The 10 High Points of 8th Generation Video Game Consoles The 10 High Points of 8th Generation Video Game Consoles With the recent release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S bringing about the close of the eighth generation of video game consoles, we’re looking back at the seven-year period of gaming and celebrating the 10 high points of the era, from the rise of battle royale titles to developers and publishers listening to fan complaints. The Arrival of the Nintendo Switch For the first four years of the era, Nintendo struggled to gain momentum in the console war as they started with the Wii U, which was praised for being the first Nintendo console to support HD graphics and for its innovative GamePad that allowed gamers to play a title without the use of a TV, though was widely criticized for the GamePad’s battery life, poor functionality and user interface and weak roster of launch titles. Unsurprisingly, the console’s sales were very low and production ended in January 2017, but Nintendo didn’t take this failure lightly and came back with the groundbreaking Switch, a console that could double as both a handheld device on takes on the go, akin to their 3DS lineup, and a home console with wireless Joy-Con controllers that replicated the motion sensing abilities of the Wii remote and could also be attached to actual controllers for more standard gameplay. Though its initial roster of launch titles wasn’t quite as robust as other consoles, with Nintendo relying on a number of third-party and indie developers while they themselves continued developing first-party titles, it would eventually offer a library one of the best-selling rosters of the consoles and helped the already-impressive console rise to outsell the Wii U in its first year of release and re-establish Nintendo as a force to be reckoned with.