Blake J. Harris

Blake J. Harris (born 1982) is an American author, journalist and podcaster known for his coverage of historical topics in video games and virtual reality based in New York City, NY.

Harris has written for outlets including The A.V. Club, ESPN, Fast Company, HuffPost, and IGN. In 2015, Harris was asked to provide companion articles to Paul Scheer's How Did This Get Made? podcast.

Harris has appeared on Fox Business, Fox News, NPR, MSNBC, and IGN.

Console Wars

In 2014, Harris published Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation (HarperCollins). The book follows businessman Tom Kalinske during his tenure as CEO of video game company Sega of America, and details the history of business competition between Sega and Nintendo throughout the 1990s. Harris wrote the book in a novelistic style based on interviews with people involved in the events, using the information he gathered to create a dramatic interpretation of the events.

A film adaptation of the book directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg was announced in February 2014, which has since transitioned to a limited television series with Legendary Television.

The History of the Future

In 2019, Harris published his second book, The History of the Future (HarperCollins), which follows the development of Oculus, the virtual reality company founded in 2012 that was ultimately acquired by Facebook. As in Console Wars, Harris used interview material as the foundation for a dramatic interpretation of the events. The book became a USA Today bestseller.