Much like the generations that preceded it, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One era did new things that revolutionized the gaming industry. Within a generation of consoles, numerous trends arise, and the industry responds to them accordingly. Popular genres take off and turn into a raft of new games over a span of several years, like what was seen with Fortnite and battle royale games, while others fall as casualties to dying trends. The developments from the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One generation have resulted in an unmatched level of quality as the next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles approach.

In a lot of ways, the PS4 and Xbox One generation was a stop-gap for gaming. When the PS4 and Xbox One launched, the consoles' hardware wasn't quite the next-gen leap some had hoped for, and performance shortcomings like long load times and mid-tier framerates required updated models - the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X - to be released just a few years later. Still, the generation has resulted in a number of innovations, and gaming is thriving at the end of the PS4 and Xbox One's life cycles.

Related: All 30 Games Microsoft Says Plays Best on Xbox Series X & S

As a result of major shifts in the entertainment landscape this generation, video games are now held to a high standard. Video streaming and other subscription services have become fixtures of modern entertainment, and gaming has had to evolve to meet the demands of its consumers. The most important thing about a new video game released in 2020 is that it's worthy of a person's time, and that's what this generation has revolutionized.

Open-World Gaming's Side Content Now Requires Depth

The Witcher 3 Blood & Wine Toussaint Landscape

Open-world games have become a staple in the industry and are now well established as the dominant formula for single-player, big-budget games. Coming into the PS4 and Xbox One generation, open worlds were getting bigger, but the side content wasn't nearly good enough to warrant the size of the world and was often forgettable. It's now not enough for AAA video games to just be large enough to take up a lot of time. Games need to be filled with meaningful side content that's worth doing.

In games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Horizon Zero Dawn, CD Projekt Red and Guerilla Games committed to their side quests. Players weren't just tasked with tedious objectives like killing five bears or retrieving something in the forest every time they started a quest. In both games, side quests often involved longer quest chains and prominent characters. These weren't main quests, but they were important side stories that fleshed out the world and built up secondary characters. In Horizon Zero Dawn, all of the prominent characters from the side quests played key roles in the events of the game's story. This also ended up being the case in games like God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2. None of the primary side quests in those games felt like a waste of time, and it helped round out the stories being told.

There were certainly still some of the more annoying tasks, but it was done in a way to amplify the roleplaying aspects of the game. It was busy work, but these games weren't built on using it to fluff out their play time. Most recently, Ghost of Tsushima had many pointless little tasks on the map - like following following spiritual foxes to various shrines or writing haiku reflective of Jin's journey - but they amplified the feeling of an open-world samurai game. Players didn't have to do those things if they didn't want to, but when done, they made the game feel more worthwhile and immersive. It's that feeling that the side content is important and worth a player's time that has become incredibly important to open-world games this generation and separates them from just being bland collect-a-thons.

Related: Best Open World Games Of The Xbox One Generation

Post-Launch Video Game Support Is Now A Necessity

Bloodborne No Fast Travel Why

DLC and post-launch content can certainly be a polarizing discussion. There are absolutely cases where post-launch content pulls in controversy, almost always related to pricing, but in general, DLC has become a requirement for games. It's not enough to make a game, release it, patch a few bugs and then move onto the next one. Whether it's a DLC pack, an expansion or future content updates, post-launch support is now an expectation for almost any PS4 or Xbox One game.

When a great game comes out, there is almost always a demand for more content, and players have often seen that request honored. Bloodborne released what was arguably the best piece of DLC this generation; The Witcher 3 had two brilliant expansions; both Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey received thorough expansions; God of War got a free New Game Plus update; and Ghost of Tsushima just received an entire multiplayer mode alongside New Game Plus. Games-as-a-service has certainly emerged as a model for this and is a much bigger topic for discussion, but it was born out of this requirement for post-launch support. Post-launch support doesn't just send a message to players that the game is worth investing in; it's also proven to be an efficient way for companies to make money, and it lengthens a game's lifespan.

Accessibility In Gaming Is A New Focus For Developers

The Last of Us Part 2 - Bow Kill

As the PS4 and Xbox One generation comes to a close, video game accessibility settings have emerged as one of the best trends in recent years. As gaming continues to grow, more players of all ages and abilities are being drawn in. These are players who might just want to casually pick up and play a game or players with various disabilities. Sure, easier difficulty settings have always been there, but accessibility settings are taking that to a new level. For players challenged with vision or hearing impairment, for example, simply dropping the difficulty level down may not help much. With the addition of settings such as colorblind modes and sound indicators, players faced with more specific challenges can customize their experience to their own needs. And for casual players who are struggling with certain aspects of a game, those areas are becoming customizable, as well.

A game like The Last of Us Part 2 can be quite difficult. Working with limited supplies, a high emphasis on sound and dark environments are all core to its gameplay, but there are people who will struggle with those elements, whether it's because of physical disabilities or a lack of familiarity. With the addition of accessibility settings, The Last of Us Part 2 allowed players to make it significantly easier to play with limited hearing or sight and even to make combat more forgiving or supplies easier to find. There were also accessibility options in Ghost of Tsushima, and it's already been announced that there will be quite a long list of accessibility settings in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. These settings are an incredible development for gaming and allow for people of all ages and abilities to have great experiences with games. Accessibility will assuredly become a staple of the industry moving forward, and that's a positive development.

Related: What Assassin's Creed Valhalla Can Learn (& Leave) From AC: Odyssey

This has been a terrific generation for gaming. While it may have been clunky at times, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have done an outstanding job of bridging the gap to the next generation. Microsoft and Sony are moving in somewhat different directions with the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, but both companies are pushing to provide excellent gaming experiences. And there is no doubt that the revolutions of meaningful side content, post-launch support and accessibility will help accomplish that goal.

Next: The PS4’s Biggest Gaming Achievements