The eighth generation of video game consoles began on November 18, 2012, with the release of Nintendo's Wii U home console. This was followed by the release of Sony's PlayStation 4 family on November 15, 2013, Microsoft's Xbox One family on November 22, 2013, and Nintendo Switch family on March 3, 2017.
The generation offered few signature hardware innovations. 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), with Sony introducing the PlayStation VR in 2016. Sony focused heavily on its first-party developers and console exclusives as key selling points, while Microsoft expanded its gaming services, creating the Xbox Game Pass subscription service for Xbox and Windows computers, and its xCloud game streaming service. Microsoft and Sony 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 June 2023, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One families had sold an estimated 117 and 58 million units, respectively.
Nintendo remained on a separate strategic path from Sony or Microsoft. The Wii U was designed to be a more robust Wii to appeal to dedicated gamers, but its means and intended use cases were lost in how it was marketed. The Wii U substantially undersold Nintendo's projections, selling only 13.56 million units by its discontinuation in 2017, which drove Nintendo to release the Nintendo Switch in the same year, its design and marketing accounting for several of the faults of the Wii U while meeting a broad range of global demographics and possible gaming configurations, including hybrid use between a home and handheld console. Later, Nintendo released the Nintendo Switch Lite, a version that lacked the Switch's docking capabilities but had other component optimizations and was otherwise compatible with all games, and the Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, a mid-lifetime refreshed model that featured an OLED screen with a built-in Ethernet port for a wired internet connection, though it did not introduce any performance improvements. By June 2026, the Nintendo Switch family had shipped 156.59 million units, outselling the Nintendo DS and ranking second in all-time console sales.
Handheld consoles fought against increasing pressure of mobile gaming. The Nintendo 3DS and 2DS succeeded the Nintendo DS line, while the PlayStation Vita was the successor to the PlayStation Portable. The Nintendo 3DS/2DS family sold nearly 76 million by September 2020, but the PlayStation Vita was estimated to have sold about 16 million units by September 2018. Sony discontinued the PlayStation Vita in 2019 and stated it had no present plans for handheld systems. Nintendo discontinued the Nintendo 3DS in 2020, ending the Nintendo DS families of systems. The Switch Lite acts as its de facto handheld successor.
The eighth-generation console market was also influenced by the lifting of China's ban on video game consoles in 2015, as well as the growth of the mobile gaming sector. A number of retro microconsoles were also released during this period.
In November 2020, Microsoft and Sony released the Xbox Series X and Series S and PlayStation 5 respectively. 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.
Background This generation was predicted to face competition from smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. In 2013, gaming revenue on Android overtook portable game console revenue, while remaining a distant second to iOS gaming revenue. In fiscal year (FY) 2013 (ending early 2013), Nintendo sold 23.7 million consoles, while Apple sold 58.2 million iPads in FY 2012 (ending late 2012). One particular threat to the traditional console game sales model has been the free-to-play model, wherein most users play free, and either a small number of dedicated players spend enough to cover the rest, or the game is supported by advertising.
The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U all use AMD GPUs, and two of them (PS4 and XBO) also use AMD CPUs on an x86-64 architecture, similar to common personal computers (as opposed to the IBM PowerPC Architecture used in the previous generation). Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony were not aware that they were all using AMD hardware until their consoles were announced. This shift was considered to be beneficial for multi-platform development, due to the increased similarities between PC hardware and console hardware. It also provided a boost in market share for AMD (which had faced increased competition from Intel in the PC market).
Various microconsoles (which are smaller and mostly Android-based) have been released since 2012, although they are seldom referred to as being part of the eighth (or any) generation of video game consoles. These microconsoles have included the Ouya, Nvidia Shield Console, Amazon Fire TV, PlayStation TV, MOJO, Razer Switchblade, GamePop, GameStick, and PC-based Steam Machine consoles. A number of microconsoles that were modeled as scaled-down versions of consoles from previous generations, running a selection of games from that console, were also released. These included the NES Classic Edition, the SNES Classic Edition, the PlayStation Classic, and the Sega Genesis Mini.
Cloud gaming options for the consoles also were developed in the eighth generation. PlayStation Now enables cloud gaming of PlayStation 2, 3, and 4 games to current PlayStation consoles and personal computers. Microsoft began developing a comparable service xCloud for Xbox and Windows games. Google released Stadia, a dedicated cloud gaming platform designed around reduced latency and advanced features not typical of these other cloud gaming options.
