Home Gaming FFD: How important are third party exclusives?

FFD: How important are third party exclusives?

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SFFD

The usual selling point for consoles is the fact that each platform holder has a handful of first party games that are, and likely will forever be exclusive to those platforms. Sony has its Uncharted, God of War, Killzone et al, with Microsoft boasting Forza, Gears of War and Halo. They’re the sort of games that can get people to buy consoles. It seems that the third party exclusive is back on the rise.

It’s nothing new. In the 8-bit era, Nintendo was king of the 3rd party exclusives. They had fierce contracts that kept developers tethered to their hardware for years – making things difficult for SEGA’s Master System and Atari’s 7200. Developers stuck with Nintendo though, because they wanted access to the system’s millions of users.

When SEGA kicked off their 16 bit Genesis with much more favourable terms, the 3rd party market shifted considerably, and both their and Nintendo’s 16 bit machines were home to 3rd party exclusives and pseudo exclusives; the SNES got Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the Genesis got Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition.

The next few gens also had a strong 3rd party exclusive market; and PlayStation was home to most of them; Metal Gear, Tekken, Tomb Raider. Microsoft’s Xbox got things like Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire.

In the last generation it shifted again, and most publishers stuck to playing it safe and releasing their games on both the 360 and the PS3: Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock, Assassin’s Creed, Battlefield,Elder Scrolls, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy etc all made their way to both systems.

This generation though, we may be looking at a new rise in third party exclusives as backroom deals make way for console exclusive third party games. Rise of the Tomb Raider is increasingly looking like it’ll only be on the Xbox One, and Street Fighter V is almost certainly bound to PlayStation.

If this continues it’s possible that your very favourite games might be locked to a single system. How important are 3rd part exclusives? Would they make you purchase a system for a single game or series of games? I know that if Street Fighter wasn’t headed to PC, and I didn’t have a PlayStation, I’d have to  get one.

Are there any games that if they became a third party exclusive would make you consider a new console – or do you think this sort of locking out by platform doesn’t really help anyone (except enrich developers at the cost of gamers)?

Last Updated: December 12, 2014

39 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    December 12, 2014 at 10:36

    Street Figter V? No more making fun of games like Goat Sim.

    Reply

  2. Viking Of Divinity

    December 12, 2014 at 10:40

    It’s a neccessary Evil needed to help distinguish the Two Major Consoles. First Party developers can only make so many games in this bloated AAA industry, And creating a new IP is very Risky, The Genral Populous just want more of the same… So It makes perfect sense for Sony and MS to throw Money at existing franchises, with existing fan bases to make them exclusive to their own platform.

    We may not like or agree with it, but it’s the reality we have to deal with.

    Reply

  3. Quo Vadis?

    December 12, 2014 at 10:40

    From a commercial point of view, exclusives are stupid. For the developer that is. It takes one game to bomb as an exclusive on the XB or PS, and that developer is toast. If it is spread evenly over all platforms, sales will prevent even a crappy game from closing down a studio.
    From the console’s perspective, you would have to make a hell of a lot of exclusives in order for a majority of people to defect, AND expect people to stay loyal. That is to say until the rival brings out even more spectacular exclusives.
    So the answer is simple, boys and girls – Save your allowance money, and buy both when they are released 😀

    Reply

    • J_Joestar

      December 12, 2014 at 21:36

      it depends on a case by case situation though, sometimes console developers may give incentives or outright funding for a game to appear on their platform exclusively. It is also easier on the programmers who code the game as they can push a machine further when they don’t have to worry about compatibility with another one later on.

      Reply

  4. Raptor Rants A Lot

    December 12, 2014 at 10:42

    People tend to make huge issues out of 3rd party exclusives but in all honesty I can’t really understand why. It’s been done since almost the beginning of gaming.

    What I do think the main issue is, is that when you take a multiplatform game that already has a loyal follower base and you then go cut half of them off by making it exclusive to a single platform. That’s what gets people’s backs up.

    Then, instead of actually gaining players for that exclusive and getting more sales, you end up alienating half the player base from that franchise.

    I honestly don’t think 3rd party exclusives make a huge difference if they were previously multi-plat.

    If it’s a new game or IP and it’s made a 3rd party exclusive.. Yeah, then you may have a good opportunity to move more physical console units.

    Reply

  5. Mandom (Umar)

    December 12, 2014 at 10:44

    It hurts when its existing franchises that you’re used to playing on ALL systems really. Console specific exclusives have always existed and is a necessary thing to enable growth in the industry.

    Reply

    • Raptor Rants A Lot

      December 12, 2014 at 10:45

      100%

      Reply

  6. Alien Emperor Trevor

    December 12, 2014 at 10:46

    I don’t care about exclusives. I don’t want more than one platform and for a whole bunch of reasons PC suits my needs best, so I go with that. Consequently I don’t get to play exclusives that are on other platforms. Whoop-de-doo. I have fun playing a different game that is on PC. While there are exclusives that look cool, I can’t justify to myself dropping another few thousand Rand on a second platform for so little tangible benefit to me.

    Reply

    • Mandom (Umar)

      December 12, 2014 at 10:49

      The only problem I’ve always had with PC is that it never had the type of games I love, while PC does satisfy a number different types of gamers, it will always boil down to personal preference.

