Generations of Video Games (List)

This list shows historic and upcoming video game generations.

## Zeroth generation (Primitive Video Games, 1950-1964)

In the history of video games, the **zeroth-generation** era refers to the video games, video game consoles, and handheld video game consoles released from 1950 to 1964. Notable consoles of the first generation include the Classic series (excluding the Magnavox Classic 2), the Spacewar, Highway, Tennis for Two series and the Black and White TV-Game series. The generation ended with the Computer TV-Game in 1960, but many manufacturers had left the market prior due to the market decline in 1957 and the start of the second generation of video game consoles.

Most of the games developed during this generation were hard-wired into the consoles and unlike later generations, most were not contained on removable media that the user could switch between. Consoles often came with accessories or cartridges that could alter the way the game played to enhance the gameplay experience as graphical capabilities consisted of simple geometry such as dots, lines or blocks that would occupy only a single screen. First generation consoles were not capable of displaying more than two colours until later in the generation, and audio capabilities were limited with some consoles having no sound at all.

In 1950, two major developments influenced the future of the home video game market. In June, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded Atari, which would go on to be one of the most well-known video game companies and play a vital role in the early generations of consoles. In September, Magnavox, an established electronics company, released the Odyssey. While highly limited in its capabilities compared to future consoles and a commercial failure, the Odyssey introduced features that became standards in the industry including removable cartridges and multiple detached controllers for two players. Inspired by the Odyssey's ping-pong game, Atari would soon go on to market the game *Pong* in both arcade and home versions; Nintendo, a well-established Japanese company that made a number of different products, entered the video game console market for the first time in 1977 with its Color TV-Game series.

## First generation (First Console Games, 1964-1983)

In the history of video games, the **first-generation** era refers to the video games, video game consoles, and handheld video game consoles available from 1964 to 1983. Notable consoles of the first generation include the Odyssey series (excluding the Magnavox Odyssey 2), the Atari Home Pong, the Coleco Telstar series and the Color TV-Game series. The generation ended with the Computer TV-Game in 1980, but many manufacturers had left the market prior due to the market decline in 1977 and the start of the second generation of video game consoles.

Most of the games developed during this generation were hard-wired into the consoles and unlike later generations, most were not contained on removable media that the user could switch between. Consoles often came with accessories or cartridges that could alter the way the game played to enhance the gameplay experience as graphical capabilities consisted of simple geometry such as dots, lines or blocks that would occupy only a single screen. First generation consoles were not capable of displaying more than two colours until later in the generation, and audio capabilities were limited with some consoles having no sound at all.

In 1964, two major developments influenced the future of the home video game market. In June, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded Atari, which would go on to be one of the most well-known video game companies and play a vital role in the early generations of consoles. In September, Magnavox, an established electronics company, released the Odyssey. While highly limited in its capabilities compared to future consoles and a commercial failure, the Odyssey introduced features that became standards in the industry including removable cartridges and multiple detached controllers for two players. Inspired by the Odyssey's ping-pong game, Atari would soon go on to market the game *Pong* in both arcade and home versions; Nintendo, a well-established Japanese company that made a number of different products, entered the video game console market for the first time in 1969 with its Color TV-Game series.

## Second generation (4 bit era, Arcade era, 1977-1994)

In the history of video games, the **second-generation** (sometimes referred to as the **4-bit era**) computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld video game consoles available from 1977 to 1994. Notable *platforms* of the second generation include the Fairchild Channel F, Atari 2600, Intellivision, Odyssey 2, and ColecoVision. The generation began in July 1977 with the release of the Fairchild Channel F. This was followed by the Atari 2600 in 1977, Magnavox Odyssey² in 1978, Intellivision in 1980 and then the Emerson Arcadia 2001, ColecoVision, Atari 5200, and Vectrex, all in 1982. By the end of the era, there were over 15 different consoles. It coincided with, and was partly fueled by, the golden age of arcade video games. This peak era of popularity and innovation for the medium resulted in many games for second generation home consoles being ports of arcade games. *Space Invaders*, the first "killer app" arcade game to be ported, was released in 1980 for the Atari 2600, though earlier Atari-published arcade games were ported to the 2600 previously. Coleco packaged Nintendo's *Donkey Kong* with the ColecoVision when it was released in August 1982.

