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"Console wars" is a term used to refer to periods of intense competition for market share between video game console manufacturers. The winners of these "wars" may be debated based on different standards: market penetration and financial success, or the fierce loyalty and numbers of the fans of the system's games.

Due to different manufacturers releasing consoles at different times, the wars described below are not exact definitions and do not necessarily have firm beginning and ending dates. Also, these wars had different years and combatants on different continents, since traditionally the 4 main markets—Europe, Japan, Australia and North America—have been treated as separate entities, with machines and games released at different times or even completely different games being released. This situation is not quite so apparent today; however, it is still there, particularly with regards to Japan vis-a-vis the other three markets.

In the mid-1980s, low-end personal computers were used as game consoles by consumers worldwide (since no other competitive consoles were then available) and that era is included here as well.

In North America, the devotees of each system are referred to as fans or by linking to the platform name, as in PS2 owners. In the United Kingdom the term fanboy originated during the 1980s during console wars between many home computer systems, particularly the ZX Spectrum and Commodore. It should be noted, however, that the two terms have been used by people of the other countries. For example, the term fanboy is used quite often on US-based Video Game message boards. By any name, fanboys lock themselves into buying and using one console, one brand, or one company's line of console.

General concepts found in system wars

Although a "console war" can be thought of as a battle between competing console manufacturers, much of the controversy and notoriety is associated with the supporters of each console, who often pledge loyalty to a console even before its release and engage in intense arguments over the merits of their chosen console.

This phenomenon is unusual in the world of consumables; there are, for example, hardly any "stereo system wars", where people care about what kind of stereo system others purchase. The only explanation usually put forth as to why there are console wars amongst gamers is based on the idea that the more popular a console is, the more games will eventually be developed for it. This is the positive network effect and is the underlying reason for a related phenomenon, the computer operating system OS Wars.

What makes these "fan wars" even more fierce is that often, the major controversies and debates occur before any of the systems are even released, based on what historically have often been dubious specifications released by the manufacturers.

Psychologically, debates amongst fans in a console war can be seen to be a way of dispelling buyer's remorse. This is because game consoles are often a significant outlay for a youth, and often a gamer feels they can only afford to choose one. Realizing as more games are released that one has chosen incorrectly can be a major ego bruise.

Original console wars

This console war took place primarily in North America, between 1980 and 1984, and was fought between three American companies. The pyrrhic outcome and virtual bankruptcy of all the major combatants set the stage for Japanese dominance of video game console manufacturing by eliminating competition and discouraging American and European investment. When Nintendo brought console gaming back to North America in 1985, the discredited market segment held no American-based competition.

The Atari VCS was introduced in 1977 at a price point of $199 USD, after two years of research and $100 million in investment. Its name was changed to Atari 2600 in 1982 when Atari introduced the "next generation" Atari 5200. By 1980, sales were doubling annually and three million homes had Atari consoles.

Seeing this success, toy company Mattel began work in 1978 on their own console, the Intellivision, which debuted in 1980 with a price tag of $299 and a pack-in game, Blackjack. The system was an immediate success. Though not the first system to challenge Atari (systems from Fairchild Semiconductor, Bally, and Magnavox were already on the market), it was the first to pose a serious threat to Atari's dominance. A series of Intellivision TV ads featuring George Plimpton mercilessly attacked the Atari VCS's lesser capabilities with side-by-side game comparisons. Nevertheless, Atari held exclusive rights to most of the popular arcade game conversions of the day, and used this key segment to support their older hardware in the market.

This game advantage and the difference in price between the machines meant that each year Atari sold more units than Intellivision, lengthening its lead despite inferior graphics. This need for price parity has influenced every console war in the quarter century since Atari and Intellivision faced off.

Colecovision was introduced by Coleco in 1982 and sold 500,000 units its first year, further dividing the marketplace. It was priced similarly to Intellivision and had slightly greater technical power, and Coleco licensed several major coin-op games for its system as well.

This first console war ended with the Video game crash of 1983, when huge oversupplies of games and competition from personal computers caused game prices to drop precipitously.

Personal computer wars

Although these wars are grouped under one category here, there were many different minor wars between personal computer brands that ran from the mid 80s until the mid 90s. All of the computers involved had many upgraded versions released; however, due to their nature as computers and not true consoles (though that is what they were mostly treated as), the release of a new system was not the big milestone it would become with the dominance of Japanese consoles. These wars mainly took place in the United Kingdom, which during the late 80s was the centre of the world computer game industry, having been unaffected by the crash that took place in Japan and the US. This period is also renowned for being the time of the 'bedroom programmer', and many companies formed by such people have lasted until the current day.

