As the years go by, so do new consoles and ways to play games arise. This decade saw a plethora of new systems and platforms enter the industry. While many of these blew our minds and hit the top of the sales charts, nearly an equal number of them toiled away in obscurity before calling it a day.
The following list will pay tribute to the most popular platforms of the decade, while acknowledging and paying respect to those that didn't quite reach their goals. Not all of the failures were bad systems. Most of them were pretty good, but for one reason or another failed to keep chugging along.
10 Popular: Switch
The youngest console on the list, the Nintendo Switch immediately proved its capabilities out of the gate with The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild as a launch title. Seeing a game this beautiful on the go was a revelation. It was so universally beloved, all ill will towards the company due to the Wii U was quickly forgotten. How can one stay mad at a company for long when they make games like Super Mario Odyssey? With numerous titles on the horizon, it doesn't look like the Switch will be going away anytime soon. .
9 Barely Knew Existed: PS Vita
The PSP was a decently successful system, though it didn't beat the Nintendo DS. The Vita, despite its impressive technical capabilities, limped out of the starting gate and whimpered away after just a couple of years. It could have stayed afloat, but Sony stopped producing games for it in 2015, only three years after its launch. With no first-party support, the system was doomed and deemed a failure. Before the Switch's launch, it was a still a decent choice for big RPGs and adventure games.
8 Popular: Xbox One
Microsoft's premiere console was saved by their killer app, Halo: Combat Evolved. The Xbox 360 managed to pull ahead that generation due to their focused efforts and Sony's terrible missteps with the PS3's launch. Ironically, the company made many of their competitor's mistakes when they announced the Xbox One.
Despite the troubled announcement, they still managed put a great console that is seeing success in North America. The PS4 is still beating, but the Xbox One is making great strides with the way people access content with Game Pass.
7 Barely Knew Existed: Ouya
Ouya was funded through Kickstarter intended to allow homebrew development. Despite a successful campaign, the actual release was less than stellar, and the most popular game for the system, Towerfall, was said to have sold less than ten thousand copies. By June of 2019, its services were shutdown, rendering the box nothing more than a door stop. Fortunately, Towerfall found its way to more mainstream consoles.
6 Popular: Mobile Gaming
While not a specific console or platform, mobile gaming really took a foothold within the industry this past decade. Phones got more powerful, allowing for more advanced games. Developers also got wise to the audience that plays on the go and made games according to their tastes. Some decry phone games as somehow being less than their console brethren, but if people are having fun with it then there is no reason to be so negative. The only problems come with the microtransaction market, which has since seeped its way into console gaming.
5 Barely Knew Existed: OnLive
Game streaming is a more tangible future these days than it was at the start of the decade. PlayStation Now allows players to stream games to the PS4 for a monthly subscription, and Google is banking on the idea of cloud gaming for Stadia, though it has yet to be seen if that is successful or not. Before all that, OnLive tried its hand at cloud gaming. While an exciting concept, reviews stated it was good for testing out games, but a physical purchase or download was still highly preferable. The bleeding edge service shut down in 2015 after being sold to Sony.
4 Popular: 3DS
The Nintendo DS was a monstrously successful handheld. Its successor, the 3DS, had a rough launch due to its high price tag and underwhelming launch library, but soon picked up the slack after a price cut. By the end of its life, it had become one of the most celebrated handhelds of all time.
With its ability to play DS games, its library of quality titles is still unmatched in terms of portable games. It's still valuable to own as well. The dual-screen set up means many of the games will have difficulties if Nintendo decides to port them to the Switch or future consoles.
3 Barely Knew Existed: PlayStation TV
PlayStation TV was basically a PS Vita one could hook up to their TV. Several games were incompatible, however, due to certain features impossible for a TV setup. Remote play was also available, letting players stream their PS4 to the console from somewhere else in the house. After low sales, PlayStation TV was discontinued after just two years on the market in 2016.
2 Popular: PlayStation 4
After a rough PlayStation 3 launch, Sony knew they had to come out of the gate swinging into the next generation. The PS4's announcement played all of its cards right. Along with a stellar launch lineup, the system also lived up to its promise as a multimedia center.
Video streaming was easier than ever on it and Spotify integration meant a whole world of music at one's fingertips. With less than a year until the next gen consoles come around, gamers still have plenty to look forward to in the PS4's future.
1 Barely Knew Existed: Wii U
One of the more recent stains on Nintendo's reputation, the Wii U barely established itself as a next generation console upon its announcement. Like the Sega Saturn and Genesis, it was stuck between cycles, barely keeping up with PS3 and Xbox 360's tech but also not unique enough like the Wii to carve out its own niche. Some also found the gamepad to be weird. Its weaker lineup didn't do it any favors, though some heave hitters still made their way there. It is not as dramatically bad a console as some say it is, but it certainly wasn't as good as the Wii or Nintendo Switch.