# Game console

> A computer built only to play video games on your TV, with a controller.

- Level: Basic
- Topics: Hardware
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/game-console/
- In Spanish: [Consola de videojuegos](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/game-console/)

A **game console** is a computer designed for one job: running video games. It plugs into a TV, you hold a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse, and you turn it on and play without installing drivers or tweaking settings. The best-known families today are Sony's PlayStation, Microsoft's Xbox and the Nintendo Switch, which is also a handheld you can take out of the dock.

Inside, a console has the same kind of parts as a gaming PC: a CPU, a GPU, memory and fast storage. The difference is that every unit of a given model is identical. Game studios know exactly what hardware they are writing for, so they can squeeze performance out of it for years, while PC games have to adapt to thousands of combinations.

Consoles are also a business model. Makers often sell the hardware with thin margins, sometimes at a loss, and earn money from games, online subscriptions and a cut of every game sold in their digital store. That is why each console mostly runs games approved for its own platform, and why some games are "exclusives" that only exist on one of them.

## An analogy

A coffee capsule machine. It does one thing, it does it with one button, and the company makes its real money selling the capsules that only fit that machine.

## Keep in mind

- A computer specialized in games, connected to a TV and played with a controller.
- Every unit of a model is identical, so developers can optimize for it.
- PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch are the main families today.
- Makers earn mostly from games, subscriptions and store sales, not the box.

## Go deeper

- [Video game console on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console)
- [Handheld game console on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handheld_game_console)

## Related terms

- [Microsoft](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/microsoft/): The company of Windows and Office, now just as much a cloud company with Azure.
- [CPU](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/cpu/): The chip that runs your programs, one instruction after another, very fast.
- [GPU](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/gpu/): The chip that does thousands of simple calculations at once.