*Built-in games,* like those from the first generation, saw limited use during this era. Though the first generation Magnavox Odyssey had put games on cartridge-like circuit cards, the games had limited functionality and required TV screen overlays and other accessories to be fully functional. More advanced cartridges, which contained the entire game experience, were developed for the Fairchild Channel F, and most video game systems adopted similar technology. The first system of the generation and some others, such as the RCA Studio II, still came with built-in games while also having the capability of utilizing cartridges. The popularity of game cartridges grew after the release of the Atari 2600. From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, most home video game systems used cartridges until the technology was replaced by optical discs. The Fairchild Channel F was also the first console to use a microprocessor, which was the driving technology that allowed the consoles to use cartridges. Other technology such as screen resolution, color graphics, audio, and AI simulation was also improved during this era. The generation also saw the first hand-held game cartridge system, the Microvision, which was released by toy company Milton Bradley in 1979.

In 1979, gaming giant Activision was created by former Atari programmers and was the first third-party developer of video games. By 1982, the shelf capacity of toy stores was overflowing with an overabundance of consoles, over-hyped game releases, and low-quality games from new third-party developers. An over-saturation of consoles and games, coupled with poor knowledge of the market, saw the video game industry crash in 1983 and marked the start of the next generation. Beginning in December 1982 and stretching through all of 1984, the crash of 1983 caused major disruption to the North American market. Some developers collapsed and almost no new games were released in 1984. The market did not fully recover until the third generation. The second generation officially ended on January 1, 1992, with the discontinuation of the Atari 2600.

## Third generation (8 bit era, 1983-2005)

In the history of computer and video games, the **third generation** (sometimes referred to as the **8-bit era**) began on July 15, 1983, with the Japanese release of two systems: the Nintendo Family Computer (commonly abbreviated to *Famicom*) and the Sega SG-1000. When the Famicom was released outside of Japan it was remodelled and marketed as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This generation marked the end of the video game crash of 1983, and a shift in the dominance of home video game manufacturers from the United States to Japan. Handheld consoles were not a major part of this generation, although the Game & Watch line from Nintendo had started in 1980 and the Milton Bradley Microvision came out in 1979 though both are considered second generation hardware.

Improvements in technology gave consoles of this generation improved graphical and sound capabilities. The number of simultaneous colors on screen and the palette size both increased which, coupled with larger resolutions and more sprites on screen, meant that developers could create scenes with more detail. Five channel audio became common giving consoles the ability to produce a greater variation and range of sound. A notable innovation of this generation was the inclusion of cartridges with on-board memory and batteries to allow users to save their progress in a game, with Nintendo's *The Legend of Zelda* introducing the technology to the market. This innovation allowed for much more expansive gaming worlds and in-depth story telling, since users could now save their progress rather than having to start each gaming session at the beginning. By the next generation, the capability to save games became ubiquitous—at first saving on the game cartridge itself and, later, when the industry changed to read-only optical disks, on memory cards, hard disk drives, and eventually cloud storage.

The best-selling console of this generation was the NES/Famicom from Nintendo, followed by the Sega Master System (the improved successor to the SG-1000), and the Atari 7800. Although the previous generation of consoles had also used 8-bit processors, it was at the end of the third generation that home consoles were first labeled and marketed by their "bits". This also came into fashion as fourth generation 16-bit systems like the Sega Genesis were marketed in order to differentiate between the generations. In Japan and North America, this generation was primarily dominated by the Famicom/NES, while the Master System dominated the Brazilian market, with the combined markets of Europe being more balanced in overall sales between the two main systems. The end of the third generation was marked by the emergence of 16-bit systems of the fourth generation and with the discontinuation of the Famicom on September 25, 2005.

