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PlayStation Hits 100 Millionth Shipped

Posted by simoniker on from the quite-a-few dept.

Thanks to Yahoo/AFP for its story noting global shipments of Sony's original PlayStation console have exceeded 100 million, explaining that "overseas sales of PlayStations jumped after the company launched its lightweight 'PSOne' model in 2000." Although sales are slowing (though not by as much as GamePro is claiming), since: "In the year to March 2004, the company produced and shipped 3.31 million PSOne units", the PlayStation 2 may be on course to beat its predecessor, as it "has shipped 70 million units... since March 2000."

15 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. How many dupes? by wheresdrew · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Too bad they can't factor in multiple sales to the same household. I know both the early PS1 and PS2 models had reliability problems, forcing some people to replace their systems if they wanted to keep playing.

    I still remember having a model 1000 series PS1 that had to be turned upside down to get games to play, since the plastic rails supporting the CD drive would warp if the system go too hot.

    1. Re:How many dupes? by Trejkaz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Good to see it lives up to Sony's quality standard.

      --
      Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
    2. Re:How many dupes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "The Playstation's failure rate is NOT as high as many people believe (people tend to think it's anywhere from 10-50%), because if it were Sony would not still be on top of the entertainment electronics business."

      That's illogical. Being #1 in sales is no guarantee of quality. For the sake of the Microsoft Windows fanboys, I'll spare them from the obvious comparison. Instead, I will happily point out that McDonald's sells more hamburgers than anyone else in the world.

      Disclaimer: I deal in used games hardware, from handhelds and consoles to (soon, hopefully in the next year) arcade cabs, joysticks, monitors, etc. It's a small side business so far, and I only run it out of the house right now. :/

      Playstation hardware has *always* been of inferior build in comparison to pretty much any other console hardware imaginable. It's not provable except with anecdotes, so I'll simply say that this is the conclusion I've come to after seeing a WHOLE lot of faulty Playstations and Playstation 2s with the same (laser/PUH/motor/chassis) problems. OTOH, I've never seen a single broken N64 (a system which sold ~35 million units). Not a single one - and that thing tended to run pretty hot. And of course, among other popular systems like the Saturn, the Dreamcast, the PC Engine Duo, I see broken units, but not at the same high broken:functional ratio that I do with Sony goods.

      If Sony's on top, fine, but it's not because of build quality. Be assured of that.

    3. Re:How many dupes? by Frizzle+Fry · · Score: 2
      In general the failure rate of the absolute worst hardware is 5%.

      Actually, the failure rate of the absolute worst hardware is 100%. As is the failure rate of the best. It's just a question of time.
      --
      I'd rather be lucky than good.
  2. I like video games because of the replay value by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If every movie I went to gave me the movie on DVD or gave me a key to download it at my leisure when I left the theater I would feel satisifed but they don't and I can get a 5-10 dollar playstation game off ebay and be content with my purchase for years. 10 bucks is not chump change to me.

  3. Re:70 million PS2s by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "I've always been skeptical of that rumour."

    Heh. Yeah somebody's been reading the "Facts of Gord" or whatever it's called. The big difference is in how you do the math. Sony spent like $2 billion dollars researching that system. Even if on a per-component level they made money, it still took them a while to break even. There was still the "we need to sell 4 games per system" quota initially.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  5. Is this why... by SuperMo0 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...there's still a slow trickle of game software being made for the PS1? The PS1 is probably the longest lasting piece of video game hardware in terms of how long games have been made for it officially after its successor came to market. Games are being made specifically for it, and games are also being made jointly for PS2 and PS1 (mostly sports games are what I've seen).

    1. Re:Is this why... by shadowcabbit · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, the reason XS Games and other companies are still cranking out PS1 software is the combination of Sony no longer requiring licensing fees for the software (IIRC), and because there's a cheap buck to be made in porting games which four years ago would never have passed Sony inspection, but squeak through now because Sony feels, "hey, who's really going to buy it now? Everyone who matters already has a PS2 and it's not like we'll be losing money or anything."

      Sadly, I was one of those people... picked up a copy of "High School League Dodge Ball" or something (not the good one from about a year ago), was pleasantly surprised to see it was an anime-styled game, and then got disgusted with the awful play control and sold it back two weeks later for $7.

      --
      "Why Subscribe?" Good question...
    2. Re:Is this why... by Frizzle+Fry · · Score: 2, Interesting
      The PS1 is probably the longest lasting piece of video game hardware in terms of how long games have been made for it officially after its successor came to market.

      I'd be surprised if it has beat the original gameboy. It was ages after it came out until the gameboy color was released, and I think a while after that until there stopped being new non-color games. Anyone have numbers/ years available on this?
      --
      I'd rather be lucky than good.
    3. Re:Is this why... by Tezkah · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, the Neo-Geo is the longest lasting game console, it was released in 1990, and just this year the last game for the system was released.

      Of course, you had to pay lots of money (hundreds of dollers per game), but they had a decent following, although it never had the success of the PSOne. They're still quite expensive. Gabe from Penny-Arcade is a collector.

  6. Its a vicious cycle... by Tezkah · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... where units sold brings more developers to your system, and then those new developers bring games to your system, which sells more units.

    Hopefully Sony realizes this and get as many PSPs out the door as possible (with a low price point), which is really the key to success for any console. The GBA ("classic") is really a horrible system (the screen...), but theres so many out there, it makes developers bring more good games to it, making it an awesome handheld (especially now that the screen is fixed).

    An awesome looking handheld, the only real problem I see is that theres only one analog nub, so we might not see any Ape Escape games on the PSP :(

  7. Environmental Concern by superpulpsicle · · Score: 3, Funny

    I am glad the PSone is still selling like hot cakes. If it was Xbox controllers selling 70 million units, the earth would have ran out of materials.

  8. Sadly... by ffsnjb · · Score: 2, Funny
    I have neither the PS1 or PS2. I'm still using a p2-400 to play Counter-Strike. Why, oh why, did I spend $100,000 on college to get a shit job when I could have bought thousands of Playstations and still have the same job?


    Come on Sony, sell them for $10 so I can not eat for a day, and then pick one up. :)

    --
    "Why do you consent to live in ignorance and fear?" - Bad Religion
  9. Re:Sony Playstation was a Milestone Technology by MMaestro · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You never played a Sega Saturn have you? While the PS1 was truely revolutionary in terms of graphics, it wasn't for a nearly a year did it make some advances in gameplay. Who here still plays PS1 launch games like Battle Arena Tosheden(sp) or Loaded? No, they play games like Mega Man 8 which used the old tried-and-true gameplay and FFVII which is a mixed bag depending on how you looked at it.