Sooner
Member
Meh, tried it. Not into renting.
It will take me 2 months to finish Clair Obscure Expedition 33. I'd rather buy it for $45 than rent it for $40.
MS is proving day by day that exclusives are no longer a viable option to survive in this harsh industry
- Thread starter DR3AM
- Start date
It will take me 2 months to finish Clair Obscure Expedition 33. I'd rather buy it for $45 than rent it for $40.
CrimsonTide
Member
If that's the ONLY game you play. Sure. Agreed. But gamepass has more than 1 game on it
laynelane
Member
Xbox has made so many mistakes and the end result of that has been releasing most of their games everywhere. It's not a statement on the importance or lack thereof of exclusives - it's a last ditch attempt after a string of failed strategies and poor choices to actually make money in their gaming division. I've been seeing this anti-exclusive narrative coming up more and more, but it's pointless to drag Nintendo and Sony into this discussion when they are not making the same choices and their gaming businesses are healthy, popular, and profitable.
Fabieter
Member
Yeah, even though I finish most games in less than two months, I just hate fixed costs in general and always try to avoid them if I can.
Gamer_By_Proxy
Member
MS is proving you need an audience that buys games. Shocker I know.
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DanielG165
Member
Unless you're Nintendo. Giant, multi million dollar exclusives that are tied to one platform aren't sustainable, and that is becoming increasingly more apparent.
Durin
Member
People will cope that this is only beneficial for Microsoft because of their position, but the economics of the industry are making exclusives less beneficial for everyone.
The individual platform audiences are not growing with the pace of budgets to maximize the hardware, and taking more time to produce means less games will get made by the individual studios. You're seeing second-parties arrangements either cost the console maker too much, or be worth too little for the dev vs going multi-platform. You also have the big service-based game push, which makes zero sense to restrict your audience when being on multiple platforms increases the player pool for faster queue times (easier for matchmaking too), more people to hook for continuous monetization, and more money to fund continuous content.
Sony porting to PC is likely not shedding much of the Playstation buying audience, and Sony built expectations around pushing production values...so it's just extra cash to help sustain. Nintendo has the most capacity to keep exclusives because their hardware is weaker so it curbs production value expectations, they combined their handheld and console teams into one market, their games are cheaper to make, their brands are stronger than anyone else's, and their serviceshistorically still aren't great to draw people in.
The individual platform audiences are not growing with the pace of budgets to maximize the hardware, and taking more time to produce means less games will get made by the individual studios. You're seeing second-parties arrangements either cost the console maker too much, or be worth too little for the dev vs going multi-platform. You also have the big service-based game push, which makes zero sense to restrict your audience when being on multiple platforms increases the player pool for faster queue times (easier for matchmaking too), more people to hook for continuous monetization, and more money to fund continuous content.
Sony porting to PC is likely not shedding much of the Playstation buying audience, and Sony built expectations around pushing production values...so it's just extra cash to help sustain. Nintendo has the most capacity to keep exclusives because their hardware is weaker so it curbs production value expectations, they combined their handheld and console teams into one market, their games are cheaper to make, their brands are stronger than anyone else's, and their services
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S0ULZB0URNE
Member
On PC
__SteakDeck__
Member
This is false for PS. PS dominates because of 3rd party. They're the go to console to casuals for COD, GTA, FC, 2k, Fortnite, etc. During the PS1 and PS2 Gen, outside of GT, nobody cared about PS 1st party games. It was all about 3rd party. If Sony abandoned exclusives, they would take a dip. But, their brand wouldn't collapse.
__SteakDeck__
Member
Yeah. I do wonder if Nintendo will eventually run into that same problem. But if that were to happen, that's in the very distant future.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
We truly are.
Another forthcoming banger, Wuchang, just got announced for July. Also a day 1 GP game.
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Killjoy-NL
Banned
If selling 117K in 7 days on a different platform is "exploding" while it's the best-selling platform then yes, exclusivity won't work.
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Humdinger
Gold Member
Nah. Third party games play just as well on the Xbox. People don't choose PS over Xbox because it plays 3rd party games better. They choose PS over Xbox because they prefer PS exclusives.
That's the purpose of exclusives. Draw people into your ecosystem so that they buy 3rd party games on your system (and you get 30% of all that revenue, without lifting a finger).
