List of best-selling game consoles

Last updated

The following table contains video game consoles that have sold at least 1 million units worldwide either through to consumers or inside retail channels. Each console includes sales from every iteration unless otherwise noted. The years correspond to when the first version of each console was released (excluding test markets).

Contents

Best-selling consoles

Sony's PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console, with more than 160 million units sold worldwide. PS2-Versions.jpg
Sony's PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console, with more than 160 million units sold worldwide.
The Nintendo DS is the best-selling handheld console, selling 154.02 million units worldwide. Most sales came from the Nintendo DS Lite, at 93.86 million units. Nintendo-DS-Lite-Black-Open.jpg
The Nintendo DS is the best-selling handheld console, selling 154.02 million units worldwide. Most sales came from the Nintendo DS Lite, at 93.86 million units.
The Nintendo Entertainment System was the best-selling console of its time, selling 61.91 million units worldwide. NES-Console-Set.png
The Nintendo Entertainment System was the best-selling console of its time, selling 61.91 million units worldwide.
  Background shading and # indicates consoles currently on the market.
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

>Final sales are greater than the reported figure. See notes.

Notes

  1. ↑ Including Nintendo DS Lite, DSi and DSi XL units
  2. ↑ Including Nintendo Switch Lite and OLED units
  3. ↑ Nintendo only provided a combined sales total. [4] Before Game Boy Color's release in late 1998, [2] previous models sold 64.42 million units combined worldwide. [2]
  4. ↑ Microsoft announced in October 2015 that individual platform sales in their fiscal reports will no longer be disclosed. The company shifted focus to the amount of active users on Xbox Live as its "primary metric for[ sic ] success". [9] Monthly active Xbox Live users reached nearly 90 million by Q3 2020. [10] Xbox 360: Production ended in 2016; 84 million in total lifetime sales. [11] Xbox One: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella unveiled at a December 3, 2014, shareholder presentation that 10 million units were sold. [12] Most third-party estimates put the total number of Xbox One units sold by the end of 2019 at "around 50 million". [13] Market data and analytics firm Ampere Analysis Insights estimated the Xbox One had sold 51 million units by Q2 2020. [14] Microsoft announced on July 17, 2020, that they would cease manufacturing the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition and Xbox One X, though production of the Xbox One S would continue. [15]
  5. ↑ 30.75 million sold by Sega worldwide as of March 1996, [18] [19] not including sales of third-party licensed consoles from manufacturers such as Majesco Entertainment in the United States (which projected it would sell 1.5 million) [20] or Tec Toy in Brazil (listed separately)
  6. ↑ PlayStation Vita: Third-party estimates range from 10–15 million. [25] Glixel stated in June 2017 that 15 million were sold, [26] while the Electronic Entertainment Design and Research suggests several million less by the end of 2015. [27] Production ceased in Japan in March 2019. [25]
  7. 1 2 Game Gear
    Sega announced that it had shipped 10.62 million Game Gear units by March 31, 1996, [18] but the Game Gear continued to be produced until April 30, 1997. [29]
    Sega Mark III/Master System
    Sega announced that it had shipped 10 million Sega Mark III/Master Systems by March 31, 1994, [30] but the Master System continued to be produced until April 16, 1996. [31]
  8. ↑ Designed by Hudson and manufactured and marketed by NEC [32]
  9. ↑ Bandai released three WonderSwan iterations. [42] A March 2003 Famitsu article reported the original (March 1999) [43] and color (December 2000) [43] versions sold approximately 3 million units combined, [44] while the SwanCrystal (July 2002) [42] sold over 200 thousand units. [44] Bandai announced the transition from hardware to third-party development in February 2003 due to declining sales and would supply software to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance by March 2004. [45] Average weekly Famitsu sales during the transition were only a couple hundred units, [1] and the SwanCrystal went build to order starting in autumn 2003. [44] WonderSwan hardware designer Koto claimed over 3.5 million were sold. [46]
