a note... by vitaflo · · Score: 1

      I was wondering this myself, but hey, it's not the first time it's happened.

  2. wow by rwven · · Score: 0, Interesting

    man, 60 million units is a LOT of consoles. given the choice of all that's out i would most likely go for the PS2... im not a big fan of consoles in general though.

    that new infinium labs "phantom" looks to be a killer. /. has a lot of mentions of it as i recall. do a search. should be the first console ever that's truely upgradable.... not to mention it comes with not too shabby hardware. makes the xbox look like a toaster...

    but back on topic, i wonder what a pile of 60 million consoles would look like....

    1. Re:wow by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 1

      The fact that you're not a fan of consoles is showing - no one who's followed a generation or two of console hardware expects the Phantom to be any type of success. If it ever does come out, I'd expect 3DO or CDI like sales of it. Frankly, the specs that are being touted are purely made up in, what I believe, is an attempt to get funding. Releasing a console is expensive and doing it well is even more expensive.

      --
      I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
  3. Haul or Loss? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    It's been quite a haul for Sony

    Isn't it the general console business model to sell hardware at a loss then recoup profits on software sales? 60 million PS2s sold means lots of losses (prior to counting game sales, of course).

    1. Re:Haul or Loss? by n.wegner · · Score: 1

      First, they've made enough units that they probably have an economy of scale. Second, they've made their designs and manufacturing more efficient since release.

      That means that they're probably making a profit on each unit now, if they were even loosing on the initial units in the first place.

    2. Re:Haul or Loss? by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      Isn't it the general console business model to sell hardware at a loss then recoup profits on software sales? 60 million PS2s sold means lots of losses (prior to counting game sales, of course).

      Sony may have lost money on the consoles initially, but it's generally accepted that Sony hasn't lost money on a PS2 sale in quite a while, possibly not even since before the North American launch of the console.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    3. Re:Haul or Loss? by alphaseven · · Score: 1

      Sony is pretty secret about their business model, but I think their model was to spend a over billion dollars on a chip manufacturing plant. Now a billion dollars spread over 60 million units would mean the manufacturing cost of the chipset is pretty cheap, but they would have lost a lot of money if they had only sold 10 million or so.

    4. Re:Haul or Loss? by phorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think this only counts for a certain period. basically up to when your slim sales-margin isn't beating the cost of R&D, development etc. I don't think it means the hardware itself costs more than the sale price.

      Eventually, the R&D costs are paid off, and even with a smaller profit margin (lowered console price) you'll see a good profit for a high sales margin (assuming that most of these make it off the shelf)

    5. Re:Haul or Loss? by edwdig · · Score: 1

      Isn't it the general console business model to sell hardware at a loss then recoup profits on software sales?

      Only if you're Sega or Microsoft.

  4. Coincidence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sounds like one unit for each file sharer. Hmmm...

  5. Re:It's amazing peeps still buy that thing after.. by rwven · · Score: 0

    i'd have to disagree. if you look at the hardware in the XBOX and then look at the cisual quality, the xbox is the most misplaced graphics power ever. that thing should be able to do WAY better than it does... I've been far more impressed by the PS2 graphics and GC graphics than i have by the XBOX graphics...

    i remember when the XBOX came out everyone was saying how the games with the really good graphics would be out soon... sorry havent seen one yet... and don't cry halo. that game looks like butt...(IMO)

  6. Sony by MORTAR_COMBAT! · · Score: 1

    60 million PS2 consoles worldwide? That is a lot of $$ for a company which the /. crowd has professed to really hate on many occasions. Even averaging say $200 USD for all those sales is an amazing $12 Billion USD in revenue.

    --
    MORTAR COMBAT!
    1. Re:Sony by bsharitt · · Score: 1

      I doubt they've made $200 on each.

    2. Re:Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sony is made of divisions...

      Sony Entertainment .. Makers of the mp3 players aren't the same people as say Sony Music. Can you say conflict of interest? I knew you could.

      The Playstation division is not affliated with Sony Music and if I remember correctly Playstation US building isn't even located in the same state.

      Its overall easier to manage multiple divisions than have one huge group of people.

      I've worked for both types and and they have thier advantages and disadvantages.

