MS is proving day by day that exclusives are no longer a viable option to survive in this harsh industry

They sell well but only a minority of PS owners ever buy the GOW games, never mind get close to finishing them.
Mario Kart 8 sold almost 70 million copies on the Switch! That's a game that moves hardware.
Or is it hardware that moves the game?
The game is a pack-in like Astrobot.
That would also be at 70M+ sold.
 
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MS is proving day by day that exclusives are no longer a viable option to survive in this harsh industry if....

You spent over 80 billion dollars on acquisitions.
Abandoned the focus on your console for an entire generation to focus on a streaming service.
Promote that everything is an Xbox to a point Xbox doesn't even mean the console anymore.

Xbox is sleeping in the bed that Phil made.
 
They sell well but only a minority of PS owners ever buy the GOW games, never mind get close to finishing them.
Mario Kart 8 sold almost 70 million copies on the Switch! That's a game that moves hardware.

It's safe to say God of War moves hardware. Just not as much as Mario Kart.
 
Xbox was surviving just fine before kicking itself in the nuts with bringing exclusives to PC, then now all platforms. Then the whole "don't buy games- rent them" nonsense which further pressures game dev bottom lines.

Nintendo doesn't do it. Look at where they are- most profitable margins of the three.

Sony is starting down the path as Xbox but with controls (i.e. timed exclusives before going to PC, MP games excluded). Their brand is still very strong but they need to be careful.

At the end of the day, Xbox's problem is that they are owned by MS. MS doesn't care about anything except subs and revenue, and will destroy anything to do it, even if it means making an important brand like Xbox largely irrelevant.
 
Microsoft still has some exclusive games. Gears of War 1 2 3 4 5 Judgement and soon E-day as well as Halo 1 2 3 4 Infinite and Wars, as well as all the older Forza games, that tons of hands on face logo game, that space game. But a lot have gone away on PS5 and some Switch. Makes me question if I should sell my Xbox Series X or not.
 
Sony games are not exclusive anymore. They can be purchased and played on PC legally. Stop putting them in the same level as Nintendo games
 
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Sony games are not exclusive anymore. They can be purchased on PC legally. Stop putting them in the same level as Nintendo games
No one but a very tiny, very vocal minority on Neogaf and other pro-PC gaming websites, such as Reddit, cares about it. No one, such as I, wants to spend over $2000 to build a gaming PC that will be outdated within four years. That amount of money could have been spent towards a PS5 Pro and an LG B4 OLED TV (especially if the latter is on sale), and if any person new to gaming could have taken my advice, they'll be set until next-gen comes about.
 
No one but a very tiny, very vocal minority on Neogaf and other pro-PC gaming websites, such as Reddit, cares about it. No one, such as I, wants to spend over $2000 to build a gaming PC that will be outdated within four years. That amount of money could have been spent towards a PS5 Pro and an LG B4 OLED TV (especially if the latter is on sale), and if any person new to gaming could have taken my advice, they'll be set until next-gen comes about.

Regardless, we need to stop calling Sony games exclusive, because they are not
 
Exclusives matter to Nintendo because they are the only company able to sell consoles on the strength of their first party titles alone.
However, Sony's exclusives are irrelevant to the vast majority of people buying their consoles. Their best selling game on PS5 is Spider-Man 2 and that's more down to the popularity of the IP itself.

Classic m14 post, living in a parallel universe
 
Xbox was surviving just fine before kicking itself in the nuts with bringing exclusives to PC, then now all platforms. Then the whole "don't buy games- rent them" nonsense which further pressures game dev bottom lines.
That is for the birds. Xbox was doing well even in this gen until the ABK deal, and then it's like Xbox gave up trying to push and promote/sell the console
Not that it looks to have affected the revenue that Xbox now brings in each year

Game Pass is doing well, and it's rather childish to say all you do is rent them. There are pros and cons to both the subscription model and the retail model, with one having a monthly revenue each month for the teams and the other having a big cash payday on releases day and not much else years down the line, which properly explains why the likes of Naugty Dog are doing remakes to get money in, until their next game ships
 
I don't think is just MS or Sony proving it. It's actually everyone else too.

Before, console manufacturers could get exclusives from third parties that remained exclusive and that was a good deal for the game developer. Now, not even console manufacturers will keep their own games in their platform and the exclusives they can secure go from 6 months to a year before it comes out on PC or everything else.

Any third party that makes serious money has amulti platform focus. Even smaller developers of niche games like Atlus that usually kept their games on 1 platform now do all of them if they can.

