Third Party Support
You don’t shift over 1.5 billion games without strong 3rd party software. This is especially true when these guys were the first big system sellers Sony had initially. Sony basically had two first party system movers during the PS2 era. Gran Turismo and God of War. Gran Turismo 3 hit early,God of War hit late. Everything in between was all 3rd party and they were doozies.
Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear Solid were the biggest games of the generation and easily the best in their genre. They all debuted on the PS2 and a few stayed there. Sony wasn’t only able to get big exclusive hits from the creme of the crop, but they were able to do it continually. Due to all of these big name titles, the weakest console of the 3 managed to nab a shocking number of exclusives.
Japanese devs shunned the Xbox and Nintendo’s iffy 3rd party support for Sony and they cleaned house year after year with surprise hits like Devil May Cry, Katamari Damacy and Guitar Hero.
