The 10 Best Selling Game Consoles Of All Time, Ranked
Console gaming is a big industry that accounts for billions of dollars in revenue every year. Even though mobile and PC gaming have really taken off in recent years, consoles are still an incredibly popular way to play games, especially since they are relatively inexpensive compared to something like a high-end phone or PC. Modern game consoles can display 4K graphics and run games at 120 FPS gaming with HDR, which are performance metrics that PCs struggle with unless you spend north of $1,000.
However, the console wars are fairly tame these days. The PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S have combined for just over 60 million sales as of June 2023. Even combined, that wouldn't crack the top 10 most popular consoles of all time. The Nintendo Switch is doing well, but we'll talk more about that in the list below, as that little handheld has put up some serious numbers. The days of a console selling 100 million units aren't behind us, it just happens less often than it used to.
Below is a list of the best-selling game consoles of all time, many of which are handheld consoles. People like to game on the go and always have, which adds a little context to modern-day trends, like mobile gaming's meteoric rise. So sit back, grab a coffee, and enjoy as we travel through a few decades of gaming history.
10. Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance isn't nearly as iconic as the original Game Boy Color or the eventual Nintendo DS, but it still sold 81.5 million units over its lifetime. The handheld launched in 2001 and only had four years to make its mark before the Nintendo DS slammed into the market in 2004. That's an average of 20 million units sold per year, which are excellent sales numbers. The Game Boy Advance followed in the footsteps of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color generation and was released in an era when gaming was really taking off.
Its popularity was all but guaranteed thanks to the ongoing domination of "Pokémon." The only way to play the newest "Pokémon" game was to get the newest handheld console, and it didn't hurt that the Game Boy Advance sold for $99.99. Even back then, that wasn't a hard price tag to swallow. Another benefit was that the Game Boy Advance was backward compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, so gamers could bring their library of games with them to more powerful hardware.
There is also an argument to be made that the lack of competition helped as well. In 2001, you had the Game Boy Advance and a host of smaller handheld gaming consoles that never really took off, like N-Gage, which sold roughly three million units. Either way, the Gameboy Advance was another success story for Nintendo.
9. Xbox 360
The only Microsoft console on the list is the Xbox 360 with more than 84 million units sold. There is an asterisk with this one, though: the last first-party sales figures were from Microsoft in 2014 during the E3 conference, and the console wasn't discontinued until 2016. Microsoft likely didn't sell a ton of Xbox 360 consoles in its last two years — the Xbox One was already out by then, and gamers tend to gravitate to the newer console over the older one — but that means $84 million is only a guesstimate and the final total is a little higher.
The Xbox 360 was a huge console for Microsoft. It was riding the wave of the online multiplayer revolution that started with the original Xbox and Microsoft's excellent Xbox Live service. The Xbox 360 also housed what many consider to be the golden age of Halo games with "Halo 3," "Halo 3: ODST," "Halo: Reach," and "Halo 4." Combine that with proven sellers like "Grand Theft Auto 5" and "Minecraft," and the Xbox 360 had quite the entertaining selection of games.
In addition to the above, the 360 marketed itself well. Owners could enjoy movies with the DVD player, change out the face plate for a customized look, and add extra gadgets like the Kinect. Plus, the variety of special edition consoles meant there was always an interesting Xbox 360 on the market.
8. PlayStation 3
The Sony PlayStation 3 was a direct competitor to the Xbox 360 and had similar sales numbers. According to Sony, the PlayStation 3 sold 87.4 million units as of 2017, which makes it the lowest-selling discontinued PlayStation console. Despite being the least successful in the family so far, the PlayStation 3 still makes it to a decent spot on our list.
It was popular for most of the same reasons as the Xbox 360. There were heavy hitters like "Grand Theft Auto 5" and the "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" series, both of which were also popular on the Xbox 360. What set the PlayStation 3 apart was its wide selection of exclusive titles. "The Last of Us" and "Gran Turismo 5" led the way. However, there are dozens of other games that you could only get on PlayStation. Sony's reliance on exclusivity was as effective back then as it is today.
