Playstation 2 Games

The PS2's brand strength has led to strong third-party support for the system. Although the system's launch titles were unimpressive in 2000, the Christmas season of 2001 saw the release of several best-selling and critically acclaimed games. These games helped the PS2 maintain and extend its lead in the video game console market, despite increased competition from the launches of the Microsoft Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube. In several cases, Sony made exclusivity deals with publishers in order to preempt its competitors.

Critically acclaimed games on the PS2 include the Grand Theft Auto series, several entries in the Final Fantasy series, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, the Devil May Cry series, four SSXs , the Ace Combat series, Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec and Gran Turismo 4, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs, the Sly Cooper trilogy, Ape Escape, the Splinter Cell series, the Jak and Daxter series, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, the God of War series, Champions of Norrath, Champions: Return to Arms, five Dragon Ball Z: Budokai games, seven Tony Hawk games, the WWE SmackDown! series, and the Ratchet and Clank series. The PS2 has also been the home to many music games, such as the latest Dance Dance Revolution games and the guitar controller-based Guitar Hero series.

At the end of 2006, 8,571 PS2 titles had been released worldwide (4,745 in Asia, 1,375 in North America, and 2,451 in Europe),accounting for cumulative production shipments of 1.205 billion units.