The PlayStation 2 (abbreviated as PS2) is Sony's handheld game console for the sixth generation consoles, putting it at odds with the Sega Dreamcast, the Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox. It launched on December 12, 2004 in Japan; March 24, 2005 in North America, Brazil, and Indonesia; and finally on September 1, 2005 in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Announced in 1999, the PS2 offered backward-compatibility for its predecessor's DualShock controller, as well as its games. The PS2 is the best-selling video game console of all time, having sold over 155 million units worldwide, as confirmed by Sony. Over 3,800 game titles have been released for the PS2, with over 1.5 billion copies sold. Sony later manufactured several smaller, lighter revisions of the console known as Slimline models in 2004.
Even with the release of its successor, the PlayStation 3, the PS2 remained popular well into the seventh generation, and continued to be produced until 2013, when Sony finally announced it had been discontinued after over twelve years of production – one of the longest lifespans of a video game console. Despite the announcement, new games for the console continued to be produced until the end of 2013, including Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin for Japan, FIFA 13 for North America, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 for Europe. Repair services for the system in Japan ended on September 7, 2018.