Although the first PlayStation was a breakthrough in the video game industry, the PlayStation 2 was the foundation of that success. It contributed to the entry of PlayStation with full force into this market, which at that time was beginning to see its diffusion and expansion with the entry of new competitors such as Microsoft, Sega and Nintendo.

Sony launched the PlayStation 2 in early 2020, marking the beginning of a bright new era in the industry in general and for Sony in particular. The device achieved great demand while also earning huge revenues for Sony to become the best gaming device over time.

But this didn't come out of nowhere and there were many reasons that directly contributed to putting the device in this prestigious position. Here in this report, we will accompany you with the 5 most important reasons why the second generation of the PlayStation family is the best ever.

The PlayStation 2 was easy to obtain

Sony has introduced the device at a price of approximately US$$ 300, which is not a small price for gamers, but it remains an affordable price compared to the prices of other devices in the PlayStation family.

In the case that we want to compare the price of the device with the prices of the devices in the PlayStation family, the device continues to be the one with the lowest price, even if we take into account the inflation that the United States has recently begun to suffer, so the price of the device will also be the lowest among the other devices, as you can see in the illustration below.

After two years of release, specifically in 2002, Sony reduced the price of the device to US$$ 200, making it lower than the price of competing devices such as the Xbox and GameCube.

The best-selling device of all time

The PlayStation 2 achieved huge sales for Sony, becoming the best-selling gaming device in the last 20 years. Total sales amounted to 159 million units, surpassing the Nintendo DS handheld by 5 million, while the latter came in at 154 million.

Although Nintendo was the closest competitor in terms of sales strength of its devices, it has never managed to break the number achieved by Sony's device to this day.

PlayStation 2 had many titles that remained etched in memory

Sony's second device not only stood out for its sales strength, but also for the strength of the many titles that were released on the device throughout its lifespan. The PlayStation 2's game library has over 4,000 different titles, including both indie games and AAA titles.

There were many titles that are still stuck in our minds to this day, such as Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil 4, GTA III and many other titles that did not complete their journey later, but their memories are still etched in our minds, such as BloodRayne and The Simpsons: Hit & Run and others.

Sony's first device to support previous-generation games

One of the most important features that Sony has added to the PlayStation console since its launch is the support for playing previous-generation PlayStation 1 games. This feature has led to many previous-generation owners confidently moving on to the next generation with the massive library of games they already own. This smart move by Sony has helped most previous-generation owners move on to the next generation without thinking about switching to other competing platforms at the time.

The good thing is that the device was fully compatible with previous generation games, and Sony may not have been able to implement this in most of its latest family devices due to different technical trends.

Sony's DVD player 2 was the best among competitors

At that time, the DVD revolution was in its infancy, and although movie producers were beginning to use this type of disc, DVD players were very expensive. But Sony, with the PlayStation 2, made the device the cheapest entertainment option for gaming and also for watching movies with cutting-edge technology.

While the Xbox entered the race about a year later with DVD support, it was limited in terms of DVD support as you had to buy a DVD movie player to work with it. In other words, you had to spend a bit more money to get a device that could play DVD movies.

These five features may have made the PlayStation 2 the best home console in history. Many modern home consoles are still trying to introduce innovations and features, but they haven't reached the level of excellence that the Sony 2 offered at the time.