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DekutheEvilClown on 15 May 2026
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Chrkeller said:
DekutheEvilClown said:


It’s basically a debunked myth, especially in the USA where you get cheap DVD players for like $100 the year the PS2 released. It’s one of those statements you’ll find everywhere on the internet now and you’ll never be able to convince anyone it’s not true. Like Concord costing $400m. The biggest problem now is that even search engines will confirm these falsehoods because they just scan articles for answers and tons of articles report these baseless claims because it generates clicks. More clicks equals higher priority for search engines and AI. Welcome to the future, where truth will no longer exists. It’s Goebbels world now, we’re all just living in it.

My background is science, and I happily accept data, but in this case, I see a lot of people making claims, but never once saw data.  I personally do not know a single person who bought a ps2 as a DVD player.  I know people who bought a ps2 and used it as a DVD player, but those things are not the same.  


Here’s an article about how DVD players cost $100 at discount retailers in 2000, when the PS2 launched at $300

https://expertbeacon.com/how-much-was-a-dvd-player-in-2000/#google_vignette


12 months later, and  budget DVD players were $50 and even brand ones were half the price of a PS2. Here’s a forum discussion from 2001 discussing buying DVD players that quotes Pioneer, Sony and Toshiba standalone players for $150.

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/ps2-or-200-dvd-player-to-watch-dvds.897634/

Even in Europe where it is generally thought DVD players took longer to decrease in price they were available in the UK for sub-£200 in mid-2000, half a year before the PS2 Launched at £300. Here’s an image from what What Hi-Fi magazine July 2000 that lists Ariston, Bush, and Wharfsdale Standalone DVD players at £170-180. This is half a year before the PS2 release would help drive down DVD prices. 
https://www.whathifi.com/features/when-dvd-was-home-cinema-heaven-how-could-we-have-imagined-what-was-to-come


So, in 1999 DVD players were still very expensive, and it’s within the realm of possibility that some people bought a PS2 a year later for DVDs while thinking DVD players still cost that much. We’re talking very small numbers though, especially compared to all the people who will come out of the woodwork with the old “lol, my grandma/uncle bought a PS2 to play DVDs and never played a game in their life” 

The PS2 also has an extraordinarily high tie-ratio for software at that time, which further makes the idea of a bunch of them sitting around not playing games seem even more iffy.