How to get my son to stop wanting to play videogames?

1. Unplug the game system.

2. Throw in trash can.

they really don't cause violence..let him play animal crossing and show him apocalypse movies and say "that's what happens when we get too wild.." IDK, man. but they don't cause violence. my 8-year-old brother plays Minecraft, platoon, Zelda and so many other fighting-ish games. he's the most chill 8-year old I've ever met. Get him to play a sport or something.

stop wasting our time , havent you heard he's a child and your the adult , some people are so dumb , just ban the game you moron .

You fail at trolling

Nothing wrong with him playing video games. At his age though you really need to make sure he is playing age appropriate games, there are plenty available games suitable for a child that age. 

Buy him a BB gun.

Make him do exercise and show him the consequences of exercising ALOT. 

Videogames don't make anyone violent and aren't evil. They actually help develop reflexes, puzzle-solving abilities and strategic thinking. Let your kid be a kid and have fun.

First up, there's no way you're going to avoid violence in all forms of media & keeping your son sheltered like is going to hurt him socially.  Even the Judeo-Christian Bibles (which covers the majority of religious beliefs in the US) has considerable about of violence in itself...  so you can even be hypocritical on that alone.

Second, video gaming is a socially acceptable activity.  While there is some community toxicity issues to deal with most online gaming platforms, he would most likely be sticking with friends.  Preventing him from playing games will hurt him socially in the process.

Third, gaming violence can provide some catharsis by providing an outlet to explore some fantasies in a low consequence environment.   It's safer your son to perform some questionable activities (like general crimes in Grand Theft Auto series, potential collisions between vehicles in Rocket League, beating up others in general fighting games & so on).  Granted the games do incur some type of consequence for such actions (like crimes incurred in the GTA series will bring attention of the police against you), but it's in a safe, virtual environment instead of done in real life... where such actions would incur some serious criminal & civil charges.

Instead of being a socially & technically inept troglodyte, how about performing some research on the games your son are interested in & check the content.  There's even the ESRB rating system (for the US, Europe has PEGI, Japan has CERO & other countries without a rating system can use the IARC standard) to see if a game is appropriate for your son & what content in the game that rating is based on.

As you mentioned that your son is currently 8, you may want to limit game offerings to ESRB E (ages 6+) or E10 (ages 10+) & these are generally acceptable to everybody.  You might be on the fence regarding ESRB T games (ages 13+), as these may have some content you may find objectionable.  You will likely reject ESRB M games (ages 17+) as these have way more objectionable content & retailers do card customers that may seem under age.

While it's ultimately your decision on how you proceed, I do hope that you reassess your stand on video games & reach a reasonable compromise with your son.  Should you fail to reach a compromise, your son will likely rebel behind your back...  either by playing games at their friends OR visit an arcade that you may not be aware of.  They may resent your stand on the matter, which may cause a wedge between you & your son.

just give him games that dont have anything to do with violence