The PlayStation 2 first launched March 4th 2000 to the Japanese market, and today (over 12 years later, with 3 console corpses left in it’s wake) Sony has finally announced that no new PS2 shipments will be sent to Sony’s homeland, Japan.
This marks the beginning of the end for Sony’s (and the world’s) best selling video gaming console. At last count, the sixth generation juggernaut had sold 153.6 million systems worldwide.
12 years and 153.6 million sales is an impressive figure on its own, but the sheer success of the machine is made more evident when compared to its long since deceased peers:
- Dreamcast: 3 years/10 million sold.
- Xbox 4-6 years/24 million sold.
- GameCube 6 years/21.6 million sold.
Of course, the PS2 is only officially discontinued in Japan thus far, which means it’s still technically alive, and kicking. Do you think the PlayStation 2 will live long enough to see it’s 8th generation grandchild?
[Via]
