Wikipedia community debates whether Switch belongs in the 8th or 9th generation. What do you think?

[NookSports]

I think Consoles are going the way of PCs and mobile devices; Regular (maybe even yearly) updates that increase power but don't break compatibility; and are "forward compatible" for at least 5 or 6 years.

The Xbox Series X announcement kinda cemented that for me. They hinted it's just one of many models of Xbox they might release / announce.

For Nintendo, I wouldn't want them to release a Switch 2 necessarily, but they could do what Apple does and have a Switch pro that a few years down the line becomes the regular Switch, with a new pro device taking the top end of their capability

 

[take_marsh]

I don't see the point if the generation is starting in the middle of another generation.

 

[Cranster]

The Switch is 8th generation tech.

 

[Derachi]

Generation numbering has always been pointless.

 

[Delusibeta]

Per Wikipedia's rules, all the press is comparing it to the PS4 and Xbox One, so it's 8th gen by default. With that said, it's blatantly obvious that the Switch is a handheld, not a home console, so this discussion is really stupid.

 

[Heshinsi]

It's 9th gen. WiiU was a Sega Saturn level failure not virtual boy. Shit was supported for like 4 years. Saying switch is PS4 gen is like saying Dreamcast is with the PS1/64.

Click to shrink...

Between Dreamcast and PS2 there's a 1 year gap. Between X360 and PS3/Wii there's also a 1 year gap. Wii U to PS4/XBO was 1 year as well. Between Switch and PS5/XSX it's going to be a gap of 3+ years. Has there ever been a console to sit as the lone representative of a console generation for that long?

 

[Lyrick]

Per Wikipedia's rules, all the press is comparing it to the PS4 and Xbox One, so it's 8th gen by default. With that said, it's blatantly obvious that the Switch is a handheld, not a home console, so this discussion is really stupid.

Click to shrink...

The "Press" has to compare it to PS4 & Xbox One as at the current time there are no other consoles on the market to compare it to. Come Q4 this year those comparisons will shift and the Switch will appear in articles with the PS5 & next gen Xbox.

 

[Playboi Carti]

It's 8th gen period

 

[WestEgg]

It's 8th gen period

Click to shrink...

But what if it's 9th gen question mark

 

[Lyrick]

It's 8th gen period

Click to shrink...

It's wherever you put the arbitrary lines...

 

[Delusibeta]

The "Press" has to compare it to PS4 & Xbox One as at the current time there are no other consoles on the market to compare it to. Come Q4 this year those comparisons will shift and the Switch will appear in articles with the PS5 & next gen Xbox.

Click to shrink...

I actually don't think so, outside of going "the Switch is too weak for PS5 and Series X ports". Because, well, that's almost certainly going to be true.

 

[g-m1n1]

It is not a WiiU Pro (even though the games library was shared)

but the WiiU was a 'Pro' model for the Wii.
WiiU =PS360 gen (for me of course)

 

[Lyrick]

I actually don't think so, outside of going "the Switch is too weak for PS5 and Series X ports". Because, well, that's almost certainly going to be true.

Click to shrink...

The Switch will be the Best selling console per NPD, Media Create, Famitsu, and many other trackers on the launch year of the Next PlayStation & Xbox. Depending on adoption of the PS5 & next Xbox and slowing adoption rate of Switch it will could very well be the best selling console by many trackers in 2021 as well.

How will that not be a treated as a comparison by the press?

 

[Invisible Cities]

My opinion:

~ Wii U was Nintendo's 8th generation home console. It release a little early and was discontinued very early, but still clearly 8th gen.
~ The Switch is a handheld.
~ Nintendo exited the home console business and has no 9th generation home console.

 

[Chief Malik]

Between Dreamcast and PS2 there's a 1 year gap. Between X360 and PS3/Wii there's also a 1 year gap. Wii U to PS4/XBO was 1 year as well. Between Switch and PS5/XSX it's going to be a gap of 3+ years. Has there ever been a console to sit as the lone representative of a console generation for that long?

Click to shrink...

Dreamcast came out 98

 

[Heshinsi]

Dreamcast came out 98

Click to shrink...

Oh right consoles used to launch why earlier in Japan. It's still only roughly 1 year and 3ish months between Nov 27th 1998 and March 4th 2000 (PS2 JPN launch) though.

 

[N.47H.4N]

8th, I will never consider Switch 9th generation when Xbox One and PS4 offer much more impressive games since 2013, when we see the next generation games on PS5 and XSX, the difference will be so huge that I will laugh every time I see someone saying Switch it's the same gen.

