PS2 crushes Wii, Xbox in gaming minutes

The PlayStation 2 received 30.2 percent of all console-gaming minutes in 2008 (January to October), according to the Nielsen Media Research.

(Credit: Sony)

That statistic is a bit surprising, until you consider that Sony has sold more than 140 million PS2s since its launch. With the largest footprint, the PS2 should have the largest usage base.

Top Console Usage (by percent of minutes played)
• PlayStation 2 (30.2 percent)
• Xbox 360 (18.3 percent)
• Wii (13.5 percent)
• Xbox (9.1 percent)
• PlayStation 3 (7.7 percent)
• GameCube (4.4 percent)
• Other (16.9 percent)

Admittedly, these PS2 numbers are surprising and very impressive. The PS3 is still struggling against the Wii and Xbox, and this data certainly doesn't let the PS3 off the hook, but it does show that there might be a long-tail effect in place for console games.

Even more impressive data from Nielsen is the fact that World of Warcraft, or WoW, players average 671 minutes (more than 11 hours) per week. In any given minute, "almost 1 percent (0.723 percent) of all PC gamers are playing WoW."

[ZetaZeta_]

I hope Sony realizes that If they can nail backwards compatibility for PS2 games on PS3, they'll sell some consoles.

[kevsmail]

Agreed! If they add back backwards compatibility, I'll end up purchasing a PS3 sooner than I would otherwise (waiting until it goes less than $300). I have too many PS2 games that I STILL enjoy to just throw them out in the trash (or sell them at Gamestop = same thing) and I'm not crazy about trying to stuff one more component into my already full A/V rack with the rat's nest of wires coming out the back...

[myles taylor]

Didn't it have it when it first came out and then they took it out? I agree they need to put it back in.

[bluelight421]

Sony screwed itself this time around. PS3 is a fantastic console that was released ahead of its time. It will never sell better than the 360 or Wii unless Sony lowers its pricing and picks up the exclusive titles it has lost over the last 2 years. Sony's only saving grace is its PS2 which sadly enough continues to be its cash cow while the PS3 continues to collect dust on the shelves. Face it, the Playstation had its reign at the start of this decade and now its time for microsoft and nintendo to pick up where Sony dropped the ball. Makes for good conversation though, too bad Sony wont be part of that conversation for long.

[Mergatroid Mania]

I own the 40G PS3, which does not have ps2 compatibility, As far as I know, all the other versions of the ps3 do have ps2 compatibility. Older versions through hardware, and newer versions through software.

[danlnyc]

I don't believe these statistics. I think anyone reporting to Nielsen ratings probably still only have only PS2s along with an analog television set.

I'm not a gamer, but I doubt they can accurately generate this report with their current methods of collecting data.

[pjhenry1216]

Its not that you don't believe them, you just aren't interpreting them correctly. Its not how many people play one console instead of another. All the study did was collect how many minutes somebody played with any console. They then added up all the minutes and then figured out what percentage was taken up by each console. The article clearly states that the PS2 numbers are fairly large due to the enormous footprint that it has. It would be interesting to see these statistics weighted with # of users for each particular console. The PS2 may have over 30% of the used minutes, but what percentage of the study group owned PS2s, etc.

[gj164]

the ps2 has well over 100 million in its install base, much more than the other consoles combined. it only costs $120
for a console including a game or 2. There are almost 600 games with a rating of "good" to "outstanding" (check metacritic). There are thousands of games that have been published for the ps2, and because of the install base, developers are still releasing titles for it. It will be a long time before the actual "played minutes" of the other consoles comes close to the ps2, simple fact of the number of units out there.

-by the way, i have a ps2, will buy a ps3 as soon as i get through the backlog of great games I have for the ps2.

[T1onex]

I agree with findings. My friends & I still play with our PS2's very frequently, and I personally will not buy a PS3 due to backwards compatibility and price. Blueray is not a selling point for me. Sony need to stop being self righteous a recognize the vast amount of PS2 owners out there. I will not "buck".

