Episode #363: Nintendo versus SEGA with Blake Harris

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  Show Notes: https://amzn.to/33jgw3f https://amzn.to/2MqPZdt Twitter: @blakejharris Web: blakejharris.com ---------- Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  goo.gl/sMnEa0 Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski Instagram: www.instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski Future Squared: www.futuresquared.xyz Steve Glaveski: www.steveglaveski.com Medium: www.medium.com/@steveglaveski Steve's book: www.employeetoentrepreneur.io NEW Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/ <img src= "https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t7c/1/16/1f9e0.png" alt="