 

[Fisty]

It is not a WiiU Pro (even though the games library was shared)

but the WiiU was a 'Pro' model for the Wii.
WiiU =PS360 gen (for me of course)

Click to shrink...

I do agree with this for the most part, also if you look at software in terms of "generations" then it's pretty obvious that Switch isnt going to be playing 9th gen games. The Switch does kind of feel like a fully-realized Wii U concept instead of just a bunch of concessions because the tech/affordability wasnt there yet for a true hybrid in 2012

 

[ieandrew]

Cutting the legs off your last console that flopped and putting a new more viable product out does not make the change of a generation.

The same way human population generations are not defined by the first or last offspring from a member of a given prior generation.

The 9th generation probably is best described as Stadia/Xbox Series X/PlayStation 5/Nintendo Switch successor

 

[Godzilla's Left Toe]

Switch is a handheld first and foremost 2nd Wikipedia Gen timelines are all over the place including stuff like Gameboy pocket is in a different Gen than the Original Gameboy so Switch is a 7th Gen HandHeld

Gen 1 HH Game and Watch MicroVison
Gen 2 HH Game boy (GBP GBL GBC) Lynx Game Gear
Gen 3 HH Nomad Wonder Swan Neo Geo Pocket
Gen 4 HH GBA (GBA sp)
Gen 5 HH DS (Lite I XL) PSP
Gen 6 HH 3d (XL New) Vita
Gen 7 HH Switch ( Lite)

 

[Multiverse Moo]

Irrespective of lineage per console maker, the Switch exists as a mobile/console hybrid in the 8th generation of gaming. People can debate this all they want (as it IS a game discussion forum) but the reasoning for this is more organisational in nature.

Pretty much all of the folks I work with or am friends with at studios which have released games for the Switch tend to call it a mid-gen system, along with the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X. It is categorized in this way largely due to the software development and technologies in play during this decade.

It is also looking like after the nineth generation, generation X is going to effectively be what comes next. A cross between 10 and whatever X means in regards to cloud streaming. The underlying technologies will still have their respective versions, though (shader model, vulkan, RTX, yadda yadda).

 

[slothrop]

It's completely nonsensical to think in generations in the modern gaming landscape. It's not an informative classification.

 

[IIFloodyII]

It's 9th gen, it's power not being comparable isn't really relevant, the Wii U and 3DS were part of the 8th gen, Switch is a follow up and next gen to both. It's just on the handheld time table, where they release a few years earlier than the home consoles usually do.

 

[Haribo]

It's 9th gen, it's power not being comparable isn't really relevant, the Wii U and 3DS were part of the 8th gen, Switch is a follow up and next gen to both. It's just on the handheld time table, where they release a few years earlier than the home consoles usually do.

Click to shrink...

Yeah but we aren't getting PS5 XSX games on Switch. We're still getting 360 and PS3 (AND even WII U which is damning) ports. This puts it squarely in the 8th gen category for myself. I see your point though but it just made me think. If its put into 9th gen its even more far off. And I really feel Nintendo will announce a new console during the 9th gen which makes it even more obvious.

 

[Aokiji]

It's in the 8th generation. Just because it came after the wiiU doesn't mean it's a new generation. It's basically a portable WiiU. As a hybrid it sits in both console & handheld situations

 

[Grunty]

I don't see how any of it is a debate and why it's made so unnecessarily complicated. Nintendo was two generations ahead of Sony, Sony a generation ahead of Microsoft. So the three of them are in their own different generations suited to how many consoles they've released.

Nintendo: NES, SNES, N64, GCN, Wii, Wii U, Switch
Sony: PS, PS2, PS3, PS4
Microsoft: Xbox, 360, One

So Nintendo is currently on their 7th generation, Sony their 4th, Microsoft their 3rd. Simple as that.

 

[IIFloodyII]

Yeah but we aren't getting PS5 XSX games on Switch. We're still getting 360 and PS3 (AND even WII U which is damning) ports. This puts it squarely in the 8th gen category for myself. I see your point though but it just made me think. If its put into 9th gen its even more far off. And I really feel Nintendo will announce a new console during the 9th gen which makes it even more obvious.

Click to shrink...

I do agree it probably depend on how Nintendo react, I expect a new Switch to happen (like what they did with the 3DS and New 3DS, so there to be a more powerful one that will get some games the normal Switch won't, but still be part of the Switch family/9th gen, not another gen), if it basically gets nothing once PS5/XSX take off it'll be more or less just a 8th gen system though, even if part of the 9th.

