Industry "forever changed" by PS2, says Tretton

As the American PS2 turns ten years old, SCEA boss Jack Tretton has posted on the PS Blog to claim the console "forever changed" the games industry.

"When the platform launched back in October 2000, the industry was forever changed by the introduction of a device that came built in with a DVD/CD player and offered Internet connectivity and online gameplay for the very first time," said the exec.

"The PS2 went on to introduce brand new entertainment formats, such as motion technology with the EyeToy and has broken several industry milestones, such as being the first game console to hit 50 million units in North America.

"PS2 is also solely responsible for bringing to market some of today’s most well known and beloved franchises such as Ratchet and Clank, Killzone, God of War, SOCOM, and Jak & Daxter."

PS2 released ten years ago today in the US, and has now sold more than 140 million units worldwide.

Games are still being made for the machine, and it's still available new.

The EU anniversary isn’t far off; the machine celebrates its tenth birthday next month.

PS2 turned ten earlier this year in Japan; it released there in March 2000.