Best Video Game Console Reveals Of All Time, Ranked

Summary

• Successful console reveals often lead to high sales — captivating viewer attention is crucial.
• Sega Dreamcast and Sony PSP reveals excellently received, leading to strong market positions.
• Microsoft Xbox Series X reveal focused on games, learning from the rocky Xbox One reveal.

While video game consoles often blend in with the furniture after they have been brought into the home, the most peculiar way they will ever appear is when they are first shown off to the public. Although exceptionally successful pieces of hardware have succeeded in spite of blundered initial reveals, it often goes hand-in-hand that a successfully received reveal equates to a high-selling console.

From industry-defining inaugural entries into the video game console market to last attempts at market relevance, video game console reveals have been interpreted in many different ways, but the most successful consoles have often captured a viewer’s attention early on.

8

Sega Dreamcast

A Hopeful Yet Bittersweet Last Gasp From The Home Of Sonic The Hedgehog

Although Sega’s sixth-generation console would ultimately be the great Nintendo rival’s last foray into the video game hardware space, the Sega Dreamcast debuted to seemingly great critical acclaim. Proclaimed to “combine all the best features of console, PC and Internet gaming,” the May 1998 Tokyo reveal of the Dreamcast highlighted the system’s “built-in modem, online play, VMU memory cards with their own mini-screens, and a library that felt fresh at every turn.”

Cutting-edge 3D models were highlighted in the presentation with the usual quirky Sega charm that still accompanied the company even during their last-ditch console effort, and Sega partner Microsoft remained “tremendously excited” about the Dreamcast’s futuristic-for-the-time internet connectivity. However, it is hard not to look at the company’s Sega New Challenge Conference as the calm before the Dreamcast’s stormy tenure on store shelves.

7

Sony PlayStation Portable

An Expectation-Shattering Look At Sony’s First interpretation Of Handheld Gaming

After nearly 20 years of market dominance by Nintendo’s handheld system offerings, Sony — which had already lopped off mass swathes of Nintendo’s home console market share — had its eyes on the portable system market. As a result, on May 11, 2004, Sony officially revealed the appropriately named PlayStation Portable alongside a whole host of impressive-looking titles and versatile multimedia functionality.

Especially compared to Nintendo’s handheld system at the time — the Nintendo DS — Sony’s PlayStation Portable was arguably the most powerful handheld seen up to that point. Showcasing “impressive 3D graphics that rivaled early PS2 games, with a vibrant widescreen display, comfortable controls, and a then-impressive (for a portable device) web browser,” the PlayStation Portable reveal was not just another hardware reveal from Sony, but the company’s foray into truly untested waters.

6

Microsoft Xbox Series X

An Oddly Artistic Presentation Of Microsoft’s Ninth-Generation Console

Although Microsoft struggled immensely with the performance of its eighth-generation home console, the Xbox One — arguably in no small part down to its own conversely poor console reveal — the December 2019 Game Awards provided the Washington-based console manufacturer with a fitting stage to reveal its next-generation plans.

Set against an oddly avant garde use of audio footage and abstract environments alongside token appearances of Xbox mascot iconography, the Xbox Series X’s reveal was widely revered as “focused on games rather than it being an entertainment device” — in stark comparison to its predecessor. Pairing the Xbox Series X’s artistically-styled launch alongside the annual celebration of video games was rationalized by Head of Xbox Phil Spencer as he hoped Microsoft’s flagship ninth-generation console would “enable the next most creative, most award-winning, most played, most loved games” of the period to be made.

5

Sony PlayStation 4

Sony’s Smart Focus On High-Quality & Affordable Gaming Experiences

While Sony’s 2006 home console, the PlayStation 3, would remain “technically ambitious but commercially a disaster at launch,” leaving Sony to effectively spend the entirety of the seventh console-generation on the back foot, many lessons from that period were learned and understood. As a result, on February 20, 2013, the PlayStation 4 was revealed.

Considering that the PlayStation 4 would go on to be an almost unparalleled success, “becoming one of the best-selling video game consoles ever and putting Sony in a great position to keep its momentum” with the PlayStation 5, it seems fitting that its reveal would position the eighth-generation console incredibly well. Showcasing not only a whole host of exclusive first-party titles such as Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, and Infamous: Second Son, but the elaborated social and hardware features of the new hardware, the PlayStation 4 reveal positioned Sony back into a position of strength against the Xbox One — a strong position that has held even into future generations.