[FireyIce01]

Everyone that whines about backwards compatibility hasn't tried a PS3. There are some software bugs to be worked out still, but they do emulation and play 99% of PS2 and PS1's collection, and Sony continues to develop and improve the software for the PS3. Right now it's just an issue of cost. The PS3 is too damn expensive (and I actually bought one) and until people realize that the xbox 360 isn't such a killer deal (hey, how much did it cost you to add wifi and a hard drive to that $199 xbox? When you going to get BluRay? How much is that going to cost?) there's going to be a slight tilt. The PS3 is ahead of it's time, and will take a while to be adapted... when it is adapted, it will have the market share the PS2 has now... I haven't used my PS2 since I got the PS3, but I play the games still.

[NickH]

@FireyIce01

Just to say, I have nothing against the PS3, I wish them well. But...

In recent weeks, I have purchased an XBox 360 Elite (includes HD), and stand alone Blu-ray player. The combined cost was about the same as a PS3. Having two devices is not a problem, becuase the Xbox is not always in the same place as the blu-ray player.

What is missing is the Wi-Fi, but I didnt need that - I have a wired network which is faster and more reliable.

Games that are available on both consoles seemed pretty much the same, and if anything XBox has more exclusives, so your marginally better off there (depends on your preference for games, I guess). I really enjoy the online game expereince, and Xbox Live is great.

Finally, neither of the consoles has games that could be considered cheap, but XBox 360 games do seem to be a little cheaper.

I dont find your argument deeply compelling, and I wanted Blu-ray. Many parents will be wanting a console for a child, and Blu-ray will be something they can live without, and save some cash.

Regards,
Nick.

[roachbrain]

Notice that this is a blog about PS2 usage, yet Xbox fan boys still find a way to come on and try to sell people on Xbox 360 being some kind of deal. Call me paranoid but can it be MS has people working all over the net defending there poor quality product?

[NickH]

@roachbrain,

No, you're not being paranoid at all. Microsoft pay me a very decent salary to posting here, and I only need post about 3 messages a day. Normally it takes only 10-15 minutes, and then the rest of the day is mine. I was out skiiing today, but the weathers coming in, so I might head on down to San Tropez and the yacht.

There are thousands of us doing this. More fool you for being a PS3 fanboy for free. You actually paid for a PS3? Thats hilarious.

[Shaymojack]

Well, I'm definitely not being payed by anyone, and I agree with everything NickH said, minus the wanting Blu-ray part. DVD quality is good enough for me on a good TV.

[peterwhite]

by pjhenry1216 January 4, 2009 7:04 AM PST

Great point, about the fact the 'random sampling' can't possibly give an accurate representation of what the nielsen families own. I have an XBOX, 360, and Wii. My in-law has a dusty PS2 & 360, neighbor, just the Wii. The statistics should be completely spelled out. How many nielsen families own a gaming console, which platforms, then minutes played, etc ... This is why 'Dewey Wins' is one of the all-time greatest gaffes ... Dewey was an elitist and ran a platform based on entitlement ... the phone polls showed he was leading in a landslide. Then the elections were held and he lost miserably ... poor people a.k.a. 'the common man' didn't own phones yet :)

We need to know the full details of the 'sample group' in order to better understand the collected data.

[Penguinisto]

As long as Sony is still selling PS2's I'm not surprised that 1) the things are top dog, and 2) the PS3 isn't (yet) compatible with PS2 games.

Playstation (2 and 3) vs. everyone else (xbox + 360, Wii + Game Cubes, etc)? Sony comes out way ahead in sales.

[NickH]

@Penguinisto:

You said "Playstation (2 and 3) vs. everyone else (xbox + 360, Wii + Game Cubes, etc)? Sony comes out way ahead in sales".

I guess Sony are making a profit on PS2, but they are loosing money on PS3. Console sales alone aren't interesting, its how many games they are selling. Not hugely discount games more then 12 months old either, but the latest stuff that sells for a premium

Its interesting to note that Xbox 360 is a comfortable second place here, with more than double the played minutes than PS3. Any review of games sales shows that Xbox 360 clearly dominates there, even over the Wii.