They only platform holders that still seem to be able to keep games 100% exclusive are Nintendo first party and Epic games with Alan Wake 2. Everything else will come out on PC minimum.
 
Or is it hardware that moves the game?
The game is a pack-in like Astrobot.
That would also be at 70M+ sold.
It's surprising that Sony haven't claimed this themselves.

Classic m14 post, living in a parallel universe
It's more of an unrealistic view to think that the people who play Fortnite / COD / Madden / 2K / EAFC / GTA etc (who make up the overwhelming majority of those buying PS5s) really bought one to play Sony's exclusives. 🤷‍♂️
 
Nintendo is the only company exempt from this

Both Sony and Microsoft are hardly if any doing exclusives (I'm including PC releases in Sony's case)

Nintendo marches to their own beat and for them it works
Yeah I don't know why people bring up Nintendo regarding this topic. They don't have any comparable hardware to even play/run the same games as MS or Sony. They not even in the same league.
 
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.
While it's true that PS is the default go to platform fir third parties, let's not forget that's coupled with a slew of first party titles selling millions AND some third party exclusives, be temporal or not. FF 7 Rebirth, Silent Hill 2 and Wukong have sold between the three about 11-12 million units. Now if even 1/2 of the people buying them have bought the platform it was released on and not the wait and see one, you have a hefty market advantage. Add to that the 15 million copies of Helldivers 2, of wich about half were on PS5. You do the math and decide if exclusives matters or not.

You simply want Sony to give up completely on exclusives so they fall like a Rock like MS did, just admit it.
 
Yeah I don't know why people bring up Nintendo regarding this topic. They don't have any comparable hardware to even play/run the same games as MS or Sony. They not even in the same league.
Because they sold 150+m units of Switch 1 with exclusives, proving the point of this topic incorrect.

Obviously exclusives are a viable option, even if one's hardware is the worst, it can still sell the best if the exclusives are also the best. No?

You sound like you hate or really don't like Nintendo, and that is the reason you don't understand these comments. Your hatred blinds you to an innocuous and inconvenient truth that those of us unaffected can see with crystal clarity. Yes exclusives can still can be a viable business plan. In fact, Sony could stop putting exclusives on PC and it would be a rounding error in their overall profit and loss statement. Sony is only putting exclusives on PC so they don't cede that market completely to Microshaft in the future, not for the pittance they pick up from PC gamers. Sony probably makes more money from the 30% for games MGS puts on PS5 than they do from profit made porting games to PC. They actually have to port their own games to PC, but MGS paying them 30% of every sale is free.
 
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Weird premise and Sony / Nintendo prove it's not really true. There is certainly a ton ton of money to be made on direct software sales from not being exclusive. But that extra profit on a single game is not the only viable way to survive as a platform holder.
 
No one but a very tiny, very vocal minority on Neogaf and other pro-PC gaming websites, such as Reddit, cares about it. No one, such as I, wants to spend over $2000 to build a gaming PC that will be outdated within four years. That amount of money could have been spent towards a PS5 Pro and an LG B4 OLED TV (especially if the latter is on sale), and if any person new to gaming could have taken my advice, they'll be set until next-gen comes about.
The Venn Diagram overlap between PS5 and PC gamers is very large and despite the best efforts of Green Rats to try and make PS5 and PC gamers into enemies, the reality is that most PS5+PC gamers love both their platforms and are more than happy to divide their playtime between them

But as far as the Sony 1st and 3rd party exclusive titles go, I don't have enough fucks to give that there might be a PC version later of a game. If I want to play it, I'll play it on my PS5 and not care about some future putative PC release. I played Stellar Blade and FF16 on my PS5 knowing one day in the not that distant future they will be released on PC and I enjoyed both

There are also times I'll choose to play the PS5 version of a game even when it's simultaneously released with the PC version. Clair Obscur is an example of this right now. Other times I'll pick the PC version, such as with Monster Hunter Wilds
 
They sell well but only a minority of PS owners ever buy the GOW games, never mind get close to finishing them.
Mario Kart 8 sold almost 70 million copies on the Switch! That's a game that moves hardware.
Funny how that same exact game couldn't move Wii U hardware. Perhaps for Nintendo it's the hardware that moves the software more so.

Also by the numbers most Nintendo games sell to a minority of the total user base.
 
Because they still get more money out of a game that has otherwise saturated its original market, but more importantly, it's also advertisement for their IPs beyond their initially intended audience.

