2020s in video games

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The 2020s is the sixth decade in the industry's history. The industry remains heavily dominated by the actions of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, but it remains unforeseen how their dominance will be affected by cloud gaming and smartphone and tablet market. Virtual reality headsets are expected to become more popular over the course of the decade. [1] The industry was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The ninth generation of video game consoles went on sale, beginning with the Xbox Series X and Series S and the PlayStation 5. [2] Notable games released in the 2020s included Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake , The Last of Us Part II , Ghost of Tsushima, Fall Guys, Hades, Genshin Impact , It Takes Two, Forza Horizon 5, Horizon Forbidden West , Elden Ring, Stray , Xenoblade Chronicles 3, God of War Ragnarök, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3 , Super Mario Bros. Wonder , Marvel's Spider-Man 2 , Alan Wake 2, Tekken 8, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth , and Grand Theft Auto VI . [3] [4] Game development companies have come under increasing criticism for "crunch" practices, forcing workers to work long hours in the build-up to release. [5]

Contents

Consoles of the 2020s

Eighth generation consoles (2012–present)

The eighth generation of video game consoles, including the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, remain in widespread use. Cloud gaming services like Google Stadia and Amazon Luna are also part of the eighth generation. The Xbox One and Nintendo 3DS were both discontinued in 2020 with the Stadia also shutting down in 2023. [6] [7] [8]

Ninth generation consoles (2020–present)

The ninth generation of video game consoles has begun in the 2020s, with the release of the Xbox Series X and Series S and PlayStation 5 in 2020. The ninth generation offers faster computation and graphics processors, support for real-time ray tracing graphics, [9] output for 4K resolution, and in some cases, 8K resolution, with rendering speeds targeting 60 frames per second (fps) or higher. [10] Internally, both console families introduced new internal solid-state drive (SSD) systems to be used as high-throughput memory and storage systems for games to reduce or eliminate loading times and support in-game streaming. Standalone virtual reality headsets have also emerged with new entries in the Meta Quest line, HTC Vive XR Elite, and Apple Vision Pro all being introduced in the decade. [11] [12] [13]

History

At the beginning of decade many events were severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 through 2022. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] One early example in 2020 was the cancellation of that year's edition of E3. [20] Summer Game Fest would emerge as a successor to E3, as the brand was retired in 2023. [21] [22]

Notable video games of the decade

Notable franchises established in the 2020s

Joc video

Notes:

Highest-grossing games

Film

Films based on video games in the decade include:

Television

Television series based on video games in the decade include:

Hardware timeline

The following gallery highlights hardware used to predominantly play games throughout the 2020s.

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    The fighting game genre of video game involves combat between multiple characters. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining attacks together into "combos". Characters generally engage hand-to-hand combat, often with martial arts. The fighting game genre is distinctly related to the beat 'em up genre, which pits many computer-controlled enemies against one or more player characters.

    Tekken is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The franchise also includes film and print adaptations.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomonobu Itagaki</span> Japanese video game designer

    Tomonobu Itagaki is a Japanese video game designer best known for creating the Dead or Alive series and also reviving the Ninja Gaiden franchise in 2004. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.

    2005 saw the release of many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Resident Evil 4, Black & White 2, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Mario Kart DS, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Myst V: End of Ages, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, alongside prominent new releases including Brain Age, F.E.A.R., Forza Motorsport, Dinosaur King, God of War, Guild Wars, Guitar Hero, Nintendogs, Onechanbara, Shadow of the Colossus, Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, NBA 2K6, WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw 2006, and Sniper Elite. The seventh generation of video game consoles also began with the launch of the Xbox 360, while the Nintendo DS launched in PAL regions.

    The history of video game consoles, both home and handheld, began in the 1970s. The first console that played games on a television set was the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey, first conceived by Ralph H. Baer in 1966. Handheld consoles originated from electro-mechanical games that used mechanical controls and light-emitting diodes (LED) as visual indicators. Handheld electronic games had replaced the mechanical controls with electronic and digital components, and with the introduction of Liquid-crystal display (LCD) to create video-like screens with programmable pixels, systems like the Microvision and the Game & Watch became the first handheld video game consoles.

    2001 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Madden NFL 2002, NBA Live 2002, NBA 2K2, WWF Smackdown! Just Bring It, Capcom vs. SNK 2,Dead or Alive 3, Final Fantasy X, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Myst III: Exile, Crazy Taxi 2, SSX Tricky, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Sonic Adventure 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, and Virtua Fighter 4. New intellectual properties include Ace Attorney, Advance Wars,Animal Crossing, Burnout, Gothic, Black & White, Devil May Cry, Fatal Frame, Ghost Recon,Halo, Jak and Daxter, Max Payne, Oni, Onimusha: Warlords, Operation Flashpoint, Pikmin, Pro Evolution Soccer, Red Faction, Serious Sam, and Tropico.

