How a Four-Decade Industry Fits Into One Timeline
A four-decade industry does not fit in one timeline, and the useful version does not try. A timeline video carries a spine of six or seven turning points, each of which changed who could play and what it cost, with everything else compressed into the movement between them.
Choosing the spine is the editorial work, and it is where most timeline videos collapse into a list of release dates. A release is only a turning point if something was different afterwards, and applying that test removes most of the entries a first draft contains. One thing to keep off screen is unlicensed material: box art, screenshots, and logos are owned by their publishers, and a timeline video is exactly the format that circulates far enough to attract a claim.
The timeline runs across seven scenes: one establishing the starting point and what playing cost then, five on turning points that each changed access, price, or where games were played, and one on the present as an unfinished position rather than a destination.
