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Exclusivity sucks as a gaming practice

We need exclusivity so we can feel priveleged for being able to play exclusive games on certain consoles. It's an important aspect of the gaming experience.

It's like the feeling when you buy one of the two pokemon games that comes out each year and get to see other people seethe over the game exclusive pokemon you have access to.
 
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BaneIsPain

Member
joey doesnt share food GIF
 

AmuroChan

Member
Subscribing to Netflix is cheap compared to buying another gaming platform, and you can just subscribe for a month and see what you want to see and then cancel the sub.

What’s happening in gaming is more like being stuck in a never-ending HDDVD vs Bluray format war where you need to buy a new player to see a new movie.

But maybe in the future if streaming becomes big it’ll be exactly like TV streaming. It’s actually the most likely scenario since they need to lower the barrier of entry to get more people into their closed ecosystem.

Agree, but that doesn't change the fact it's a general business practice across a variety of industries. Businesses are always going to value exclusivity. It's why there's such a hunger to acquire IPs the past few years as the industry continues to consolidate. Exclusive content is a prime differentiator between platforms. Businesses are always going to make exclusive content/products to make their brands stand out against the competitors, be it in gaming, film, music, tech, automotive, pharmaceutical, etc.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
I have MS and Sony systems PC, PS5, XOne..
What I want is to open any damn box I own and just start playing whatever on it.
OMG! Shocking!
Will take a while for the medium to mature to that lvl. Hope it happens soon enough.

It will never happen.

It has nothing to do with the medium maturing, and everything to do with consoles being controlled by individual corporations that have to sell their box over the competition.

PC is the only platform that can get close to what you’re looking for since no single entity controls it.
 

Quezacolt

Member
Anyways I don't have the ability to change history but maybe you do. Once you change it I'll admit that Sony had nothing to do with starting the Souls genre.
But Sony did, even if they didnt know//want it.

They paid for demon's souls, it was en exclusive. It became a cult hit. Bandai Namco then decided to ask From soft to make a spiritual successor, since the demon's souls ip belonged to Sony.

So From did that, and made Dark Souls. Then Sony asked them to make another game in the genre, but a new IP, we got bloodborne, wich is a souls game. then we got the dark souls sequels, and finally elden ring, wich is dark souls open world.

The ip's might not be the same, but the origin of the souls genre started with the initial failure and eventual success of demon's souls, and that's a fact.

So yes, Sony exclusivity allowed this to happen, and you have to be really stubborn to ignore that.
 
But Sony did, even if they didnt know//want it.

They paid for demon's souls, it was en exclusive. It became a cult hit. Bandai Namco then decided to ask From soft to make a spiritual successor, since the demon's souls ip belonged to Sony.

So From did that, and made Dark Souls. Then Sony asked them to make another game in the genre, but a new IP, we got bloodborne, wich is a souls game. then we got the dark souls sequels, and finally elden ring, wich is dark souls open world.

The ip's might not be the same, but the origin of the souls genre started with the initial failure and eventual success of demon's souls, and that's a fact.

So yes, Sony exclusivity allowed this to happen, and you have to be really stubborn to ignore that.

Basically and there's nothing wrong with using Demon Souls on how exclusivity can help start a franchise/genre. Sometimes an exclusivity agreement can be key to saving a franchise which is what happened with Bayonetta.
 

Nickolaidas

Member
How does that beat my argument? The industry has expanded and competition has driven that expansion.
Because you literally said that PC getting games which were previously exclusive to consoles improved PC game sales.

But the console sales didn't diminish with the PC getting those games. Instead they soared.

Which means that games being exclusive to consoles neither helps the console market or the PC market.

A PC owner who wants to play everything at max settings and refuses to compromise in terms of hardware won't buy a PS5 in order to play Spider-Man 2. He wants to play the game, but not to the point of buying an inferior piece of equipment for it.

A console owner who wants to play games by paying the minimum game ecosystem entry fee won't forfeit consoles in order to buy a much more expensive PC. He will keep gaming on consoles.

