Topic: What are your thoughts on game exclusivity?

Shocked there hasn’t been a forum topic like this.

I’ve been thinking about this a bit…it mainly comes from Microsoft’s decision to make a few of their games multiplatform and a recent ad campaign that they held where they showed pictures of various devices with the text “This is an Xbox,” which hinted a multiplatform approach that Microsoft could be taking, plus, if I remember, there have been some people working at Microsoft who have expressed a dislike against exclusivity and wishing that all games could be playable on any system.

I have seen a ton more takes and views on game exclusivity from Microsoft’s decision, and I wonder if people would have reacted differently if Microsoft didn’t have an issue with releasing a lot more notable exclusives besides famous ones such as Halo, or if people would react differently if another console manufacturer like Sony did what Microsoft is doing with their exclusives.

I am curious, what do you think about games being exclusive to one console? Not just Microsoft, but other game companies as well, including first-party studios and third-party studios that create exclusive games for a specific platform. Do you think game exclusivity is a good thing, or do you think it’s bad and exclusionary? Would you prefer if games were available everywhere, or just on one system?

As for my thoughts, I kind of don’t mind game exclusives, but I also don’t really care if a game went multiplatform on other systems, and despite liking my Xbox a lot, I surprisingly don’t mind their exclusives releasing on other consoles, mostly cuz it’s so far only been a few of their games. Plus, there are some exclusive games on Xbox that I think would have been better suited for other console audiences and could have done better (e.g. Rare’s 360 games and Rare Replay on Nintendo platforms, though the latter was a one and done thing and is big in size, so its never getting ported to other consoles at this point). I usually like seeing other people being able to play games everywhere and not having to spend extra money on another console just for one game, and I find that multiplatform games can save money in that aspect. Though, I am aware that game exclusives going multiplatform can give someone less of a reason to own a specific console. Some games being exclusive is good, but I also think that having a mix of multiplatform games is even better in my opinion, but I want to hear your thoughts.

It's an outdated practice to be honest. If I were a developer, I would want as many people to play my game regardless of what console or device they have. In the end we are all gamers who cares what piece of plastic we use to access said game.

I dunno...I'm kinda 50-50 on it tbh. Depends really. But when you (as a company) owns a console platform that you market, release, & sell. You're gonna need an exclusive game to really get people to buy said console. Especially when said game is designed with the console in mind (ex. Kirby & The Rainbow Curse on WiiU).

Though I recall that SEGA, once upon a time, had their consoles. But while some of their ips were on their platforms, none of them were really "exclusive" especially their arcade games. SEGA had released many Sonic games on PC throughout the 90's. It was only a handful of games that remained exclusive on their consoles. Like say...Astal & Clockwork Knight on Saturn. While Panzer Dragoon had released on both the Saturn & Windows PC. Heck, Sonic CD eventually got a PC port 4 years later.

My thoughts about console exclusivity is that it can actually be a good thing. You can give the argument of why not let everyone play your games no matter the console, but I think it’s important in the gaming industry. xbox doesn’t really have many exclusives at this point, with Game Pass and many former exclusives going to other consoles, and there are some fans that question getting xbox in the future since those games could probably be played on a more powerful device. Not to mention PS5 having an infamous drought of exclusives since it’s launch, which doesn’t help convince buyers to get the console.

Nintendo Switch has seen a lot of success, and most of the million sellers on the console are published by Nintendo. Would 140+ million people have bought a Switch if it wasn’t the only one to be able to play Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Animal Crossing, Kirby, Zelda, Splatoon, and Pokemon games?

I'm fine with the idea of exclusivity, competition breeds creativity and all that. If there weren't other companies like Sony or Microsoft, Nintendo would grow complacent. My biggest concern, if any, is the idea companies taking multi-plat series and keeping them for themselves. With all this talk of Sony potentially acquiring Kadokawa. What mostly got me thinking was Spike Chunsoft. They've made plenty of series that I hold dear: Danganronpa, AI: The Somnium Files, etc. Even first-party Nintendo stuff like Mario & Luigi and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon would be affected. It should be prefaced that I have absolutely no idea how any of this works, so I'm sorry if I sound like a bumbling idiot, but the idea of Sony looking at Spike Chunsoft and saying "Mine now." just...I hope not. That's not even getting into the whole FromSoft debacle. I don't know, like I said, I'm not an expert on the subject. So please go easy on me. XD (In the case of first-party Nintendo titles, obviously they could continue. Mario & Luigi could easily come back someday, Alphadream is non-existent and it survived. In the case of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, there'd need to be changes. Nintendo doesn't own the Mystery Dungeon IP, and they'd probably have to make substantial gameplay changes. At that point, I wonder if Game Freak would even consider it worth the trouble, plenty of their other series are already dormant.)

Exclusives have been and still are the best way to pitch your console to potential buyers. It continues to work well for Playstation and Nintendo. But with Xbox deviating from consoles to wanting XBL on any and all devices, their drive towards building a stable of marketable exclusives has slowly evaporated. MS recently spent 70 billion dollars and they still can't fight their way out of third place in the console market.

And I think MS is okay with that.

They'll continue to market themselves as the Netflix of video games.

I own PC, Mac and Nintendo. If Nintendo didnt have great exclusives (by far the best on console market) I would have zero interest in the console itself. It needs AAA franchises that can compete with the rest of market (Zelda BoTW, Zelda TotK, Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter for a year, Metroid Prime).

As a consumer there are no upsides to exclusivity. The less exclusivity there is the more opportunity you as a consumer have to access that content. Without having to buy into another platform. And also for developers making a game available on multiple platforms means more people can buy it. Lowering the risk, raising the reward. So all positives

The way I see it there are only two reasons why exclusivity is good. Firstly it's good for platform holders because it gives them a reason to tell people to buy their platform. Which is understandable but as a consumer this is not a good thing. The second reason is more technical and is more just a side-effect rather than the main goal. If a developer specifically targets a platform they can optimise for that specific device. Can a multi-platform game also be optimised? Sure. But usually that work is farmed out and one platform or another draws a short straw

To me, it's a necessary evil. It actually makes a console worth buying if it has games that no other platform is able to play. I get that it's anti-consumer, but there's a reason I don't use my PS5 anymore. It has nothing to play on it. If I want to play a PS5 game, I can just boot it up on Steam. Meanwhile I still use my Switch because Nintendo's first party releases are exclusive to the platform.