Best-Selling Game Consoles of All Time 1978 - 2022
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ธ.ค. 2022
- All time best-selling video game consoles from 1978 to 2022. Including handhelds and home consoles. Measured in cumulative unit sales throughout a product lifespan worldwide. Data sources: sales reports by manufacturers, market analytics estimations.
As always your feedback is welcome.
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This puts into perspective just how successful Nintendo’s portable endeavors have been. I didn’t realize how close the DS was to the PS2 though.
Ya, for real! Who would have thought that PS2 and DS are the top selling consoles even now in 2022!?
@@pterodactylptroll no, I knew that the PS2 still hasn’t been beat, I just didn’t know the DS came close.
It also puts into perspective the fact that this list is counting systems that have been resold and resold and resold in used condition. Because the switch and PS4 is the only thing in the finalized portion of the list that's actually still being manufactured!
@@Metalman38 no, I’ve read the statistics. It’s (at least for the PS2) units shipped. Meaning that’s how many left the factory.
@@pterodactylptroll The switch is on track to pass both in a few years, which is mighty impressive.
Nintendo's marketing strategy for the Switch was nothing short of genius, probably the fastest selling console in the list.
What was there strategy?
@@xmlarios I would say it was the first portable console with full and truly desktop-grade games. Vita was kinda close though but didn't receive enough love from Sony.
@@xmlarios Sell outdated hardware at an inflated prices and deny any problems regarding control drift??
It kinda surprised me though. Everyone was complaining about the switch when the ads started coming out.
@@Nefoedd Nintendo has always been a company where the unique experience is more important than the computing power of the device. It is true that the Switch has less power than the PS5 but i don't see you using a PS5 while in the bus on your way to work/school.
Can we just take a minute to appreciate that the Atari 2600, first sold in 1978, wasn't bumped from the top 10 list for 28 years (2006).
Epic!
That is WILD
Didn't drop from the top 15 until 2016! The longevity of that thing.
It was long out of 100. Just the chart didn't account for thrown away old junk, only how many were sold total
These "can we just take a minute" posts are so tiring.
PS2 was the perfect product for the perfect time. Like everything going for it. DVD players were expensive so here comes a long a DVD player that can play PS1 and new games as well as music cds for less than the cost of a regular DVD player. I don't think anything else will reach that ever again.
It really was a genius product
Did most who owned it use it as their dvd player?
PS3 had the same going with the Blu-rays for a while as well.
dreamcast was better
@@nickcommie it was definitely ahead of it's time but Sega did it to themselves.
The PS2 doubling as a DVD player was the selling point I gave to my parents when I was a kid, as I'm sure millions of other kids did too 😂
PS2 was so ahead of its time. Great memories
Switch will likely pass PS2 lifetime sales.
@@j.k.1239 So? He is talking about the hardware and games not the quantity of units sold, don't be a moronic fanboy in here, dude 🤦♂
@@Xesphere It was not a negative comment.
@@j.k.1239 after seeing how much the Switch sold this year, i wouldnt argue with that. I was speaking more about the capabilites PS2 had at its release rather than sales.
Agreed! The PS2 was a true banger.
Honestly, I think the backwards compatibility was one of the MANY reasons it’s withstood the test of time. Maybe Sony From Now can learn from Sony Back Then… looking at you, PS3 and PS4. I love ya, but the lack of backwards compatibility (on most models of PS3 and all of PS4) was such a disappointment.
The PS2 was perfect and it came out at the perfect time. It had cool games, it was backward compatible and a lot of people's first-ever DVD player - that was huge. Why buy a DVD player when you can just buy a PS2?
Plus it was cheaper than dedicated DVD players and can play music CDs.
@@Labyrinth6000 Exactly - even people who weren't gamers brought one because it was cheaper.
PS5 was a flop and I believe they will remain as such, if PS6 ever comes out, I wouldn't expect much :D
@@leevikaunismaa9652 it wasnt a flop.dumbass, has sold more than PlayStation4 in the same timeframe
No, it was just fueld by bribery.
the run of the NES is legendary. it was still selling in 98!
still playing now😊
@@user-cp3ip3rw7rnice I play on a n64 still
What an emotional roller coaster to be a part of Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and Sony at the same time
I thought everyone just ignored Atari puking its own guts out in a corner in 95, and focused on sega tripping over its own feet instead
Crazy to see how neck & neck PS3 & 360 were. Most other console head-to-heads were complete blowouts.
I remember a lot of people bought the ps3 in the early 2010s and beat the 360 when the ps4, xb-one arrived.