ZX Spectrum vs. Commodore 64

In the UK, the Atari vs. Intellivision war never reached the major scope and impact that it did in North America. Instead, the Spectrum vs. Commodore wars of the mid 1980s were the true origins of the console wars. This was due to the start of single format computer game magazines and the far greater entry into mainstream youth culture of these computers than the previous consoles. The Commodore machines were generally far more technically advanced, but they usually sold for double the price of the Spectrum and thus did not gain much support from the bedroom programmers. One aspect of this period was a 'class war' of the low priced Spectrum and Commodore owned by average working class children against the superior technology and far higher cost of the BBC Micro.

Amiga vs. Atari ST

The Amiga vs. Atari ST wars took place in the late 80s and lasted well into the early 90s, by which time it overlapped with the beginnings of true game consoles, with the Amiga in particular keeping a strong fanbase which tried to keep up a format war of sorts against PC owners.

Third generation

In this "8-bit era", the NES came out on top in North America and Japan (where it was known as Nintendo Famicom), partially due to its earlier release, but mostly because Nintendo banned developers from releasing their games on other systems if their games were released on the NES. This put a damper on third party support for the Master System and the rest of Nintendo's competition. In Europe and Brazil, the Master System did much better than in any other territory. Many more games were released in Europe and Brazil than in North America, and the Master System had a very long shelf-life in Brazil, finally "dying" in the mid-1990s.

World wide sales figures

• Nintendo Entertainment System: 60 Million
• Sega Master System: 13 Million

Handheld wars

In the handheld wars, Nintendo's Game Boy came out well on top and far outlived the Sega Game Gear, becoming one of the most successful consoles of all time. The Game Boy's victory is generally attributed to its greater battery life, cheaper price tag, and wider third party support over the Sega Game Gear.

The Game Boy had many ports of games from popular Nintendo franchises. It was also launched with the extraordinarily popular puzzle game Tetris as a pack-in.

Many other companies attempted to get in on the handheld market and they could also be added into this category. These included the Atari Lynx the Neo Geo Pocket and the WonderSwan (though the latter was in Japan only).

World wide sales figures

• Nintendo Game Boy & Game Boy Color: 118.69 Million as of March 31, 2005 (Japan: 32.47, The Americas: 44.06, Other Regions: 42.16)

Game Boy: 69.42 Million as of December 2004 (Japan: 20.61, Other: 48.81)

Game Boy Color: 49.27 Million as of December 2004 (Japan: 11.86, Other: 37.41)

• Sega Game Gear: 8.65 Million as of December 2004 (Japan: 1.78, Other: 6.87)

Fourth generation

This "16-bit era" is mostly known for the rivalry between the Sega Mega Drive (known as Sega Genesis in North America) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) (known as Super Famicom in Japan). The Sega Mega Drive came out about two and a half years earlier than the SNES; however, its first few years were not very successful and it was not until the release of Sonic the Hedgehog that it started to sell well. The results of the war revealed that the Mega Drive outsold the SNES in Europe and North America, though it was never able to secure as good position in Japan. Overall, the SNES came out the winner in the console war.

Even though Sega saw success in the 16-bit console war, this proved to be the beginning of the end for them with their attempts to usher in the new generation needlessly ahead of time, for they were performing well in the current one. The worst examples of this were the 32x and Mega-CD add-ons for the Mega Drive, which were commercial failures. This, combined with Sega dropping virtually all support for the Mega Drive and its add-ons in favour of the upcoming Saturn upset loyal fans, and resulted in the Saturn getting off on the wrong foot.

A knock on effect of Sega's early ending of the console war and releasing the Saturn was that the SNES eventually went on to sell more than the Sega Mega Drive in North America; however, this took place after the end of this console war.