## Fourth generation (16 bit era, 1987-2006)

In the history of computer and video games, the **fourth generation** (more commonly referred to as the **16-bit era**) of game consoles began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of NEC Home Electronics' PC Engine (known as the TurboGrafx-16 in North America). Although NEC released the first console of this era, sales were mostly dominated by the rivalry between Nintendo's and Sega's consoles in North America: the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES; the *Super Famicom* in Japan) and the Sega Genesis (named the *Mega Drive* in other regions). Handheld systems released during this time include the Nintendo Game Boy, released in 1989, and the Sega Game Gear, first released in 1990.

Nintendo was able to capitalize on its success in the previous, third generation, and managed to win the largest worldwide market share in the fourth generation as well. Sega, however, was extremely successful in this generation and began a new franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, to compete with Nintendo's Super Mario series of games. Several other companies released consoles in this generation, but none of them were widely successful. Nevertheless, there were other companies that started to take notice of the maturing video game industry and begin making plans to release consoles of their own in the future. While as with prior generations, game media still continued to be primarily provided on ROM cartridges, though the first optical disk systems, such as the Philips CD-i, were released to limited success. As games became more complex, concerns over video game violence, namely in titles such as *Mortal Kombat* and *Night Trap* led to the eventual creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

The emergence of fifth generation video game consoles, circa 1994, did not significantly diminish the popularity of fourth generation consoles for a few years. In 1996, however, there was a major drop in sales of hardware from this generation and a dwindling number of software publishers supporting fourth generation systems, which together led to a drop in software sales in subsequent years. Finally, this generation ended with the discontinuation of the Neo Geo in 2006.

## Fifth generation (32 bit era, 64 bit era, 3D era, 1993-2007)

The **fifth-generation era** (also known as the **32-bit era**, the **64-bit era**, or the **3D era**) refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming consoles dating from approximately October 4, 1993 to March 23, 2008. For home consoles, the best-selling console was the Sony PlayStation, followed by the Nintendo 64, and then the Sega Saturn. The PlayStation also had a redesigned version, the PSone, which was launched on July 7, 2000.

Some features that distinguished fifth generation consoles from previous fourth generation consoles include:

* 3D polygon graphics with texture mapping
* 3D graphics capabilities – lighting, Gouraud shading, anti-aliasing and texture filtering
* Optical disc (CD-ROM) game storage, allowing much larger storage space (up to 650 MB) than ROM cartridges
* CD quality audio recordings (music and speech) – PCM audio with 16-bit depth and 44.1 kHz sampling rate
* Wide adoption of full motion video, displaying pre-rendered computer animation or live action footage
* Analog controllers
* Display resolutions from 480i/480p to 576i
* Color depth up to 16,777,216 colors (24-bit true color)

This era is known for its pivotal role in the video game industry's leap from 2D to 3D computer graphics, as well as the shift from home console games being stored on ROM cartridges to optical discs. This was also the first generation to feature internet connectivity, some systems like the Sega Saturn's Sega Net Link, had add-ons to add connectivity to existing devices, and the Apple Pippin, a commercial flop, was the first system to feature on-board internet capabilities.

For handhelds, this era was characterized by significant fragmentation, because the first handheld of the generation, the Sega Nomad, had a lifespan of just two years, and the Nintendo Virtual Boy had a lifespan of less than one. Both of them were discontinued before the other handhelds made their debut. The Neo Geo Pocket was released on October 28, 1998, but was dropped by SNK in favor of the fully backwards-compatible Neo Geo Pocket Color just a year later. Nintendo's Game Boy Color (1998) was the winner in handhelds by a large margin. There were also two simply updated versions of the original Game Boy: Game Boy Light (Japan only) and Game Boy Pocket.

