Gaming Editor Benjamin Oakden explores the history of the console wars and what it means for gaming culture
The 1980s was undoubtedly Nintendo’s decade. The Nintendo Entertainment System in the all-important markets of Japan and North America completely dominated the competition based on the quality of games like Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda. Although it had fared slightly better in the European market, Nintendo’s closest competitor, Sega, knew that their next console had to perform significantly better than their Master System had done to stand any chance of dethroning Nintendo.
In 1990, Sega appointed Tom Kalinske as their new Western CEO, who created an aggressive marketing strategy to try and give the new Sega console, the Mega Drive, the edge over the upcoming SNES. The Mega Drive, known as the Sega Genesis in North America, was positioned as being the more ‘mature’ console compared to Nintendo’s family friendly offerings, and the speed of Sonic the Hedgehog was used to give the misleading impression that the Mega Drive was the more powerful console, despite the SNES having the advantage in terms of specifications.
School playgrounds across the country were rife with debates around which side was better
The marketing push was a big success for Sega, with the Mega Drive’s lower price and strong library making it a hit with consumers. Nintendo, who wasn’t used to this level of competition, responded with an advertising campaign of their own, with the two companies regularly bringing out wild, bombastic adverts that called each other out by name. This aggressive and competitive atmosphere divided gamers into two camps: were you Nintendo, or were you Sega?
In the end it was Nintendo who won the first ‘console war’, with the Mega Drive selling around 40 million units compared to Nintendo’s 50 million. But more important than the actual results was the psychological impact it had on gamers; based on the marketing campaigns, people were beginning to identify with the companies behind their favoured console. School playgrounds across the country were rife with debates around which side was better- the console war was being fought not just on TV and in magazines, but by actual gamers themselves. Sadly, it’s a state of affairs that would come to divide the gaming community for the successive decades.
When you think about it, the idea of fighting a ‘console war’ is utterly absurd. You don’t get into arguments with people about your favoured brand of toaster or kettle, and yet when it comes to video games people revert into a tribal mindset, desperate to prove that their choice of console was better than yours. The fact that we mock people who share the same hobby based purely on brand loyalty is ridiculous, and only really serves the interests of the capitalist mega corporations that are behind video game consoles.
And yet, the Sega versus Nintendo war set the battlegrounds for decades of petty console wars. From PlayStation versus Nintendo 64 to PlayStation 5 versus Xbox Series X, generations of gamers have fallen into the trap of arguing with and hating people based on something as ultimately meaningless as their choice of console. The 21st century has seen a new side join the pathetic dispute, the so-called ‘PC Gaming Master Race’, a term originally created by YouTuber Ben ‘Yahtzee’ Croshaw to mock the elitism of people who get involved in such arguments, but was appropriated and used to fuel the flame war.
Console wars are a piece of gaming tribalism that has affected most of us
Sadly, console wars are a piece of gaming tribalism that has affected most of us. Whether it is toxic discussion on forums or the dreaded YouTube comment section, or the practice of ‘review bombing’, where people leave negative reviews on the Metacritic pages of games they take a partisan dislike to, examples of toxicity are everywhere. When I was in primary school, people divided themselves between whether they preferred Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 – pity the poor souls like me who opted for a Nintendo Wii.
If gaming truly wants to take itself seriously as an artistic medium on the level of film or music, which I genuinely believe it deserves to, then surely the first step must be to eradicate the shameful console wars. All of this toxicity is born out of a decades old marketing campaign that has no reason to divide and define a hobby in the way it has done. Whether you’re a person that opts for console, PC or even mobile gaming, there is an almost limitless amount of amazing experiences out there for us to enjoy on every platform. Let sharing and enjoying those positive experiences with fellow gamers define gaming discourse, rather than the antiquated console wars of old.
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