>>11910304
It was the successor to the PS1 and also had backwards compatibility with it. I think it was basically the standard console to own at some point, like the PS1 in the 90s and the NES in the 80s. If you owned a handheld in the 90s, it was a Gameboy.
I think the DVD player aspect also helped initially, I have never even heard of someone playing movies on their PS2, most people had a dedicated DVD player.

>>11910313
I know PS2 has like more than 4000 games but if you move away from the classics (MGS2, SH2, SotC, DmC, GT3, etc) and the known hidden gems (games like pic related), there is probably not really that much real quality there. Its library also consists for a large share of multiplats I noticed.
Btw I don't know about the Japanese-exclusive ones.
I feel like GC and DC have more quality per capita.