  10. ↑ Sega sold this amount as of April 2005. [47] Its successor launched on August 6, 2005. [48] Majesco re-manufactured and distributed the Pico in the United States starting at the end of 1999. [49]
  11. ↑ The ColecoVision reached 2 million units sold by the spring of 1984. Console quarterly sales dramatically decreased at this time, but it continued to sell modestly [56] [57] with most inventory gone by October 1985. [58]
  12. ↑ Atari reported on June 1, 1988, that the 7800 sold more than a million units to date. [66] Production and support of the 7800 was officially discontinued on January 1, 1992.
  13. ↑ The Wall Street Journal reported in November 1992 approximately 1 million were sold. [67] Around June 1994, Atari shifted its focus from the Lynx to its Jaguar console. [68]
  14. ↑ This Philips-reported figure was in The New York Times on September 15, 1994. [69] The CD-i was discontinued in 1998. [70]
  15. ↑ Coleco launched Telstar in 1976 and sold a million. Production and delivery issues, and dedicated consoles being replaced by electronic handheld games dramatically reduced sales in 1977. Over a million Telstars were scrapped in 1978, and it cost Coleco $22.3 million that year [57] —almost bankrupting the company. [72]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "2000 PlayStation 2 - PSP PlayStation Portable | PlayStation History timeline". PlayStation. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Historical Data: Consolidated Sales Transition by Region" (xlsx). Nintendo. April 27, 2017. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "IR Information : Sales Data - Dedicated Video Game Sales Units". Nintendo Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on February 4, 2025. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  4. ↑ Edwards, Benj (April 21, 2009). "Happy 20th b-day, Game Boy: here are 6 reasons why you're #1". Ars Technica . Archived from the original on August 15, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  5. ↑ "PS5 shipments top 19.3 million; PS4 tops 117.2 million". Gematsu. May 10, 2022. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  6. ↑ "PlayStation Cumulative Production Shipments of Hardware". Sony Computer Entertainment. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Business Data & Sales". Sony Interactive Entertainment. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  8. ↑ "2007 PlayStation 3 - PlayStation Vita | PlayStation History timeline". PlayStation. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  9. ↑ Futter, Mike (October 22, 2015). "[Update] Microsoft Will Focus Primarily On Xbox Live Usership, Not Console Shipments". Game Informer . Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  10. ↑ Warren, Tom (April 29, 2020). "Microsoft reports increased PC demand during coronavirus and 'minimal impact' on revenue". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  11. ↑ Xbox Wire Staff (June 9, 2014). "Xbox Delivers Winning Lineup of Exclusive Games for this Holiday Season". Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Microsoft Annual Meeting of Shareholders". Microsoft. December 3, 2014. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2015. Finally, our gaming business is thriving with the Xbox One hitting 10 million units sold. I am thrilled to welcome Mojang and Minecraft community to Microsoft.
  13. ↑ Tassi, Paul (January 30, 2020). "The Nintendo Switch May Have Just Outsold The Xbox One With A 3.5 Year Late Start". Forbes . Archived from the original on July 18, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  14. ↑ Harding-Rolls, Piers (September 15, 2020). "Sony banks on PlayStation Studios to deliver another winning console generation". Ampere Analysis Insights. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  15. ↑ Effron, Oliver (July 17, 2020). "Gearing up for the Xbox Series X, Microsoft has stopped making the Xbox One X". CNN. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  16. ↑ "PlayStation 5 Reaches 80.3 Million Units Shipped". Wccftech. Retrieved August 7, 2025.