It wasn't just game selection, though. Sony was ahead of its time with the extra features as well. The disk drive could play Blu-ray DVDs, a feature that the Xbox 360 lacked. Some versions of the PlayStation 3 included four USB ports and an SD card slot as well. It was even backward compatible with most PlayStation games from the previous two generations, provided you had the USB adapter for the old memory cards to transfer your saved files.
7. Nintendo Wii
Nintendo says that the Nintendo Wii sold just over 101 million units during its highly successful run when it was released alongside the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. However, the Wii was a transitional product for Nintendo. The console was never designed to compete directly with Sony and Microsoft. Instead, it was developed with a focus on unique gameplay mechanics. This was most readily evident with its iconic Wii Remote.
The Wii Remote was a defining factor in the Wii's popularity. "Wii Sports" is one of the top five selling games of all time with over 82.9 million units sold. "Wii Sports Resort," "Wii Play," and "Wii Fit" were also very popular. The Nintendo Wii was a cultural sensation, and stories about kids accidentally throwing Wii Remotes at TVs and legitimately using Wii Fit to help them get into shape made the news. Nintendo even had to recall 3.2 million wrist straps to prevent accidental throwing.
People bought the Wii to play these unique games with the Wii Remote, but that's not all the console brought to the table. Any platform that releases new "Mario," "Zelda," and "Donkey Kong" titles is going to do well. "Mario Kart Wii" did exceptionally well with almost 40 million copies sold. The Wii left production in 2013, but the final game for it was Just Dance 2020, which launched on the Wii an incredible seven years after it was discontinued.
6. PlayStation
The original PlayStation was an excellent console, and consumers agreed by purchasing 102.4 million of them. It competed with the Nintendo 64, which sold just 32.9 million units. This was Sony's first big win in the console space, which is doubly impressive because it was also the company's first real attempt. The disc-based console had a couple of different variants, including a small one with an optional screen attachment that you could take with you.
What made the PlayStation great was its selection of games. It saw the beginning of the highly popular "Gran Turismo" series. It also had winners with "Final Fantasy 7," "Tekken 3," "Crash Bandicoot," "Tomb Raider," "Metal Gear Solid," "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater," and "Resident Evil." "Final Fantasy 7," in particular, is still one of Square Enix's highest-selling games. The PlayStation also represented a golden age of the JRPG genre with dozens of games to choose from.
The PlayStation also had some neat tricks up its sleeve. It was a capable CD player for its day, which gave it versatility that was mostly unheard of back then. In addition, the PlayStation Link Cable was capable of linking multiple PlayStations together for multiplayer games. The competition had some neat tricks as well, but none of them could compete with the PlayStation overall.
5. PlayStation 4
The Sony PlayStation 4 is the second most popular Sony console of all time, with 117 million units sold worldwide. Unlike many other consoles on this list, there wasn't anything super special about the PlayStation 4. It was just a rock-solid console that competed well in the modern era of gaming with an excellent selection of games. Like most PlayStation consoles, Sony leaned heavily on exclusives as well as versatility. The PS4 came with its own Blu-ray player and could download streaming apps like Netflix.
Beyond that, the PlayStation 4 had a lot of good games. "The Last of Us Part 2" and "Marvel's Spider-Man" were huge hits along with "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End," "Horizon Zero Dawn," and "Ghost of Tsushima." In addition, the PlayStation 4 had a lot of cult hits like "Persona 5 Royal" and "NieR: Automata." These may not have moved as many units overall, but they're still considered some of the best games on the platform. Sony also had exclusive rights to the highly anticipated "Final Fantasy 7 Remake," which certainly helped sway JRPG fans to buy the console.
The PlayStation 4 had a mid-cycle refresh with the PlayStation 4 Pro, which — similar to the Xbox One X — was essentially the same system with beefier specs. This gave it a significant performance bump and let the PlayStation 4 play games at 4K resolution with HDR while delivering a sales numbers bump in the second half of the PlayStation 4's run.
4. Game Boy and Game Boy Color
The Game Boy and Game Boy Color were some of the most popular handheld consoles of all time, selling roughly 118 million units. The Game Boy was released in the late 1980s and had no real competition in the handheld space at the time. It also benefited from a longer run than most handhelds. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color didn't stop being produced until 2003 and its successor, the Game Boy Advance, didn't come out until 2001. That means that the first Game Boy generation lasted for 13 years, twice as long as most handhelds.
