Getting into the console game is a tough business. The last company to do it and truly succeed was Microsoft with their Xbox line. Before then, Sony made itsentry into the space with the PlayStationand revolutionized the medium.
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Most others aren’t so lucky, however, andwhimper out in obscuritydue to low sales and a weak hardware lineup. To celebrate both sides, the following list will detail consoles with the longest lifespans and those that barely started teething before being put out to pasture. The latter consoles were not necessarily bad, but poor marketing decisions and other factors contributed to their downfalls.
Updated June 14, 2025 by Jason Wojnar:Making a bad game is one thing, but having an entirely failed console generation is a particular blight on a company’s reputation. Just as one example, people will always point out the Wii U and the Virtual Boy to poke fun at Nintendo despite all their success and contributions to developing gaming as a medium.
This list likes to keep things fair, though, so it is necessary to update it and add a couple of more consoles, including a massively successful piece of Nintendo hardware. Ironically enough, some of these failed consoles are more valuable now and highly sought after by collectors precisely because they lasted so few years. It does not make the games any more fun to play, though.
12Longest: PlayStation 2 (2000 - 2013)
Everybody who owned one has nothing but fond memories of the PS2. Its lineup started strong in the first couple of years withtitles likeTimeSplitters,Metal Gear Solid 2, andSilent Hill 2, and maintained a steady trajectory with later releases likeGod of WarandShadow of Colossus.
Its price cut, later on, continued its relevance even after the PS3 launched, finally being discontinued in 2013, the same year the PS4 launched. Many of its best games have been ported to modern consoles, ensuring its greatest software lives on.
11Shortest: PlayStation TV (2013 - 2016)
PlayStation TV was basically aPlayStation Vitahooked up to the living room setup. Unfortunately, some titles were incompatible, as several features from the Vita only worked when on the go.
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The base console wasn’t a magnificent success, so one should not have expected an offshoot to fare any better. In Japan, the micro-console lasted from 2013 to 2016, while in the United States and Europe it stayed on the shelves only from 2014 to 2015. With this lifespan, it’s a surprise anybody in those territories remembers it at all.
10Longest: Game Boy (1989 - 2003)
The Game Boy was not the strongest handheld on the market, but Nintendo understood the perfect compromise between power, convenience, and price. At $89, it was one of the cheapest handhelds on the market. It launched withTetrispackaged in, and later titles likePokemon Red and Blueensured its staying power for many years.
Few handhelds last even half as long these days, but the Game Boy’s audience expanded far beyond the typical gaming demographic, giving it astronomical sales numbers. Even though the games are extremely simple by today’s standards, there are some titles thathold up well today, likePokemon,The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, andFinal Fantasy Adventure.
9Shortest: ColecoVision (1982 - 1985)
The gaming market was a totally different beast in the days before the NES hit western shores. Atari dominated the scene and several consoles came and went in a short span. ColecoVision tried to take on the Atari beast but came a little too late.
It had a strong start and was beating out its competitor, the Atari 5200, but the 1983 video game crash caused the company, Coleco, to back out of the industry altogether, ultimately discontinuing the console in 1985.
8Longest: Nintendo Wii (2006 - 2020)
The Nintendo Wii had an incredibly impressive launch, attributed to its low price point, accessibility, andfamily-friendly launch lineup. However, it did not maintain momentum throughout its life and was discontinued in 2013, a perfectly respectable console lifespan.
The story of the Nintendo Wii does not end here, though. The console continued to receive support from publishers and studios for years afterward. Most notably,Just Dance 2020was released on the console. The Wii still maintained popularity in hospitals and nursing homes, and games like this are perfect for the residents there.The Nintendo Switch was three years oldby the time the last games came out on the Wii in 2020.
7Shortest: Nokia N-Gage (2003 - 2006)
In the time before smartphones reached auniversal design standard thanks to the iPhone, many companies were trying their hand at revolutionizing the mobile market. Nokia put a lot of faith behind the N-Gage and pushed it hard with marketing and a lineup of games from popular IPs likeTomb RaiderandRed Faction.
The device itself looks more like a console than a phone, but it did not hit all the marks to be a comfortable gaming device. The screen was small, the games played poorly, and the buttons did not feel comfortable to press. After just three years the system was discontinued and became a punchline for many gamers.
6Longest: Atari 2600 (1977 - 1992)
Before the video game crash of 1983,Atari was king of the video game industry.Other consoles made notable entries into the market, but the 2600 had the largest library and the brand became synonymous with video game goodness. After the NES rejuvenated the market, Atari hung in there as the budget alternative to Nintendo’s cutting-edge hardware.
Games likePitfall,Kaboom, andRiver Raidgave kids endless hours of fun.After the crash, there was still demand for new games, even if it was not the hot new item anymore. Its two successors, Atari 5200 and 7800, couldn’t come close to the original’s victories in the market and ended up being discontinued before the 2600 finished its impressive fifteen-year lifespan.
5Shortest: Dreamcast (1999 - 2001)
Sega’s last effort into the console spacecrashed and burned after just two yearsdespite its impressive capabilities and a legendary lineup of games includingShenmue, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, andSoul Caliber. It also had the ability to surf the Internet, years before any other home console let owners browse the World Wide Web
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While a technically impressive machine, the PS2 came out shortly after its launch and ate its lunch in every way possible. While it was sad to see it go so early, its best games have since been re-released on modern consoles. Still, there’s something special about being able to play these titles on the original hardware, even if the controller design was slightly awkward.
4Longest: NES (1983 - 2003)
The NES and its lineup revolutionized the medium. Just a couple of years prior to its release in the west, gaming was in a low spot, and most considered its heyday to have long since passed.
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When it hit North America and people got their hands on now-legendary games likeSuper Mario Bros.andThe Legend of Zelda, gaming proved it was here to stay. Even after the SNES and N64 brought new advancements to the medium, the NES stayed alive until 2003. A surprising amount of its library still holds up today.
3Shortest: Gizmondo (2005 - 2006)
Before the age of smartphones, numerous handheld platforms came out touting multimedia services. Of them, only the PSP got off the ground, and more for its brand recognition and library than its ability to play music and video.
The N-Gage was a famous failure, but Gizmondo crashed so hard, few remember the name. It was said to have moved less than twenty-five thousand units, an impressively small number. We feel it should win some sort of reward for that alone. Just looking at the design, it looks more like a Tiger Electronics toy than an honest handheld gaming device.
