It's Official: PS2 is $99 Starting Tomorrow

11:10 AM - March 31, 2009 - By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide US

As previously reported, Sony has reduced the price of its PlayStation 2 console to just $99, cutting the price by nearly 25 percent.

Alright so it’s not $99 -- it’s $99.99 -- but it represents the first time the console has been offered for double digits in the nine years it’s been in production, which is pretty neat in itself. In its twilight years, the PS2’s incredibly ‘long tail’ makes Sony seem like it actually knew what it was talking about when it spouts of on the “ten year life cycle” of its consoles. Sony made it official first on its PlayStation blog.

Yesterday we pointed out that with the PlayStation 2 in last place in console sales, a price cut like this would make sense and today the company boasted the advantage of having such a cheap console on the market, boasting that at this price point, more people than ever will be able to join in on the PS2 fun. In light of the economy, consumers are looking for cheap thrills, and a $99 PS2 will be just the ticket for a lot of them.

The news comes one week after the news of Zeebo -- the Qualcomm-backed $199 console aimed at emerging markets and targeting consumers in Brazil, Russia, India and China who are typically unable to afford the higher-end consoles. The $99 PS2 could raise concerns for Zeebo.

That said Zeebo and Qualcomm also endeavor to rock the digital download platform when it comes to selling games in order to reduce piracy, which is a huge problem in the above markets. We got in touch with Zeebo to ask what this would mean for the future of the console and we'll update when we know more.

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tenor77 03/31/2009 5:17 PM

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This just in! Nintendo announces the Gamecube is now being discounted to counter Sony's bold and genius move!

Okay in all seriousness what is this really about though? Is this their answer to people bitching about the PS3 not being backwards compatible? 100 million units later.......who are you going to sell this to?

eklipz330 03/31/2009 5:20 PM

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well at least we know the sales of the ps2 make up for the losses from the ps3

too bad the price drop for the ps3 was false though =[

jgoette 03/31/2009 5:37 PM

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is anyone really going to buy such an old piece of hardware just because its 100 bucks now?

fuser 03/31/2009 5:50 PM

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The PS2 doesn't interest me personally, but I can imagine a family with some kids who might want a cheap console.

PS2 has some great titles (the 'god of war' franchise being the best example), and all of those titles are available used for $5 or $10 each. You can't beat it for entertainment value.

tenor77 03/31/2009 6:02 PM

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fuser :
The PS2 doesn't interest me personally, but I can imagine a family with some kids who might want a cheap console. PS2 has some great titles (the 'god of war' franchise being the best example), and all of those titles are available used for $5 or $10 each. You can't beat it for entertainment value.

Maybe so, but you can also pick up a used PS2 cheap at most stores anyway. Seriously I think Sony is a little too attached to the PS2. The day I bought my 360, I sold my Xbox and PS2. I moved on. It honestly feels like they're pushing this 10 year life cycle a little too much.

We get it Sony. You think we should care that MS stopped making the Xbox once the 360 came out. The problem is we don't.

NuclearShadow 03/31/2009 6:06 PM

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I don't think this will increase the sales much. The PS2 has been out for so long that anyone who has seriously wanted one most likely already has one.

festerovic 03/31/2009 6:28 PM

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The majority of game systems are sold to parents, not kids. At $99, parents could afford to get the system and not think too hard about it. The games are typically $20-30, versus $60. Plus, there are a ton of used PS2 games now that it is "old".

Look at the Wii. It's certainly not a better system than 360/PS3, the games are typically inferior, but it sells more than 2:1 versus 360 and PS3 combined.

Smart move, even though it's only $30 less than it was a month ago.

^NS - Acutally, every time Sony drops the price of the PS2, the sales go way up for at least 6 months.

Myrdek 03/31/2009 6:43 PM

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If only they would print more $20 Greatest Hits games... I had a list of 40 games to buy and I've only been able to find half at decent price in the past year. I have to browse ebay and check local gamestops frequently because so many used games are sold at above $30, even $100 in some cases.

Like many others I bought a cheap PS2 because I can't afford to be up to date and pay $50 per game. Especially when so many titles end up being disapointing. Please print more copies!

hakesterman 03/31/2009 7:11 PM

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rooket 03/31/2009 7:17 PM

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-2

xbox360 is superior gaming compared to ps2, i haven't turned mine on in ages. also i'd be worried if the ps3 came down in price, you know how consoles go... you look for a bargain from a bid in a chinese facility to build your unit and you end up with a lot of hardware becoming faulty, such as what happens with the cheaper 360. you'd probably end up with a ylod problem in the ps3.

