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Sort Platforms by Platform Release Date

LaunchBox for Windows

📋 Summary

Add the ability to sort platforms based on the release date of the platform itself, rather than the release dates of the games within it.

❗ Problem

Currently, the generic “Release Date” sorting only applies to games:

  • Users cannot sort platforms chronologically by when the hardware launched

  • Difficult to browse gaming history in timeline order

  • Exploring the evolution of gaming systems is cumbersome

  • Existing platform sorting options do not support historical ordering

While users can manually assign a custom Sort Title / Sort Order to platforms, this is entirely manual and becomes tedious to maintain for larger collections.

💡 Proposal

Add a dedicated platform release date sorting option:

  • Introduce:

    • Platform (Release Date)

    • Or Sort Platforms by Release Date

  • Place it alongside existing filters such as:

    • Platform

    • Platform Category

  • Use the platform’s actual hardware release date for sorting automatically

🧩 Use Cases

  • A user browses systems from oldest to newest

  • A user explores the “history of video game systems” chronologically

  • Collections can be organized by gaming generation naturally

  • Retro focused users get a more historically accurate browsing experience

  • Users avoid maintaining large manual sort order lists

⚠️ Considerations

  • Requires consistent platform release date metadata

  • Could support ascending and descending sorting

  • Should integrate cleanly with existing platform filters and views

Posted by TsikZak ·
Status: Open To Community3 comments

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Comments3

  • AstroBob changed status to Open To Community
    Team•

    May 18

    Pinned

    Hi there!

    Thanks so much for submitting this request and for taking the time to explain your use case — that context is always super helpful.

    I’ve gone ahead and fleshed out the main idea using the info you provided, and I’m opening it up to the community for further discussion and feedback. Please let me know if this fleshed-out version doesn’t match your original intended request.

    Feel free to let me know if you have any extra thoughts, examples, or edge cases you think might be relevant!

    Cheers,
    The LaunchBox team

  • TsikZak

    •

    May 18

    Thank you, that matches exactly what my proposal is all about, and ever more.

    Thank you very, very much. 😃

  • TsikZak

    •

    May 18

    Short Platforms by their release date (not game release date)

    The idea is simply to add a “show Platforms sorted by their release date” or more conveniently “Platform (release date)” to the drop down list (under the search bar ) between “Platform” and “Platform Category” filters.
    The (generic) “Release Date” does not do the job if you want to explore the systems from the oldest to the newest ever made… eg. exploring the “History of Video Game Systems”

    It’s a small thing which I found missing from the list.

    Thank you. 😄