Finally, PlayStation 2, regarded as the best console of all times, is going to fade in memory. As spotted by the Reddit users, GameStop, the largest video game retailer in the world with more than 6600 online and physical stores across 15 different countries, will stop PS2 trade, games and accessories from 1st June. Later, the news was confirmed by store representatives, as well. The decision of the biggest name in the sector is surely going to have effects on the other retailers, who are also expected to come up with similar decisions within short time.
Despite being the best-selling console of all times that generated over 150 million sales, world- wide; PS2 is one of the most short- lived consoles. With the declaration of Sony in the first week of January, 2013, the production of PS2 was ceased first in Japan, which was then conveyed to the other production units of Sony in different territories. According to the general trends, consoles tend to live on for a continued period even after a successor is there in the market, but for PS2 trade the door has started to close already just within 5 months of the declaration by Sony.
This shorter period for PS2 trade can be related with the development of PS4 codenamed Orbis from Sony which is planned to hit the market in the fourth quarter of the year 2013. The next Xbox from Microsoft which is claimed to introduce a new generation of consoles is also set to be unveiled on May 21, and the full line up of the games are to come out within 19 days of the unveiling. Though the response of the market about the new Xbox will certainly depend a lot on its feature of always-online or sometime-online, but it is sure to stir up the market in a positive way.
PS2 trade was the perfect result of a cumbersome developmental process. It has a library consisting of more than 10,000 games, it clearly ruled the 2000’s and in 2011 it passed 1.5 billion software sales. It was the first step towards online gaming, and the PS2 can be held partially responsible for the popularity of the DVDs too.