A compact Video Game History: Ages and Generations

[goulibouli]

When talking about video games we often assume that it is reduced to generations of consoles. But before that, video games generations were refering to the generation of arcade machine, deriving from Pinball, and technological advancement. The Golden Age of video games for exemple if only refering to a period between the late 70s and early 80s for arcade game.

Now is time to define a new chart for video games. And  because I see three different periods, and I also think that the next generation (the 9th) of console will either be the last or will not be, video game timeline goes like this:

ARCADE GAMES

In the late 18th-early 19th, the ancestor of arcade games existed as small ball or shooting game in fair and amusment parks such as the Midway parks. In the 1930s were invented Pinball that had gained in popularity alongside more modern proto-arcade games, and became electronic by the 60s. But following the decline of Pinballs, Sega commercialized the first arcade game in 1966.

- The Bronze Age (1965-1970)
Sega introduced Periscope, a light-gun submarine shooter in 1966, which was the first electro-mecanical game to be released. Sega were the leading force behind the evolution of the first arcade games releasing several new electronic games such as Duck Hunt (yes, originally not Nintendo), Missile, Grand Prix etc...competing with Midway that soon entered the market with games such as S.A.M.I.

- The Silver Age (1971- 1978)
In 1971, Standford students establish the first coin-operated arcade machine, and the first electronic arcade game followed in 1972, Pong, after the formation of Atari the same year. While Sega continued to release video game notably the first movie adapted game based on Jaws which marked to rise of success, Nintendo, a then toy/card manufacturer, entered the game with the release of WildGunman, and Namco, which started by running child's ride, released one of the last electro-mecanical arcade game, F-1.

- The Golden Age (1978 - 1989)
In 1978 the first Arcade Game blockbuster was released, Space Invaders, while Arcade Game technology mades leaps and different hits, such as Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Asteroids, Frogger, QBert,  etc...were released, and the technology peaked with the use of lazerdisc movie based game such as Dragon's Lair. the market had reach $8 billions in revenue and were spreading in bars, restaurants or cinemas, although by the end of the 1980s arcade games so a decline in popularity due to its successful exploitation being concentrated only in the US and Japan, and also the rise of home console and computer games.

- Casual Popularity (1989-2001)
There was a big ressurgessence of arcade games in the early 1990s with the release of popular multi-player fighting game such as Capcom's Street Fighter or SNK's King of Fighter, and the apparition of 3D games such as Namco's Tekken or Sega's House of the Dead. It culminated in the mid-90s when "cool teens" were storming arcade games made definately popular amongst male audiences, and arcade game competitions. Up until the early 2000 with the release of next-gen arcade born, alongside their console equivalent, the competition with the growing market of consoles eventually pushed it back to an end.

- Decline (2001 - Further)
With the ever growing graphic card market, and the release of modern graphic consoles that set a leap in video games, right in the middle of the living room, people saw a definitive decline in interest for Arcade games. Up until, a few companies are continuing to release legacy franchises such as Soul Calibur, Tekken or Street Fighter, Time Crisis or Dance Dance Revolution games in Arcade.


CONSOLES HISTORY

Although the first console was created in 1950s using massive computer and vector display, video games got mainly popular through amusment parks and arcade games until the early 80s

- The Bronze Age (1972-1983) : First and Second Generation
The first video game console connectable to a TV was the Magnavox Odysee, released in 1972, that had several switch to play different games like tennis, volley, hockey...that were similar because of the limited power, and later became cartridge based, containing no information but just the switch. The console met moderate success and it's only with the arrival of Pong, one of the first dedicated console (only one game) that had somewhat success. But then the market crash with a flood of simplistic copies of Pong and such simple games on cheap dedicated consoles.
The second generation arrived when stared in 1976 when VES, then Atari/RCA-II release microchip equiped cartriges to house different games, and it's not until the 1980s cartrige version of Space Invader that the consoles sold, but the market was again flooded with cheap copies of games on cartriges.