The Wii is certainly a success, as is Xbox 360 (esp. now the price is down). As for PS3, its not a disaster as some would like to say, but its also not the raging success either.

The sales numbers covering the Xmas period will be very interesting.

[D3vildog699]

PS2 was an amazing platform.. i miss mine.. 360 is nice.. never had an issue.. but i miss sony.

[Mergatroid Mania]

This is 2009 right? And you people still don't know there is only one model of the PS3 that cannot play PS2 games? That would happen to be the model (40GB) I bought (figures).

WOULD YOU PEOPLE PLEASE STOP SAYING THE PS3 CANNOT PLAY THE PS2 GAMES?

Thank you

[ntlgnce]

There is no wonder "That statistic is a bit surprising until you consider that Sony has sold more than 140 million PS2s since its launch. With the largest footprint, the PS2 should have the largest usage base." as this is not a fact, in fact the PS2 is only a toe nail when compaired to the footprint that Nintendo's Wii has left. The person who did this study is probably a die hard PS fan with a bitter taste in his mouth from the Wii users putting all the PS fans foots in their own mouths. As I recall there was this huge debate about what console would be better when released. Nintendo has always known what makes a game great, while PS has mearly added DVD movies in place of actual gameplay. If gammers wanted to watch a movie they would buy a DVD, and not Buy a game. Slow load times, and stupid games, that are not much fun, over real time friend beats friend battle games. We all know who is really the top dog, and the sales prove it. (Besides that I think the Wii players were too busy playing games to take part in the poll).

[BaylorX]

Um, ya, it is a fact. Worlwide sales for the Wii: 34+million. For the PS2: 140+million. Opinions are fine, but please check your facts before you go shooting your mouth off, thanks.

[kevsmail]

What in the world? Ugh, the #'s speak for themselves. 140 million > 34 million. Basic math, please.

[drbyte]

Next gen is cool, but no way does it pan out for me in terms to how much I have to spend to 'have fun'. I got my ps2 late in it's cycle and if the ps3 is worthy will do the same for that (or if street fighter 4 & Tatsunoko vs. Capcom are ported) . It;s amazing how many great games you can get under $20. Many of then are $9.99 or less.

[clumpkin]

I downloaded Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix to my PS3 from the PlayStation Store over the holidays. It was less than $20 and we had a blast Christmas day kicking each others butts. I look forward to SF IV on the PS3. I've had my PS3 since last Christmas and decided to get an XBox 360 this Christmas. I think the PS3 is superior to the 360 as far as ability and (for obvious reasons) reliability but the 360 is definitely fun to play. I've read about the noise of the XBox but always thought it was exaggerated but even though my unit is the new Jasper build it is still very noisy. I can't even tell when my PS3 is running without looking at the power LED. Anyway it is not the number of hours played that is the most important metric. If I play one game for 12 hours on the 360 but play 5 different games for an hour a piece on the Wii then Nintendo has clearly won in the financial sense since I bought 5 games opposed to the one for the 360.

[Renegade Knight]

One reason I got a PS3 was that Sony still supports the PS2. When the 360 came out my Xbox support dissapeared. A controller went bad and I coudln't find one anywhere (other than eBay). When I got the PS3 I made sure I got the backwards compatible version (they all are to an extent but how much varies) and after a year finally tried out an old PS game. The PS (not PS2) game worked great.

[cuvtixo]

Time played might interest advertisers who want to do Product Placement. Otherwise, console makers and game developers mainly want users to quickly get through one game and buy the next as soon as possible. More money, not more time. Basically this article is spinning a neutral statistic as some kind of cause celeb. "Crushes?" really? Cheapskates, for now pat yourself on the back! Sony is already plotting to make you pay through the nose next time round!

