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00:00It's a PS5!
00:01John, I wanted a PC!
00:05What, PC? I don't like this!
00:08What?
00:09I don't want it!
00:10Are you serious right now?
00:12No, we turn it.
00:14I don't want it.
00:15Welcome to Mojo Plays and welcome to the final part of our journey through gaming history.
00:19Over the previous weeks, we've been looking at the complete history of console gaming
00:22and after our breakdown of the first 50 years, we're ready to jump straight into the 2020s
00:27with the 9th generation.
00:28No time to catch you all up, so if you missed the other parts, make sure to check them out.
00:32Link's in the description below.
00:33If I miss anything important, let me know in the comments.
00:36Before we continue, we publish content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring
00:41the bell to get notified of our latest videos.
00:54The 9th generation is interesting and let me tell you why.
00:58It didn't reinvent gaming overnight, and although it refined and sharpened it, it may well be
01:03the least noticeable leap in gaming technology that we've seen in a generation, mostly because
01:07of a lot of the innovations happened beneath the surface, rather than through things like
01:11graphics and game power.
01:12Let's take a look.
01:13Sony and Microsoft launched almost simultaneously in late 2020 with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox
01:19Series X, alongside the smaller, cheaper, and disc-less Series S and PS5 Digital.
01:23And on paper, both machines looked like absolute monsters.
01:27Solid-state drives replaced traditional hard drives, slashing load times from minutes to
01:31seconds, while 4K resolution became the standard talking point.
01:34Ray tracing entered the console vocabulary, and frame rates climbed towards 60fps, and in
01:39some cases, 120fps.
01:41Suddenly, gamers were arguing about frame pacing and refresh rates, like they'd all secretly
01:46become PC technicians overnight.
01:48But the biggest leap for this generation wasn't graphics, it was speed.
01:52Fast travel became actually fast, instead of giving you enough time to make a sandwich
01:57and rethink your career path, while open worlds loaded seamlessly in ways that genuinely felt
02:02futuristic.
02:02Games like Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart flexed near-instant dimension-hopping to show off SSD
02:07power in a way that almost felt like black magic.
02:10Well, orange and silver magic.
02:12Proving that hardware wasn't just stronger anymore, it was smarter too.
02:15How bad is it?
02:21Sony leaned heavily into immersion with the PS5's DualSense controller, introducing advanced
02:26haptic feedback and adaptive triggers that made simple actions feel tactile in a way consoles
02:31had never really attempted before.
02:32Pulling a bowstring in Horizon Forbidden West or feeling resistance in a gun trigger wasn't
02:37just visual anymore, and tiny details like walking through rain or crunching through snow
02:41could subtly vibrate through the controller itself.
02:43It was one of the first times in years that a controller genuinely felt new, instead of
02:49just the old one, but shinier.
02:51At the same time, Sony doubled down on cinematic exclusives with games like Demon's Souls,
02:55Returnal, Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok, and Final Fantasy 16, reinforcing PlayStation's
03:00blockbuster identity, showing that if Sony has a type, it's emotionally exhausted people
03:05fighting giant things while looking unbelievably expensive.
03:08Microsoft, meanwhile, played a completely different game.
03:11Instead of focusing solely on exclusives, Xbox Game Pass became the headline feature, functioning
03:17as a Netflix-style subscription service that offered hundreds of games, including day-one
03:22first-party releases like Halo Infinite, Forza Motorsport, and Starfield.
03:26Backwards compatibility also became a major strength, because not only did your old library
03:30come along for the ride, it often ran better too, with smoother frame rates and faster load
03:34times, breathing new life into old titles.
03:37Microsoft wasn't just selling a box anymore, it was selling access, convenience, and a
03:42terrifying realisation that nobody on earth has enough free time to play 400 games sitting
03:46untouched in their subscription library.
03:48It's a chance to feel something new.
03:50Good luck.
03:51Have fun.
03:54Then, there's Nintendo, who continues to operate like that one kid in a group project
03:58who ignores the assignment entirely, and somehow still gets full marks anyway.
04:01The Switch technically launched in 2017, but it comfortably straddled generations, and
04:06by the time the PS5 and Series X arrived, Nintendo's little hybrid machine was still thriving.
04:12Not because it competed on raw power, because it absolutely did not, but because it nailed
04:16flexibility.
04:18Dock it into your TV, unlock it for handheld, and play it wherever you want.
04:22Games like The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, Animal Crossing New Horizons, and
04:26Super Mario Bros. Wonder proved once again that raw specs aren't everything, with Nintendo
04:31reminding the entire industry that art style, creativity, and gameplay innovation matter
04:36far more than counting individual paws on a character model.
04:40But there was something much darker that the ninth generation has also been defined by,
04:45something unexpected, and something we really hadn't seen to this degree before.
04:49Supply shortages.
04:50Global chip constraints came from a perfect storm of issues that individually probably would
04:55have been manageable, but together became complete chaos.
04:58You had a global pandemic, massively increasing demand, while simultaneously reducing production
05:03capabilities, the infamous Suez Canal blockage disrupting international shipping, and then
05:08scalpers sweeping in like comic book villains to buy consoles in aggressive bulk, so that
05:12they could resell them online for the price of a small family car.
05:15For years, simply finding a PS5 in stock felt harder than beating Sekiro blindfolded.
05:21The restrictions on product made consoles difficult to find for over three years, and although demand
05:27was enormous, availability simply wasn't there.
05:30Gamers started searching elsewhere for entertainment, leading to changes in consumer habits that are
05:34still being felt today.