  17. ↑ "Xbox Series X/S Has Sold 21 Million Units, Xbox One at 58 Million, as Per Microsoft Brazil Presentation". GamingBolt. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  18. 1 2 "Yearly market report". Famitsu Weekly (in Japanese) (392): 8. June 21, 1996.
  19. 1 2 Ernkvist, Mirko (August 21, 2012). Zackariasson, Peter; Wilson, Timothy (eds.). The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future. Routledge. p. 158. ISBN   9781136258244. Archived from the original on May 11, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Sega farms out Genesis". Consumer Electronics. March 2, 1998. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012.
  21. ↑ "AtGames to Launch Atari Flashback 4 to Celebrate Atari's 40th Anniversary!" (Press release). PR Newswire. November 12, 2012. Archived from the original on November 27, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  22. ↑ Bhowmick, Aritra (September 18, 2024). "PlayStation and Xbox: Report Highlights Lifetime Global Hardware Sales Data for Both Gaming Consoles". IGN India. Archived from the original on September 18, 2024. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  23. ↑ "Gamers Catch Their Breath as Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Reinvent Next-Generation Gaming". Xbox.com. May 10, 2006. Archived from the original on July 9, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2007.
  24. ↑ Heath, Alex (March 1, 2023). "This is Meta's AR / VR hardware roadmap for the next four years". The Verge. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  25. 1 2 Good, Owen (March 2, 2019). "RIP PS Vita: Sony officially ends production". Polygon . Archived from the original on March 2, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  26. ↑ Baker, Chris (June 28, 2017). "PlayStation Vita's Rebirth as a Boutique Platform". Glixel. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  27. ↑ Zatkin, Geoffrey (2016). Awesome Video Game Data 2016. Game Developers Conference 2016. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. p. 11. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  28. ↑ "VTech Introduces InnoTV, Perfect Educational Gaming System for Preschoolers Offers Educator-Supported Learning Games for Under US$70". VTech. October 13, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  29. ↑ Kapa, Damien (2005). "Sega Game Gear". Retro Gamer . No. 17. Live Publishing. pp. 26–35 – via Internet Archive.
  30. ↑ 長谷川清; 駒井徳造 (1991). "＜遊びの世界を探る＞ 豊かな生活をアレンジする アミューズメント業界の雄 「セガ・エンタープライゼス」". コンピュートピア (1991年7月号). コンピュータ・エージ社: 24–29. doi:10.11501/3250169.
    大下英治 (February 1993). セガ・ゲームの王国. 講談社. ISBN   4062063255.
    "Weekly Famitsu Express". Famitsu . Vol. 234, no. 313. December 16, 1994. p. 8.
  31. ↑ "SEGA TRIMS HARDWARE RANGE". Telecompaper. April 16, 1996. Retrieved June 7, 2025.
  32. ↑ Nutt, Christian (September 12, 2014). "Stalled engine: The TurboGrafx-16 turns 25". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  33. ↑ Phillips, Tom (April 11, 2012). "SNES celebrates 20th birthday in UK". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on April 13, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  34. ↑ "第44期事業戦略" (PDF). SEGA. June 28, 2001. p. 4&10. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2025.
  35. ↑ Azevedo, Théo (May 12, 2016). "Console em produção há mais tempo, Master System já vendeu 8 mi no Brasil" (in Portuguese). Universo Online. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2016. Comercializado no Brasil desde setembro de 1989, o saudoso Master System já vendeu mais de 8 milhões de unidades no país, segundo a Tectoy.
  36. ↑ "Приставка Dendy: Как Виктор Савюк придумал первый в России поп-гаджет" [Dendy Prefix: How Viktor Savyuk Came Up With The First Pop-gadget In Russia]. The Firm's Secret (in Russian). August 9, 2016. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  37. ↑ Awan, Salal (July 1, 2025). "Nintendo Switch 2 Surpasses 5 Million Units Sold in First Month, Marking Historic Launch". TwistedVoxel. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  38. ↑ "Consolidated Financial Statements" (PDF). Nintendo. April 26, 2018. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  39. ↑ "トイ・ストーリー3 がビーナに登場!『Beena専用ソフト シューティングビーナ トイ・ストーリー3 ウッディとバズの大冒険!』とばして!うって!つかまえて!たのしいゲームがい~っぱい!" (PDF). Sega Toys (in Japanese). July 14, 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  40. ↑ "Nintendo sold 2.3 million NES Classic Editions". April 28, 2017. