I'd say a combo of Nintendo/Pokemon company going mobile, and releasing what would become the biggest thing by far when it comes to Pokemon with Pokemon Go. It expanded the player base way beyond the typical type of gamer that plays those sorts of collection/level-up games with repetitive mechanics and structure. Much like Animal Crossing (mentioned in your post that was the most culturally significant game of the Covid era), Pokemon Go became the most culturally significant of the 2016 to 2018 period, as it got many many people outside and hanging out in large groups at parks in every city around the world. Like, anyone who had kids at the time who barely wanted to leave the house, this got them out!

It makes me wonder if there will be anything like that again in the near future.

That was E3 2015. SO outside the decade bubble

Xbox using every monopolistic tactic in the book to strongarm its way into being relevant in this industry and then just floundering anyway. Even I thought that with Gamepass, 90 Billion in 3rd party ̶ ̶a̶c̶q̶u̶i̶s̶i̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ moneyhats, and a weaker, more affordable Series S SKU, that Xbox would at least stick around the 40-50 million units sold mark. You know, enough to be the loser on a 2:1 sales ratio with Playstation. But nope. Xbox Series sales are beyond in the gutter and they went full-on 3rd party recently.

Switch's success was sort of a surprise, but then again, I think 100 million was always guaranteed. Rol predicted that almost day one (Where are you Rol??? We miss you!!!).

Not really wholly gaming related, but seeing video game movies that are actually good for a change, like the Mario animated movies and the third Sonic movie.

- Death of E3
- Consoles getting pricier, instead of cheaper over their lifespan
- Oculus (Meta) Quest 2 sales at 18-20 millions
- PC games running on Android phones/handhelds via translation layers
- Streaming actually being for the first time viable option to play games (specifically via GeForce NOW Ultimate)
- Return of handhelds

Consoles wouldn't get pricier over their lifespan if it weren't billionaires hoarding their wealth, thus driving up inflation, and that orange waste of oxygen blowing up random countries to distract from his sex crimes.

The successor to the Wii U outselling the DS was probably the biggest for me personally.

Definitely didn't see that coming, insane comeback.

Nintendo going from "It is doomed" to "It may have the best-sold console of all time"

Nintendo keeping the Switch as their sole console for 8 years. Nintendo stated in year 3 or 4 that it was their intent, but I never believed them. I thought for sure Nintendo would do the Nintendo thing and release their successor or another handheld at year 6. This wildly affected my sales prediction for the console.

It's probably between the absurd price trends since roughly COVID and actual viability of Linux gaming. Linux gaming still isn't a very big thing, but I didn't expect it to become this viable this soon, if ever.