Can Microsoft end the console wars? Here’s what gamers need to know

Ever since video games entered the home, there has been a competition for gamers' money, and attention.

Grizzled veterans know this conflict as the “console wars” — battles for sales and cultural influence that date back to when Atari arrived in living rooms in the 1970s. There was Nintendo versus Sega, and Xbox versus PlayStation. But a recent announcement from Microsoft suggests that the battle for gaming platform supremacy could be coming to an end, or at least entering a new era.

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It began in the '80s with Atari versus Nintendo. In the '90s, Sega entered the fight. And since the early 2000s, the main competition has been between Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox. Both companies have devoted a lot of money and effort to securing developers. Sony recently purchased Bellevue-based Bungie, makers of the "Destiny" series, while Microsoft took on the Federal Trade Commission to buy gaming giant Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.

A key feature of the console wars has always been exclusivity, the practice of making popular games available for one console only. For example, you have to shell out big bucks for an Xbox if you want to play "Halo." You’re a "Final Fantasy" fan? Then you better save up for a PlayStation.

Microsoft's recent announcement that it will release four Xbox-exclusive games for PlayStation and Nintendo suggests a significant change in course for the company. But as Bloomberg tech reporter Dina Bass told Soundside, this "unforeseen news" doesn't mean that, after 20 years of Xbox, Microsoft will be getting out of the console business altogether.

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"No. [Microsoft Gaming CEO] Phil Spencer and another Xbox President, Sarah Bond, both said 'no'," Bass said. "There is next generation hardware being planned."

So, why is making Xbox titles available to other consoles so consequential? Bass explained it all comes down to the bottom line. If Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios can create games that sell on more systems, that's more money coming in to dedicate to new hardware, new games, and new technology.

But Microsoft isn't going to give all of their games away. Their subscription service Game Pass will remain available to Xbox and PC users only.

Bass said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer went out of his way to say that if you're someone playing on something other than an Xbox, you won't be able to access those games.

"If you're a PlayStation customer, you shouldn't think that there's some plan and this is the beginning of all of the games coming to PlayStation or Nintendo," Bass said.

Whether the four as-yet-unnamed titles are the start of a greater partnership between bitter rivals in the console wars is yet to be seen, but it's a start.

Listen to Soundside’s full conversation with Dina Bass by clicking the play icon at the top of this story.