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Reuters: Era of Exclusive Video Game Deals Ending
- Thread starter FrankT
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Joe Molotov
Member
Final Fantasy 12 coming to the Xbox, you read it here first!
Kill Your Masters
Member
Well I think that is quite obvious already. This generation, you have to pay for exclusives.
No.
I don't think it's just because game budgets are rising, it's because the SCE/MS market is now basically split down the middle. PS3 has the momentum at the moment, but 360 has the more substantial userbase, mainly in the US. And who knows how things will change in the future? PS3 and 360 sales have been particularly unpredictable so far. To give either console an exclusive could essentially split your sales in half.
Meanwhile, Wii is getting a large number of (not particularly good) third party exclusives by default. But it isn't getting many of the decent 360/PS3 games by default either, something obvious that analysts miss when talking about 'exclusives'. Although, meanwhile, Wii is still selling like hotcakes.
Meanwhile, Wii is getting a large number of (not particularly good) third party exclusives by default. But it isn't getting many of the decent 360/PS3 games by default either, something obvious that analysts miss when talking about 'exclusives'. Although, meanwhile, Wii is still selling like hotcakes.
Little Green Yoda
Member
Trolling? Or just ignorant of who the market leader is?
speculawyer
Member
Welcome to 2005.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Tomb Raider exclusive to PSOne? I recall it on PC and Saturn too...
titiklabingapat
Member
They always forget about the Wii.
I think it will be two months for the Wii, but only one for the PS3. Not exactly a commanding lead. Saying they'll have it "months" in advance is really overstating the point.
A better example would have been GTAIV. We all knew it was coming for the PC, but the PC version wasn't officially announced until the console version had been out for months and the PC version will be releasing about 9 months to 1 year after the consoles. Much as it has been for the series since GTAIII.
OldJadedGamer
Banned
Panajev2001a said:
Grand Theft Auto also started out as a PC game. I'm actually stunned that Pachter was able to talk about the PS3 without using the words "Blu-ray". That's a first I think.
painful fart
Member
The Faceless Master
Member
these articles are always hilarious.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
farnham said:
Its fairly obvious they're talking about new games in the series since 1997, not ports of SNES games. Aside from the blips of FF7 PC and FFXI PC/360, the main series hasn't even sniffed a console other than PSOne or PS2. But everyone here already knows that.
The sentiments of this article were obvious the day Sony and MS went into their first HTH holiday priced over $400-500 dollars apiece. Unless they're cutting you a side deal on licensing, funding development, or publishing, it's pure insanity to leave all that money on the table when you look at the sales of COD4, Assassins Creed, GTAIV, Soul Calibur 4, or DMC4.
GrotesqueBeauty
Banned
Hey guys, the Wii doesn't exist! Great article!
Fallout-NL
Member
I thought this was pretty obvious.
Noting new here imo. AAA titels these days generally takes long time to develop and often costs alot to do. So kinda simple logic that the makers choose to make the game for several platforms , hence get the best opporunity to earn the most money.
I would love to hear what kind of contract the developers sign these days with the compays to make the game exclusive for that system.
I would love to hear what kind of contract the developers sign these days with the compays to make the game exclusive for that system.
If you're in a PAL Region the game was released standalone in 2002, if you in the US, it was released as part of the FF Anthology.Farnack said:
Anywho, console exclusives will exist as long as there are more than one console on the market. One of the main selling points of a console are exclusives, so I don't see how they will die out just yet. Also, Moneyhats.
Yeah, By and large, but there will still be major 3rd party devs that sign to a certain console maker. A good example in that regard is Insomniac, they are not a Sony studio, yet you wont find them make any games for anyone else. With that said however, I do see 3rd party exclusives becoming very rare from this generation onwards.Jocchan said:
Woo-Fu
Banned
titiklabingapat said:
Eh, Nintendo makes its own exclusives and pretty much always has---during those generations where it had real competition. In light of that this ending of an era doesn't really apply to them as they never were in the habit of buying exclusives in the first place.
Jaded Alyx
Member
Woo-Fu said:
Funny thing is, the Wii has the most third party exclusives this gen. Shovelware not included.
Haunted
Member
It's obvious they're talking about second place here, it's a well known fact that the Wii has received the most third party exclusives this gen.
With the massive cost associated with creating an HD game, multiplatform (PC - PS3 - 360) titles are the norm. EA and Activision didn't become the two biggest third party publishers by handing out exclusives.
With the massive cost associated with creating an HD game, multiplatform (PC - PS3 - 360) titles are the norm. EA and Activision didn't become the two biggest third party publishers by handing out exclusives.
