List of best-selling game consoles

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Sony's PlayStation 2 is the best-selling game system overall with over 155 million units worldwide.[1]

A video game console is a boxlike standardized computing device tailored for video gaming that requires a monitor or television set as an output.[2] Handheld controllers are commonly used as input devices. Video game consoles may use one or more storage media like hard disk drives, optical discs, and memory cards for content. They weigh between 2 and 9 pounds on average and their compact size allows them to be easily used in a variety of locations with an electrical outlet.[3] Each are usually developed by a single business organization.[2] Dedicated consoles can only play built-in games.[4] Gaming consoles in general are also described as "dedicated" in distinction from the more versatile personal computer and other consumer electronics.[5][6][7] Sanders Associates engineer Ralph H. Baer along with company employees Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch licensed their television gaming technology to contemporary major TV manufacturer Magnavox. This resulted in Magnavox Odyssey's 1972 release—the first commercially available video game console.[8]

A handheld game console is a lightweight device with a built-in screen, games controls, speakers,[9] and has greater portability than a standard video game console.[3] It is capable of playing multiple games unlike tabletop and handheld electronic game devices. Tabletop and handheld electronic game devices of the 1970s and 1980s are the precursors of handheld game consoles.[10] Mattel introduced the first handheld electronic game with the 1977 release of Auto Race.[11] Later, several companies—including Coleco and Milton Bradley—made their own single-game, lightweight tabletop or handheld electronic game devices.[12] The oldest handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges is the Milton Bradley Microvision in 1979.[13] Nintendo is credited with popularizing the handheld console concept with the Game Boy's release in 1989[10] and continues to dominate the handheld console market.[14][15]

PlayStation 2 has over 10,828 software titles, and 1.52 billion units of software were sold worldwide as of December 2010.[16] Nintendo DS has over 2,000 software titles (as of August 2013),[17] and 945.48 million units of software sold worldwide as of September 2014.[18]

Best-selling game consoles

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See also: List of best-selling game consoles by region and List of commercial failures in video gaming
The Nintendo DS product line are the best-selling handheld consoles, selling 154.01 million units worldwide. The original (left) sold 18.78 million units. The majority of sales came from the DS Lite (right) at 93.86 million units.[18]
Two members of the DS product line, the DSi (left) and DSi XL (right) helped to further drive sales, moving 41.37 million units combined.[18]

The following tables contain video game consoles and handheld game consoles that have sold at least 1 million units worldwide either through to consumers or inside retail channels. Each console include sales from every iteration unless otherwise noted. Dedicated consoles are marked with an asterisk (*) next to the platform's name, while  †  indicates the current generation consoles on the market. The years correspond to when the home or handheld game console was first released—excluding test markets. Each year links to the corresponding "year in video gaming". Hardware firms labelled  Atari ,  Microsoft ,  Nintendo ,  Sega  or  Sony  have more than two consoles listed; those with a white background do not.

All game consoles

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
Million-selling game consoles
Platform Firm Released[‡] Units sold Ref.
PlayStation 2 Sony 2000 >155 million [note 1]
Nintendo DS Nintendo 2004 154.02 million [18]
Game Boy/Game Boy Color Nintendo 1989/1998 118.69 million [note 2]
PlayStation Sony 1994 102.49 million [32]
Wii Nintendo 2006 101.63 million [18]
Xbox 360 Microsoft 2005 84 million [note 3]
PlayStation 3 Sony 2006 >83.8 million [note 1]
PlayStation Portable Sony 2004 82 million [note 1]
Game Boy Advance Nintendo 2001 81.51 million [18]
Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo 1983 61.91 million [18]
Nintendo 3DS current generation consoles Nintendo 2011 58.85 million [18]
Super Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo 1990 49.10 million [18]
PlayStation 4 current generation consoles Sony 2013 40 million [38][39]
Nintendo 64 Nintendo 1996 32.93 million [18]
Sega Genesis Sega 1988 30.75 million [40][41]
Atari 2600 Atari 1977 30 million [42]
Xbox Microsoft 2001 24 million [43]
GameCube Nintendo 2001 21.74 million [18]
Master System Sega 1986 16–17.8 million [note 4]
Wii U current generation consoles Nintendo 2012 12.80 million [18]
Sega Game Gear Sega 1990 10.62 million [41]
Xbox One current generation consoles Microsoft 2013 >10 million [note 3]
TurboGrafx-16 Hudson Soft/NEC 1987 10 million [49]
Sega Saturn Sega 1994 9.26 million [40]
Dreamcast Sega 1998 9.13 million [40][50][51][52]
PlayStation Vita current generation consoles Sony 2011 >4 million [note 1]
Sega Pico Sega 1993 >3.4 million [note 5]
WonderSwan Bandai 1999 3.2–3.5 million [note 6]
Color TV Game *[61] Nintendo 1977 3 million [62]
Intellivision Mattel 1980 3 million [63]
N-Gage Nokia 2003 3 million [64]
ColecoVision Coleco 1982 >2 million [note 7]
Magnavox Odyssey² Magnavox/Philips 1978 2 million [68]
Atari Lynx Atari 1989 >1 million [note 8]
Philips CD-i Philips 1991 >1 million [note 9]
Telstar *[73] Coleco 1976 >1 million [note 10]
Atari 5200 Atari 1982 1 million [75]

