Video games are getting popular among all age groups and it is becoming a social interactive platform, providing an enjoyable time to the players. Many gaming platforms around the world are constantly updating their features and competing among themselves to give engaging and awesome gaming experiences to players.
In the early days, PC and consoles were the only gaming platforms. With the emergence of new technology, video game platforms were diversified to mobile gaming, cloud gaming, AR and VR gaming.
Recent statistics show the annual revenue breakdown of major gaming platforms such as Mobile ($90.7 billion), Console ($49.2 billion), and PC gaming ( $35.9 billion). These gaming platforms account for the major revenue share in video game development. So, most games are made keeping these platforms in mind.
Each video game platform comes with unique features, specifications, and guidelines. Hence, it is necessary to consider their various features like CPU, graphics quality, memory, and other features before developing a video game.
Video game platforms consist of software and hardware systems that facilitate the player to play video games. These platforms have specific infrastructure that allows people to launch or play games.
Below, I have given the list of gaming platforms with brief definitions.
1) Game Consoles — Game consoles are platforms created exclusively for playing video games. The consoles are connected to any monitor (like a TV, etc) and come along with a controller for playing games.
2) Handheld Consoles — These consoles are created to be held in hand while playing. Like common consoles, they are also created for gaming. Their additional advantage is they are portable and come with controllers.
3) PC Gaming — PC gaming is using the computer system to play video games. You need a monitor, graphics card, and connection cables to connect the gaming PC.
4) Mobile Gaming — Mobile and tablet devices are used for playing video games. Nowadays gaming mobiles are being released in the market with custom gaming features in it.
5) Cloud Gaming — Cloud gaming is playing games on the internet without needing any hardware. The games can be played on mobile phones, PC, or Smart TVs.
6) VR/AR Gaming — Virtual reality and augmented reality platforms provide a realistic gaming experience to the players. This technology uses VR/AR headsets that can be connected to the computer system to play realistic games.
In addition, video game platforms are categorized into two major types. They are
Below, I have given a brief account of the best video game platforms for game development.
Portable video game platforms are pretty convenient as you can take them anywhere you travel and play while in transit. There are various portable gaming platforms like Nintendo, Logitech G Cloud, etc.
The below list consists of the best portable gaming platforms.
The mobile gaming market alone accounts for 50% of gaming when compared to PC and Consoles. Statistics show that it might grow up to 60% by the end of 2023. This is because mobile devices are affordable and can be used for various purposes, unlike gaming consoles which are only used for gaming.
Despite that, the past few years have seen the rise of gaming mobiles in the market that comes with awesome features for gaming. Some of the famous gaming mobiles are ASUS ROG Phone 7, Nubia RedMagic 7 Pro, Black Shark 5 Pro, and Apple iPhone 14 Plus.
Adding to that, Android and iOS are the most famous mobile platforms used for gaming. In today’s world, a mobile game development company employs cross-platform game development to produce compatible games for both Android and iOS devices with little modifications.
Nintendo Switch OLED was released in October 2021. They top the list of the best gaming platforms.
Nintendo Switch OLED is one of the best handheld consoles available. It has many updated features from the original Nintendo Switch and it is highly flexible. They also come with a stand and joy-con.
Nintendo Switch OLED has many classic games like The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario, and Pokemon.
Puzzle games, action-adventure games, indie games, platformers, party multiplayer games, and racing games were some famous game genres in Nintendo Switch OLED.
Display: 7-inch OLED screen
Storage: 64 GB internal storage (expandable)
Modes: Tabletop mode, Handheld mode, and TV mode
Resolution: 720p (handheld), 1080p (docked)
Frame Rate: 60fps
Battery life: 8 to 9 hours
Valve Steam Deck was launched in February 2022 and is one of the best handheld gaming consoles.
Valve released a handheld console, the steam deck, in 2022. Most of the games in the Steam platform are available to play in Valve Steam Deck. It has amazing features and is easier to carry as they come with less weight.