[Thirdrail1]

Every single person I know, with the exception of my mother, owns a Wii. (Which is sad, because she'd really like it. haha) Not one of us actually USES our Wii frequently. We all love the thing, there's just not a lot to play on it. It's heavily weighted towards the casual gamer. I'm honestly a little surprised it even represents this much of the actual time played.<p></p>

I'm not surprised the ps2 puts up those numbers at all. There's just so many of them out here, not just in the big video game countries, but all around the world. And it's still the best platform for one of the largest gaming niches - DDR and dance games. <p></p>

I'd like to see this data broken down by actual game type. Like how did first person shooters do vs. third person shooters? What percentage of all the Wii hours were Wii Sports? Is the average length of time someone plays WoW 16 or 18 hours?! Tell us, Nielsen!

[Renegade Knight]

Good point. We have all 3 main systems. The Wii is the red headed stepchild in my house. The 360 and PS3 both see a lot of use.

[newyorkreload]

if i play my ps2 games on my ps3 how does that get scored?

[thelemurking]

Nielsen statistics are so flawed in my opinion. You can't sample 0.5% of an area to determine accurate statistics for the remaining population.

The PS2 numbers aren't that impressive considering how long the PS2 has been out. The Wii is at 2 years and almost half of that of the PS2 percentage which has been out for 10 years.

[Renegade Knight]

Kinda cool an old out of date washed up has been of a system beat the snot out of the new Wii. Oh, you were thinking the old and dead system should have more interest than the new ones? Why?

[kevsmail]

I think the PS2 #'s ARE impressive considering the console gets virtually zero advertising for itself and it's games on TV or in print ads, whereas millions of $'s are spent promoting the other 3 consoles + in-store displays + trade shows, etc. Sony, like some of the other posters here, is in denial that there is actually still a viable market base to be milked here (CASH COW).

I tried the Wii and it was fun with a bunch of people, but most people I talk to who have them say they're kinda boring if you're playing solo, the games aren't very sophisticated, and the graphics are too cartoony/low-res. I'm sticking with my high powered gaming PC + PS2 + 37" monitor for now...

[zeroplane]

I feel sad for those who buy the current version of PS3 as it doesn't have the emulation chip or emulation software that the second revision has (the one I own). I can happily play PS2 games on my PS3 with no problems and the emulation chip also improves the graphics by applying post-processing smoothing and anti-aliasing. In many cases it makes some of my PS2 games look sweet!

[Dznyboy]

The PS3 Does Backwards Compatibility Fine I Have Many PS2 Games And They Work Fine Its Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility I Had To Sell Most My Xbox 1 Games Because They Dident Work Or There Sitting On A Shelf.

[t8]

The problem with Xbox is that it is a Microsoft product. Microsoft have a bad history of product quality and also have a long history of immoral business behavior. For that reason, I try not to touch Microsoft products and when I buy a game console, it will be a PS3, even if it has less games. I think the PS3 will have a longer shelf life too.

[ranpha]

Ever heard of the Sony rootkit fiasco? That is merely one of Sony's immoral business behaviour that happened over the years. Maybe you should get a Nintendo.

[mssoot]

I have the PS2 and an original PS3 that is backwards compatible. All of the PS2 games work fine on the PS3 but we use the 2 for the wear and tear factor. Also got a Wii for the get of your butt factor.
I wont get an xbox even if it was 99 bucks. MS ticked me off when they turned their back on the PC users and only released HALO 2 in vista format years late. No way gonna go down that path!

[Mergatroid Mania]

I agree 100%. MS stole the Mechwarrior franchise (my favorite) from the PC crowd and then exclusively released new versions on the XBox.

I had to laugh when the Mechwarrior games they released were nowhere near as good as previous titles.

I still have all the originals, and I replay them once in a while...oops better not say that too loud or MS will cripple the next o/s update so the old Mechwarrior games will no longer work.

I actually bought a $150 joystick/throttle combo just for use in the Mechwarrior games. I haven't seen ANY games on either the XBox or PS3 (I have one) that would make me spend $150 on a new controller.

