Former PlayStation Boss Shawn Layden Says Switch 2 Will Determine if OG Switch Will Outsell PS2 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 April 2025 / 5,498 Views
Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden in an interview with Destin on YouTube said the Nintendo Switch 2 will determine if the original Nintendo Switch will outsell the PlayStation 2 to become the best-selling video game console of all-time.
Layden did say the "record is out there for the breaking."
"I think the Switch 2 will have a lot to do with that [record] - depending on the price point it comes out at. If it's super competitive to the current market, maybe you get people switching over faster than if there's, you know, when you have two consoles out the same manufacturer but the delta is more than $150 and getting people to move is hard."
Sony Interactive Entertainment last year stated the PlayStation 2 sold over 160 million units lifetime. The "Business Data & Sales" page says "More than 160.0 million (As of March 31, 2012)" for the PS2. This suggests the PS2 ended with sales above 160 million units but below 160.1 million units.
The Nintendo Switch has shipped 150.86 million units through December 31, 2024. This means the Switch is less than 10 million, in terms of units shipped, of surpassing the PS2.
Thanks, GamesRadar.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
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The production numbers for ps2 were 160.8 million. Sony know they've sold at least 160 million but are unsure of how many of that total beyond that point hence "over 160 mill" So Sony can never say anything but o er 160 mill, with the max they can assert being the total number of PS2s ever made i.e the 160.8 mill
It would be smart of Nintendo to announce a fairly beefy permanent price cut to all Switch 1 models after the Switch 2 Direct. Once Switch 2 pre-orders start, no one will want to buy the Switch 1 anymore lol. Nintendo could price the Switch Lite at a flat $99, then the base model at $199, and the Switch OLED at $249? Just spit balling, but would let Nintendo get in those massive pre-order dollars while also enjoying a nice influx of older models selling due to permanent price cuts.
If Switch 2 is $399.99 like the rumors suggest, the price for Switch (Red Box) and Switch OLED are going to be a tough sell. Even Switch Lite at $199.99 still seems like a lot, but not as severe, I guess.
Switch Lite will probably still be manufactured until 2028 or so. I see either Switch (Red Box) or Switch OLED getting discontinued soon.
Nobody wanting to buy the switch anymore because they want the switch 2 instead is best case scenario for nintendo though. It's definitely more important to them that the next product they will be stuck with for most of a decade gets off to a great early start than getting enough sales of from a legacy product to reach an arbitrary milestone.
Exactly.
If Sony could've started much stronger with PS3 (cracking over 100 million units lifetime), they would have taken the hit for PS2 finishing around 135-145 million units.
I wasn't referring so much to Nintendo trying to reach an arbitrary milestone as I was saying how pointless it is to keep all the Switch 1 models at MSRP price when it's a given that Switch 1 models will still be made for an unknown period of time after the launch of the Switch 2. Nintendo has always historically drastically dropped prices on their consoles in the lead up to a successor, but the fact that they haven't by this point seems incredibly odd. What's the point of still selling an OLED Switch 1 model at $350 when the Switch 2 could presumably be $399?
What is he saying here? That if the price is $150 more than the Switch 1 than take up will be slower and Switch 1 will reach the target? I would think a price reduction of the Switch would help more, it's 7 year old tech, reduce it to the lite only, lower the RRP of that to £150, including one of their older games.
Speaking of which, I love how Sony just went and said "oh btw the PS2 sold 160 million units" and everyone just accepted it as the truth, but if Microsoft came out and said the 360 sold 90 million sales, those same people would demand hard evidence, otherwise any sales data was fabricated and Microsoft is just lying to people
But MS hasn't, so.........
It's accepted as the truth because everyone that knew what they were talking about already knew that the old estimate was long out of date and estimated the actual sales was somewhere between 159 million and 161 million anyway. there was just confirmation for what was already believed to be the case. and there is very strong evidence supporting it since the image of the last ps2 production unit was confirmed to be legitimate.
How do you sell 10m more consoles when the console wasn't for sale for decades?
You are obviously not someone that knows any of what they are talking about. For one it was always known that the ps2's last reported sales number of 155 million was for 2012. the ps2 ended production in 2013. there was a whole extra year of sales unaccounted for. Daniel Ahmad well before Jim Ryan ever said anything had a thread explaining why the actual number was estimated to be above at least 158 million. Shawn Layden confirmed that the 160,636,885 production number for the last ps2 was correct. it's always been the case if you ever used your head.
This shows how gullible you are and believe anything these corps say. If the PS2 sold 160m, they would have came out and said it many years ago to celebrate the milestone, not randomly increase its sales numbers because the Switch is about to surpass it.
Maybe use your head.
most people that want a switch has it at this point, pokemon and metroid can move a few more
I think this is the year, where it will become obvious if Switch will pass the PS2 or not.
The Feb 26 report will give us the clearest pic as it'll show how much pull Switch 1 has left in it during the Black Friday/Holiday period. If that Feb report says as of Dec 31st 25 Switch has shipped around 157/8 million as I predict, then following Holiday 2026 a year later, Switch will have out produced and out-shipped PS2 at least.
Switch already has, Sony just keep raising the numbers.
