The great console war ragged on for almost a decade, and it’s entertaining. Instead of a clear cut victor, the upcoming consoles have everyone winning the race.
A console war can be funny, but it is also tiring, divisive, and hateful. The idea of wishing abject failure to another because of their console of choice is weird. What came out of this generation, however, is everyone winning in their own way.
Sony moves towards exclusivity and next-gen offerings
The height of the war amongst the consoles started in the current era. In 2013, Playstation and Xbox tried to outsmart each other during E3 2013. This move resulted in a bigger rift that pushed one console over the other.
After a few years, Nintendo joined the fray with the Switch, and the PC master race started. Eight years after warring on who is the better console, the answer became everyone.
All consoles and platforms won the players’ minds and their wallets. They also did it in different ways, and every brand is moving to a different strategy. Everyone is doing their thing for the upcoming next-gen consoles.
Playstation is doing its best to move towards its exclusivity model. Sony President Jim Ryan wants to move on to the PS5. They want to create a ton of installs and offer exclusives that make the console compelling.
“One of our tasks is to take that PS4 community and transition it to PS5 at a scale and pace that we’ve never delivered before,” said Ryan in an interview.
Xbox, Nintendo, and PC, on the other hand, are going to different directions. They are trying to find ways to tout their advantages without going Sony’s way.
Xbox moving to a better ecosystem, Switch towards better core IP
In the console war so far, Xbox lagged behind but closed the gap in its latter years. Its offerings challenged Sony for the crown many times over. For the upcoming generation, Microsoft has other plans for their ecosystem.
President Phil Spencer is looking to create a device ecosystem for Microsoft. They’re trying to build more releases to develop not only the Series X but the PC.
“As a player you are the centre of our strategy,” Spencer said in an interview. “Our device is not the centre of our strategy, our game is not the centre of the strategy.”
Nintendo and the Switch are doing their own thing too. Nintendo is doing their best to develop their core medium and the IPs within it. Testaments to these efforts are their recent offerings that are some of the strongest ever.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a smash hit. Nintendo is diversifying with Super Nintendo World and its LEGO partnership.
Nobody is winning the console war, not because they’re failing. Nobody wins if everybody wins it.
Images courtesy of PlayStation, Xbox/Youtube Screenshot