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Kolx

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,505
With the recent announcement of PS5 selling 6.3 million in the last quarter, PS home consoles now have broken the half a billion home consoles sold (so not including the PSP or the PS Vita) bringing the total to ~500.5 million:
PS 102.5m
PS2 155m
PS3 87.4m
PS4 117m
PS5 38.4m
 

mopinks

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,559
crazy that even their least successful home console broke 80 mil. that's a good run
 

TheAggroCraig

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 6, 2017
5,907
Didn't they already do 500 Million systems which is why there was a special PS4 Pro? Or did that include the handhelds in that number?
 

Rndom Grenadez

Prophet of Truth
Member
Dec 7, 2017
5,633
Didn't they already do 500 Million systems which is why there was a special PS4 Pro? Or did that include the handhelds in that number?
Yeah I think it counted handhelds.

If you include handhelds, they still have a ways to go to catch Nintendo, and I question whether or not they ever will because of the Switch's success.

Impressive feat nonetheless.
 

SilkySm00th

Member
Oct 31, 2017
4,801
PS5 selling crazy well when tracked for comparisons but anytime i see any list with the PS2 up there i'm reminded of just what a godamned monster that machine was. Just an absolute fixture in every single house i ever hung out in during it's time.
 

HeWhoWalks

Member
Jan 17, 2018
2,522
The fact that the PS5 is at half the total sales of the PS3 damn near just accentuates it as a failure.
"Total failure" is an extreme, but yes, from a financial standpoint, the PS3 is a disc skip to never repeat. In the same breath, it sold 87 million consoles. A failure against other PlayStations, but a significant seller in its own right.
 
Oct 25, 2017
16,256
Cincinnati
Yeah I think it counted handhelds.

If you include handhelds, they still have a ways to go to catch Nintendo, and I question whether or not they ever will because of the Switch's success.

Impressive feat nonetheless.

They probably won't unless Nintendo stops making hardware. Keep in mind Sony has released less overall hardware as well. Not sure what all counts but 11 mainline Nintendo systems vs 7 for Sony. Not counting stuff like Game and Watch, Virtual Boy etc.
 

StarPhlox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,373
Wisconsin
PS3 despite being the worst-selling of the first 4 has more total sales than N64, Gamecube, and Wii U combined (all consoles that I love). This whole Playstation thing has been a big hit for Sony with no major generational lulls other than a pretty fierce battle with the 360. Very impressive.
 

c bweezie

Member
Jan 8, 2020
717
Neat! I don't really care about sales numbers for the most part, but that is a very impressive feat.
 

MC_Leon6494

Member
Sep 7, 2018
501
The worst selling playstation (the triple) still sold more than the best-selling Xbox (360) by ~3.5 million units. Really incredible run of hardware for Sony and ps5 looks to be right on track to doing it all again
 

StreamedHams

Member
Nov 21, 2017
4,323
I knew the PSX was going to be something special in '95, but I didn't think Sony's first console would top 100 million.
 

J 0 E

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,244
I swear I remember Sony released a PS4 Pro 500 million edition a number of years ago.

Edit. Aha so not including the handhelds. Makes sense.
 
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Omnistalgic

self-requested temp ban
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,973
NJ
The fact that the PS5 is at half the total sales of the PS3 damn near just accentuates it as a failure.
PS3 is a failure, but not because of its units sold, well not entirely.

It's mainly a failure because of all the tech Sony was trying to push into the device. It didn't quite work out as clear graphically superior games, so the higher price tag and longer wait for games didn't blow everyone away like the fake E3 Killzone demo. But mainly, it costs Sony a ton of money to make each unit and they were huge losses. If they sold 87M units at a profit, it would not have been such a huge blow to Sony's bottom line, despite losing significant market share.

I really don't know what the plan was for PS3. They were probably projecting an even higher increase in sales like 175M units or something because even with scale factored in, they were selling each unit at waay to high a loss.
 

HeWhoWalks

Member
Jan 17, 2018
2,522
PS3 is a failure, but not because of its units sold, well not entirely.

It's mainly a failure because of all the tech Sony was trying to push into the device. It didn't quite work out as clear graphically superior games, so the higher price tag and longer wait for games didn't blow everyone away like the fake E3 Killzone demo. But mainly, it costs Sony a ton of money to make each unit and they were huge losses. If they sold 87M units at a profit, it would not have been such a huge blow to Sony's bottom line, despite losing significant market share.