Ergo, PC market and console market are not competing with each other. Consoles may compete with each other, but consoles with PC do not. Did you see X-Box sales diminishing as their games started coming to PC day one? Sony is FINALLY beginning to understand this, which is why you'll see PS5 games come to PC sooner and sooner as the months go by.

By the end of this gen, PS games will 90% come to PC day one.
 
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Because you literally said that PC getting games which were previously exclusive to consoles improved PC game sales.

But the console sales didn't diminish with the PC getting those games. Instead they soared.

Which means that games being exclusive to consoles neither helps the console market or the PC market.

A PC owner who wants to play everything at max settings and refuses to compromise in terms of hardware won't buy a PS5 in order to play Spider-Man 2. He wants to play the game, but not to the point of buying an inferior piece of equipment for it.

A console owner who wants to play games by paying the minimum game ecosystem entry fee won't forfeit consoles in order to buy a much more expensive PC. He will keep gaming on consoles.

Ergo, PC market and console market are not competing with each other. Consoles may compete with each other, but consoles with PC do not. Did you see X-Box sales diminishing as their games started coming to PC day one? Sony is FINALLY beginning to understand this, which is why you'll see PS5 games come to PC sooner and sooner as the months go by.

By the end of this gen, PS games will 90% come to PC day one.

Not everything is a zero sum game. The sooner you realize that the sooner your life will improve.

What you're doing is comparing two different scenarios with different variables, but saying the scenarios are the same.

In a different landscape with console games not going to PC, you'd probably have a smaller PC landscape, but you can't test that theory out because you can't explore that outcome because it doesn't exist.

Growth in the PC market doesn't mean that it isn't competing with the conole market. The overall industry is growing.
 

cireza

Banned
Still don't belive games like Breath of the Wild, God of War Ragnarok and Forza Horizon 5 don't deserve those high scores. All three have some extremely talented developers working for them. Not everything that's highly rated is overrated.
I find these games meh at best. But if people are happy with them, then great. We have seen a ton of great, ambitious games failing because they were not first party and did not have a well known license behind them.
 
I find these games meh at best. But if people are happy with them, then great. We have seen a ton of great, ambitious games failing because they were not first party and did not have a well known license behind them.

No idea how being 1st party makes them overrated though. 1st parties are capable of making both good and bad games. It's only the platforms that they release those games on that might change.

Still I really can't say 1st party games are poor in general when I enjoyed many high quality ones.
 

AmuroChan

Member
It will never happen.

It has nothing to do with the medium maturing, and everything to do with consoles being controlled by individual corporations that have to sell their box over the competition.

PC is the only platform that can get close to what you’re looking for since no single entity controls it.

What he wants is the streaming future where dedicated hardware is no longer necessary. Turn on the TV, navigate to the XBox, PlayStation, or Nintendo app, and play any game he wants.
 

cireza

Banned
Still I really can't say 1st party games are poor in general when I enjoyed many high quality ones.
Great for you. I barely ever see any worthwhile first party game. They are all so predictable, taking the less risks possible. First party don't compete like third parties do in the multi-platform space.

They simply have to iterate on the same series again and again to push console sales. It got uninteresting something like 20 years ago. So little has changed. Why waste time with current Mario Kart when it isn't better than Double Dash ? Apply same logic to every single first party series, because that's just how it is. Oh yes, prettier graphics. Wow, this feels utterly pointless to me.

Third parties innovative a bit more, so there are some nice games to discover every once in a while. But first parties are creatively bankrupt. How can you always put 90+ score at series that are stagnating and iterating the same concept every 4/5 years ? I don't get it. But people are happy with it seems. They could probably eat the exact same meal every lunch, would still be happy. So good for them I guess.

Third parties make games like Outer Wilds. Yeah, it is multi platform. It is indie. And you will never see Sony, MS nor Nintendo output a game like this. Just an example, there are plenty of those.
 