- The Silver Age (1983-1989) : Third Generation
Two of the leading game developpers, Sega and Nintendo released advanced 8bit consoles, the Mega System and NES, which offered both better graphics, a better game catalogue than their Intellivision or Atari counterparts, and introduced the first D-Pad controller, setting the grounds for the video game console market. The first extended fantasy or action franchises, that are still continuing today, such as Final Fantasy, Zelda, Sonic or Metal Gear, introduced.

- The Golden Age (1989 - 2005) :  Fourth, Fifth, Six Generations and Handeld consoles.
These are considered the best era of video games, although the market had become popular amongst young boys and men, which explaines that some of the greatest consoles didn't necessary met success, it is considered that the 4th, 5th and 6th generation had in comon to greatly revolutionnize gamin, making leeps in graphics, introducing the best and most power franchises, and creating almost all the genres of type of video games we play today.
The Fourth Generation saw the advent of the Super Nes, the Mega Drive and the Neogeo which are considered to be the best 2D (16bit) consoles, with numerous franchises that developed in this time and set the standards for several genres such as fighting games, beat-em all, platform, role playing, action etc...
The Fifth Generation saw the first access to larger popularity of console with the introduction of a popular media/Tv company, Sony, on the market with the PS3. This generation again was the first to feature 3D graphics on Saturn, PSOne or Jaguar (32bits) and N64 that introduced 64bits graphics, and set the standard for most gameplay formats, with the multidirectional possibility offered by 3D. This is also considered has the hallmark of the biggest console franchises still going on such as Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Metal Gear etc..
The Six Generation marks the first "modern" graphic console, which was also a huge, if not the biggest graphical leaps there ever was from a console generation to another, no doubt going further than any PC game was capable of. While the Dreamcast, and Gamecube are considered to be the last and greatest incarnation of japanese quality video games but didn't sell, the PS2 saw the biggest console success to date, and lots of franchises and the last hallmark defining genres or gameplay were produced.
Alongside, there was the handeld console, that had gone popular, such as Sega's Gamegear, Wonderswan or Neogeo pocket, but the market was mainly drive by Nintendo's GameBoys, from the original one in 1989 (US) to the Game Advance which used 2D graphics similar to previous 8bit or 16bit consoles.

- Casual Popularity (2006 - 2018) : The Seventh Generation
Following the large popularity of the three previous generation, impressed by the Xbox or Gamecube graphics, and the PS2 success,  video games finally reach the casual market, touching families, kids and a larger women user base unlike previous generation when video game were considered as being boyish and childish. Incidently, Nintendo release the Wii, the less powerful yet cheapest console with the first evolved "interactive"controller, and met a large success, especially amongst casual crows. However it didn't not sell as much as the Super Nintendo or PS2, and because of it's lower graphics and a flood of non-remarkable games, it also lost a lot of image and attraction.
The Xbox 360, considered as the best Xbox console still today, and the PS3 met a similar success by competing on the same market, sharing franchises which had been reserve to the Playstation until then, and while the hardware is getting old, the continued release of exclusive franchises close to mimicking movies, it continues to sold but failed to meet the success of old popular consoles such as the Super Nes, PSone or PS2 although the market as grown and touches more people.
It is the first generation to see disapointing iteration of popular franchises such as Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Devil May Cry, Halo, Silent Hill, Sonic, Super Smash etc...which failed to meet the quality and innovation of older franchises, while new franchises which were considered modern due to their graphics and cinematic action such as Dead Space, Mass Effect, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Modern Warfare etc...but due to the fast release of sequel or spin-off titles with minor gameplay, graphic or artistic innovations, these modern franchise which are considered amongst the best game of this generation failed to be hallmark as important or game-changing as previous generation of games (both PC and consoles), leading to a general critic of the lack of gameplay, immersion or innovation.
Finally with the ever growing digital format of video games, there's been a lot of critic on the economic model of DLCs, micro-transaction or F2P.

