THE CRUNCH
More than 25 years after launch, the PlayStation 2 remains the best-selling game console of all time, with Sony shipping over 160 million units across a 13-year run. That lead is now under real threat: Nintendo has shipped over 156 million Switch consoles as of June 2026, across all variants, and unlike the PS2 the Switch is still being sold. Nintendo expects to ship around 2 million original Switch consoles in the fiscal year ending March 2027, so at that rate the Switch could pass the PS2 in 2028 at the earliest.
The PS2's crown came from a mix of timing and longevity. It launched with a built-in DVD player just as that market took off, and when it arrived the Dreamcast was the only other new home console on the market, with Sony's early hype leading many gamers to hold off on Sega's machine. The GameCube and original Xbox did not arrive until late 2001. Sony didn't stop making the PS2 until 2013, and price cuts from $299 at its US launch to $99 by 2009 kept it attractive as a budget option. Those hardware sales carried more than 1.5 billion PS2 games, led by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas at 17.3 million units.
The Switch has already overtaken the PS2 on software, with nearly 1.6 billion games sold. Its top titles are Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at 71.5 million, Animal Crossing: New Horizons at 50.3 million and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at 38.1 million. Behind the two leaders, the Nintendo DS shipped over 154 million units, helped by early backward compatibility with Game Boy Advance games.
One caveat on the numbers: Sony and Nintendo report consoles shipped to retailers rather than consumer sales, and Microsoft does not publish official totals, so Xbox figures are analyst estimates.