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Great for you. I barely ever see any worthwhile first party game. They are all so predictable, taking the less risks possible. First party don't compete like third parties do in the multi-platform space.

They simply have to iterate on the same series again and again to push console sales. It got uninteresting something like 20 years ago. So little has changed. Why waste time with current Mario Kart when it isn't better than Double Dash ? Apply same logic to every single first party series, because that's just how it is. Oh yes, prettier graphics. Wow, this feels utterly pointless to me.

Third parties innovative a bit more, so there are some nice games to discover every once in a while. But first parties are creatively bankrupt. How can you always put 90+ score at series that are stagnating and iterating the same concept every 4/5 years ? I don't get it. But people are happy with it seems. They could probably eat the exact same meal every lunch, would still be happy. So good for them I guess.

Third parties make games like Outer Wilds. Yeah, it is multi platform. It is indie. And you will never see Sony, MS nor Nintendo output a game like this. Just an example, there are plenty of those.

Sometimes 1st parties do make big changes. Like when SSM changed the way GoW played or when Guerilla Games stopped making Killzone games and made the Horizon ones. The of course you have Rare that are constantly making new things. But I agree that some studios only make one type of franchise but that's not true for many of them whether 1st party or not.
 

ProtoByte

Member
Elden Ring, Witcher3, RDR2, Skyrim, Minecraft, Tetris, GTA are proof
So, a game that's basically the 6th iteration of Demon's Souls, an exclusive; the third title in series originally spawned as a PC exclusive; a game from a company that earned their prestige with GTA3, an exclusive; a Bethesda game from a series that was originally a PC exclusive; another PC exclusive initially; Tetris, the origins of which are too long for me to research, especially considering the nature of that game (e.g., not even close to the same league as the others); and GTA again.

Exclusivity is competition. And competition in fhe games market is best when applied to the games in and of themselves.

Without it, there are countless old games that are only now multiplatform franchises (and I will note that most of those have declined in the eyes of many) and recent games that wouldn't have been possible. Be it because of financial, technological, or opportunity cost constraints.

I notice that this exclusivity whinging comes up any time a hot new exclusive is on the way, too. The funny thing is that exclusivity is probably more important now to the incentive structure for making certain types of games than ever before. Most multiplatform publishers are hooked on going after the lowest of low common denominators, milking IP without ever advancing it for decades at a time.

As for your point about game preservation: The nature of the medium constrains that heavily. And that's besides the fact that no amount of effort is going to preserve everything.
 

cireza

Banned
Sometimes 1st parties do make big changes. Like when SSM changed the way GoW played or when Guerilla Games stopped making Killzone games and made the Horizon ones. The of course you have Rare that are constantly making new things. But I agree that some studios only make one type of franchise but that's not true for many of them whether 1st party or not.
I don't see any risk nor incredible creativity in these examples. They moved to yet another one of these third party action games, or changed the point of view of the camera for the same series. More of the same stuff that sells. Wow, that's pretty bold...
 
I don't see any risk nor incredible creativity in these examples. They moved to yet another one of these third party action games, or changed the point of view of the camera for the same series. More of the same stuff that sells. Wow, that's pretty bold...

You mean GoW 2018? It wasn't just a simple camera change they also made lots of changes to the gameplay as well. As someone who started playing the franchise since the 1st one I can tell you its vastly different.

I'm sorry your not able to enjoy 1st party games but I'm sure you will find one that you like someday. Gaming isn't that depressing.
 

Nickolaidas

Member
Not everything is a zero sum game. The sooner you realize that the sooner your life will improve.

What you're doing is comparing two different scenarios with different variables, but saying the scenarios are the same.

In a different landscape with console games not going to PC, you'd probably have a smaller PC landscape, but you can't test that theory out because you can't explore that outcome because it doesn't exist.

