150 million PS2s sold, and still counting

Many of us have moved on from the PS2, but there are a fair amount of cash-strapped players who are just now getting into the wildly successful system - enough, at least, that Sony is still making and shipping them nearly 11 years after they first hit the market.

The PS2 continues to find a strong home in stores in the Middle East and South America as Sony, in particular, has turned greater attention to these areas, where loyal players have historically had to pay a premium to buy games from import shops.

Sony released a statement saying that as of January 31, the PS2 has reached its 150 millionth sale milestone. And at the same time, total sales of PS2 software have passed 1.5 billion.

Game consoles typically reach maturity after 4-5 years - that happened with the Gamecube and Xbox - but not the PS2. While developer support for the system is tapering off, that didn't happen before a total of 10,800+ official PS2 games were released.

It may have sounded crazy to hear Sony talk about a 10-year life span for the PS2 back in the day, but it has actually happened. In fact, it's surpassed that 10-year mark.

The PS2 continues to be sold, new, for $100.

Feb 14, 2011