Xbox Has "Lost The Console Wars", Says Microsoft

thegamer.com:

Microsoft has been trying a new strategy to get the Activision deal through--punching itself in the face repeatedly. Today that means admitting it has "lost the console wars," AKA that it's falling behind Nintendo and PlayStation, so buying up Activision Blizzard King won't really harm the competition. It's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off for 'em.

"Xbox and Activision Both Face Intense Competition," the document opens. "Xbox has lost the console wars, and its rivals are positioned to continue to dominate, including by leveraging exclusive content. Xbox has consistently ranked third in consoles behind PlayStation and Nintendo."

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This part of the document was first noticed by Verge senior editor Tom Warren, who tweeted, "Microsoft reveals Xbox had 16 percent share of console sales in 2021 and 21 percent of the console install base", leaving 79 percent between PlayStation and Nintendo. That does slot it into the third place, but positioning the 'console war' as something tangible you can lose rather than a toxic gamer term is still a strange choice.

The idea of the 'console war' imagines gamers as devoted fans of a singular platform. It's led to insults like Xbot and Sony Pony, the idea being that you're a dedicated fanboy who shills for one side over the other even if that side is making terrible games and decisions. In reality, your average gamer doesn't care. They buy whatever console their friends are on or has the games they want to play. It's the extremely vocal internet types who subscribe to the idea that there's some kind of 'war' going on--imagine if we had 'Soda Wars' for Coke vs Pepsi types, or 'Streaming Wars' between people who