The Story of Video Games: From PONG to Worlds Without Borders

From one white ball in a California bar to the largest entertainment medium on Earth — this is the 50-year story of video games, and the generations who grew up inside them. Pong, arcades, the crash, Mario, JRPGs, Game Boy, PlayStation, Pokémon, WoW, indie games and the open worlds of today. Chapters: 00:00 PONG 00:28 Atari & the arcade 00:55 Arcade golden age 01:17 The Great Crash 01:40 Nintendo's rescue 02:03 The birth of JRPGs 02:27 Game Boy & the 16-bit war 02:52 PlayStation & the 3D revolution 03:15 Pokémon — games made to share 03:35 PC, LAN parties & WoW 03:57 Gaming for everyone 04:14 Indie & mobile waves 04:33 The open-world era 04:53 Digital & cloud age 05:11 Now · the biggest medium 05:29 Press Start — your next chapter Which game started YOUR story? Tell us in the comments 👇