The most rudimentary video game machines were born in the early seventies. During the following decades, the companies dedicated to this industry would not imagine that more than fifty years following the first home console, the creation of video games would have as much work as a movie and that many titles would raise more than cinematography.
Now that the industry is in the ninth generation of consoles, and technological progress has reached a level never seen before, it is important to look back and remember what the best-selling devices in history have been.
Sony turned the world upside down during the 1990s with the launch of its PlayStation console (102.5 million units sold). Gamers around the world marveled at the change from 2D to 3D animation with this console and, although there was competition such as the Nintendo 64 from the company Nintendo (32.9 machines sold), the technical specifications of the powerful Sony machine made won a place in the market, which remains robust today. The following figures were revealed by the Areajugones website.
With this business force that Sony accumulated at the end of the millennium, during the year 2000 the best-selling console in history was launched: PlayStation 2 (157.6 million units). The machine surpassed its predecessor in the quality of the titles and their variety. Nintendo had to see how Sony swept once more by number of sales, despite the fact that GameCube (21.7 million units sold), the machine that competed once morest PlayStation 2, had graphic and power superiority, according to analysis of pages such as muycomputer .com. However, titles like Resident Evil 4, God Of War, GTA San Andreas and Silent Hill brought the console to stardom and gamers around the world chose to purchase Sony’s second great machine. Analysts even believe that the resounding success of PlayStation 2 is due to the wide variety of games available, which, according to estimates from the game guide page, reached the figure of 4,400.
Before the arrival of 3D in the industry, Nintendo already had experience creating consoles and video games, but some business decisions within the company (such as not abandoning the classic NES or Super NES cartridge system for CD-ROM , according to the “versus” page) made Sony win the race with its PlayStation console at the end of the 20th century.
Although the Japanese company did not have as much luck at first with its desktop consoles as other companies, the truth is that the market for portable devices has been led by Nintendo and machines such as the Game Boy Advance (81.5 million units sold ), Nintendo DS (154 million, just behind PlayStation 2 in terms of sales) and Game Boy Advance (81.5 million) have been successes in the competitive video game market, according to figures from Areajugones.
The latest Japanese Nintendo consoles (WII and Switch) are also on the list of the best-selling machines in history. Although at first it was difficult for the company to adhere to the changes in the market, the WII technology, for example, which allows the gamer a more immersive experience thanks to the sensor of its control, led the company to sell more than 101 million units .
In the case of Nintendo Switch, the company made wise moves in terms of design. Seeing the strengths that their portable machines have had for decades, they created a hybrid console that allows the gamer to have a desktop device and, if they are away from home, it is adaptable to enjoy the titles in a portable way. Thanks to the good reception of the new concept by consumers, Switch has managed to sell 103 million units.
The company has for decades offered new character sets that have become icons not only for the company, but for the industry as a whole. Mario Bross and Zelda are just some of the examples, titles that have evolved over the years on different consoles and that offer the added value of exclusivity. For games like these, many consumers decide on Nintendo products.
Microsoft might not be left behind in the video game market. That is why in 2001 they launched the machine that was needed to complete the three great competitors in the industry: Xbox (24.6 million in sales) was released at the beginning of the millennium and competed with giants such as PlayStation 2. After this launch, the company put on the market Xbox 360, Microsoft’s best-selling machine with 85.8 million units.
Since the arrival of Xbox, Sony has found more direct competition than Nintendo, as Microsoft offers similar and exclusive services that have sought the preference of the public. The Japanese company has maintained a more differential profile and, although it is direct competition, Sony has had to worry more regarding the moves of the company founded by Bill Gates. The current generation of consoles offers Xbox Series X (12 million units sold) and PlayStation 5 (17.3 million units) as the cutting-edge technology of the two companies to enjoy new experiences.
The war in the market of the two companies has always been latent, although Sony has always had more sales in each generation. For example, while Xbox 360 managed to get 85.8 million people to take a unit home, PlayStation 3 managed to sell 87.4 million units at the time. The same thing happened in the previous generation, as 116 million consumers preferred PlayStation 4 over Xbox One, which achieved only half of those sales.
