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Ninth generation of video game consoles
Gaming generation since 2020

The ninth generation of video game consoles launched in November 2020 with Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Series S and Sony's PlayStation 5, offering faster processors, support for real-time ray tracing, and 4K or 8K resolution at 60+ FPS. Both use advanced SSD storage to reduce loading times and support in-game streaming. The Xbox Series S and PS5 Digital Edition omit optical drives but support online distribution and external USB devices. The Nintendo Switch, especially the 2021 OLED model, remains competitive despite weaker power, while handhelds like the Steam Deck enable playing Linux and Windows games via Proton, broadening hardware options in this generation.

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Background

The duration from the eighth generation until the start of the ninth was one of the longest in history, having started in 2012 with the release of Nintendo's Wii U. Past generations typically had five-year windows as a result of Moore's law,10 but Microsoft and Sony instead launched mid-console redesigns, the Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro.11 Microsoft also launched a monthly console lease program, with the option to buy or upgrade.12 Some analysts believed these factors signaled the first major shift away from the idea of console generations because the potential technical gains of new hardware had become nominal.13

Microsoft and Sony had announced their new consoles in 2019 for release by the end of 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.1415 When the pandemic struck in March 2020, it impacted both marketing and production of the consoles. The cancelled E3 2020 had been planned as a major venue to premiere the consoles, and instead both Microsoft and Sony turned to online showcases to highlight the systems and launch games. Both companies acknowledged that the pandemic had strained their production supplies due to hardware manufacturing slowdowns starting in March 2020, but would not impact their console release windows, and they set consumer expectations that console supplies would likely be limited in the launch window and would slowly become more relaxed as the pandemic waned.1617 This created a wave of scalping through online stores, which was countered by manufacturers and vendors.18 The ongoing global chip shortage continued to affect console shipments through the end of 2021, with Sony warning of lower production numbers during the final calendar quarter of the year and into 2022; this also affected Nintendo's Switch console production rates and Valve's plans to release the portable Steam Deck handheld gaming computer, from its planned December 2021 release date to February 2022.19

Home consoles

PlayStation 5

Main article: PlayStation 5

The PlayStation 5 was developed by Sony as the successor to the PlayStation 4 and was first released on November 12, 2020.20 The primary goal of the PlayStation 5's development was to reduce loading times in games, particularly those that use in-game streaming such as when the player moves across an open world. Sony developed a custom solid-state drive (SSD) architecture based on a 12-channel, 825 GB SSD along with a fast software decompression method that enables an input/output speed of up to 8 to 9 GB/s. In most early development tests, this virtually eliminated loading screens and masking loading times for open world games.21 The main system is backed by an AMD Zen 2 system on a chip running at a variable frequency capped at 3.5 GHz, and a RDNA 2 GPU also running at a variable frequency capped at 2.23 GHz. The GPU has a total potential processing power of 10.28 teraflops. The system comes with 16 GB of memory.22

The PlayStation 5 was launched with two models. The base model includes an optical disc reader for most disc formats including Blu-ray, UHD Blu-ray, and retail PlayStation 5 games. A cheaper Digital model lacks the disc reader, but otherwise is equivalent to the base model. Both models support expanded memory options to store games and other data onto external drives, thus allowing players to obtain and store games through online distribution via the PlayStation Store. The PlayStation 5 has mostly complete backward compatibility with PlayStation 4 games, with only a limited number of games not currently supported on the console,23 while the PlayStation Now cloud service is available for users to play games from the older PlayStation consoles.24

Mid-generation revision of both PlayStation 5 models were announced in late 2023, both unofficially considered the PlayStation 5 Slim. The units are to replace the two original PlayStation 5 models; both will have a slimmer design as well as 1 TB of internal storage and additional USB ports. The more expensive model includes an optical disc drive, while the second model, the Digital Edition, will not ship with a drive, though a drive expansion kit will be available to users.2526

Xbox Series X and Series S

Main article: Xbox Series X and Series S

The Xbox Series X/S is the successor to the Xbox One and was released on November 10, 2020, in select regions.2728 Microsoft followed the Xbox One's dual console models: a high-end line (the Series X comparable to the Xbox One X), and a cheaper model (the Series S comparable to the Xbox One S).29 The performance goal for the Xbox Series X was about four times that of the Xbox One X,30 but without sacrificing game development for the lower-end Xbox Series S.31

