While PCs have always been the number one choice for serious gamers, gaming consoles have also grown their global user base immensely over the past few decades, pushing the combined lifetime sales to impressive figures.
According to data presented by CasinosEnLigne.com, gamers have bought more than 1.7 billion video game consoles over the past five decades.
Top Five Game Consoles Made 40% of Total Sales
Video game consoles have come a long way since their beginnings in the 1970s. They are easy to use and cost much less than a gaming PC, which has remained one of the biggest drivers behind their impressive growth.
The first ever home video console, Magnavox Odyssey, was launched in 1972, but the play form was truly popularized five years later with the launch of Atari 2600. Since then, hundreds of millions of consoles have been shipped worldwide.
According to Statista and VGChartz data, even 23 years after its launch, PlayStation 2 still holds the record in lifetime sales. Sony’s popular gaming console has shipped 158.7 million units worldwide, or 4 million more than the second best-selling console of all time, the Nintendo DS.
Nintendo Switch has entered its seventh year on the market following two years of sales decline. But despite the falling demand and the expected further sales dip in the fiscal year 2024, Switch has still climbed to a high third place of all-time best-selling consoles with 128 million in lifetime sales.
Statistics show Game Boy sold nearly 10 million units less than that, ranking fourth on this list, while PlayStation 4 and PlayStation follow, with 117 million and 102 million, respectively. Sony’s ninth-generation console, PS5, ranked sixteenth on this list, with roughly 40 million in lifetime sales as of September. The VGChart data also show that the top five best-selling consoles of all time made nearly 40% of total sales.
PlayStation Remains the Absolute King in the Console Gaming Segment, with a 52% Market Share in 2023
While the Japanese gaming giant, Nintendo, has three consoles ranked in the top five, the entire market is still dominated by Sony. According to Statista Market Insight, PlayStation is the absolute king in the console gaming segment, with a 52% market share in 2023. Xbox ranked as the second-largest player with a 22% market share this year, and Nintendo follows with 20%, respectively.
Analyzed by geography, the United States remains the single largest market for this type of gaming. In 2023, the US market is expected to gross $7.7bn in revenue, or one-third of this year’s total.
Far below, Japan ranked as the second-largest console gaming market with $2.7bn in revenue in 2023. The United Kingdom, France, and Germany follow, with $2.2bn, $1.5bn, and $960 million in revenue, respectively.
