PlayStation 2 Explained: Why It Became the Best-Selling Console Ever

If you have ever wondered which video game console has sold the most units of all time, the answer is the PlayStation 2, often shortened to “PS2.” Sony says more than 160 million PS2 consoles have been sold worldwide since it launched in 2000. That is more than any other home console in history.

But why did this black box become such a giant? In this beginner’s guide, we will walk through what the PS2 was, what made it special, and why it still matters today.

What was the PlayStation 2?

The PlayStation 2 was Sony’s second home video game console. A “console” is simply a box you plug into your TV to play games. The PS2 followed the original PlayStation, which had already been a big hit in the 1990s.

The PS2 first went on sale in Japan on March 4, 2000. It arrived in North America in October 2000 and in Europe in November 2000. Sony kept making it for well over a decade, and it was officially discontinued in January 2013.

The DVD player that came for free

One of the biggest reasons the PS2 sold so well had nothing to do with games. It could play DVDs.

In 2000, DVD (a disc format for movies that looked much sharper than old VHS tapes) was still fairly new, and standalone DVD players could be expensive. The PS2 offered a game console and a DVD player in one box. For many families, that made the purchase much easier to justify.

Plenty of people bought a PS2 partly to watch movies, then discovered games along the way. That widened the audience beyond people who already called themselves gamers.

It could play your old PlayStation games

The PS2 was “backward compatible.” That term means a new console can play games made for the older one. Almost all original PlayStation games worked on the PS2, and most old controllers and memory cards did too.

This mattered a lot. Millions of people already owned PlayStation games. They could upgrade without throwing their old collection away, and the PS2 had a big library on day one, before many new games were even out.

A gigantic library of games

A console is only as good as its games, and the PS2 had an enormous number of them. Thousands of titles were released for it over its long life, covering almost every kind of game you can imagine.

Some of the best-known PS2 games include:

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), an open-world crime adventure. “Open world” means you can roam freely around a large map instead of following a fixed path.
• Kingdom Hearts (2002), which mixed Disney characters with Final Fantasy characters.
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001), a stealth game where sneaking matters more than fighting.
• Shadow of the Colossus (2005), a quiet, artistic adventure about battling huge creatures.
• Guitar Hero (2005), the rhythm game played with a plastic guitar controller.
• SingStar, a karaoke series that brought microphones into living rooms.

Because so many publishers made games for the PS2, there was something for nearly everyone: kids, families, sports fans, racing fans, and people who loved long stories.

Strong timing against the competition

The PS2 also benefited from good timing. It launched before Microsoft’s first Xbox and Nintendo’s GameCube, which both arrived in late 2001. That head start let it build momentum.

Sega’s Dreamcast, which had launched earlier, was discontinued in 2001 when Sega stopped making consoles. With one rival gone and the others arriving later, the PS2 had room to grow.

A very long life and falling prices

Most consoles are on sale for around six or seven years before being replaced. The PS2 kept selling for much longer, even after the PlayStation 3 launched in 2006.

Two things helped here. First, Sony lowered the price over the years, starting with a 2002 cut in North America from $299 to $199, which made it attractive to people on a budget. Second, Sony released a much smaller “slim” model in 2004. It was thinner, lighter and cheaper to make, which kept it appealing in stores.

The PS2 also sold strongly in places where newer consoles were too expensive for many households. That long tail of sales, year after year, is a big part of how it reached its huge total.

Early online play

Online gaming, meaning playing against other people over the internet, was still young in the early 2000s. The PS2 could get online, and some of its games offered online matches, though only a minority of owners used it at the time.

It was not as smooth or as central as online play is today, but it was an early step toward the connected PlayStation experience we know now.

Is the PS2 still the best-selling console?

Yes. Sony’s official PlayStation 30th anniversary history site, published in late 2024, states that more than 160 million PS2 consoles were sold. Major outlets such as Video Games Chronicle and Gematsu reported the figure at the time. Earlier, Sony’s own business data page had listed “more than 155 million,” so you may still see that lower number quoted in older articles.

Nintendo’s DS handheld and Nintendo Switch have come close over the years, but as of this writing the PS2 still holds the record for home consoles. Sales records can change, so it is always worth checking the latest official figures.

Can you still play PS2 games today?

You have a few options if you want to try PS2 classics:

• Original hardware: Used PS2 consoles and games are widely available second-hand. Keep in mind that the PS2 was designed for older TVs, so the picture may look soft on a modern flat-screen.
• PlayStation Plus Premium: Sony’s top subscription tier includes a “Classics Catalog” with a selection of older games, including some PS2 titles, playable on PS4 and PS5.
• Remasters: Some PS2 favorites have been “remastered,” meaning updated with sharper graphics for newer consoles.

Note that the PS5 cannot play original PS2 discs. If you want to use your old disc collection, you will need a PS2 (or an early PS3 model that supported PS2 discs).

The bottom line

The PlayStation 2 became the best-selling console ever because it did a lot of things right at once. It doubled as a DVD player, played your old PlayStation games, offered a massive and varied library, arrived ahead of its main rivals, and stayed on store shelves at ever-lower prices for more than a decade. More than 160 million sales later, it is still the console every other one is measured against.

Featured photo: Evan-Amos / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain