Sony Takes the Console Wars Out on the Streets

Sony wants to throw a banana skin in front of Nintendo’s business plans.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Sony is working on a hand-held gaming console for its PlayStation brand that, if released, would put it in more direct competition with Nintendo, maker of the Nintendo Switch. It’s an expansion of the console wars, which have historically been between Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox, with Nintendo managing to remain neutral, the Switzerland of the games world. But these reported plans for a hand-held PlayStation device show the game isn’t really about selling units anymore, it’s about hoarding consumers’ attention.

Console Party

Some of our more games-minded readers may remember the heyday of handheld gaming devices in the late 1990s-slash early 2000s (the Gameboy Color in particular holds a special place in many a millennial’s heart) but for the past seven years the handheld gaming console market has been dominated by Nintendo’s Switch console. Now however, it looks like both Sony and Microsoft are exploring ways to break into that market.

“A handheld from PlayStation and Xbox would increase competition for Nintendo on the portable front,” Rhys Elliott, gaming industry analyst at MIDiA Research, told The Daily Upside. But making portable gaming consoles might have less to do with the console wars and more to do with the attention economy, Elliott said: 

• The gaming industry has been moving deeper and deeper into the attention economy, with companies trying to keep gamers on their platforms as much as possible. According to Bloomberg, the new device would let gamers play current PlayStation 5 games, so it wouldn’t be selling more games but rather keeping them plugged into PlayStation beyond their living rooms. “A new PlayStation portable would be aiming at increasing current PlayStation player engagement,” Elliott said.
• Elliott also thinks Nintendo’s IP, its home-grown iconic franchises like Mario and Legend of Zelda, insulates it against invasion by Sony and Microsoft. “Nintendo focuses on family-friendly IP, and that is the core of its brand. While PlayStation is looking to expand into this area […] Nintendo’s 40 years of building family-friendly IP is unmistakable.” 

It’s-a Me, IP: Nintendo is growing less and less reliant on actual gamers these days, as its own ecosystem is looking more like a media empire than a gaming one. “Nintendo is aiming to be the next Disney,” Elliott added, “With its theme parks, cross-entertainment (including the billion-dollar-grossing Super Mario movie), mobile, toys, merch, and even alarm clocks – with the family-friendly gaming brand being at the core.” Mario versus Mickey… a chilling thought.