The Business Side of Video (Space) Games EXCLUSIVELY ON IDLE THUMBS

[Twig]

I buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games in general, and often one game pushes me over the edge, but never JUST one game. I'm not sure if that counts. I've definitely never bought a console exclusively for one exclusive.

[SecretAsianMan]

I originally bought a 360 to play Gears of War.  A gaming club I was a casual member of during college had a open console night with the then recently released Gears of War on a projector screen.  I remember being extremely impressed by the game, enough that I went and bought the system that weekend.  I also bought a PS3 so I could play God of War III and Uncharted 2, but that was well after both those games were released.

[Bjorn]

I bought a PS3 mostly because it had a Blu-ray player, and it was comparable to all the other players when I bought it. Also because I was going through a real period of PS1 nostalgia, and it was an easy way to play those games. 

 

I wonder how data driven these decisions are, if the marketing push from a true or timed exclusive actually has an impact, or if it's just throwing money way.

[Griddlelol]

I buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games in general, and often one game pushes me over the edge, but never JUST one game. I'm not sure if that counts. I've definitely never bought a console exclusively for one exclusive.

 

I'm like this. It's rarely one game on it's own, but usually there's one game that pushes me over the edge. With the WiiU, I wanted 3d World and Wonderful 101. Then Mario Kart came out and I couldn't stand the pressure any more. 

 

I think Destiny made me buy the PS4, even though it's not out. However it's the huge collection of indies Sony are grabbing, plus the upcoming Bloodborne that sold me on it in the first place.

[Griddlelol]

I buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games in general, and often one game pushes me over the edge, but never JUST one game. I'm not sure if that counts. I've definitely never bought a console exclusively for one exclusive.

 

I'm like this. It's rarely one game on it's own, but usually there's one game that pushes me over the edge. With the WiiU, I wanted 3d World and Wonderful 101. Then Mario Kart came out and I couldn't stand the pressure any more. 

 

I think Destiny made me buy the PS4, even though it's not out. However it's the huge collection of indies Sony are grabbing, plus the upcoming Bloodborne that sold me on it in the first place. I actually think the PS4 is the console I've bought closest to launch. Normally I wait at least a year + to make sure there are a bunch of games out.

[Dewar]

Have any of you ever bought a console predominantly because of an exclusive game?  I bought a PS1 because of FF7, but beyond that, I can't think of any other consoles I bought because of exclusives. 

 

I'm considering an Xbox one for the Halo set they're putting out this year, also for Dead Rising 3 but that's on PC now.

 

Earlier this year I finally bought a PS3 specifically for the exclusives, so if you count that I guess.

[Ucantalas]

Well, I got a PS2 instead of an XBox because I wanted to be able to play the Metal Gear Solid games.

[Wordherder]

The crazy thing is, this kind of thing used to happen all the time. Back in the Cube/PS2/Xbox era we'd see more third-party games show up for just one system, like Knights of the Old Republic or Resident Evil 4 (at least initially). Some were bought of course, but some just decided it was easier to just make it on one platform.

 

But that practice more or less vanished over the last generation. Wasn't there some mention that the guys behind GTA and Assassin's Creed tried to get Sony to pony up for exclucivity, and Sony said no? At any rate, nearly everyone made their games for as many systems as possible. I suspect part of the reason behind that was to help maximize their returns as development costs went up.

 

At any rate, the old practice is back (at least for this game), and it's interesting how we've completely lost our tolerance for it in that time.

[Henroid]

I could only express my disappointment in Microsoft's continued misuse of "exclusive" by changing the thread title.

[Professor Video Games]

System architectures were a lot different then. Porting from one to another wasn't trivial. These days it's a lot less excusable since both the PS4 and Xbox are so PC-like, dev tools are way more friendly, and with a little bit of extra time/money you are adding millions to your potential audience. These days "timed exclusives" from big time third party studios are just annoying attempts to squeeze a little extra cash out of Sony or Microsoft. Bleh.

[Wordherder]

Well, the architecture between the 360 and the PS3 was completely different (especially with the PS3's Cell wackiness), but that didn't really stop many people from porting between the two anyway.

[feelthedarkness]

I could only express my disappointment in Microsoft's continued misuse of "exclusive" by changing the thread title.

 

Ironically, this thread is well and truly ONLY on Idle Thumbs, unless one of you is doing something real weird.  

