Celebrating Ten Years of PlayStation 2

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It has been a busy few months here at PlayStation headquarters. We’ve just recently celebrated 15 incredible years as a leading innovator in the consumer entertainment space, launched a groundbreaking new product called the PlayStation Move, and we’re closing in on a truly remarkable year for PS3. While we can probably spend a whole blog post talking about all unbelievable excitement and momentum around PS3, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge a tremendous milestone today – PS2 hits its 10th anniversary. There is no better testament of our longevity as a brand and our true leadership in bringing forward technology to the masses, than what we’ve accomplished with the PS2. The PS2 continues to be a defining moment in our legacy and we’re so thankful to you, our most passionate and loyal fans who’ve been with us since its inception.

When the platform launched back in October 2000, the industry was forever changed by the introduction of a device that came built in with a DVD/CD player and offered Internet connectivity and online gameplay for the very first time. The PS2 went on to introduce brand new entertainment formats, such as motion technology with the EyeToy and has broken several industry milestones, such as being the first game console to hit 50 million units in North America. PS2 is also solely responsible for bringing to market some of today’s most well known and beloved franchises such as Ratchet and Clank, Killzone, God of War, SOCOM, and Jak and Daxter.

It’s hard to believe that it was only ten years ago that we launched this revolutionary device in North America, and that there are more than 140 million of them around the world today. The best part of this celebration is that PS2 is still one of the most played consoles out there with continued support from the development community, and remains an incredible value for first time gamers and families at $99. Today’s PS2 milestone serves as a great reminder of how far we’ve come as a company and as an industry. To celebrate, we’ve put together a collection of commentary on how incredible this journey has been and how much we are looking forward to bringing many more groundbreaking ways to amaze and delight you.

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145 Comments

  • Happy birthday PlayStation 2!

  • Great, now howabout celebrating GT5 by giving us a release date (that’s set for this year)?

  • you guys should give us one hell of a firmware update to celebrate ;) ;)

  • What better way to celebrate PS2’s 10th anniversary by giving us back our backwards compatibility on the PS3…

  • Long live the PS2!!!

  • PS2 was amazing and now PS3 is in my opinion 10X better! thanks sony and keep up the great work :)

  • It was christmas evening when i first saw it wraped with a nice package that i ripped apart…piece by piece!
    and now makes 9 years since i got my beautifull(and a little fat)PS2.XD
    Happy Birthday PlayStation 2!

  • Conglatulations PlayStation on being a huge part of everyones lives. I cannot wait to see what sony will think of next. lets hope for another 15 years at least :D

  • Happy B-Day PS2… NOW GTFO PS2! IT’S TIME TO BRING BACK BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY FOR PS2 TO PS3!

  • No other console will ever surpass the PS2.

  • What an AMAZING 15 years i have all Playstation consoles also my tvs are sony lol so im all Sony PS

  • Kingdom Hearts 2 and Final Fantasy X
    put those on playstation store.

  • way to whitewash the botched ps3s launch.

  • Great vid doc!
    Happy birthday PS2!
    Here’s to 10 more on the PS3!!!

  • I will always support Sony/Playstation products!! U guys are the best! Ps1,Ps2,Ps3,PSP i have them all they never let me down! Keep up the good work sony!!

  • Another excellent 15th Anniversary Playstation video. Jack, while I will admit that I never owned a PS1, it was the PS2 that made me realize that Sony was the REAL evolution in gaming entertainment and I still stand by my statement. The PS2 was ahead of its time, as was the PSP and now the PS3. Outstanding job Sony, keep up the excellent work!

  • Love the PS2.

    It’s the second best console out there. SNES wins for having Final Fantasy VI. /my opinion

    Now let’s celebrate by telling Canadians that we get the LBP2 Collector’s Edition and where to get them.

  • Can we expect a PS2 ornament in Home this week? How about a cool PS2 dynamic theme and avatar to celebrate this milestone?

  • Jack Tretton said:
    PlayStation fans are the group I like to address the most. I never forget the fact that if it wasn’t for the PlayStation fans there be no need for Sony Computer Entertainment I appreciate everything they’ve done for the company and everything they’ve done for me and they have my commitment that I’ll do everything I can to bring them the best value AND gaming experience as possible.

    1) Give us Cross-Game Chat!!
    2) Look at the PlayStation Blog Share. You’ll see what we want to have the best gaming experience as possible.

  • I would love to see the old 3D PS2 clock that was seen in the front end to appear as a PS3 dynamic theme.

  • Congratz Sony, Jack Tretton, Ken Kutaragi, Kaz Hiraiy… You guys made and continue to make the PlayStation family of gaming to be the superior choice.

    Congratz on 10 years…A DECADE!! with the PlayStation 2.

    With PS, you guys dominated the CD gaming. PS2, you guys brought about DVD based gaming and DVD players. PSP you brought the close-to-HD handheld gaming, PS3 brought about the dawn of (and domination) of the BluRay format.

    Now let’s see if you guys can match the success of the PS2 (dominated Xbox and GameCube) with the PS3 (will it destroy the Wii and the Xbox 360 and live on long after those 2 die off?).

    Oh and wut are you doing about the PS2 compatibility issue on the PS3? Will we see a come back via firmware or software download? Will you simply offer PS2 games for download on PSN? or do we have to rely on these HD Collections?

  • Happy Bornday PlayStation 2!!!

    Jack, what about bringing back BC for PS2 games on PS3 for PS2’s birthday??? Huh?? Whadduh ya say???

  • Happy Birthday PS2!! It’s amazing that my launch PS2 still works like a charm. Long live PlayStation.