World wide sales figures

• Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis: 30.75 Million as of December 2004 (Japan: 3.58, Other: 27.17)
• Super Nintendo Entertainment System: 49.10 Million as of March 2006 (Japan: 17.17, The Americas: 23.35, Other: 8.58)
• TurboGrafx 16: 5 Million

Fifth generation

In the fifth generation, the Sega Saturn was released first, but suffered from limited third-party support. Sega's decision to use dual processors has been roundly criticised, and some believe the second CPU was added as a "panic" response to the PlayStation's specifications. It has been said that only Sega's first-party developers were ever able to utilize the second CPU effectively. The Sega Saturn was the more difficult console to program for, and therefore the 3D graphics on its 3rd party games often lacked the luster of the PlayStation or Nintendo 64 (N64), a severe disadvantage at the dawn of 3D games.

Sega was also hurt by the plan to have a surprise four month early US launch of their console . This head start failed for several reasons. One of the major reasons being there were few software titles ready. The Sega Saturn was also $100 more expensive than the PlayStation at its launch, and only available at four retailers.

Sony took an early advantage by tapping the mass market and positioning the PlayStation as a "lifestyle accessory" for males in the late teens to late twenties. Sega and particularly Nintendo's offerings were characterized as appealing more to children (both companies, for instance, featured mascots that appeared in Saturday morning cartoons). The securing of this new market is widely credited as the key to the system's success. With greater hardware sales came greater third party support; ultimately the PlayStation won the era. Sony carried this momentum over into the release of the PlayStation 2.

The Nintendo 64 was released 16 months after the Sega Saturn in North America due to numerous delays. By the time of its release Sony had already established their dominance and the Saturn was starting to struggle. Its use of cartridge media rather than compact discs alienated developers and publishers due to the space limits and the relatively high cost involved (compare £2($3.50) for an N64 cartridge to 20p(35¢) for a PS1 disc), despite the fact that the Nintendo 64 had much faster load times because of its cartridge media. In addition, the initially high suggested retail price of the console may have driven potential customers away, and many early adopters of the system who had paid the initial cost were angered by Nintendo's decision to reduce the cost of the system within a few months of its initial release, although compensation was available to those who had claimed. Still, Nintendo managed to carve out a niche in this era selling over 30 million consoles despite Sony's established dominance

World wide sales figures

• Nintendo 64: 32.93 Million as of March 31, 2005 (Japan: 5.54, The Americas: 20.63, Other Regions: 6.75)
• PlayStation: 102.49 Million shipped as of March 31, 2005 (Japan: 21.59, USA: 40.78, Europe: 40.12)
• Sega Saturn: 9.26 Million as of December 2004 (Japan: 5.74, Other: 3.52)

Sixth generation

This era is currently drawing to a close; it appears to be a sales victory for the PlayStation 2, with the Xbox second, Gamecube third, and Dreamcast fourth.

This era began with the launch of the Sega Dreamcast, which arrived prior to all of the others. However, the impending and much-hyped PlayStation 2 competed with the Dreamcast before it was even released; this, combined with the shadow of the Saturn's downfall and the vast piracy problems it suffered all led to the Dreamcast's early demise. The brand Sony had established with the original PlayStation was a major factor in their victory, both in terms of securing a consumer base and attracting third party developers; the gradual increase in one tending to reinforce the other. The PlayStation 2 was also able to play DVDs and was backwards-compatible with PlayStation games, which many say helped the former's sales. Any user considering buying a DVD player or PlayStation could view the PlayStation 2 as a sensible alternative, and the system effectively had a back catalogue available before it even went on sale.

The Xbox, despite the formidable financial backing of Microsoft and despite being more powerful than the PlayStation 2, has failed to significantly threaten the Playstation 2 place as market leader. However, it has attracted a large fanbase in the United States and Europe and has become a recognisable brand amongst the mainstream. In Japan its sales are far poorer, possibly due to the physical size of the console, and Microsoft's inability to acquire many major Japanese developers for their franchises as exclusives for the platform (contrast with Microsoft's multi-million dollar acquisition of UK developer Rare). However, there is a niche fanbase, particularly as the online services for the console, "Xbox Live", offers more to users than Playstation 2's non-centralized online system and Nintendo GameCube's near total lack of online games.

Nintendo struggled with their own brand images, particularly the family-friendly one developed during the 1990s. Nintendo's arsenal of franchises and history in the industry failed to give them an advantage against the Xbox and PlayStation 2. The Nintendo GameCube came in second place in total console sales in Japan, and in a close third place in the United States and Europe.

