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[RetroGamingUK]

No

Nintendo won the handheld console war

Sony won the home console war

Microsoft, Sega, Atari and the rest all lost

 

[Sportler]

Nintendo hasn't had a traditional console for a long time.

 

[cireza]

Answer = No.

 

[Gambit2483]

No

Nintendo won the handheld console war

Sony won the home console war

Microsoft, Sega, Atari and the rest all lost

What "handheld console war"?

You mean the, less-than-half-a-decade old, Niche PC handheld market?

 

[RetroGamingUK]

What "handheld console war"?

You mean the, less-than-half-a-decade old, Niche PC handheld market?

Lynx, GameGear, PS Vita etc

The only non-Nintendo handheld that did well was PSP and that got trounced in sales by DS.

 

[DreamcastSkies]

Not releasing their games for other console manufacturers. Switch was a phenomenal success. Wii and DS were as well, they have a proven history of innovation. Future looks bright for Switch 2. Nintendo won.

 

[Elios83]

Nintendo isn't even in the traditional console war.
They needed to carve out their own market to have success.
So a big no.

 

[EverydayBeast]

We'll see who can sustain consoles hardware the longest, people picked apart laptops for years and those things are still around

 

[ecosse_011172]

Either way, Nintendo will keep on being a dinosaur in many ways and I wouldn't celebrate them having all walls up, might turn out to bite them in the ass if things are moving fast.

I've been reading that for 30 years.

Yes. But it is not a traditional console. So you are going to get mixed answers to your poll due to your vague question. I don't consider they won anything because of how far they stretched from the path of a proper console. When all big third party games are skipping your console because it is too weak, this is not a win for me. When pixel-art indy games run at 30fps on your console, that's not a win either.

If your question was "From a business perspective, did Nintendo win ?", I would have picked Yes for sure.

All big third party games are skipping?

 

[Banjo64]

There has to be enemy combatants in a war.

 

[Durin]

I guess...but they kinda won by not directly competing, and offering their own unique position in the marketplace. They picked a device that is cheaper to make, cheaper to develop games for, and portable in the age where hardware improvements are stagnating so the value-add of plugged in beefier hardware has diminished.

That said, it gets funnier watching the people still hyper-invested in a war that doesn't really matter anymore in the age where you can play 95%+ of the same stuff everywhere.

 

[Radical_3d]

No

Nintendo won the handheld console war

Sony won the home console war

Microsoft, Sega, Atari and the rest all lost

Can't believe I agree with a Brit with a Dreamcast avatar. But I do.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

There's really nothing to distinguish PlayStation from anything else given Sony abandoned exclusives. They've watered down their brand to meaningless levels. Nintendo is the only one who's managed to maintain its identity.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Of course they have. They won the game developer/publisher war too.

 

[LordOcidax]

There's really nothing to distinguish PlayStation from anything else given Sony abandoned exclusives. They've watered down their brand to meaningless levels. Nintendo is the only one who's managed to maintain its identity.

Everything is going to be an Playstation/Xbox or Nintendo in the future… And guess who is going to have exclusive's titles?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

the already lost. i don't understand why people can't see that. WiiU sold 13M.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I wonder when sony announces their partnership for chips with AMD that can go in any device....and then ultimately a co collaborated cpu between ms and PlayStation that plays it all.

That would be the best outcome....

I can dream

 

[PatientGamer]

Most will vote 'yes', but Nintendo hasn't had a traditional console since the Wii U in 2012 which failed. The Wii was a hit, but the Gamecube before it also failed miserably. If I remember correctly, this is the first time (Switch 1 to Switch 2) whereby Nintendo will have successful back-to-back home consoles. They usually go hot and cold with each generation.

With Microsoft, all but 1 console generation failed. So they're a non-starter. Thanks for Xbox Live, I guess...

On Sony's side, their worst performing home console is still one of the most successful home consoles of all time, so I guess based on pure home console hardware units sold; they're the clear winner here by a long margin.

 

[Topher]

Sony

Microsoft

Nintendo

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I wonder when sony announces their partnership for chips with AMD that can go in any device....and then ultimately a co collaborated cpu between ms and PlayStation that plays it all.

That would be the best outcome....

I can dream

Just get a PS5 and stop being weird

 

[proandrad]

The last traditional console Nintendo made was the GameCube.

 

[Gambit2483]

Lynx, GameGear, PS Vita etc

The only non-Nintendo handheld that did well was PSP and that got trounced in sales by DS.

Ahh ok...that was the handheld war (those platforms could never compete with console). Yes Nintendo won the handheld war and will soon win the Hybrid Console war.

 

[ShirAhava]

The console war ended when the PS4 and Xbox One released with the same single chip AMD Jaguar APU in different configurations in 2013
and most console games started to come to PC.....Anyone who cared after that generation is 'special'

 

[FalsettoVibe]

As of 8/7/2025 Nintendo has won the traditional console war. Sony and MS should pack it up and exit the gaming business.
Happy OP? What now?

 

[SEGAvangelist]

They did win, and if SEGA were to lose to anyone in the end, I always hoped it would be Nintendo as the ultimate victor.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Traditional?

They had to make a hybrid-device to be able to use their handheld installbase as leverage to compete.

Sony can make a change because with Xbox dead, their consoles will sell themselves.