4

Nintendo Switch 2

A Subdued Yet Tantalizing Look At Nintendo’s Hybrid Console Successor

Although the success of a video game console’s reveal often pivots around the number of surprising elements it can show, the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal in January 2025 managed to simultaneously show off much-rumored elements of its design while keeping many of its properties a secret for just a while longer.

While many of its iterative design concepts — such as its magnetically connected Joy Con 2 controllers and its mouse mode controller configuration — were leaked ahead of time, the newly-added C button’s Game Chat and Game Share functionality remained hidden until the console’s April 2025 Nintendo Direct presentation. As such, bolstered by the appearance of a — then untitled — Mario racing title that would go on to be known as Mario Kart World, the question of “will the Nintendo Switch 2 be just as revolutionary as the Switch” that many players were seemingly asking was ultimately answered with a resounding yes.

3

Microsoft Xbox 360

A Bombastic Celebration Of Not Just Video Games But Youth Culture In The Noughties

Despite the humble platform established by Microsoft’s 2001 inaugural entry into the console hardware space, the Xbox 360 soon used that platform to go on and become “one of the most captivating consoles in gaming history.” While this was no doubt because Microsoft seemingly cultivated an “era of instant-classic exclusive titles” around its seventh-generation console hardware, the Xbox 360’s bombastic May 2005 reveal on MTV is arguably the greatest console reveal the Washington-based manufacturer has provided for fans.

Airing as MTV Presents Xbox: The Next Generation Revealed — and acting as much as a general party atmosphere than a console reveal — the Xbox 360 reveal event has sincegone down in history for its pure nonsensical early-2000s ‘coolness.’ From being hosted by Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood to featuring performances by The Killers and appearances from a whole slew of major celebrities, MTV Presents Xbox: The Next Generation Revealed not only provided the video game industry with the first look at Microsoft’s image of the ‘digital revolution’ but a wholly unique experience.

2

Nintendo Switch

The Ultimate Convergence Of Nintendo’s Home & Handheld Consoles

Although Nintendo’s consistent strategy of presenting players with parallel video game experiences — with both handheld and home console hardware — the reveal and launch of its eighth-generation consoles were seemingly stunted at the very least. As the 2011 launch of the Nintendo 3DS showed that the portable console’s “early goings weren’t exactly pleasant” and the Wii U “couldn’t quite find the sweet spot,” even at its 2012 launch, Nintendo’s October 2016 reveal of the Nintendo Switch had mounting pressure to succeed.

As such, while Nintendo had suffered middling reception to its reveal of its two former pieces of hardware, the hybrid nature of the Nintendo Switch proved to be a titillating proposition for many players. Showcasing not only the use of Joy Con controllers and the console’s ‘play anywhere’ attitude, but promotional footage of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo’s promotion of the Nintendo Switch’s unique selling point and the acclaimed software that would accompany it. Fittingly, “if someone bought a Switch on launch day, it was because they wanted to play Breath Of The Wild,“ and this reveal no doubt helped with that attachment rate.

1

Sony PlayStation

A Pivotal & Extensive Price Cut That Supercharged Sony’s Video Game Ambitions

May 1995 is notable in the video game industry for not just the first instance of the Electronic Entertainment Expo or the shadow-drop announcement of the Sega Saturn’s launch, but also the reveal of the inaugural console in what would become arguably the dominant hardware manufacturer in the video games industry. Sony’s first “incredible console was the system that many of the best games in the entire industry called home,” and it ultimately dethroned Nintendo’s position of power in the home console space alongside kicking Sega to the curb, in a move that seemingly resulted in the company’s prompt release of the Sega Dreamcast.

Despite the pricing blunders that Sony would later commit with consoles such as the PlayStation 3, Stephen Race — then manager of the PlayStation group in North America — not only undercut Sega’s hardware price by $100 but ultimately led Sony’s first console to market-dominating heights. In a moment that has gone down in the history of not only E3 but video game industry history, Stephen Race “placed his mouth near the podium microphone and uttered ‘$299.'” — effectively positioning the Sony PlayStation as the cheapest and most accessible of the fifth generation of home consoles.