Both the Xbox Series X and Series S use an AMD Zen 2 CPU and an RDNA 2 GPU but with different frequencies and compute units. The Series S has lower frequencies with reduced performance, and the Series X has graphics performance estimated at 12.155 teraflops compared to the Series S's 4.006 teraflops.3233 Microsoft developed a Velocity Architecture, which includes an internal SSD system (1 TB on the Series X, 500 GB on the Series S) used for storing games and new DirectX interfaces with improved input/output and in-game texture streaming and rendering. The Series X includes an optical disc reader supporting Blu-ray and UHD media, which is absent in the Series S.34 Both consoles support external game storage media and online distribution via Xbox Live. Full backward compatibility was announced for all Xbox One games, including previously supported Xbox and Xbox 360 games but excluding Kinect games.3536 Microsoft encouraged third-party developers and publishers to use its Smart Delivery approach to give Xbox One games free performance upgrade patches for Xbox Series X/S.37

Comparison

The following table includes only named released models, and does not include minor hardware revisions or redesigns, such as the "slim" model of the PlayStation 5.

Product LinePlayStation 5Xbox Series X/S
NamePlayStation 5 Digital EditionPlayStation 5PlayStation 5 ProXbox Series SXbox Series X
Logo
Image
A PS5 Digital Edition with the DualSense controllerA standard PS5 with the DualSense controllerA standard PS5 ProAn Xbox Series S with its controllerAn Xbox Series X with its controller
ManufacturerSony Interactive EntertainmentMicrosoft Gaming
Release datesAU/JP/KR/NA/NZ/SGP: November 12, 2020WW: November 19, 202038 IND: January 22, 2021 INA: February 2, 202139CHN: May 15, 202140WW: November 7, 2024WW: November 10, 2020 CHN: June 10, 202141
Launch pricesUS$399.99499.99699.99299.9942499.9943
€399.99499.99799.99299.9944499.9945
GBP359.99449.99699.99249.9946449.9947
A$599.95749.951,199.954994874949
JP¥39,98049,980119,98029,9805049,98051
Current prices52US$449.99Same as launch priceSame as launch price379.9953/429.9954599.9955/549.9956/729.9957
€499.99549.99349.9958/399.9959599.9960/549.9961/699.9962
GBP429.99479.99299.9963/349.9964499.9965/449.9966/589.9967
A$749.95829.9554968/5996984970/74971/1,04972
JP¥59,98066,98044,57873/49,9787466,97875/59,97876
SalesShipped65.5 million (as of 30 June 2024)7728.3 million (as of 30 June 2024)78
Sold61.7 million (as of 30 June 2024)79
Game media
MediaDigital distributionUHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, digital distributionDigital distributionDigital distributionUHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, CD, digital distribution
Regional lockoutUnrestricted
OtherUHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD with optional disc driveUHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVDUHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD with optional disc drive—UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, CD
Backward compatibilityAlmost all PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR games—All Xbox One games (excluding Kinect-required games) and Xbox 360 and original Xbox games playable on Xbox One (list)
CPU
TypeCustom AMD 8-core based on Zen 2 architecture
ISAx86-64
Clock speedup to 3.5 GHz (variable) with SMT always onup to 3.85 GHz (variable) with SMT always on3.4 GHz with SMT, 3.6 GHz without SMT3.6 GHz with SMT, 3.8 GHz without SMT
Process7 nm80 or 6 nm814 nm827 nm7 nm or 6 nm
GPUTypeCustom AMD Radeon RDNA 2 architectureHybrid AMD RDNA 2 architecture with RDNA 3 features and RDNA 4 Raytracing coresCustom AMD Radeon RDNA 2 architecture
Clock speedup to 2.233 GHz (variable)up to 2.35 GHz (variable)1.565 GHz1.825 GHz
TFLOP/sup to 10.28 TFLOPS (variable)up to 18.048 TFLOPS (variable)834.006 TFLOPS12.155 TFLOPS
Compute units36 out of 40 CUs (2304 out of 2560 SMs) enabled60 CU20 out of 24 CUs (1280

