We’ve always maintained that these fanboy fueled console wars are remarkably dumb and short sighted, and they completely miss the point. While a lot of the gaming community fights amongst itself about which box is the best one to play games on, the companies that actually make these consoles seem to all be friendly with each other- something that has been evidenced repeatedly, as executives from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have all been largely respectful and complimentary towards each other.
We already know what Sony and Microsoft both thought of Nintendo’s showing at E3 this year- but in an interview with GamerTag Radio, Microsoft’s head of marketing for Xbox Aaron Greenberg was posed the question about what he thought of Sony’s E3 show too. His response? He liked it, and as a gamer, had great appreciation for what Sony brought to the table.
“I thought [Sony] did a great job,” Greenberg said. “I have always had admiration for Sony, and I know Yoshida-san and the team there, I hosted them at E3 last year. He’s a great guy, always super complimentary, and [there’s] a lot of respect. I think the beauty of this is that I feel super lucky to work in the game industry, to be able to work in a space that I love. We’re part of one big gaming community. And while we’re competitors when sometimes people decide what box to buy or what games to buy, at events like this, I think we’re all trying to get people excited about gaming.
“As a gamer, I think they showed a lot of great games. I think they did a great job. I love the idea of integrating an orchestra into the show, and so I thought they had a great show. And yeah, they were super complimentary to us as well, so yeah, that was great to see.”
You see that? At some level, he is able to put aside his own personal feelings and allegiances (and at least his allegiances are justified! Most gamers have no excuses for how passionate they get about which console they prefer), and he is able to appreciate the competition as a gamer- which is more than can be said for a lot of fans of these companies.
As gamers, one should be excited when a cool looking new game is announced on any platform. As gamers, we should want the competition to do well, because competition breeds success. As gamers, we should want more healthy platforms and systems, because that is indicative of a healthier industry on the whole.
Hopefully, instances of these executives from rival companies being friendly to each other so openly will hammer that point home.