[melmer]

"Exclusive" is now dead to language much like "dead to language" is dead to language thanks to Sean "dead to language" Vanaman

(Come on, he says it a lot, and sounds really pleased with himself when he does )

[SuperBiasedMan]

The overused misuse of exclusive has led to such a watered down word that almost means the opposite of it's original intent.

It literally makes me barf.

[tegan]

The overused misuse of exclusive has led to such a watered down word that almost means the opposite of it's original intent.

It literally makes me barf.

 

[Henroid]

Well even a broken clock is right two times a day; Ben Kuchera says MS' message for Gamescon is, "Kinect is dead, long live exclusives." I agree with the overall sentiment, I didn't click the article itself. But it makes sense. Kinect was abandoned at E3 as well. I'm sure MS will still talk about it if questioned about it. But at this point the Kinect for MS is like the Vita for Sony: They still want it to sell, but do nothing to support it.

 

BTW I totally didn't catch that Tomb Raider's announced "exclusivity" is for the Christmas after next. That is a long, long time to tie yourself down to one platform. I dunno what the publisher is thinking. I mean yeah, Tomb Raider is a brand big enough to maintain the must-have status when it launches on other platforms later. But they've married themselves to the XB1, which has been losing momentum. And they did it so far in advanced. I'm guessing that the devs are going to make the release for other platforms contain 'additional content' or some other kind of bonus features. To give it some sales heft.

 

Last thing to note, I just saw that apparently the PS4 has sold 10 million units world-wide. Anyone know where / how to figure out how that tracks for other consoles in a 10 month period?

[Wordherder]

 

Last thing to note, I just saw that apparently the PS4 has sold 10 million units world-wide. Anyone know where / how to figure out how that tracks for other consoles in a 10 month period?

 

Aside from diving into GAF madness, nope. Damn NPD.

[melmer]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/playstation-4-sells-10-million-units-sony-reveals-/1100-6421671/

It's says it's the faster sony console to hit ten million. Maybe Nintendo wii holds the record?

From the sounds of it the PS4 install base is double that of xbox one

Amazing quote by Don Mattrick in 2008: "History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle."

[SilentBtAmazing]

Basically every console I ever bought going back to the N64 was because of the exclusives. Then again I Iove all of these systems and their quirks, honestly I have never regretted a single one. For me the next-gen exclusive pushing me towards a perch is Bloodbourne.

[Griddlelol]

BTW I totally didn't catch that Tomb Raider's announced "exclusivity" is for the Christmas after next. 

 

The tweet I got the info from seems wrong. Crystal Dynamics came out and said it is completely exclusive to Xbox. Terrible decision, but maybe they have to off-set lower than anticipated sales of the previous instalment with a huge lump sum of cash, and let MS spend on the marketing. 

[syntheticgerbil]

I am really hoping to get away with not getting an Xbox product this time, especially since nothing has backwards compatability except for the WiiU. I doubt this will stay exclusive but maybe I don't understand the business behind it. It always seems like these Microsoft exclusives mean the developers must be getting a good chunk of change, but it always seems like a gamble as exclusives can mean a disaster release if there's not enough console adopters, in example every PS3 game for the first two to three years. Crystal Dynamics actually cancelled Tomb Raider Legend for PS3 because of that.

 

But I wouldn't put it past these guys. Tomb Raider Underworld got a bunch of exclusive story DLC on Xbox 360 that never premiered anywhere else and will never apparently. Everyone was hoping maybe the reigns were loosened when it premiered on the Tomb Raider Trilogy for PS3, but no such luck.

[melmer]

This new Tomb raider is coming out a few weeks after the new uncharted which must've made this decision to go "exclusive" slightly easier to make.

[Griddlelol]

I only played the first instalment of the Uncharted series. I remember feeling really disappointed by the game. Is it bigger than Tomb Raider? 

[melmer]

Bigger...? Do you mean in GigaBytes?

 

Uncharted 2 is one of the greatest games ever made, a vast vast improvement over uncharted 1. You should go play Uncharted 2 now then come back, go on, i'll wait

[Griddlelol]

I was going to reply "I don't have a PS3, so I'll never get to play it." However with the horrible march of technology and PS Now coming to the UK soon, there's a good chance I'll actually be able to play it.

 

Who needs back compatibility when the games are in the cloud? *said in wispy, ghost-like voice*