Home game consoles

Only the PlayStation (top) and Wii (bottom) join the PlayStation 2 in home consoles surpassing 100 million units sold.
The first popular home console, the Atari 2600 (1980 version pictured), was released in 1977.[76]
Million-selling home game consoles
Platform Firm Released[‡] Units sold Ref.
PlayStation 2 Sony 2000 >155 million [note 1]
PlayStation Sony 1994 102.49 million [32]
Wii Nintendo 2006 101.63 million [18]
Xbox 360 Microsoft 2005 84 million [note 3]
PlayStation 3 Sony 2006 >83.8 million [note 1]
Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo 1983 61.91 million [18]
Super Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo 1990 49.10 million [18]
PlayStation 4 current generation consoles Sony 2013 40 million [38][39]
Nintendo 64 Nintendo 1996 32.93 million [18]
Sega Genesis Sega 1988 30.75 million [40][41]
Atari 2600 Atari 1977 30 million [42]
Xbox Microsoft 2001 24 million [43]
GameCube Nintendo 2001 21.74 million [18]
Master System Sega 1986 16–17.8 million [note 4]
Wii U current generation consoles Nintendo 2012 12.80 million [18]
Xbox One current generation consoles Microsoft 2013 >10 million [note 3]
TurboGrafx-16 Hudson Soft/NEC 1987 10 million [49]
Sega Saturn Sega 1994 9.26 million [40]
Dreamcast Sega 1998 9.13 million [40][50][51][52]
Sega Pico Sega 1993 >3.4 million [note 5]
Color TV Game *[61] Nintendo 1977 3 million [62]
Intellivision Mattel 1980 3 million [63]
ColecoVision Coleco 1982 >2 million [note 7]
Magnavox Odyssey² Magnavox/Philips 1978 2 million [68]
Philips CD-i Philips 1991 >1 million [note 9]
Telstar *[73] Coleco 1976 >1 million [note 10]
Atari 5200 Atari 1982 1 million [75]

Handheld game consoles

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See also: Comparison of handheld game consoles
Sony's PlayStation Portable signified the company's debut in the handheld market. Forbes editor Penelope Patsuris noted "The competition marks the first time that a company with real clout has challenged the lock that Nintendo has had on handheld gaming for 15 years."[14]
Million-selling handheld game consoles
Platform Firm Released[‡] Units sold Ref.
Nintendo DS Nintendo 2004 154.02 million [18]
Game Boy/Game Boy Color Nintendo 1989/1998 118.69 million [note 2]
PlayStation Portable Sony 2004 82 million [note 1]
Game Boy Advance Nintendo 2001 81.51 million [18]
Nintendo 3DS current generation consoles Nintendo 2011 58.85 million [18]
Sega Game Gear Sega 1990 10.62 million [41]
PlayStation Vita current generation consoles Sony 2011 >4 million [note 1]
WonderSwan Bandai 1999 3.2–3.5 million [note 6]
N-Gage Nokia 2003 3 million [64]
Atari Lynx Atari 1989 >1 million [note 8]

Best-selling game consoles by firm

Total amount of every console with at least 1 million units sold.

Million-selling game consoles by firm
Manufacturer Home
console sales		 Handheld
console sales		 Total sales
Nintendo 282.91 million 412.15 million 689.52 million
Sony >377.19 million >86 million >457.49 million
Microsoft 118 million – 118 million
Sega 65.14–66.94 million >14.02 million >79.16 million
Atari 31 million >1 million >32 million
Hudson Soft/NEC 10 million – 10 million
Bandai – 3.2–3.5 million 3.2–3.5 million
Coleco >3 million – >3 million
Magnavox/Philips >3 million – >3 million
Mattel 3 million – 3 million
Nokia – 3 million 3 million

