Sony reported cumulative worldwide PlayStation 3 sales of 80 million units as of November 2, 2013. That was a milestone during the console’s seventh year—not a final lifetime total. The PS2 comparison often paired with it, 150 million units, was also a dated milestone; PlayStation’s current official history page says more than 160 million PS2 consoles have sold worldwide since 2000.
What Sony’s 80 million PS3 figure means
Sony Computer Entertainment announced on November 6, 2013, that cumulative worldwide sales of the PlayStation 3 had reached 80 million units as of November 2. Sony described the PS3 as being in its seventh year. The announcement does not establish the console’s final lifetime sales total. Sony’s November 2013 announcement.
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How the PS3 milestone compares with PS2 sales
| Console and figure | What the number represents | Comparison with the PS3 milestone |
|---|---|---|
| PS3: 80 million | Sony’s cumulative worldwide sales figure as of November 2, 2013; announced November 6, 2013. | Baseline |
| PS2: 150 million | Sony’s cumulative worldwide sales milestone as of January 31, 2011; announced February 14, 2011, 10 years and 11 months after the console’s Japanese release. | The PS3 milestone is 70 million lower—about 53% of this dated PS2 figure. |
| PS2: over 160 million | PlayStation’s current official history page says this many PS2 consoles have sold worldwide since 2000; it gives no specific as-of date for the updated total. | The PS3 milestone is more than 80 million lower and less than half this PS2 total. |
The 150 million figure is a historical benchmark, not the latest official PS2 total. Sony’s 2011 announcement reported the milestone as of January 31, 2011. Sony’s February 2011 announcement. PlayStation’s current history page reports over 160 million worldwide sales since 2000. PlayStation history.
What the comparison can—and cannot—show
These figures compare cumulative worldwide unit sales at different points in each console’s history. They are not a head-to-head market-share measure: the PS3 figure is from 2013, while the 150 million PS2 milestone was measured in 2011 and the current PS2 page does not specify when its over-160-million figure was reached.
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Sony’s 2013 release mentioned games including The Last of Us, Journey and Gran Turismo 6, alongside features and services associated with the platform. It also reported that The Last of Us sold 3.4 million units in less than three weeks after its June 2013 launch and that the Gran Turismo franchise had sold more than 70 million copies worldwide at that time. These were period-specific statements by Sony; they do not show that any one game, feature or service caused PS3 sales to reach 80 million.
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