It is the age-old question that has been asked every generation, “who is winning the console war?” The question that has been the start of many schoolyard fights, office meltdowns, the end of friendships, and the start of divorces. The fight that has destroyed lives will now be bought forward into a professional manner, and I will be the judge, jury and executioner of this age-old question.
What gives me the right to answer this question? Because I would be unbiased in the decision that I put forward; I have no allegiances in this battle.
As a gamer that has been gaming for 20ish years on multiple consoles, I have understood the concept of the battle. The battle is to prove we have made the right decision in our purchases and that everyone else is wrong in theirs. So the question begs to be answered who is winning? It depends who is in the battle we bring forward. Is it all three consoles? Or is it a battle between two juggernauts?
In the battle between the three gods, there is but one winner, and that winner is… no one. If we are going from a sales perspective then the clear winner is the Switch; but it has had a two year head start on the other consoles. Although, Nintendo clearly doesn’t care about this battle anymore as is evident in the way they run their business. In other words, Nintendo stopped playing this game when their main rival and friend, SEGA, left the battlefield.
Then that means the war is against two juggernauts: The PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. This should be an easier battle as the winner is the one who has the most sales and the most powerful console? Sure, if that was the case we would have… two winners.
Why does PlayStation win? PlayStation wins because it has a larger player base, great exclusives that everyone loves, and Haptic feedback in their controller.
Why does PlayStation lose? Isn’t as user friendly when it comes to transferring saves and no equivalent to Xbox Game Pass (PS Now is similar, but not the equivalent, nor is it available in a lot of countries [this could change in the future]).
Why does Xbox win? User friendly with saves working automatically from the previous generation, Xbox Game Pass, and Backwards Compatibility with everything from controllers to games.
Why does Xbox lose? Games aren’t as well regarded (this could change in the future) as PlayStation games, and they don’t have a large enough player base to compete with PlayStation (PC players don’t count).
There you have it, the clear winner is no one, because both companies are clearly going in different directions. Microsoft is going by number of subscribers to Game Pass, which is also available on PC, and Sony is going the traditional way with hardware sales. Clearly what they are both doing is working; they are both making profits in their gaming divisions. There we have it, the winner is nobody.
Who do you think has won the console war? Ready your axes, and let us know why your console is the best in the comments below or on our Discord!
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