360 had a great start but kinda fizzled near the end while the PS3 had a bad start but turned it around with a good finish.
Just an interesting time. PS3 barely beat 360 by
@@coolnerdyates29old people who only played Wii sports as their only game
Each really hurt sales of the other, that's for sure. Take 1 off the market, and the other has a legit shot at top spot.
@@Labyrinth6000 Zelda twilight princess is a near perfect game. Secound only to Ocarina of time. Ps fanboys just don't know because they never played.
The PS2 came during the time that could be considered the golden age of gaming and it just had the best library of any console ever, no wonder it's still the top seller.
PS4 & Nintendo Switch have been 2 very successful modern day game consoles. Goes to show that the industry isn't dying after all.
except nintendo with outdated shit graphics of ps3😂
For those wondering, PS5 just recently hit 28M units worldwide. Thanks Covid-19 for making computer parts in short supply.
True
C-19 wasn't the only issue, let's not forget the scalpers that used bots to procure a lot of that early production run to resell. There were stock out there, but it was on the individual consumer whether they wanted to pay marked up prices or not.
I waited it out and didn't get a PS5 until late last year (2022)...still had plenty of back log on my PS4, PC and Switch to hold
me over.
Sony (and MS) could've taken advantage of their PSPlus/Live services/storefronts to sell their consoles to actual customers but chose not.
Valve sold their Steamdeck this way, and you got your reserved unit when it was built.
It's sony's fault for trying to release it during a pandemic where they knew everything was shut down. If they had waited on it they would'nt have had the problems they did and that goes for Microsoft too.
Scalpers dont affect factory unit shipping count dumb4ss
It's incredible just how many more consoles Nintendo and Sony have sold compared to everyone else over the years. The current generation of consoles still has a way to go to even make the top 15.
Sony and Nintendo are basically the 2 most influential and impactful companies in the gaming space.
Of course, SEGA, Microsoft and Atari deserve some credit too as they have left their huge mark.
The others are just... guests.
Nintendo:
Game and watch lineup
NES
SNES
Game boy
Game boy colour
N64
Gamecube
Game boy advance
Wii
DS
3DS
Wii U
Switch
PlayStation:
Ps1
Ps2
PS3
PS4
Ps5
Pocketstation
PSP
PSP go
Ps vita
Psx
Xbox:
Xbox
Xb360
Xb1
@@ryxe89 Xbox isnt that relevant tbh, its sold the same as Sega in total. And sure it is a big deal but compared to PlayStation and Nintendo it's nothing
PS5 already sold 25 million in 2 years
@@bestevil. No one cares about Xbox? The Xbox 360 sold more than all of Sega’s consoles combined so obviously alot of people do lol
No console will ever give its players the feelings the PS2 gave us. So many memories of amazing games on the peak of the golden age of gaming. Truly the greatest console of all time.
Came out at the perfect place at the perfect time! A lot of people bought it as a cheap DVD player since dedicated DVD players were more expensive when VHS was being faded out and realized that it could also play video games. People in the early to mid 2000s wanted electronics that were multipurpose and the PS2 did just that. Plus backwards compatible with PS1 games and an outstanding and fruitfall library of games!!
When the NES came out video games exploded. It was revolutionary. But I agree PS2 is the best system overall even though the graphics arent amazing.
Also has one of, if not, the biggest game libraries
lol just no. Gaming had already had three legit golden ages prior to that. First the arcade boom of the late 70s/early 80s, then the NES making it abundantly clear that home console gaming wasn't dead simply because the 2600 faded into obscurity, and finally, the biggest console war ever, SNES vs. Genesis. No knock on PS2. It's a good console and I have nothing negative to say about it. I just think it's a severe case of trying to let your own personal experience control the narrative for you to act like PS2 is on some untouchable pedestal.
It allowed me to play DVDs at a time when DVD was the hype.
P2 was such a big seller because it doubled as a DVD player, I know a lot of people bought it because of that.
Yeah lol
@@SoupyMittens all those PS's sold as DVD players make you wonder how the PS2 sold the most games software 1.5 billion
It was really popular in third world countries because of piracy too
Gave my PS2 (the light version) to my mom when the PS4 arrived (I always keep the 2 most recent consoles) and she still uses it as a DVD player to this day :)
PS3 and PS5 is also a DVD player too!
Nintendo has been in this game for more than 40 years. Its crazy.
I had no idea how poorly the original x-box did. And the poor WiiU didn't even make it onto the screen (i think).
The og Xbox did okay considering all things. It outsold the GCN and had more 3rd party support.
