PS3 Now Officially the Worst-Selling PlayStation Console, But Its Comparison to Xbox Is Shocking

Since it launched, we’ve known the PlayStation 5 was successful; however, in only five years on the market, it’s already jumped past the PlayStation 3 on the all-time sales list, at least in the United States. That officially makes the PS3 the worst-selling Sony home console. It’s technically not Sony’s worst piece of gaming hardware (thanks, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Portable), but if you toss out the portable systems, it’s comfortably Sony’s worst console from a pure numbers standpoint. However, the PS3 still sold better than the vast majority of consoles, including everything Microsoft has ever released.

PlayStation 3 Beats Every Xbox Console

As of 2024, the PlayStation 3’s lifetime sales were sitting at 87.4 million consoles. That’s a respectable number, especially when you consider how poorly Sony handled the console’s launch. Remember, the PS3 hit store shelves at $600, and its complex system architecture made it difficult to develop for.

Thankfully, Sony made a few solid decisions, most notably letting users play with their friends online at no extra cost, and when the kinks of the Cell architecture were worked out, developers put out several solid games. It was touch-and-go for the first few years, but Sony did a great job in turning things around, helping build toward an excellent PlayStation 4 launch.

So while the PS3’s lifetime sales are far below even the PlayStation 1, it was a successful season. Sony experienced such a turnaround that the lifetime sales of the PS3 eventually surpassed those of the Xbox 360. Technically, we haven’t heard official sales numbers for Xbox 360 since 2015, but it’s hard to imagine Microsoft has made up the gap between its 84 million and the PS3’s 87.4 million in the last few years.

Either way, the PlayStation 3 easily clears every other Xbox console. The Xbox One was sitting at around 58 million units in 2023, while the original Xbox clocked in at just 24 million. As of September 2025, the Xbox Series X|S had only sold 28.3 million. Those three combined have only sold about 20 million more than the PlayStation 3, so anyone calling the PS3 a failure should consider heading back to math class.

That puts into perspective how a bad first impression can really hurt the optics of a console. It also shows how impressive it is that Sony turned around that perception over the course of a generation. Don’t forget that Microsoft came into the Xbox One generation full of vim and vigor, thinking it could easily continue its momentum.

Unfortunately for them, the blowback to some of the Xbox One’s worst ideas never died down, and the developer failed to perfectly tread the same path Sony had in the previous generation. Both companies put themselves in an unenviable situation, but only Sony was able to come out with a best-selling console. That doesn’t mean the console-maker does everything right, but it’s certainly making better moves than Xbox.

Where Does the PlayStation 3 Sit All-Time?

The PlayStation 3 sits above every Xbox platform, but where does it land on the all-time charts? Well, it depends on which chart you use. Remember, the PlayStation 5 has only outsold the PS3 in the US. It’s still lagging a million units behind worldwide. To keep it simple, let’s stick with that worldwide chart, since it incorporates everything into one handy table.

As you’d expect, the PlayStation 2 is still the best-selling console of all time. The Nintendo DS and Nintendo both got close, but are still about six or seven million off from the PS2. After that, you have the rest of the 100-million consoles: Game Boy/Game Boy Color, PlayStation 4, PlayStation, and Wii. PS3 is up next with its 87.4 million units, putting it eighth overall all-time.

Worldwide, the PlayStation 5 is just outside the top ten, sitting in 11th just behind the Game Boy Advance. It’ll likely pass that console (and potentially the Xbox 360) by the end of 2025, as it continues its march up the charts.

For all the guff Sony got at the PlayStation 3’s launch, it’s well ahead of beloved consoles like the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and Nintendo 3DS. That’s not bad for one of the most memed consoles of the modern era. It’s safe to say most companies would love to have a “failure” like the PlayStation 3 in their catalog.

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