How many 2600 consoles were sold?

[accousticguitar]

Are there any reliable numbers for how many Atari 2600 consoles were sold? I looked on the internet and found estimates from 25 million to 40 million. That's a big difference.

[spacecadet]

I always heard 29 million, but I have absolutely no idea where that number originally came from.

[+Psionic]

I looked on the internet and found estimates from 25 million to 40 million. That's a big difference.

Only place I've ever seen a claim of 40 million is on Wikipedia and other BS sites.

An Atari press release from 1988 (attached) says "over 25 million"...I doubt very much that they sold 15 million more before it was discontinued.

[Rik]

Sales goes by how many units are shipped out by the factory,to the retailers,the same with record sales.Its a very vague estimate,and you know,not all things get sold retail,they end up in discount,or simply sent back to factory,or thrown out.Hard to say,dont think anyone will know exactly

[accousticguitar]

At least the press release is a real document from that time period. If anyone knew what the sales figures were, it should have been Atari. Thanks for posting that!

[aftermac]

I looked on the internet and found estimates from 25 million to 40 million. That's a big difference.

Only place I've ever seen a claim of 40 million is on Wikipedia and other BS sites.

An Atari press release from 1988 (attached) says "over 25 million"...I doubt very much that they sold 15 million more before it was discontinued.

 

There was a massive liquidation in the early 90's. Big Lots was selling tons of 2600 & 7800 consoles and games dirt cheap. This is where my 7800 came from, as well as a lot of my games. I'm not sure if they sold 15 million consoles, but that could account for some of the discrepancy.

 

It would also be interesting to know how many are still around (a lot, I know). Has anyone created, or thought about creating a registry?

[+Psionic]

It would also be interesting to know how many are still around (a lot, I know). Has anyone created, or thought about creating a registry?

There's a registry/serial number list for heavy sixers only. A comprehensive list of all 2600s would be impossible.

[spacecadet]

There was a massive liquidation in the early 90's. Big Lots was selling tons of 2600 & 7800 consoles and games dirt cheap. This is where my 7800 came from, as well as a lot of my games. I'm not sure if they sold 15 million consoles, but that could account for some of the discrepancy.

 

Doubtful. As Rik said, at that time, company press releases generally used the accounting definition of "sold", ie. sold to stores. There was no reliable way of counting otherwise; not even sure NPD existed back then, and if they did, they didn't count consoles. So your Big Lots consoles were already counted as sold by then - and there's no way they made 15 million new systems between 1988 and 1991.

 

I think the 29 million I always heard is probably not impossible, given that this was 1988 and the system was finally discontinued in 1991 (I think). 4 million in that final 3 years sounds like a lot, though, for a system on its last legs in the early days of gaming. But it's possible. I'm sure that number is closer than the 40 million number, anyway. (There could also be some rounding going on, ie. "more than 25 million" in 1988 probably means something like 25.2 million, and they may have finished at 28.8 million, which seems even more possible.)

Edited January 25, 2008 by spacecadet