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For the sake of this list, we’re not including Nintendo consoles, as the Wii U and Switch arrived in weird times, while the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launched around the same time and were more direct competitors. With that said, let’s look back on how this console generation will be remembered.

10 The Death of Motion Controls

Motion control was popularized by the Wii and became a hit in most households, ushering in a wave of casual players that didn’t have to worry about button layout. It was so popular, in fact, that Sony launched its own version, the PlayStation Move. Following this, Microsoft launched the add-0n to the Xbox 360, the Kinect — a full-body motion control device.

Yet, when the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles launched, it became apparent that players didn’t care for this style of gaming anymore. Microsoft quickly removed Kinect from their Xbox One bundles, and PlayStation Move controllers were an optional gameplay type that only worked with PlayStation VR.

9 The Return Of Classics

Nostalgia is great for marketing, and it’s clear that publishers and developers really discovered that this generation. While remakes and remasters are common across the board, this generation saw outright comebacks.

Shenmue got its long-awaited third installment after 18 years between titles, and Streets of Rage got its first game since the Sega Genesis. Outside of that, Sonic The Hedgehog saw a return to form with Sonic Mania, and Star Wars: Battlefront was revived. This was a good console generation for a lot of long-time gamers.

8 Great Indie Games

The independent gaming scene really took off during the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3/Wii generation with the help of Steam and Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade.

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Since then, we’ve slowly seen more and more indie titles get bigger spotlights, while also maturing in a way we never saw coming.

7 Multiplayer Only Games Thrive

For PC gamers, multiplayer-only games were common. For console players, however, it was a foreign concept that seemed like players were getting less while paying the same price for a game.

That all changed, however, when titles like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Seige, Fortnite, Rocket League, and more grew in popularity. Now, it seems the stigma of “online-only” has worn off, and players are open to both ends of the spectrum.

6 Single Player Games Survive

While “online-only” titles started to gain in popularity, publishers like Bethesda and Sony made it clear that single-player games aren’t dead. They backed it up too. Titles like Fallout 4, God of War, and Spider-Man were some of the highest regarded games of their generation.

It wasn’t just limited to those publishers, however. The Outerworlds, developed by Obsidian, was a massive success, while CD PROJEKT’s The Witcher 3 is still regarded as one of the best games of this generation, despite it launching relatively early on.

5 Twitch/Mixer/eSports

Streaming games has been big since the previous console generation, but it was nowhere near as big as it is today. The same goes for eSports. Part of this is because streaming has never been easier, with built-in capabilities available with the most basic models for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

While many have moved away from YouTube, Twitch is still a viable scene, while Microsoft still pushes Mixer — even taking Twitch’s biggest star, Ninja, with them. Much like streaming, eSports have been around for a long time, but the rise of platforms like Twitch has allowed them to burst through in North America in a big way. Now, major sports broadcasters cover the events and arenas around the world sell out to watch people play.

4 Revived Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) technology comes and goes. In the 1990’s it seemed like it was the future of gaming. Arcades featured VR machines, Nintendo made a portable system dedicated to it called the Virtual Boy, and media touted it as the next step in gaming. Yet, by the time the 2000s rolled around, VR was considered dead. Then, things started to change. The likes of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive put the tech back on the map, but the cost of the units mixed with the price of a PC that can run it meant the average player couldn’t get their hands on a set.

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That changed when Sony introduced the PlayStation VR. An add-on to the PlayStation 4 — the most successful console of the generation — players didn’t have to worry about building a PC that could run it. All players needed was the console and the add-on, which was affordably priced at $399 USD.

3 Kojima Leaves Konami

One of the biggest news stories of this console generation was Hideo Kojima’s messy departure from Konami. It all started when Konami dropped P.T, a playable trailer for the upcoming Silent Hills game Kojima was working on alongside Guillermo Del Toro. Sometime after this, a corporate restructure caused a large rift between the talented developer and the publisher of his most celebrated works. This came shortly after the release date for Kojima’s highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain was announced.

While it was easy to see there was some spite between the two parties, things really got sour when P.T. was pulled from online stores and the project was canceled — then things got petty.  At the 2015 Video Game Awards, Konami would not allow their now-former employee to accept an award for Metal Gear Solid 5, which caused the crowd to erupt in boos.

2 Game Pass

Regardless of anyone’s stance about physical vs. digital media, Game Pass has made a pretty expensive hobby more inclusive. With a Netflix style method, Microsoft Game Pass charges a monthly fee while giving players access to hundreds of titles on Xbox and PC.

While games do come and go, every Xbox exclusive launches on the service day one. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, for sure, but for $9.99 a month or $14.99 a month for the Ultimate version, it does make gaming more accessible.

1 Cross-Platform Play

The biggest breakthrough of this generation is easily cross-platform play. Since the dawn of online gaming, players could only game against other people using the same console. The one exception to this was Final Fantasy XI. That all started to change, however, as fans began to voice their displeasure regarding this with titles like Fortnite and Rocket League.

Slowly, the console makers who once guarded their online landscapes started breaking the walls down. Now, we live in a world where someone can play Call of Duty on their PlayStation 4 with their friends on PC and Xbox One.

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