Who won the "console war"?

Was wondering about this at work this morning, who actually won the console war? What defines the victory? Is it just the number of consoles sold or is it something else?

Edit: This is referring to the PS3/Wii/360 generation of consoles.

Comments

  • -5

    PC's. Next gen consoles are so rubbish they can't even sustain 1080/60p consistently. The One is 900p at best and even the vaunted PS4 isn't 1080p consistently across games.

    • +5

      As much as I agree with your Xbone hate, PC isn't a console, so therefore it could not participate in the 'console war', let alone win it.

  • Are you talking about current gen or "NEXT GEN WOW THOSE GRAPHICS!"?

    Anyway. The wii sold the most consoles by a 20 million margin. However, the Wii is easier to pirate, has less subscription fees and a smaller app-store success than its competitors. Consoles alone, yes the Wii sold the most.

    Or you could just go here in answer to your question. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_…

  • +1

    Too early to call. PS4 dominated the opening-quarter though, and I can see it following through.

  • +2

    The general consensus at launch was the PS4. This was based off features and not consoles sold. The key differences being the price (PS4 was cheaper) and DRM. XB1 was aiming at something similar to Steam or Origin forcing the user to log online once every 24 hours to have access to their games library. This made it so you couldn't share games the traditional way. PS4 capitalised hard making a 'How to share PS4 games' video with one of the directors at Sony.

    After launch sales were pretty even. However after some months there is a clear leader.

    VGChartz says that total cumulative global PlayStation 4 sales sat at 6,563,350 as of March 22nd, while cumulative Xbox One sales reached 4,021,382 units.

    There was also rumours of Microsoft completely rethinking their whole DRM strategy which is never a good sign.

  • Without debating the console themselves, Nintendo seems to be doing alright for themselves as a business: http://www.gamesradar.com/nintendo-doomed-not-likely-just-ta…

  • Oh bugger sorry, meant the last gen, as in ps3/Wii/360. I know by sales it's the Wii, but does that define them as the true winner? How were previous consoles defined winner I.e. (I imagine) the PlayStation and PS2

    • Xbox 360 dominated the first half due to lower price, better games, better visuals, better exclusives. PS3 dominated the last 2-3+ years simply due to the advances in development meaning: better visuals, higher quality games, amazing exclusives, bluray, cost, 1080p UI, no fee for multiplayer, PS+.

      I prefer the PS3.

      • And Wii dominated both of them for the entire period because I GET TO SWING THINGS AROUND! ISN'T THAT COOL!?

        • "I GET TO SWING THINGS AROUND! ISN'T THAT COOL!?"

          Get your nob out?

  • I think who wins the console war is based on sales.

    Current gen, hard to tell. You have an idea when the next gen systems come out.

    • To me, it's all about the Console-Moving-Games, of which all 3 are sufficiently lacking, though in my own opinion, Wii-U's current catalog and incoming titles seem quite strong.

      Everyone thought Titanfall was going to move consoles, but due to the fact that it's not only on all Microsoft platforms but also cross-platform as well means there's less need to go out and get one if you want to play it that badly. It hasn't been as much of a boom as we thought it was going to be, though it is still quite popular.

      Alternatively, everyone thinks Super Smash Brothers 4 and Mariokart is going to move Wii-Us, and based on trends, this is entirely possible. But the Wii-U needs another big hitter like Wii sports to get everyone in on it. If Nintendo re-acquires Rareware like the rumours were saying a couple years ago, or try to revive an exclusive Megaman, then holy crap, the nostalgia-purchasing-power they'll wield will be a force to be reckoned with.

      Sony just needs to wheel out Naughty Dog and announce they won't pack in a shit-ton of microtransactions into everything like the Xbone and they'll have hardcore console gamers salivating as usual.

      Come back at Christmas time or around E3, folks.

      • Final Fantasy VII moved consoles. Arguably the biggest game release of our time. It changed everything. So I guess you could say the PlayStation 1 won that generation war.

