It continued to be produced until the beginning of 2013 when Sony finally announced that it had been discontinued after over twelve years of production, one of the longest lifespans of any video game console.

Released in 1994, the original PlayStation proved to be a phenomenal worldwide success and signalled Sony's rise to power in the video game industry.

Its launch elicited critical acclaim and strong sales; it eventually became the first computer entertainment platform to ship over 100 million units.

[16][17] Sega, spurred on by its declining market share and significant financial losses,[18] launched the Dreamcast in 1998 as a last-ditch attempt to stay in the industry.

[35][36] At some point during development, employees from Argonaut Games, under contract for semiconductor manufacturer LSI Corporation, were instructed to design a rendering chip for Sony's upcoming console.

[40] Chris Deering, then-president of SCEE recalled that there was a degree of trepidation among Sony leaders to produce a console which would recapture or exceed the success of its predecessor.

[42] Sega's Dreamcast enjoyed a successful US launch on 9 September of that year;[42] fuelled by a large marketing campaign, it sold over 500,000 units within two weeks.

[51] The PS2 initially sold well partly on the basis of the strength of the PlayStation brand and the console's backward compatibility, selling its entire inventory of 1.4 million units in Japan by 31 March 2000, less than a month after launch.

Despite the Dreamcast still receiving support through 2001, the PS2 remained the only sixth-generation console for over 6 months before it faced competition from new rivals: Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox.

While the PlayStation 2 theoretically had the weakest hardware of the three, it had a head start due to its installed base plus strong developer commitment, as well as a built-in DVD player (the Xbox required an adapter, while the GameCube lacked support entirely).

Sony also countered the Xbox by securing timed PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

A mixture of hard work, trial and error and middleware tools is also ensuring that development cycles are getting shorter and game quality improving.

[61] Unlike Sega's Dreamcast, Sony originally placed little emphasis on online gaming during its first few years, although that changed upon the launch of the online-capable Xbox.

The issue was compounded in Britain when a Russian oil tanker became stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking a ship from China carrying PS2s bound for the UK.

[66][67] The PlayStation 2 continued to be produced until 2013 when Sony announced that it had been discontinued after over twelve years of production—one of the longest lifespans of any video game console.

New games for the console continued to be made until the end of 2013, including Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin for Japan, and FIFA 14 for North America.

[78] When accounting for features such as lighting, texture mapping, artificial intelligence, and game physics, the console has a real-world performance of 25 million polygons per second.

A hard disk drive can be installed in an expansion bay on the back of the console, and is required to play certain games, notably the popular Final Fantasy XI.

Available in late October 2004, it was smaller, thinner, and quieter than the original versions and included a built-in Ethernet port (in some markets it also had an integrated modem).

It also lacked an internal power supply until a later revision (excluding the Japanese version), similar to the GameCube, and had a modified Multitap expansion.

The removal of the expansion bay was criticized as a limitation to software, due to the existence of titles such as Final Fantasy XI, which required the HDD use.

Sony also manufactured a consumer electronic device called the PSX that can be used as a digital video recorder, and a DVD burner in addition to playing PS2 games.

[104] Optional hardware includes additional DualShock or DualShock 2 controllers, a PS2 DVD remote control, an internal or external hard disk drive (HDD), a network adapter, horizontal and vertical stands, PlayStation or PS2 memory cards, the multitap for PlayStation or PS2, a USB motion camera (EyeToy), a USB keyboard and mouse, and a headset.

Most main entries in the Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, and Metal Gear Solid series were released exclusively for the console.

Several prolific series got their start on the PlayStation 2, including God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Daxter, Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts, and Sly Cooper.

The last new games for the console were Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin in Asia, FIFA 14 in North America,[68] and Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 in Europe.

Early points of criticism included the lack of online support at the time, its inclusion of only two controller ports, and the system's price at launch compared to the Dreamcast in 2000.

[109] There was, however, some concern about the system's abilities following the lack of anti-aliasing in the two most popular early titles, Ridge Racer V and Tekken Tag Tournament.

[117] By 31 March 2012, over 155 million PlayStation 2 units were sold worldwide,[118] and in the same year, Sony officially stopped supplying updated sales numbers of the system.

[121] Sony released a Linux-based operating system, Linux for PlayStation 2, for the PS2 in a package that also includes a keyboard, mouse, Ethernet adapter and HDD.