out of 1536 SMs) enabled

52 out of 56 CUs (3328

out of 3584 SMs) enabled

Process7 nm84 or 6 nm854 nm7 nm7 nm or 6 nm
MemoryMain &other16 GB GDDR6 SDRAM; 256-bit (unified) 512 MB DDR4 SDRAM (for background tasks)16 GB GDDR6 SDRAM 2 GB DDR5 SDRAM10 GB GDDR6 SDRAM; 128-bit (semi-unified)16 GB GDDR6 SDRAM; 320-bit (semi-unified)
Bandwidth448 GB/s576 GB/s8 GB (128-bit) (GPU) @ 224 GB/s 2 GB (32-bit) (system) @ 56 GB/s10 GB (320-bit) (GPU) @ 560 GB/s 6 GB (3.5 GB & 2.5 GB) (192-bit) (system) @ 336 GB/s
Clock speed1.75 GHz (14 GHz effective)2.25 GHz (18 GHz effective)1.75 GHz (14 GHz effective)1.75 GHz (14 GHz effective)
StorageInternal825 GB86 or 1 TB87 PCIe Gen 4 custom NVMe SSD2 TB PCIe Gen 4 custom NVMe SSD512 GB or 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 custom NVMe SSD1 TB or 2 TB PCIe Gen 4 custom NVMe SSD
Reserved by OS161 GB200 GB
ExternalM.2 NVMe SSD support (with September 2021 system update),88 USB 3.2 HDD Support (archive only for PS5 games)Storage Expansion Card (up to 2 TB), USB 3.1 HDD Support (archive only for X/S games)89
Bandwidth5.5 GB/s (raw or uncompressed), 8–9 GB/s, up to 22 GB/s (compressed)2.4 GB/s (raw or uncompressed), 4.8 GB/s (compressed)
Game installationUpdates are downloaded and installed automatically in Rest ModeUpdates are downloaded and installed automatically in Instant-on Mode
NetworkWirelessDual-band Wi-Fi 6 @ 2.4 GHz and 5 GHzTri-band Wi-Fi 7 @ 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHzDual-band Wi-Fi 5 @ 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz
WiredGigabit Ethernet
Dimensions390 × 260 × 92 mm (15.4 × 10.2 × 3.6 in)90358 × 216 × 80 mm (14.1 × 8.5 × 3.1 in)91390 × 260 × 104 mm (15.4 × 10.2 × 4.1 in)92358 × 216 × 96 mm (14.1 × 8.5 × 3.8 in)93388 × 216 × 89 mm (15.3 × 8.5 × 3.5 in)151 × 65 × 275 mm (5.9 × 2.6 × 10.8 in)151 × 151 × 301 mm (5.9 × 5.9 × 11.9 in)
Weight3.9 kg (8.6 lb)943.6 kg (7.9 lb)953.4 kg (7.5 lb)962.6 kg (5.7 lb)974.5 kg (9.9 lb)984.2 kg (9.3 lb)993.9 kg (8.6 lb)1003.2 kg (7.1 lb)1013.1 kg (6.8 lb)1.92 kg (4.2 lb)4.44 kg (9.8 lb)
Power340 W102350 W103390 W165 W104315 W105
Included in the box
  • DualSense wireless controller
  • USB Type-C to Type-A charging cable for the DualSense wireless controller
  • HDMI cable (compatible with Ultra High Speed defined by HDMI v2.1)
  • AC power cord
  • Console base
Same as base model, minus console base
VideoOutputHDMI: 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 1440p, 4K UHD, 8K UHDHDMI: 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 4K UHDHDMI: 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 4K UHD, 8K UHD
Audio
  • Custom Tempest 3D Engine, supports: Dolby Atmos & DTS:X (Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray disc video when connected to a supported device), Dolby Digital (max 5.1ch), Dolby Digital Plus (max 7.1ch), Dolby TrueHD (max 7.1ch), DTS (max 5.1ch), DTS-HD High Resolution Audio (max 7.1ch), DTS-HD Master Audio (max 7.1ch), AAC (max 5.1ch), Linear PCM (max 7.1ch), up to 7.1 surround sound overall
Peripheral abilitiesControllerDualSense wireless controllerXbox Wireless Controller
Touch capabilityDualSense controller includes a "touchpad"—
CameraPS5 HD camera—
Online servicesPlayStation Network, PlayStation NowXbox network, Xbox Game Pass
Downloads games and automatic updates in the background
Paid PlayStation Plus subscription required for Cloud saves, online multiplayer, except for free-to-play titlesPaid Xbox Game Pass Core subscription required for online multiplayer, except for free-to-play titles, free cloud saves106
Game DVRImage—
Video—
Live streamingFree
List of gamesList of PlayStation 5 gamesList of Xbox Series X and Series S games
System softwarePlayStation 5 System SoftwareXbox Series X/S System Software
UpdatesUpdates are downloaded and installed automatically in Rest ModeUpdates are downloaded and installed automatically in Instant-on Mode
Sources107108109110

Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2

Main articles: Eighth generation of video game consoles § Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2

