The hegemony of a few

Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft

The two Japanese brands now have to fight against the giant of Redmon, Microsoft.

In the previous decade the Xbox guys did quite frankly well and now they seem to want to consolidate their bet.

Yes there were the first home video game consoles although you didn't have a huge number of options.

In the 2010s what matters most is graphics performance, interconnectivity and networked gaming over the Internet is taken for granted in any of the systems.

Speaking of systems, Nintendo Wii hit the market in 2012 as the successor to the successful Wii, but it was a failure that only managed to sell 13 million consoles, its rivals, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were launched just a year later, in 2013, with the PS4 being the best-selling console of the eighth generation, with more than 116 million units sold, its rival the Xbox One sold just under half, about 50 million.

In the second half of the 2010s came the successor to the Wii U, the Nintendo Switch, a very special half-desktop, half-portable console that has already sold 89 million units.

Nintendo 3DS

The Nintendo 3DS is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The handheld features stereoscopic 3D technology that doesn't require glasses. It was released in Japan on February 26, 2011 and in North America on March 27, 2011.

iPad

The iPad is a series of touch-screen tablet devices developed by Apple. The iPad can browse the web, playback local and streamed content, and run a large variety of third party apps, including games.

Windows Phone

A now-discontinued smartphone OS made by Microsoft, which had built-in integration with Xbox Live and other services.

PlayStation Vita

PlayStation Vita is Sony's second handheld gaming device.

Nintendo 3DS eShop

The products that make up the various segments of Nintendo's 3DS eShop include new releases, updated version of old games, and emulated versions of old games.

Wii U

The Nintendo Wii U, the follow-up to the monstrously popular Nintendo Wii console, launched in North America on November 18th 2012.

PlayStation Network (Vita)

The PlayStation Network is Sony's digital storefront for delivering games, add-ons, and other content. This specific platform page focuses on the PlayStation Vita version of said storefront.

Xbox One

The Xbox One is Microsoft's third video game console. It was released on November 22nd 2013 in 13 countries.

PlayStation 4

PlayStation 4 is Sony's fourth home video game console, released on November 15, 2013 in North America, and November 29, 2013 in Europe. On November 10 2016, Sony released the Playstation 4 Pro, an updated version of the console targeting 4K gaming.

New Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo's "New 3DS" adds some additional control functionality and horsepower, allowing for some games that can only run on the new hardware, not on Nintendo's original 3DS.