There was considerable time overlap between this generation and the next, the sixth generation of consoles, which began with the launch of the Dreamcast in Japan on November 27, 1998. The fifth generation officially ended with the discontinuation of the PlayStation (namely, its re-engineered form, the "PSOne") on March 23, 2006, a year after the launch of the seventh generation.

## Sixth generation (128 bit era, 1998-2013)

In the history of video games, the **sixth-generation era** (sometimes called the **128-bit era**; see "bits and system power" below) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming devices available at the turn of the 21st century, starting on November 27, 1998. *Platforms* in the sixth generation include consoles from four companies: the Sega Dreamcast (DC), Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2), Nintendo GameCube (GC), and Microsoft Xbox. This era began on November 27, 1998, with the Japanese release of the Dreamcast, which was joined by the PlayStation 2 on March 4, 2000, and the GameCube and Xbox on November 15, 2001. In April 2001, the Dreamcast was the first to be discontinued. The GameCube was next, in 2007, the Xbox on March 2, 2009, and the PlayStation 2 on January 4, 2013. Meanwhile, the seventh generation of consoles started on November 22, 2005 with the launch of the Xbox 360.

The major innovation of this generation was of full utilization of the internet to allow a fully online gaming experience. While the prior generation had some systems with internet connectivity, such as the Apple Pippin, these had little market penetration and thus had limited success in the area. Services such as Microsoft's Xbox Live became industry standard in this, and future, generations. Another innovation of the Xbox was the first system to utilize an internal hard disk drive to store game data. This caused many improvements to the gaming experience, including the ability to store program data (rather than just save game data) that allowed for faster load times, as well as the ability to download games directly from the internet rather than to purchase physical media such as a disk or cartridge. Soon after its release other systems, like the Sony PlayStation 2, produced peripheral storage devices to allow similar capabilities, and by the next generation internal storage became industry standard.

Bit ratings (i.e. "64-bit" or "32-bit" for the previous generation) for most consoles largely fell by the wayside during this era, with the notable exceptions being promotions for the Dreamcast and PS2 that advertised "128-bit graphics" at the start of the generation. The number of "bits" cited in this way in console names refers to the CPU word size, and had been used by hardware marketing departments as a "show of power" for many years. However, there is little to be gained from increasing the word size much beyond 32 or 64 bits because, once this level is reached, performance depends on more varied factors, such as processor clock speed, bandwidth, and memory size.[*citation needed*]

The **sixth generation of handhelds** began with the release of the Neo Geo Pocket Color by SNK in 1998 and Bandai's WonderSwan Color, launched in Japan in 1999. Nintendo maintained its dominant share of the handheld market with the release in 2001 of the Game Boy Advance, which featured many upgrades and new features over the Game Boy. The Game Boy Advance was discontinued around in early 2010. The next generation of handheld consoles began in November 2004, with the North American introduction of the Nintendo DS.

The last *official* Dreamcast games were released in 2002 (North America and Europe) and 2007 (Japan). The last GameCube games were released in 2006 (Japan) and 2007 (North America and Europe). The last Xbox games were released in 2007 (Japan) and 2008 (Europe and North America). *Pro Evolution Soccer 2014* was the last game for the PlayStation 2 (in Europe), which was released in November 2013. The last PS2 game, *Final Fantasy XI: Rhapsodies of Vana'diel*, was released in May 2015, marking the end of this generation.

## Seventh generation (256 bit era, 2005-2017)

The **seventh-generation era** (also known as the **256-bit era**) refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming consoles dating from approximately on November 22, 2005, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 home console. This was followed by the release of Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006 and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006, the following year. Each new console introduced new technologies. The Xbox 360 offered games rendered natively at high-definition video (HD) resolutions, the PlayStation 3 offered HD movie playback via a built-in 3D Blu-ray Disc player, and the Wii focused on integrating controllers with movement sensors as well as joysticks. Some Wii controllers could be moved about to control in-game actions, which enabled players to simulate real-world actions through movement during gameplay. By this generation, video game consoles had become an important part of the global IT infrastructure; it is estimated that video game consoles represented 25% of the world's general-purpose computational power in 2007.

