PlayStation 2 hits 150m sales

Almost 11 years on from its Japanese debut in March 2000, Sony’s PlayStation 2 has now passed 150m unit sales across the world.

The number was hit on January 31st – ten years and 11 months after its debut. This cements the console’s position as the best selling gaming hardware in history.

As of December lifetime PS2 software sales stood at 1.527bn units. That means that, on average, every PS2 owner has purchased ten games for the machine.

In total 10,828 games have been released on PS2 so far.

However, PS2’s time in the sun could soon be cut short. In May 2010 Nintendo said that the DS had passed the Game Boy’s 118m lifetime sales. Last month the platform holder predicted total fiscal 2011 sales of 22.5m units for the device, meaning lifetime sales could surpass 150m units by the end of March.