Sony and MS on the term 'Exclusivity'

S

sn00zer

Member
The word exclusivity has been on an interesting ride since the announcements of XB1 and PS4.

I made a thread about the term "exclusive console debut" a while back and how Sony wasnt being upfront about how exclusive certain games were. This was especially true when it came to indie titles. This carried into E3 2014 with line after line about exclusive content, pre alphas etc.

Enter Tomb Raider 2 was anounced exclusive for XB1 next holiday.
ximg4802.jpg.pagespeed.ic.0CBoqBmnCO.jpg

Which if you look at that, looks like TR is only on XB end of story. Which turns out not to be totally true and its a timed exclusive.

But I noticed something this time about Sony's conference that for the first time they dropped the "exclusive console debut" and just said "come first to console". They actually made it very clear after a montage about what games were exclusive and which were not. far different than their earlier PS4 conferences.

Got to 33:29

I'm not sure what made Sony change the wording, I do wonder if there was backlash from last E3 about 'exclusive content' and such. I think MS will follow suit in the future make it clear which are timed exclusives and which are not after this hub bub. Both companies have been criticized for their use of the word exclusive, but I think Sony caught on after this E3, and MS just saw it business as usual, especially after Sony's earlier showings.
 
Honestly Sony just plainly saying "These are full exclusives and these are console debuts" after showing off their games was rather refreshing. There was no ambiguity at all.
 
Never saw the problem with the "console debut" wording. It means exactly what it sounds like, "game x will first release on PS4 in terms of consoles, PC versions are up in the air."
 
sn00zer said:
Which if you look at that, looks like TR is only on XB end of story. Which turns out not to be totally true and its a timed exclusive.

But I noticed something this time about Sony's conference that for the first time they dropped the "exclusive console debut" and just said "come first to console". They actually made it very clear after a montage about what games were exclusive and which were not. far different than their earlier PS4 conferences.
Click to expand...

Sony had clearer message because they went second and learned from Microsoft's mistakes...again :|


This is a joke.
 
I feel that sony make a clear distinction is not because of some backlash, they have genuine problem with their first party games being mistaken as multiplatform, rather than the other way around of trying to make multiplatform games appear as exclusives by vague term.
 
Sony have been pretty clear in the past on what's exclusive and what's not. My guess is, they decided to make it even clearer this time so people wouldn't complain when they misunderstood. Good move on their part.

Besides, this way they make things clear and people aren't surprised (and it isn't a big deal) when a timed game goes to other consoles/PC.
 
I think it may have less to do with the backlash and more to do with how often it seemed Sony had to explain in interviews that certain games were fully exclusive to their platform. The language they were using was creating confusion among some people. Which is why you'd see people asking if Rime was fully exclusive or if Bloodborne was. So they changed the wording so there could be no doubt about which games were just debuting on their console and which games would only be on their console.
 
Dragonborn said:
Sony have been pretty clear in the past on what's exclusive and what's not. My guess is, they decided to make it even clearer this time so people wouldn't complain when they misunderstood. Good move on their part.

Besides, this way they make things clear and people aren't surprised (and it isn't a big deal) when a timed game goes to other consoles/PC.
Click to expand...

pretty sure last E3 the square announcements wasn't clear at all.
 
Callibretto said:
I feel that sony make a clear distinction is not because of some backlash, they have genuine problem with their first party games being mistaken as multiplatform, rather than the other way around of trying to make multiplatform games appear as exclusives by vague term.
Click to expand...

Which one of their first party games was mistaken for multiplatform?
 
It's scummy to advertise something as exclusive when it isn't. If you know it's a timed deal then fucking say it. Your "clever" wording is just shit.
 
the difference is obvious. Sony has a strong first part and ACTUAL excluives. MS has jack so they need to use smoke and mirrors to make people think they have some sort of exclusive lineup other than halo. MS just keeps screwing up this gen, amazing how they fell so far after the early years of the xbox360 were so great :(
 
libregkd said:
Honestly Sony just plainly saying "These are full exclusives and these are console debuts" after showing off their games was rather refreshing. There was no ambiguity at all.
Click to expand...

MS used the same "Console first" "Console debut"
(at E3)
terms for third party time exclusive. Nothing refreshing about it.

EDIT:

Tidus_Great said:
the difference is obvious. Sony has a strong first part and ACTUAL excluives. MS has jack so they need to use smoke and mirrors to make people think they have some sort of exclusive lineup other than halo. MS just keeps screwing up this gen, amazing how they fell so far after the early years of the xbox360 were so great :(
Click to expand...

Wow lol, I hope you are not serious.
 
