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It had been going on for as long as I remember becoming interested in gaming — the Console War between the Sony PlayStation and the Microsoft Xbox. Now, something my teenage self could never have fathomed, is seemingly coming to pass. The entire idea of *console generations *— a clean, cyclical reset every seven or eight years — might actually be dying before our eyes.

For the first time in gaming history, Xbox and PlayStation are both stepping out of their exclusive corners. First, *Helldivers 2 *went over to the Xbox. Then, *Forza Horizon *came to PlayStation, and finally, the unimaginable happened — the next *Halo *is now coming to PlayStation, and now that the lines between Team Blue and Team Green have been crossed, the age of platform wars and exclusivity-based identities is very well in its twilight. What we’re entering now isn’t console generation, but what I believe is going to be a post-console era.

Exclusivity is dying before our eyes

And it’s nothing to complain about

For decades, exclusives were* everything*. They defined hardware, dictated loyalties, and sold millions of consoles. *Halo *moves Xboxes and cleared shelves. God of War sold PlayStations, and it was just... simple. If you wanted this experience, you needed that box. That unforgettable era gave gaming its tribes, its rivalries, and its iconic exclusive launches. Now, however, things have certainly changed significantly, and exclusivity means something entirely different.

Xbox has already been open about moving beyond the hardware race. Game Pass is the real moneymaker now, not the Series X. Microsoft wants its games absolutely everywhere, and on every screen possible — PC, console, cloud, handhelds, and even mobile. This all but makes one message clear: the Xbox brand is no longer a box, and it’s now a service through-and-through.

Console exclusivity is now becoming just “timed” exclusivity

It’s now just a matter of waiting

Meanwhile, PlayStation, for all its stubbornness about exclusives, has started quietly opening its gates, too. The PlayStation 4 absolutely wrecked Xbox in the console war from last generation with its strong, narrative-driven exclusives, and almost none of them were available to play on PC. Heck, both *Bloodborne *and Driveclub, two of my all-time favorite PS4 exclusives, still require a ton of tinkering (and praying) to emulate on PC. It wasn’t until the end of the decade that we finally got PlayStation exclusives on PC. With the PS5, however, once the remakes and remasters started pouring in, they began coming over to PC as well, much faster than the last one. Horizon Zero Dawn, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man, The Last of Us Parts I and II, *Death Stranding *— all on PC.

The line between console-exclusive and timed-exclusive is blurrier than ever, and it’s starting to feel like a formality more than a feature. If *Halo, Forza, *and *Flight Simulator *can show up on PlayStation, what’s sacred anymore? We’re watching, in real time, the foundation of “console identity” erode in real time. The idea that your plastic box somehow defines who you are as a gamer is starting to feel like a relic, and that’s simply not a bad thing.

The shift to handhelds is quietly fragmenting play

That plastic box in your living room is only getting less important

Something else fascinating is happening alongside this shift: both PlayStation and Xbox are expanding outward, not upward. There’s still talk about a PlayStation 6 and the next Xbox, but the truth? Their handhelds are very well their own flagships, and the Rog Ally X is a clear signal. PlayStation has the Portal, and sure, it’s had a different level of success, but both giants know the same thing: fixed hardware is no longer the future. The market is moving toward flexibility, and towards players wanting to take their games with them, instead of just being chained to a living-room console.

This isn’t even touching on cloud gaming, which, somehow, is great now? GeForce Now is so good now that we’ve got plenty of AAA games coming to Nvidia’s service on launch day itself, like Dying Light: The Beast, and even Arc Raiders, which is the talk of the town right now in the multiplayer space. The latency issues, the input lag, and the image quality — these are all non-issues with GeForce now, and all of it is improving faster than anyone expected.

So, when you take stock of where we are now, handhelds becoming extensions of consoles, and cloud gaming delivering console-quality visuals on laptops and tablets, it’s hard to see where the “next generation” of boxes even fits in. What would they sell us next time? Another rectangle with slightly better load times?