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  41. ↑ "Nintendo Switch sales near 20m, down slightly on last year". Eurogamer.net. July 31, 2018. Archived from the original on May 17, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  42. 1 2 Ricciardi, John (October 1, 2002). "Hands-On With Bandai's SwanCrystal; Move over, Game Boy Advance - there's a new bird in town". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 159. EGM Media Group. p. 58. ISSN   1058-918X. On July 12, toy giant Bandai unleashed a third iteration (in stylish red and blue models) of their handheld WonderSwan system, the new-and- improved SwanCrystal, in Japan.
  43. 1 2 "Bandai to Launch WonderSwan Color in Dec". Jiji Press English News Service . August 30, 2000. A new colored version of Bandai Co.'s <7967> WonderSwan handheld game machine will hit Japanese stores in early December, the Japanese game maker said Wednesday. [...] The original WonderSwan, with its black-and-white displays, has sold 1.55 million units since its debut in March 1999.
  44. 1 2 3 "第21回 スワンクリスタル受注生産へ！ ワンダースワンのこれまでとこれからを探る！ 【見習い記者の取材日記】". Famitsu (in Japanese). March 8, 2003. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  45. ↑ "Bandai to Supply Software for Nintendo's Game Boy". Jiji Press English News Service . February 18, 2003. The move reflects declining sales of Bandai's WonderSwan mobile game machine. The major Japanese toy maker is looking to supply two or three software titles for the rival company's popular game machine by March next year. Bandai will shift its focus from sales of hardware to software for "multiple platforms," including personal digital assistants, Takasu told a press conference.
  46. ↑ "Device solution". Koto. Archived from the original on February 16, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  47. ↑ "Business Strategy: Interactive Education Business". Sega Toys. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  48. ↑ "食育、安全などの"五育"を取り入れ、エデュテイメント事業を推進「遊びながら学ぶ」が進化する『Advanced PICO Beena』（アドバンスピコ ビーナ）8月発売" (PDF) (Press release) (in Japanese). Sega Toys. April 5, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  49. ↑ "Majesco Signs Licensing Deal to Distribute Sega Pico Educational Systems: Systems Will Be Available In All Major Toy Retailers By Holiday Season" (Press release). Business Wire. August 5, 1999. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  50. ↑ Parish, Jeremy (July 13, 2013). "The Famicom Legacy". USgamer. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  51. ↑ Sheff & Eddy 1999 , pp.  27–28: "[Color TV Game 6] was followed by a more powerful sequel, Color TV Game 15. A million units of each were sold. The engineering team also came up with systems that played a more complex game, called "Blockbuster," as well as a racing game. Half a million units of these were sold."
  52. ↑ "Intellivision: Intelligent Television". GameSpy. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  53. ↑ Azevedo, Théo (July 30, 2012). "Vinte anos depois, Master System e Mega Drive vendem 150 mil unidades por ano no Brasil" (in Portuguese). UOL. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2012. Base instalada: 5 milhões de Master System; 3 milhões de Mega Drive
  54. ↑ Sponsel, Sebastian (November 16, 2015). "Interview: Stefano Arnhold (Tectoy)". Sega-16. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  55. ↑ Androvich, Mark (February 19, 2008). "N-gage's Second Coming". Gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on May 5, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2014. We had 700,000 active users and we had 3 million N-Gage devices out there.
  56. ↑ "Coleco Industries sales report" (Press release). PR Newswire. April 17, 1984. ProQuest   294244496. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2013. 'First quarter sales of ColecoVision were substantial, although much less that[ sic ] those for the year ago quarter,' Greenberg said in a prepared statement. He said the company has sold 2 million ColecoVision games since its introduction in 1982.
  57. 1 2 Kleinfield, N. R. (July 21, 1985). "Coleco Moves Out Of The Cabbage Patch". The New York Times . p. F4. Archived from the original on January 11, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2014. Coleco is now debating whether to withdraw from electronics altogether. Colecovision still sells, but it is a shadow of its former self.
