Support NeoGAF

[Mr Moose]

Which games?

• Marvel's Spider-Man sold 13.2 million units in 11 months.
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2 sold 11 million units in 6 months.
• God of War (2018) sold 10 million units in its first year.
• God of War Ragnarök sold 11 million units in just 3 months.
• Horizon Zero Dawn sold 7.6 million units in its first year.
• Horizon Forbidden West sold 8.4 million units in its first year.

 

[AmuroChan]

Exclusives exist as differentiators between you and your competition. There's a reason why Netflix doesn't release Stranger Things on all streaming platforms, or HBO with House of the Dragon. The hope is that we subscribe to multiple platforms so they all make money. If all streaming platforms have the same exact shows, we'd only subscribe to one.

With that said, I do think releasing exclusives a couple years down the line to other platforms is a good compromise. The primary platform got the benefits of having that exclusive game for a time, and now they can get a second run of revenue from the other platforms.

 

[corgiix3]

Which games?

• Marvel's Spider-Man sold 13.2 million units in 11 months.
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2 sold 11 million units in 6 months.
• God of War (2018) sold 10 million units in its first year.
• God of War Ragnarök sold 11 million units in just 3 months.
• Horizon Zero Dawn sold 7.6 million units in its first year.
• Horizon Forbidden West sold 8.4 million units in its first year.

You just showed me one single PS5 sequel

 

[vaibhavpisal]

But help Nintendo sell their hardware. People should stop playing dumb.

Any data to prove this point?

All I see is Nintendo going against the norm. Meanwhile Mat Piscatella, Dring etc calling them out over it. Who obviously have full picture.

 

[kaizenkko]

You just showed me one single PS5 sequel

So which sequels were you referring to? Which sequels sold less?

 

[Fake]

Any data to prove this point?

Yes. Stop playing dumb. Last time.

 

[ElFenomeno]

Bringing your wife to a swingers party is how you win.

 

[owandeseis]

Weird that people is focusing on MS/Xbox when there are much better (and older) examples.

Sega, Capcom, From Software, etc won by going multi, so will Square in the future most likely.

Imagine Monster Hunter sales if it was still exclusive, or Elden Ring, or how Persona went from "niche" until just 3-4 years ago, to start becoming giant. There are a lot of examples like these.

For MS tho, they went multi not because they wanted to win but because they had no choice, nobody buys their console what else could they do lmao.

As for Sony, i think they should and will go case by case on their single player games, going fully multiplatform on SP games would harm them more than anything right now.

Let's be honest, HD2 was massive on PC, but the audience on that platform never liked the typical Ubi like game, Ghost of Yotei wouldn't compete on PC against the PS5 version just like AC:Shadows was much more succesful on consoles, same would apply to Spiderman (also superhero games will always do better on console), Horizon, etc

If Sony ever tries to go for a souls like game, an RPG, a first person game or other kind of game that normally does better on PC, they should reconsider the day 1 on PC for that specific game tho, but for third party open world action/adventure games it doesn't make sense yet.

 

[roosnam1980]

NO

 

[Lokaum D+]

Win what? Xbox's sales have cratered. Meanwhile Nintendo is doing gangbusters.

Thats Gamepass fault, not going multiplat, Forza sold 5mil copies os PS5 alone.

If DKB was multiplat It would've sold 20mi copies in the first week easy.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Yes. Stop playing dumb. Last time.

Assuming for a second what you say is true, if all 3 go multiplatform, where will gamers go to play their games?

Xbox is multiplat, dont need to buy it.
PS is multiplat, dont need to buy it.
Nintendo is multiplat, no need to buy it.

PC, mobile same.

Ultimately gamers wont be able to buy anything.

 

[Deerock71]

Meanwhile, Nintendo holding on to their exclusives:

 

[Mr Moose]

Thats Gamepass fault, not going multiplat, Forza sold 5mil copies os PS5 alone.

You can buy their games on other platforms, you don't need an Xbox. It helped kill Xbox.

 

[Lokaum D+]

You can buy their games on other platforms, you don't need an Xbox. It helped kill Xbox.

Some ppl likes the ecosystem, the problem is that Xbox players has no reasson to buy games on Xbox since gamepass ll give you almost everything day one.

 

[ADiTAR]

*Nintendo not included

 

[diffusionx]

Some ppl likes the ecosystem, the problem is that Xbox players has no reasson to buy games on Xbox since gamepass ll give you almost everything day one.

crazy how some random internet guy can sum up the problem in one sentence and nobody at microsoft including people making millions of dollars can grasp it

 

[LakeOf9]

To me, exclusives are important and non-exclusives are fodder that I can pick up later for a penny.