Despite being a holdover from the eighth-generation, the Nintendo Switch has been positioned by sources as a primary competitor to other ninth-generation consoles, due to its continued hardware and software support as of 2024.111112113 The financial failure of Nintendo's first eighth-gen console, the Wii U, resulted in the Switch's relatively late release in the eighth-generation, being released in March 2017.114115 An "OLED Model" revision was released on October 8, 2021, introducing an updated design and improved display, though it did not introduce any performance improvements.116 Additionally, commercial performance of Switch-exclusive titles have remained high during the ninth-generation, with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022) and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023) both achieving 10 million units sold in their first three days after release.117118 Nintendo announced a successor, the Nintendo Switch 2, on January 16, 2025, with it releasing on June 5 in the same year.119

Steam Deck and handheld gaming PCs

Main article: Steam Deck

On February 25, 2022, Valve released the Steam Deck, a handheld gaming PC that runs SteamOS 3.0, a Linux distribution developed by Valve. The Deck includes Valve's own Proton compatibility layer, allowing nearly all Windows-based games to run on the Deck without modification. The handheld also allows users to install Windows or other software on the device. The Steam Deck was the first handheld to use an RDNA 2 GPU, which is also used on both the home consoles of the ninth generation.120 The handheld was well received by many outlets, with an overall praising of its extensive game compatibility and portability.121122

The success of the Steam Deck led to the growth of the handheld gaming PC market and to the creation of direct competitors, such as the Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw A1M, and the Ayaneo running Microsoft Windows.123

Cloud gaming platforms

Cloud gaming has become part of the gaming landscape with Stadia and Amazon Luna being introduced in November 2019 and October 2020, respectively, as well as GeForce Now coming out of its four years of beta in February 2020. None of these systems have had any financial breakthrough as home video game consoles, but they are viable for multi platform ninth generation games.124 Google, having failed to find a large player base, shut down Stadia on January 19, 2023.125

Cloud gaming has also been used by Microsoft as part of its gaming subscription service, Xbox Game Pass. This gave Microsoft a head start in what analysts expected to be a major complementary service, supplementing the unprofitable console business and appealing to more entry-level players with better accessibility at a lower price.126 Microsoft's Phil Spencer said that they believed that they could not compete on the console hardware space as much as Sony or Nintendo, and shifted their strategy towards Xbox Game Pass and cloud gaming.127 Sony in turn revamped its PlayStation Plus subscription in mid-2022 by merging in PlayStation Now, its cloud-based service for games of past PlayStation generations, as a feature in a higher subscription tier.128

The continued growth of cloud gaming services has inspired the development of handhelds like the Logitech G CLOUD Gaming Handheld129 and Razer Edge,130 which advertise cloud streaming as a key selling point.

Virtual reality headsets

The ninth generation continued the trend of virtual reality. The previous generation mainly consisted of VR accessories made for mobile games (such as Google's Cardboard/Daydream and Samsung's Gear VR) or computers (HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift).131132 This generation has started to offer standalone headsets dedicated to virtual reality games. The Meta Quest Pro was released in 2022.133 Additions in 2023 included the PlayStation VR2 (a PS5 accessory serving as a successor to 2016's PlayStation VR) and the Meta Quest 3.134 2024 also saw Apple's entry into the market with the release of the Apple Vision Pro.135136

Retro-focused consoles

Polymega137 and Atari 2600+138 are examples of game consoles released during the timespan of this generation, which focus on retro gaming and re-releases of older games.

While not directly focused on re-releases, Atari VCS is a Linux-based console that is pre-loaded with the compilation, Atari VCS Vault: Vol 1.139 Additional titles, including a selection of indie games and remakes of classic Atari games, can be purchased from the console's digital storefront.140

See also

  • 2020s portal
  • Video games portal

Notes

References

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  42. 512 GB All-Digital ↩

  43. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

  44. 512 GB All-Digital ↩

  45. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

  46. 512 GB All-Digital ↩

  47. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

  48. 512 GB All-Digital ↩

  49. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

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  51. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

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  54. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

  55. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

  56. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

  57. 2 TB Disc Drive ↩

  58. 512 GB All-Digital ↩

  59. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

  60. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

  61. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

  62. 2 TB Disc Drive ↩

  63. 512 GB All-Digital ↩

  64. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

  65. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

  66. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

  67. 2 TB Disc Drive ↩

  68. 512 GB All-Digital ↩

  69. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

  70. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

  71. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

  72. 2 TB Disc Drive ↩

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  74. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

  75. 1 TB Disc Drive ↩

  76. 1 TB All-Digital ↩

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  91. slim ↩

  92. non-slim ↩

  93. slim ↩

  94. 2020 revision ↩

  95. 2021 revision ↩

  96. 2022 revision ↩

  97. slim ↩

  98. 2020 revision ↩

  99. 2021 revision ↩

  100. 2022 revision ↩

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