Opinion - Platform Exclusives are Unhealthy

I get why the individual console makers want to have exclusives. Video gaming is a billion dollar industry, and they all are in cut throat competition for that market. We are talking gigantic players here, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo.

That said, as a pc gamer, I don't see the harm in porting over some of their biggest hits to pc gaming. They are leaving good money on the table. I will admit that I'm jealous of a few of the console exclusive games. Red Dead Redemption immediately comes to mind. Uncharted is the other series that I am quite pissed it never got a pc version...grrrr.

I'm more annoyed that we don't get many pc exclusive games like we used to years ago. The games were more focused on what pc gamers in particular enjoy, not to mention the UI.

This has changed somewhat with crowdfunding through so I'm not as annoyed as I was.

I'll reiterate a final time because I don't think people are getting it.

Sony doesn't view exclusives as $60 games, but as incentives for people to buy $600 consoles. In addition they save money by not paying Valve, and receive payment from developers that use their platform. Their motivation is entirely profit-driven.

This in turn allows them to justify funding dozens of ambitious triple AAA projects, because there's less risk and greater reward involved. Without exclusives, most of these games and studios wouldn't exist because no one else would give them funding.

That's not to say exclusives are good, but more like a necessary evil. If the choice is between having exclusives on a single platform or not at all, then the former is better.

Silver Coin said:

I'll reiterate a final time because I don't think people are getting it.

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No we get why it happens but still think it's pure bullshit.

One day consoles will become obsolete but then Sony, Nintendo, & Microsoft will probably have some type of digital system instead, which will still have exclusives.

So business as usual as the saying goes.

This is a PC oriented forum and PC exclusives come from the crowdfunded scene.
Which is very healthy.

sakichop said:

Actually I believe cross platform games are a much bigger problem than exclusives.

Cross platform are usually made for the least common denominator and gameplay is compromised for 1 control scheme or another.

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I love you. Marry me.*



*script written by Beamdog and copy/pasted. Its meant to convey my affection for your sentiment, however it appears to come across clunky and unwarranted.

ChienAboyeur said:

This is a PC oriented forum and PC exclusives come from the crowdfunded scene.
Which is very healthy.

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It wouldn't be as PC focused if they made better quality RPGs for consoles.

Silver said:

TechQuila offered their views on why platform exclusives are unhealthy and looked at the example of Spiderman.

Thanks trespasser!

More information.

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I do have those financial resources to buy any console, but pc has enough great games to keep me busy till kingdom come. Sure I will miss out playing few great games, but so what.

Dez said:

I do have those financial resources to buy any console, but pc has enough great games to keep me busy till kingdom come. Sure I will miss out playing few great games, but so what.

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Kingdom Come came out on Feb 13, 2018, so what are you playing now? =P

Rhawkas said:

Kingdom Come came out on Feb 13, 2018, so what are you playing now? =P

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I should have seen that coming.

Wisdom said:

It wouldn't be as PC focused if they made better quality RPGs for consoles.

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Most products revered on this forum are console designed products (as CP 2077 that oozes console design) whereas the few PC exclusives are not that praised.

ChienAboyeur said:

Most products revered on this forum are console designed products (as CP 2077 that oozes console design) whereas the few PC exclusives are not that praised.

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And as usual, you have very little understanding of what you're talking about. Most products "revered" on this forum are certainly PC exclusive. When looking at new games however, there doesn't exist any big budget titles that aren't also meant to be played on consoles, and as such will be heavily influenced by console game design.

That doesn't mean they aren't worth playing, just that they could have been even better.

Sure and new of course means released in the last five or six years.

Exclusivism is one of the many wheels which keep Capitalism running, imho.

And - to me, Kickstarter is nothing but a new form of exclusivism - regarding the "backer's bonus content".

Just to be clear, I disagree with the article author.

First, lemme point out the logic hole in the article:

…most gamers don’t have the luxury to own multiple consoles, so they miss out on many phenomenal titles that also happen to be exclusives.
…
I see no reason to buy a PS4 just to experience an exclusive or two.

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An exclusive or two is not many. Okay?
And what many phenomenal titles? Life of Black Tiger perhaps?

That settled? Hopefully yes.
Now what those an exclusive or two exactly are? From the article… Spiderman? Get real it's yet another mushrooms no skill needed twitch/stream ready product. I'm not sure it's a game at all.
God of War (Dad of Boy)? If only reviewers forgot to mention repetitive trashmobs I'd think maybe it is.

Recent ports of successful console products on PC are, at least to me, mostly disappointments. I don't mean usually horrible controls. It's all outdated designs, as mediocre as possible clones of clones with enormous amount of boring filler. Even FF15 that's mentioned in the article, although polished for PC it's visuals are fantastic, suffers from cowardice of writers to spice things up and in the end a player, PC player, doesn't care about anything or anyone in it.
When a title that sold millions of copies on consoles hits PC I buy it based on enthusiasm from console gamers. Of course they're extatic about the trash when they never saw anything better. But how can I know it's yet another mediocrity?
Recent example is DQ11 where some guy wrote on Steam forums it's so great game it's 11/10. Seriously? A festival of outdated designs is 11/10? For god's sakes…

I'm saying console exclusives are actually healthy for PC audience. We don't need mediocrity. It needs to stay away from PC.

There is only one console exclusive I want to see on my PC and it's HZD. Before a month there were two, and then Sega ported that other one to PC - Yakuza 0. Maybe some of people here want to see some other titles on PC too, good for you, but do we really need the trash or we're better without it?

ChienAboyeur said:

Sure and new of course means released in the last five or six years.

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Yep, something like that. As opposed to the really "revered" games, because very few (if any?) of those were released after 2010.

So when exclusives were widespread or even the normal.

joxer said:

Just to be clear, I disagree with the article author.

First, lemme point out the logic hole in the article:

An exclusive or two is not many. Okay?
And what many phenomenal titles? Life of Black Tiger perhaps?

That settled? Hopefully yes.

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No. Several consoles, several exclusives. Plus tastes of players that might reduce it to one exclusive per console.

God of War (Dad of Boy)? If only reviewers forgot to mention repetitive trashmobs I'd think maybe it is.

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Repetition is necessary to favour proficiency.
TW3 features repetitive trashmobs because it takes no proficiency to get rid of them: simply being able to press a button while not watching the screen. No stakes in it.

There is only one console exclusive I want to see on my PC and it's HZD. Before a month there were two, and then Sega ported that other one to PC - Yakuza 0. Maybe some of people here want to see some other titles on PC too, good for you, but do we really need the trash or we're better without it?

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The number keeps increasing. Before, there was only RDR to be seen as a mandatory port. Fanatism weakening. Not a good sign.