When exclusive games aren't exclusive anymore

[Juan Aguacate]

Ideally, all games should be exclusive. It would help give each console a personality. However, that doesn't help third party developers make money. So you don't see much of that anymore. I don't agree with the whole, "exclusives suck because it means less people get to play a game" mindset. That's exactly why I LIKE exclusivity. It makes you think harder about what console you're going to buy because they have different libraries. And I like that kind of diversity. I don't like gaming consoles being homogenized. In the 90s, if you had a SNES, Genesis, Neo Geo, or Turbografx 16 you were playing different games than someone who had a different console and I think that was a GOOD thing. Every game feels more special when you realize that you can only play it because you own that particular console. It also made buying easier. Today it's like, "Oh which version should I get? Which has the better resolution, exclusives, frame rate, etc, etc, etc." There is a reason why sites like Digital Foundry exist now.

You don't like that a particular game you want to play is exclusive to another console? Go buy the console then. If you can't afford a second console, be happy with the one you have. It has games on it a lot of other people don't get to play so you are getting your money's worth out of it.

If I had it my way, every game would be exclusive, including PC games

However, when enough times goes by (like a couple of years), I think it's fun to see games released on new platforms but in upgraded form. Remasters and remakes are fun, particularly when they bring new content or content that was removed from the original releases (Ico for example). And it's fun to dust off an old classic and bring it to the modern era (like Wild Guns Reloaded)

Even today, exclusives still influence my buying. I bought a PS4 before an Xbox One knowing it would have exclusives I'd want to play. And that's exactly what I got with stuff like Until Dawn, Onechanbara Z2 Chaos and Fates Extella all being games that have my interest. I wouldn't even mind if I never got an Xbox One honestly as PS 4 caters more to my tastes

[BogusMeatFactory]

I view it like this... that exclusive game that was on a system I was never going to buy is now available on a platform I do have. Hooray!

[Anayo]

Ideally, all games should be exclusive. It would help give each console a personality. However, that doesn't help third party developers make money. So you don't see much of that anymore. I don't agree with the whole, "exclusives suck because it means less people get to play a game" mindset. That's exactly why I LIKE exclusivity. It makes you think harder about what console you're going to buy because they have different libraries. And I like that kind of diversity. I don't like gaming consoles being homogenized. In the 90s, if you had a SNES, Genesis, Neo Geo, or Turbografx 16 you were playing different games than someone who had a different console and I think that was a GOOD thing. Every game feels more special when you realize that you can only play it because you own that particular console. It also made buying easier. Today it's like, "Oh which version should I get? Which has the better resolution, exclusives, frame rate, etc, etc, etc." There is a reason why sites like Digital Foundry exist now.

You don't like that a particular game you want to play is exclusive to another console? Go buy the console then. If you can't afford a second console, be happy with the one you have. It has games on it a lot of other people don't get to play so you are getting your money's worth out of it.

If I had it my way, every game would be exclusive, including PC games

However, when enough times goes by (like a couple of years), I think it's fun to see games released on new platforms but in upgraded form. Remasters and remakes are fun, particularly when they bring new content or content that was removed from the original releases (Ico for example). And it's fun to dust off an old classic and bring it to the modern era (like Wild Guns Reloaded)

Even today, exclusives still influence my buying. I bought a PS4 before an Xbox One knowing it would have exclusives I'd want to play. And that's exactly what I got with stuff like Until Dawn, Onechanbara Z2 Chaos and Fates Extella all being games that have my interest. I wouldn't even mind if I never got an Xbox One honestly as PS 4 caters more to my tastes

I'm really fond of the diversity from the 80's and 90's, but I'm not sure that way is commercially viable anymore. Current day technology is just too complicated. For instance back then we didn't really have such a thing as Epic or Crytek making a name for themselves by licensing out their game engines to other game makers. There wasn't really a prevalence of middleware like Maya or 3DS Max. The old way look like blacksmiths and carpenters building stuff without any power tools by comparison. Just eyeballing it might work for a master artisan in his workshop, but once power tools get involved it calls for standard units of measurement. I like that old school diversity, too, so I'm not really thrilled about it, but I see no alternative but for this trend to continue into the future.

[ExedExes]

When I see "Only For" on my Gamecube games, I think "not anymore!" on some of them, thanks to digital distribution, HD remakes and what not. That's the extent for me. What BMF said, now many games that were on older consoles I don't have are available elsewhere, it's a win-win.

