The PlayStation 3 passed the threshold of 80 million units shipped on November 2, just ahead of its successor's launch next week. Given the figure was 70 million this time last year, Sony shipped around 10 million PS3 consoles across the prior 12 months.

To compare the PS3 with its rivals, the Xbox 360 just beat it to the 80 mill markback in September. Of course, both consoles still sit way behind Nintendo's Wii, which reached the nine figures of 100 million in June.

Another item of note from Sony's announcement is staggering, although it's difficult to quantify exactly. According to the company, the number of "software titles" released for the PS3 is 4,332 as of the end of September 2013 - that's excluding downloadable games.

We'd have to think there's a fair few different versions of games in there, but it's still a huge number, even if the console is coming up to its 7th birthday. To the people who've played all 4,332 games, we salute you, you crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy people.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/11/06/pl...ped-worldwide/