I can still vividly remember waiting in line at a Super Target at six in the morning with my dad. We had breakfast, made small talk with the people in front of us, and eventually we were handed numbers. I was 40-something, and I lit up when an employee told the very long line and large crowd in the parking lot that there were only 50 Nintendo Wiis available on launch day, and that if you weren’t given a number, you should not expect to buy one that day.
Memories like that — that day for me in high school, or for you on Christmas day, or whatever is the case — are reasons why we fall in love with video games. Consoles and handhelds are gifts and purchases, yes, but they’re much more than that to gamers. And in honor of launch day stories, and some cool data visualizations we gathered, we listed below the top ten best-selling consoles, with some quick fun facts and stats.
We’ve also included videos of what the launch day looked like for each of them, just to relive the magic. Then you’ll find a breakdown of the top 25 by region, as well as a video showing the lifetime sales, with updates for the latest consoles — the Xbox Series and the PlayStation 5 — so you can get an idea of how they compare so far to the previous iterations.
Let’s celebrate these historic pieces of tech and gaming history, as well as open a window into what the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000’s were like for gamers. Get on your nostalgia glasses, and prepare to go back in time!
Sony PlayStation 2 (157+ million units)
- First release date: March 4, 2000
- Lifespan: 2000-2013 (13 years)
- Initial price: $299
- Discontinue date: January 4, 2013
- Notable launch games: “Madden 2001”, “Moto GP”, “Midnight Club”, “FantaVision”, “Dynasty Warriors 2”, “Tekken Tag Tournament”, “Unreal Tournament”, “Ridge Racer V”, and “TimeSplitters”
Nintendo DS (157+ million units)
- First release date: November 21, 2004
- Initial price: $149.99
- Discontinue date: Unknown
- Notable launch games: “Feel the Magic: XY/XX”, “Madden 2005”, “Metroid Prime Hunters”, “Mr. Driller Drill Spirits”, “Pokemon Dash”, “Rayman DS”, “Spider-Man 2”, “Super Mario 64 DS”, and “WarioWare: Touched!”
Game Boy (118+ million units)
- First release date: April 21, 1989
- Lifespan: 1989-2003 (14 years)
- Initial price: $89.99
- Discontinue date: March 23, 2003
- Notable launch games: “Alleyway”, “Baseball”, “Super Mario Land”, “Tennis”, “Tetris” and “Yakuman”. That’s literally it, that’s the list. That’s all of them!
Sony PlayStation 4 (117+ million units and counting)
- First release date: November 15, 2013
- Lifespan: 2013-Present
- Initial price: $399.99
- Discontinue date: N/A
- Notable launch games: “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag”, “Battlefield 4”, “Call of Duty: Ghosts”, “FIFA 14”, “Flower”, “Killzone Shadow Fall”, “Knack”, “Madden 25”, and “Resogun”
Nintendo Switch (108+ million units and counting)
- First release date: March 3, 2017
- Lifespan: 2017 – Present
- Initial price: $299.99
- Discontinue date: N/A
- Notable launch games: “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”, “1-2-Switch”, “Just Dance 2017”, “World of Goo”, “Snipperclips”, and two “Shovel Knight” games
Sony PlayStation (102+ million units)
- First release date: December 3, 1994
- Lifespan: 1994-2006 (12 years)
- Initial price: $299
- Discontinue date: March 23, 2006
- Notable …….
Source: https://digg.com/gaming/link/best-selling-consoles-bmhsRLoMB4