PS2 officially surpasses 160m sales, retaining its best-selling console crown

Nintendo's Switch might be nipping at its heels, but PlayStation 2 continues to hold the record as the best-selling console of all time - with Sony now confirming the machine has shifted a whopping 160m units since launching all the way back in March 2000.

This isn't the first time we've heard that figure, of course; former PlayStation boss Jim Ryan casually claimed a total of 160m PlayStation 2s had been sold during afarewell edition of PlayStation Podcastearlier this year, but Sony has now updated itsPlayStation history pageto reflect that number, finally making itofficiallyofficial.

PlayStation 2's last major sales milestone was trumpeted back in 2011, when Sony revealed the console hadsurpassed 150m sales- although it only took another year for that number to jump up by a further 5m. So while sales have undoubtedly slowed - not exactly surprising seeing as Sony hasn't produced a PS2 since January 2013 - the fact the console has successfully managed to shift another 5m units in the interim is still pretty wild.

To put that into some sort of perspective, PlayStation 5 is currently at65m lifetime sales, while PS4 has sold 117m units, PS3 is at the 87m mark, and PS1 was snapped up by 102m Vib-Ribbon fans. Nintendo's DS handheldalmostcame close to matching PS2's previously announced figure, shifting 154m units, but it now trails someway behind. As for Switch (currently at 146m sales), it could still reign victorious ifSwitch 2doesn't get in its way.

For all this competitive chatter, 160m PS2s sold is still an impressive achievement, and you canread more about the console's success elsewhere on Eurogamer. It's not Sony's only cause for celebration, of course, given the entire PlayStation brand ismarking its 30th anniversaryin exactly one week's time. And all this because of afalling out with Nintendo.