Jim Ryan has officially left PlayStation after more than thirty years at the company. His departure comes amid claims that the firm’s current console, the PlayStation 5, will be the most successful device the company has ever created. However, Jim Ryan himself revealed that there’s quite a distance to go before the PS5 surpasses the company’s best-selling console – the PlayStation 2.
That’s a Lot of Consoles
In a recent appearance on the Official PlayStation Podcast, outgoing PlayStation boss Jim Ryan revealed that the PlayStation 2 console sold a whopping 160 million units in its lifetime. It was already the best-selling console of all time, but that boost cements it as being almost untouchable for the foreseeable future. Previously, the estimated sales figure for the PlayStation 2 sat at around 155 million units.
The PlayStation 2 is often seen as the greatest gaming console ever made. With a library of thousands of games, the PS2 saw the birth of many great franchises, and it was considered a technological marvel at the time. From 2000 to 2013, the PlayStation 2 remained supported and in production, and models of the console were still being released for the first time in some regions as late as 2009. It’s one of the single-longest lifespans for any console in the history of gaming.
It was so successful that it caused competitors to waver and struggle financially, and it effortlessly dominated the gaming scene for several years. I’ve still got an old PlayStation 2 plugged in under my television and a handsome collection of some top-tier titles from days gone by – I’ll keep it as a family heirloom if nothing else.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that CDPR doesn’t want MTX in single-player games