 

[daTRUballin]

I kinda always see the Switch as being to the Wii U what the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X are to the PS4 and Xbone, respectively. I know it's not exactly how things are considering the Switch IS a brand new console and successor to the Wii U rather than some sort of upgrade, but the Switch came out so much more earlier than the PS5 and Series X will that it almost feels wrong to consider the Switch as the beginning of Gen 9.

If we're not strictly categorizing generations by power, the Switch feels like half Gen 8 and half Gen 9 lol. It came out in the middle of Gen 8 and its successor will probably come out in the middle of Gen 9.

Fucking Nintendo. Having to make things confusing lol

 

[Mercador]

Does that mean the OG Xbox belongs to the first gen, 360 belongs to the second, Xbox One to the third, Xbox One S to the fourth, Xbox One X to the fifth, etc? Clearly not.

Click to shrink...

I meant the game box design (boxart?). As far as I know, Xbox One (any version) and PS4 (any version) got the same boxart. I would think the same for Nintendo consoles. If there's a boxart change, then it's a new gen.

Was the WiiU with the One and PS4? Then it was 8th and Switch was 9th gen. I wonder what all the fuss is about.

 

[Godzilla's Left Toe]

I don't see how any of it is a debate and why it's made so unnecessarily complicated. Nintendo was two generations ahead of Sony, Sony a generation ahead of Microsoft. So the three of them are in their own different generations suited to how many consoles they've released.

Nintendo: NES, SNES, N64, GCN, Wii, Wii U, Switch
Sony: PS, PS2, PS3, PS4
Microsoft: Xbox, 360, One

So Nintendo is currently on their 7th generation, Sony their 4th, Microsoft their 3rd. Simple as that.

Click to shrink...

Switch is a handheld also you are missing Color TV-Game

 

[Grunty]

Switch is a handheld also you are missing Color TV-Game

Click to shrink...

Switch is both a home console and a portable. Even Nintendo refers to it as being both. From their own website: "Nintendo Switch is designed to fit your life, transforming from home console to portable system in a snap."

https://www.nintendo.com/switch/system/

 

[Deleted member 11626]

Nobody can really define a console generation....and in light of that, the whole term needs to go. The Xbox One is a third gen system if we're calling the Switch ninth gen.

 

[Godzilla's Left Toe]

Switch is both a home console and a portable. Even Nintendo refers to it as being both. From their own website: "Nintendo Switch is designed to fit your life, transforming from home console to portable system in a snap."

https://www.nintendo.com/switch/system/

Click to shrink...

PR spin

 

[Rai_11]

I see it as 8th gen. And yes Wii U was also part of same generation. But people don't like to hear that.

I can't comfortably put it in a generation 3.5 years before said generation actually starts.

 

[KtSlime]

Yeah but we aren't getting PS5 XSX games on Switch. We're still getting 360 and PS3 (AND even WII U which is damning) ports. This puts it squarely in the 8th gen category for myself. I see your point though but it just made me think. If its put into 9th gen its even more far off. And I really feel Nintendo will announce a new console during the 9th gen which makes it even more obvious.

Click to shrink...

We aren't getting PS5 XSX games on anything right now, but I imagine they will mostly be getting the same games as coming to PS4 and XBone for quite a while. Switch isn't getting those games even now - not because of hardware differences (which there will be quite a gap, but not enough to make the games impossible to port) but because of "audience".

 

[TechnoSyndrome]

The way people refer to console gens is stupid and arbitrary. Any time someone on here says something like "the 8th gen" I have no idea what they're talking about.

 

[Multiverse Moo]

The way people refer to console gens is stupid and arbitrary. Any time someone on here says something like "the 8th gen" I have no idea what they're talking about.

Click to shrink...

That just means your interest in the lineage of the consoles since gaming became a thing isnt the same as others. Which is fine, but some of us use it often enough when discussing the history of gaming and being rude about it isn't helping anyone.

 

[MattB]

The problem with this thread is people saying I see it this way or that way. This isn't about how you feel this is about facts of the word. And based on that word it is gen 9.

 

[Grunty]

PR spin

Click to shrink...

Call it whatever you want then. But if Nintendo themselves say it's a home console, then it's a home console. There's no debating it.

 

[Jade1962]

The Switch will be the Best selling console per NPD, Media Create, Famitsu, and many other trackers on the launch year of the Next PlayStation & Xbox. Depending on adoption of the PS5 & next Xbox and slowing adoption rate of Switch it will could very well be the best selling console by many trackers in 2021 as well.

How will that not be a treated as a comparison by the press?