__SteakDeck__
Member
What? Lol It has nothing to do with playing as well. 3rd party games on PS sell way more than they do on Xbox. Yes Xbox games run just as fine as they do on PS. But, PS is the first console that casuals think about when it comes to those games. Also. The highest selling PS games are 3rd party games. Only 20% of the PS base buys their exclusives. When it comes to 3rd party games, PS is the consoles that casuals think about, especially to play with their friends. You're thinking about this from a hardcore fan perspective. There was a reason Sony shit their pants when MS bought COD. COD is their money maker, more than any 1st party game they have.
Puscifer
Member
Because launch sales for them turn a profit. If you could invest 1-5 million and turn it into 20-50 million over and over you'd do it too, don't lie.
Bungie
Member
Because Microsoft understands that a majority of Xbox players don't care as much for exclusivity anymore, they care about if it's Day 1 with Gamepass imo. I can tell you I definitely prefer the current model vs just simply having a exclusive game to buy. Also Xbox prioritizes multiplayer in their 1st party games more than Sony & I'm all for bigger playerbases with crossplay. They are profiting from the Sony playerbase & keeping their players happy with Gamepass. It's a win win for everyone.
Mibu no ookami
Banned
Imagine believing this in a reality where Sony nears a billion in annual revenue from PC software sales, not to mention increased peripheral sales... Revenue that comes at a massive profit margin...
Power Pro
Member
Let's say that eventually MS did just go full blown third party and gave up on hardware...how was this a long term smart strategy?
I'll admit to being a bit ignorant in terms of business bull shit, but from my point of view...going third party is not where the real big money is. Activision was arguably one of the biggest third party publishers out there, and yet they were still affordable enough for MS to just buy them outright. It would seem to me that Nintendo is the one who does things right because not only are the out of reach to be bought out by other companies, but they have so much money just sitting in the bank with no debt.
What the fuck is the end game with supporting with what should be your competitors?
I'll admit to being a bit ignorant in terms of business bull shit, but from my point of view...going third party is not where the real big money is. Activision was arguably one of the biggest third party publishers out there, and yet they were still affordable enough for MS to just buy them outright. It would seem to me that Nintendo is the one who does things right because not only are the out of reach to be bought out by other companies, but they have so much money just sitting in the bank with no debt.
What the fuck is the end game with supporting with what should be your competitors?
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Umm .. no.
Exclusives no longer work, only for Xbox. And that's because of:
Exclusives no longer work, only for Xbox. And that's because of:
- Xbox's shrinking console userbase, and
- Xbox's customers unwillingness to buy games when compared to PS5's and Nintendo's customers.
Humdinger
Gold Member
You said PS dominates because people choose to play 3rd party games there. I was pointing out that didn't happen by chance, and exclusives are a big reason. Exclusives helped build the user base and make it the most popular console choice.
Exclusives have played a major role in Sony's success. Not everyone plays them, but you don't need everyone to play them - you need enough of the core gamer base to find them compelling to create enough buzz/momentum that people choose PS over Xbox - which is exactly what happened. The casuals will follow, because casuals generally go with whatever is popular. I don't even think it's arguable that a principal reason MS lost the console war was because they persistently lacked good exclusives, whereas Sony did not. It wasn't the only factor, but it was a big one.
You're free to disagree. Cheers.
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JimmyRustler
Member
They prove that 3rd path publishing works….
Exclusives do matter, as I'm sure Nintendo would agree. The problem with MS is just that their exclusives aren't that good. It worked quite well for them in the 360 heyday.
Exclusives do matter, as I'm sure Nintendo would agree. The problem with MS is just that their exclusives aren't that good. It worked quite well for them in the 360 heyday.
Felessan
Member
more attractive to PC gamers [in China]
I doubt that this part of strategy targets enthusiasts in US/EU as they made their choice. But Sony works on global scope and some strategies are necessary to get hold in new territories (China, India, Middle East etc). And Sony do it two-ways, presenting it's own proposition of high-quality high production values games and buy/help develop for playstation games that target those territories to appeal with better than PC price/value factor.
Selling 10 or even 15 mil consoles in China should be doable by current state of market development, and that's quite a lot install base, but Sony need something to penetrate market and increase awareness to sell them.
Exclusives always matter. It's just not limited to 1st party exclusives.
