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[Cakeboxer]

Devs Believe Exclusivity For Games Is No Longer A Viable Strategy, Survey Reveals

A developer survey from Gamescom shows that many professionals no longer believe in the importance of exclusivity for gaming.

tech4gamers.com

devcom 2025 reveals speaker survey results and announces new and interactive keynote sessions

Program highlights and key insights from this year's speaker survey ramp up exciting for this month's event.

www.gamespress.com

 

[ecosse_011172]

Nintendo, right now…

 

[Negotiator101]

Phil was right again?

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Phil was right again?

To be right again you have to be right once.

No, in both cases.

 

[MrRibeye]

No longer a viable strategy to achieve what goal? If the goal is money, then exclusivity didn't hurt Stellar Blade or 13 Sentinels. I tell you what isnt a viable startegy: making shit games.

 

[adamsapple]

Phil was right again?

 

[crazyriddler]

The most likely future is the disappearance of AAA exclusives by playstation (as is happening with xbox) due to the disproportionate price increase of these and how cheap it is to port to the competition (either the rival console or PC). The only one that seems to be able to afford to stay with exclusives is Nintendo, since their games do not need such huge budgets to focus on gameplay and not in being cinematic, plus their platform requires it to sell their hardware (which also generates more profits than the competition).

Everything else is just fanboy whining.

 

[Buggy Loop]

No longer a viable strategy to achieve what goal? If the goal is money, then exclusivity didn't hurt Stellar Blade or 13 Sentinels.

But they're not ?

 

[Kacho]

Market realities catch up to everyone eventually.

 

[Mr Moose]

Why would devs give a shit? That's a publishers thing.

 

[deeptech]

No dev likes exclusivity I think, no artist wants less people to enjoy and know his art. But yes, I've said it here few times, exclusives are slowly fading away and I love it because I can have everything on my preferred platform, and not buy consoles again i.e and regret it 3 days after.

 

[Kacho]

Why would devs give a shit? That's a publishers thing.

If their games don't make enough money their budgets are cut, or they get shutdown and can't make more games

 

[Begleiter]

As long as Nintendo exists it's a nonsense prediction. Big 3rd party exclusives are definitely a thing of the past, since publishers can't be sane with scope or budget for reasons best known to themselves.

 

[Mr Moose]

If their games don't make enough money their budgets are cut, or they get shutdown and can't make more games

So only Xbox devs were asked?


It's not up to devs where games go.

 

[Sunkrest]

I'm happy to see developers started noticing that exclusives benefit neither gamers nor corporations, unless you're extremely lucky to have mentally interesting playerbase that is more than willing to buy full price games without any decent sales or invest their money into micro transactions just because they feel emotionally tied to a piece of plastic.

 

[Kacho]

So only Xbox devs were asked?


It's not up to devs where games go.

It's not, but the market realities are what they are. It's the reason why Sony is now porting their games to PC, Switch and Xbox. Or Square and Atlus bring their games to PC and Xbox.

Plus, generally speaking devs want their games to be play by as many people as possible. Exclusivity does literally nothing for them.

 

[Radical_3d]

A survey to the devs for a matter that only concern first party and customers. I smell astroturfing.

 

[poodaddy]

They are, for the most part, undoubtedly correct. There will be exceptions, of course, but I do believe this to be true for at least 90% of devs.

 

[Kikorin]

It is if you worked right to make your IPs high value enough for people to buy them no matter what. But just Nintendo trusted this enough and is paying on the long run.

Going third party instead is perfect for a quick cash out, but will devaluate your IPs with time passing.

 

[Fake]

Its over ladies. Nintendo will have to listen this devs and release their games on PS5 and Xbox.

 

[Neofire]

Phil was right again?

Based on a survey?

If anything the article is written like there's a narrative being pushed.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

People thinking Nintendo game costs won't get to a point where they will also release in other platforms are funny.
Wait 5 years if Switch 2 sales numbers aren't up in comparison with their previous console and we'll see.

They already have games in development for like 6 or 7 years.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I think the viable strategy is make good games

 

[reinking]

Are we going to pretend that a lot of times exclusivity deals do not come with big checks for funding for the titles? Much like Game Pass, at face value it would be dumb for a game to publish on it. Give them that fat check upfront and Game Pass is suddenly great for devs.

 

[SuperC]

No longer a viable strategy to achieve what goal? If the goal is money, then exclusivity didn't hurt Stellar Blade or 13 Sentinels. I tell you what isnt a viable startegy: making shit games.

It did hurt Stellar Blade

 

[Buggy Loop]

Based on a survey?

If anything the article is written like there's a narrative being pushed.

I mean not just based on survey, when Kojima got multiplatform for death stranding the Horizon devs also asked to be multiplatform, a chain reaction which now makes Sony a 3rd party, Microsoft is 3rd party… SE saying they don't want to do exclusives anymore

But just a survey sure

 

[Radical_3d]

People thinking Nintendo game costs won't get to a point where they will also release in other platforms are funny.
Wait 5 years if Switch 2 sales numbers aren't up in comparison with their previous console and we'll see.

