This article is about the video game industry term. For other uses, see Console Wars (disambiguation).
Part of a series on the
History of video games
Early history
Early history of video games
Early mainframe games
Consoles
History of video game consoles
Console war
1st generation (1972–1983)
2nd generation (1976–1992)
Video game crash of 1983
3rd generation (1983–2003)
4th generation (1987–2004)
5th generation (1993–2005)
6th generation (1998–2013)
7th generation (2005–2017)
8th generation (2012–present)
9th generation (2020–present)
Impact of COVID-19 (2023-24 layoffs)
Arcade video games
History of arcade video games
Golden age of arcade video games
Timeline of arcade video game history
Personal computer
History of personal computer games
Mobile games
History of mobile games
Virtual reality
History of virtual reality games
Cloud gaming
History of cloud gaming
Other platforms
Browser game
Emulation
Genres
List of genres
History of East Asian role-playing video games
History of Western role-playing video games
History of online games
History of real-time strategy games
History of tactical role-playing games
History of single-player video games
History of multiplayer video games
History of massively multiplayer online games
Lists
List of video games in development
v
t
e
In the video game industry, a console war describes the competition between two or more video game console manufacturers in trying to achieve better consumer sales through more advanced console technology, an improved selection of video games, and general marketing around their consoles. While console manufacturers are generally always trying to out-perform other manufacturers in sales, these console wars engage in more direct tactics to compare their offerings directly against their competitors or to disparage the competition in contrast to their own, and thus the marketing efforts have tended to escalate in back-and-forth pushes.
While there have been many console wars to date, the term became popular between Sega and Nintendo during the late 1980s and early 1990s as Sega attempted to break into the United States video game market with its Sega Genesis console. Through a novel marketing approach and improved hardware, Sega had been able to gain a majority of the video game console market by 1991, three years after the Genesis’ launch. This caused back and forth competition between the two companies throughout the early 1990s. However, Nintendo eventually regained its market share and Sega stopped making home console hardware by 2001.[1]
^Ocbazghi 30, Emmanuel (January 12, 2021). "How Sega went from huge fame in the '90s to cultural irrelevancy". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-09-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
In the video game industry, a consolewar describes the competition between two or more video game console manufacturers in trying to achieve better consumer...
ConsoleWars may refer to: Consolewar, a video game term referring to the competition for market dominance among console manufacturers ConsoleWars (book)...
introduction of the "next generation" or "next gen". consolewars Refers to competition for video game console market dominance and, in specific, to the rivalry...
A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These...
generation of video game consoles began in November 2020 with the releases of Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Series S console family and Sony's PlayStation...
A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source...
game consoles, and handheld gaming consoles dating from approximately October 4, 1993, to March 23, 2006. For home consoles, the best-selling console was...
consolewar competition between Nintendo and Sega as they fought for market share in the United States. The first major handheld video game consoles appeared...
generation of home video game consoles began on November 22, 2005, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 home console. This was followed by the release...
Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed...
In the history of video games, the fourth generation of video game consoles, more commonly referred to as the 16-bit era, began on October 30, 1987, with...
to the video games, video game consoles, and handheld video game consoles available from 1972 to 1983. Notable consoles of the first generation include...
The history of video game consoles, both home and handheld, began in the 1970s. The first console that played games on a television set was the 1972 Magnavox...
The eighth generation of video game consoles began in 2012, and consists of four home video game consoles: the Wii U released in 2012, the PlayStation...
system power" below) is the era of computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming devices available at the turn of the 21st century...
marketspace. Since the first home consoles in 1972, there have been nine defined home console generations. A new console generation typically has occurred...
The Wii (/ˈwiː/, WEE) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006 in North America, and in December...
a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega...
Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) is a web service by Google which allows webmasters to check indexing status, search queries, crawling...
In the history of video games, the third generation of video game consoles, commonly referred to as the 8-bit era, began on July 15, 1983, with the Japanese...
The Nintendo Switch is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the...
has since passed. In the remaining years of the decade, Sega ignites a consolewar with Nintendo, developers that had been affected by the crash experimented...
video game consoles and multiple portable consoles for use with external media, as well as dedicated consoles and other hardware for their consoles. As of...
has produced home video game consoles and handheld consoles since 1983; these systems were released from the third console generation to the sixth. Sega...
Global Information