Eighth Generation (nov 19, 2012 – dec 1, 2020)

Description:

Unlike in most prior generations, there were few new innovative hardware capabilities to mark this generation as distinct from prior ones. Instead, each of the major manufacturers (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) produced new systems with similar designs and capabilities as their predecessors, but with increased performance (speed, graphics, storage capacity, etc.) Even the major innovation of the seventh generation, motion capture gaming, was greatly diminished in prevalence as most games that included it opted to make it optional or secondary to traditional button-based controls. Virtual reality gaming hit the home console market in the middle of the generation with Sony releasing the PlayStation VR, a virtual reality headset compatible with all PlayStation 4, in October 2016. Sales remained modest, with only 4% of PS4 owners purchasing one. Microsoft originally planned to support VR games on the Xbox One X, but despite this, Microsoft never released a VR platform for the Xbox. Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, stated in June 2017 that VR technology was "a few years away from something that will really work” and that Microsoft would instead be focusing their investments on Windows. Unique to the Switch is Nintendo's Labo system, released in April 2018. The Labo is a hybrid construction toy and video game system that allows users to create their own game-specific controllers, such as fishing poles and steering wheels. On April 12, 2019, Nintendo launched a Labo VR kit.

Added to timeline:

Date: