Sony's Playstation 2 is racing past sales records all the time and this weekend it passed, at full speed, the 60 million mark. The total number of PS2 console's shipped worldwide reached the staggering 60.03 million unit mark, a figure which its rivals can only fantasize about.
What is clearly evident from the figures released by Sony is that the U.S remains the greatest market for the console with total sales there reaching 26.42 million units (launch date 26 October, 2000). In its home market, that of Asia which includes Japan, Sony's baby has hit 26.42 million units sold (with a 4 March, 2000 Japanese launch). Europe trails in PS2 sales but with a very respectable 19.44 million units sold (24 November, 2000 launch).
What these figures stress is that Sony's console, although accused of being the least advanced next-generation console by its competitors, has not only managed to keep its sales up but has thrived under the pressure of its rivals. It took four and a half months for the console to move from the 30 million to the 40 million mark while it took 4 months for the console to sell another 10 million, reaching the 50 million total on 15 January, 2003. In order to meet this demand and especially the increased holiday season demand, Sony started producing and shipping 3 million units a month from August 2003.
Since the console first launched in Japan, three and a half years ago, it has evolved from an unknown quantity to the industry standard. The 60 million sold so far suggest that its rivals may not be able to surpass it in sales and will have to devise some other form of strategy (XBox Live) in order to remain in the game. The difficulty facing Sony's rivals however, remains that not only are they not closing in on the leader but PS2's lead seems to be increasing.
