Sony PlayStation 2 – PS2 Games
Sony’s PlayStation 2 is the bestselling video game console platform of all time. Released by Sony in 2000, the unit has sold nearly one hundred and fifty million (150,000,000) units to date. It is the predecessor to the Sony PlayStation 3, and cemented Sony’s position of being one of the dominant game console developers and manufacturers in the very competitive video game industry.
Although the Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2) was a very advanced console, at the time of its release, it was the vast array and assortment of PS2 games available that made the unit a hit among children and teenagers around the globe.
Sony helped to ensure the success of the Sony PS2 by arranging effective licensing agreements with game development companies to make PS2 games available in many popular game genres. With the initial release of the Sony PS2, many units were shipped with very popular franchise video game hits such as Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong. By providing these PS2 games with the console, Sony enabled users to quickly become familiar with the console by providing already well-known and familiar games.
As the popularity of Sony’s PlayStation 2 continued to rise, so did the magnitude of available PS2 games. New and different PS2 games were being developed and released at an amazing rate; yet the insatiable hunger for more PS2 games seemed to go unsatisfied. In the year 2000 and 2001, PS2 games smartly outsold any other toy or game item intended as Christmas or birthday gifts.
The addition of Rock Star Software’s ‘Grand Theft Auto’ to the Sony PS2 game stable and it subsequent release of October 2002, helped cause explosive growth for the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Grand Theft Auto series of PS2 games.
It was during this time that the fledgling used and second hand game cartridge began to boom and prosper. Although PS2 games did not cause the emergence of such businesses, PS2 games quickly became the most sought after products sold by the stores. New PS2 games were considered somewhat expensive; so, PS2 games trading and the buying and selling of used PS2 games became a very profitable enterprise.
With the arrival of the Sony PlayStation 3 in 2006, sales of the PlayStation 2 started to decrease; however, sales of PS2 games did not. In fact, sales of PS2 games increased; because prices were beginning to drop for PS2 games in order to facilitate the marketing of games designed for the PlayStation 3.
Sales of PS2 games started to decline in August 2005, and have seen marked sales decreases over the last four years. However, beginning in January of this year the game market has saw resurgence in sales of PS2 games and consoles. In fact, PS2 games sales are up for all months of 2009 on a Year over Year basis. PS2 games may down, but they are not out.