  58. ↑ "Coleco's Net In Sharp Rise". The New York Times . Associated Press. October 19, 1985. p. 45. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2014. Thursday, Coleco said the entire inventory of its troubled Adam personal computer has been sold, along with much of its Colecovision inventory. The company's chairman, Arnold Greenberg, said Coleco expects no more charges against earnings from the two discontinued products.
  59. ↑ Blake Snow (July 30, 2007). "The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time". GamePro. Archived from the original on August 23, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  60. ↑ Blake Snow (July 30, 2007). "The 10 Worst-Selling Handhelds of All Time". GamePro. Archived from the original on July 30, 2008. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  61. ↑ "Top 25 Video Game Consoles of All Time (Magnavox Odyssey 2)". IGN . Archived from the original on September 8, 2009. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
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  63. ↑ Adam Brandenburger, Barry Nalebuff. Co-opetition. p. 238.
  64. ↑ Rodriguez, Salvador (July 14, 2019). "Facebook will never break through with Oculus, says one of the VR company's co-founders". CNBC. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
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  66. ↑ "Press Release: Axlon To Develop New Video Games For Atari; Bushnell Returns". Atari Corporation. June 1, 1988. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2021. The 7800 system with its enhanced graphics capabilities was introduced in 1986 and has sold more than million units to date.
  67. ↑ Pereira, Joseph (November 16, 1992). "Technology (A Special Report): At Our Leisure --- (Not So) Great Expectations: Hand-held Video Games Will Get Better, But Big Improvements May Take a While". The Wall Street Journal . p. R10. ISSN   0099-9660. Meanwhile, Nintendo, the first on the market with its black-and-white Game Boy, has sold approximately 7.5 million portable systems, analysts estimate. Sega has sold about 1.6 million units of its color Game Gear system, while Atari Inc. has sold about one million units of its $99 Lynx color portable system.
  68. ↑ Dvorak, John (September 1999). "The Riddle of the Lynx". Computer Shopper . SX2 Media Labs: 97. ISSN   0886-0556. Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014. The Jaguar looked to be a winner, with popular new games and hot sales. Around June of 1994 the company decided to stop supporting the Lynx and concentrate on the Jaguar.
  69. ↑ Elrich, David (September 15, 1994). "Video-Game Wars: Fighting It Out Off-Screen". The New York Times . p. C2. ISSN   0362-4331. According to Philips, there are 1 million CD-i owners worldwide.
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  71. ↑ Dillon, Roberto (April 12, 2011). The Golden Age of Video Games: The Birth of a Multibillion Dollar Industry. Taylor & Francis. pp. 22–23. ISBN   9781439873236. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  72. ↑ Mehegan, David (May 8, 1988). "Putting Coleco Industries Back Together". The Boston Globe . p. A1. ISSN   0743-1791. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2014. When the game [Telstar] crashed hard, earnings fell 50 percent in 1977 and the company lost $22 million in 1978, barely skirting bankruptcy after Handel -- then chief financial officer -- found new credit and mollified angry creditors after months of tough negotiation.
  73. ↑ Schrage, Michael (May 22, 1984). "Atari Introduces Game In Attempt for Survival" . The Washington Post . p. C3. ISSN   0190-8286. ProQuest   138312072. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2009. The company has stopped producing its 5200 SuperSystem games player, more than 1 million of which were sold.
  74. ↑ Paweł Winiarski (May 15, 2015). "Ponad milion sprzedanych egzemplarzy. Poznajcie historię Pegasusa - najpopularniejszej konsoli w Polsce" [More than one million copies sold. Learn about the history of Pegasus - the most popular console in Poland]. AntyWeb (in Polish). Retrieved July 22, 2023.

1 WonderSwan Famitsu sources

2 Release year sources

Bibliography

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