    3. Re:Sony by !the!bad!fish! · · Score: 1
      The PS2 and the record labels are both members of the Sony family. One has a great product and the other is getting desperate. Does that mean we must hate one because we hate the other?

      Lots of families have a black sheep.

      --
      Kids today are tyrants. They contradict their parent, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers. - Socrates 400 BC
    4. Re:Sony by MORTAR_COMBAT! · · Score: 1

      How many stock ticker listings are there for Sony? One: SNE. It is one company. The profits from each division eventually get funnelled up to the top, then divided back down.

      So by buying a PS2 from Sony, you are helping fund the RIAA and MPAA.

      Have a nice day.

      --
      MORTAR COMBAT!
  7. bah! by kurosawdust · · Score: 4, Funny

    shipments schmipments - start measuring your impact on the gaming community in "millions of thumb-blisters" and then we'll talk...

  8. Not bad... by skyknytnowhere · · Score: 1

    For starting out with a "mere" 1 million on launch day.

    One of the best purchases I ever made.

    skye

    1. Re:Not bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad you have the ass end of the quality stick now though ;)

    2. Re:Not bad... by skyknytnowhere · · Score: 1

      I have the fun factor I want, though, which beats out graphics quality any day.

      skye

    3. Re:Not bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since a LOT of those 60 million consoles are replacement units I think he was talking manufacture quality.

  9. Re:It's amazing peeps still buy that thing after.. by DiscoOnTheSide · · Score: 0, Troll

    fine. splinter cell. haven't seen a game on PC yet with that good of lighting. not enough? hunter: the reckoning. or perhaps...Halo 2? The best looking game for PS2 I've seen so far is Tony Hawk 4, but alas, it's no splinter cell. That and I had to buy Vice City for PC so I could play that game without it looking like ass.

    --
    Viva La Revolucion! Buy a Mac!
  10. Math for fun and profit by jvmatthe · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Let's assume that the boxes that PS2 consoles are shipped in are 18 inches by 18 inches by 8 inches. That's 1.5 cubic feet. If you multiply by 60 million, you end up with 90 million cubic feet. The cube root of 90 million is 448 plus a bit. Assume 15 feet per story in a building.

    Then if all the boxes for all the PS2 consoles sold were stacked up in a cube, it'd be roughly 30 stories tall and as long on each side as about 1.5 football fields.

    I'm sure I forgot to carry a one or something. Maybe even a divide by zero somewhere. But that's probably close.

    Now if I only had a dollar for each console sold...

    1. Re:Math for fun and profit by eunos94 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, but how many Libraries of Congress would fit in there?

  11. Re:It's amazing peeps still buy that thing after.. by rwven · · Score: 1

    uhm, splinter cell is out for PC... apparently you COULD see a game with that good lighting... I've played it on both, and it's only decent on PC and laughable in the big scheme of things on an XBOX... HALO-2 isnt out yet and all you've seen are some escreenshots which ALWAYS look better than any finished product on the XBOX. When HaloPC comes out then people can talk about halo = good graphics... the XBOX's graphics are HIGHLY inferior to the PC's graphics. I'll challenge any claim to the opposite. every thing in the xbox is about 3 years old now. give or take...

  12. Re:It's amazing peeps still buy that thing after.. by incubusnb · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Have you seen the screenshots for Gran Turismo 4? if GT3 was using 90% of the PS2's power like they said it was, then GT4 must be using 120% of the PS2's power, it just shouldn't be able to put out the graphics, but it does

    Images(there are also Videos on that site)

    the PS2 is definately not last years news and Sony has earned every Console its shipped

    as much as i like X-Box and GC, i have to give Sony props for pushing old hardware faster than thought possible, and before you say that Sony didn't make the game, your right, Polyphony Digital did, but Polyphony is closely linked to Sony.

    --
    /. is overrun by bed-wetting elitist nerds
    let it be known, for anything other than servers, a *nix OS sucks
  13. This reminds me of Ghostbusters... by ssstraub · · Score: 3, Funny

    WINSTON (concerned) What do you mean "big?" [Spengler picks up a Hostess Twinkie from the workbench] SPENGLER Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. According to this morning's PKE sample, the current level in the city would be a Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds. WINSTON That's a big Twinkie.

  14. Are they still losing money on every console? by Sheetrock · · Score: 1
    My guess is no, but even if that's the case there's still the pricey controllers, memory, ethernet, etc. not to mention the tiny piece of every game sold to factor in there.

