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Sony's PlayStation 2 is the best-selling game system overall with over 155 million units worldwide.

A home video game console is a standardized computing device tailored for video gaming that requires a computer monitor or television set as an output. Video game consoles usually weigh between 2 and 9 pounds (1–4 kg) on average, and their compact size allows them to be easily used in a variety of locations, making them portable. Handheld controllers are commonly used as input devices. Video game consoles may use one or more data storage device, such as hard disk drives, optical discs, and memory cards for downloaded content. Dedicated consoles are a subset of game consoles that are only able to play built-in games. Video game consoles in general are also described as "dedicated" in distinction from the more versatile personal computer and other consumer electronics. Sanders Associates engineer Ralph H. Baer along with company employees Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch licensed their television gaming technology to contemporary major TV manufacturer Magnavox. This resulted in the 1972 release of the Magnavox Odyssey —the first commercially available video game console.

A handheld game console is a lightweight device with a built-in screen, games controls, speakers, and has greater portability than a standard video game console. It is capable of playing multiple games unlike tabletop and handheld electronic game devices. Tabletop and handheld electronic game devices of the 1970s and early 1980s are the precursors of handheld game consoles. Mattel introduced the first handheld electronic game with the 1977 release of Auto Race. Later, several companies—including Coleco and Milton Bradley—made their own single-game, lightweight tabletop or handheld electronic game devices. The oldest handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges is the Milton Bradley Microvision in 1979. Nintendo is credited with popularizing the handheld console concept with the Game Boy's release in 1989 and continued to dominate the handheld console market into the early 2000s.

Virtual reality headsets are devices that are equipped to the user's head. Their use for virtual reality (VR) video games has been emphasized since they were first marketed. Standalone VR systems first became popular during the 9th generation. The concept was popularized by the Quest 2 released by Meta Platforms, which was a standalone unit intended primarily to play virtual reality games. More description goes here.

Best-selling game consoles

The Game Boy was the best-selling console by the end of the fourth generation, selling at least 64 million units worldwide. It popularised the handheld gaming market.
The Nintendo DS product line are the best-selling handheld consoles, selling 154.02 million units worldwide. The original DS sold 18.79 million units. The majority of sales came from the DS Lite at 93.86 million units.[1] Latter two members of the DS product line, the DSi and DSi XL, helped to further drive sales by moving 41.37 million units combined.[1]
The Nintendo Entertainment System was the best-selling console of the third generation, selling 61.91 million units worldwide. It revitalised the gaming industry in the United States following the video game market crash.
The Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 4, the original PlayStation and the Wii are the only other home consoles to join the PlayStation 2 in surpassing 100 million units sold.
The first popular home console, the Atari 2600 (1980 version pictured), was released in 1977.[2]

The following table contains video game consoles that have sold at least 1 million units worldwide either through to consumers or inside retail channels. Each console include sales from every iteration unless otherwise noted. The years correspond to when the home or handheld game console was first released (excluding test markets).

  # Background shading indicates consoles currently on the market.
Million-selling game consoles
PlatformTypeFirmReleased[2]Units soldRef.
PlayStation 2HomeSony2000>155 million[note 1]
Nintendo DSHandheldNintendo2004154.02 million[16]
Nintendo Switch #HybridNintendo2017132.46 million[16][note 2]
Game Boy & Game Boy Color (remove this; combined sales figures are cheating)HandheldNintendo1989, 1998118.69 million[16][note 3]
PlayStation 4 #HomeSony2013117.2 million[18]
PlayStationHomeSony1994102.49 million[19]
WiiHomeNintendo2006101.63 million[16]
iPod touchHandheldApple2008100 million (estimate)
PlayStation 3HomeSony2006>87.4 million[note 1]
Xbox 360HomeMicrosoft2005>84 million[note 4]
Game Boy AdvanceHandheldNintendo200181.51 million[16]
PlayStation PortableHandheldSony200480–82 million (estimate)[note 1]
Nintendo 3DSHandheldNintendo201175.94 million[16]
NES/FamicomHomeNintendo198361.91 million[16]
Xbox OneHomeMicrosoft2013~58 million[27]
PlayStation 5 #HomeSony202050 million[28]
SNES/Super FamicomHomeNintendo199049.1 million[16]
Game & WatchDedicated handheldNintendo198043.4 million[29]
Nintendo 64HomeNintendo199632.93 million[16]
Sega Genesis/Mega DriveHomeSega198830.75 million[note 5]
Atari 2600HomeAtari197730 million[33]
XboxHomeMicrosoft200124 million[34]
GameCubeHomeNintendo200121.74 million[16]
Xbox Series X/S #HomeMicrosoft2020~21 million[35]
Quest 2 #VR headsetReality Labs / Meta2020~20 million[36]
Wii UHomeNintendo201213.56 million[16]
V.Smile & V.MotionHomeVTech200411 million[37]
PlayStation VitaHandheldSony201110–15 million (estimate)[note 1]
Master SystemHomeSega198610–13 million[note 6]
Game GearHandheldSega199010.62 million[30]
PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16HomeNEC/Hudson Soft[note 7]198710 million[44]
Sega SaturnHomeSega19949.26 million[31]
DreamcastHomeSega19989.13 million[31][45][46][47]
Master System (Brazilian variants)HomeTectoy19898 million[48]
Dendy (famiclone)HomeMicro Genius19926 million[49]
Super NES Classic EditionDedicatedNintendo20175.28 million[50]
PocketStationHandheldSony19995 million (estimate)
Famicom Disk SystemHome console add-onNintendo19864.5 million[51]
Advanced Pico BeenaHomeSega2005>4.1 million[52]
NES Classic EditionDedicatedNintendo20163.56 million[53][54]
WonderSwan & WonderSwan Color (remove this for same reason as Game Boy)HandheldBandai19993.5 million[note 8]
Sega PicoHomeSega1993>3.4 million[note 9]
Color TV-GameDedicatedNintendo19773 million[63][64]
IntellivisionHomeMattel19803 million[65]
Mega Drive (Brazilian variants)HomeTectoy19903 million[66][67]
N-GageHandheldNokia20033 million[68]
Mega-CD/Sega CDHome console add-onSega19912.24 million[30]
ColecoVisionHomeColeco1982>2 million[note 10]
3DO Interactive MultiplayerHomeThe 3DO Company1993>2 million[72]
Neo Geo Pocket (+ Color)HandheldSNK19992 million[73]
Magnavox Odyssey²HomeMagnavox/Philips19782 million[74]
Sega SG-1000HomeSega19832 million[75][76]
PC Engine CD-ROM²Home console add-onNEC19881.92 million[77][78]
Atari 7800HomeAtari1986>1 million[note 11]
Atari LynxHandheldAtari1989>1 million[note 12]
Philips CD-iHomePhilips1990>1 million[note 13]
TelstarDedicatedColeco1976>1 million[84][note 14]
Atari 5200HomeAtari19821 million[86]
Pegasus (famiclone)HomeMicro Genius19911 million[87]
Steam DeckHandheldValve20221 million (estimate)
Oculus QuestVR headsetOculus2019317,000–1 million (estimate)[88][89]

>Final sales are greater than the reported figure. See notes.

Notes

References

1 WonderSwan Famitsu sources

2 Release year sources

Bibliography