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[March Climber]

If their next console doesn't fall into the graces of the public like the Switch did, i guarantee they'll start eyeing the pc market

I guess this will be our two calls. Your call will be the above quote, while mine will be that Nintendo will continue to use their library of IP as a massive foundational pillar for both family fun and child experiences, and keep not eyeing anything nor anyone else, aside from the small moments where they decide to take interest in a genre they normally don't give attention to, like first person shooters.

I've said it before on this forum that I feel the far future in 2060-something will be just Nintendo and Steam. One of the only, only ways I see Sony saving themselves is if they decide to make a Playstation Store and launcher good enough to rival Steam on PC, and that it would absolutely need every single purchase that was made on PSN in the past being instantly accessible on PC. That move would at least manage to hold on to their userbase who might slowly migrate to the more affordable prebuilt and portable PCs. It can't be half-assed like 'Gamepass for PC' and 'Xbox games on PC' creating a barrier of titles that are only playable on that platform.

Sony's toppling is going to really, really sting for their massive audience if it ever happens, and the only way it happens is for Sony to make consistently stupid business moves. I'd rather they not do that.

Also, I say 'Steam' and not PC because I simply don't feel that PC gamers care at all about the concept of competing platforms, like console gamers do. I prefer the idea of multiple apps that can all house the same purchasable video games, much like how you can buy a movie on either prime, or youtube, or vudu, etc.

Instead, I feel that PC gamers want one monolith company (Steam) and everyone else dead and buried. To me, that is scary, but no one ever really questions it because Steam is the modern day golden boy.

 

[GigaBowser]

nintendos has crud third parties they are first party futures

 

[AncientOrigin]

Exclusive games are everything.That is the most reason to go and buy the console for.If Nintendo released their heavy hitters on PlayStation i guarantee no gamer would buy a Nintendo console only those who want to play on the train.Exclusive games are everything!

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

If you accept the premise that exclusive software keeps a platform alive, as a platform holder, you should to anything in your power to make sure your product keeps getting exclusives. If that means lowering (or simply not further increasing) development time and budget, then so be it. Actions speak louder than words, and it seems Nintendo has been doing exactly this. For some reason, MS and Sony seem to think otherwise.

Exactly.

They don't what Ninten-do.

And this is why Nintendo is raking in the profits.

They understand their unique value proposition.

The fact that I can't go buy and play Zelda or Pokémon anywhere else(legally) keeps us buying Nintendo hardware.

It's not rocket science.

 

[TransTrender]

Yes.

 

[Fredrik]

Console-only exclusives will go away, PC ports will be normalizes.

PC+? exclusivity will stay as long as the ? platform still exist.

Once there are no platform-specific hardware there will be platform exclusives in form of launcher and subscription exclusives instead.

 

[Team Andromeda]

You'll always have the odd exclusives and timed deals. I don't get PS fans having a meltdown when in the PS1 era a lot of the better PS games were also out on the PC, same for the Saturn, DC.
And I much rather the way SONY and Xbox do stuff to the way Nintendo does stuff in gaming with their endless ports and about 1 In- House game every 4 years with out of date graphics and kiddy art direction.

 

[Three]

If you accept the premise that exclusive software keeps a platform alive, as a platform holder, you should to anything in your power to make sure your product keeps getting exclusives. If that means lowering (or simply not further increasing) development time and budget, then so be it. Actions speak louder than words, and it seems Nintendo has been doing exactly this. For some reason, MS and Sony seem to think otherwise.

Sony doesn't think otherwise yet. They normally make the release year(s) late when the game has dried up in sales on console meaning it's unlikely to be moving people to the machine if it hasn't convinced them for 4years. They still see the importance of exclusives hence why Stellar blade, Rise of the Ronin, and FF7R were still exclusive in this quarter.

 

[NahaNago]

Exclusivity for consoles will still have a future if Sony can get their budgets in order. God of war 3 supposedly had a budget of 44 million and released in 2010. 13 years later spiderman 2 has a budget of 315 million. That makes no sense. So like yeah, if the game costs a ridiculous amount you are going to have to find customers wherever you can.

 

[mdkirby]

Console likely do. Could be complicated if Xbox bring steam to xbox tho. If that happens, I could envision Sony just releasing a PS Store on PC. They'll release their own, and Sony published games, and likely timed exclusive titles exclusively on there, with steam getting some titles on a long delay.

