The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console that was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to the original PlayStation console and is the second installment in the PlayStation lineup of consoles. It was released in 2000 and competed with Sega’s Dreamcast, Nintendo’s GameCube and Microsoft’s Xbox in the sixth generation of video game consoles.

Announced in 1999, the PlayStation 2 offered backwards compatibility for its predecessor’s DualShock controller, as well as for its games. The PlayStation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all time, selling over 155 million units, with 150 million confirmed by Sony in 2011. More than 3,874 game titles have been released for the PS2 since launch, and more than 1.5 billion copies have been sold.Sony later manufactured several smaller, lighter revisions of the console known as Slimline models in 2004. In 2006, Sony announced and launched its successor, the PlayStation 3