Click to shrink...

Wasn't the PS2 the best selling system the first year of the 360 generation?

I don't get the need to put consoles in generations anyway. Each company has different refresh cycles. With people it's hard enough to define generations and at least you have the human reproduction cycles and sexual maturity to kind of give you a window. With technology you can release a new console each month if you wanted to. Would each new console be a new generation?

 

[Top%Rattata]

Switch is currently being compared to PS4 and XB1, which are 8th gen.
Next year Switch will be compared with PS5 and XSX, which will be 9th gen. I can't imagine a 'Switch 2' launching before, what? 2023?
And so Switch will end up straddling the 8th and 9th gens.
As others have said, it's not really a meaningful classification in any way, so I just don't think about it too much.
I think that Switch is 'next gen' vis-a-vis the 3DS/Wii U, for what it's worth. To me, 'next gen' just means a company's next console and that's it really.

I will say though that it's weird even lumping the Switch in with gen 8 or gen 9 consoles, because the Switch is a hybrid and by nature so different to what they do. Putting them together seems to indicate that Switch is more like the home consoles than it really is; I think I'm in the camp of 'it's more handheld than home console'; or failing that, it's a hybrid, and ultimately just very different from PS/XB.

 

[TechnoSyndrome]

That just means your interest in the lineage of the consoles since gaming became a thing isnt the same as others. Which is fine, but some of us use it often enough when discussing the history of gaming and being rude about it isn't helping anyone.

Click to shrink...

The Magnavox Odyssey has never been relevant in a conversation about the PS2 generation. Calling it the sixth generation instead of just saying "The PS2 Generation" or some other console from that gen is just needlessly obfuscating things.

 

[OnanieBomb]

Ask Nintendo

 

[Raonak]

I'd include it as part of gen 8.5 along with ps4 pro, one x and stadia.

 

[AtomicShroom]

Does it *have* to belong in a generation? The concept is stupid and only exists because of competing interests.

 

[WillyFive]

I'd include it as part of gen 8.5 along with ps4 pro, one x and stadia.

Click to shrink...

Nah, it doesn't share hardware, infrastructure, nor naming/branding from the predecessor. It also succeeded its predecessor at about the same amount of time that its predecessor succeeded its predecessor (and the one before that).

It doesn't make sense to try to match the Switch to the same generation as PS4 and XO simply because they have been around long enough to see the Switch launch.

 

[jaymzi]

Definition of generation is time related. Therefore Switch is part of both 8th and 9th gen.

 

[KamenSenshi]

It's 9th gen. It is just early compared to the others as MS/Sony switched to enhanced consoles that they released when there would have normally been a new generation. If the Pro/X were PS5 this wouldnt even be a question, people would just say its under powered in the same way they said the Wii was compared to the PS3.

 

[McScroggz]

I think the reason this is so complicated is because there has been a traditionally straightforward performance improvement between each manufacturers consoles and often they have all launched within 2 or 3 years of each other. Not only that, but handhelds where on their own parallel path.

With the Wii U, it started the 8th generation but it was much closer to the PS360 so it felt last gen (not that it was). After a short period the Switch comes out, and while it was more powerful than the Wii U once again it was noticeably weaker than the consoles in the same time span - but just as important it became essentially the all-in-one home and handheld console. So we have a console that releases during a generation that is very underpowered compared to its competitors and many use it as a handheld console. That feels a lot more like it belongs within the 8th generation than starting a new one.

Console generations represent linear growth. Honestly that's the simplest way to view why we actually have a broad category. Otherwise we could just say "Sony's 5th generation" or "Microsoft's 4th generation."

Do this thought experiment: Nintendo decides to release a Wii 2. It's less powerful than the Switch, cheaper, but it does have a few minor improvements or changes. And for the sake of the argument let's say it launches in 2023.

It would be the next console from Nintendo and you could say the next generation of Nintendo consoles, but how is a console that is regressive in the primary way to distinguish console generations that launches midway in a generation a justifiable starting point for a new generation simply because it's one of the big three?

I've said it before but this feels like the decade debate about 2020 or 2021. One side seems to use way more common sense than the other. Surprisingly 9th generation is the most common opinion though so 🤷‍♂️

 

[Another]

It's 9th gen, it's power not being comparable isn't really relevant, the Wii U and 3DS were part of the 8th gen, Switch is a follow up and next gen to both.

Click to shrink...

Not saying I disagree, but this isn't a valid argument since by this logic the Master System would be a 4th gen system considering it's a successor to the SG-1000 which itself is a 3rd gen system.