      Reply

      • Raptor Rants A Lot

        December 12, 2014 at 10:50

        I had that issue myself thanks to fighting games, but it seems more and more fighting games are coming across to PC so now I am happy 🙂

        Reply

        • Mandom (Umar)

          December 12, 2014 at 10:51

          That is true, I see even JRPGs are making its way to PC which is really awesome. Hell , Naruto made its way to PC, its fantastic that these types of games are making its way there, the shitty ports just need to change though

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            December 12, 2014 at 10:56

            I think the whole “shitty port” thing has become a silly trope. There’s only one I consider a genuinely bad port, technically, and that’s Dark Souls. If a new game comes out on all platforms & the PC one is messed up, that’s not because it’s a port, that’s because the devs did a poor job on release.

          • Mandom (Umar)

            December 12, 2014 at 11:04

            Not really, I mean look at Onimusha or Devil May Cry 3. There are a couple more examples I can’t think of off hand that don’t optimize controls for PC or even give you adequate visual options for e.g

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            December 12, 2014 at 11:18

            I haven’t really played that many, specifically not those two, so Dark Souls is the only one that really stands out to me. If they want to port a game to PC – let us rebind our controls, change your screen prompts, have some basic graphic options. Boom done.

          • Viking Of Divinity

            December 12, 2014 at 11:56

            True, but DMC 3 did run butter smooth at release on PC. And it did support any controller, bought a freaking R100 el cheapo at the time, and played the hell out of it. Same with Onimusha 3.

            But, CAPCOM really upped their game for DMC 4, did some benchmarks, and can run it at well over 120FPS. I locked it to 60 at Max Specs, because my monitor only has a 60Hz refresh rate.

            And my PC is still a POS.

          • Raptor Rants A Lot

            December 12, 2014 at 10:56

            Yeah, they tend not to feel so terrible if you have a controller plugged in

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        December 12, 2014 at 10:50

        Yes true. I’m not a fan of hentai games so I don’t want a PS. Whoops, I meant… JRPGS! *run*

        Reply

        • Raptor Rants A Lot

          December 12, 2014 at 10:51

          #StayStrongUmar

          Reply

        • Mandom (Umar)

          December 12, 2014 at 10:51

          Lol Funny enough PC is the biggest platform for hentai games

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            December 12, 2014 at 10:52

            I’ve learnt something new today 😀

          • Mandom (Umar)

            December 12, 2014 at 10:53

            YEEEEAH RIIIIIGHT…Don’t make like you don’t have some naughty games installed. I SEE YOU

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            December 12, 2014 at 10:53

            I see you baby, shakin’ that ass.

          • Mandom (Umar)

            December 12, 2014 at 10:54

            Enjoying the show?

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            December 12, 2014 at 10:57

            I was for a few seconds. Now where’d I put my um… vitamin tablet.

          • Dutch Matrix

            December 12, 2014 at 10:57

            Yeah? Can you make any good suggestions? Asking for a friend…

          • Mandom (Umar)

            December 12, 2014 at 11:03

            Wah! I see this trick…I don’t know what to recommend. I It’s not like I play Summer Beach Fun or Nurse Chronicles…I don’t know of these games.

          • Hammersteyn

            December 12, 2014 at 11:00

            Wait, they make hentai games???
            *Googles

          • J_Joestar

            December 12, 2014 at 21:32

            since like the early 90s at least. I know when i was barely in the double digits (in 30s now) my brother had a few on his old computer.
            dunno if there were earlier ones, but i wouldn’t doubt it.

          • CAE9872

            December 12, 2014 at 12:08

            Or just buy Dead or Alive in any one of its flavours.

  7. RinceThis

    December 12, 2014 at 10:56

    I just think exclusives to a franchise that has more than one game is a stupid idea. I buy the first in a series of games, but then can’t play the sequel? That makes gamers not want to buy day on buy year 5 just to make sure you know what the fuck happens after the first game.

    Reply

    • J_Joestar

      December 12, 2014 at 21:43

      that reminds me how pissed my brother was that RE: REV2 is not coming out on the 3DS.

      Reply

  8. Hammersteyn

    December 12, 2014 at 10:56

    Make fun of the Indiestation but there’s been a lot of indies that was better than some AAA games. Plus Last of Us,SF5,Uncharted 4,Bloodborne and Planetside 2 isn’t even part of the list(It’s an old list) In the end I don’t want to miss out on too many games.
    http://www.gamepur.com/files/imagepicker/48/ps4-vs-xbox-one-games-list.jpg

    Reply

    • Captain JJ glitterati fantasti

      December 12, 2014 at 11:07

      Yes

      Reply

  9. Pieter Kruger

    December 12, 2014 at 10:56

    This….

    Reply

    • Raptor Rants A Lot

      December 12, 2014 at 10:59

      so creepy

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        December 12, 2014 at 11:04

        To the 7th degree? *needstostop

        Reply

        • Raptor Rants A Lot

          December 12, 2014 at 11:41

          Ouchy 🙁

          Reply

  10. oVg elfroot slayer

    December 12, 2014 at 11:40

    The question should be ” How important is it to make a SEQUEL to a multi platform game an exclusive?” Never mind the sequel to a flipping RE-BOOT.

    I HOPE THE FALL OF TOMB RAIDER TANKS

    Reply

  11. CAE9872

    December 12, 2014 at 11:57

    For the big console makers I think is important. For gamers, if you have the system its great – you can go all in “in the yard” about how yours is better than theirs. But if it’s not on your system of choice people get pissed.

    It won’t change and should’t change – there is inevitably a game of that type on the other system. We cannot have everything we want all the time.

    Reply

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