Video Game Console Wars
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the 1990s, the video game industry was locked in competition between gaming giants Sega and Nintendo, battling for dominance in living rooms around the world as they raced to deliver the best games on their consoles while attacking one another in advertising. This rivalry reshaped the landscape of gaming, helping it grow into the world’s biggest entertainment industry today. We hear from Sega America CEO Tom Kalinske, who took on Nintendo by targeting a more mature audience, focusing on lower prices. Central to that plan was the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, a character designed to challenge Mario as the face of gaming. We also travel to the heart of Madrid, to the OXO video game museum to explore the legacy of the console wars and how they helped the industry level up.
Presenter/producer: Sean Allsop
If you’d like to get in touch with the team, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:09.0 | I'm Sean Orsop, and like a lot of people, I grew up playing home consoles. |
| 0:13.4 | I like many people, I have to decide which console to go with. |
| 0:17.4 | But what's the secret in selling a console? |
| 0:20.2 | Do anything you can to get the hardware in the |
| 0:23.3 | home and then the software sales will follow if you have decent games to play. It was creating the |
| 0:29.2 | army of ambassadors that would actively be talking about console. Having a competitor puts you |
| 0:35.3 | in a position that you have to improve fast. |
| 0:39.4 | This is Business Daily from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:43.5 | And in this program, I'm going to explore the history of the console wars, |
| 0:47.6 | the marketing strategies the companies used to compete, |
| 0:50.4 | and what the console business looks like today. |
| 0:52.7 | With the first console, which was the MagnaVx Odyssey, and then we start with Pong. |
| 0:58.7 | Most recognisable sounds. |
| 1:00.9 | So simplistic. |
| 1:04.2 | I'm in the heart of Spain, Madrid, being shown around a museum, showcasing the history of the most profitable form of entertainment today. |
| 1:13.2 | Video games. |
| 1:14.4 | I've never actually played this one, had we? |
| 1:16.6 | Oh, you have to play that one. |
| 1:19.4 | It's called the OXO Museum, and I'm being shown around by Monica Ibers, the director of the museum. |
| 1:25.6 | Around me are consoles and cartridges from gaming's 50 plus year history, |
| 1:30.3 | and I'm here to see one exhibition, |
... |
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