Xbox for non games pass Multiplatform titles only gets 20% of sales with rest going to playstation. So it doesn't cost too much for Sony to lock down timed console exclusivity. Microsoft however are pretty fucked in that department...hence were seeing them bring first party to playstation.

 

[Goalus]

guys can I watch the Fallout TV show on Netflix?

No.
But here is a friendly reminder that you don't own the show if you watch it as part of the Amazon Prime subscription.

 

[midnightAI]

Look, just because it looks like Microsoft is no longer doing exclusives does not mean Sony and Nintendo will follow them down the path of irrelevance

 

[Hudo]

Depends on what the corporations view as platforms. Sony seem to share the viewpoint of having a digital-based service platform in the future (fueled by their service-based initiatives like PS+ and live-service game investments and Playstation Account stuff on PC), so ideally they want that platform to be hardware independent. Microsoft fucked that strategy up with GamePass. Nintendo seem to view hardware as an integral part of their platform, which is why their games probably will stay exclusive to that hardware.

Another problem is that these big-ass games get more and more expensive to make. If a game like Last of Us costs $300M to make, there is a good reason to think about maximizing the possible audience. And both Microsoft and Sony aren't retards. They know that most people who own a PC that can actually play stuff like God of War or Halo are very unlikely to buy a Playstation or Xbox anyway, so they are essentially tapping into an audience that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise and getting these people into their ecosystem.

 

[Melfice7]

Exclusivity for consoles will still have a future if Sony can get their budgets in order. God of war 3 supposedly had a budget of 44 million and released in 2010. 13 years later spiderman 2 has a budget of 315 million. That makes no sense. So like yeah, if the game costs a ridiculous amount you are going to have to find customers wherever you can.

Those diversity consultants must cost half the budget

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Exclusives sell consoles. Even it's timed.

End of story.

Edit:

That even goes for PC, as there are countless games that wouldn't work on consoles.
PC just doesn't have a platform-holder like consoles do.

 

[64bitmodels]

And both Microsoft and Sony aren't retards

Debatable

 

[64bitmodels]

Look, just because it looks like Microsoft is no longer doing exclusives does not mean Sony and Nintendo will follow them down the path of irrelevance

But Sony is quite literally following them. Or heavily taking from their model

 

[Kokoloko85]

Aside of nintendo, none.

Sony exclusives are on PC.

Xbox exclusives are everywhere.

You can say exclusives sell your platform, but in reality its a risky move. Its a great when you have the budget like nintendo games. But when your budget is spiderman 2 or gow2, or last of us2, then you have some serious thinking to do. You wont see big return on those games, and future games would cost even more money.

Either sacrifice your exclusives or face the risk of losing money due to your big budget games.

This new narrative that Playstation has to be careful with there exclusives since MS went 3rd party is nonsense.

Playstation hasnt lost any money with games like Uncharted 1-4, TLOU 1-2, Spiderman 1-2, GOW 1-Ragnarok. They made huge amounts of profits with there big AAA games and they need exclusives to make there consoles worthwhile to buy to sell 3rd party software.
They dont need to be multiplatform to recovery costs, its to make morr profit

 

[midnightAI]

But Sony is quite literally following them. Or heavily taking from their model

Are they? Day one first party (non-gaas)? A subscription service that gives you all the games for 'free'? That's the MS model

 

[Guilty_AI]

Also, I say 'Steam' and not PC because I simply don't feel that PC gamers care at all about the concept of competing platforms, like console gamers do. I prefer the idea of multiple apps that can all house the same purchasable video games, much like how you can buy a movie on either prime, or youtube, or vudu, etc.

Instead, I feel that PC gamers want one monolith company (Steam) and everyone else dead and buried. To me, that is scary, but no one ever really questions it because Steam is the modern day golden boy.

You feel wrong them. There's a massive number of popular games using standalone launchers or other stores, stuff like Minecraft, COD, Fortnite, Genshin Impact, World of Warcraft, etc; as well as other places like itch io with monthly traffic over 100 million users. I myself use both GOG and Steam, and have downloaded games from itch io. Not to mention key sites which are incredibly popular.