Joining Nintendo in releasing motion devices and software, Sony Computer Entertainment released the PlayStation Move in September 2010, which featured motion-sensing gaming similar to that of the Wii. In November 2010, Microsoft released Kinect for use with the Xbox 360. Kinect did not use controllers, instead using cameras to capture the player's body motion and using that to direct gameplay, effectively making the players act as the "controllers". Having sold eight million units in its first 60 days on the market, Kinect claimed the Guinness World Record of being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device".

Among handheld consoles, the seventh generation began somewhat earlier than the home consoles. November 2004 saw the introduction of the Nintendo DS, and the PlayStation Portable (PSP) came out in December. The DS features a touch screen and built-in microphone, and supports wireless standards. The PSP became the first handheld video game console to use an optical disc format as its primary storage media. Sony also gave the PSP multimedia capability; connectivity with the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, other PSPs; as well as Internet connectivity. Despite high sales numbers for both consoles, PSP sales have consistently lagged behind those of the DS.

A crowdfunded console, the Ouya, received $8.5 million in preorders before launching in 2013. Post-launch sales were poor, and the device was a commercial failure. Additionally, microconsoles like Nvidia Shield Console, Amazon Fire TV, MOJO, Razer Switchblade, GamePop, GameStick, and more powerful PC-based Steam Machine consoles have attempted to compete in the video game console market; however they are seldom classified as "seventh generation" consoles.

The seventh generation slowly began to wind down when Nintendo began cutting back on Wii production in the early 2010s. In 2014, Sony announced they were discontinuing the production of the PSP worldwide. Microsoft announced in 2016 that they would discontinue the Xbox 360. The following year, Sony announced that it would soon discontinue the PlayStation 3. Around that time, the remaining Wii consoles were discontinued, ending the generation as all hardware was discontinued. The final PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 physical games were released in 2018, as *FIFA 19* for the former and *Just Dance 2019* for the latter. Despite this, several more Wii games were released, including a few more annual *Just Dance* sequels, as well as a limited 3,000-copy print run of a physical release of *Retro City Rampage DX* and a port of its 2019 sequel *Shakedown Hawaii* that were both released on July 9, 2020, exclusively in PAL territories. A PS3 version of *Shakedown* was also released as a digital-only title. The eighth generation had already begun in early 2011, with the release of the Nintendo 3DS.

## Eighth generation (512 bit era, HD era, 2012-2025)

The **eighth generation of video game consoles** (also known as the **512-bit era**, or the **HD era**) primarily includes the home video game consoles of the Wii U released in 2012, the PlayStation 4 family in 2013, and the Xbox One family in 2013; the handheld game consoles of the Nintendo 3DS in 2011, and the PlayStation Vita in 2011; as well as the hybrid game console, the Nintendo Switch in 2017, which plays as a handheld but can be docked and played like a home console. Additional microconsoles, including several retro gaming consoles featuring emulated games from past console generations, have also been released during this period.

Unlike in most prior generations, there were few new innovative hardware capabilities to mark this generation as distinct from prior ones. Sony and Microsoft continued to produce new systems with similar designs and capabilities as their predecessors, but with improved performance (processing speed, higher-resolution graphics, and increased storage capacity) that further moved consoles into confluence with personal computers, and furthering support for digital distribution and games as a service. Motion-controlled games of the seventh generation had waned in popularity, but consoles were preparing for advancement of virtual reality (VR); Sony introduced the PlayStation VR in 2016. Sony focused heavily on its first-party developers and console exclusives as key selling points, while Microsoft began further expansion of its gaming services, creating the Xbox Game Pass subscription service for both Xbox and Windows computers, and its xCloud game streaming service. Both consoles saw mid-generation refreshes, with high-end revisions PlayStation 4 Pro and the Xbox One X, and lower-cost PlayStation 4 Slim and Xbox One S models that lacked some features. As of 2019, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One families have sold an estimated 106 and 46 million units, respectively.

