Are the Console Wars Good for the Industry?

Is EA's Peter Moore right about the console wars being a good thing? Is an analyst right about Destiny being 2014's biggest-selling game? What kind of game is Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinksi about to announce? The world's #1 Xbox podcast discusses.

[SpiralTear]

Yes, they are. Can you honestly say that the PS3 would've risen up the ranks from its terrible launch if the 360 wasn't kicking its butt in consumer reception, forcing Sony to stop being arrogant and fix that thing up with better games and a price drop?

[hkgamer]

not because of competition or anything. i think its good because it creates brand loyalty. the fans will then be advertisers for you.

[mikeslemonade]

Since everyone is saying yes..

What if their was more of a need to buy all systems? Now aside from core gamers like myself, most people feel need to buy more than one current gen console.

[The_Hero]

It's not.
The Hater Trolls and Idiotic fanboys are the pest of the gaming industry.

[pompombrum]

See I disagree and think it's the exact opposite, the competition is the good thing as we the gamers directly benefit from it. On the other hand, the brand loyalty is what can potentially ruin things.. Microsoft banked heavily on the Xbox brand to make the initial Xbox One vision a success, it's thanks to the competition that the Xbox One is what it is today.

Brand loyalty is also ruining games not just the consoles. Look at games like Madden, Fifa etc, EA aren't even bothering to make an effort to actually make their sports games desirable simply because they know from brand/sport loyalty, millions will come out and buy their new one. They could literally make no changes to Fifa 15 other than update the rosters, kits etc and it would still be one of the highest selling games of the year.

[Boody-Bandit]

It's really hard to take nearly any site seriously discussing this topic regardless of their content or conclusions.

I do my best to steer clear of the fanboy nonsense and have no brand loyality. I go where the games are, period, full stop. Brutally honest and without bias.

[thehitman]

I could easily say that if there was no 360 that the PS3 wouldve had a much better head start as developers could have focused on 1 system and the user base would have been much larger at the start. The PS3 was a good console, aside from its unique and at that time difficult to utilize architecture, from launch it was just expensive in a bad economy with competition that had a year head start.

Now being a gamer since SNES, I can say the PS2 era was the best because almost everyone I knew had 1 console which was a PS2. I could go to any friend house and they had 1. Could borrow games not worrying about platform or take my controller over to a friend house to play with them. Gaming just felt more united now it seems separated and not as enjoyable sometimes. I believe variety is good in the gaming industry but competition is not as great for the community.

[ShinMaster]

Every console in history has price drops.

Sony was working on good PS3 games already. What, did you think they had all those studios just sitting there doing nothing until they realized 360 was doing well? LOL

[kenshiro100]

I'm a playstation fan but I won't hesitate to point out their flaws. There's nothing wrong with being a fan as long as you're not blindly saying 'yes' to every decision a company makes.

[NextLevel]

Yes.

People just like pretend they're not and play the victim card when their preferred system is behind. Either way I'll drag them kicking and screaming through this entire generation, I'm smart enough to remember last gen and how things would be if the situation was reversed.

Karma and Evolution isn't always pretty.

[PSNintyGamer]

This, I've seen instances in both the Hand-Held and Home Console Market.

[mmc-007]

can't agree more, to bad you lost all you bubbles. you always make clear points that actually make sens, seems like a certain fanban base can't take reality (and still xbot's think this site is ruled by sony fanboy's lol..)

[DLConspiracy]

It's good for these corporations to duke it out and I don't mind pitting them against each other.

The difference is, that you are holding possible innocent new and friendly bystanders (gamers) accountable for other peoples PAST bad karma. Dragging them "kicking and screaming" through the community mud for revenge. Karma that they were not responsible for. Thus creating even more bad karma for yourself and the community.

I don't have any pitchforks or torches in my closet. Perhaps we could try and be better examples.

[Metallox]

This thing of the console wars exists since the days of the 16-bit era. Today the video game industry is one of the biggest in the world, back in those days it wasn't that huge. So, in part, I'd say yes, console wars are good for the industry.

[hkgamer]

no. console wars pretty much started since consoles existed.

[Kivespussi]

Doesn't matter when it started it's idiotic anyway. Just makes us gamers look bad.

[Rimgal]

Short answer: No

Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooo.

This BS fanboyism and obsession about who is number one is why everyone looks at gaming as a child's pastime. It doesn't matter who sells more. You think that means that the console that sells more gives people more enjoyment? All it means is that they sold more. That's it.

[GeofferyPeterson]

More than one company equals competition. Its not about fanboys. IMP fanboys make it a more diverse atmosphere which is good for everyone.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

@Grumpy. Very well said. Bubble Up.

@GeofferyPeterson. Wrong. Fanboys only buy one console. While impartial gamers buy several. Console wars are terrible for the industry. They limit it's growth and hinder the expansion of the industry beyond the playground.

Console wars are not only bad for the industry they also hurt gaming as an artform. Companies and websites that stoke the fires of the console wars are morally reprehensible and they are damaging the industry.

I could also make this whole argument about how websites that feed the console wars are essentially picking on children. They're picking playground fights with kids. Although the average gamer demographic is much older than it was 20 years ago, the industry still skews young. "Sales age" nonsense and fanboy click bait articles have a detrimental effect on the young market and I utterly hate it. The people behind this stuff are human garbage.

[salmon_slapped]

It depends on the way you look at it. The war also drives competition and that by far is the best thing for the industry. The problem lies with the fans when they take it serious and it gets out of control.