Just because EGS is crap and everyone deservedly shits on it, doesn't mean people aren't open to alternatives. That said, Nintendo services are awful and would rightfully take flak if they ever made their way into PC in its current state.

 

[ManaByte]

Look, just because it looks like Microsoft is no longer doing exclusives does not mean Sony and Nintendo will follow them down the path of irrelevance

Nintendo doesn't spend $300 million on their console exclusives. They're sitting on a massive money bin of cash and zero debt.

 

[midnightAI]

Nintendo doesn't spend $300 million on their console exclusives. They're sitting on a massive money bin of cash and zero debt.

What does it matter so long as games that cost $300million make their money back and then some?

 

[ManaByte]

What does it matter so long as games that cost $300million make their money back and then some?

Except they're not. That's why you're seeing so many layoffs. The model of spending $300 million to sell a game on a single plastic box with a ceiling on its install base that's not growing is dead. The companies that realize that and adjust will survive, those who don't won't.

 

[Edgelord79]

Just because EGS is crap and everyone deservedly shits on it, doesn't mean people aren't open to alternatives. That said, Nintendo services are awful and would rightfully take flak if they ever made their way into PC in its current state.

I agree with everything you said up to this point. I seem to remember when Epic released their storefront, the primary complaint was that we (PC gamer here as well) didn’t want an alternative storefront. This was before it even appeared.

I don’t know. There are a lot of gamers tied to Steam and won’t look elsewhere even if it’s cheaper…

 

[Neofire]

They do have a future and the only saying they do not are probably PC players that secretly want consoles go the way of the Dreamcast

 

[Guilty_AI]

I agree with everything you said up to this point. I seem to remember when Epic released their storefront, the primary complaint was that we (PC gamer here as well) didn’t want an alternative storefront. This was before it even appeared.

I don’t know. There are a lot of gamers tied to Steam and won’t look elsewhere even if it’s cheaper…

People began complaining en masse after they removed Metro Exodus from Steam to sell it on EGS. It was their game pouching strategy that rubbed people off, especially considering Epic was specifically aiming for highly wishlisted steam games. So it isn't just because it was a vastly inferior alternative, it was a vastly inferior alternative using blatant strong arming tactics to force users into it.

 

[Portugeezer]

If you're wondering whether Sony or Nintendo will release games on other consoles? No, no time soon anyway. Xbox is dying so they'll do whatever they deem as profitable at this point.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Yeah this is a spicy one.

It seems that as time passes, with Nintendo being the sole exception (officially) that console exclusivity seems to be waning on most fronts

Third parties need million dollar deals to even consider making games exclusive to one platform when back in the day PS2, PS1 and SNES got everything and the other systems had to fight for scraps.

Xbox is now taking their catalogue and spreading it to other platforms with little hope in the platform left.

PC keeps getting more and more games when just 14 years ago the platform continually missed out on 7th gen classics.

does exclusivity still have a future in the console space or is it just a lost cause?
If you think it's dead in the water, list the reasons you think it's not doing so hot.

No exclusive = no box = no paid for network subs = no no third party royalties = bad.

 

[jroc74]

Yeah it still has a future....for companies that it still matters for.

 

[Badlucktroll]

I feel its still going to be Sony, Nintendo, and whatever farce Microsoft cooks up next

 

[BennyBlanco]

Only Nintendo will have exclusives. They also have the only first party strong enough to sell 100M+ hardware units carried by their first party only.

 

[nemiroff]

Outside a few momentary outliers they won't. And if you've seen what's happening lately one would likely agree. Nintendo appears to become the final bastion, but they eventually will fall too. After years of resistance, the era of multiplatform gaming is upon us. And even regarding multiplatform; the proprietary hardware scene will look completely different in the near future. Each will have their chance at another round, but it will most likely be the last in its current form. All for the better.

 

[Hudo]

Debatable

I can't bring myself to call them retards because they've actually resurrected Age of Empires and Microsoft Flight Simulator in a good way.

They also have destroyed Halo, which was retarded, yes. But current Bungie couldn't do a better Halo game as well, so I dunno what the solution is there.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Except they're not. That's why you're seeing so many layoffs. The model of spending $300 million to sell a game on a single plastic box with a ceiling on its install base that's not growing is dead. The companies that realize that and adjust will survive, those who don't won't.

Which 300million dollar Playstation game didnt make its money back?