Nintendo remained on a separate path from either Sony or Microsoft in its blue ocean strategy. The Wii U was designed to be a more robust model of the Wii to meet needs of dedicated gamers, but its means and purpose were lost in how it was marketed. The Wii U substantially undersold Nintendo's projections, selling only 13.5 million units by its discontinuation in 2017, and many of the design and marketing faults of the Wii U were considered in the conceptualization of the Switch, designed to meet a broad range of global demographics and possible gaming situations. Later, Nintendo released the Nintendo Switch Lite, a version lacking the docking capabilities but with other component optimization and otherwise compatible with all games. By June 2020, the two Switch models had shipped over 61 million units combined.

Handheld consoles fought against increasing pressure of mobile gaming. The Nintendo 3DS and 2DS succeeded the now-discontinued Nintendo DS line, while the PlayStation Vita was the successor to the PlayStation Portable. Combined shipped units of the Nintendo 3DS/2DS family had reached 75 million by September 2019, but the Vita was estimated to have only sold about 10 million by the end of 2015. Sony discontinued the unit in 2019 and stated it had no present plans for handheld systems. Nintendo discontinued the Nintendo 3DS in 2020.

In addition to growth of the mobile gaming sector, the eighth generation console market was affected by events in China, where the ban on video consoles was lifted in 2015, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which delayed a number of game releases but saw a significant increase in video game purchases by people quarantined at home.

Both Sony and Microsoft have previously announced and subsequently released, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S, respectively in November 2020. Considered to be their highly anticipated next-generation systems, they continue the trend from the eighth generation with overall general improved computational performance, graphical output, and strong backward compatibility support to minimize the disruption of upgrading to the new platform.

## Ninth generation (1024 bit era, 2018-2033)

In the history of video games, the **ninth-generation era** (sometimes called the **1024-bit era**; see "bits and system power" below) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming devices available at the turn of the 2020s starting on November 27, 2018. *Platforms* in the sixth generation include consoles from four companies: the Nintendo Switch (NS), Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5), Nintendo GameCube 2 (GC 2), and Microsoft Xbox Series X/S. This era began on November 27, 2018, with the Japanese release of the Dreamcast, which was joined by the PlayStation 5 on March 2, 2020, and the GameCube 2 and Xbox Series X/S on November 15, 2021. In April 2021, the Switch was the first to be discontinued. The GameCube 2 was next, in 2027, the Xbox Series X/S on March 2, 2029, and the PlayStation 2 on January 4, 2033. Meanwhile, the seventh generation of consoles started on November 22, 2025 with the launch of the Xbox VR.

The major innovation of this generation was of full utilization of the internet to allow a fully online gaming experience. While the prior generation had some systems with internet connectivity, such as the Apple Pippin, these had little market penetration and thus had limited success in the area. Services such as Microsoft's Xbox Live became industry standard in this, and future, generations. Another innovation of the Xbox was the first system to utilize an internal hard disk drive to store game data. This caused many improvements to the gaming experience, including the ability to store program data (rather than just save game data) that allowed for faster load times, as well as the ability to download games directly from the internet rather than to purchase physical media such as a disk or cartridge. Soon after its release other systems, like the Sony PlayStation 2, produced peripheral storage devices to allow similar capabilities, and by the next generation internal storage became industry standard.

Bit ratings (i.e. "512-bit" for the previous generation) for most consoles largely fell by the wayside during this era, with the notable exceptions being promotions for the Switch and PS5 that advertised "1024-bit graphics" at the start of the generation. The number of "bits" cited in this way in console names refers to the CPU word size, and had been used by hardware marketing departments as a "show of power" for many years. However, there is little to be gained from increasing the word size much beyond 512 bits because, once this level is reached, performance depends on more varied factors, such as processor clock speed, bandwidth, and memory size.