They're not porting Ragnarok or something to PC necessarily because they expect it'll sell billions - they're porting it so that more people outside of their intended prime market will get to know the IP, so that when GoW 3 hits, those people might go "hmm I kinda liked the previous game, maybe I'll dip and get a PS6 to play the sequel". Convert those people into potential future sales and participants of your ecosystem.

I think this is the best exclusive strategy out of all three, and strongly believe Nintendo should do the same with their IPs, but they're old guard and stubborn and leaving money on the table.

Why would they do that now if SIE have set a cadence of porting GOW3 to PC eventually within 1-2 years? FOMO? What if those PC gamers don't have FOMO? BTW, large GAAS titles make it easier to wait for single-player game ports, and stuff like LOL or WOW are incredibly popular...

What you're describing would've worked, if that cadence of "well, we're just gonna port everything" wasn't already established.

And no, SIE's strategy is definitely not the best out of the three: Nintendo's is. Ironically I'd say Nintendo's use of mobile spin-offs based on their console IP has served better to bring new people to Switch, than SIE's straight-up porting of PS console games to PC has done for their system.

All while Nintendo's avoided the confusing optics, drama, and negative impact to their hardware's value proposition.
 
Why would they do that now if SIE have set a cadence of porting GOW3 to PC eventually within 1-2 years? FOMO? What if those PC gamers don't have FOMO? BTW, large GAAS titles make it easier to wait for single-player game ports, and stuff like LOL or WOW are incredibly popular...
Why would anyone pay more AND wait more to play the same game?
PC is for very enthusiastic or very poor crowd (that either wait for best or wait to play at all), for middle ground there is a little benefit in PC gaming
 
Why would anyone pay more AND wait more to play the same game?
PC is for very enthusiastic or very poor crowd (that either wait for best or wait to play at all), for middle ground there is a little benefit in PC gaming

Maybe because they play a variety of other games including those which are exclusive to PC?

Maybe because they don't have FOMO and can wait for the game?

Maybe because they know once it comes to a platform like Steam, they can get it for cheaper (and if it's got online play, have free online play on PC)?

I can see from the POV of a console person really into the 1P output and needs to play them Day 1 where PC is a bad value, but the inverse is also true. My thing is, the more SIE continue the current strategy with no major changes, the more console diehards they slowly turn into people who'd rather get a PC.
 
Exclusives is the biggest attraction for a specific console, that was the reason for PS and Nintendo's success throughout gaming history. It is also a marketing tool for a specific console. And quality is so much better for exclusives especially in game development due to focusing on specific console capabilities.
 
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Why would they do that now if SIE have set a cadence of porting GOW3 to PC eventually within 1-2 years? FOMO? What if those PC gamers don't have FOMO? BTW, large GAAS titles make it easier to wait for single-player game ports, and stuff like LOL or WOW are incredibly popular...

What you're describing would've worked, if that cadence of "well, we're just gonna port everything" wasn't already established.

And no, SIE's strategy is definitely not the best out of the three: Nintendo's is. Ironically I'd say Nintendo's use of mobile spin-offs based on their console IP has served better to bring new people to Switch, than SIE's straight-up porting of PS console games to PC has done for their system.

All while Nintendo's avoided the confusing optics, drama, and negative impact to their hardware's value proposition.
Hilariously they are promoting PC gaming and Steam with these ports. Seems like every new PC handheld is being advertised with spider man, god of war, etc.

Nintendo understands the value of their IP and not letting it get associated with another company or platform. Sony understood this in the ps3 generation when MS was eating their lunch and lost all their previous third party exclusives. They had to invest heavily in first party and that paid off handsomely for the rest of the gen and into the ps4 era. Now they have forgotten this and seem to be complacent again.
 
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Maybe because they play a variety of other games including those which are exclusive to PC?

Maybe because they don't have FOMO and can wait for the game?

Maybe because they know once it comes to a platform like Steam, they can get it for cheaper (and if it's got online play, have free online play on PC)?

I can see from the POV of a console person really into the 1P output and needs to play them Day 1 where PC is a bad value, but the inverse is also true. My thing is, the more SIE continue the current strategy with no major changes, the more console diehards they slowly turn into people who'd rather get a PC.

I'm not interested in playing on PC, but will absolutely applaud online not being behind a paywall. It's a huge benefit - particularly due to PS raising their prices yet again for PS Plus (which I don't subscribe to but that's besides the point).
 
