Absolutely Nobody Won The Console Wars

It's done. I'm calling it. All survivors off of the battlefield, because the Console Wars are over. Panasonic is long gone, Sega's dreams have been cast, Neo Geo has coloured its last, games have come, and games have cubed, and the winner is a confident nobody.

Gone are the days of consoles one-upping each other, with price announcements, game trading videos, and great games. Now, it's a race to the bottom with price gouging, AI slop, and the removal of our ability to play the games that they make.

Remember when games were sold on the promise that they sound better? Play smoother? Look crisper? Now, they're sold on the promise that they're part of an existing IP, because that's what keeps the shareholders happy — something proven to make the number go up.

It's 2020! Get a PlayStation 5; it loads so fast! Check out how cheap Game Pass is combined with the Xbox Series S! It's 2026. Nothing loads fast. Game Pass fluctuates in price, and the Series S is basically just a joke.

I don't recall gaming getting worse before NFTs existed. It ebbed and flowed, like everything else, but COVID hit, and CEOs just absolutely lost their minds. They were always greedy, but rarely as destructive as they've become. Laying off tens of thousands of employees, razing studios to the ground minutes before their games release, refocusing teams onto buzzwords, stopping the sale of games already available…

At one point in time, we had the PlayStation Vita, the Nintendo 3DS, and the Nintendo Switch in our hands. Now, we only have the Playdate, and I bet most of you reading this have only just now remembered that the Playdate exists — it released in 2022. Sure, the Nintendo Switch 2 also exists, but what handheld magic does it bring that the Switch didn't?

Consoles have become homogenised — there's no reason to get any of them over the others, unless you want the very, very few exclusive titles. There used to be actual debate over whether one version of a game was superior to another! The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin had four distinct versions, with a clear winner (the Master System). Unless you're a graphics snob, the Switch 2 version of Resident Evil Requiem is the same as on the Xbox Series X|S.

So, PlayStation is getting rid of physical discs, Xbox is firing everyone, they're both leaning into AI while complaining that components (used for consoles and AI data centres) are too expensive, everyone is gambling that releasing on fewer platforms will result in higher sales (??), and Steam won't sell games in the UK! That last one isn't about consoles, but it still annoys me. And what's Nintendo up to? They keep releasing sequels and remastering classics, like the other two, but they keep their fool mouths shut and don't allow leaked memos. But what we do know is that they famously sue people (obviously), priced Mario Kart World at $80, and keep shutting down their mobile games.

That's about the size of it — after defeating Atari, 3DO, Sega, Bandai, and dozens of others, the Final Three (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo) want more and more money for doing the same amount of work they've done for over half a decade. Well, less work, because human resources has fewer employees to worry about, and the aforementioned AI crap.

Congratulations, nobody, because everyone lost the Console War.