It had to compete against the PS 2, the best selling videogame console of all time. Considering that it's actually a solid debut, did better that the GameCube
Well they learned from their “failure” with the WiiU and proceeded to nail it with the Switch
Japanese gamer didn’t care about the Xbox brand, that was why.
@@Labyrinth6000 Why would you there were 3 extremely popular brands that were from JAPAN
I miss the GameCube... it was such a fantastic console and experience
I hate that it was taken as just for kids but it was such a great machine and needs a relaunch
I find it comical that Resident Evil 4 was initially an exclusive for the system. Juxtapose that with the name of the system and the startup sound.
Interesting to see how many fewer sales were made for Xbox, considering the messaging media tends to give off is that Xbox and PlayStation are kind of the two big giants battling it out in the markets with Nintendo kind of just chillin on the sidelines. When in reality Nintendo and PlayStation really have the most power in the industry, at least according to this chart.
Seems like the only reason Xbox stands a chance is because they are owned by Microsoft.
EVERYONE I knew talked about Xbox growing up, very few spoke about PlayStation. Maybe Xbox gamers were kind of a niche culture while PlayStation was simply thought of as a vessel for people to experience the games reliably? Or maybe PlayStation was simply more successful worldwide with Xbox selling more in the states? Someone clue me in on this xD
Japan never had any interest in any xbox, "only"a bit more than 2 milions xbox (all generations included) were sold there. Microsoft never really put any effort to develop their market over there since the playstation is it's direct concurrent (nintendo is on a slightly different marketing segment) and Sony being a Japanese company.
Xbox has done well when compared to all the consoles released, they are well in the top quarter.
Playstation was around years before Xbox and have established market dominance in many markets.
Regarless of the quality of the console a lot of gamers will not entertain the idea of buying an Xbox in the same way many stick to Apple phones regardless.
Playstation is compared to Xbox because the products are virtually the same experience
Apart from the exclusives which make up less then 3% of the games library on both consoles
Sony have done phenomonaly well,
Xbox has just done well
I think it depends on where you live, my consoles throughout my life have been: Super Nintendo, N64, Playstation 1, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 5.
And I live in Brazil, none of my friends have an xbox, we all have a playstation, and it's always been like that since we were kids.
@@TheDocteurHaze Yes Weekly Famitsu always shows poor sales of Xbox in Japan.
PlayStation absolutely dominates internationally compared to xbox, Japan currently Nintendo is doing the best, the Japanese love their handheld and PlayStation still sells there but not at the rate of Switch,Asia & Europe is PlayStation country, America is kinda in lockstep with xbox vs PS.
Wow! The Nintendo DS almost came close to dethroning the PS2 as king, but in the end it didn't.
lets hope the switch can do it
If Nintendo would have supported it like they did the 3ds after the switch came out and kept it around as a lower cost device it probably would have lol.
@@TheJordan276 Nintendo actually couldn't care less about beating the Ps2 cuz its about money not stupid titles
@@Zucker1210 It would be interesting to see the top selling game franchises over time. Nintendo does have several in their arsenal, from Mario, to Zelda and Pokemon, they've moved a lot of software.
That was SUPER informative. Love it! You're pumping out the great content quite a bit lately. I hope it continues.
That's the plan!
Just read your description and I wanted to say congrats, I hope that everything goes well for you
Thanks!
Here here,
Still have my original PS2 from the year 2000 and it works just as well today as it did back then. They just don’t build electronics to last anymore, sadly.
People were literally saying that in 2000 when your PS2 was made.
I’ve still got an original n64 from 1996 that is still running, it’s hard to break them cause there’s no moving parts
It is sad, but it’s because of hardware budgeting. The bigger the population gets, the more resources a company needs to make to meet the demands. Also, as we get more technical with technology, that means more energy consumption towards the device itself. That’s why the PS2 and other older consoles before the XBOX 360 have such great shelf life.
I can relate to that, since I have an original PS1, PSP, Wii (the black version haha), a few Game and Watchs (and a PS3), all of them are still working fine today !
My DS lite also going strong. My 3DS its on the same path I think. My Switch and PS4 have been taken to fix many times already. I was really dissapointed with the Nintendo consoles quality dropping. Those things used to be near nokia in terms of durability.
This one was a great pick for an update! Data like this gets out of date fast.
Next one should be by monthly sales.
@@DataIsBeautifulOfficial I like that idea also!
I hope it is still active as before, it will bring me very good memories of that 2019 when there was no Covid and I watched this spectacular channel, which in fact is the first statistics channel to which I subscribed. Greetings and congratulations dad. I don't have a cup of coffee, but a big welcome.
