How is the PlayStation 2 doing after all these years?

When Sony argues, as it frequently does these days, that its video game consoles have a 10-year life cycle, critics often assume the company is just trying to make the point that its PlayStation 3 has many years left in which to become the dominant machine of the current generation.

The PlayStation 2 has been on the market for nearly nine years, proving there may well be truth to Sony's claim of a 10-year console life cycle.

(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment of America)

There may be some truth to that interpretation, but at the same time, Sony does indeed have a point, as evidenced by the continued strong performance of its PlayStation 2, a console it has sold more than 140 million units of since launching it in 2000.

Even now, the PS2 is still selling fairly well, moving 188,000 units in June, just 14.1 percent less than the 219,800 Xbox 360s Microsoft sold in the same period, according to industry analyst the NPD Group.

With all that in mind, the good folks over at IGN ran a recent story looking at the "state" of the PS2. And the general conclusion? The PS2 is doing just fine, thank you--even after all these years.

"For the time being, the PS2 doesn't seem to be left in the lurch and seems destined to actually live up to the much-vaunted '10-year life cycle' that Sony keeps talking about," IGN's Sam Bishop wrote. "Some developers like Atlus and Sega, are still supporting the system with new, exclusive games like Persona 4 and Yakuza 2, respectively. With no shortage of Guitar Heroes or Maddens, the system's library isn't nearly as bleak as one would assume for a console entering the full decade stretch."

The article goes on to make the case that the PS2 still offers a full spectrum of games in all categories, and that with the success of Nintendo's Wii, the PS2 is very well positioned as a more casual game machine.

"The bottom line is that the PS2 is hardly down and out," Bishop wrote. "It's a little surprising, really--even to us--that the library has this much steam. Chalk it up to plenty of familiarity with the hardware...,an absolutely epic install base that's still growing, and the fact that the PS2 is just plain awesome, and you can see why we're still staring down another monster end of the year."

[ywkhgqo]

i still have one of the launch PS2's and it still works great and i play with it every other day. Quality system compared to RROD's

[Kwasiowusu]

At launch, the PS2 had plenty of quality problems, and a very high failure rate. Only thing is, Sony did not give an extended 3 year warranty like Microssoft has done for the rrod issues on the 360.

[sonymaster101]

i got a launch system in christmas of 2000. it is still in my living room, has plenty of great games, (10,000+), is half the cost of the wii, has cheaper games, ect. so in reality the wii isn't the entry level console, this is. I'm sure Sony will continue to make and market this product throughout the rest of its useful life. id say it is possible it could last as long as 3+ more years beyond today. but i think it will be phased out after the release the psp2. the only way the could keep the steam longer than that is if they made it EVEN smaller than it already is, which is still possible.

[artistjoh]

I am forever amazed at in the figures for monthly sales Sony is constantly relegated to the back of the field when in fact combined PS2 and PS3 sales have been consistently huge. There is a huge market out there for cheap consoles and PS2 is excellent value, much better value than Wii, in fact, because the Wii has such a poor selection of games worth playing in comparison.

While I personally find it difficult to look at the poor quality of PS2 compared to PS3, there are lots of people out there who neither know the difference, nor particularly care. I find with my kids that with PS2 and PS3 both available to them they play PS3 about 70% of the time but still enjoy the large stock of games they have for PS2 frequently and because it is cheap I will have no hesitation in replacing the PS2 unit if it expires.

[Kwasiowusu]

For all the insistence by the Nintendo fan boys that the Wii is the first mass marke, ?non-gamer? system because of its ?wiimote?, the fact of the matter is that, despite using ?button mashing? controls, the PS2 managed to appeal to the mass market and brought in lots of ?non-gamers? every bit as much as the Wii has, long before the Wii came out.
Last year, Madden 08 on the PS2, easily outsold Madden 08 on the Wii, and from indications this year, Maden09 on the PS2 will outsell Madden09 on the Wii as well.
Even with 140 million sold, the PS2 continues to sell 13 million unit?s a year worldwide. In America, the PS2 has sold at least 8 million units since the Wii was launched, which is not that far off from the Wii?s 10 million sold in America since launch.
With PS2 installed base still increasing by 13 million unit?s a year worldwide, and PS2 sales in low income, huge population countries like India and Brazil, just talking off right now, the Wii has very little chance of ever catching total the ever increasing worldwide PS2 installed base, especially with
Will the Wii be able to sell in such high volumes a good 8 years after launch, like the PS2 has? I doubt it. Wii sales in Japan this year, already down 400,000 as compared to last year, and the Wii has been out less than 2 years

[benjaminstraight]

PS2 still rocks.

[Kev Orng]

I bought my PS2 8 months ago, as an upgrade from my still-working N64.
Because, you know, I like to stay current.
And I'm very happy with it.

[realfan333]

I bought our family's PS2 about 6 years ago and we all still love it. All the games we want to play are on PS2 and I would not be surprised if units become a commodity once Sony discontinues making them.

[YSEI]

Before you get amazed by the hardware sales number of PS2, which is something to admire upon, one should stop and think about the fact that although PS2 has sold 140 million units hardware wise, the best-selling game for it is Gran Turismo 3, which stands at around 15 million units. (Slightly less, but let's make it simple.) Anyone who knows anything about the game industry knows that selling hardware isn't where the profit comes from; it's the software sales and the licensing of the third parties developer. And the hardware-software ratio of roughly 10:1 isn't so hot. Nintendo, ever since NES and on, has kept a much better ratio of hardware-software sales ratio, 3:2 at times. Super mario bros. in NES had 40.23 million units sold, (although that was a pack-in,) and super mario 3 in NES (18 million stand-alone units.) Super Mario world with 20 million units, Mario 64 at 11 million and on and on. Plus, Nintendo is the only console manufacturers that's always made profits from the actual console hardware sales. There's a huge difference in PS2 selling 8 million units in one year and Wii selling 10 million in one year if you really take a look at it profit-wise. Sony loses money with each PS2 sold, ( or PS3 sold, as a matter of fact,) while Wii makes profit with each wii hardware sold. (It's been told that wii would make profit even at $200). I'm not here to say that one console is simply better than another; every console has its pros and cons and it's own style. However, as the ratio suggests, while nintendo was able to produce a mega-hit game that most people who had the console had, PS2 seem to have more of smaller, mania-style gamer base. In conclusion, hardware selling alot really doesn't mean a whole lot fiscally; at least not for Sony, and it may as well make it harder for PS3 step up, ironically because of its predecessor.