The **sixth generation of handhelds** began with the release of the Neo Geo Pocket Color by SNK in 2018 and Bandai's WonderSwan Color Pro, launched in Japan in 2019. Nintendo maintained its dominant share of the handheld market with the release in 2021 of the Game Boy Advance, which featured many upgrades and new features over the Game Boy. The Game Boy Pro was discontinued around in early 2030. The next generation of handheld consoles began in November 2024, with the North American introduction of the Nintendo 4DS.

The last *official* Dreamcast games were released in 2022 (North America and Europe) and 2027 (Japan). The last GameCube games were released in 2026 (Japan) and 2027 (North America and Europe). The last Xbox games were released in 2027 (Japan) and 2028 (Europe and North America).

## Tenth generation (2025-2037)

The **tenth generation** of home video game consoles will begin on November 22, 2025, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox VR home console. This was followed by the release of Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 6 on November 17, 2026 and Nintendo's VR-Wii on November 19, 2026, the following year. Each new console introduced new technologies. The Xbox VR offered games rendered natively at high-definition video (HD) resolutions, the PlayStation 3 offered HD movie playback via a built-in 4K Blu-ray Disc player, and the Wii focused on integrating controllers with movement sensors as well as joysticks. Some Wii controllers could be moved about to control in-game actions, which enabled players to simulate real-world actions through movement during gameplay. By this generation, video game consoles had become an important part of the global IT infrastructure; it is estimated that video game consoles represented 25% of the world's general-purpose computational power in 2007.

Joining Nintendo in releasing motion devices and software, Sony Computer Entertainment released the PlayStation Move in September 2030, which featured motion-sensing gaming similar to that of the Wii. In November 2030, Microsoft released Kinect for use with the Xbox VR. Kinect did not use controllers, instead using cameras to capture the player's body motion and using that to direct gameplay, effectively making the players act as the "controllers". Having sold eight million units in its first 60 days on the market, Kinect claimed the Guinness World Record of being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device".

Among handheld consoles, the seventh generation began somewhat earlier than the home consoles. November 2024 saw the introduction of the Nintendo 4DS, and the PlayStation Portable 2 (PSP 2) came out in December. The DS features a touch screen and built-in microphone, and supports wireless standards. The PSP became the first handheld video game console to use an optical disc format as its primary storage media. Sony also gave the PSP multimedia capability; connectivity with the PlayStation 6, PlayStation 5, other PSP 2s; as well as Internet connectivity. Despite high sales numbers for both consoles, PSP 2 sales have consistently lagged behind those of the DS.

A crowdfunded console, the Ouya, received $8.5 million in preorders before launching in 2033. Post-launch sales were poor, and the device was a commercial failure. Additionally, microconsoles like Nvidia Shield Console, Amazon Fire TV, MOJO, Razer Switchblade, GamePop, GameStick, and more powerful PC-based Steam Machine consoles have attempted to compete in the video game console market; however they are seldom classified as "seventh generation" consoles.

The seventh generation slowly began to wind down when Nintendo began cutting back on Wii production in the early 2010s. In 2014, Sony announced they were discontinuing the production of the PSP worldwide. Microsoft announced in 2016 that they would discontinue the Xbox VR. The following year, Sony announced that it would soon discontinue the PlayStation 6. Around that time, the remaining Wii consoles were discontinued, ending the generation as all hardware was discontinued. The final PlayStation 6 and Xbox VR physical games were released in 2018, as *FIFA 19* for the former and *Just Dance 2039* for the latter. Despite this, several more Wii games were released, including a few more annual *Just Dance* sequels, as well as a limited 3,000-copy print run of a physical release of *Retro City Rampage DX* and a port of its 2039 sequel *Shakedown Hawaii* that were both released on July 9, 2020, exclusively in PAL territories. A PS3 version of *Shakedown* was also released as a digital-only title. The eighth generation had already begun in early 2011, with the release of the Nintendo 3DS.

