Earlier today, we reported on former Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aimé talking about Xbox having yet to embrace the Switch 2, and in that same interview with The Game Business, he talked a bit about the "war" between Xbox, Nintendo and PlayStation that's typically been in place over the past 24 years.
Xbox is in a different position these days, of course — it's no longer just about console success, as Microsoft is referring to pretty much anything as an "Xbox" now — and Reggie suggests the days of direct competition are basically over.
"I do think that the years of direct competition are done. With a large part of the Xbox business now being publishing, by definition, they’re a big third-party publisher that also makes some hardware. From that standpoint, they are no longer directly competing with the PlayStation business."
Reggie reiterated during the discussion that he thinks it's in Microsoft's best interest to get Xbox software onto the Nintendo Switch 2, while also pointing out the company needs Sony's support when it comes to first-party ports on PS5.
Nevertheless, he advises that the console war — or whatever "war" it's going to be called in the future — isn't going to go away entirely. Due to a "battle for attention and mindshare", he says it's still going to be bubbling under the surface.
"Gamers out there have limited budgets. You have to win for every dollar spent; you need to win for every minute spent playing. And so there’s always going to be a war going on. It may be below the surface, but there’s always going to be a battle for attention and mindshare.”
All of this makes sense from our standpoint, as although Xbox is trying to focus on multiple platforms and serving as a third-party publisher these days, we've still got a new Xbox console on the way, and the ROG Xbox Ally is another device that Microsoft is trying to garner attention for. The company still wants to ship as many of these systems as possible, even if it's not their sole objective anymore.
Reggie always makes a ton of sense anyway - one of the most charismatic and beloved leaders we've ever seen in the gaming space! Whenever he has something to say, we'll always be willing to listen.