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Sony stopped divulging individual platform sales starting with 2012 fiscal reports,[19][20] and continues to sporadically.[21] PlayStation 2: 138.8 million units sold as of Sony's first fiscal quarter ending June 2009 (Q1 FY2009).[22] Sony sold 16.2 million units from Q2 FY2009 until March 31, 2012.[23] It was discontinued worldwide on January 4, 2013.[24] PlayStation 3: A Sony press release reported 80 million sold as of November 2, 2013.[25] 3.4 million were shipped in 2014 and 0.4 million in the first quarter of 2015.[26] PlayStation Portable: 52.9 million units sold as of Q1 FY2009.[22] Sony sold 23.4 million units from Q2 FY2009 until March 31, 2012.[27] On June 3, 2014, IGN reported a sales figure of 80 million,[28] but the Associated Press noted "More than 76 million PSP machines were sold, as of two years ago, the last time a tally was taken."[29] Shipments to North America ended in January 2014, and to Japan in June 2014. Shipments to Europe ended during the latter part of 2014.[29] IGN reported in mid-November that 82 million PSP were manufactured and shipped at end of production.[30] PlayStation Vita: 4 million reported by The Guardian on January 4, 2013.[24]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Nintendo only provided a combined sales total.[31] Before Game Boy Color's release in late-1998,[‡] previous models sold 64.42 million units combined worldwide.[18]
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Starting with Microsoft's fiscal quarter ending June 2014 (Q4), the company stopped divulging individual platform sales in their fiscal reports.[33] Xbox 360: Sold 84 million as of June 2014.[34] Xbox One: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella unveiled at a December 3, 2014 shareholder presentation that 10 million units were sold.[35] Ars Technica estimated it to have outsold the Wii U starting in late 2014, continues to outpace it,[36] and reached approximately 19 million worldwide by early January 2016.[37]
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 13 million according to a 2009 article by IGN's Levi Buchanan.[44] Screen Digest wrote in a 1995 publication that the Master System's active installed user base in Western Europe peaked at 6.25 million in 1993. Those countries that peaked are France at 1.6 million, Germany at 700 thousand, the Netherlands at 200 thousand, Spain at 550 thousand, the United Kingdom at 1.35 million, and other Western European countries at 1.4 million. However, Belgium peaked in 1991 with 600 thousand, and Italy in 1992 with 400 thousand. Thus it is estimated approximately 6.8 million units were purchased in this part of Europe.[45] 1 million were sold in Japan as of 1986.[46] 2 million were sold in the United States.[47] 8 million were sold by Tectoy in Brazil as of 2016.[48]
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sega sold this amount as of April 2005.[53] Its successor launched on August 6, 2005.[54] Majesco re-manufactured and distributed the Pico in the United States starting at the end of 1999.[55]
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bandai released three WonderSwan iterations.[56] A March 2003 Famitsu article reported the original (March 1999)[57] and color (December 2000)[57] versions sold approximately 3 million units combined,[58] while the SwanCrystal (July 2002)[56] sold over 200 thousand units.[58] Bandai announced the transition from hardware to third-party development in February 2003 due to declining sales and will supply software to the competitor's Game Boy Advance by March 2004.[59] Average weekly Famitsu sales during the transition were only a couple hundred units,[§] and the SwanCrystal went build to order starting in autumn 2003.[58] WonderSwan hardware designer Koto claimed over 3.5 million were sold.[60]
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 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[65][66] with most inventory gone by October 1985.[67]
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Wall Street Journal reported in November 1992 approximately 1 million were sold.[69] Around June 1994, Atari shifted its focus from the Lynx to its Jaguar console.[70]
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 This Philips-reported figure was in The New York Times on September 15, 1994.[71] The CD-i was discontinued in 1998.[72]
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 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[66]—almost bankrupting the company.[74]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 18.00 18.01 18.02 18.03 18.04 18.05 18.06 18.07 18.08 18.09 18.10 18.11 18.12 18.13 18.14 18.15 18.16 18.17 18.18 18.19 18.20 18.21 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 40.4 40.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (cf. here [1], here [2], and here [3])
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Sheff & Eddy 1999, p. 349: "Atari sold a handful of its 5200s and 7800s, and Sega sold a total of 2 million Master Systems."
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ 49.0 49.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ 52.0 52.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  55. ↑ 56.0 56.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ 57.0 57.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ 58.0 58.1 58.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  60. ↑ 61.0 61.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ 62.0 62.1 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."
  62. ↑ 63.0 63.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ 64.0 64.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  64. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  65. ↑ 66.0 66.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  67. ↑ 68.0 68.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  69. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  71. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  72. ↑ 73.0 73.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  74. ↑ 75.0 75.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  75. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
§ WonderSwan Famitsu sources

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‡ Release year sources

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Bibliography
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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