Sony Only Has Itself to Thank

As SCE sells 100m PS2s worldwide in under six years.

PlayStation maker Sony Computer Entertainment is today celebrating with the announcement of 100 million PS2s sold worldwide - breaking the record to become the fastest console to reach the incredible achievement.

First launched in Japan less than six years ago, the PlayStation 2 has been unquestionably the most successful videogame console ever, thanks to a combination of superb games, DVD capability, clever marketing, compatibility with original PS1 titles, and visionary leadership from PlayStation boss Ken Kutaragi. The reinvention of the system with last year's tiny 'Slimline' PS2 console is also one of many recent factors that have made the console highly desirable to all kinds of gamers.

The snowball effect of the PlayStation brand name, which arguably boosted initial sales of the PS2 as it was released in countries all over the world, is something Sony only has itself to thank; the success of the first PlayStation follows shortly behind PS2, which took 9 years and 6 months to reach the unprecedented 100 million mark.

Meanwhile, it seems that gamers haven't just been buying PS2s to look pretty next to their TV for the last six years; Sony claims that 1.8 billion games have been sold for PlayStations to date.

Interestingly, more PS2 consoles have been sold in both Europe (37m) and America (40m) than in Japan (22m), where PlayStation 2 has been on sale the longest. After all, it's not as if they've all been buying Xboxes instead...

The announcement comes just a few weeks after the company celebrated 10 years of PlayStation, remembering a decade since the launch of the original machine.

Sony still sees a strong future for the PS2, with casual gamers still picking up the console at an alarming rate - but for more serious gamers, the excitement surrounds the recently released PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld console and next year's shockingly hyped release of the PlayStation 3 - in Japan, at least.

Adam Doree
Kikizo.com