    I was wondering why they weren't doing things like making PS2 joysticks for the PC, turning the system into a mini media center with Linux and a decent hard drive unit, or the like, but they must be doing something right if they've sold 60 million already. Maybe PS3 will do more of that.

    But they really get you on the accessories. I was looking at all the stuff the GameCube's got (and the connection to the Game Boy Advance is pure genius) and figured out why they kept the price of the main unit down. If they get some decent RPGs I might check it out.

    --

    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
    -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




  15. 60 gazillion millions by August_zero · · Score: 2, Interesting

    HOw many of these 60 million are resales? I treat my PS2 with the utmost care and I am on my 3rd due to breakage. Come to think of it, of all the Sony products i have purchased over the years, only a couple of them still work. Maybe I am just unlucky...

    Seriously though, I guess it testifies as to how important the stupid thing is to me since I have replaced it twice.

    --
    On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
    1. Re:60 gazillion millions by wanderers_id · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm on my 3rd too. And i wanted to say thanks to BEST BUY for giving me two of them FOR FREE!

      Their product replacement plan is definatly worth it for the PS2. I bought one for $300 and when it broke, Best Buy gave me a new one, and since the price had dropped to $200, they gave me the diference back in store credit and let me buy another replacement plan. So I took in my broke PS2 and walked out with a new one with new warranty and a FREE GAME!

      That one broke and I returned it for ANOTHER a few days ago.

    2. Re:60 gazillion millions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... I am on my 3rd due to breakage. Come to think of it, of all the Sony products i have purchased over the years, only a couple of them still work ... I guess it testifies as to how important the stupid thing is to me since I have replaced it twice.

      ... or how stupid you are for buying it three times.

      Have you ever heard:
      Fool me once, shame on you.
      Fool me twice, shame on me.

      s/Fool me/Replace it/

    3. Re:60 gazillion millions by Kethinov · · Score: 1
      ... I am on my 3rd due to breakage. Come to think of it, of all the Sony products i have purchased over the years, only a couple of them still work ... I guess it testifies as to how important the stupid thing is to me since I have replaced it twice.
      ... or how stupid you are for buying it three times. Have you ever heard: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. s/Fool me/Replace it/
      That concept also applies to the prospect of replacing your console(s) once every year or two as well. If you keep up on the three major consoles and their games with each release, you'll be spending more money than you would buying multiple computers! PC games are the biggest bang for your buck. Besides, if you really want that select consoles game, emulators are widely available.

      Sometimes I can't understand why people buy consoles at all when there are emulators, but then I remember that most people are ignorant, lazy, impatient, or all of the above. Just read the forums on emutalk.net sometime. The regular influx of newbie morons who ask for free ROMs and bitch because they can't configure their emu properly is staggering. People seem to forget that emulation is legal but free games is not. People confuse the selfless emu programmers who devote their time and effort to their free software with lowly hackers who pay for nothing. But despite all that, some day the fall of the game console will be seen, bringing rise to further the already dominating PC gaming platform.

      (/endrant)
      --
      You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
    4. Re:60 gazillion millions by Alaric42 · · Score: 1

      Let me know when I can emulate Metroid Prime.

    5. Re:60 gazillion millions by Kethinov · · Score: 1

      I'd like to be able to do that myself ;)

      The emulator isn't the problem. Ripping a GC disk and/or getting a real one to play in your CD rom is. :(

      --
      You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
    6. Re:60 gazillion millions by blincoln · · Score: 1

      Sometimes I can't understand why people buy consoles at all when there are emulators

      Because there are no working emulators for the current generation of consoles? Emulation is fine for yesterday's hardware (I use ePSXe to take screenshots of Playstation games for my website), but not for games you're buying new at the store.

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
    7. Re:60 gazillion millions by incompetent_bitch · · Score: 1

      Yeah, with the price of a new video card going for, what $400-$500, that's a great freaking deal, with lots of bang for your buck!
      And then you have to worry about crashes, patches, bug fixes, etc etc etc. When I buy a game for a PS2, I KNOW it will work with my PS2. If I buy a game for my PC, who knows, I might have to get a better video card, it might conflict with some other software on my machine, it might be buggy as all heck, or it might just crash to the desktop at a great time.
      These are things that just don't add up to "bang for your buck".
      I'll stick with my PS2 games that I know will work with my PS2 console, thank you very much.