So good for business and enjoyment (when people actually play the games on their consoles), but sadly fanboys tend to take it to far with personal attacks and threats.

[Godmars290]

No. There is no "competition" other than cross-platform accessibility which more than often results in buggy games.

[No_Limit]

It is only good for the companies that are involve as a war lead to better competition, lower prices, more games, and better innovations.

If you are talking about armchair fanbois, then this console war is just plain silly. I say, it is all about the games and services that you like and not about the brand. Heck, I love Coca Cola and always choose it over Pepsi but that doesn't mean I'll have to stick with Mr. Pibb as I preferred Dr. Pepper. Same analogy can be apply to console as I prefer Sony over Nintendo but I like Mario Kart over LBP Karting and etc..

Console is a platform to play games and the way I see it, it doesn't matter that if you are in love with a company or hate a rival one, if the games that you want to play is only available on a single console, just get it and enjoy them all. I told myself I would never buy a Wii U but I have never based in on spec or little to no third party games, it is that there wasn't any good games that interested me at early stage of the Wii U cycle. Eventually, I bought it to play Mario Kart 8 and have a platform to play future AAA games like Zelda that I can't play anywhere else. To hate another platform because of blind loyalty to a single company and hate on others is just plain wrong. If you limit yourself to a single console, you're cheating yourself.

[Summons75]

No, it creates a divide in the gaming community making some people favor one console over the other and they try to make up lies and spread misinformation about the other systems. It really ruins good conversation when you're talking about a game or the E3 show of X console maker and someone comes in bashing everything with no actual contribution to the conversation. Console makers help each other with the competition, help each other out (though not publically) and take joking cracks at each other like coworkers will make fun of each other. The community tends to get overly sensitive and defensive when these things happen and take the joke to a whole different level.

[PlaystationSquuad]

If there were no console wars then Sony and Microsoft would do anything they wanted to do. The console wars makes the gaming industry better in every way. In my opinion the console wars even makes gaming conversations much more entertaining. I honestly love seeing fanboys fight and make hilarious memes of each other's console. It's not annoying to me because i don't take it serious

[Summons75]

I don't take it serious either. I enjoy gaming as a whole, if a game a system as plenty of good exclusive games that entice me to buy it then I really don't see a reason as to why I can't have it. I'd rather have all the systems and get to experience everything than limit myself to one system. I don't see it improving anything and creating a divide with fanboys spewing stupid and uneducated things.

[mhunterjr]

The competition within the industry is definitely good. Who can complain about companies forcing each other to adapt and create better products?

The fanboy wars however... Is pretty useless...

[Lennoxb63]

To a certain extent it is healthy. But when people start being assholes; calling people an idiot or dumbass because they don't prefer the same console, is where it crosses the line with me. I should be able to come on an Xbox or PS article without being bombarded by stupid fanboys. The console war is only good for when both companies are trying to win over more customers. That's it.

[MasterCornholio]

Competition is always good however every brand has its zealots that worship it.

That's the way its always been.

[46889337]

Console wars in themselves aren't bad for the industry. Competition is always good, because it allows companies to do things differently from each other and gives consumers a wider variety of different options.

It's the fanboys that have zero rational arguments and only rely on blind praise, or hate, to justify their purchase that are ruining the industry.

[HappyWithOneBubble]

My buddy and I at work would talk shit about which console is better. We call each other names but it's all for fun cause work is boring lol. He prefers Xbox and I PS but on the week ends we chill and play games. Some people take this console war serious but for me it's fun and I like the drama lol.

At the end of the day all Sony, MS, and Nintendo cares about is making a profit. If you really take console wars serious then the only winners here in the big companies.

[speedforce131]

No, console wars are bad for the industry. Well, I guess you can say that it's good for the industry but it's toxic for the communities. You can have a healthy competition and still make money and improve your product WITHOUT a console war (it's how things were before the X360) but with console wars, they tear the communities apart and turn fans into in-built PR machines.

It also preys upon the immaturity of gamers as well as exploit them for free feedback. Some groups of fans (namely Xbox fans) are so stupid that they freely give away feedback to their opposing console manufacturers. They literally handed Sony the win for last gen and the gigantic lead for this gen.

The basic concept for the PS4 was born off of feedback from Xbox fanboys (easy to develop for, cheaper price point, social experience). This came off of the constant trashing and face-offs of multiplatform games.

I've asked Phil Spencer multiple times now, what he's going to do about fanboys and he doesn't have a straight answer. He denounces them as much as he can, but that's all he can do. The sad part is that his own fanbase is destroying the brand he's working so hard to build and there's not much he can do about it.

[Clogmaster]

Competition is always good. It provides motivation to improve.

With one console, all developers compete with each other ON the console. But the console manufacturer (Nintendo, Sony, MS) won't have as much motivation to improve their hardware.

Look at phones, cars, TVs, etc.

[StraightedgeSES]

Console wars are only good when the consoles are different from each other. Sony vs Microsoft is not a good console war because there consoles are basically the same. Sega vs Nintendo was a good consoles war because you could tell the difference between a Genesis and a Super Nintendo.

[corvusmd]

"Are the console wars good for the industry?"

At the company level....absolutely
At the fanboy level.....nope it's destructive.

[BABY-JEDI]

Best & most honest comment. Well said
; )

[stripe814]

yes and no..yes to stupid fanboys and No for normal people like me..

[Mokastro]

Competitions is always good for consumers.