PS2 hits colossal 160 million sales, Sony confirms

The PlayStation 2 has sold over 160 million units worldwide, Sony has officially clarified in new sales figures.

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Sony's 30 years of PlayStation promo website has revealed new information on the PS2's lifetime sales. The PlayStation 2 section of the site confirms that the early 2000's console had sold 5 million more units than what Sony has listed on its website. Granted the previous figures were from 2012.

"PS2 is one of the biggest-selling video game consoles of all time, with over 160,000,000 consoles sold worldwide since 2000," the site reads.

This still makes the PlayStation 2 the best-selling video games hardware of all time, beating out the second runner-up the Nintendo DS with its huge 154 million sales.

The reason for the PS2's widespread popularity was two-fold: Not only were people buying the PS2 to play games, the console was also one of the cheapest option for a DVD player on the market. Consumers bought the PS2 en masse to play DVD discs, both game- and media-based alike.

Sony explains on the anniversary site:

"Offering users cutting-edge gaming, DVD playback, online functionality, and backward compatibility with original PlayStation discs, the PS2 console represented an irresistible package at launch and throughout its lifespan."

Elsewhere in the post, SIE also captures an interesting quote from PlayStation composer Takafumi Fujisawa on the PS2's iconic startup sound. Millions of people heard this sound for years on end--and for many it still brings a sense of nostalgia.

"Kutaragi-san briefed us with the concept that was beyond our image, like a monolith floating in space with the earth in the background. I used the perfect 4th chords with stable harmony to express simple strength and the image of landing somewhere from space," Fujiawa said on creating the PS2's iconic startup menu sound.