You wish I was alone in this.

Stuff like Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, Expedition 33, Metaphor, and Red Dead Redemption 2 is "fodder to be picked up for pennies" to you?

Really?

Any data to prove this point?

All I see is Nintendo going against the norm. Meanwhile Mat Piscatella, Dring etc calling them out over it. Who obviously have full picture.

The data that proves this point is that Nintendo has the highest selling console of all time on the back of nothing but exclusives (which in turn are also among the highest selling games of all time). Is there any data that disproves Nintendo's strategy as the best one, other than hypotheticals and disguised port begging?

 

[Bond007]

The narrative that exclusives are bad for gamers is wild.
The Chevrolet Corvette is exclusive to Chevy--- its a shame Ford cant have a Ford Corvette. Bad for automotive enthusiast such as myself. No - its how companies remain relevant and provide their bread and butter.

 

[ZehDon]

Meanwhile, Nintendo holding on to their exclusives:

Say what you will about Nintendo, but while Xbox and PlayStation have both rested on their laurels, Big N didn't slip on talent fostering, development, and retention. They innovate, come hell or high water. And it shows. Generation after generation, they're still churning out new and interesting games consistently enough to sell consoles. I imagine they'll be the last platform exclusive software development house.

 

[Lokaum D+]

The narrative that exclusives are bad for gamers is wild.
The Chevrolet Corvette is exclusive to Chevy--- its a shame Ford cant have a Ford Corvette. Bad for automotive enthusiast such as myself. No - its how companies remain relevant and provide their bread and butter.

Are you comparing luxury cars with videogames?

 

[Lokaum D+]

Say what you will about Nintendo, but while Xbox and PlayStation have both rested on their laurels, Big N didn't slip on talent fostering, development, and retention. They innovate, come hell or high water. And it shows. Generation after generation, they're still churning out new and interesting games consistently enough to sell consoles. I imagine they'll be the last platform exclusive software development house.

I think that in the next 20 to 30 years Nintendo ll start do became less relevant, when their hardcore fanbase 80/90s kids start to drop dead, for now nostalgia ll continue to push Nintendo foward for sure, kids nowadays dont really care about Mário or Pokémon, and once they are 8yo their life is Roblox or online trash.

 

[kaizenkko]

The data that proves this point is that Nintendo has the highest selling console of all time on the back of nothing but exclusives (which in turn are also among the highest selling games of all time). Is there any data that disproves Nintendo's strategy as the best one, other than hypotheticals and disguised port begging?

The thing is, that's not true. Yes, exclusives definitely help and carry a lot of weight, but they're not the only reason a console sells well — and they're definitely not the sole, absolute reason the Switch 2 is selling so well. It's a combination of several factors: exclusives, price, brand strength, marketing, lack of direct competition, and so on.

If exclusives alone were the most decisive factor for a console's success, then consoles like the Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 and Wii U should have been much more successful.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

The data that proves this point is that Nintendo has the highest selling console of all time on the back of nothing but exclusives (which in turn are also among the highest selling games of all time). Is there any data that disproves Nintendo's strategy as the best one, other than hypotheticals and disguised port begging?

Would you like to sell 150 million Switch 2 units, or would you like to sell 100 million each of your franchises?

Not saying it will be easy or guaranteed to happen, but thats the sort of ceiling they can be looking at.

I think they have maxed out Switch, Mario Kart World will not outsell MK8.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

Me too (I already have one) but I think he's talking about the market at large especially the more core gamer market who buys a PS5 for Warzone, Apex or FIFA, NBA, NFL etc and who won't buy a Switch 2 for its exclusive games but would absolutely buy the latest Mario Kart and Smash were they on say a PS5 where their digital library and friends already are.

Nintendo are a one off case a bit like Disney in terms of the strength of their IP. They're doing great by doing what they always have. Appealing to a huge mass market of kids, families and older enthusiast customers which will now feed into theme parks and movies. It's a winning formula so they will not change any time soon.

He is emphasising multiplayer/GaaS alot, so from that point of view I get it. More players=more engagement/mtx $. And from a cost perspective, titles that the platform itself aren't willing to eat to entice players to their ecosystem are going to need an increasing amount of customers.

The future he envisiones would be nice, in that you can play any game on any platform. And analysts have been saying for ages that consoles are dying. But I don't see it happening for quite some time yet.

I think that we'll get a clearer picture over the next few years after we see what Valve whips up and how serious MS are with this upcoming push towards a gaming centric OS.

And let's not forget (as much as we'd like to) the Mobile gaming market. They make a shit-ton of money and many of the younger generations of gamer grew up with it. Saw a report that since the hardware on that side is getting better and better game development costs are rising there aswell.

