The Console Wars Debate
It's the greatest debate in gaming that will go on for generations, what is the best company for game consoles?
Opinions have been split since the 1980's, way back when Nintendo used to dominate the scene and when their competitors were SEGA in the 90's, only for them to fall in 2001 after the overwhelming failure of the Dreamcast.
Nintendo dominated the early years of console gaming
In the modern day, the conversation is mainly between Xbox and PlayStation with Nintendo severely lacking behind in terms of quality and high profile hardware.
Xbox and PlayStation are always trying to one up each other, whether it be to purchase a company to then have exclusives or create something unique for their consoles such as handheld devices, or making multiple games available via a paywall.
In the last generation, according to VGCharts, which was contested between the PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the PS4 was the only one as of March 2021 that sold over 100,000,000 units, with the Switch in second and Xbox in third.
According to a recent poll carried out, 67% of participants said they preferred PlayStation over Xbox and they also said that the exclusives is what dragged them towards the blue side of gaming.
Exclusivity is very important for consoles, as it gives the general gamer a reason to buy that console and only that console. for Sony, their main mascot is Spider-Man. For Nintendo, Super Mario is their main mascot and has been since the early 80's, and for Microsoft, it is the Halo series that is their big selling point.
Nearly half of the participants said that it was down to the exclusives that Sony offered for the PlayStation that swayed them.
A further study showed that 62% of the participants thought that PlayStation did indeed offer the best exclusives and over 60% said that Spider-Man was the best exclusive.
Sony are seen to offer the best exclusives for their consoles with Spider-Man a fan favourite
Although Nintendo may no longer be in the conversation in the console wars, they still have what Xbox and PlayStation don't, and that's the use of handheld consoles, in their recent console, the Switch, it offers something unique that PlayStation or Xbox have never been able to offer since Sony released the PS VITA back in 2011.
Participants agreed that Nintendo offer the best family experience between the three console types, with over 50% saying that they would choose their console in this circumstance, whether it be the Switch, the ever Famous WII, or the DS.
As of right now, it is hard to see past PlayStation as the frontrunners in this debate, the Xbox Series X is lacking behind in sales compared to the PS5, with a difference of over 5.5 million despite the limited availability of the PS5.
The start had Nintendo as the kings, but right now PlayStation rules supreme based on opinion and sales.