The PlayStation 2 (プレイステーション2, Pureisutēshon Tsū^?, officially abbreviated PS2) is a video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. It was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan, and then was released on October 26, 2000 in North America, and November 24, 2000 in Europe. As part of the sixth-generation of gaming, its primary competitors were the Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube.

The PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console of all time, having reached over 150 million units sold as of January 31, 2011. This milestone was reached 11 years after the system was released in Japan on March 4, 2000. Further, Sony said it had 10,828 titles available for the system and that 1.52 billion PS2 titles had been sold since launch. In late 2009, with developers creating new games and the console still selling steadily a decade after its original release, Sony stated that the life cycle of the PlayStation 2 will continue until demand ceases. The console was succeeded by the PlayStation 3 in 2006.