[peterwhite]

The nielsen ratings are garbage, I was a 'family' for several months. For $5 you're supposed to write down everything you do involving a television. Worse, at least a few years ago, they use to only allow you to credit watching one primary, one secondary set. We have seven or eight TVs in the home and 2 or 3 guests (including nieces / nephews) at any given time. The problem was I was selected before their newer forms and had to hand write in certain viewing issues like - TIVO program A while watching B ... and I never had any option to cite my gaming on the original XBOX. Since then I have added two 360's in case my wife and I want to play at the same time, or she wants to use media center while I play with friends & neighbors.

What exactly was measured? Self reported gaming minutes or internet gaming minutes - I'm sure I'm not alone in working on achievements offline or playing with a cross-over cable side-by-side. Regardless of how accurate these statistics are I am still shocked by how high the Wii and combined XBOX minutes are, considering the HUGE existing PS2 base the 1.5 X minutes variance isn't very impressive at all from the Sony perspective and I'm sure the gap will continue to grow as more and more high definition fans abandon 2D side scroller games for the newer titles.

[GardenLobster]

As an avid gaming family (my hubby and I met on Final Fantasy XI Online and still play on PC and XBox360), I can tell you we have absolutely no plans to purchase a PS3 at this time. A stand alone Blu Ray player is cheaper, the back compatibility is an issue, we don't feel drawn to any PS3 exclusive games, and, well, PS3 just costs too damned much for our now suburban life with 2 kids.

We recently got a Wii for Christmas, XBox360 last Christmas, and brought into our marriage old mint gaming systems (yes TWO fully functional 8-bit NES's!) that still work very well.

As far as time spent on gaming systems in our house, much of our time is now spent on the Wii, but I attribute that to the novelty factor. After the newness of the 360 wore, we still played PS2 a disproportionate amount when it came to console gaming. The PC's, of course, take up most of our time because we still play FFXI and MMO's just take up time and are addictive. The XBox360 took my hubby's PC's place after we got a new HDTV and stereo system, so it's been starting to rival the PS2 for time. Our 360 recently Red Ringed us, though (hoping they won't diagnose it as vibration damage due to the new subwoofer on the new stereo system and make us pay for the repair *crosses fingers*), so when we get it back it's back to the 360 for my husband as far as the MMO goes. The graphics just do so much better in HD on our new TV.

When it comes to older gaming systems, it's my son who usually plays them. I just don't have the patience for Pong on the Atari anymore and Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario are just so played out anymore (otherwise we'd download them on the Wii). The PS2 still holds a special place in my heart with titles like Secret of Mana, FFVII thru X (NOT FFX-2! LOL) and some of the best DDR games ever.

I'd say these results are about right on the money.

[GlennW007]

I'd like to know how many of the 16% are Nintendo DS users? Just because it's not a console, dosen't mean people aren't using it to play games.
This could simply mean some people merely play for an hour or two, then do something else, watch TV, do Internet, movies, HAVE A LIFE!
Not always plugged in/turned on.

[Mergatroid Mania]

I don't understand why they never include the PC in game ratings? As far as I know, PC games still outsell console games (that is, there is more money generated from PC game sales and subscriptions than from console game sales).
I consider myself an avid gamer, spending most of my time in MMORPGs. I have owned a PS3 for about a year now, but only spend maybe 5% of my game time on the console, and then only when friends come over. The games on the PS3 are not really what I would consider good games for an "entertainment unit" (which requires more local multiplayer, turn based and split screen games that allow co-operative campaign gaming, not just death match multiplayer which we find mostly boring).

[FireMan509]

I believe If Sony Wants to get Back Up in This game, They need to release a patch or Update for the PS3 Backwards Compatability for PS2 and PS1, Some time in the future... And If they Drop the Prices Down just a bit, They would sell off the Hook... With All the features it gots and it's a head of time technology , Puts this Console on the path to the future.. I used to own XBox 360, and i can only Say it's worth the extra Bucks for that PS3... Not to mention the Free Online Gaming...