  • Excellent! So nastalgic! Felt like I was back in high school watchin behind the dev scenes for crash bandicoot. Thank You and Congratulations!

  • Mine sits proudly next to my PS3! =D

  • I still remember getting mine at midnight at launch with SSX, Timesplitters, Midnight Club, and Smuggler’s Run. :) Great system.

  • The only way this year was remarkable for PS3 was the epic failures. Everything from open harassment of paying customers to illegal removal of features many of us paid for. If theres no immediate plans for a complete turnaround of SCE us PS3 owners will have no happy 10th anniversary. Way to FAIL SONY!!

  • PS2 goes down as the best console of all time. Congrats to Sony and the PS brand.

  • Congrats to 10 years of PS2!!!!!!

  • Congrats on 10 years!

    I just have to say, because I can’t help myself, you used ‘SOCOM’ as one of “today’s most well known and beloved franchises”. Then please Sony can you market the hell out of SOCOM 4. The franchise has done so much to push the Playstation platform yet I always feel like it gets the short end of the stick when it comes to marketing and publisher-generated hype. You owe it to the franchise to push SOCOM 4 the same way you push a KillZone or Uncharted game.

    That’s all I have to say.

  • Happy birthday PlayStation 2! One of the best systems of all time.

  • Jack,

    Keep pumping out top shelf hardware and games and you can continue to horde my home entertainment budget. Thanks for all the hard work, you people provide a quality centric horde of good times and memories for everyone, myself, friends and family included. Keep it up.

  • Oh, and GT5 date would be great also, signature edition for the Americas?

  • Happy tenth PS2 :).

  • That was a great read, and awesome video. That video also brought up a lot of memories for me. That was right around the time me and my girlfriend(now my wife) moved in together, and that was the first big item we bought together. So from my family to your Playstion Family we thank you for all the memories.

    PS: Was that hair I spotted on the top of Phil Harrison Head..lol

  • I love you SCEA!

  • Jack,
    Thanks to you, and all of Sony’s employees! It’s been a GREAT 10 years of the PS2. I put my name on a list at SEARS, and waited. XMAS Eve day, I got the call my PS2 was in!! One of the most exciting times in my life, was awesome. Discovering new games, the clarity on some games, like GRAND TURISMO, my God…even 10 years ago, that game STILL looks better then most games on the PS3 now lol

    Congratulations on 10 years of unprecedented success with the PS2, but I do have 1 question I hope you read, and respond too.

    How many games that came out on the PS2, actually UTILIZED the PS2’s ENTIRE chip set?
    – Which games MAXXED out the graphics?

    Cause I have a GUT FEELING, that maybe 1 or 2 games, ONLY utilized the PS2’s FULL potential!
    It would be cool to find out who got the MOST out of programming the PS2

    Eddie H
    HASKELL420

  • @Link01

    Skype :D

  • I still have trouble trying to decide if I like the PS1 or PS2 better. It’s awesome that Sony was able to follow up the classic PS1 with a just-as-classic PS2.
    Happy anny!

  • I’ve been a strong sony supporter since ps1, through ps2 with socom series and I’ve owned 15 psp’s, each model to date. Now I have the ps3 since launch(yes a full BC 60 gig). Now to celebrate you should give us a free game, a great fw update with cross game chat and voice messaging features and a Browser that actually works with social sites such as facebook. I will continue to support Sony for the years to come. Just make it more exciting. Maybe a half off sale on everything in Home?

    Cant wait for the ps3’s 10 year anniversary.

  • Oh yeah, this also marks the win that dvd’s had back then, thanks to Ahem Sony. Format wars are your thing. Love how you always win out…

  • In Jack We Trust!!!!

    i wish i had choosen the PSone over the N64. i missed out so much gaming defining moments, but now the PS3 PSP comobo has me on the rails of the train with no way back to PS Nation!!!!!

  • i’m 44 now and i have been a gamer all my life ! i broke down when xbox came out ! i had to have it !!!! but one week into playing xsuck ! sorry ( xbox) i hated the controllers !!! but i was stuck with it intill it was broke !! well thats when my F 150 came into the picture !! my wife was pissed off put i got my ps2 !! LOL !! memory lane !!! LOL !!!

  • Ratchet and Clank was my first PS2 game. Still one of my favorite games ever.

  • way to go Jack!

  • On its joyous 10th anniversary, I list 10 Things that made the PS2 a huge success THE PS3 DIDN’T ACCOMPLISH :

    1. Competitive Launch price.
    2. Flawless Backwards compatibility to this very day.
    3. HUGE Exclusives after just 1 year in the market : Metal Gear Solid 2, Gran Turismo 3, Final Fantasy X, etc. etc. etc. etc.
    4. Unparalleled Library, no second-hand ports from lesser consoles or timed-exclusives.
    5. Priced under $200 in less than 18 months on the market.
    6. Very strong Japanese software support, and Japanese market domination with tons of content getting released on the western markets.
    7. DVD playback was already a mass-market appealing feature whereas Blu-ray and (now) 3D features were introduced by the PS3, and 4 years later Blu-ray penetration is still in early stages.
    8. The PS2 was the console of choice for (third-party) development.
    9. The PS2 launched first than its competitors last generation.
    10.The PS2 never tried to (or needed to) imitate the competition to be competitive. It was the other way around. The PS2 was the standard.

    SCE, take note and may you relive your best years of glory.

    Congratulations!

  • I’m am so proud that I dumped Nintendo for Playstation. Now that PS2 10 years please put the greatest hits of PS2 on the PSN store.

  • You rock Jack lol, long live PlayStation!!! 8)

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