Because PS 2s were so scarce in 2000 some consumers resorted to buying the consoles over the Internet. People with connections bought them in bulk and then sold them on auction websites such as Bidorbuy or Ebay. Some people were willing to pay more than a thousand dollars for a PS 2 console.
By now the PlayStation brand was so popular that they managed to sell almost a million units in the first day after the launch in Japan alone. Because the brand was now so big they were able to start tapping into the major install base that was established by the original PlayStation. Sony also began concentrating on different types of markets and brought out new development kits for the console, which game developers and consumers could use.
The PS 2 launch used a PS advertisement that predicted that the PS9 would one day be the absolute epitome of development and the PS2 was one step closer to achieving this. The advertisement also showed viewers that there would soon be a portable PlayStation on the market. This unit was released in Japan at the end of 2004.
Game analysts now started saying that the PS 2 would sell around the same amount of units as its competitors such as Nintendo’s GameCube and Microsoft’s Xbox. The PS 2 maintained its momentum, largely due to the fact that Sony released many blockbuster games during the 2001 holiday season.
