PDA

View Full Version : Redefining Console Generations



IMPress Polly
07-24-2017, 08:17 AM
There's been a lot of confusion about exactly what console generation the Nintendo Switch belongs to because on the one hand it's new and on the other it appears to be slightly out-muscled internally by the PlayStation 4. I think the solution to this dilemma lies in re-categorizing the Wii as a second 6th-generation system from Nintendo. Hear me out!

Traditionally, game console generations have been defined technologically rather than chronologically. For example, the Sega SG-1000 and the Sega Master System are both regarded as 3rd-generation systems despite the fact that one directly succeeded the other. Where the SG-1000 represented the low-end of 8-bit tech, the Master System represented the high end thereof. On the other hand, the Sega Genesis is regarded as a 4th-generation system because it made the leap to 16-bit technology.

If we apply that same logic to Nintendo's consoles, it becomes I think fairly apparent that the GameCube and the Wii belonged to the same console generation, with the GameCube representing the low end thereof and the Wii the high end. The actual 7th-generation systems (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) were defined by the leap to high definition gaming; a leap that Nintendo didn't make until the Wii U. With the Wii, Nintendo instead opted to retain what many described as "GameCube graphics" and innovate in other ways (motion controls, the Virtual Console, etc.) instead. This enabled them to have the cheapest new system for that time period. Nintendo benefited from this strategy of not trying to keep up with the Joneses for four years, but then their base of casual players moved on to smart phone and tablet gaming. Nintendo's response was to announce their first HD system, the Wii U, but by the time it came out in late 2012, it was simply too late to be competitive with its rivals. The result? Nintendo's Wii-era strategy of appealing primarily to casual gamers gave them four years of prosperity in exchange for six years of pain. Hence why the big N has been anxious to move on. Nintendo thus learned the importance of at least basically keeping up with the Joneses in terms of tech. The Switch, technologically speaking, represents catching up with the company's 8th-generation rivals more or less, with their own unique hook.

That's not to say that Nintendo has given up on casual gamers by any means! But they're segmenting their player base this time around. In addition to having a new, current-generation tech console for their group of hardcore brand loyalists in the Switch, they've also recently started meeting casual players where they are by making smart phone games (Pokemon GO, Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, etc.) and appealing to retro gamers by releasing machines like the NES Classic Edition and the upcoming Super NES Classic Edition. During the Wii era, in contrast, Nintendo put more effort into appealing to all these different sections of their consumer base on the same machines and resultantly, at the height of the Wii's popularity in 2010, achieved a roughly proportionate age ratio of players and a near-even gender balance, much unlike their competition. The Switch, by contrast, is drawing in a lopsidedly male player base that's primarily in their 20s and early 30s, i.e. simply their lifelong brand loyalists. The manner in which Nintendo appears to be achieving higher sales for the Switch than the Wii U garnered (though still trailing the PlayStation 4 in rate-of-sale terms as yet) appears to be rooted in their just simply combining their home and portable markets into one thing, i.e. it's kind of superficial.

Anyway, if we embrace this rebranding of the Wii as a second 6th-generation system from Nintendo, then we can see a definite pattern in console sales since Sony entered the market:

5th Generation:

PlayStation: 104.25 million
Nintendo 64: 32.93 million
Sega Saturn: 9.26 million
3DO: 2 million
Atari Jaguar: >250,000
Total: 148.69 million


6th Generation:


PlayStation 2: 157.68 million
Wii: 101.18 million
Xbox: 24.65 million
GameCube: 21.74 million
Sega Dreamcast: 9.13 million
Total: 314.38 million


7th Generation:


PlayStation 3: 86.69 million
Xbox 360: 85.63 million
Wii U: 13.9 million
Total: 186.22 million


8th Generation (as of June 3, 2017):


PlayStation 4: 59.5 million
Xbox One: 30 million
Switch: 4.11 million
Total: 93.61 million

We can see that Sony always wins within their technological category. We can also see that 6th-generation technology sold the best and that the overall level of system sales began to decline a little with the leap to HD, which marked the first time that game hardware companies expected their consumers to buy new TVs: two things that I suspect are related.

As to the leap to 9th-generation technology, I think it's evident that that will encompass the standardization of 4K and virtual reality gaming. Thus can we see that the PlayStation 4 Pro and the upcoming Xbox One X are so named because they don't actually represent a new console generation, but rather sort of upgraded, "generation 8.5" machines analogous to the Atari 5800 and the Sega CD back in the day, but just as separate machines instead of add-ons.

So what do you think? Am I onto something here? Because I mean labeling the Switch a 9th-generation system just because it was released after the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One doesn't really make any sense to me when you consider that high-end PS4 games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Grand Theft Auto V are able to outshine everything that's been released on the Switch to date visually and in sound quality terms.