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"Exclusives - A thing of the past?"

Exclusives – are they a thing of the past? Only in the last few weeks we have heard the news that Grand Theft Auto 3 is making the short trip over to Xbox territory, along with State of Emergency, (and if the rumours are to be believed) Metal Gear Solid 2. If that wasn’t enough to shock you we had the recent revelation that after years of ill feeling Square are to develop Final Fantasy games for Nintendo again. But what has instigated this unusual trend? Why are developers no longer willing to make that commitment, to settle down and try for best sellers? (God I’m starting to sound like a relationship counsellor now). There are many reasons for this, starting with…

Uncertainty. It has got to be creeping into the mind of developers and producers, especially third party ones, that if they pledge their allegiance to one console and it ends up being used as a floor mop then they are going to lose out, big time. No one wants their rivals to wipe the floor with them (hence the mop analogy). And with two next gen consoles out, one waiting in the wings and no-one honestly sure who is going to emerge victorious, developers seem to be hedging their bets a little. Plus pressure is probably being applied by producers who don’t want to sign a deal to a console that might go the way of the Dreamc…dodo.

There is also the distinct (in fact, almost definite) possibility of pressure being applied by producers to make a quick buck by porting the same game over. With Microsoft entering the industry money is being splashed about nonchalantly and the fat cats are seeing dollar signs in their eyes. Why commit yourself to one console and make £2m when you can move to another, double your target audience and make £4m? It’s an argument that is hard to argue against, especially for those of you with a mind for business.

Which leads me nicely onto my next point. Some developers may be scared of losing out and when we are at a stage (as we are now) where choice is becoming larger and someone is going to have to lose out, developers may feel that the only way to ensure success is to appear on every platform. Ok, maybe I am being cynical; maybe developers just want the widest audience possible to enjoy their games? That may be so, but you’ve got admit that it is food for thought.

So what about the consoles that can boast exclusives? Well Tomb Raider and Playstation were exclusive – until Lara appeared on Dreamcast, the first sign that no franchise ever stays in one place, no matter how successful. Shinji Mikami and the Resident Evil boys recently made the unusual step of committing themselves to one console, in this case Nintendo. Why? I’m not entirely sure. But if the Gamecube isn’t as successful as PS2 or Xbox, which I’m afraid to say early sales figures seem to indicate) then don’t be surprised to see them jumping ship, and even as I write this rumours are filtering out of Japan that Resi 4 may still be heading to PS2. Abe’s Odyssey is another example of an exclusive, but I think that that had more to do with PS2 not having the power to run the game than being bitten by the Xbox bug. And the most obvious example – Rare. But even if you examine the situation there closely it doesn’t really seem like an ‘exclusive’. Rare are a second party developer part owned by Nintendo, and if they’re mischievous Christmas card is to be believed, then they too may go multi format.

Looking at the evidence I would say that, in the future, it is unlikely we will see the word ‘exclusive’ adorning a certain title. At the moment the only true exclusives are Nintendo, and what’s to say they might go multi format in a few years if Gamecube doesn’t work out? Before you put your doubters hats on and start criticising, think what you might have thought of Sega going multi format say, five years ago? Exactly. No one would have predicted it but look at them now! They have gone from struggling console developers to one of the most powerful and influential software developers in one feel swoop. Who’s to say it might look an attractive prospect for Nintendo in few years? Certainly not you or I (sorry to disappoint any budding visionaries amongst you). With developers scared of losing out and a desire to be noticed as the console ‘war’ hots up, it is starting to look that exclusives may certainly be a thing of the past.

Thanks for reading

RM18

Been meaning to post a reply here for a while but never got round to it.