05:36And when you combine this with what I've considered the least dramatic generational leap in gaming
05:40history, you've got a perfect recipe for grumpy gamers online.
05:44Many major titles launched on PS4 and Xbox One, alongside PS5 and Series X, slowing the feeling
05:50of a clean generational break.
05:51So instead of feeling like a bold new era, it often felt more like the old era wearing
05:56slightly nicer shoes.
05:57Meanwhile, cloud gaming quietly continued evolving in the background through services like Xbox
06:02Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce Now, hinting at a future where hardware itself may matter
06:07less and less.
06:15At the same time, development costs absolutely exploded.
06:19Blockbuster games now rival Hollywood productions in both budget and scale, with some AAA games
06:24reportedly costing hundreds of millions of dollars to develop, which honestly explains
06:28why executives begin sweating violently whenever someone asks if a single-player game can be
06:33made in under eight years.
06:34Live service models expanded aggressively as well, with battle passes, seasonal updates,
06:39rotating stores, and constant engagement becoming industry buzzwords that players either embraced
06:44or became deeply exhausted by.
06:46Meanwhile, free-to-play giants like Fortnite, Call of Duty Warzone, Roblox, and Genshin Impact
06:51remained cross-generational juggernauts that basically consumed entire friend groups whole.
06:56Platform exclusivity also started mattering less in multiplayer spaces, as cross-play became
07:02increasingly standard, and the walls between ecosystems slowly weakened.
07:06Then, by 2025, Xbox heavily signaled that they no longer viewed strict console exclusivity
07:12as essential moving forward, which pushed the entire industry in a very different era for
07:17console gaming.
07:18The whole way gaming and the gaming industry operated seemed to change at a fundamental level.
07:23But with the lack of clear defined leaps in visuals or gameplay in the eyes of many consumers,
07:27what actually defines the ninth generation?
07:30The answer is speed and subscriptions.
07:33The console war isn't just about exclusives or hardware specs anymore, because it now revolves
07:38around services, libraries, flexibility, convenience, ecosystems, and where your digital purchases
07:43live.
07:43And if there's one thing this generation has proven, it's that raw power alone doesn't guarantee
07:48victory anymore.
07:50Value does.
07:56Nintendo doesn't usually follow trends.
07:58It waits and then pivots.
08:00The Switch 2 represents Nintendo refining one of its smartest ideas ever, hybrid gaming.
08:06The original Switch proved that players love flexibility, whether that meant playing docked
08:11on the TV or undocked in your hands, essentially giving players one system for two completely different
08:16lifestyles.
08:17The sequel isn't really about reinventing that formula either.
08:19It's about upgrading it with stronger hardware, capable of visuals closer to PlayStation 4 level
08:24performance, smoother frame rates, and much stronger third-party support.
08:28Faster internal storage dramatically cuts load times, while developers who previously skipped
08:32Nintendo hardware due to technical limitations may now reconsider, which is huge for Nintendo
08:37and honestly huge for gamers getting a little tired of the endless Sony vs Xbox boxing match.
08:43The Switch 2 keeps the hybrid magic while fixing performance bottlenecks, and most importantly,
08:48it doesn't need to directly compete with the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.
08:52Nintendo figured out years ago that trying to win the hardware arms race against Sony and
08:57Microsoft is like trying to fistfight a tank.
08:59So instead, they carved out their own lane entirely, and somehow, it keeps working.
09:07We are finally up to date, as best I could manage, but before wrapping up this journey through gaming
09:12history, there's one recent challenger entering the arena that could seriously affect the future
09:18of console gaming, and I'd like to dedicate a minute to discussing it.
09:21Ladies and gentlemen, the Steam Machine.
09:23I've avoided talking about it until now for this dramatic final boss reveal, but Steam Machines
09:29have technically existed since 2012, when Valve first announced the concept.
09:33Unfortunately, high prices, confusing hardware tiers, weak Linux compatibility, and unclear
09:39messaging hurt the idea pretty badly.
09:41So rather than disrupting Sony and Microsoft, the original Steam Machines fizzled out by 2018,
09:46with the quiet sadness of a cancelled TV show nobody finished.
09:50Still, the core idea survived and eventually paved the way for devices like the Steam Deck,
09:54which proved there was absolutely massive interest in PC console hybrids.
09:58That success has now created serious buzz around newer Steam Machine concepts discussed for 2025
10:03and beyond, because unlike traditional consoles locked to specific storefronts, Valve's ecosystem
10:08potentially gives players access to a gigantic PC gaming library on a TV with controller-friendly
10:14support and cross-platform flexibility.
10:16That threatens the traditional divide between PC and console gaming in a way we haven't really
10:21seen before, and if Valve aggressively prices future hardware while continuing to support
10:26open ecosystems, multiple storefronts, mods, and apps, it could pressure Sony and Xbox
10:31into making massive changes themselves.
10:33And honestly, that's exciting, because whether it's cloud gaming, subscriptions, hybrid devices,
10:38handheld PCs, or streaming libraries, the future of gaming suddenly feels unpredictable.
10:44Again, I'm potentially heading into one of the biggest industry shake-ups since the crash
10:48caused by E.T. back in the early 1980s.
10:51The battlefield is changing, the rules are changing, and for the first time in a while,
10:56it genuinely feels like nobody fully knows what the next generation of gaming is actually
11:00going to look like.
11:01Personally, I can't wait to see the chaos unfold.
11:04Have fun.
11:08Did you enjoy this video?
11:10Check out these other clips from MojoPlays, and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to
11:15be notified of our latest videos.
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