List of best-selling game consoles by region

Television encoding systems by nation; countries using the PAL system are shown in blue.

This is a list of best-selling game consoles by region. This page consists of countries in Asia, North America, Europe, and other PAL regions. PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is a colour encoding system for analogue television used in broadcast television systems in most countries broadcasting at 576i, such as Europe and Asia.

Asia

Region-wide

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Sony PlayStation 2 March 4, 2000 25.42 million[1]
Sony PlayStation December 4, 1994 21.59 million[2]
NEC PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) October 30, 1987 7.5 million[3]

Japan

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Nintendo Nintendo DS December 2, 2004 32,990,000[4]
Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color April 21, 1989 32,470,000[4]
Sony PlayStation 2 March 4, 2000 21,454,325[5]
Nintendo Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom/NES) July 15, 1983 19,350,000[4]
Nintendo Super Famicom (SNES) November 21, 1990 17,170,000[4]
Nintendo Game Boy Advance February 21, 2001 16,960,000[4]
Sony PlayStation Portable December 12, 2004 16,867,853[6]
Nintendo Nintendo 3DS February 26, 2011 15,760,000[4]
Nintendo Wii November 19, 2006 12,750,000[4]
Sony PlayStation 3 November 11, 2006 6,341,950[6]
Nintendo Nintendo 64 June 23, 1996 5,540,000[4]
Sega Saturn November 22, 1994 5,000,000[7]
Nintendo GameCube September 14, 2001 4,040,000[4]
Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) October 29, 1988 3,580,000[8]
Sega Dreamcast November 27, 1998 2,320,000[9]
Nintendo Wii U December 8, 2012 1,750,000[4]
Microsoft Xbox 360 December 10, 2005 1,448,665[6]
Sega Sega Mark III (Master System) October 20, 1985 1,000,000[10]
Sony PlayStation 4 February 22, 2014 838,525
Microsoft Xbox One September 4, 2014 40,488

North America

Region-wide

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Sony PlayStation 2 October 26, 2000 47.68 million[1]
Sony PlayStation September 9, 1995 40.78 million[2]
Sega Genesis August 14, 1989 21.4-22.4 million[lower-alpha 1]
Sega Sega Nomad October 1995 1 million[11]

Canada

Based on figures from the NPD Group, as of August 1, 2008:[12]

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Nintendo Nintendo 64 September 29, 1996 1,300,000[13]
Nintendo Wii November 19, 2006 1,060,000
Microsoft Xbox 360 November 22, 2005 870,000
Sony PlayStation 3 November 17, 2006 520,000

United States

Based on figures from the NPD Group:

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Nintendo Nintendo DS November 21, 2004 47 million[14]
Nintendo Wii November 19, 2006 45.4 million[15]
Sony PlayStation 2 October 26, 2000 41.12 million[16][17]
Sega Genesis August 14, 1989 21-22 million[lower-alpha 1]
Microsoft Xbox 360 November 22, 2005 11.6 million[28]
Sony PlayStation Portable March 24, 2005 11.56 million[16][17]
Sony PlayStation 3 November 17, 2006 5.7 million[28]
NEC TurboGrafx-16 August 29, 1989 2.5 million[3]
Sega Master System June 1986 2 million[29]
Atari Atari 7800 January 1986 2 million[30]
Sega Saturn May 11, 1995 2 million[7]

Europe

Region-wide

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Sony PlayStation 2 November 24, 2000 48 million[31]
Sony PlayStation September 29, 1995 40.12 million[2]

Western Europe

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Sega Genesis November 30, 1990 8 million[32]
Sega Master System September 1987 6.8 million[33]

Germany

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Sega Genesis November 30, 1990 800,000[33]
Sega Master System September 1987 500,000[33]
Atari Atari 2600 1978 450,000[34]

United Kingdom

Based on figures from GfK Chart-Track, as of January 3, 2009:[35]

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Nintendo Nintendo DS March 11, 2005 8.8 million
Nintendo Wii December 8, 2006 4.9 million
Microsoft Xbox 360 December 2, 2005 3.2 million
Sony PlayStation Portable September 1, 2005 3.2 million
Sony PlayStation 3 March 23, 2007 1.9 million

Other PAL regions

Brazil

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Sega Master System September 4, 1989 5 million[36]
Sega Mega Drive 1990 3 million[36]