So I wouldn't be extremly suprised if we end up seeing an industry wide push towards an platform-agnostic future. The big question, in my mind, is what is Sony going to do?
Release on more platforms earns them more $$$ but it dilutes their attractiveness/value for potential new adopters. Xbox is hoping their foothold in the PC market and GP will be enough to lure folks over. But in this "future" what will Sony do? If the rumors about Sony and Valve are true, then we might get some more insight soon. But I personally have some doubts.

But, yeah. Ninty does what Ninty wants, when and how it feels like it.

 

[Three]

Matt is a hypocritical piece of work.

 

[ADiTAR]

Would you like to sell 150 million Switch 2 units, or would you like to sell 100 million each of your franchises?

Not saying it will be easy or guaranteed to happen, but thats the sort of ceiling they can be looking at.

I think they have maxed out Switch, Mario Kart World will not outsell MK8.

Oy, it comes bundled with the hardware at like 80%+ share. If the Switch 2 sells 100m, MKW will outsell it.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Any data to prove this point?

All I see is Nintendo going against the norm. Meanwhile Mat Piscatella, Dring etc calling them out over it. Who obviously have full picture.

Microsoft drones who couldnt find their asses with a map, lol. What an insight.

Exclusivity sells. This is an undeniable truth supported by every console gen up to date.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Oy, it comes bundled with the hardware at like 80%+ share. If the Switch 2 sells 100m, MKW will outsell it.

But not at full price, going multplat for old games It would almost guarantee 20±mi more copies sold easy.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Oy, it comes bundled with the hardware at like 80%+ share. If the Switch 2 sells 100m, MKW will outsell it.

Is this really what constitutes as sales?

Game should be in the wild, gamers drawn to it naturally, thats what a successful title should be.

 

[Bernardougf]

Microsoft drones who couldnt find their asses with a map, lol. What an insight.

Exclusivity sells. This is an undeniable truth supported by every console gen up to date.

At this point I convinced that people supporting this theories are Xbox and PCMR that wants Sony games but dont want an Playstation so they care fuck all if the hardware dies....mostly PC players though

 

[Mr Moose]

Is this really what constitutes as sales?

Game should be in the wild, gamers drawn to it naturally, thats what a successful title should be.

It was 3rd in the charts without bundles and digital.

 

[Horseganador]

If by winning you mean your hardware dropping by almost 60% year-over-year, like Xbox in June in the US, while you sell your games to the competition, then yes, but if you want to sell hardware and software, you need exclusive content.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Ah yes, patting MS on the back because they've totally fumbled the hardware and now need at least some positive PR after stupid layoff remarks from Nadella.

Dring gonna Dring.

 

[Team Skoda]

I literally just snagged Forza Horizon 5 a minute ago on sale for PS5. The Forza games have never been on my radar having not been on any other platform than Xbox and PC. Thanks to the threads here and learn that it was selling really well, it piqued my interest. Lo and behold, it sounds like the racing game I've always wanted.

So that being said, too bad Nintendo. I would support you more, but I'm not paying for your irrelevant hardware (to me at least; zero need for portability) just to play your games. Different strokes, fam.

 

[Calverz]

 

[TheMule1983]

What do consoles game do that innovates vs multiplatform games? the touchpad is literally a button and all games work fine on every platform from Playstation. Xbox just uses a standard controller.

I'm just trying to see what Im missing here??

I never said all the innovations were good. Only having one sku to develop for means the developers can laser focus on one configuration. These games were/are usually the show pieces for the console. It's why Nintendo and formally Sony games are held in high regard.

 

[DenchDeckard]

While I too would prefer games being made multiplatform where possible, what T TheMule1983 isn't wrong. The appeal of consoles was the fixed hardware that companies could then design their games around, with a degree of low level optimization (including and up to "to the metal"/assembly coding!) that was not possible for PC games. That was how and why we got consoles punching above their weight, with games such as Metal Gear Solid 4 back in the day. Today, we no longer get exclusives that are tailored to the specific hardware they are targeting, except for with Nintendo (Tears of the Kingdom was the last major such exclusive). Microsoft's developers have all integrated PC into their pipelines, meaning variable hardware and scalability is part of the project scope from the get go, and even if they had not, they would have to accommodate Series S and Series X. Similarly, Sony is increasingly developing games with the awareness that they will eventually be released on PC, so they no longer leverage the unique hardware in the PS5 (such as the at the time cutting edge SSD which was beyond anything most high end gaming PC builds would have had) – but if Sony was still developing exclusives, they very much would be.

