Console Wars Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus Console Wars

Zusammenfassung von Console Wars

Name: Console Wars
Rating: 4.2 (12 reviews)
Author: Blake J. Harris

Blake J. Harris

Sega, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation

4.2 (12 Bewertungen)

15 Min.

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What’s in it for me? Learn how a corporate rivalry launched the modern video games industry.

Gamers today have it easy. If you want to play a video game, your choices are many, and often overwhelming – first-person shooter or fantasy exploration, dedicated console or PC or handheld.

Just 20 years ago, however, things were very different.

In the 1990s, if you played games, you played a Nintendo game. In the United States, this company dominated the market and carefully controlled which games could be played on its consoles.

That is, until Sega and its rambunctious blue hedgehog wreaked havoc in the gaming industry.

These blinks tell the captivating story of how Sega and Nintendo battled for control of the video games market. With a flair for shock marketing, blood-splattered games and frisky gaming characters, Sega turned the industry on its head and set it on the modern path we know today.

In the following blinks, you’ll also discover:

why gamers prefer their characters to bleed red and not gray;
how Sega blundered and helped create the Sony Playstation; and
how a blue hedgehog with an attitude tripped up a polite Italian with a mustache.

Nintendo's rapacious strategies earned it market dominance in the U.S., but also left it vulnerable.

If you owned a game console in 1990, there's a good chance it was made by Nintendo.

Nintendo, a Japanese consumer electronics company, completely dominated the market for video games. In the United States at the time, the company claimed some 90 percent market share!

This dominance stemmed largely from Nintendo's strict control over who could create games for its console. If a company was interested in developing a game for Nintendo, it would have to purchase a game cartridge at a fixed cost of $10 – which meant games always sold for more than $10, regardless whether it was a hit or a flop.

This policy ensured that Nintendo would collect huge profits on highly successful games such as Street Fighter II, developed by Capcom; it also allowed Nintendo to closely control which companies produced games for its consoles.

Nintendo obviously was protective of its market clout. When a group of developers tried to create games for the console without Nintendo's approval, the company sued them. For many developers, the threat of losing favor with Nintendo (which could result in being ostracized from the market entirely) kept them loyal and obedient to the company’s dictates.

However, being a market leader has its downsides. Nintendo had to continuously push new products and take large risks to maintain its position in the market.

Yet many of the products Nintendo pushed out were of poor quality, and in the rush to release new products, it made many mistakes. For example, the company’s updated 16-bit console, released in the United States in 1991, was not compatible with games from its previous console. This angered many console owners, who were forced to buy their favorite games a second time.

These sorts of mistakes, combined with the ire of games manufacturers that Nintendo had effectively shut out of the market, created an opening for a new competitor. That company was Sega, and it arrived ready to take advantage of Nintendo's weaknesses.

Sega strove to position itself as the punk rebel to Nintendo’s boring parent, with great success.

The epic battle of David and Goliath, while an often overused metaphor, is apt in the case of Sega versus Nintendo.

When Sega made its entrance into the video game market, no one expected that the company could take on the dominant Nintendo – and yet it did. But how did the company do it?

Sega pulled out the marketing stops to get people excited about Sonic, and ignore Nintendo.

Coke versus Pepsi. McDonalds versus Burger King. Apple versus Microsoft. Many of the top corporate players market themselves deliberately against their main competitors.

Sega employed comparison marketing to gain an edge over Nintendo, as we’ve seen with regards to the company’s image. But Sega didn't stop there. Its sales strategy too sought to capitalize on the differences between the two companies.

An uncanny sense of timing and a well-oiled corporate machine: Sega’s success had a broad foundation.

Even the most creative, unconventional companies still need structure and talented employees to function. Sega's success in America began when Sega in America (SOA) got a new head, Tom Kalinske.

Kalinske had previously worked at Mattel, where he'd helped create the powerful, muscular character He-Man, as well as helped to resurrect the popularity of Barbie.

Going big on hardware instead of gaming software confused customers and cost Sega its crown.

There are two main paths for gaming companies like Nintendo or Sega, in terms of growth. You could create new software by developing games, or create new hardware by developing consoles.

Making such a strategic decision is tricky. You have to consider what strategy will require more time and effort, and what choice is likely to bring in more sales.

The success of Sega in America began to dim when its Japanese parent company meddled too much.

We tend to think of companies as one big entity. There’s one General Motors (GM), one General Electric (GE), one Nintendo and one Sega. However, company structures are far more complex.

Sega of Japan (SOJ) was the “original” Sega, based in Japan. The subsidiary, Sega of America (SOA), was based in the United States and managed by Tom Kalinske. Interestingly, SOA was the much more successful of the two companies.

Sega had its hands tied by its parent company’s refusal to partner; its eclipse was almost complete.

In a fast-paced, creative market like the video games market, it's not unusual for different companies to work together, especially when they have compatible skills.

Unfortunately for Sega, this was not the philosophy of its parent company.

Sega revolutionized the gaming industry, setting new norms for tech, marketing and game play.

When Tom Kalinske took the reins at Sega, it seemed like the company had little chance of survival. Not only did Nintendo dominate the games market, but the market itself was young and its future uncertain.

Over the next few years, however, Sega didn't just become successful – the company revolutionized the video games industry. Its aggressive marketing philosophy changed forever how games would be developed, released and consumed.

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Worum geht es in Console Wars?

Console Wars chronicles the epic, industry-shaping rivalry between video game developers Sega and Nintendo in the early 1990s. In five short years, Sega went from being a widely mocked underdog to U.S. market leader in console games, a dominance that essentially dictated the future path of gaming.

Bestes Zitat aus Console Wars

Video games werent just for kids; they were for anyone who wanted to feel like a kid.

—Blake J. Harris

Wer Console Wars lesen sollte

Anyone who likes to play video games
Anyone who remembers Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros
Anyone interested in the evolution of the video game business

Über den Autor

Blake J. Harris is a writer and filmmaker who is also co-directing a documentary based on Console Wars. Harris is also the executive producer of a Sony feature-film adaptation of the book.

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