It turns out the world really loves it some PlayStation. According to Guinness World Records, humble keepers of all manner of statistics, PlayStation is officially "the best-selling home console brand" in history. That's mostly down to the incredible success of the PS2, but the PS4 and original PlayStation definitely pulled their weight. The PS3 also... helped, I guess.
This news shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone, really. Just last month, we reported that the PS4 had managed to secure a spot as the second best-selling console of all time with 102.8 million units shifted worldwide. That put it ahead of the OG PlayStation (102.5 million), but still some way behind the PS2's insane 159 million.
The relative runt of the PlayStation litter, the PS3 sits at around 87.5 million. That's still pretty damn incredible, and ahead of the Xbox 360's 85 million, but it seems the third generation of PlayStation never quite managed to match up to the rest of its impressive family.
Regardless, the top three best-selling home consoles in history are now all PlayStation, and that's huge. As such, it was surely only a matter of time before it was made official. Sure enough, Guinness World Records recently presented Sony CEO Jim Ryan and former CEO Ken Kutaragi with a certified plaque confirming PlayStation's dominance.
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"Back when we were developing the original PlayStation, we had the ambition to sell 1 million units," Kutaragi said when collecting the award.
"I look back on that now with nostalgia. We launched the PlayStation platform with the aim of changing the face of entertainment. Receiving this award today, I feel the support of the players who have enjoyed our consoles over the years, and as the father of the PlayStation, I can see it has a bright future."
According to Guinness, Sony has shifted an incredible 450 million units across its entire lineup of home consoles, from the first PlayStation all the way up to the PlayStation 4 Pro. The original PlayStation, which recently turned 25, was the first home console to surpass the 100 million mark. The PS4 was the fastest console to do so.
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In terms of home console sales only, Nintendo comes in behind PlayStation with 321.7 million combined units. Xbox, meanwhile, has managed to sell 155 million, putting it in third place amongst the active console brands of today. It's the taking part that counts though, eh? To be fair to Xbox, it has gone through the least generations - a distinct disadvantage.
If we were to include handheld consoles in the equation, Nintendo predictably takes the top spot with over 750 million combined units. That's compared to the 537.5 million PlayStation manages. Obviously the PSP and Vita were never going to come close to the DS and Game Boy families, were they?
With the current generation of PlayStation coming to an end, it's fair to say that Sony is ending on a high. The PS4's impressive sales were no doubt helped by its solid run of incredible exclusives. And, you know, Xbox One's unfortunate comparative lack of the same.
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God Of War, Marvel's Spider-Man and Horizon Zero Dawn were all critical and commercial hits for Sony this generation. While we still don't quite know what to expect from the 2020 launch of the PS5, it's safe to assume that more single-player story-driven exclusives will play a part in the next chapter of the PlayStation story.
Featured Image Credit: SonyTopics: PS2, PS3, PlayStation, PS1, PS4
