The console wars started back in the 90s when at gamings peak, Sega unleashed Sonic the Hedgehog, throughout the 90s with increasingly catty callouts between Nintendo and Sega through commercials, it would become a three way battle when PlayStation joined, Sega would bow out and XBox would take it's place and the current battlefield has been fought by Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox since but at this moment in time, who is winning?
Let's review.
Nintendo Switch
Nintendo's surprise success with the Wii gave it more than enough momentum to survive the WiiU era and jump into the perfected Switch console at the cost of losing the Gameboy/DS line.
Nintendo has always had a strong IP line up which the other two don't have.
It's also very easy to develop for sometimes getting indie titles even before Steam, it's also the only console to still allow adult games, Sony outright abandoned them, more on that later while Xbox feels they don't need them.
Nintendo however has plateaued for a while, Pokemon being the indicator that the games are really not getting better technical wise with demands that Nintendo release a Switch 2 so it can even stand a chance, it's online gaming history still isn't any better either, but Nintendo can afford to bide it's time as the weaknesses of it's rivals are so much more prevalent than the Switch being underpowered.
PlayStation 5
Sony has had a weird track record since the PS2 became the best seller of all time, PS3 was underpowered and kinda just there compared to 360, PS4 was the best console of the last generation but then PS5 has literally screwed Sony over.
It's a white elephant of over priced hi-tech machinery that is becoming as absurd as a minimalist hyper car, the release of the Pro being the first nail in the coffin, the second being no exclusive games as everything it runs can be played on other consoles and steam, the third nail being the nine figure disaster that is Concord, anymore disasters and PlayStation are just going to crash out of the wars, the sad thing is, it's technically the best console through performance and despite sharing a library with every other console, they run much better on Sony's behemoth, losing the adult otaku crowd to Nintendo hasn't made it any easier either; they dropped easy million sellers like Senran Kagura in favour of Concord an expensive disaster.
Sony, are you okay? I can't tell if this is self sabotage or not because this isn't the PlayStation I know.
Xbox X-Series
Knowing that it needed a different approach, Microsoft decided it was easier to buy game companies to give it more games to play with along with a closer relationship with PC, this also allows it's only asset, Gamepass to thrive.
Technically it's the worse console, many of it's ports of games have a bad track record of not being able to even start and the transition between Xbone and X-series has been a little mishandled. It remains a solid middle ground between it's rivals.
Conclusion
Nintendo has the best IPs but lags heavily in the power department and badly needs an upgrade.
PlayStation is ultra powerful but there's nothing to play on it.
Xbox is pretty much gaming Netflix but is on a fine balance in terms of tech as well as games not feeling comfortable operating on the xbox.
It's easy for me to turn around and say, just get Steam but maintaining a gaming PC is astronomically expensive compared to the consoles.
Time will tell if things really do change as the next great shift in the market will come with GTA6's arrival.