Asus ROG Ally X

9*/10*

Dimensions 11.02 x 4.37 x 1.45 inches (280mm x 111mm x 36.9mm)

RAM 24GB LPDDR5 7500 MHz

Display 7-inch 1920x1080 IPS touchscreen, 120 Hz, AMD FreeSync Premium

Battery 80Wh

The upgraded Asus ROG Ally X brings some welcome improvements to the original PC gaming handheld. It features a sleek redesigned chassis, faster RAM, more base storage, a much bigger battery, and improved joysticks over the first-gen ROG Ally. It also has a nice 120Hz 1080p display with AMD FreeSync Premium for smooth gaming.

Consoles will survive, but they might not matter

The ‘type’ of console you have will only be decided by what you can afford

Now, don’t get me wrong. Console aren’t going anywhere anytime soon at all. There will always be a market for plug-and-play gaming, for that easy, cohesive, no-upgrades-required experience. The PS5 and the Series X are excellent machines, and they’ve hit their stride beautifully this generation. But here’s the catch: they’re starting to feel less important. Not obsolete by any means, but... unnecessary. Because when your games, your saves, and your friends all exist in one seamless ecosystem that carries over from screen to screen, then what are you really tied to anymore?

The box you play on is starting to feel like an accessory instead of the centerpiece. And that’s a seismic change. Once upon a time, hardware was the gatekeeper of great experience, but today, it’s just the gateway. For someone who grew up during the golden age of console rivalries, when Halo 3 and Killzone 2 defined entire generations, this is bittersweet. There was a sense of magic in that waiting period between generations, in seeing what the next box could do that the last one couldn’t. That’s the anticipation that simply doesn’t exist anymore. The jumps between hardware are smaller, the ecosystems are bigger, and the real innovation is happening in accessibility and convenience, not silicon.

Credit: Sony PlayStation 5

Sony PlayStation 5

Screen Resolution 1080p, 1440p, 4K

Released November 12, 2020

The PS5 is still hard to get hold of but it’s undeniably one of the best ways to game right now. Sony’s library continues to impress and has some big hitters on the way.

The future isn’t about loyalty anymore, but access

This is inarguably a humongous shift, and I can’t wait to see it

It’s hard to overstate just how big this shift is. For years, console loyalty was practically gospel. You were either Team Blue or Team Green (with Switch players not being included in the chat) and that meant something. Now, the best “console” might just be whatever device gets you the experience you can afford, and the graphics settings* *you are okay with.

This might very well be the healthiest thing that’s ever happened to gaming. The walls between players are finally crumbling, and we’re entering a future where Xbox users can enjoy PlayStation games, and where PC and cloud players can jump into the same lobbies without worrying about platforms.

Yes, the PS5 and the Xbox Series X are magnificent machines. But they’re also the end of an era — the last generation that will matter in the way we once understood it. After this, it’s all just play, anywhere, and everywhere.

Microsoft Xbox Series X

Microsoft’s most powerful Xbox ever, the Xbox Series X can handle 4K gaming at up to 120 frames per second. Enjoy the latest and greatest that gaming has to offer on this cutting-edge console.

The future of gaming is platform-agnostic

The box under your TV will always be special, but it won’t be sacred anymore.

When we look back ten years from now, the PS5 and the Xbox Series X might be remembered as the final “true” consoles from the last generation defined by hardware, identity, and exclusivity. What comes next will still have the boxes, sure, but their relevance will fade in the face of streaming, handhelds, and a truly platform-agnostic future with no exclusives — just cross-play.

While that might sting for those of us who grew up romanticizing midnight console launches and hardware leaps, it’s also just as exciting. Gaming is about to become freer, fairer, and more accessible than ever before, with no blue or green walls keeping players in their own bubbles. The box under your TV will always be special, but it just won’t be sacred anymore.