There's no myth... DVD Playback was arguably the biggest selling point for the PS2 for its first year on the market. While it's true that some bargain DVD players could be had around the 2000 holiday season for $100 or less, most brand-name DVD players retailed for $150-$250 and up for most of the year.. our Toshiba DVD player which we had gotten in the spring that year retailed for $249.99 for example after it had just recently gotten a $50 price drop from original $299 MSRP.
The fact that you were getting a top notch DVD player included with your brand new state of the art game console in the fall of 2000 was HUGE for consumers, and movies like The Matrix, Star Wars Episode I, X-Men, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and re-releases of classics like Terminator 2 and Independence Day helped push PS2 sales even further as the DVD format became mainstream.
The PS2 launch lineup wasn't exactly stellar, with the biggest seller being the yearly installment of Madden NFL. The first batch of true killer apps for the PS2 didn't arrive until the 2nd half of 2001 like GT3 A-Spec, Final Fantasy X, MGS2 and the biggest hit of the year GTA III. So yes, the PS2 owes a great deal of its early success to DVD.
On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.
