Microsoft signalled the end of exclusivity on their end almost a decade ago, initially committing to every game they do hitting PC, but also eventually expanding to PlayStation and Nintendo for a bunch of their flagships.
Sony has slowly been launching first party games on PC, has launched licensed first party games on Xbox and Switch, has licensed remasters of several legacy IP for PC and Nintendo, and of course, announced Helldivers for Xbox earlier today.
Almost every single third party is also now publishing multiplatform, with the last few bastions upholding exclusivity such as Square having been forced into multiplatform development after poorer sales of their big games than expected.
Which brings us to Nintendo. Nintendo's entire business model is predicated on exclusivity. If you want Nintendo games, you get Nintendo hardware. If you don't get Nintendo hardware, you have no (legal) avenues to get their software. You buy their hardware for their games, and then buy other things on there. That's the basis of Nintendo's entire business model, and philosophically, Nintendo is married to the idea of designing software around the specific requirements of unique hardware.
But game budgets are going up, and while Nintendo has a bigger audience for its games than pretty much any other publisher in the industry except Rockstar, at some point it is possible they consider expanding the reach of their games even further by starting to publish their games on other systems. It can take many forms – older Virtual Console releases on mobile or PC; releases of "GaaS" style Nintendo games such as Splatoon, Mario Maker, or even a Pokemon spin off (like Pokemon Showdown or TCG) coming to PC, mobile, or other consoles; releases of third party collaboration exclusives such as Bayonetta on other consoles or PC; releases of older Switch games like BOTW on PC or other consoles; or outright day one releases on other hardware.
Do you think any of that has any chance of happening within the next ten years? Why or why not?
Sony has slowly been launching first party games on PC, has launched licensed first party games on Xbox and Switch, has licensed remasters of several legacy IP for PC and Nintendo, and of course, announced Helldivers for Xbox earlier today.
Almost every single third party is also now publishing multiplatform, with the last few bastions upholding exclusivity such as Square having been forced into multiplatform development after poorer sales of their big games than expected.
Which brings us to Nintendo. Nintendo's entire business model is predicated on exclusivity. If you want Nintendo games, you get Nintendo hardware. If you don't get Nintendo hardware, you have no (legal) avenues to get their software. You buy their hardware for their games, and then buy other things on there. That's the basis of Nintendo's entire business model, and philosophically, Nintendo is married to the idea of designing software around the specific requirements of unique hardware.
But game budgets are going up, and while Nintendo has a bigger audience for its games than pretty much any other publisher in the industry except Rockstar, at some point it is possible they consider expanding the reach of their games even further by starting to publish their games on other systems. It can take many forms – older Virtual Console releases on mobile or PC; releases of "GaaS" style Nintendo games such as Splatoon, Mario Maker, or even a Pokemon spin off (like Pokemon Showdown or TCG) coming to PC, mobile, or other consoles; releases of third party collaboration exclusives such as Bayonetta on other consoles or PC; releases of older Switch games like BOTW on PC or other consoles; or outright day one releases on other hardware.
Do you think any of that has any chance of happening within the next ten years? Why or why not?