The History Of Games Consoles: 1972-2018 #infographic

The first commercially produced video games console was the Magnavox Odyssey, which hit stores all the way back in 1972. Since then, there have been hundreds of machines and thousands of games vying for space in family lounge rooms.

This infographic provides a snapshot of the past 45 years. The infographic below comes courtesy of games site Fanatical breaks down the chief milestones in console gaming since Ralph H. Baer brought the Magnavox Odyssey to the world.

All the classic historic moments are here - from the meteoric rise and catastrophic fall of the console industry in the '70s and early '80s, to the crazy genius of the Nintendo Switch. The graphic also touches on the arcades, landmark games and industry facts and figures. Hadouken!