When Sony ceased shipping the PlayStation 2 in Japan late last year, we all saw this coming — Sony has confirmed that production of the PlayStation 2 is now over worldwide. Once the current stocks of consoles on store shelves are sold, they will no longer be replaced with more PS2’s.

As a big gamer in my spare time, it’s hard to think that after almost 13 years, the most successful video game console of all time is being discontinued. If you’re a gamer, or even just played a few games on some rare occasion, there’s a very good chance you’ve done it on a PlayStation 2. The console has sold over 155 million units as of last year, and continued to outsell even Sony’s latest handheld system — although to be fair, outselling the Vita isn’t such a tough thing to do.

It’s safe to say that that number of 155 million consoles will go unbeaten for many years to come, possibly even forever. The closest console in terms of success is the Wii, and it still sits at below a 100 million and has only lost steam as of late.

So for those of you who’ve spent time wreaking havoc in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, or explored fantastic new words in Final Fantasy X, pour one out for our good old friend, the PlayStation 2.

[via Kotaku]