Transition While earlier console generations generally lasted five to six years, the shift from seventh to eighth generation lasted about eight. Unusually, the prior generation's best-selling unit, the Wii, was the first to be replaced in the eighth generation. In 2011, Microsoft and Sony officials said they considered themselves only halfway through a ten-year lifecycle for their seventh-generation offerings. Interview with Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America. The companies also said the addition of cameras and motion-based controllers like Xbox's Kinect and PlayStation Move extended these systems' lifetimes. "The Xbox 360's recently unveiled motion control technology will help extend the console's life span into 2015, according to Microsoft executive Shane Kim." Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that his company would release the Wii U due to declining sales of seventh-generation home consoles and that "the market is now waiting for a new proposal for home consoles". Sony considered making its next console a digital download-only machine, but decided against it due to concerns about the inconsistency of internet speeds available globally, especially in developing countries.
The introduction of the high-end PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X in 2016 and 2017, respectively, led to some journalists to call these machines part of a "half generation" step within the 8th generation, new consoles that would continue to drive sales without introducing a significantly different line of hardware that would segment their consumer base.
In 2020, Microsoft and Sony released their 9th-generation consoles: Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. Both said they wanted a soft transition, meaning that the new hardware plays most or all of the platform's previous games. Microsoft said Xbox Series X can play all Xbox One games, including games from the Xbox 360 and original Xbox console that are playable on the Xbox One, and introduced its Smart Delivery program to update some Xbox One games to enable play on the Xbox Series X. Sony has said the "overwhelming majority" of PlayStation 4 games play on the PlayStation 5, and that many run at higher frame rates and resolutions.
Chinese market
The eighth generation of consoles also saw manufacturers re-enter the Chinese market. Since 2000, the Chinese government had banned the sale and distribution of video game consoles, citing concerns on their effect on youth. The ban led console gaming to a niche sector, including a black market for the purchase of these consoles, while also causing personal computing gaming to take off within China, including the spread of Internet cafes and PC bangs. This ban lasted through January 2014, where the Chinese government first opened up to allow the sale of consoles in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone (FTZ). By July 2015, the ban on video game consoles was wholly lifted. Access to the Chinese video game market is lucrative, having an estimated 500 million potential players and representing over in revenues as of 2016.
Microsoft and Sony quickly took advantage of the lifting of the ban, announcing sales of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms within the FTZ shortly after the 2014 announcement. Microsoft established a partnership with BesTV New Media Co, a subsidiary of the Shanghai Media Group, to sell Xbox One units in China, with units first shipping by September 2014. Sony worked with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Media in May 2014 to establish manufacturing in the FTZ, with the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita shipping into China by March 2015. CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Andrew House explained in September 2013 that the company intended to use the PlayStation Vita TV as a low-cost alternative for consumers in an attempt to penetrate the Chinese gaming market.2013-09-12, Sony not planning to release PlayStation Vita TV in the US or Europe 'at this point' , Videogamer
Nintendo did not initially seek to bring the Wii U into China; Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé stated that China was of interest to the company after the ban was lifted, but considered that there were similar difficulties with establishing sales there as they had recently had with Brazil. Later, Nintendo had teamed up with Tencent by April 2019 to help sell and distribute the Nintendo Switch as well as aid its games through the Chinese government approval process led by National Radio and Television Administration.
Home consoles
Wii U
In November 2010, Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aimé stated that the release of the next generation of Nintendo would be determined by the continued success of the Wii. Nintendo announced its successor to the Wii, the Wii U, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 on June 7, 2011. After the announcement, several journalists classified the system as the first eighth generation home console. However, prominent sources have disputed this because of its comparative lack of power and older disc media type with respect to the announced specifications for PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.
The Wii U's main controller, the Wii U GamePad, features an embedded touchscreen that can work as an auxiliary interactive screen in a fashion similar to the Nintendo DS/3DS, or if compatible with "Off TV Play", can even act as the main screen itself, enabling games to be played without the need of a television. The Wii U is compatible with its predecessor's peripherals, such as the Wii Remote Plus, the Nunchuk, and the Wii Balance Board.