The White House has celebrated the end of the so-called “Console Wars” with an artificial intelligence (AI) image of President Donald Trump dressed as Halo’s Master Chief.
Why It Matters
On Friday, Microsoft announced that it would be releasing a remake of the original Halo video game, titled Combat Evolution. It announced that it would be launching on Xbox and PlayStation for the first time in history for the franchise, which was founded in 1991.
In response, GameStop released a tongue-in-cheek statement that declared the end of the “Console Wars.”
“For the past two decades, the global gaming community has been engaged in an ongoing and increasingly petty feud known as The Console Wars. Said conflict originated in the early 2000s with the release of Halo: Combat Evolved as an Xbox-exclusive title. Halo: Campaign Evolved is officially coming to PlayStation in 2026 with cross-platform play,” the gaming merchandise retailer wrote on X.
It then declared peace, the end of the conflict, and said that they will continue to operate as a “demilitarized zone.”
Meanwhile, Trump has posted dozens of synthetic media, including AI-generated content, to social media since returning to office in January. Past examples include an image posted in January of Trump taking a selfie with a lion and a video posted in September that shows Trump shaking the hand of the man in the Cracker Barrel logo before the two dance together to “YMCA.”
What To Know
GameStop’s statement was then shared by the official White House Rapid Response account on X on Saturday, which wrote, “President Trump presides over the end of the 20-year Console Wars.”
Afterward, the White House’s official X account shared an AI image of Trump dressed as the Master Chief from Halo in front of the White House, with two American flags, one in the foreground and one in the background.
That post, viewed more than 23 million times on X reads, “Power to the Players.”
GameStop also shared an image to X that featured Trump shaking hands with Master Chief in a separate post which received a further 9.5 million views.
The move, however, has been met with a mixed response online, as some praised the AI-generated picture of the president while others criticized it. The flags in the AI image have also been a key part of this discourse, as social media users were quick to point out that the flag in the foreground has 40 stars rather than 50.
What People Are Saying
GameStop in a post on X: “GameStop, acting under its authority as a Neutral Entity and The World’s Retail Gaming & Trade-in-Destination, hereby declares the official cessation of the console wars.”
X user @Arkadalo wrote in a post viewed over 50,000 times: “So technically, for President Trump, that makes nine wars that he has ended.”
X user @greg16676935420 wrote in a post viewed over 400,000 times: “Not to be that guy but the flag only has 40 stars on it.”
X user @spectre0799 wrote in a post viewed over 200,000 times: “nothing more patriotic than the official white house account posting ai slop with the U.S. flag missing 10 stars.”
X user @Bubblebathgirl wrote in a post viewed over 40,000 times: “President Trump has peace in his veins.”
What Happens Next?
Microsoft’s Halo: Campaign Evolved is due to launch sometime in 2026.