    8. Re:60 gazillion millions by August_zero · · Score: 1

      or not....

      My cube GBASP and X-box have delivered nothing but perfect service, it's just my sony products that are crap.

      And WHile I own all 4 major consoles (and a dreamcast) I also own a gaming PC, the last game i bought for which was the Neverwinter nights expansion. Maybe if I liked Warcraft and FPSs I would be content but I find that there are a lot of console games that are a lot more fun to play (Disgaea, Wind Waker, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, Silent Hill 3, and so on) then most of the PC offerings for right now. I am sure there will be a retort of the nature "console games are for idiots, you have no taste" but be that what it may I am the one that has to enjoy my game library, not you.

      Sometimes I can't understand why people buy consoles at all when there are emulators, but then I remember that most people are ignorant, lazy, impatient, or all of the above

      Thank you for taking time out of your day to troll, slashdot thanks you for your contribution. Nothing makes my day like hubris from a random stranger. As for emulation: there are no satisfactory emulators for the current gen systems, and I tend to beleive that people that make games deserve to get some money from me if I want to play them.

      --
      On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
    9. Re:60 gazillion millions by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      I treat my PS2 with the utmost care and I am on my 3rd due to breakage.

      Jeeze! I bought mine when the xBox came out (hehehe) and it still works fine. Plays my DVDs, plays my games.

      Did you "respectfully" throw it against a wall a bunch of times? Or do you let your cat use it as a toilet/cat-hair storage device?

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

  16. Re:It's amazing peeps still buy that thing after.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Don't feed the trolls, please.

  17. I just wonder.. by Baikala · · Score: 1

    ..how many of those 26.42 million PS2's shipped 'to' North America ended up in Latin America's regular and 'grey' markets?

    There are millions of ps2's installed at least in Mexico and Brazil despite Sony hasn't officially lunched the ps2 here. Games and consoles are for sale at regular retail game stores, and Wal-marts.

    --
    16,777,216 comments ought to be enough for any forum!
  18. Re:It's amazing peeps still buy that thing after.. by rwven · · Score: 1

    agreed. every time i see a new PS2 game, it loosk better than anything else out for PS2.

    i think the most under rated graphics were in the GC... Metroid prime was beautiful...

  19. Re:It's amazing peeps still buy that thing after.. by Mulletproof · · Score: 1

    So what you're saying is that out of 60 million people are wrong and you're right??? Uh-huh.

    Anyway, I own an Xbox as well and can honestly say there are less than a handful of games actually worth buying. Sony may put out a lot of shit, but the shear amount of shit guarantees a large chunk of genuinely good games. Come on man, when you're calling 60 million people suckers you might as well scream "I'm a fanboy!" while you're at it.

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
  20. Hilarious! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know you're going to be skewered alive for that comment about the Phantom :) You obviously have your head wedged firmly up your ass sir!

    60 Million consoles piled up, we could probably create a new mountain somewhere (as the PS2 will be useless once the PS3 hits), or send them to third world countries I guess.

  21. I wouldn't call them suckers by swat_r2 · · Score: 1

    It's kind of like how tons of people drive a Ford, it's not because of the quality per se but because the public (ie. non-hardcore-gamer) can tend to make uneducated decisions based on what the neighbor has.

    You do have a point that due to sheer numbers the PS2 has more hits, but think about all those shitty games the general public are buying! Makes me sick thinking about games like Simpsons Road Rage and how it's probably sold about 1000x that of underrated gems.

    There is shit on all systems, Sony just has the biggest pile.

    1. Re:I wouldn't call them suckers by Mulletproof · · Score: 1

      I would go with the Ford anology if a car weren't something most folks need, which they do (at least here in the US). Need and price can cause a person to buy a lower quality product they normally wouldn't buy.

      But a console is in another catagory entirely. It's all want. The sole reason a console exists is to bring people enjoyment and it is the opinion of 60 million users that the PS2 does a pretty good job providing that in a market where console prices are seperated by less than $50. Come on-- 60 million users are so uneducated as to not know where the fun is at???

      Sorry, but that's a bit to elitist for my blood.

      --
      You need a FREE iPod Nano