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Curated playlist

Home video game consoles

  • PlayStation 4Sony stood on the E3 2013 stage and promised no restrictions on trading PS4 games.
  • PlayStation 3Sony lost more than US$240 on every PlayStation 3 it sold at launch.
  • PlayStation (console)The PlayStation exists because Nintendo dumped Sony on stage. Sony then decided to build its own console.
  • GameCubeNintendo predicted 50 million GameCubes by 2005 but sold 21.74 million. The console was discontinued in February 2007.
  • Nintendo SwitchPlayers found a hidden golf game inside the Nintendo Switch. It was a tribute to Satoru Iwata, who programmed NES Golf.
  • PlayStation 5The PlayStation 5 beat the PS4's record launch within two weeks. Sony called it its largest launch ever.
  • WiiNintendo's Wii ended up in hospitals and nursing homes. It was built as a console for everyone, even grandparents.
  • Sega GenesisThe Sega Genesis reached 65% of the US 16-bit market by January 1992. It began as a gamble.
  • PlayStation 2In Japan's launch period, the PlayStation 2's best-selling title was a DVD of The Matrix, not a game.
  • Xbox 360Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in 2005, just 69 days after production began. It sold out everywhere except Japan.
  • Sega SaturnAt the first E3 in 1995, Sega announced its Saturn console had already shipped.
  • Xbox Series X and Series SMicrosoft built the Xbox Series X and Series S together so every game would run on both. Planning began around 2016.
  • Xbox OneThe Xbox One reveal spent over thirty minutes on television before showing a single game.
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment SystemNintendo sent 100 trucks of Super Famicom consoles out at night to dodge the yakuza.
  • AmigaThe Amiga computer debuted in 1985 with Andy Warhol drawing Debbie Harry on stage. Commodore sold it as a business tool.
  • Nintendo 64The Nintendo 64 sold out all 300,000 of its first Japanese units on launch day, June 23, 1996.
  • DreamcastEvery Dreamcast on Japanese store shelves sold out within a day in 1998. Sega ended it in under three years.
  • Master SystemThe Sega Master System lost in North America but kept selling in Brazil for decades.
  • TurboGrafx-16NEC gave the TurboGrafx-16 a large black case for Americans, yet it struggled and faded in North America.
  • Wii UThe Wii U sold just 13.56 million units, Nintendo's worst-selling home console.
  • Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System launched into a video game market the press had called dead.
  • Xbox (console)Microsoft's marketing team disliked the name Xbox and used it in testing to show it would lose.
  • Atari 2600The Atari 2600 was built to sell for only two to three years. Its engineers expected rivals to make it obsolete.
  • Amiga CD32The Amiga CD32 game console ended up inside casino slot machines. Italian arcade cabinets used it too.
  • Nintendo Switch 2Nintendo Switch 2 sold more than 3.5 million units within four days of its debut.
  • PlayStation ClassicThe PlayStation Classic shipped without an AC adapter. Sony's $100 mini console also lacked analog sticks.
  • PlayStationThe morning after Sony unveiled its PlayStation in 1991, Nintendo dropped the deal.
  • XboxMicrosoft tested the name Xbox as the option it expected to lose. Instead, it scored highest in consumer surveys.

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