Worldwide PS2 sales hit 30 million | July 02, 2002
By Martyn Williams
Worldwide shipments of Sony’s Playstation 2 console have hit the 30 million mark, the company claimed today.
The news comes a day after the company announced two special-edition PlayStation 2 consoles, and a range of new software for the mid-year sales period.
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) says it expects shipments in Japan to pass ten million sometime before the middle of July, which would mean it took two years and four months since launch to reach the mark. The company’s previous Playstation console took around three years to reach the same level.
The domestic sales landmark is being reached just over two months after SCEI announced total worldwide shipments of the Playstation 2 had reached 30 million units. That was achieved on May 5, when shipments to Asia, including Japan, totalled 9.99 million. Sales to North America totalled 11.25 million, sales and to Europe 8.78 million.
Competition
The current market, in which SCEI faces competition from Nintendo’s Gamecube and Microsoft’s Xbox, is the most competitive since the Playstation 2 was launched in Japan on March 4, 2000. Nevertheless, Playstation 2 sales are holding up well, and the company has confirmed its position as the market leader in Japan, according to the latest hardware sales figures.
For the week ending June 16, sales of the Playstation 2 totalled 47,800 units, while those of Nintendo’s handheld Gameboy Advance were 33,200, according to figures from Enterbrain, which tracks game hardware and software sales. The Gamecube came in at third place, with sales of 9,300. SCEI’s PSOne was in fourth place, with sales of 5,900 units. Microsoft’s Xbox trailed in fifth place with sales of 4,400 units followed by Bandai’s Wonderswan at 2,200, and Nintendo’s Gameboy Color at 1,500 units.
Monday also saw the announcement of several special edition PlayStation 2 consoles and peripherals. SCEI plans to sell the consoles, which have a semi-transparent case and are available in two colours (ocean blue and zen black), from July 18, and August 1 respectively.
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