The video game industry has long been characterized by rivalries between companies that develop the games and the consoles. From Atari monopolizing a budding early home market, to Nintendo battling Sega for 16-bit supremacy, to the Wii sneaking to the top of the pyramid through innovative control and gameplay methods. Competition and rivalry have defined the industry. In 2024, with Microsoft just announcing that some of its games are going multiplatform, and mobile/tablet gaming being extremely popular with Generation Alpha, are we at a turning point where there will be no more console exclusives and console rivalry? Is this the end of the “console wars?”
Xbox Games releasing on Nintendo and Sony Platforms?
Microsoft confirmed last Thursday that four previously exclusive first-party games will be heading over to other platforms in the not-so-distant future. While no platform specifics were given, we do know that the games are all over a year old. This seems to be a new direction for Xbox that has been alluded to, and rumored for a while. Traditionally, even since the days of Sega being a console maker, the companies that produced the big consoles kept their first-party games exclusive to its own platforms. Nintendo releases first party games on its handhelds (as in the case with the Game Boy), but almost never release titles on rival platforms. Sometimes, very rarely, titles did appear on rival platforms, such as Microsoft allowing Banjo-Kazooie games to appear on Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance and Nintendo games on PC in the early era of the NES. It seems the games industry has taken a new left turn. Could this be the start of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft first-party games becoming multiplatform in the not-so-distant future?
With Games Pass, it could be argued that Microsoft successfully adapted the Netflix streaming service-style platform to the video game industry. The consumer pays a monthly or annual fee and has access to thousands of games immediately through online streaming. While some players prefer to own their game and be able to play it once the service ends, Microsoft’s Games Pass has proved a video game streaming service can be successful. This kind of new element of the gaming industry could be part of the potential pattern of change that we are seeing, which could lead to platform exclusivity becoming a thing of the past.
Mobile Gaming
The last 10 or 15 years has seen a new type of game platform float its way into the industry. That is Android and iOS mobile gaming on tablets and phones. These are controlled primarily through touch, and there are some good unique experiences available. However, most games are puzzle games, and there is a lack of quality control on this platform, meaning the market is flooded with “shovelware.” Similar to the Atari in the mid-1980s, the quantity of poor-quality games may challenge this mobile market.
The Nintendo seal of quality, introduced with the NES, was so important in saving the industry, and without such a system, the mobile market could be described as fragile. The irony, is that so many people play handheld games that even Nintendo has gone against its principles and allowed development of games on the platform, including Pokemon Go and Super Mario Run.
This market is also really popular among the youth. Phones and tablets are easily accessible to young gamers, and consoles and dedicated handhelds don’t dominate the games that kids and teenagers play like they used to. This change could be part of the patterns of change that could lead to the console war era being over. Maybe in the future, we’ll play the next big Zelda, Halo, and God of War on our top-of-the-range tablet.
Nintendo – Reluctant to Change?
The old man of the gaming industry, Nintendo, is famously reluctant to change. In times of struggle, Nintendo consistently makes it clear through statements that it will never publish games on consoles other than its own. To paraphrase: “Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo if they published on other platforms.” However, it has gone back on this in recent times, because it published on mobile (Pokemon Go) and had limited to high levels of success. Sony operates within an in-between position compared to Nintendo and Microsoft. Sony shows no signs of publishing on Xbox or Nintendo platforms, although, Sony is helping Nintendo produce the upcoming Zelda Movie, so anything is possible in the next few years.
With technology and engineering improving year-on-year, we don’t know what we’ll be playing most of our games on in five years’ time. Mobile gaming is full of shovelware, and if gaming goes down a route similar to current gaming on phones and tablets, I really fear for the future of the industry. However, traditional consoles still sell millions upon millions, so they probably won’t disappear any time soon. Console generations might get longer as the upgrades between generations have only an incremental impact, but the console is still among the most popular way to play games.
As time goes on, and new trends appear, along with new technology, the traditional concept of the console might even disappear at some point. However, the essence of gaming will survive, and our medium might go on to prove itself in new and fresh ways. The big video game console producers have proven that they can adapt, and with the way capitalism works, it is unlikely developers and publishers will ever stop competing in some way or another. For that reason, I think it’s unlikely that this is the end of the era of the battle between Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Even if the console format may reach its demise, and the competition is not being fought on these, the rivalry might continue on new platforms and with new services.