Sony have and always had by far the strongest 3rd party relationships that allow it to secure a number of 3rd party exclusives that along with 1st party carry it forward. PS1-PS2 without it's 3rd party exclusives would be in a weaker position.
Unknown Soldier
Member
What if I told you it's both?
Having good first party exclusives and also being the platform of choice to play third party titles is a virtuous cycle
Once you've established your platform as being one that rewards both types of players, it's very hard to dislodge you from your market position
There's a reason why the Collector's Edition and Lumiere Edition of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was only made for one platform out of the 3 it launched on (PS5, Xbox Gamepass, PC Steam). There are no longer physical versions of PC games, so making a physical CE for PC made no sense. No one buys games on Xbox because of Gamepass. For the small new studio and their indie publisher partner, it only made sense to create a physical CE for the only platform where people buy physical games still. And that's why this game only got a physical CE release on PS5
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Only time will tell.
Ms bought up a lot of the industry and need to put their games on all platforms as gamepass wasn't generating enough subscribers to warrant it. The platform isn't big enough and the majority of the userbase that is left is on gamepass. Without a huge influx of console buyers and subscribers to gamepass it's a failed experiment.
Currently, Sony and Nintendos first party launches seem to be generating enough sales to be sustainable so they don't need to go multiplatform.
I know, it's all pretty obvious when you think for a minute or so.
Ms bought up a lot of the industry and need to put their games on all platforms as gamepass wasn't generating enough subscribers to warrant it. The platform isn't big enough and the majority of the userbase that is left is on gamepass. Without a huge influx of console buyers and subscribers to gamepass it's a failed experiment.
Currently, Sony and Nintendos first party launches seem to be generating enough sales to be sustainable so they don't need to go multiplatform.
I know, it's all pretty obvious when you think for a minute or so.
Little Chicken
Banned
Sony are doing "just fine", meanwhile their biggest dev team can't deliver, they had the industries largest bomb ever last year, loads of high profile cancellations, GaaS failures, leaning on paid third party exclusivity to scrape by, etc etc
Cyberpunkd
Member
playbignbox
Member
As a consumer, basically the only motivation I have to buy a console is exclusive games. I play multiplatform games on PC in a higher quality.
That's why PC + Nintendo is the ideal combo.
That's why PC + Nintendo is the ideal combo.
Connificent
Al Pachinko, Konami President
Uncle Phil never lost
Baemono
Member
Like they paid 70 billion to end the marketing deal with PS for CoD and the very good deal for Activision (80% of sales instead of the regular 70%) to end up being more profitable for Sony without needing to pay exclusive marketing fees
Killjoy-NL
Banned
And it's their most profitable gen ever, they dominate the console-market and they're running Xbox into the ground while Xbox is highly dependent on their game sales on Playstation.
Must be frustrating to witness, huh?
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Team Andromeda
Member
Horizon Zero Dawn itself sold over 3 million copies on the PC. Didn't SONY's results point to over $700 million? When you can get nearly a billion dollars for games that have had all their development costs met by the console user, that's a nice amount of dosh for simple PC ports
And the best thing about the PC ports for all corps is that you don't have to pay developer royalties or even pay for development kits. Well, I guess you have to pay for Windows and Steam but that won't be anything like the cut MS, SONY or NCL take for each game sold on their consoles
bitbydeath
Member
OP hasn't posted since the thread was created.
Everyone here just got trolled.
Everyone here just got trolled.
MrCunningham
Member
If people think exclusives are meaningless... then why do Nintendo's systems sell like crazy? Because of the exclusives.
But in Microsoft's case, they purchased so many game studios that are known for being multiplatform, like Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, Mojang, that it makes no sense to lock those companies down to being Xbox exclusive. There is money to be made on the Playstation, Switch and PC. Microsoft is in a strange position.
Team Andromeda
Member
because MS games just suck tbh
Mammy and Daddy still buy a lot of games. It's very touching
JaxarGT
Member
Exclusives aren't meaningless. That's just the narrative and copium from the last bastion of Xbox fans, trying to hold on and make sense of Xbox pivoting to being a full third party publisher.
PlayStaytion
Member
Then the real problem is "why do I need another console?" based on the consumers mindsets. It's a one side issue and unsolvable without a monopoly.
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kpopSuperstar
Member
They had nothing people cared about. You gotta have franchised people are willing to buy consoles for.
existensmaximum
Member
MS are surviving?
Baemono
Member
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