  • -2

    lets discuss again this after E3

    here's the problem with the whole concept of 'winning'

    sony is one of those companies that is used to being #2

    as much as i like the ps3, they were in a consistent 2nd place especially in comparison with how successful the ps2 was

    Microsoft is a company that has to be #1, that has to be dominant and it looks like there's no way they're ever goiing to make #1 and to them, being a good 2nd place is like being the best loser

    its just their mindset

    after the 360, they think they should have been number one, that they deserved it

    i think right now, Sony are into the 6 million sold with Microsoft barely 4 million

    sony are in number one without any real meaningful IP (besides Second Son)

    microsoft are in number two while giving away their partner IP (ie. Titanfall) and their own games (ie. FOrza, DR3, Ryse)

    microsoft need to do something spectactular to even keep up to sony (ie. no kinect SKU, giving more value to gold, cutting price)

    • +3

      I'm sad that you didn't mention Nintendo in there even once.

      The next big thing, at least for this year, is Destiny, and that's on everything (Except for Wii-U, see me counting Nintendo?), so it doesn't have the console selling power, which is important for Xbox. Titanfall turned out to be just another shooter, and with people breaking off from the genre (Due to overexcessive (yes, OVERexcessive, we were at 'excessive' 5 years ago.) use of shooters for everything) it's not going peak the console's buyability.

      Ryse, a nice tech demo, but once you're seen someone get three limbs and a head chopped off 6 times, you've seen it the full 794 times that Ryse wants to show it to you.

      They're going to throw another Halo at us, despite Halo 4 being a disappointment to anyone who appreciated the franchise ('appreciate' is different to 'fanboy'), and I don't really think I can stomach another regenerating shields battle rifle slog through covenant forces (for some reason it's still covenant despite the covenant war ending in 3, because money. Oh but you know, robots! Because Halo already had zombies and aliens… Halo 5, pirates. Or robots and aliens, again).

      Naughty Dog and Retro Studios. These companies will move consoles. These are elite, heavy hitters of their respective consoles. The best devs outside of Japan. Microsoft doesn't have one quite as reputable. Rareware? There was a time I would agree with you. Not the Kinect Sports time.

      Xbox is aiming towards being a 'media console' for some reason, and moving away from games and into TV and social media. And that's fine. But I'm not going to buy a games console that doesn't care about games anymore. Currently I have a Wii-U because it has games, GOOD games, and when Uncharted or Last of Us pop onto the PS4 (or a few others), I'll be buying one of those too.

      • Wii and WiiU just wasnt on the radar of many people

        its not a option for me simply because the IP doesnt interest me

        Halo doesnt do anything for me but it does for many people so even a mediocre Halo will be a system seller but it looks like Microsoft doesnt care about that old IP (nothing until 2015 and even thats a maybe)

        technically Xbox isnt all that big a drawcard either… 32Mb esram? no 1,080p? pass

  • +1

    I have both 360 and ps3, and one is a gaming machine while the other one is just a blu-ray player.

  • +1

    The gamers/consumers. The 'war' kept prices down and encouraged future console innovation.

    • And now we've lost, with $50 for a new title cough metal gear cough that's two hours long on NEXT GENERATION TECHNOLOGY

      No thankyou. I will stay in last gen if the 'generation change' is just making games not worth the money.

  • -1

    I tell ya, Microsoft was the loser. They went back on many of their original ideas in order to win favour in those who were going to buy the PS4.

  • Wii U won

    • Ouya won

    • I don't think it's 'won', as such, but I think with the game lineup coming that we'll see it start winning by the end of the year. Perhaps…

  • +1

    Don't know who won but I know who lost.

    Girlfriends and wives.

  • Hasn't the war beeen going on since the days of Spectrum, Atari & Commodore?

    • we have always been at war with east asia

  • Since the release of wii and wii u Nintendo has been doing very well since. All they need to have a few more games and they will top bone and ps4 together.

    • As the owner of a Wii-U, I very much agree. It has titles more refreshing than boring old shoot em ups.

      Wonderful 101 probably has the best ending of any game ever.

      It's a shame that its tidal-wave of a learning curve scares aware potential wii-u purchases.

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