More than 450 million PlayStation systems have been sold

Today marks the 25th anniversary of PlayStation, when the very first console in the now colossal brand launched in Japan.

Sony marked this massive milestone for PlayStation by announcing that PlayStation now held the Guinness World Record for being the best-selling home video game console and brand in history.

It’s also now been confirmed that between the original PlayStation console and the PlayStation 4 family of consoles, over 450 million PlayStation home consoles have been sold worldwide. Three out of four of the PlayStation systems sold over 100 million units each, with the PlayStation 3 being the only system not to, with a total of 87.4 million units.

When the sales for Sony’s two handheld PlayStation consoles are also taken into account, the PlayStation brand has sold 526 million systems since it first started. The PSP is reported to have sold 76.4 million units, but the number of units sold for the PlayStation Vita haven’t yet been disclosed by Sony.

The nearest competition for Sony’s title for best-selling home video game console would be Nintendo. Currently Nintendo put their cumulative home hardware sales at 323 million units sold over 36 years, if the Switch can be counted as a home system. Including portable Nintendo systems, such as the GameBoy and Nintendo DS, the number rises to 752 million units for the same period.

The fact that Sony has reached such a large number of PlayStation sales in 25 years is quite remarkable. It shows just how much the platform holder has invested in their gaming communities, opening up their platform for developers to create some truly unique and interesting experiences.

The PlayStation 3 is probably the lowest-selling home console from Sony because it was dwarfed by the Xbox 360 in its generation. With the PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett looming ever closer, it’s never been more important for Sony to come out on top as the best console at this time next year. Sony’s new console already sounds very promising, but Microsoft could surprise everybody, especially since the hardware details for Project Scarlett are largely shrouded in mystery.