In the end it is a fight between Nintendo and Sony. Nintendo dominating Handheld Consoles and Sony dominating Home Consoles.The Vita and the Wii U didn't even make an appearance.
Shame they were a complete failure at least in the West
If Sony gave more love to the Vita, it could have made a decent run at the handheld market. It's a great system, just not enough support.
@@Jetmech1781 It's not Sony, it's the gamers
Fauls on both ends
Ps vita failes cause mobile gaming it was proven with facts and Analytics
Both underrated consoles
This was so interesting in multiple ways. Thanks for this one!
Glad to have you back! Missed your content!
PS2 is our Emotions ❤
* Emotion Engine
Thank you for the memories and nice menus
so awesome to see you uploading again!
I have missed these sooo much!! Welcome back!🙂♥️🙂♥️
Spent hundreds of hours playing SOCOM 4 multiplayer on PlayStation 3. Man that was a great game.
That dancing robot is so funny
This is awesome, happy to see your videos again.
Nintendo held a majority of the spots in the list for most of the video. It just goes to show how a company that started off as a playing card company can turn into a multi-billion dollar entertainment empire.
Brilliant video. Loved seeing the Super NES/Sega Genesis and the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 sales battles play out ❤️
OMG! thank you so much for making this😄
My number 1 favorite statistics channel is back!!! :)
Nice video man!
The way the Nintendo DS shot up to second place… I’ve never been a huge gamer but even I had a DS (I still have it, fun fact). I remember when all the neighborhood kids would get together and we would all play our DS’s :) ahhh, memories :)
Piracy helps to sell hardware! PS1, PS2, DS were all riddled with game copies and flash carts
Cheers for including the Magnavox Odyssey. This was my first game console, it is usually overlooked in such videos.
"Sync-Sound Action"
Except the numbers seem way off. Wikipedia shows only a fraction of what is shown here that were sold.
@@richboutin4044 There were 3 versions: Odyssey 1 and Odyssey 100 and the Odyssey 2. The one I had was the Odyssey 2 which sold 2 million units.
@@DataIsBeautifulOfficialWhat just happened?
It's Magnavox Odyssey related slang.
It’s so sad to see how badly the GameCube did despite being such an amazing console
It didn’t do that bad. It did respectably considering all the competition.
Oh generally, very nice, that you are back with a lot of beautiful data :-)
what a snazzy little dancing robot, cool vid
3:06 As soon as I saw it on the screen, I was like “oh boy oh boy, here comes the PlayStation 2, ready to move fast and kick ass!” Don’t get me wrong, I love the Switch. It’s probably my favorite console now. Makes me feel like a kid again 😊 …but when I actually WAS a kid, the PlayStation 2 was king, and it gave me some of the greatest gaming experiences of my young life. The Switch might be my fave now, but the PS2 wins the Lifetime Achievement Award of my soul. I still have it and all my memory cards, too! Works great, even after all these years!
It's possible to get goosebumps from looking at data.
Welcome Back brother
My first one was the Odyssey in 1977 and then the Atari 2600 in 1981. I still remember my mother buying the Atari 2600 for me, it was just over $200 with tax. We did not have a lot of money, I don't know how she did it. That is the same as $650 today. Then I got the ColecoVision with the Atari 2600 expansion slot. In 1987 I got the NES that came with the robot. Then I had the 3DO system that costed like $700 in 1993 on release day. $700 in 1993 is the same as $1400 today. After that it has been nothing but computers.
Awesome, thanks for sharing!
poor Sega, i love the company
Legendary
I only love them because of Sonic
Wow youre on fire rn, love it
The PS2 is still the best gaming system of all time. IMO, because of all the all time classic games released on it. That was the gold age of gaming.
Not exactly, it has been selling for more than 11 years unlike the usual console circle being 7
Ps 4 better games lel
@@freakingriddledoes not PS2 to PS3 was 7 years circle ?
YOURE BACK!!
Nice video! :)
And still, Japanese gaming console are the best sellers of all time that Samsung and Apple couldn't even dare to enter
I really like the music in this one! And the dancing robot. 🙂
I started my life as a player on the Atari 2600, a lot of nostalgia with Atari, however the video game of my heart is the Mega Drive, by the way, the Sega consoles were sensational.
I forgot the genesis beat the snes to market by that long !
Sega's downfall was they kept making add-ons instead of creating new systems, until the Dreamcast. The system was way better than anything Nintendo was putting out, but the innovation made it feel outdated.
Nintendo is incredible at marketing, they can continually come up with gimmicks to sell their products. I don't know if I would call them inferior but it just shows that simplicity often sells. Games are almost too real and movie like these days and tens of millions of people just want a quick easy to pick up game to buy and Nintendo continues to deliver just that.
