Since the sixth generation, both Sony and Microsoft have been direct competitors for home consoles. Since 2000, both companies have released a new console model within a year of each other with roughly comparable specifications. Because the console hardware does not have distinct technical advantages, the two companies compete more by creating a unique console environment through online services, and offering console-exclusive games from their first-party studios and from third-party studios.[1] While Nintendo also has remained a significant competitor to both companies, its development and marketing strategy using the "blue ocean" approach is considered fundamentally different from Sony or Microsoft that it is usually not considered as major participant in the console war.[2]