Sony stops making PlayStation 2 in Japan

Jan 01, 2013
A student holds his newly bought Sony's PlayStation 2 video game console, in Tokyo, on March 4, 2000 Enlarge
This file photo shows a student holding a newly bought Sony's PlayStation 2 video game console, in Tokyo, on March 4, 2000. Sony says it has stopped producing its PlayStation 2 consoles in Japan, fuelling online rumours a PlayStation 4 is in the pipeline.

Japanese electronics giant Sony said it has stopped producing its PlayStation 2 consoles in Japan, fuelling online rumours a PlayStation 4 is in the pipeline.

Since launching in 2000 the (PS2), which has a Blu-ray player, has sold more than 150 million units worldwide, making it the best selling console of all time and it was so popular it outsold the its replacement for the first three years.

Shipments have been "completed" for the hardware of PS2, the Japanese website of Inc. said with no further comment. The firm did not say what its plans were for production in other parts of the world.

Software for the console is expected to continue being produced.

The announcement sent gamers posting messages online, with some surprised the PS2 was still being made.

The news has sparked rumours that embattled Sony, which has been hit by falling sales owing to the popularity of games on smartphones, is planning a PlayStation 4, more than six years since launching the .

Explore further: Microsoft readies new Xbox as entertainment hub

add to favorites email to friend print save as pdf

Related Stories

Sony cuts PlayStation 2 price to $100

Mar 31, 2009

Sony is cutting the price of its older generation PlayStation 2 (PS2) videogame consoles to 100 dollars (US) in a move prompted by tough economic times and a desire to lure fans to the platform.

Facebook hires iPhone, PS3 hacker 'Geohot'

Jun 29, 2011

Facebook confirmed on Wednesday that it has hired George Hotz, a celebrated hacker known as "GeoHot" who was sued by Sony for hacking the Japanese company's PlayStation 3 game console.

Sony PlayStation network users face password change

May 01, 2011

Users of Sony's PlayStation Network will have to change their passwords, the Japanese entertainment and technology giant said Sunday as it looks to boost security after its system was hacked.

Recommended for you

The new consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

10 hours ago

Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. Tuesday's unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's de ...

Microsoft readies new Xbox as entertainment hub

23 hours ago

Microsoft offers a glimpse Tuesday at a new-generation Xbox as videogame consoles evolve into home entertainment centers and adapt to competition from smartphones and tablets.

Finnish start-up launches smartphone to rival giants

May 20, 2013

A group of ex-Nokia employees who quit over the company's decision to abandon the planned MeeGo operating system in favour of Windows presented their own smartphone on Monday, hoping to rival the sector's ...

NEC phone is liquid-cooled and gender-specific

May 20, 2013

(Phys.org) —Pink is the color of princess fairy-tale gowns, magic slippers, upscale cupcake icing, and everything else favorable to girls who just want to be girls. "Ladyphones" appear to be concepts for ...

User comments : 7

Adjust slider to filter visible comments by rank

Display comments: newest first

BSD
1.6 / 5 (7) Jan 01, 2013
Sony is "embattled"....

Hardly surprising when they treat their customers like shit. Changing specifications through "upgrades" only to find functionality has been degraded (ref. the Linux "degrade").
atomsk
4 / 5 (8) Jan 01, 2013
...which has a Blu-ray player...

Nope, it has not.
PTK
3.7 / 5 (3) Jan 01, 2013
...which has a Blu-ray player...

Nope, it has not.


Which console illiterate person wrote this article! Jee wiz lmao
sirchick
1 / 5 (1) Jan 01, 2013
I'm guessing they would do this to upgrade their production for their next console.
zslewis
3 / 5 (2) Jan 01, 2013
Hardly surprising when they treat their customers like shit. Changing specifications through "upgrades" only to find functionality has been degraded (ref. the Linux "degrade").


sounds to me as though you are as console illiterate as the monkey that did the research for his article. ....."blue-ray in the year 2000" hahahahahaha! !.... ive been with sony since ps1. they care. they did away with alternate OS for a reason. secondly less then one percent of the game community used the function. and those who did, were never stopped from using linux (myself included) for there is always a way. ha
zslewis
1 / 5 (1) Jan 01, 2013
making it the best selling console of all time and it was so popular it outsold the its replacement for the first three years.


"the its"....nice
PS3
1 / 5 (1) Jan 01, 2013
PS2 was my first DVD player and PS3 was my first Bluray player.

More news stories

The new consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. Tuesday's unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's de ...

Expectations high for next Xbox

It's almost time for a new Xbox. Eight years have passed since Microsoft unveiled the Xbox 360, double the amount of time between the original Xbox debut in 2001 and its high-definition successor's launch ...

If you can remember it, you can remember it wrong

(Medical Xpress)—Native peoples in regions where cameras are uncommon sometimes react with caution when their picture is taken. The fear that something must have been stolen from them to create the photo ...

Encouraging signs for bee biodiversity

Declines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants have slowed in recent years, according to a new study. Researchers led by the University of Leeds and the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Netherlands ...

B vitamins could delay dementia

(Medical Xpress)—Despite spending billions of dollars on research and development, drug companies have been unable to come up with effective treatments for dementia and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Now, A. ...