Beyond that, however, the Game Boy was an iconic piece of tech and a pop culture sensation. This is the console that spawned the "Pokémon" craze, after all. The Game Boy had more than just "Pokémon," though. "Tetris" racked up 35 million copies sold while "Dr. Mario," "Kirby's Dream Land," "Super Mario Land," and Game Boy's variant of the popular "Tamagotchi" did very well as well.
The Game Boy also benefited from having a ton of extras. There were link cables, magnifying glasses, attachable lights, and all sorts of other accessories to customize the gaming experience. This was the first console for a lot of people, and it generated a ton of fond memories.
3. Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch has an insane sales history, with 129.5 million units sold since its launch in 2017. That means it surpassed the Game Boy and added another 11 million units sold in half the time that the Game Boy existed as an active product. What's even more impressive is that this console is still right in the middle of its run, so it may prove to be even more successful than it is right now. The Switch has incredible popularity and staying power as Nintendo's second highest-selling console of all time. It is also, to date, the only Nintendo console with over one billion individual software sales.
A lot of the Nintendo Switch's success is based on its excellent marketing. "Zelda: Breath of the Wild" received universal acclaim and it became the game that anyone with a Switch had to try. Then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" was one of the games to play while folks were sheltering in place. Of course, being the console with the latest "Pokémon," "Mario," and "Zelda" releases also helps a ton.
In fact, the Switch isn't too far behind the Nintendo DS in overall sales. However, there are some rumors that the next Nintendo console is coming in 2024, so we'll have to wait and see how everything shakes down.
2. Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS was a monster console in its heyday with a whopping 154 million units sold. Like the original Game Boy, the Nintendo DS benefited from an exceptionally long life. It launched in 2004 and lasted until 2014, while its retail price of $149.99 helped make it reasonably accessible. The long battery life, multiple iterations, and special editions also helped.
When it comes to games, the Nintendo DS had plenty of titles that sold extremely well, although it didn't have that one game that defined it as the Game Boy did with "Pokémon." Some of the more successful titles for the Nintendo DS include "New Super Mario Bros.," "Mario Kart DS," "Nintendogs," and "Mario Party DS." Underneath the top sellers, though, were myriad games that catered to all sorts of gamers. There was a game for everyone on the DS.
There's a bit of a discussion as to how well the DS actually sold. Its successor was the Nintendo 3DS, which was a more powerful DS with a 3D screen. All the DS games still worked, and it was, in effect, the same console with extra features. The only argument against it is that 3DS games can't be played on a regular DS, although there were similar compatibility issues between the Game Boy and the Game Boy Color. The 3DS sold nearly 76 million units. If you combine the two, it equals 230 million units sold, making the DS family Nintendo's strongest-selling console ever.
1. PlayStation 2
The Sony PlayStation 2 is the world's highest-selling game console with 155 million units sold. It officially launched in 2000, a whole year sooner than its eventual competitor, the original Microsoft Xbox. The GameCube, meanwhile, launched with relatively poor launch titles, a lack of features, and a lack of quality entries in the genres that were popular at the time.
Oddly enough, the PlayStation 2 didn't have a single game that crossed 20 million copies sold. What PlayStation 2 did have was partial exclusivity for two "Grand Theft Auto" titles along with two excellent "Gran Turismo" games, "Final Fantasy X," "Tekken 5," "God of War 2," and multiple "Kingdom Hearts" games. What the PlayStation 2 lacked in a true generation-defining title it more than made up for by having so many great games, combined with a mix of the right technology at the right time in the market.
In fact, where the PlayStation 2 truly excelled was as a living room fixture, as it was the first game console that could also be used as a DVD player. That meant parents could buy these for households, let the kids play games, and watch DVDs with the family. The PlayStation 2 was only marginally more expensive than a high-end DVD player, anyway. Plenty of folks still use their gaming consoles as their TV and movie streaming boxes, and the PlayStation 2 is where it all started.