    Arika is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It was formed in 1995 by former Capcom employees. It was originally known as ARMtech K.K, but was later named Arika. The name of the company is the reverse of the name of the company's founder, Akira Nishitani, who along with Akira Yasuda, created Street Fighter II. Arika's first game was Street Fighter EX. It was successful and was followed up with two updates, and its two sequels Street Fighter EX2 and Street Fighter EX3. In 2018, they released a spiritual successor to both Street Fighter EX and Fighting Layer, titled Fighting EX Layer. From 2019 to 2021, Arika collaborated with Nintendo to create the battle royale games Tetris 99, Super Mario Bros. 35, and with Bandai Namco for Pac-Man 99. Arika is also known for the Tetris: The Grand Master series, the Dr. Mario series, starting with Dr. Mario Online Rx, and the Endless Ocean series.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Monopoly in video games</span> Video game series

    There have been numerous Monopoly video games based on the core game mechanics of Parker Brothers and Hasbro's board game Monopoly. They have been developed by numerous teams and released on multiple platforms over 35+ years.

    <i>Tetris Effect</i> 2018 puzzle video game

    Tetris Effect is a block-dropping arcade-styled puzzle video game developed by Japanese studios Monstars and Resonair and published by Enhance Games. The game was released worldwide exclusively for the PlayStation 4 on November 9, 2018, and features support for the PlayStation VR. A Microsoft Windows version, with support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, was released exclusively on the Epic Games Store on July 23, 2019. A version for the Meta Quest standalone VR headset was released on May 14, 2020.

    <i>Street Fighter</i> Japanese media franchise

    Street Fighter is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six other main series games, various spin-offs and crossovers, and numerous appearances in other media. Its best-selling 1991 release Street Fighter II established many of the conventions of the one-on-one fighting genre.

    The 2010s was the fifth decade in the industry's history. The decade was notable for producing the first truly "3D" games and consoles, introducing cloud gaming and virtual reality to consumers, and the rising influence of tablet-based and mobile casual games, including a boom in freemium titles. The industry remained heavily dominated by the actions of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. The eighth generation of video game consoles was released, including the Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS, and PlayStation Vita. Notable games released in the decade included Minecraft, Fortnite, PUBG: Battlegrounds,Grand Theft Auto V, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Last of Us, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Red Dead Redemption, Marvel's Spider-Man, Dark Souls, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Batman: Arkham City, BioShock Infinite, Dishonored, Halo: Reach,Mass Effect 2, Disco Elysium, Undertale, Overwatch, Super Mario Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption 2, L.A. Noire,Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Far Cry 3, Destiny, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, The Walking Dead, Persona 5,Dragon Age: Inquisition, Portal 2, Diablo III, Horizon Zero Dawn, Journey, Shovel Knight, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Death Stranding, Titanfall 2, Xenoblade Chronicles,Cuphead, Alien: Isolation, Fallout 4,God of War, and Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Video games in the United States</span>

    Video gaming in the United States is one of the fastest-growing entertainment industries in the country. The American video game industry is the largest video game industry in the world. According to a 2020 study released by the Entertainment Software Association, the yearly economic output of the American video game industry in 2019 was $90.3 billion, supporting over 429,000 American jobs. With an average yearly salary of about $121,000, the latter figure includes over 143,000 individuals who are directly employed by the video game business. Additionally, activities connected to the video game business generate $12.6 billion in federal, state, and local taxes each year. World Economic Forum estimates that by 2025 the American gaming industry will reach $42.3 billion while worldwide gaming industry will possibly reach US$270 billion. The United States is one of the nations with the largest influence in the video game industry, with video games representing a significant part of its economy.

    <i>Cyberpunk 2077</i> 2020 video game

    Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red, and published by CD Projekt, and based on Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk tabletop game series. The plot is set in the fictional metropolis of Night City, California, within the dystopian Cyberpunk universe. The player assumes the role of V, a mercenary who accidentally gets imbued with a cybernetic "bio-chip" containing an engram of legendary rockstar and terrorist Johnny Silverhand. As Johnny’s behaviour and memories begin overwriting V’s own, the two must work together to separate from each other and save V's life.

    <i>Just Dance</i> (video game series) Dancing video game series

    Just Dance is a rhythm game series developed and published by Ubisoft. The original Just Dance game was released on the Wii in 2009 in North America, Europe, and Australia.

    The ninth generation of video game consoles began in November 2020 with the releases of Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Series S console family and Sony's PlayStation 5.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Summer Game Fest</span> Live video game event

    Summer Game Fest is a live video game event organized and hosted by game journalist Geoff Keighley. The event takes place annually over multiple live streams during the North American summer period, the most notable of which is the "main show" which usually airs on the first day of the event and showcases upcoming major releases. The "main show" is usually then followed by a "Day of the Devs" after-show that is focused on indie titles. Multiple other streams showcasing other upcoming game titles that are both affiliated and unaffiliated with the official Summer Games Fest event also occur in the few days following the main show. It was created in 2020 following the cancellation of the industry's most prominent events such as Gamescom and the now-discontinued E3, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2023 would have been the 27th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry would have presented new and upcoming products. The event, organized by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and produced by ReedPop, was scheduled to take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 13–16, 2023. However, on March 30, the event was officially confirmed to be cancelled due to lack of interest, namely as a result of Xbox Game Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Nintendo all choosing to forego attending E3 that year, which would have marked the first time since E3 1995 that none of the console manufacturers would have been in attendance. In addition, other gaming-related companies like Sega, Tencent, and Bandai Namco all pulled out of E3 2023 prior to its cancellation. In lieu of that, several publishers made plans to continue with presentations of game announcements during the planned E3 period, while others opted to use more traditional marketing throughout the year.

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