[Tanooki]

I prefer a game stay exclusive only and if only under certain specific conditions.
- Game is made by a 1st party
- Game is made by a 2nd party
- First party(console maker) pays for third party to do a project
- First party works with third party to make a game(meaning co-worked/funded) on their hardware to show it off (like Street Fighter V.)

I find the winners and losers garbage because of snark, fanboys/trolls on staff, timed exclusives, lied about timed exclusives (so you think they're not), and other of that style of handling should be put to death and should have ages ago (pre-3D era.)

RE4 came up for Gamecube. That is a great example of not only a lied about timed exclusive, but Crapcom took the extra effort to toss a switchblade into Nintendo's back too. Anyone remember the Capcom 5 contract deal Nintendo had with them that had PN03 and RE4 in it along with a couple other knowns of which I think one was partly developed(then canned.) Weeks before the Cube release of RE4 with mounting fanboy bitching online, they went and announced that if people wait a year they can get the 'definitive edition' of the game with Ada Wong unlocked if they can wait. Now we know RE4 sold well, but how much better would it have done had Capcom not kept the Sony crybabies appeased? If they had NO choice at that time/year to get a Cube or not play would they have bought it? That should have never been allowed, yet I guess probably Nintendo/Capcom has some contractual language that wouldn't allow them to sue Capcom for subverting their deal.

Another would be the recent Rise of Tomb Raider going on and on how it was for the ONE (and PC) and nothing else. Only after yet again mountains of Sony fans screaming and calling for blood they admitted days later (if that) it was a 1yr timed release. Again, shady as all get out.

All it does it alienate people. It forces you to buy at least 2 if not 3 of the modern consoles to get games from multiple developers that aren't bound to one set of hardware. It's not like most gamers are made of money and can just run out and buy 3 consoles and games for them.

It also almost in a way seems to validate some Nintendo fans mouthiness too because they'll say it and lately I've said it too...why bother buying a PS4 or a One unless you want a 1st/2nd party game?

My personal answer to this question of do it or not? I don't care anymore. I refuse to be multiconsole, and finally now it is possible. Sony and MS have watered down how a console works, and how they are the same box internally basically, that they get the same crap AND the better selling stuff hits the PC too. I have a Nvidia 980 8GB video chip and a i7 processor with 16GB (can go to 32) RAM in my computer. I will lack for nothing. If I want the game Nintendo won't get, PC covers it, stuff they make no one will ever get at all, Switch has it covered. Win and win, and no way for third party abuse.

[PartridgeSenpai]

exclusives are stupid. I like the concept of more games available to everyone.

+1

I'm of the opinion that exclusives are bad to literally everyone but the hardware manufacturer, and anything becoming less exclusive is more or less always a good thing for the consumer unless you care more about a fan-boy war than actual games. If you really like a game, then you should be nothing but happy that more people can play this game you like and can share your great experience!

I'll admit, I'm a total sucker for the diversity that came with different consoles having almost totally different libraries because of the radically different hardware they used, but those days are long gone now. I'm not sure consoles will ever completely go away, but they are a fairly outdated concept now-a-days. As others have said, all of the hardware is so homogeneous now, there's no reason for them to exist, or at least no reason to have such enormous differences. Like, imagine if you could only watch a certain movie ONLY if you had a Samsung DVD player because Samsung paid more money for it. That's bullshit.

[Fragems]

I like exclusives mainly because focusing on a single version can lead to a team maximizing the potential of their game. Sometimes being spread to thin across multiple consoles really hurts the game as does assigning various ports to multiple studios.

[noiseredux]

Like, imagine if you could only watch a certain movie ONLY if you had a Samsung DVD player because Samsung paid more money for it. That's bullshit.

I love this analogy.

[TSTR]

Like, imagine if you could only watch a certain movie ONLY if you had a Samsung DVD player because Samsung paid more money for it. That's bullshit.

I love this analogy.

And then to use it for what I was talking about, imagine that's only for a year, and then Sony DVD players get the movie too, except this time there's extra scenes added in.

[marlowe221]

I like exclusives mainly because focusing on a single version can lead to a team maximizing the potential of their game. Sometimes being spread to thin across multiple consoles really hurts the game as does assigning various ports to multiple studios.

I would argue that this is less true today than ever before because gaming hardware is less diverse than ever before.

There's just not that much optimizing to be done between PC, PS4 and Xbox One - they are all x86 machines these days. Sure, some are more powerful than others but graphics/IQ scalability is no big deal these days.