Growth in the PC market doesn't mean that it isn't competing with the conole market. The overall industry is growing.
Did X-Box games coming to PC day one hurt the X-Box ecosystem? Yes or No?
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Software sells hardware. It’s been a testament since the early days of Nintendo.It’s how console developers sell their consoles. The Wii was a GameCube and a half in terms of power. Its motion sensors and exclusive games sold the console. It was exclusive. I don’t see the point, just buy whatever console is needed.

You might as well wish for your favorite console developer to go out of business if you wish for exclusives to go away. As far back as it matters, exclusive games has been an important part of the industry. Wasn’t it the 3DO that didn’t have first party games? They relied on 3rd party. Which meant they had nothing to compete with. I remember reading where that was their biggest weakness. Not having first party games.
 

cireza

Banned
I'm sorry your not able to enjoy 1st party games but I'm sure you will find one that you like someday. Gaming isn't that depressing.
I am good with third party games thanks. I do try first party every once in a while, but nothing comes close to the days of SEGA on Saturn/Dreamcast...
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
20110218.gif


No one gives a shit about what you did and why. You are not the mass market.
I am the market.
People buy just like me.
Don't act stupid. People buy consoles for exclusives. Don't need proof or science to discover this.
not only for exclusives but big part does FOR SURE. like wtf man.
Are you really arguing with me that I am in the minority who bought consoles in the past because of exclusives?!
Ps5 is the first console I've bought just because I wanted
 

Nickolaidas

Member
I People buy consoles for exclusives.
Not quite.

People buy consoles because they want a cheap entry to the gaming ecosystem with as less fuss as possible (though truth be told, the turn-on-and-play convenience of the console is dead, due to installations, patches, updates, drive space, etc.)

Exclusives matter to hardcore console gamers foremost. To the casuals ... not so much.
 

Vexed Dad

Neo Member
Its so fucking annoying when a game you're so amped up about playing is limited to a particular system. Countless times I've been frustrated finding out I can't play my jams anywhere cuz they're exclusive to different stuff.

Before select fanboys come at me, NO, I'm NOT excluding anycorp from criticism. Apples to MS, Sony, Nintendo, etc. Not going indepth into their practices for time&space, but they're currently going all into different exclusivity strategies.

This sucks for gaming man. Why do companies cage games from more gamers? Why lock and limit games to just one box? What happens to those exclusives when the platform they're on reaches end-of-life or stops getting support? The games just die there?

These guys have to smarten up, see reason in broader reach, UNSHACKLE exclusives for the sake of game preservation; & focus on making good games. Games don't need to be exclusive to be a quality standard. Elden Ring, Witcher3, RDR2, Skyrim, Minecraft, Tetris, GTA are proof! non-exclusive, acclaimed, among the best-selling & greatest games ever.. Give me more platform agnostic, top-tier, competitive games! Why's competition stuck to being about boxes and exclusives? Should've always just been about striving to make quality games!

Exclusivity sucks! Bring forward legacy titles like MGS3 & 4, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted 2 & 3, etc. on PC! Halo and Forza on PS5! Demon's Souls, Bloodborne and Gravity Rush on XSX/PC/Switch! Nintendo games on anything! Let people have OPTIONS. Let gamers play games wherever they want! THAT'S WHAT GAMING'S ABOUT! STOP this practice of forever restricting games to one platform, digital store, etc going forward!
ATEstCk.gif
I hear you, but this isn't limited to gaming. In the retail world product manufactures make exclusive deals all the time. Only Target is getting this Hasbro SW item, only Costco is getting the LG 55" etc...
 
Did X-Box games coming to PC day one hurt the X-Box ecosystem? Yes or No?

There's no way of telling. Let me try to help you understand.

Let's say the xbox eco system is at 60 million now with pc day one.

Let's say in another scenario the ecosystem is at 75 million without day one.

Has day one on PC hurt it? Absolutely, if that is the case. In order to really examine this, you'd have to look at the rate and trajectory of xbox sales and see if there is any discernible difference since the introduction of day 1 games.
 

Lupin25

Member
Exclusivity only sucks for those inextricably limited by choice.

