When we think of PC processors, desktops, and laptops, two names come to mind: Intel and AMD. Although Qualcomm entered the scene with Windows on Arm, the lion’s share of the market still belongs to these two heavyweights. These companies are in a constant battle over performance, price, and market dominance. But did you know that there is a niche where AMD has 100% market share, leaving Intel completely out of the picture?

This journey began almost 50 years ago with the release of the Atari 2600, a console that sold millions of units and set the stage for the video game consoles we know today. The console launched in 1977 and used a variant of the 8-bit 6502 CPU. The 8-bit era was a long one, lasting until the late 1980s when consoles such as the Sega Genesis (or Sega Mega Drive, depending on your region) switched to the 16-bit Motorola 68000.

The 32-bit era came a few years later with the Sony PlayStation, which featured the MIPS-R 3000 CPU. The first Xbox, released nearly a decade later, used a 32-bit Intel Pentium 3 variant.

The original PlayStation, released in 1994, featured a 32-bit MIPS-R 3000 RISC processor. The PlayStation 2, released in 2000, featured the Emotion Engine — a 64-bit MIPS-R 5900 processor with a 28-bit SIMD and a graphics synthesizer coprocessor. This was a precursor to the CPU-GPU integration we see today. The first Xbox shipped with a Pentium 3 CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce 3 GPU, essentially making it a PC in a box.

In 2005, the Xbox 360 introduced the Microsoft X CPU, featuring three 64-bit PowerPC cores and an ATI Radeon X 1800 variant GPU. The PlayStation 3, released in 2006, featured the Cell processor — a 64-bit PowerPC with multiple Single Instruction/Multiple Data (SIMD) processing elements — and an NVIDIA 7800 GTX GPU equivalent called the Reality Synthesizer. After these two consoles, the landscape would change dramatically in favor of AMD.

In 2013, the PlayStation 4 debuted with an AMD APU featuring an octa-core CPU and an AMD Radeon GPU based on the Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, similar to the Radeon HD 7870. This marked the beginning of AMD’s dominance, as they delivered both the CPU and GPU in a single chip. The Xbox One, announced just days after the PlayStation 4, also featured an AMD APU with a similar architecture.

Fast forward to the 2020s, and the Xbox Series S, X, and PlayStation 5 continue to use AMD APUs. These newer models feature octa-core Zen 2 CPUs and AMD RDNA 2 GPUs. The Steam Deck, releasing in 2022, will also use an AMD APU, featuring a quad-core Zen 2 CPU and an AMD RDNA GPU. Other handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go also use AMD hardware, further cementing the company’s strong position in the market.

So why are AMD consoles so popular? It’s simply down to their architecture. AMD’s dominance in the gaming console market lies in its ability to ship both the CPU and GPU in a single APU, simplifying the package. This lowers production costs, speeds time to market, and gives console makers like Sony and Microsoft more purchasing power. AMD’s willingness to work closely with these companies to create custom solutions has also been a key factor.

Using the industry-standard x86-64 architecture simplifies game development as many common tools like Unity and Unreal are cross-platform compatible. This reduces complexity and development time, making it a win-win for everyone involved.

Why not other architectures like MIPS or PowerPC? MIPS is essentially obsolete, and while PowerPC still exists, primarily in servers, it lacks a GPU offering. Intel could potentially replace AMD, but their current GPUs are considered underpowered in comparison. An Arm CPU with an NVIDIA GPU is another possibility, as seen in the Nintendo Switch. However, backwards compatibility issues make this a less likely option for future PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Looking ahead, AMD’s dominance looks set to continue. The next generation of consoles is already in development. While there have been rumors of potential shifts to Arm and NVIDIA, AMD’s strong relationship with the console makers, and AMD’s continued progress, makes a switch unlikely.