Riskbreaker23
Member
i guess sony was somewhat justified in strengthening their first party this gen.
however, this situation would not exist if sony would have gotten their act together sooner or if the 360 was greatly outpacing the PS3. The PS3 is now not really that far behind the 360 and its sales are outpacing it in 2 of the 3 major regions.
i believe exclusives will become really rare for awhile but will come back once the systems are at the sub $300 dollar level ($299 doesnt count). at that point, more people will buy system therefore making exclusives more fesible
however, this situation would not exist if sony would have gotten their act together sooner or if the 360 was greatly outpacing the PS3. The PS3 is now not really that far behind the 360 and its sales are outpacing it in 2 of the 3 major regions.
i believe exclusives will become really rare for awhile but will come back once the systems are at the sub $300 dollar level ($299 doesnt count). at that point, more people will buy system therefore making exclusives more fesible
Mahadev
Member
Haunted said:
Wii has received the least third party support. While great games are not exclusive because they're in both 360 and PS3 the Wii lacks these games and on the same time has a big lineup of mediocre or shovelware exclusives. The fact that Zack & Wiki is demonstrated as one on the best Wii exclusives proves that imo.
pswii60 said:
Almost entirely agree with this. If the market split between Sony/MS was still 5:1 in Sony's favor, we'd probably still be seeing some exclusives these days. There's no question that increasing costs exacerbate the issue, but marketshare is hugely important too. Consider, for example, if Microsoft dropped out, literally leaving them with 0% marketshare: obviously then Sony would have exclusives again. Lots of them, including expensive ones (please note I'm not actually suggesting this will happen. It's only intended to clarify the point).
And it still amazes me that articles like this can pop up and have virtually no mention of the Wii (outside of mentioning the hardware sales), when the Wii appears to be on track to have more exclusives than the Playstation 2 did. Many of them awful, as PSwii60 has mentioned, but you'd figure that could be mentioned somewhere.
Woo-Fu
Banned
Mahadev said:
Not exactly.
The title of the thread contains, "exclusive video game deals". My original point being that Nintendo has never been in the practice of making such deals in the first place so this "era" that is ending was not something that involved them.
Nintendo is a horse of a different color, pretty much always has been.
Wii has received far and away the most exclusive games. Go look at the GameFly coming soon release list or something. It's just that a good 95% of those games are absolute trash.
Here's a list of upcoming Wii Exclusives from third parties:
Pajama Sam in Don't Fear the Dark
Ford Off Road Racing
Freddi Fish: Kelp Seed Mystery
Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
Rapala Fishing Frenzy
Defendin' De Penguin
Cabela's Legendary Adventures
Hell's Kitchen
The Price is Right
Igor
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
Zoo Hospital
SimCity Creator
de Blob
Pipe Mania
Brothers in Arms: Double Time
Samba De Amigo
Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
Pitfall: The Big Adventure
Carnival Games: Mini-Golf
We Cheer
And that's just for September!
Here's a list of upcoming Wii Exclusives from third parties:
Pajama Sam in Don't Fear the Dark
Ford Off Road Racing
Freddi Fish: Kelp Seed Mystery
Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
Rapala Fishing Frenzy
Defendin' De Penguin
Cabela's Legendary Adventures
Hell's Kitchen
The Price is Right
Igor
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
Zoo Hospital
SimCity Creator
de Blob
Pipe Mania
Brothers in Arms: Double Time
Samba De Amigo
Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
Pitfall: The Big Adventure
Carnival Games: Mini-Golf
We Cheer
And that's just for September!
Woo-Fu said:
This is an important point too, and probably justifies not mentioning the Wii. In Neogaf lingo, this thread isn't actually about exclusive titles ceasing to exist, it's about moneyhats ceasing to exist, simply because the cost of moneyhatting has exceeded the sales justification.
Since Nintendo has largely shyed away from providing financial incentives to third parties, it's natural that they wouldn't be the focus of such discussions.
But there are some incongruities in the article. While the title specifically refers to "exclusive game deals," portions of the article seem to be talking about exclusives in general. And then you have lines like this:
article said:
While I might argue that Nintendo can be ignored in discussions of moneyhats, they cannot be ignored in sentences like the one above. That just looks silly to a savvy reader.
A Black Falcon
Member
Hmm... I'd say that for Western developers, it was last gen that really saw this begin to happen. Some Western games were exclusive last gen, but the vast majority were on at least two of the three major systems, to a much greater degree than the generations before. Japanese games were more frequently exclusive, though, and that seems to be what's changing now...
