At least among myself and friends, we didn't care about that - we had to decide which system we wanted because our parents would only get one, and went for the bigger name/more familiar games.
(To my and my brothers' initial disappointment, my parents didn't understand why we wanted a PS2 and got us a Dreamcast instead, then refused to get a second game system. One of my brothers still has and plays that Dreamcast.)
But the PS4 never got a UHD Blu-ray player, some think it was an obvious candidate for the 4K pro model. Or perhaps we've gone the other way again and discs are dead, streaming is king.
You have to keep in mind that when the PS2 was released, the DVD was also just released. I remember a stand alone DVD player by itself was ~$200 during the PS2 launch. So part of the argument of it being $299 is that it was a bargain to get it and then not have to buy a DVD player on top of it.
The Xbox required the IR remote controller to play a DVD (So you had to pay $300 plus that price), and the Gamecube could not play a DVD at all (but it was $150 at release).
(To my and my brothers' initial disappointment, my parents didn't understand why we wanted a PS2 and got us a Dreamcast instead, then refused to get a second game system. One of my brothers still has and plays that Dreamcast.)