They already have games in development for like 6 or 7 years.

Put that Oporto down, Joao.

 

[Cakeboxer]

It is if you worked right to make your IPs high value enough for people to buy them no matter what. But just Nintendo trusted this enough and is paying on the long run.

Going third party instead is perfect for a quick cash out, but will devaluate your IPs with time passing.

The difference is that Nintendo doesn't spend hundreds of millions, plus tens of millions more on marketing for a single game, because they don't chase motion capture, eye-candy graphics, actors, expensive writers, woke fluff or other costly extras. They also don't put their games into a subscription service on day one, and most of their titles are suitable for all age groups and not confined to a niche. As a result, they are not dependent on other platforms. For now.

 

[ecosse_011172]

People thinking Nintendo game costs won't get to a point where they will also release in other platforms are funny.
Wait 5 years if Switch 2 sales numbers aren't up in comparison with their previous console and we'll see.

They already have games in development for like 6 or 7 years.

 

[spookyfish]

Why would devs give a shit? That's a publishers thing.

Devs probably want more people to see their work. I can understand that. EDIT: But you're right. That's more of a "makin' money" thing.

 

[Punished Miku]

Are we going to pretend that a lot of times exclusivity deals do not come with big checks for funding for the titles? Much like Game Pass, at face value it would be dumb for a game to publish on it. Give them that fat check upfront and Game Pass is suddenly great for devs.

1) I doubt Sony or Nintendo ever truly paid a ton for exclusives. They leverage their large install base to cheaply get exclusives while blocking out much smaller competitors. They're not paying enough to compensate for lost PC sales at this point. They maybe just barely covered lost Xbox sales. Xbox was probably the only one forced to pay larger amounts the small handful of times they got an exclusive, and they're not doing that anymore.
2) Games come out much slower now, so if your main IP like FFXVI doesn't catch on broadly with a large audience, you've missed damn near a whole decade of customers who could have potentially been converted to lifelong fans.
3) The whole proposition of converting people to buy new hardware is no longer happening. Hardware is now expensive and will get more expensive over time. Everyone is entrenched in their ecosystem now and not switching. We have a surplus of entertainment. People will just skip your game instead. Skipping their preferred system over and over just results in an alienated customer that could potentially be a loyal fan. It's not selling additional hardware or software at this point.

 

[lh032]

People thinking Nintendo game costs won't get to a point where they will also release in other platforms are funny.
Wait 5 years if Switch 2 sales numbers aren't up in comparison with their previous console and we'll see.

They already have games in development for like 6 or 7 years.

i mentioned this before but those nintenboys laughing at me.
dev cost is going to be higher and higher and in the same time userbase is not infinite, even for Nintendo magic hands.

Nintendo is going to be going for multiplatform or close their business when the time comes, money talks in the end. This is Nintendo we are talking about, they are greedier than Sony and Microsoft.

its common sense here but they just insert laughing emoji and pretend nothing will happen lol

 

[kazuyamishima]

People thinking Nintendo game costs won't get to a point where they will also release in other platforms are funny.
Wait 5 years if Switch 2 sales numbers aren't up in comparison with their previous console and we'll see.

They already have games in development for like 6 or 7 years.

The main problem begins with the system making less profit than the previous one, investors will start pushing for the same or more return on investment, and unless they increase the price of the system (which I think they will), they'll start looking for other ways to get the same or more profit.

And yeah, development costs increased for everybody

 

[Buggy Loop]

i mentioned this before but those nintenboys laughing at me.
dev cost is going to be higher and higher and in the same time userbase is not infinite, even for Nintendo magic hands.

Nintendo is going to be going for multiplatform or close their business when the time comes, money talks in the end. This is Nintendo we are talking about, they are greedier than Sony and Microsoft.

its common sense here but they just insert laughing emoji and pretend nothing will happen lol

Nintendo is nowhere near impacted like Sony or Microsoft by not chasing high fidelity graphics or GAAS flops after flops

I said it before, Nintendo would make games exclusive on an alarm clock before going multiplatform

 

[Gonzito]

Neither do I.

Release everything on pc. Day 1

 

[Amin_Parker]

Nintendo, right now…

The industry is falling right into Nintendo's trap. No actually I'm just joking, but in reality exclusives does not work for Sony and Microsoft anymore. I do think it's wise for these two magnificent companies to put their games on all devices so that their franchises can grow just as big as Nintendo's.

 

[lh032]

Nintendo is nowhere near impacted like Sony or Microsoft by not chasing high fidelity graphics or GAAS flops after flops

I said it before, Nintendo would make games exclusive on an alarm clock before going multiplatform

dev cost is catching up to userbase, its inevitable. thats how business works. That is why companies nick and dimed their consumers all over the place.