World wide sales figures

• Nintendo GameCube: 21.20 Million as of September 30, 2006 (Japan: 4.02, The Americas: 12.44, Other: 4.75)
• PlayStation 2: 111.25 Million shipped as of September 30, 2006 (Japan: 23.99, USA: 44.86, Europe: 42.40)
• Sega Dreamcast: 10.6 Million as of December 2004 (Japan: 2.30, Other: 8.30)
• Xbox: more than 24 Million as of May 10, 2006

Seventh generation

The "next-generation war" is between the new consoles of Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony: the Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3 respectively. The Xbox 360 was the first console to be released in this generation, followed by the PlayStation 3 and Wii nearly a year later. All three consoles have had major shortages both at their launches and directly afterwards with the Xbox 360's continuing for months after release and the PlayStation 3 and Wii's still continuing. Both the Xbox 360 and Wii are currently available worldwide, while the PlayStation 3 has only seen releases in Japan and North America with a European release date set for mid-2007. This new generation for the first time has all of the major consoles focusing on online integration and wireless controllers.

Current system sales figures

• PlayStation 3: Worldwide: 384,836 (as of December 3, 2006), North America: 197,000 (as of the end of November 2006), Japan: 187,836 (as of December 3, 2006)
• Wii: 1 Million Sold as of December 2nd, 2006, (Release Date: North and Latin America: November 19, 2006, Japan: December 2, 2006, Australia: December 7, 2006, Europe: December 8, 2006) (4 million to be shipped by the end of 2006, 6 million by March 31, 2007)
• Xbox 360: 6 Million sold as of September 30, 2006

Handheld war

Although Nintendo and Sony deny competing with each other with their handheld products, it is widely believed that a new handheld war has begun with the releases of the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable (PSP) in late 2004 and early 2005, respectively. (The Nintendo DS Lite, a smaller and sleeker version of the Nintendo DS was released later on in 2006.) As of the 2006 E3 press conference, however, Nintendo attacked Sony's handheld console, announcing that the Nintendo DS had been outselling the PSP. This could be taken as recognition of a new handheld war.

The Nintendo DS's power is comparable to that of Nintendo 64. It is notable in its use of two screens, one of them being a touch screen. It also sports a microphone input. It has shown considerable early success, particularly in branching out from the usual core demographic of computer game players due to the intuitivity of the touch screen control system. The Nintendo DS is the less expensive of the two systems at retail, and has longer battery life. The Nintendo DS is backwards compatible with Game Boy Advance games, but not with games for prior Game Boy systems. The GBA slot is also used for DS Option Paks.

Sony's PSP is more powerful than the Nintendo DS, with graphical power comparable to the levels of Sega Dreamcast and the PlayStation 2. It is advertised as a portable multimedia system, as well as a handheld console (much in the same way as the PS2). Numerous movies have been released on the PSP's UMD format, and the system can play video and audio from the Memory Stick Duo port. The PSP also supports a large high-resolution display, an analogue stick, as well as standard controller buttons.

Both the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP support Wi-fi networking, and have free online systems. The PSP has had online games since its launch in December 2004 in Japan, and the DS has had online games since mid-November 2005. Nintendo has also worked with McDonald's and Hilton Hotels to set up Wi-Fi access points across the USA and Europe.

Current system sales figures

• Game Boy Advance: 76.79 million as of September 30, 2006 (Japan: 16.62, The Americas: 39.10, Other: 21.06)

including Game Boy Advance SP: 39.79 million as of September 30, 2006 (Japan: 6.48, The Americas: 21.95, Other: 11.37)

and Game Boy Micro: 1.87 million as of September 30, 2006 (Japan: 0.59, The Americas: 0.47, Other: 0.80)

• Nintendo DS: 26.82 million as of September 30, 2006 (Japan: 11.52, The Americas: 7.51, Other: 7.79)

including Nintendo DS Lite: 9.06 million as of September 30, 2006 (Japan: 4.97, The Americas: 2.23, Other: 1.86)

• PlayStation Portable: 22.94 million shipped as of September 30, 2006 (Japan: 5.37, USA: 9.57, Europe: 8.0)

References

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3. ^ Cite error: The named reference console stats 2004-12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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External links

• http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/060525e.pdf
• http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/index_e.html
• http://www.microsoft.com/msft/download/FY06/MSFTQ2_06.ppt
• http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/pdf/ir/kako/sega_AR_all_2000.pdf
• http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/pdf/ir/kako/sega_AR_all_2001.pdf

• Articles to be merged from December 2006
• Computer and video game development