 

[rm082e]

Nintendo doesn't count.

 

[onQ123]

By Sony and Microsoft stepping aside from the traditional video game business model centric in their hardware sales…. Do you think that Nintendo won the console war?

How? GameCube was the last traditional console from Nintendo

 

[Grildon Tundy]

It ain't over til it's over, baby. There's still Nintendo, Sony, and...Microsoft (kinda) in play still.

"Winning" the console war to me means total destruction of competitors' hardware to the point where they stop supporting and producing new consoles.

 

[Danjin44]

"Winning" the console war to me means total destruction of competitors' hardware to the point where they stop supporting and producing new consoles.

I don't ever want to see that happen to any of them, including Microsoft.

 

[mayham2199]

Nintendo have dumbed down their games to the point that they're faceroll easy.

This 100%. I really don't understand how anyone enjoys those games they are stupid easy. I remember in BOTW I beat a boss by just spamming the attack button, it killed me, I revived from some power I got on another boss, kept spamming attack and it died. I was shocked that this worked. I remember Zelda bosses taking some sort of strategy or tool to take them down. They threw all that out the window except for I think the last boss needed a strategy to win.

 

[ReBurn]

The console war ended when the PS4 and Xbox One released with the same single chip AMD Jaguar APU in different configurations in 2013
and most console games started to come to PC.....Anyone who cared after that generation is 'special'

Seriously. Anyone still fighting for their favorite plastic box company is living in the past.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

I don't ever want to see that happen to any of them, including Microsoft.

Me, neither, but those are the terms of total victory, as set forth in the Geneva Convention.

 

[Fess]

I've been reading that for 30 years.

That's because they've been a dinosaur that long. I love their games but they've been holding back their own platforms in one way or another for a long long time. I mean 30 years ago PlayStation arrived with CD medium and Nintendo used cartridges on N64.

 

[Kamina]

No, Sony won the war did, Nintendo not fighting in war.

 

[ecosse_011172]

Either way, Nintendo will keep on being a dinosaur in many ways and I wouldn't celebrate them having all walls up, might turn out to bite them in the ass if things are moving fast.

I've been reading that for 30 years.

That's because they've been a dinosaur that long. I love their games but they've been holding back their own platforms in one way or another for a long long time. I mean 30 years ago PlayStation arrived with CD medium and Nintendo used cartridges on N64.

and then GameCube was more powerful than PS2…

When will it bite them on the arse? Any day soon..

 

[Fess]

and then GameCube was more powerful than PS2…

With no DVD…

 

[Lokaum D+]

Everything is going to be an Playstation/Xbox or Nintendo in the future… And guess who is going to have exclusive's titles?

It ll be a fun day when Nintendo start doing multiplat, just give them time.

 

[Sebastian1295]

This 100%. I really don't understand how anyone enjoys those games they are stupid easy. I remember in BOTW I beat a boss by just spamming the attack button, it killed me, I revived from some power I got on another boss, kept spamming attack and it died. I was shocked that this worked. I remember Zelda bosses taking some sort of strategy or tool to take them down. They threw all that out the window except for I think the last boss needed a strategy to win.

A game being that easy just kills the experience for me. I said previously on here that super mario odyssey being so easy made the game boring for me and i got burnt out within a couple hrs of playing it because how little of a challenge it presented too me. Nintendo games use to provide a semblance of challenge and the older zelda games in particular were much harder tbh which made them feel more rewarding. I agree with you completely and think it's insane how dumbed down they're making their games recently.

 

[LordOcidax]

It ll be a fun day when Nintendo start doing multiplat, just give them time.

Take a sit until that happens .

 

[Brakum]

No. They left the traditional console and succeeded doing something else. You can say that they won. But they didnt win in the traditional console market.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Sony won the home console war

By going 3rd party?

 

[justiceiro]

Lmao, never saw this much spin since the wii sales.

 

[LordOcidax]

By going 3rd party?

 

[Buggy Loop]

It ll be a fun day when Nintendo start doing multiplat, just give them time.

Nintendo will never chase « trends ». They would make exclusive games on an alarm clock before 3rd party

And don't get me wrong, I would love Nintendo games outside their hardware, just ain't seeing it happening in my lifetime

 

[ecosse_011172]

With no DVD…

Who cares? Didn't stop RE4 and Metroid Prime blowing away anything on PS2

 

[Deerock71]

Next into the ring: Valve and Apple.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Nintendo will never chase « trends ». They would make exclusive games on an alarm clock before 3rd party

And don't get me wrong, I would love Nintendo games outside their hardware, just ain't seeing it happening in my lifetime.

Just give them time, the old farts that runs Nintendo at the moment are almost dead, them someone young, a foreigner or maybe Nintendo America ll took over and i dont think It ll take 50 year for this to happen, It happened to Sony this way, lets see If Nintendo is imune.

 

[SILKYSMOOTH30FPS]

Nintendo couldn't compete since the mid 2000s, and ran away to their little corner, creating systems for people that don't play video games and children. That ain't winning anything. That's running away like a little pussy

 

[LordOcidax]

Just give them time, the old farts that runs Nintendo at the moment are almost dead, them someone young, a foreigner or maybe Nintendo America ll took over and i dont think It ll take 50 year for this to happen.