Yeah but we don't talk about the Wii U
love your visualisation, which application is it?
This well-made video illustrates that the deal between Sony & Nintendo to make the Nintendo Playstation would have most likely resulted in a monopoly and thus it was a good thing it didn’t.
Well Sony was hoping to aquire Nintendo from it but of course they didn't like that idea.
He is at it again 🎉
Congratulations for the video, you are very good
Great to see you back.
Would love to see rocket launches
In the last decade the market has essentially become a duopoly
I love these videos
Sega Dreamcast FOREVER
Nice that your back
Love the presentation as always, but missed the owl - it could've interacted with the dancing robot, too - perhaps 🤗
Here before 1k views. Feels good
The ps2 really was the best times, remember when the game boy Color came out, gezz
The Japanese really know how to do video game consoles.
The Sega Genesis able to stick around until 2018 and the Game and Wat h until 2019, nice
The Fairchild VES (Channel F) was released in 1976, your title says 1978-2022. The Channel F would have started out this graph at #1 since the Atari VCS didn't even exist yet.
It was also the first to have an easter egg in a home video game cartridge (#4 Spitfire also from 1976) where it displays programmer Michael K. Glass.
True
YES!
I WAIT THIS ALL MY LIFE
Wait! Nintendo was still selling brand new NES consoles up until 2003??
According to Nintendo yes.
@@DataIsBeautifulOfficial wikipedia says august 14th 1995. BUT since i am assuming you are including famicom in those sales, 2003 is accurate. which boggles my mind, but then i realize japan is a different world sometimes.
They kept selling in various regions for years after it was discontinued in US
I like the robot dancing at the bottom and never losing the rhythm
It would be interesting to see what each of these cost along with units sold
My family had TI Texas instrument gaming system. I guess we were the only family to have this!
I knew the Xbone was getting blowned out by the PS4 but goddamn I didn’t how large of a margin it was.
The Switch is passing the PS4 and Gameboy this holiday
Never count out Nintendo. That's the lesson from this.
What on Earth happened with 3DS? It doesn't even enter the list until 2016 Q3 - 5 years after it's launch - yet as soon as it gets on the list it skyrockets up. I know it had a slow launch, but was 2016 really such a huge year for it that it managed to triple its sales from the previous 5 years combined?
Good catch! It was my mistake in animation.
It's a handheld by Nintendo, they literally always do well, if not magnificently!
Even though Data Is Beautiful confirmed it was an animation mistake, I wouldn’t have been shocked if the 3DS actually did skyrocket in 2016 since at its launch, the 3DS was the sold for in today’s money, the same price as the Switch, but was later lowered in price after its launch.
Again a great video !! My old PS2 is the best!!
Had no clue the Game & Watch was doing numbers like that.
Wich program do you use to create those graphics?
Can you do a video about James Bond? Maybe something like the top grossing Bond films or the best gadgets. Something like that.
That can work.
@@DataIsBeautifulOfficial Awesome! Thanks for considering that idea. I would be so excited to see that. (Most viewed sci-fi shows would also be awesome to watch!)
Daaaaaaaam those Japan Konsoles 😍Ruled 4 Ever !
The music is the best
and the Playstation Run.
I love and respect your work! Awesome Graphics awesome animations! Very good quality ! I apreacite your time and effort to help others understand better the world we live! Thank you ! And Greetings From Mexico!!🇲🇽💯👍🇲🇽👌🏻🌟👍💯🔯
Thank you!
Lovely 😍
There's a lot we don't know about when we were babies and toddlers. I was born in 1986
I have played with Atari, NES, Playstation, Playstation4. OMG. Love the game industry.
I´m glad that you´re back, but it feels strange when the Music isn´t Heaven and Hell - for me this Track is your Signature-Move.
It's still my #1 to-go music. Just some variety.. people asked.
so weird, I thought sony playstation started way earlier. These videos set me straight on memories. I was thinking I was playing it in the late 80s after I moved out of my parent's home... where I had been on Atari.
What did you use to make this?
I love the sound
According to what I seen on Wikipedia The Master system sold 20 million.
Sega Saturn sold 9.2 million.
Dreamcast sold 9.5 million. But who knows how reliable those numbers are...
The Atari 2600 was the very first console I ever played on as a little boy in the 80s! I played pac man on it a lot. It was so much fun!
I have never heard about Nintendo Game & Watch LOL
Google it, you will probably recognize it.
As A Nintendo Player I Appericate The Sales Of Lifetime Consoles.