If all games were multiplatform, we all would just choose the one console with the best hardware/services every generation lol.
 
This is how ridiculous you people sound to me.

Nowaday game consoles are pretty much custom PC Hardware boxes, there's no reason for everything to not be on everything. A game on every platforms will make more money, that's a straight fact, and even Sony knows this with their PC ports.
All games on one platform can also lead to some games getting lost in the already huge shuffle and even cause a monopoly because there would be no competition. Most gamers don’t have much money and will only pick one or a couple of games for the year leading to some games not selling as much as they could. I don’t think all games being available on one device would be beneficial to all companies.
 
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AmuroChan

Member
Doesn’t matter what he wants. It’s not going to happen.

I disagree. I don't like streaming personally, but that future is already in the process of happening. XCloud will be available on TVs by next year. PlayStation won't be far behind. Nintendo will be last to the dance, but even they have started experimenting with cloud gaming already. It's only a matter of time before people will have the option to play Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo games all through apps and not dedicated hardware, as long as they have the subscriptions to those services.
 

TLZ

Banned
Imagine a world, in the 80s, where if you didn't own a Sony made CD Music Player, you couldn't play Thriller on it. It would be beyond retarded.
You would have people cope with it by saying that if Thriller wasn't exclusive, Michael Jackson wouldn't have made as good an album as it was.

This is how ridiculous you people sound to me.

Nowaday game consoles are pretty much custom PC Hardware boxes, there's no reason for everything to not be on everything. A game on every platforms will make more money, that's a straight fact, and even Sony knows this with their PC ports.
It's kinda different though. You can't apply that to everything.

For example, 100s of shops make burgers. But they don't all taste the exact same. They're not all the same burger made by one company and sold to all those shops to sell to customers. This does exist, like the brands you find in Woolies, Coles, etc (I don't know what you have there). But it isn't the only way.

Each shop makes their own burgers, their own way and that adds a different taste/touch to them; something unique to every shop. This is why we go back to a specific shop we like. We like their way of doing it.

In the case of consoles, working on one device is easier for Devs compared to working on a multitude of consoles. Plus they can optimise their software to the best ability of the one console. Squeeze every bit of juice out of it.
 

Nickolaidas

Member
There's no way of telling. Let me try to help you understand.

Let's say the xbox eco system is at 60 million now with pc day one.

Let's say in another scenario the ecosystem is at 75 million without day one.

Has day one on PC hurt it? Absolutely, if that is the case. In order to really examine this, you'd have to look at the rate and trajectory of xbox sales and see if there is any discernible difference since the introduction of day 1 games.
I get what you're saying. I just do not agree.

Xbox sales have increased. That's a fact. To which you answer with, "Well, yeah, but they *could* have done even better!" Which I understand, but it's a hypothesis that cannot prove that xbox games coming to pc damaged the brand.

But perhaps there is a way to see it from another angle. For example has the ratio between playstation gamers and xbox gamers dramatically shifted since xbox games came to pc? Do playstation gamers now outnumber xbox gamers analogically a lot more now? Are there 10 playstation gamers for every 3 xbox gamers while they used to be 10 playstation gamers for 6 xbox gamers? If that is the case, It's safe to assume that xbox games coming to pc hurt xbox console sales.

If not, they didn't.
 

mxbison

Member
Disagree, a lot of the best games ever are exclusives because so much effort goes into trying to make them a system seller.

Paying to keep a third party game away from another platform obivously sucks though.
 

Nickolaidas

Member
Disagree, a lot of the best games ever are exclusives because so much effort goes into trying to make them a system seller.

Paying to keep a third party game away from another platform obivously sucks though.
So when God of War, Spider-Man and Last of Us got ported to PC, they magically stopped being incredible feats of dev engineering and best games and suddenly became plain?
 

DavidGzz

Member
I'd rather just buy one platform and have all games, of course. But I know that's not possible, so I purchase all platforms that have games I am interested in. Exclusives don't suck but fanboys do.
 
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