After nearly 13 years, Sony has finally decided to discontinue the veritable gaming icon, the PlayStation 2. Once the current inventory of PS2s dry up, Sony will no longer be shipping the console in Japan and soon worldwide, according to Famitsu (link in Japanese).
Launched in March 2000, the PS2 and its library of over 10,000 games has long been considered one of the true icons of gaming history, sitting alongside the likes of the Atari 2600 and the NES as a market changing device. Today, there are over 150 million PS2 units all around the world.
Beating gaming industry stalwart Nintendo at their own game first with the PlayStation, and then solidifying their domination with the sequel, the PS2, Sony's console outlived many of its competitors during its 13 years of glory. It saw through the demise of Sega as a hardware company, with the PS2 easily beating the critically acclaimed Dreamcast console. It has survived the launch of not one but three Nintendo home consoles in its lifetime, the GameCube, the Wii and the recently launched Wii 2. And it also dealt with the emergence of Microsoft as a gaming company via its Xbox and the Xbox 360 consoles.
Even as late as 2008, the PS2 was still the most played console in people's homes.
But all good things ...
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