Traditionally exclusives are the biggest driving factor for me to buy console hardware.
Microsoft still has some exclusive games. Gears of War 1 2 3 4 5 Judgement and soon E-day as well as Halo 1 2 3 4 Infinite and Wars, as well as all the older Forza games, that tons of hands on face logo game, that space game. But a lot have gone away on PS5 and some Switch. Makes me question if I should sell my Xbox Series X or not.
I sold mine. Took that $420 gamestop deal and put that money towards a Switch 2 Pre-order.

For various reasons such as no console exclusives and gamepass, I just never grew a purchased game library on the system to keep me tethered to it and grow some roots. I entertained the idea of keeping my Gamepass Ultimate sub for Cloud streaming but I'm not likely to renew. The streaming quality on Xcloud is really not that great on larger screens compared to Luna, Playstation Cloud streaming and GFN. Most of the games that I decide on playing on Gamepass or Series I usually just purchase on PC (steam) or my PS5 if I like it. I will never sell my PS5 because of exclusives, which had a knock on effect of me spending more time on the console and ultimately buying more games for the system due to feeling more investment in the ecosystem and wanting to keep everything in one place. Upgraded to PS5 Pro to get the most out of my console library.
 
Why would they do that now if SIE have set a cadence of porting GOW3 to PC eventually within 1-2 years? FOMO? What if those PC gamers don't have FOMO? BTW, large GAAS titles make it easier to wait for single-player game ports, and stuff like LOL or WOW are incredibly popular...

What you're describing would've worked, if that cadence of "well, we're just gonna port everything" wasn't already established.

And no, SIE's strategy is definitely not the best out of the three: Nintendo's is. Ironically I'd say Nintendo's use of mobile spin-offs based on their console IP has served better to bring new people to Switch, than SIE's straight-up porting of PS console games to PC has done for their system.

All while Nintendo's avoided the confusing optics, drama, and negative impact to their hardware's value proposition.

Sony is the MeToo of the video game world. They have absolutely no long term strategy and vision of their own.

They always copied. Nintendo has successful handheld. Sony's like oh me too have handheld. MS started GamePass. Sony's like oh me too have game pass. Then they see GAAS is the trend. Then they're like oh me too want GAAS. Then they see MS started porting their games to PC, Sony's like oh me too want some extra tiny profit 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ srsly

Sony need someone at the top with long term vision of what they want to be
 
Maybe because they play a variety of other games including those which are exclusive to PC?

Maybe because they don't have FOMO and can wait for the game?

Maybe because they know once it comes to a platform like Steam, they can get it for cheaper (and if it's got online play, have free online play on PC)?

I can see from the POV of a console person really into the 1P output and needs to play them Day 1 where PC is a bad value, but the inverse is also true. My thing is, the more SIE continue the current strategy with no major changes, the more console diehards they slowly turn into people who'd rather get a PC.

I think it's true. I like having both and I'm not the only one. But that's a real luxury. Now that sony has established their porting strategy, it's even more of a luxury.
 
"The less people have access to a game, the better. Also, I am worried about the financial situation of billion dollar companies" - Average NeoGaf poster.
 
If the didn't cannibalise their own sales with GamePass.
Dropped the super uncool and confusing naming convention for the consoles.
Don't let Jason Ronald design another machine after the XSS.

Think they would be performing a lot better.
 
even now bashing their exclusives to be made as "multiplatform" games to sell more on other platforms its just doesnt right...
the aim of exclusive is show your unique of a console without it its just a steambox that died easily on 3years due its just a gaming machine without an edge or such
even some believe it will kill console market but in reality it failed (2015 to 2018)

nintendo pushing their switch 2 to have exclusives even having high price for 80$ some will pay for it even its just doesnt right for consumers its just more unique to have
meanwhile sony its just chill time to game releases due ps5 has more unique to have due haptic feedback or even pc can have it but still stuck for being part of Playstation

while Xbox its just ordinary high end console with "Netflix deals" to have that no reason to have its just damned simple machine + cursed parity of S series
 
MS started GamePass. Sony's like oh me too have game pass.
They did what now?

Besides, they all copy off each other, that's why its actually beneficial for MS to still be in the console race. They copy/inspired by rivals and then hopefully iterate and innovate on top of that.

An example would be the very fast SSD's in both PlayStation and XBox (in the case of PlayStation faster than pretty much any PC solution at the time of launch), this was likely due to the almost instant loading of flash cartridges on the Switch, of course it then also benefits from massively larger storage than the Switch flash cartridges. SO it really doesnt matter who did what first, its who does what better.

(I personally hardly call the PSP 'copying' the Nintendo DS other than they are both handhelds, PSP had a completely different idea to try and get close to home console quality in a handheld (at the expense of battery life), I don't think Nintendo tried to do that until maybe the 3DS or even the Switch)
 
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Sony is the MeToo of the video game world. They have absolutely no long term strategy and vision of their own.