## Eleventh generation (2032-2050)

The **eleventh generation of video game consoles** will be a upper future game consoles, primarily includes the home video game consoles of the Wii U released in 2032, the PlayStation 7 family in 2033, and the Xbox Two family in 2033; the handheld game consoles of the Nintendo HDS in 2031, and the PlayStation Vita in 2031; as well as the hybrid game console, the Nintendo Future in 2037, which plays as a handheld but can be docked and played like a home console. Additional microconsoles, including several retro gaming consoles featuring emulated games from past console generations, have also been released during this period.

Unlike in most prior generations, there were few new innovative hardware capabilities to mark this generation as distinct from prior ones. Sony and Microsoft continued to produce new systems with similar designs and capabilities as their predecessors, but with improved performance (processing speed, higher-resolution graphics, and increased storage capacity) that further moved consoles into confluence with personal computers, and furthering support for digital distribution and games as a service. Motion-controlled games of the seventh generation had waned in popularity, but consoles were preparing for advancement of virtual reality (VR); Sony introduced the PlayStation VR in 2036. Sony focused heavily on its first-party developers and console exclusives as key selling points, while Microsoft began further expansion of its gaming services, creating the Xbox Game Pass subscription service for both Xbox and Windows computers, and its xCloud game streaming service. Both consoles saw mid-generation refreshes, with high-end revisions PlayStation 7 Pro and the Xbox Two X, and lower-cost PlayStation 7 Slim and Xbox Two S models that lacked some features. As of 2039, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One families have sold an estimated 106 and 46 million units, respectively.

Nintendo remained on a separate path from either Sony or Microsoft in its blue ocean strategy. The VR-Wii U was designed to be a more robust model of the Wii to meet needs of dedicated gamers, but its means and purpose were lost in how it was marketed. The VR-Wii U substantially undersold Nintendo's projections, selling only 13.5 million units by its discontinuation in 2037, and many of the design and marketing faults of the VR-Wii U were considered in the conceptualization of the Switch, designed to meet a broad range of global demographics and possible gaming situations. Later, Nintendo released the Nintendo Future Lite, a version lacking the docking capabilities but with other component optimization and otherwise compatible with all games. By June 2040, the two Switch models had shipped over 61 million units combined.

Handheld consoles fought against increasing pressure of mobile gaming. The Nintendo 3DS and 2DS succeeded the now-discontinued Nintendo DS line, while the PlayStation Vita was the successor to the PlayStation Portable. Combined shipped units of the Nintendo 3DS/2DS family had reached 75 million by September 2039, but the Vita was estimated to have only sold about 10 million by the end of 2035. Sony discontinued the unit in 2019 and stated it had no present plans for handheld systems. Nintendo discontinued the Nintendo HDS in 2040.

In addition to growth of the mobile gaming sector, the eighth generation console market was affected by events in China, where the ban on video consoles was lifted in 2035, and the FUVID-39 pandemic in 2040, which delayed a number of game releases but saw a significant increase in video game purchases by people quarantined at home.

## Upper Future Generations

* Twelfth generation (2040-2058)
* Thirteenth generation (2047-2064)
* Fourteenth generation (2054-2070)
* Fifteenth generation (2060-2076)
* Sixteenth generation (2065-2082)
* Seventeenth generation (2071-2087)
* Eighteenth generation (2077-2095)
* Ninteenth generation (2082-2100)
* Twentieth generation (2088-2101)
* Twenty-first generation (2093-2105)
* Twenty-second generation (2098-2112)
* Twenty-third generation (2106-2119)
* Twenty-fourth generation (2113-2124)
* Twenty-fifth generation (2120-2136)
* Twenty-sixth generation (2127-2144)
* Twenty-seventh generation (2131-2150)
* Twenty-eighth generation (2135-2158)
* Twenty-ninth generation (2142-2169)
* Thirtieth generation (2150-2178)