I actually quite like the idea of a console exclusive. First, there is the whole identity thing or the tribal boasting that others have mentioned - good clean fun. Second, a title developed specifically for one console can get more out of a particular architecture. Design has to take into account the medium on which it will be played: the joypad, processing power and so on. If a game is to be built for one console from the start then its designers can really play to the strengths of the format, and account for its flaws. If, on the other hand, a set vision is pre-decided upon and then programmed for three or four seperate platforms then you'll tend to end up with the lowest common denominator. I've got nothing against a game subsequently being ported to another console, but the initial game should be written for one in particular - it ends up as a better product.

Taken from gamesradar.co.uk:


'Tension in the board room as Square's president explains why his company (part owned by Sony) will be taking the biggest PlayStation franchise to Nintendo
Final Fantasy has been crucial to the success of the PlayStation brand, and contradictory statements this week from within Square haven't helped placate Sony.

While the developer's PR people continue to insist that no plans to bring the series to Gamecube have been made, Square president Yoichi Wada told the Nikkei Business Daily that the content of Final Fantasy for Gamecube will be "completely different" from the PS2 version - hardly a denial.

Sony boss Ken Kutaragi, reportedly shocked by the loss of Capcom's Resident Evil series, sees the defection of Final Fantasy as potentially damaging to PS2 sales. Sony welcomes the production of Game Boy Advance titles ("It makes us happy to see Square earn more money from software for portable game machines," said a spokesman), but we wouldn't be surprised to see Sony try to use its leverage as a major shareholder in Square to pressure the developer into keeping home versions of FF exclusive to PS2.'

Is this a sign that exclusives aren't a thing of the past? Sony don't want Square to devlope for Nintendo - now is that because they want to keep Square as an exclusive or are they scared they'll lose out?

Tomb Raider Next Gen is exclusive to the Playstation 2....and Pc of course, but Sony's console is the only console getting it to begin with.

Good post you did there :o)

If I were a developer, I would less likely sign on of our games as an exclusive than I would have been a few years ago, as I believe the games maeket is to for a third party developers to warrent an exclusive to one particular console, when there is so much money to be made with a port to the others.

I would, however, be interest in some sort of temp-exclusive deal with a company, say 6 months or something. So my game would only be on say PS2 for 6 months ahead of any other release. If you think about it, you'd get some big bucks from Sony for the deal to begin with, and you'd probably have a lot of hype about the game as an exclusive, meaning other users of other consoles will be anticipating it's arrival more so, and maybe even increase it's sales figures when it is released :o). Cash in :o)

But as for exclusives as a users point of view, I'm not one for prefering or buying a console just because it has a particular game(s) only for that format. I know some people do, but I'm not one of those. If I've got a console already, I'll stick with it :o)

Even Abe's new game on XBOX ... I really want that game, and had look forward to it for years .... but will I buy an X-BOX ... no chance.

Yeah but even if they do the real 'exclusives', such as Mario and Zelda, won't be on Xbox and until they are, Nintendo may always be around

It seems it IS better for us and, in the end the X-Box will win hands down if the trend continues. The raw power will make it load faster, look better, sound better than on the others, and also no pesky memory cards.

Anyway to the topic: It really irritates me
> when a game is released under the "exclusive to this console" tag, and
> then 6 months down the line it gets released on another console.

That seems to be happening a lot at the moment

Nomad_Soul wrote:
> I hope not.
I like the idea of having an exclusive killer title on my console
> of choice and then rubbing in the face of anyone who happens to suggest my
> console of choice is balls.
God, I've just realised: I'm a childish git!


I must admit I'm a bit like that.
I have a war-like spirit.
It may be childish, but I'm not afraid to admit that I'm still a big kid at heart.

Anyway to the topic: It really irritates me when a game is released under the "exclusive to this console" tag, and then 6 months down the line it gets released on another console.

Liquid Snake wrote:
> good post!

Isn't he your brother? Bet he made you say that :)

Anyways I do think that more and more games will become multi format, a good or bad thing depending on your views. I think it requires a bit of thought so if I remember I'll make a better reply later.

good post!

I think if exclusives were still around the only way top enjoy all games would be to buy all consoles

obviosly it would be more expensive though...