They always copied. Nintendo has successful handheld. Sony's like oh me too have handheld. MS started GamePass. Sony's like oh me too have game pass. Then they see GAAS is the trend. Then they're like oh me too want GAAS. Then they see MS started porting their games to PC, Sony's like oh me too want some extra tiny profit 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ srsly

Sony need someone at the top with long term vision of what they want to be
While I agree with Sony copying from others (the dualshock being released right after the N64 for eg, PS Move, PS+ after Xbox Live Gold), I don't agree with them copying with Game Pass, I already had a subscription back in 2015 to play PS3 games on my PSTV through PS Now way before Game Pass.

Yes they changed the pricing (from 20$ to 10$), included dowload for PS4 games and then ultimately merged it with PS+ to replicate Game Pass, but the main thing was there before
 
Because they sold 150+m units of Switch 1 with exclusives, proving the point of this topic incorrect.

Obviously exclusives are a viable option, even if one's hardware is the worst, it can still sell the best if the exclusives are also the best. No?

You sound like you hate or really don't like Nintendo, and that is the reason you don't understand these comments. Your hatred blinds you to an innocuous and inconvenient truth that those of us unaffected can see with crystal clarity. Yes exclusives can still can be a viable business plan. In fact, Sony could stop putting exclusives on PC and it would be a rounding error in their overall profit and loss statement. Sony is only putting exclusives on PC so they don't cede that market completely to Microshaft in the future, not for the pittance they pick up from PC gamers. Sony probably makes more money from the 30% for games MGS puts on PS5 than they do from profit made porting games to PC. They actually have to port their own games to PC, but MGS paying them 30% of every sale is free.
I actually own a Switch and you're talking a bunch of shit unrelated to my statement. Exclusives sell consoles yes, no matter the hardware, I never said otherwise. Not sure how you get me hating Nintendo from my post. Im actually defending Nintendo by saying they are their own league. I'm in my 40s, I've had every Nintendo since OG, probably before you were even born! So don't put words in my mouth and tell me what I do and don't understand.
 
All these narratives just to avoid telling the truth and calling out executives for doing a poor job. You must think we are all tapped.
 
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Perhaps. But Sony didn't change their entire business model for a few bucks. They knew what they were doing by opening up to PC gamers
but its not working, it barely sells, so no, it isnt really a viable strategy for most of their games. Only HD2 hit, thats it.
 
Hilariously they are promoting PC gaming and Steam with these ports. Seems like every new PC handheld is being advertised with spider man, god of war, etc.

Nintendo understands the value of their IP and not letting it get associated with another company or platform. Sony understood this in the ps3 generation when MS was eating their lunch and lost all their previous third party exclusives. They had to invest heavily in first party and that paid off handsomely for the rest of the gen and into the ps4 era. Now they have forgotten this and seem to be complacent again.

Still feel the shift in focus happening shortly after the headquarters got relocated to California, is linked.

I'm not interested in playing on PC, but will absolutely applaud online not being behind a paywall. It's a huge benefit - particularly due to PS raising their prices yet again for PS Plus (which I don't subscribe to but that's besides the point).

For me, if Valve delivers with a future Steam Deck (or brings back Steam Machines based off what's worked with Steam Deck), PC gaming would be a viable alternative for me, 100%. Solid specs, Steam OS, still able to use basically all of my Windows apps (either through translation layer or with native Linux-based builds), access to other storefronts if I want (e.g GOG, EGS), wide range of peripheral support, free online play, productivity use...

Yeah that'd be a great deal, personally. Especially knowing MS brings all their games to PC Day 1 (including Steam), SIE basically porting practically everything either Day 1 or within 1-1.5 years at this point (unless the strategy changes, which I think it should), no FOMO on my part. If that were to happen the only other system I'd really need is a Switch 2.

Sony is the MeToo of the video game world. They have absolutely no long term strategy and vision of their own.

They always copied. Nintendo has successful handheld. Sony's like oh me too have handheld. MS started GamePass. Sony's like oh me too have game pass. Then they see GAAS is the trend. Then they're like oh me too want GAAS. Then they see MS started porting their games to PC, Sony's like oh me too want some extra tiny profit 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ srsly

Sony need someone at the top with long term vision of what they want to be

What CD-based console was at the top with a long-term vision before PS1 released? And okay, by your logic PS2 copied PS1, I don't think it's a crime to copy yourself when the first was successful.
 
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