- Decline (2018 - Further) : Eight & Ninth Generation 
The Ninth Generation will be the last, or won't be. The Eight Generation just started, and although the PS4 is set to sell a lot, and the most out of the three opponents, most analysts are doubtful about it's capacity to sell more than the Wii or even the PS3. Because of the shifting market, the economical crisis making it harder to employ and developp innovative games, and the faster pace of franchises sequel release with a decline on quality and innovation, AAA editors are having trouble convincing more people. Also the F2P and micro-transaction model has been greatly criticized as hindering the quality but also the attray of video games, while Indie games, bundles and more generally digital discount platform are seeing a rise in popularity. While consoles are still a priviliege platform for publishers since consoles are hard to hack, and they can sell better than on PC, the faster evolving power and technologies of graphic cards, the continued multi-platform releases rather than exclusives, and the more versatile aspect of PC are making harder to sell consoles to the public.

The Future: ONLINE PLATFORMS/ECOSYSTEMS

With the proliferation of physical video game shop in the 90s, and the limited access to internet, they were very few possibilities to download or buy video game online. A few platform such as Cavedog which distributed updates for it's game Total Annhilation in 1997 existed.

- The Bronze Age (2001 - 2004)
The first service to efficiently propose to acces games online was Stardock, which was then bought by Gamestop. Subscribtion service such as Drengin and TotalGaming followed and few other platform were then developped, proposing mainly to buy/subscribe and then download a game out of a reduced selection due to server limitation.

- The Silver Age (2004-2014)
Starting with the advent of Steam, created by Valve's Gabe Newell, digital distribution of game became a popular way of buying and playing game, and many such platforms, that manage to be both an online video game shop, but also a gaming platform through the access of communities, rewards or online gaming, followed both on PC with platform such as Gog, Desura or Humble Bundle, proprietary platform such as Origin or Uplay, or their console counterpart such as Xbox Live, PSN or eShop, which has greatly helped the Indie game success.
With the arrival of mobile platform, new counterparts came from Apple, the iTunes Store, or Google with the Android Store.
While these platform are progressively replacing physical shops as a mean of acquiring video games, and enable copyright protection or free No-DRM access everywhere to them, as well as an access to a host of services such online gaming, trophies, communities and online saving.
New more recent platform such as PS4's Gaikaï are allowing people to directly play via streaming.

- The Golden Age (2014 - Further)
While the future hasn't happened yet, here is what we can already see about the upcoming future. While console, as a platform, like physical CD as a format, make less and less sense, for numerous reasons, we can see a shift in strategy from companies which, rather than focusing on individual hardwares are focusing on platforms and ecosystems.
While each company has developped it's platform and are developping them through continued updates, such as the Appstore, Origin or Steam, we can clearly see that video game console maker are also already making the switch to a close ecosystem: while Microsoft didn't make move with the Xbox One for streaming or retro-compatibility, they already declared that Xbox would become a unified platform for gaming on both PCs or TVs, while Sony is pushing its Playstation Now platform which, independently of the chosen Sony hardware, unables people to streamplay any of the Playstation catalogue games. Both Apple and Google are also making great effort to developp these online platforms, especially on mobile, although Apple has and still lacks of any gaming-friendly hardware, while steam is betting on Linux.
While individual hardware become less important, and devices acts more has host and vectors for different or closed online platforms, while apps, games and datas are hosted on servers, it is possible that the hardware focus will switch to a mutualized yet powerful servers for graphic capabilites rather than individual devices.

There you go. If I have time I will add PC gaming ages (following generations, with hallmarks from wolfentein or half-life to Crysis). As I'm not a native english speaker will try to correct and summarize the text little by little. You are free to propose illustration of charts for this proposed compact History of video games. You can used, copy and transpose this text how you want as long as you mention this topic, either by my member name or Edgar Spayce, on VGChartz.