Playstation is not in the same position as Xbox lol

 

[Dane]

IMO consoles are the way to be playing videogames for cheap and easy first and foremost, exclusives are the second reason. I had to own a 360 since a lot of developers were dropping out of PC support back in 05 to 10, rather than having it because I wanted.

The PS4 for example outsold the PS3, yet it only has like 1/5 of totally exclusive/console exclusives games the latter had, the PS5 has even less. You're selling mostly based on power brand and how much your competition has screwed up before launch.

Exclusives alone surely didn't save Nintendo with the WiiU, the Switch not only had these selling even better, but also came with a much better third party support even for part of the AAA titles. Not even the Gamecube could win against the OG XBox because they lacked a significant portion of the hot selling multiplatform games since its pre release.

 

[NahaNago]

Those diversity consultants must cost half the budget

Since you mentioned that, I now am curious how many millions did the budget increase because of that.

 

[Dane]

Exclusivity for consoles will still have a future if Sony can get their budgets in order. God of war 3 supposedly had a budget of 44 million and released in 2010. 13 years later spiderman 2 has a budget of 315 million. That makes no sense. So like yeah, if the game costs a ridiculous amount you are going to have to find customers wherever you can.

The point that people miss is that their favorite developers and there games made gobsmacks amounts of money to finance multiple projects from a single title revenue alone, fast forward these margins have trimmed down severely. Imagine that GOW 3 had a 300% ROI while Spiderman 2 is 100%

 

[64bitmodels]

That even goes for PC, as there are countless games that wouldn't work on consoles.

Well yeah. PC exclusivity is closer to older 16 bit console exclusivity where games were exclusive simply because they took advantage of the hardware in ways other hardware couldn't run. But even then Baldurs Gate 3 proves that you can still have a great PC experience running on consoles despite the genre not being the best suited for controller. Like I said, exclusivity is waning.

 

[reinking]

 

[Edgelord79]

People began complaining en masse after they removed Metro Exodus from Steam to sell it on EGS. It was their game pouching strategy that rubbed people off, especially considering Epic was specifically aiming for highly wishlisted steam games. So it isn't just because it was a vastly inferior alternative, it was a vastly inferior alternative using blatant strong arming tactics to force users into it.

Sure but there were complaints before that. I distinctly remember that. People didn’t want their libraries split.

 

[SaintALia]

I don't think it has a future for the most part. Which is great for me as a PC player. Exclusives and Japanese games were the only thing making me choose consoles. Now that Japanese games are on PC as well as consoles, and exclusives end up on PCs, yeah, that's great.

Except Nintendo, which is just as well. They cater to families, couch multiplayer, younger kids etc. Experiences I'm not necessarily looking for on my PC and the simplicity of which I'd want for my console when I play with my daughters or the fam in general.

 

[March Climber]

You feel wrong them. There's a massive number of popular games using standalone launchers or other stores, stuff like Minecraft, COD, Fortnite, Genshin Impact, World of Warcraft, etc; as well as other places like itch io with monthly traffic over 100 million users. I myself use both GOG and Steam, and have downloaded games from itch io. Not to mention key sites which are incredibly popular.

Just because EGS is crap and everyone deservedly shits on it, doesn't mean people aren't open to alternatives. That said, Nintendo services are awful and would rightfully take flak if they ever made their way into PC in its current state.

The problem is with every launcher you’ve mentioned above aside from GoG, is that the immediate first question I read online with almost every new big release is ‘is this coming to steam?’ I’ve seen steam port begging for most games and most high profile PC releases, including Blizzard games and games like Valorant.

You can try and deny it, but most people deep down want their entire library under one umbrella on PC, which happens to be steam. When you say they are playing these other games on other launchers, it’s not because they want to, it’s because they have to.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Sure but there were complaints before that. I distinctly remember that. People didn’t want their libraries split.

Much fewer, not to a level different from... anything. Most comments i remember were from the free subnautica giveaway.

 

[Stuart360]

Long term it has no future as they will all eventually end up as services that you can play on any device you want.
Shot term, its still not certain for me with Xbox seemingly not caring where you play their games, Sony releasing games on PC, and wasnt there a rumour the other day about Nintendo buying porting studios or something?.

