After thirteen years - seriously, thirteen - Sony has announced that the existing stocks of PlayStation 2s in stores are the last ones that are being manufactured, and no more will be on the way.
PlayStation 2 shipments in Japan finally stopped by Sony | Gamechup | Video Game News, Reviews, Features, Guides
Not even the Game Boy comes close to the PS2's sales, and I'm not sure anything except perhaps the PC hits the PS2's library. Given the average age of folks on this forum I expect we're almost all familiar with the PS2 and have a lot of fond memories. Games like FFX, the GTA 3 series, God of War, Okami, SSX, Ico and SotC, Burnout, Soul Calibur 2, Ratchet and Clank, TimeSplitters, Viewtiful Joe, MGS3, and on and on holy crap the thing had over ten thousand titles, not counting PS1 games which was a pretty amazing lineup in itself. I know I spent so, so many hours of my teenage years in front of that box and they were hours well spent indeed.Sony has told the Japanese retailers that once the current stock of PlayStation 2 consoles are over, they won’t be replenishing it.
This effectively means that Sony has discontinued the system and are just waiting for the stocks to sell out. This is happening in a lot of countries and when you think the console has been around for almost 12 years selling 150 million units and giving us incredible franchises, it’s hard not to get overwhelmed by strong emotion.
The console was released in March 4, 2000 in Japan, and the stocks will probably get over in the same month in 2013. So that brings us to a shelf life of 13 years. I’m really struggling to think of an electronic device that has survived for so long.
Third-party developers stopped making software for it a couple of years back, and whatever software that you still see are being made by local developers in specific countries like India and Brazil where the console is still popular.
Let's reminisce a little. Oh, and if you're worried, don't be - emulation is alive and well and there doesn't seem to be much risk of losing the ability to play PS2 games. Still, I'm tempted to get a console to supplement my existing ones (I've got both a NA and UK PS2) just to keep it around.
That all said, the thing only launched in 2008 in Brazil and still does well in markets like that and India, so the console will still be made for places like that.
Still, RIP in peace.