Can PlayStation 2 be Beat?
By Dylan Stadler
“Madness”, “Insanity”, and “Chaos” were just a few of the words used to describe the North American launch of the PlayStation 2 on October 26, 2000. A gamer with a fair knowledge would remember that day, how Sony only was able to ship 500,000 PS2 units at launch.
Gamers remember Sony’s previous outing, with the original PlayStation, Sony entered the videogame market in 1995, and was touted as the new kid on the block. Of course everyone was skeptical, as any gamer knew Nintendo had dominated with the NES, and even with the Genesis as its competitor, had another widely successful machine on their hands with the SNES.
“What happened,” you ask? Well, despite the “newcomer” in Sony, the PlayStation “beat” the Nintendo 64, and sold over 80 million units. Now, Sony has high hopes for its predecessor, the PlayStation 2. Someone who had been watching videogame news lately has known the PS2 is a powerful machine, but the development community has been disgruntled with the bottlenecks and still, the PS2 has a very long list of support. Interesting how developers still hung by Sony.
Now, the PS2 has over a 10 million people user base, with more killer apps on the way, and having done very well in sales with the less-than-spectacular launch, how can things get worse? In my opinion they can’t. I’ve read a few editorials lately, saying the PS2 is a thing of the past, with Nintendo’s GameCube and Microsoft’s Xbox on the way. Also, I heard a respected opinion say PS2, as of now is not a sure thing. Not a sure thing? I think PS2 is the surest success since the toothbrush.
Now on to my question, can the PlayStation 2 be conquered? No. Sony has a very large user base, which isn’t going anywhere soon. And if you look at sales, Sony has done well through a bad time without killer apps. Heck, before GT3 was out PS2 was still selling good with its mediocre titles, and with Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Final Fantasy X on the way, sales are only going to get better.
I believe looking at this, points at one thing: a head start sure does a lot. I didn’t expect PS2 to sell so good without any great titles available. So can Nintendo and Microsoft catch up? What they need to do is distract attention from the PS2, and its developers. As you can see developers, despite PlayStation 2’s frustrations, still know PS2 is where the most money is to be made.
If gamers doubted PS2’s lineup without any AAA titles, they will look at this year’s behemoth, and their doubt will most likely be gone. So, in my opinion, I do not think PS2 will be beat. With great games recently available, and new blockbusters on they way, more gamers will turn to PS2 for great titles, and PS2 will keep steady sales and hold its place as top dog in the videogame industry.
© Dylan Stadler- August, 2001 RareDark.com
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