 

[Guilty_AI]

The problem is with every launcher you’ve mentioned above aside from GoG, is that the immediate first question I read online with almost every new big release is ‘is this coming to steam?’ I’ve seen steam port begging for most games and most high profile PC releases, including Blizzard games and games like Valorant.

You can try and deny it, but most people deep down want their entire library under one umbrella on PC, which happens to be steam. When you say they are playing these other games on other launchers, it’s not because they want to, it’s because they have to.

I also constantly see "port begging" for GOG releases, especially JP games . Of course you'll get these kinds of impression if your main points of reference are gaming forums.

Even from that enthusiast perspective, what people in places like GAF actually want is to not be tied to any ecosystem. Or if they must be tied to one make it the best one, which happens to be Steam.

People wouldn't complain half as much about EGS or Battle.net or what else if you could buy your game from theses places, download it, throw the launcher away, forget the new accounts they made and make a non-steam shortcut for the game on their library.

 

[yazenov]

Sound like a Sony Too thread.

 

[64bitmodels]

Long term it has no future as they will all eventually end up as services that you can play on any device you want.
Shot term, its still not certain for me with Xbox seemingly not caring where you play their games, Sony releasing games on PC, and wasnt there a rumour the other day about Nintendo buying porting studios or something?.

Nintendo buying shiver entertainment is not a rumor, it happened because they needed a studio to make 3rd party games work better on switch..

I would rather them have bought panic button, but that works too. Either way nothing to do with Nintendo coming to other platforms or anything of the sort

 

[March Climber]

I also constantly see "port begging" for GOG releases, especially JP games . Of course you'll get these kinds of impression if your main points of reference are gaming forums.

Gaming forums, twitter, Reddit, youtube comments, and even Instagram comments. Instagram and Youtube have the more casual audiences too. I try to look around more because GAF and gaming forums are too insulated in opinion. There are moments where people will have takes here about popular games, where their takes are already years out of date.

Even from that enthusiast perspective, what people in places like GAF actually want is to not be tied to any ecosystem. Or if they must be tied to one make it the best one, which happens to be Steam.

I agree with the latter. Not with the former. I think that many people here consider Steam ‘not tied to any ecosystem’ simply because it’s not known to be a branded box with a controller, and they don’t realize that the hardware is only half of the reason they would be tied down.

People wouldn't complain half as much about EGS if you could buy your game from there, download it, throw the launcher away, forget their epic account and make a non-steam shortcut for the game on their library.

We will see when or if this happens.

 

[Jerm411]

The thing you must remember about Nintendo is that their position in the home console market has been rather volatile historically speaking. Don't forget they walked away from one of their largest successes right into one of their largest flops, and that they spent 2 critical generations playing second or even third fiddle among the main consoles.

The position where they did found solid ground on was the handheld market, and probably why the Switch blew up since it unified 2 userbases. But others are already eyeing that, and we already have very capable handheld PCs carrying vast libraries of their own finding their way into mainstream. Not to mention mobile had already done some damage previously, to the point where they did end up investing on smartphone games.

If their next console doesn't fall into the graces of the public like the Switch did, i guarantee they'll start eyeing the pc market

No handheld PCs are finding mainstream success…their sales are a drop of piss in a bucket compared to what Nintendo and Switch did and will continue to do. They aren’t competition.

There’s no eyeing anything…if the Wii U didn’t force Nintendo’s hand, nothing will.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Gaming forums, twitter, Reddit, youtube comments, and even Instagram comments. Instagram and Youtube have the more casual audiences too. I try to look around more because GAF and gaming forums are too insulated in opinion. There are moments where people will have takes here about popular games, where their takes are already years out of date.

If you're taking those comments from places that specifically talk about EGS, like some youtube video explaining why people don't like it, its still only natural you'll get these comments. For the same reasons you'll get people praising the store and its giveaways, or "not minding it" if you go into the Epic Store or Fortnite subreddit.

I agree with the latter. Not with the former. I think that many people here consider Steam ‘not tied to any ecosystem’ simply because it’s not known to be a branded box with a controller, and they don’t realize that the hardware is only half of the reason they would be tied down.

Now you're talking about the average player, not the enthusiastic one that frequents gaming forums or watch related youtube videos. At most they'll just use steam because its all they know or what they're familiar with, but wouldn't be against using other stores even if they didn't turn them into their main one.