Over 1.5 billion game consoles have been sold to date and you may be surprised at the leader

Three years ago I gave my son an Xbox One for Christmas. He loves it, although he’s separated from it right now thanks to current conditions, both here in the US and elsewhere all around the world.

Gaming has been a hot commodity since the very first computers and consoles debuted and it’s come a long way over the decades. But what gaming platform has sold the most?

Fortunately there are metrics to answer that question. Learnbonds released a study of the market that gives some answers.

1.56 billion consoles have been sold so far and according to the company "The data obtained indicates the PlayStation 2 accounts for the biggest share with 10.07 percent.”

Nintendo's handheld consoles, the DS and Game Boy, take second and third place respectively, followed by the PS4. Microsoft's bestselling console, the Xbox 360, comes in eighth.

"Since its release in 2000, the PlayStation 2 consoles have sold 157.68 million units. The Nintendo DS is the second-highest selling game console with 154.9 million units globally followed by Game Boy at 118.69 million units. Notably, the PlayStation 2 has outsold the popular Playstation 4 which has 109.86 million units globally. In fifth place there is the first PlayStation console that has sold 102.5million units. The Wii console is sixth with 101.64 million units sold globally."

Europe is the top market for Sony, "To date, The PlayStation 2 has sold 55.28 million units in Europe, followed by North America at 53.65 million units."

Honestly though, I just want my Atari 2600 back. I miss Asteroids, Space Invaders, Centipede, Pitfall and the rest. Yes, I know I can buy one online, or play them in my browser at the Internet Archive. But still I should have never given that thing to that kid down the street back in the 80s.