One day I decided to see my best friend who had just bought a copy of The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3. I played it and I loved it. I was exceedingly disappointed as I couldn’t simply return home and play some more. For the simple fact, I don’t own a PlayStation, I have an Xbox machine. In return I will be playing Gears of War knowing full well he would be upset about this. Still I envy some Sony exclusives as do many and vice versa I’m sure. The Great Exclusive Debate is here.
So the console war rages on with even more intensity than before and the major players; Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have resorted to extreme methods to ensure you’ll pick up their consoles to enjoy your all-time favorites But why do exclusives exist? Ok obviously exclusives are the main reason you buy a particular console otherwise everyone would just own a PC.
Its fair to say each main publisher has their own way of dealing with exclusives. Microsoft develops vast numbers of hugely, wacky and fun Multi-player based games such as Gears of War and Halo. Sony have some very good story driven games which are both fun and creative such as The last of Us and While Nintendo develop timeless and innovated series such as the Mario and Zelda.
So each console has a host of gaming exclusives that should satisfy any hardcore gamer or fan boy. Yet my problem recently is the misuse and exploitative nature that engulfs exclusivity nowadays, often upsetting and annoying fans and many alike. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have been thinking of new and aggressive tactics to get the games you most desire and the only way to play them is to buy their console.
Nintendo did a doozey with Bayonetta 2, obtaining the publishing rights and bringing it solely to the Wii U. Even though the original game came to both Xbox 360 and PS3 before and was a huge success. Nintendo state that Bayonetta 2 wouldn’t exist if they did not acquire the rights for the game. Fair enough, but except for one small thing. I DON’T WANT TO BUY A WII U!
Microsoft did one better by strangely revealing this year that Rise of the Tomb Raider is now an Xbox exclusive? Madness! But it’s seems to be a timed exclusive … for now. This might be motivated by Square Enix’s concern for competing with PlayStation 4’s release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End coming next holiday season. But this is still a thoughtless move and a great insult to the Tomb Raider fans and for Xbox one owners as Microsoft didn’t even bother to make it a complete exclusive. I mean, It’s good its timed, but also dim witted and pointless too.
Sony has also done its fair share of mistreating exclusivity. Behold! We now have exclusive demos? So it’s now announced that Silent Hills is coming to the Xbox One as well as the PlayStation 4. But why offer the P.T teaser to just Sony? Along with this, Sony often takes on board exclusive content for games hoping to reach more sales with at times thoughtless and meaningless content. Other times they obtain chunks of the game that matter the most to those who like a good story to be able to play as a different character. Batman games and most Ubisoft titles offer exclusive game modes and story elements just for PlayStation which leave fans who don’t have a PlayStation in the dark and with the feeling of being punk slapped just because they like Halo as well.
Microsoft rely too much on 3rd party developers who often want to break away after some time, Such as Epic and Bungie. Sadly the developers they own often make total disappointments, Rare is to blame for those awful Kinect games. Yet LionHead Studios and a few others are very loyal to Microsoft and the giant does help many smaller developers shine through. Double Helix had a bad reputation until Killer Instinct came along and then Amazon bought them.
Sony respects and cares for their own developers such as Naughty Dog, but also they have support from other big 3rd party publishers such as EA and Ubisoft, who often give them exclusive content for mainstream games. But Sony often prolong the development time of their exclusives meaning there are vast gaps in-between their games. Nintendo are great at solely developing their exclusives, working very closely with teams who know how to produce some of the greatest family entertainment around. But their outlook to 3rd party developers is bleak and so Nintendo do rely very heavily on their own games to make the consoles a success.
Exclusives are a great way of showing off, for the fan boys to go “Bah we has Gears of War and you have Resistance”. But, really do we care? No doubt hardcore gamers would have all the consoles if they could afford it (and some do) but most others are keen to live out their lives and look at funny cat pictures. Gaming now days takes up so much time and money that I need 4 months to play Halo on Legendary.
Exclusives are a sore point, if you don’t have the console you can’t play it and are stuck watching the YouTube videos of gameplay. It’s a shame as every console owner, no matter if their Xbox, PlayStation or the Wii will look at another console and say “I wish I could play that game”. In some ways it seems like a lost opportunity.
Or just go for PC gaming, that’s good too. Expect they don’t have many great exclusives.