I really don't know what the plan was for PS3. They were probably projecting an even higher increase in sales like 175M units or something because even with scale factored in, they were selling each unit at waay to high a loss.
In the end, it did have graphically superior games though. Sure, the Killzone 2 E3 2005 demo was prerendered, but the final result was not only a looker, it was deemed the best looking release at the time by plenty of outlets/gamers alike. PS3 also ushered in new IPs (some of which still linger two gens later, such as The Last Of Us), and successfully pushed a new medium (Blu-ray), that every higher-end console has used since.

Of course, it failed to turn a profit, had a hard-to-program for proc, and did not lead in market-share, but a total failure it certainly was not.
 
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kxs

Member
Jul 25, 2022
280
"Total failure" is an extreme, but yes, from a financial standpoint, the PS3 is a disc skip to never repeat. In the same breath, it sold 87 million consoles. A failure against other PlayStations, but a significant seller in its own right.

It's remarkable that Sony's poorest selling console managed to sell slightly better than Microsoft's best selling console.
 

Ascenion

Prophet of Truth - One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,081
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Selling almost 90 million consoles is not a failure not matter how you try to spin it.

Nobody would call the Xbox 360 a failure, and it sold around 85 million as well.
The sales alone don't make it a failure. It losing all the profits generated by the PS2 and failing to due most of the things it tried to do, make it a failure. The sales are just the cherry on top. And I say thing with the PS3 giving me some of my best memories.
 

LossAversion

The Merchant of ERA
Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,660
The biggest failure of the PS3 was the architecture that is STILL preventing us from getting backwards compatibility for the system. I think I would take a slightly less impressive looking Killzone 2 and The Last Of Us if it meant that I could still play my PS3 games on modern hardware.

Who am I kidding though. Looking at Sony's PS1 and PS2 output, it would still be disappointing.
 

Sparkedglory2

Member
Nov 3, 2017
6,410
I'm actually surprised Nintendo hasn't done so already. That being said, congrats to Sony. That's one hell of an achievement
 

NaikoGames

Member
Aug 1, 2022
2,683
A disappointment? Sure.

A failure? Absurd.
i think this is a good way to put it, but it did cost em a lot of money and marketshare in a really pivotal gaming moment, i would say half of that generation was a failure and the other half a really good coemback.

coming from the insanity of the PS2, to having an actual rival that almost outsells you was probably a big deal internal for Sony as well.

buuuut to be fair that stuff lead to they exponentially increasing their first party efforts so...we all won with that now.
 

SuperBoss

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,516
At the rate they're going, they'll reach 1 Billion faster than they reached 500 million šŸ˜³
 

Doctor_Thomas

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,649
I really don't know what the plan was for PS3.
I think the plan was Trojan horsing Blu-ray and Cell processors into homes. Absorb the losses, then make it up on software, Blu-ray licencing and other devices using Cell (there was some mad idea about Cell processors within a home being able to "network" and aid processing in your PS console remotely).

Ended up eating costs with nothing to balance it out.

The relaunch/slim and some really heavy hitters throughout the gen really saved it.
 

HeWhoWalks

Member
Jan 17, 2018
2,522
I think the plan was Trojan horsing Blu-ray and Cell processors into homes. Absorb the losses, then make it up on software, Blu-ray licencing and other devices using Cell (there was some mad idea about Cell processors within a home being able to "network" and aid processing in your PS console remotely).

Ended up eating costs with nothing to balance it out.

The relaunch/slim and some really heavy hitters throughout the gen really saved it.
Yeah, the support saved it. Every console should have that šŸ˜›

On a serious note, what saved it was reversing the high price point to far more reasonable ones beginning with the first in 2007 and then another in 2009. The games were always going to be there.
 

Omnistalgic

self-requested temp ban
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,973
NJ
I think the plan was Trojan horsing Blu-ray and Cell processors into homes. Absorb the losses, then make it up on software, Blu-ray licencing and other devices using Cell (there was some mad idea about Cell processors within a home being able to "network" and aid processing in your PS console remotely).

Ended up eating costs with nothing to balance it out.

The relaunch/slim and some really heavy hitters throughout the gen really saved it.
Yeah, Icarus moment indeed. Kaz got a little too lofty with how cell was going to change the world.