FlayerSlayer 03/31/2009 7:43 PM

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That was actually what I thought of when I read this. I have an old PS2 from about six years ago, full height machine, and it has trouble playing some games now. God of War will not even boot up in it anymore and I never got a chance to beat it. I'm tempted to get this just to fishing that game (and others that won't load).

Marcus Yam 03/31/2009 7:58 PM

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FlayerSlayer :
That was actually what I thought of when I read this. I have an old PS2 from about six years ago, full height machine, and it has trouble playing some games now. God of War will not even boot up in it anymore and I never got a chance to beat it. I'm tempted to get this just to fishing that game (and others that won't load).

Hah, years and years ago, even before before the PS2 Slim, I had seen PS2s dying all the time. But they were selling like hotcakes still, and there always was the joke about what portion of the sales came from re-purchases. I guess the same joke now applies to the Xbox 360, though Microsoft did make things a bit better with the extended RROD warranty.

That said, if you haven't play GoW 1 AND 2, you simply must and the $99 PS2 is worth it for those two alone. But also get Yakuza 1 and 2 while you're at it.

cracklint 03/31/2009 8:08 PM

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$49 is more my price range

radiowars 03/31/2009 8:32 PM

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hakesterman :
Sorry Crashbox360 fanboys, I'd take a PS2 anyday over acrashbox. With a PS2 or PS3 you don't have all that fannoise and you never get the 3Rings of death syndrom. I hadto laugh i was at Walmart last week and their Demo even had thethree Rings of death, i guess at least it represents the productfairly. After watching the repair video, i can see why Microsoftdoesen't want to be responsible for their defective product anymore.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_ [...] l_problemshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0U2anUn_fchttp://www.metacafe.com/watch/1271 [...] _fix_real/http://www.fixringofdeath.com/

Lol @ the obvious fanboy. Crashbox? That's not even original.
I'll stick with my PSP though, even if it costs an extra 80$.

JonnyDough 03/31/2009 8:43 PM

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Why the hell didn't you must say $100?

JonnyDough 03/31/2009 8:45 PM

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*just

When the hell can we get an edit button? Some of us are dyslexic. When Tom's got bought out by Best of Media it became worse.

4c1dr41n4 03/31/2009 9:58 PM

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Anyone picking this up, get Shadow of the Colossus, you won't regret it. This and GoW 1&2 alone make it worthy.

I'll also stick with my PSP (play it a lot on the bus on my way to work) but may end up getting one for my kid.

nekatreven 03/31/2009 11:27 PM

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jonnydough :
*justWhen the hell can we get an edit button? Some of us are dyslexic. When Tom's got bought out by Best of Media it became worse.

Because when someone says something stupid and gets called on it...they'll change it, and then act like the person who called them on it is insane.

steiner666 04/01/2009 12:00 PM

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I'll stick to my gaming rig + PCSX2

salem80 04/01/2009 12:22 PM

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jonnydough :
*justWhen the hell can we get an edit button? Some of us are dyslexic. When Tom's got bought out by Best of Media it became worse.

Same thing happened to me ..why they Just Move to VBulletin ..will not cost them too much..

ethaniel 04/01/2009 2:00 AM

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The PS2 is still very popular in Latin America, where the PS3 (both the console and the game) is extremely expensive. And the PS2 has some amazing games available. Hi tech is not necessary to have fun: Ask the "mutated GameCube with a wireless controller" called Wii about it.

ethaniel 04/01/2009 12:57 PM

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I mean "games", not "game". No edit option...

techtre2003 04/01/2009 4:03 PM

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jgoette :
is anyone really going to buy such an old piece of hardware just because its 100 bucks now?

Yes, they will.
In February, they sold 131,000 units just in the U.S.
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2 [...] he-usa.htm

Why would they stop selling PS2s when they are still posting these kinds of numbers?

JWL3 04/01/2009 6:58 PM

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HAHAHA. I've got an old 286 computer from 1990 that I'll discount - half price off the original price of $1249.99. $625 for a 286 12 MHZ computer with a 40 MEGAbyte hard drive. Anybody????

Dude, I'm one of the few holdouts on the PS2 (I hate consoles in general - I think they're for idiots and the games made for them are for idiots.) And I don't care if you discount them to $29, I wouldn't buy it. None of the games hold any appeal to me. I have a water cooled quad core with a 4850 Radeon card. What games on the PS2 would I actually want to play in place of cutting edge PC games?

JWL3 04/01/2009 6:59 PM

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