10 years ago nobody believe console exclusivity will go away, Xbox first, Sony 2nd, and what makes you think this wont happen to Nintendo?

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I understand where they are coming from, but why do we need multiple platforms then if they all offer the same games and experiences? What primarily attracts people to Nintendo consoles? Why has XBOX sales suspiciously plummeted as soon as their games went to PC day one and collapsed significantly further now that they are showing up on other consoles? Coincidence??? Exclusives do give consoles an identity and imo even make developers try harder to gain a loyal fanbase.

 

[FewRope]

Release everything on PC day 1 then. Yotei will probably be in Steam after 3 months anyways

 

[MayauMiao]

Phil was right again?

Yes, Phil was right from a certain point of view.

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

narrative

 

[Buggy Loop]

dev cost is catching up to userbase, its inevitable. thats how business works. That is why companies nick and dimed their consumers all over the place.


10 years ago nobody believe console exclusivity will go away, Xbox first, Sony 2nd, and what makes you think this wont happen to Nintendo?

They don't chase trends

They had the insane fucking idea of having an underpowered platform when making Wii exactly for cutting rising costs of game development. They would do something similar again if squeezed in a corner but I'm sure Switch 2 sales and software will be insane and they'll continue to do their usual business. They aren't unlocking >$100M budgets for high fidelity graphics just because switch 2 could pull better than PS4 graphics to get a TLOU 2 type game. They never will

I don't see it happening in my lifetime

 

[balls of snow]

Timed exclusives is the real exclusives all along. Who wants to play the game after the zeitgest. Its now or banished to the backlog realm.

 

[ecosse_011172]

Unlikely so that their franchises can grow just as big as Nintendo's.

 

[NickFire]

How much have devs gotten right in the past few years?

Not for nothing, and when it comes to how CPU's work these people are genius compared to me. But um, how many of them:

1) pushed back against AI before it was too late (if ever) to save the human jobs that are going to get more and more scarce in short order;
2) pushed back against consolidation instead of embracing it;
3) worse of all, even knew who their actual audience was and tried to cater to it?

 

[CliffBronger]

I'm surprised this needed a survey ..

 

[Kacho]

I understand where they are coming from, but why do we need multiple platforms then if they all offer the same games and experiences? What primarily attracts people to Nintendo consoles? Why has XBOX sales suspiciously plummeted as soon as their games went to PC day one and collapsed significantly further now that they are showing up on other consoles? Coincidence??? Exclusives do give consoles an identity and imo even make developers try harder to gain a loyal fanbase.

Seems like the current meta will be to draw people to your platform with unique features like backwards compatibility, handhelds, controllers, etc. Part of the reason the Switch was so successful was because it was a hybrid. That's why Sony is now going to reintroduce a handheld to their ecosystem. It gives potential buyers an option that currently only Nintendo provides.

"Appearing on the GamerTag Radio podcast, Spencer said, "I want people to pick hardware based on the capabilities of that hardware and how that fits into the choices they want to make about where they want to play. We want our hardware to win based on the hardware capabilities that we have."

Xbox Boss Phil Spencer: "We Want Our Hardware To Win"

"I look at hardware as a critical part of what we do."

www.gamespot.com

 

[Topher]

Devs Believe Exclusivity For Games Is No Longer A Viable Strategy, Survey Reveals

A developer survey from Gamescom shows that many professionals no longer believe in the importance of exclusivity for gaming.

tech4gamers.com

devcom 2025 reveals speaker survey results and announces new and interactive keynote sessions

Program highlights and key insights from this year's speaker survey ramp up exciting for this month's event.

www.gamespress.com

Bit of a click bait title from the article author. The survey asked if exclusivity will remain a "core strategy", not whether it is a "valid" or "great" strategy.

"Only 6% believe exclusivity will remain a core strategy."

Thanks for putting the source link in the OP

 

[ecosse_011172]

How much have devs gotten right in the past few years?

Not for nothing, and when it comes to how CPU's work these people are genius compared to me. But um, how many of them:

1) pushed back against AI before it was too late (if ever) to save the human jobs that are going to get more and more scarce in short order;
2) pushed back against consolidation instead of embracing it;
3) worse of all, even knew who their actual audience was and tried to cater to it?

You think the guy designing your levels has input on corporate strategy ?

 

[Tobimacoss]

The difference is that Nintendo doesn't spend hundreds of millions, plus tens of millions more on marketing for a single game, because they don't chase motion capture, eye-candy graphics, actors, expensive writers, woke fluff or other costly extras. They also don't put their games into a subscription service on day one, and most of their titles are suitable for all age groups and not confined to a niche. As a result, they are not dependent on other platforms. For now.

Now I'm wondering what a realistic looking Mario or Zelda game would look like. Starring Chris Pratt as Mario.