I must say its really fucking weird
At E3 Sony was acting like classic MS and MS was acting like classic Sony. Now at Gamescom Sony was acting like Sony again and MS was back to being MS.
 
for id@xbox games, it was "first on console"

for 3rd party in-game content it was " exclusive content"

apart from tomb raider, ms made a pretty clear distinction on all titles shown
 
sn00zer said:
I must say its really fucking weird
At E3 Sony was acting like classic MS and MS was acting like classic Sony. Now at Gamescom Sony was acting like Sony again and MS was back to being MS.
Click to expand...

I guess you missed all the "console first" MS used on their console debuts. Tomb Raider is the only place they used the vague "exclusive" and it's pretty clear no one knows what that means.

Not that it matter because it's all bullshit exclusive means only on one thing. Just because you add terms to fit your definition of exclusive doesn't mean it's exclusive
 
sn00zer said:
The word exclusivity has been on an interesting ride since the announcements of XB1 and PS4.

I made a thread about the term "exclusive console debut" a while back and how Sony wasnt being upfront about how exclusive certain games were. This was especially true when it came to indie titles. This carried into E3 2014 with line after line about exclusive content, pre alphas etc.

Enter Tomb Raider 2 was anounced exclusive for XB1 next holiday.
ximg4802.jpg.pagespeed.ic.0CBoqBmnCO.jpg

Which if you look at that, looks like TR is only on XB end of story. Which turns out not to be totally true and its a timed exclusive.

But I noticed something this time about Sony's conference that for the first time they dropped the "exclusive console debut" and just said "come first to console". They actually made it very clear after a montage about what games were exclusive and which were not. far different than their earlier PS4 conferences.

Got to 33:29

I'm not sure what made Sony change the wording, I do wonder if their was backlash from last E3 about 'exclusive content' and such. I think MS will follow suit in the future make it clear which are timed exclusives and which are not after this hub bub. Both companies have been criticized for their use of the word exclusive, but I think Sony caught on after this E3, and MS just saw it business as usual, especially after Sony's earlier showings.
Click to expand...

Wait TR is a timed exclusive after all? I thought it was full exclusive?
 
Ms had some First on Xbox on their conference too. Which is why there's the impression TR is actually a de facto exclusive I guess.
 
sn00zer said:
I must say its really fucking weird
At E3 Sony was acting like classic MS and MS was acting like classic Sony. Now at Gamescom Sony was acting like Sony again and MS was back to being MS.
Click to expand...
Sony is making the distinction between their 3 press con. E3 is for their dudebro AAA audience, gamescom is for the artsy indie and mid tier game, and tgs is for japanese games. :D
 
HighResTomato said:
MS used the same "Console first" "Console debut"
(at E3)
terms for third party time exclusive. Nothing refreshing about it.
Click to expand...
I meant actually taking time during the conference to plainly spell it out. Microsoft, as well as Sony has been labeling things as console exclusive or debuts or whatever since last E3 but it was always mentioned as a caveat that usually got overlooked or missed and lead to a bunch of confusing information.

It was just nice to have that information said and not it just being this passing thing when mentioning the games.
 
Dragonborn said:
Well, they're not going to mention Xbox at a Sony conference now are they? Did they ever say FFXV/KH3 were exclusives or mention the word exclusive in any way?
Click to expand...
No

overdrivex said:
so apart from tomb raider tell me what other title did they not make a clear distinction on its exclusivity
Click to expand...
Titanfall, until they locked it up. After that they made sure you knew you weren't getting a PS4 version.

TheUnsunghero26 said:
Was Titanfall officially announced as a timed exclusive though? I'm talking about games like BioShock 1, the PS2 era GTAs, Resident Evil 4, etc.
Click to expand...
It was painfully obvious it was. Having a dev come here and confirm it was before the deal change was a "News at 11" moment.
 
statham said:
pretty sure last E3 the square announcements wasn't clear at all.
Click to expand...

Just like now? :P

On another note, seems they say exclusive one minute when they really mean timed exclusive the next (EA? I am right in thinking it was announced that PvZ GW was exclusive, right?)

TheUnsunghero26 said:
Was Titanfall officially announced as a timed exclusive though? I'm talking about games like BioShock 1, the PS2 era GTAs, Resident Evil 4, etc.
Click to expand...

Judging from the engine and the twitter tweets, yes, it was timed.
 
Sony is probably just tired of getting harassing tweets and interview questions about that stuff. They know the truth is going to come out eventually so why hide from it.
 
They're both honestly terrible. Especially since Dead rising 3 and Ryse are both coming to PC now. I don't care too much, because I own all 3 but I can understand the BS PR spin from both companies regarding "exclusives".
 
I think in the past we understood "exclusive" or "exclusively on" to mean the game would only be released on that platform. Now the word "exclusive" has been paired with "console debut" or a specific launch date meaning "this game will appear first on our platform" and the implication is that this is only for a limited time.
 
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