I also want to point out that developing for one fixed hardware configuration has one other benefit that often gets overlooked, and that is the level of polish that that can allow for. The more variable hardware you have to accommodate, the more potential for issues and errors arise, and we often see multiplatform games with less polish than exclusives because of this.

While I do want multiplatform games, pretending that there are no merits (and I haven't even listed all of them yet!) to exclusives would be dishonest (not necessarily saying you are doing this).

All great points, its a shame Sony never got to leverage the SSD like it could have been. PS4 ports and the PC initiative has probably ruined any chance of it.

Yes, they should. They don't sell PCs.

But they sell millions of copies of games to PC players....Why would and should that stop.

Helldivers 2 would not have been the success it was without PC. Stellar Blade.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

It was 3rd in the charts without bundles and digital.

Yeah, its successful title. Have breached into the casual market.

 

[Mr Moose]

All great points, its a shame Sony never got to leverage the SSD like it could have been. PS4 ports and the PC initiative has probably ruined any chance of it.



But they sell millions of copies of games to PC players....Why would and should that stop.

Helldivers 2 would not have been the success it was without PC. Stellar Blade.

Do you think Xbox would sell more consoles if they didn't day one PC?

 

[DenchDeckard]

Do you think Xbox would sell more consoles if they didn't day one PC?

You think they haven't sold a few mill already with all their releases?

That would be a pretty big failure for Sony, if all of their PC releases have flopped. I bet Ghost of Tsushima has sold a couple of mill on PC.

 

[Mr Moose]

You think they haven't sold a few mill already with all their releases?

That would be a pretty big failure for Sony, if all of their PC releases have flopped. I bet Ghost of Tsushima has sold a couple of mill on PC.

No, not compared to what they do on console (Spider-Man games, GoW, TLoU).
If you devalue your console too much, people will stop buying it.
MS did this back in... 2017? Their day one stuff. And Game Pass helped kill it off even more.

 

[Xbox 360 slim]

The business is the same as it ever was.

There was no live service titles in 7th gen, or tiktok/instagram reels.

 

[Ebrietas]

It's working for Microsoft because no one wants to buy their console and the few who own their console have been trained to buy games.

See how the Switch 1 and 2 continue to sell like hotcakes with exclusive games.

Sony can either try and be like Nintendo or Microsoft. Of course, it's a bit different as with Xbox dead, the PlayStation platform is the only viable console that plays AAA third party games at release.

The market will be flooded with steam os "consoles" in the near future that will play every PC game including Sony's. Switch 2 will also be getting a bigger share of AAA third party games. Exclusive software is the only meaningful way to differentiate one platform from another, especially today when hardware is more homogeneous.

It's quite amazing how Sony is now firmly rejecting the very strategy that saved them from total collapse in the ps3 gen.

 

[ADiTAR]

Is this really what constitutes as sales?

Game should be in the wild, gamers drawn to it naturally, thats what a successful title should be.

It is in the wild, the bundle is an extra price because of the game.

 

[NickFire]

Ummm. A third party's sales success does not prove the third party strategy works for the owner of an existing ecosystem like Sony and Nintendo.

 

[LordCBH]

I mean Nintendo sold 80 MILLION copies of MK8. Exclusives matter. Poor management will sink anything.

 

[Ebrietas]

Weird that people is focusing on MS/Xbox when there are much better (and older) examples.

Sega, Capcom, From Software, etc won by going multi, so will Square in the future most likely.

Imagine Monster Hunter sales if it was still exclusive, or Elden Ring, or how Persona went from "niche" until just 3-4 years ago, to start becoming giant. There are a lot of examples like these.

???
Persona already became a giant as a PS4 exclusive. The multiplatform metaphor is failing to keep up. And BB sold as well or better than the prior Dark Souls games. SE already went multiplatform with FFXIII. They have yet to break any new sales ground from when they used to be PS exclusive. Actually given how much the gaming market has grown since then they have actually been losing ground in real terms despite being on PC and Xbox. Games can and do sell very well as exclusives, and going multiplatform doesn't always increase franchise sales to the extent that is often hyped, if at all.

Regardless the above is all irrelevant since those are third party game developers, not platform holders. The platform business should always supersede the game production side since it is an order of magnitude more lucrative.

 

[Radical_3d]

So, Americans are saying that what the American company is doing is the way to go. All that while failing upwards…

 

[Baemono]

If Sony went fully multiplatform, it would instantly be beneficial to their studios. Sales revenue would be substantially more, which would allow for bigger budgets and potentially more innovation.

Not really. PS is THE console for 3rd party games, and their games play best on their console. Porting their game day and date to inferior platforms (Switch 2) or a dying one (Xbox) wouldn't help.

And it's not like their PC efforts have been a huge success.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Gaslighting for their own business model.