Middle East

Manufacturer Console Released Units sold
Sony PlayStation 2 2003 5.2 million[37]
Sony PlayStation Portable September 1, 2005 5.2 million[37]
Nintendo Nintendo DS 2005 850,000[37]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Disparate sources from a variety of magazines provide a more detailed history of Sega's first party North American sales through 1997, totaling over 20.4 million. The New York Times stated in 1998 "the company sold some 20 million 16-bit Genesis consoles in the United States alone".[18]
    • North American sales history
    1989-1990: 1.2 million[19]
    1991: 1.6 million[20]
    1992: 4.5 million[21]
    1993: 5.5 million[22]
    1994: over 4 million[23]
    1995: 2.1 million[24]
    1996: 1.1 million[25]
    1997: 400,000[26]
    Total: over 20.4 million
    • Majesco sold between 1 and 2 million units of their North American-only Genesis 3 by the end of 1998.[27] Sega Nomad handheld figures are excluded.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "PlayStation2 Cumulative Production Shipments of Hardware | CORPORATE INFORMATION | Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.". SCEI. Archived from the original on 2015-01-29. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "PlayStation Cumulative Production Shipments of Hardware". Sony Computer Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Snow, Blake (2007-07-30). "The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time". GamePro. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2007-05-08. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 "Consolidated Sales Transition by Region" (PDF). Nintendo. 2014-01-28. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  5. ↑ Brightman, James (2008-10-20). "Xbox 360 Growth in Japan Has Topped All Platforms from March to September". GameDaily. AOL. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "PSP Japan's best-selling console in 2010". Eurogamer. April 1, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Stephanie Strom (1998-03-14). "Sega Enterprises Pulls Its Saturn Video Console From the U.S. Market". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  8. ↑ "Yearly market report". Famitsu Weekly 306: ~4. June 21, 1996.
  9. ↑ Dreamcast#cite note-dcsales-2
  10. ↑ Nihon Kōgyō Shinbunsha (1986). "Amusement". Business Japan (Nihon Kogyo Shimbun) 31 (7-12): 89. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  11. ↑ Snow, Blake (2007-07-30). "The 10 Worst-Selling Handhelds of All Time". GamePro. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  12. ↑ "Nintendo Wii surpasses mark of one million consoles sold in Canada". The Canadian Press. CTV News. 2008-08-26. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  13. ↑ Saltzman, Marc (Nov 11, 1999). "The gloves are off; With the holiday season fast approaching, console gaming titans Sony, Nintendo and Sega are ready to do battle once again. Which system should you buy?". Toronto Star. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  14. ↑ "47 Million Nintendo DS Handhelds Sold in USA". 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
  15. ↑ "NINTENDO'S WII VIDEO GAME SYSTEM REACHES 30 MILLION SALES MILESTONE". 2010-08-10. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 James Brightman (2008-01-17). "NPD: U.S. Video Game Industry Totals $17.94 Billion, Halo 3 Tops All". GameDaily. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Boyer, Brandon (2008-02-09). "NPD: 2007 U.S. Game Industry Growth Up 43% To $17.9 Billion". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
  18. ↑ Stephanie Strom (1998-03-14). "Sega Enterprises Pulls Its Saturn Video Console From the U.S. Market". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-02. the company sold some 20 million 16-bit Genesis consoles in the United States alone
  19. ↑ Hisey, Pete (1991-11-04). "New technology fans video war - 16-bit video games". Discount Store News.
  20. ↑ Elrich, David (1992-01-24). "Nintendo and Sega face off on game market at WCES". Video Business. Sega's 1991 sales figure of 1.6 million
  21. ↑ Reuters (1993-01-10). "Sega Vows 1993 Will Be The Year It Overtakes Nintendo". Buffalo News. Retrieved 2011-01-17. Sega sold 4.5 million game sets, 16 million game software units, and some 200,000 units of its new CD-ROM accessory in 1992.
  22. ↑ Greenstein, Jane (1994-06-17). "Sega values 16-bit blitz at $500 million". Video Business. Sega expects Genesis hardware sales in 1994 to be the same as last year, 5.5 million units.
  23. ↑ "Sega threepeat as video game leader for Christmas sales; second annual victory; Sega takes No. 1 position for entire digital interactive entertainment industry". Business Wire. 1995-01-06. Retrieved 2013-10-13. Sega maintained its leadership position with a comprehensive hardware and software lineup: Game Gear, the best-selling portable system, with 53 percent dollar share; Sega CD, which grew 38 percent over 1993; the 32X add-on for Genesis, with nearly 500,000 units sold between its introduction in late November and Christmas; and Genesis, the overall home video game system leader, with substantial sales of over 4 million units.
  24. ↑ "Game-System Sales". Newsweek. 1996-01-14. Retrieved 2011-12-02. While a new generation of home game systems got all the hype in '95, the older 16-bit machines still jumped off the shelves. - Nintendo SNES 2.7 million - Sega Genesis 2.1 million - Sega Saturn[*] 300,000 - Sony PlayStation[**] 550,000 - 3DO 250,000 - 64-bit Atari Jaguar 150,000
  25. ↑ "Sega tops holiday, yearly sales projections; Sega Saturn installed base reaches 1.6 million in U.S., 7 million worldwide". Business Wire. 1997-01-13. Retrieved 2013-10-13. Sega hit its projections on the mark, selling 1.1 million hardware units and 3 million Sega Genesis games. While the company recently announced it will dispose of all remaining 16-bit peripheral inventory, specifically the Genesis 32X and Sega CD products, it will continue to sell Genesis hardware and software in the coming years.
  26. ↑ "Sega farms out Genesis". Consumer Electronics. 1998-03-02.
  27. ↑ Pettus, Sam (2004-07-07). "Genesis: A New Beginning". Sega-16. Archived from the original on 2010-01-24. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Brightman, James (2008-11-14). "Wii U.S. Installed Base Now Leads Xbox 360 by Almost 2 Million". GameDaily. AOL. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  29. ↑ Sheff, David (1993). Game Over (1st ed. ed.). New York: Random House. p. 349. ISBN 0-679-40469-4. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  30. ↑ "Video Games". Los Angeles Times. June 13, 1988. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  31. ↑ Ellie Gibson (May 6, 2008). "PS3 has outsold Xbox 360 in Europe". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
  32. ↑ Lomas, Ed (November 1996). "Over 1 Million Saturns In Europe By March". CVG. p. 10. Retrieved 2010-10-06. 8 million potential Saturn upgraders!
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 "Sega Consoles: Active installed base estimates". Screen Digest. Screen Digest. March 1995. p. 60. (cf. here , here , and here )
  34. ↑ "EG Goes Continental: Europe Joins the Game World". Electronic Games 2 (23): 46–7. January 1984. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  35. ↑ Matt Martin (2009-01-13). "Console installed base reaches 22m in UK". GamesIndustry.biz. Eurogamer. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 "Vinte anos depois, Master System e Mega Drive vendem 150 mil unidades por ano no Brasil - Jogos - UOL Jogos". Jogos.uol.com.br. 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 "Finding the Middle ground; MCV digital edition". MCV. November 26, 2010. p. 31. Retrieved May 16, 2012.