PAL PS2 shipments close to 20m units as global figure passes 60m
Sony's PlayStation 2 passed another milestone on Saturday as the worldwide cumulative shipping figure surged past 60 million units, eight months after the company shipped its 50 millionth system.
In terms of breakdown, that's 14.17 million in Japan (where it launched on March 4th, 2000) including Asia, 26.42 million in the US (October 26th, 2000) and just under 20 million - 19.44 million units - in Europe (November 24th, 2000), for a grand total of 60.03 million units worldwide.
From the machine's Japanese launch to the present day, that's three and a half years - making the 60 million figure 1.6 times more volume than the original PlayStation managed in the same period. As a result, Sony has upped its monthly production/shipment to more than three million units from this August in order to capitalise on the Christmas period.
It's been quite a haul for Sony, who shipped their 50 millionth PS2 on January 15th 2003, having hit 40 million just four months previously and 30 million four and a half months prior to that. Sales can be expected to accelerate over the Christmas period of course, particularly if the anticipated European price cut materialises.
Aside from its dominance in terms of installed base, the PS2 continues to outsell its competitors on a week-on-week basis in all three major territories, and is gradually building upon its lead rather than having it eroded. How long the aging hardware can continue to do so, however, is another question - but right now we'd expect that Sony is confident of having a healthy PS2 platform even by the time PS3 launches in late 2005 or early 2006.
Additional reporting by Rob Fahey