Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wants an end to exclusive console deals but believes Sony won’t allow that happen.
Console wars: an age-old rivalry that dates back even before humans emerged and giant reptiles roamed Earth.
Well, while no precise date and time can be pinpointed for when console wars began, chances are it likely began around 1985 when both NES and SEGA Master System existed simultaneously.
SEGA and Nintendo were bound by rivalry from its beginning; SEGA created Sonic the Hedgehog as their mascot to compete against Super Mario; subsequent years saw new participants enter console wars battleground, such as Sony and Microsoft joining Sony as new adversaries in battle for supremacy.
Thankfully, console wars have calmed down over time with SEGA no longer existing and only publishing and developing games; but Sony with PlayStation consoles and Microsoft with Xbox still battle for supremacy alongside Nintendo as an established leader.
One key to console wars are platform exclusive games; for instance, Nintendo offers Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong; Sony has God of War: Gran Turismo e The Last of Us while Microsoft provides Halo: Gears of War e Forza Motorsport as examples of such exclusives.
Yes, some avid gamers would never consider owning multiple console brands at the same time, but due to many console exclusives eventually coming over to PC, console wars have largely subsided – well with one notable exception; Nintendo doesn’t share much!
While I may not care much for console wars, I do appreciate console exclusives; and by that, I mean ones created specifically for one platform that help build its identity and identity as part of its identity.
According to TheGamer, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella holds differing viewpoints than Sony President Hiroshi Ishii. When appearing as a witness for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) court trial in Maryland in May 2013, Nadella expressed his wish for console exclusives to end but suggested Sony had different ideas about exclusivity arrangements.
Nadella shared his desire for console exclusivities on consoles in a tweet shared by Tom Warren of The Verge, in response to Sony defining market competition via exclusives in which their low share player had no desire for. She further added: ‘[Sony has] defined market competition with exclusives; I do not care for their world.”
Court proceedings revealed, among other FTC developments, that Microsoft attempted to financially cripple Sony through spending.