LINUX is the operating system used in this platform. The OS supports PortonDB which allows Windows-compatible games to be played on Steam Deck. You can even play EPIC games here with the support of SteamOS.
Display: 7-inch LCD screen
Resolution: 1280×800, (720 pixels for gameplay)
Storage: 64 GB to 256 GB
Frame Rate: 60 fps
Battery life: 6 to 7 hours
Operating System: Linux
Non-portable platforms are not portable and are fixed to a place. Non-portable gaming devices typically offer higher graphics quality than portable gaming devices. There are many non-portable gaming platforms like the PS series, Xbox series, etc.
From them, the best non-portable video game platforms are listed below:
Play Station 5 was launched in 2020 by Sony. It is the leading gaming platform in the market.
Sony’s PS5 is the top mentioned in this category as the best video game platform, as it comes with cutting-edge features. Sony is the leading brand in gaming consoles and PS5 is the most in-demand platform in the market right now.
Sony released PlayStation5 in 2020. Sony says PS5 might last for 7 years without the need for any upgradation or replacement. It is because the next version of PS6 might not be released until 2027.
Many exclusive games like Demon’s Soul, Horizon Forbidden West, and Astro’s Playroom are available on PS5. They have backward-compatible features and all games on PS4 are available to play here.
Display: 4K Blu-ray player, 120 HZ refresh rate
GPU: 10.3 teraflops RDNA2 GPU
Storage: 825 GB SSD
Memory: 16GB DDR6 RAM
CPU: High-quality processor of 3.5 GHz, 8 Core AMD Zen
Frame Rate: 120fps
Resolution: 4K
XBox Series X was launched in 2020 by Microsoft. It is one of the best gaming consoles with the best graphics quality.
Xbox series X comes with amazing video game quality and it is the second-best video game console in the market after PS5. The X series has amazing features, better graphics quality, and storage capacity when compared to the S series.
X series have better graphics processing with 12 teraflops than Sony’s PlayStation 5 which has only a 10.3 teraflops GPU. It has many amazing games like Halo Infinite, Forza Motorsport, State of Decay 3, Everwild, and many more.
X box series X was released worldwide in November 2020. Microsoft said that the Xbox series will probably last for 10 years with proper maintenance.
Display: 4K UHD Blu-ray, 120 HZ refresh rate
GPU: 12 teraflops with @ 1.825 custom RDNA 2 GPU
Storage: Internal storage capacity of 1TB (expandable)
Memory: 16GB GDDR6 w/320 bit-wide bus
CPU: Processor of 3.8GHz, 8 X Core Zen
Frame Rate: 120fps
Resolution: 4K
Gaming PC is an excellent video game platform as you can get a lot of games on PC, even you can play many games that are available on PS and Xbox. Now, even Microsoft and Sony are now working to get all of their games on PC.
Research on video game development platforms shows that 63% of developers make games for PC. It further shows that PC gaming alone will make $46.7 billion by 2025.
They have better graphics quality, due to the increased technological development over time.
Some of the best PC gaming devices include Alienware Aurora R15, Acer Predator Orion 2000, Corsair Vengeance, etc.
To sum it up, there are many video game platforms that have unique features and specifications. Choosing the right gaming platform depends on the requirements of the video game developer. The graphics quality, processor, memory, audience reach, latest technology, and many other technical features are considered before developing the video game for a particular platform.
Many game studio offer cross-platform game development services to stream the games across various platforms. Juego Studios is the leading game development company with many years of experience in game development. Our expert game developers work with various gaming platforms making games in multiple genres from hypercasual to AAA games.
PlayStation 5 tops the list as the best gaming console in 2023. They come with the best graphics quality and contain many popular games.
Nintendo Switch OLED is the best handheld gaming console in 2023. They come with a 7-inch OLED screen which provides better graphics quality.
Video game platforms fall under two basic categories.
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