The release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X will be as far from the PS3 and Xbox 360 as those consoles were from the launch of the Super Nintendo.
What's old is eventually new again is a cliche that tends to show its face in most forms of entertainment, and gaming is no different. Look no further than the number of remakes and remasters released over the past few years, and the new ones due to hit game store shelves in 2020.
Developers have even gone as far as to re-release mini versions of their older consoles. The NES, SNES, SEGA Genesis, and PlayStation 1 have all been re-released as miniature consoles in recent years. It's fair to say that all four of those systems would now fall under the retro umbrella. Some might even throw the PlayStation 2 and Xbox into that category at this point too.
However, if we were to ask if the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are considered retro consoles yet, we'd hazard to guess that most people would say no. There's an argument to be made for those two iconic consoles being considered retro at this point. When the next generation of consoles launches later this year in the form of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, it will have been 15 years since the release of the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Chances are that's a lot longer than most would have guessed if put on the spot. Let us blow your mind a little more, and further the argument that the PS3 and Xbox 360 will soon be retro consoles. The length of time between the release of those consoles and the end of this year is the same as the length of time between their release and the launch of the aforementioned SNES.
15 years on from the release of the SNES, the PS3 and Xbox 360 went on sale. 15 years after that, the first of us will have PS5s and Xbox Series Xs in our homes. When using nothing more than time and math, the 360 and PS3 have to be considered retro consoles by the end of this year. However, in the grand scheme of things, perhaps 15 years just doesn't feel as long as it used to, and we'll have to wait a while for mini versions of the seventh generation of console.