Future Squared with Steve Glaveski: Episode #363: Nintendo versus SEGA with Blake Harris

Episode #363: Nintendo versus SEGA with Blake Harris

Oct 9, 2019

Blake J. Harris is the bestselling author of Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation, which is currently being adapted into a mini-series by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

He’s also the author of History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality.

But we spent the better part of this conversation being nostalgic and unpacking the war that served as a backdrop to our childhood, that of Nintendo v Sega.

Expect to take out numerous business lessons from this one:

The value of open v closed ecosystems
How to differentiate yourself and dominate the market, even with a much smaller budget
Why parent companies meddling in the affairs of their subsidiaries often ends in disaster

We unpack this and a whole lot more, so sit back and reminisce, as I bring you the one and only, Blake J Harris.

Topics Discussed:

The gaming landscape in the 1990s
Nintendo’s dominant business model
Nintendo’s closed ecosystem
Sega’s open ecosystem
Why it’s challenging to maintain market share when you’re ahead of the pack
How Nintendo faltered
What SEGA did to diffeerentiate itself, despite small budgets, and knock Nintendo off its perch
Mortal Kombat
How SEGA blundered
SEGA’s meddling parent company
The Console Wars documentary and mini-series
Identity politis at Oculus
On becoming a writer, and following one’s passions
Writing tips
Dell v Compaq