Oh I so remember that, and can even find mainstream media articles to back that up.
https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/26/technology/playstation-2-...
Same thing with the PS3—it was a lot of bang-for-the-buck for Blu-rays when it debuted. (Not that Blu-ray took the world by storm like DVDs, but still.)
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/4/20992215/playstation-3-ps...
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps2-primarily-used-as-dvd-...