This gen is a bit different of course, with the major Western titles being PS3/PC/X360, while Wii games are either exclusive, all-system, or also on PS2 or something... but the major Western titles are mostly not on Wii. Just the small stuff is, as that list shows. But thanks to the Wii's unique controls and design, it's harder to just port its games to other systems without repercussions... that is the main issue with this theory -- what about the Wii? With the PS3 and X360 it's pretty clear that most third party titles are and will be on both systems (and some will be on PC too), but saying that "the era of exclusive videogames is ending" while you ignore the fact that that is NOT true for the leading console, only the ones that trail it, really is a pretty flawed argument.
More than anything, it shows how the PS3 and X360 are similar systems, and that because of the size of the budgets of modern titles, developers need the largest market possible to try to make money off of these games... and with neither one winning, like the Wii is, they need to support both. But just looking at that Wii lineup shows how silly it is to say "the era of exclusives is ending". Overall, it isn't. It only is for major, expensive PS3 and Xbox 360 titles. Writing an article like that without really mentioning the market leading console, a system that sort of proves your entire thesis wrong, is kind of ridiculous.
True, but even so, I think that any discussion of the subject is quite incomplete if you only talk about paid exclusives and not all of them... and Nintendo does sometimes pay for the development of exclusives -- Star Fox Assault, F-Zero GX, Baten Kaitos II, etc...
Sony paid off Core Designs to make Tomb Raiders 2 and 3 not appear on Saturn or N64; those games were PSX and PC only. That's likely what was being referred to, behind their incorrect assumption that it was a Playstation series to start... because yes, the first one was on Saturn too, as well as PSX and PC. In fact, Tomb Raider 1 actually started development on Saturn first...
And yeah, GTA was PC first. But on consoles, GTA1 was Playstation-exclusive (GTA2 was on PC and Dreamcast too, of course, and 3 eventually had ports).
Even so though, it is true that both of those franchises came to be identified with the Playstation brand, and both did have titles that generation that didn't show up on other consoles. So in general there is truth to the claim, though they get the details wrong.
That one is harder to defend, for sure, if you mean the whole franchise (which is of course on many platforms), but if they just mean "the main, numbered titles", it is true that FF7 through 12 were PSX/PS2-only, apart from the PC versions of 7 and 8 and XI Online on the PC and X360... and that was an MMO so it could be counted separately.
This gen is a bit different of course, with the major Western titles being PS3/PC/X360, while Wii games are either exclusive, all-system, or also on PS2 or something... but the major Western titles are mostly not on Wii. Just the small stuff is, as that list shows. But thanks to the Wii's unique controls and design, it's harder to just port its games to other systems without repercussions... that is the main issue with this theory -- what about the Wii? With the PS3 and X360 it's pretty clear that most third party titles are and will be on both systems (and some will be on PC too), but saying that "the era of exclusive videogames is ending" while you ignore the fact that that is NOT true for the leading console, only the ones that trail it, really is a pretty flawed argument.
More than anything, it shows how the PS3 and X360 are similar systems, and that because of the size of the budgets of modern titles, developers need the largest market possible to try to make money off of these games... and with neither one winning, like the Wii is, they need to support both. But just looking at that Wii lineup shows how silly it is to say "the era of exclusives is ending". Overall, it isn't. It only is for major, expensive PS3 and Xbox 360 titles. Writing an article like that without really mentioning the market leading console, a system that sort of proves your entire thesis wrong, is kind of ridiculous.
Woo-Fu said:
True, but even so, I think that any discussion of the subject is quite incomplete if you only talk about paid exclusives and not all of them... and Nintendo does sometimes pay for the development of exclusives -- Star Fox Assault, F-Zero GX, Baten Kaitos II, etc...
Panajev2001a said:
Sony paid off Core Designs to make Tomb Raiders 2 and 3 not appear on Saturn or N64; those games were PSX and PC only. That's likely what was being referred to, behind their incorrect assumption that it was a Playstation series to start... because yes, the first one was on Saturn too, as well as PSX and PC. In fact, Tomb Raider 1 actually started development on Saturn first...
And yeah, GTA was PC first. But on consoles, GTA1 was Playstation-exclusive (GTA2 was on PC and Dreamcast too, of course, and 3 eventually had ports).
Even so though, it is true that both of those franchises came to be identified with the Playstation brand, and both did have titles that generation that didn't show up on other consoles. So in general there is truth to the claim, though they get the details wrong.
That one is harder to defend, for sure, if you mean the whole franchise (which is of course on many platforms), but if they just mean "the main, numbered titles", it is true that FF7 through 12 were PSX/PS2-only, apart from the PC versions of 7 and 8 and XI Online on the PC and X360... and that was an MMO so it could be counted separately.
CharminUltra
Member
OMG FFXIII announced!!!!!!
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Seriously, that is one steaming pile of a list.Jtyettis said:
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