Back in the ancient days of 2012, pundits and analysts across the world put on their soothsayer hats and predicted that iPhones and iPads would kill console gaming. Then the PS4 came out and sold roughly 40 billion units, proving them all wrong. Which raises the question: How many people started gaming this generation?
Screenshot from a video by Stephen Totilo
As someone who has been playing video games pretty consistently for the past three decades, I always find it fascinating to hear about people who started gaming in, say, 2014. Or people who played games as a kid and then rediscovered them this generation. Between the PS4’s monstrous success, the Xbox One’s great backwards compatibility, and the Switch launching with one of the best games ever made, there are a lot of reasons one might have started playing video games in the past three to four years.
So I’m curious, dear readers: Did any of you start playing games during this generation of consoles? Did you discover Kotaku after the PS4 and Xbox One? Did you start playing new games with the Switch? Tell us your stories in the comments, and if there are enough good ones, we’ll round them up for a follow-up article in the near future.
Comments
10 responses to “How Many Of You Started Playing Games This Generation?”
Every game is someone’s first. Or first game of that ‘type’. That includes mobile gaming, surely?
The worst thing ever to happen to gaming was this odious ‘hardcore’ versus ‘casual’ mentality. So many awful things have sprouted from it. Nobody should hold back from answering the central question in any way they want. It’s a great ‘generation’, I don’t know why we wouldn’t be attracting new blood or returning folk.
I agree. The people that perpetuate this ‘casuals’ garbage are absolute tossers. They don’t even realise it most of the time.
Like it’s some badge of honour to have played a game more than someone else…. sheesh
Surely 40 million units, not billion
Pretty sure it’s hyperbole
well I started with the Atari 2600 back in the 80’s, found it collecting dust in the back of an old cupboard growing up at home, does that count? 🙂
Glad I started playing a long time ago. Can appreciate games for gameplay and weed out the stuff that is just frosting.
Kinda feel sorry for people who only know assassins Creed or COD.
Atari 2600 was my first. So nope.
Also: so very, very old.
If by “this generation” you mean the mid-’80s, then count me in hoomaans! 🙂
I used to play on Tomb Raider on my PC in 2000 somethings then studies etc, so I rediscovered gaming in 2015 with AC unity on Xbone. I loved it!
Most of my gaming life was Sega & Nintendo games – we had a Sega Megadrive when I was a kid, then an N64, DS/3DS, Wii, Wii U. I mainly played 2D platformers (I sunk a lot of hours into Sonic the Hedgehog), Mario Kart and Guitar Hero but didn’t consider myself a “real” gamer. I didn’t consider myself “good enough” at gaming to play the more involved games.
That all changed when I discovered Skyrim. I started out watching my partner play it, and then decided I wanted to play it myself. At first I was constantly stealing his Xbox 360 to play it, and then 3 years ago I bought a gaming laptop so I could play it whenever I want. I branched out to Dragon Age: Inquisition and then starting exploring all these amazing games I had missed because I thought they were too hard. I now have a Xbox One, a PS4 and a Switch, which all get played regularly. You could probably say that I started gaming seriously in the last 3 -4 years and that Skyrim was my gateway game!
Good to see there are some fellow Atari 2600 people out there.
I spent way too many hours playing Pitfall, Pinball and Crystal Castles which if I remember correctly was some crazy monster avoiding maze game where the playable character was I think a bear.
I do still have my SNES in working order and plugged into my main gaming TV as well which still provides me with a lot of happiness.