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PlayStation (Games) Entertainment Games

PlayStation 2 Reaches 60 Million Units 51

Posted by simoniker from the a-drop-in-the-ocean dept.
Thanks to IGN for reprinting the Sony press release announcing that worldwide shipment of Sony's PlayStation 2 totaled 60 million units on September 6th. This can be split up into Japan/Asia (14.17 million units since March 4th, 2000), North America (26.42 million units since October 26th, 2000), and Europe/Australia (19.44 million units since November 24th, 2000.) The press release points out that: "Shipment of 60 million units within 3 years and 6 months since the launch is 1.6 times more in volume compared to the same period after launch of the original PlayStation." GamesIndustry.biz also note: "It's been quite a haul for Sony, who shipped their 50 millionth PS2 on January 15th 2003, having hit 40 million just four months previously and 30 million four and a half months prior to that."
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PlayStation 2 Reaches 60 Million Units More

PlayStation 2 Reaches 60 Million Units

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  • Just a note... (Score:2, Redundant)

    by vitaflo ( 20507 )
    Shipped != Sold.

    • Re:Just a note... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rwven ( 663186 )
      Well, shipped != sold to the STORES. shipped DOES = sold to Sony. they have the luxury of getting their $chaching$ up front

    • Re:Just a note... (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by macrom ( 537566 )
      Question, one that always fails to make sense to me :

      How in the world can the FIRST POST, which is a full minute (since that's as granular as we get on Slashdot) before the SECOND POST be moderated as Redundant? Anyone?

      Are the moderators suddenly members of the Slashdot Pre-Karma Police, suspended in some sort of aqueous solution, determining if something is redundant in the future?

  • Haul or Loss? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It's been quite a haul for Sony

    Isn't it the general console business model to sell hardware at a loss then recoup profits on software sales? 60 million PS2s sold means lots of losses (prior to counting game sales, of course).
    • First, they've made enough units that they probably have an economy of scale. Second, they've made their designs and manufacturing more efficient since release.

      That means that they're probably making a profit on each unit now, if they were even loosing on the initial units in the first place.
    • Isn't it the general console business model to sell hardware at a loss then recoup profits on software sales? 60 million PS2s sold means lots of losses (prior to counting game sales, of course).

      Sony may have lost money on the consoles initially, but it's generally accepted that Sony hasn't lost money on a PS2 sale in quite a while, possibly not even since before the North American launch of the console.
    • Sony is pretty secret about their business model, but I think their model was to spend a over billion dollars on a chip manufacturing plant. Now a billion dollars spread over 60 million units would mean the manufacturing cost of the chipset is pretty cheap, but they would have lost a lot of money if they had only sold 10 million or so.

    • Re:Haul or Loss? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by phorm ( 591458 )
      I think this only counts for a certain period. basically up to when your slim sales-margin isn't beating the cost of R&D, development etc. I don't think it means the hardware itself costs more than the sale price.

      Eventually, the R&D costs are paid off, and even with a smaller profit margin (lowered console price) you'll see a good profit for a high sales margin (assuming that most of these make it off the shelf)
    • Isn't it the general console business model to sell hardware at a loss then recoup profits on software sales?

      Only if you're Sega or Microsoft.

  • Coincidence? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Sounds like one unit for each file sharer. Hmmm...
  • 60 million PS2 consoles worldwide? That is a lot of $$ for a company [sony.com] which the /. crowd has professed to really [riaa.com] hate [mpaa.org] on many occasions. Even averaging say $200 USD for all those sales is an amazing $12 Billion USD in revenue.
    • I doubt they've made $200 on each.

    • The PS2 [playstation.com] and the record labels [sonymusic.com] are both members of the Sony family. One has a great product and the other is getting desperate. Does that mean we must hate one because we hate the other?

      Lots of families have a black sheep.

  • bah! (Score:5, Funny)

    by kurosawdust ( 654754 ) on Tuesday September 09, 2003 @02:24PM (#6912748)
    shipments schmipments - start measuring your impact on the gaming community in "millions of thumb-blisters" and then we'll talk...
  • For starting out with a "mere" 1 million on launch day.

    One of the best purchases I ever made.

    skye

  • Math for fun and profit (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jvmatthe ( 116058 ) on Tuesday September 09, 2003 @02:37PM (#6912878) Homepage
    Let's assume that the boxes that PS2 consoles are shipped in are 18 inches by 18 inches by 8 inches. That's 1.5 cubic feet. If you multiply by 60 million, you end up with 90 million cubic feet. The cube root of 90 million is 448 plus a bit. Assume 15 feet per story in a building.

    Then if all the boxes for all the PS2 consoles sold were stacked up in a cube, it'd be roughly 30 stories tall and as long on each side as about 1.5 football fields.

    I'm sure I forgot to carry a one or something. Maybe even a divide by zero somewhere. But that's probably close.

    Now if I only had a dollar for each console sold...

    • WINSTON (concerned) What do you mean "big?" [Spengler picks up a Hostess Twinkie from the workbench] SPENGLER Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. According to this morning's PKE sample, the current level in the city would be a Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds. WINSTON That's a big Twinkie.
    • Yes, but how many Libraries of Congress would fit in there?
  • My guess is no, but even if that's the case there's still the pricey controllers, memory, ethernet, etc. not to mention the tiny piece of every game sold to factor in there.

    I was wondering why they weren't doing things like making PS2 joysticks for the PC, turning the system into a mini media center with Linux and a decent hard drive unit, or the like, but they must be doing something right if they've sold 60 million already. Maybe PS3 will do more of that.

    But they really get you on the accessories. I

  • 60 gazillion millions (Score:3, Interesting)

    by August_zero ( 654282 ) on Tuesday September 09, 2003 @04:09PM (#6913971)
    HOw many of these 60 million are resales? I treat my PS2 with the utmost care and I am on my 3rd due to breakage. Come to think of it, of all the Sony products i have purchased over the years, only a couple of them still work. Maybe I am just unlucky...

    Seriously though, I guess it testifies as to how important the stupid thing is to me since I have replaced it twice.
    • I'm on my 3rd too. And i wanted to say thanks to BEST BUY for giving me two of them FOR FREE!

      Their product replacement plan is definatly worth it for the PS2. I bought one for $300 and when it broke, Best Buy gave me a new one, and since the price had dropped to $200, they gave me the diference back in store credit and let me buy another replacement plan. So I took in my broke PS2 and walked out with a new one with new warranty and a FREE GAME!

      That one broke and I returned it for ANOTHER a few days ago.
    • I treat my PS2 with the utmost care and I am on my 3rd due to breakage.

      Jeeze! I bought mine when the xBox came out (hehehe) and it still works fine. Plays my DVDs, plays my games.

      Did you "respectfully" throw it against a wall a bunch of times? Or do you let your cat use it as a toilet/cat-hair storage device?

  • ..how many of those 26.42 million PS2's shipped 'to' North America ended up in Latin America's regular and 'grey' markets?

    There are millions of ps2's installed at least in Mexico and Brazil despite Sony hasn't officially lunched the ps2 here. Games and consoles are for sale at regular retail game stores, and Wal-marts.

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