Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are in line to write and direct a high-profile thriller about the battle between Sega and Nintendo for control of the lucrative 80s and 90s games console market.

Titled Console Wars, the film will be based on Blake Harris's forthcoming book Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation. Book trade.info reports: "Harris draws on hundreds of interviews to present the first full account of this titanic corporate battle, which transformed computer games into a global industry that last year recorded sales of $50bn (surpassing the film and music businesses combined)."

Rogen and Goldberg are best known for the cult comedy Superbad, in which Rogen also took a supporting role. Their most recent film is the 2013 apocalyptic comedy This Is the End, which also drew strong reviews.

With its Megadrive console (known as the Genesis in some regions) Sega took on the Japanese giant Nintendo and briefly came out on top in the lucrative North American marketplace. Its success was achieved through innovative technological developments such as the adoption of the CD-Rom, as well as the launch of landmark title Sonic the Hedgehog.

Console Wars will be produced by Scott Rudin, who oversaw Oscar-winner The Social Network, and is being set up at studio Sony.

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