Former Xbox Exec Said Company Stoked Console Wars To Drive Competition

Remember the seventh generation of consoles? It might just be my nostalgia goggles, but I remember it being a glorious time to be a gamer. On the one hand we had the PlayStation 3 with Nathan Drake's first outing in the Uncharted franchise, on the other hand was the Xbox 360 and Marcus Fenix's first extraterrestrial murderous rampage in Gears Of War, and all the while TV screens were being smashed to pieces as a result of liberal uses of the Wiimote strap during Wii Sports.

However, apparently there was something more dubious going on behind the scenes. Former Xbox executive Peter Moore has revealed that the fire of the so-called 'console wars' was intentionally being stoked by the Microsoft corner.

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Speaking on the Front Office Sports podcast which you can check out below, Moore noted that the competition between Sony and Microsoft was inflated by his team in order to make it more of a 'thing'. Quite clever, when you think about it - but the hangover of the 'console wars' has been far from nice.

"We encouraged the console wars, not to create division, but to challenge each other," Moore said. "If Microsoft hadn't of stuck the course after the Xbox, after the Red Rings of Death, gaming would be a poorer place for it, you wouldn't have the competition you have today."

To some extent, you can see where the idea comes from. Create competition to push each other and be the very best version of themselves they can be. Business 101. But, from a consumer perspective, I think we can afford to look on things with a little more cynicism. The ongoing console wars between PlayStation OGs and Xbox fanboys has not been a particularly pleasant one, with plenty of mudslinging from both sides over who's chosen piece of hardware is better. While things certainly seem to have tailed off and levelled out for the most recent generation of consoles, there's still a fair amount of disharmony among gamers.

Just remember folks, whichever multi-billion dollar corporation you choose to pledge your allegiance to, the only ones that win are those companies, so it's much better if we all just get along amicably and play nice.