Platform Exclusives: What do you think?

Are you in favor of platform specific exclusives?

  • Total voters
    27
Mister 44

Mister 44

New member
A lot has been said and sworn about Rise of the Tomb Raider being an Xbox One exclusive, be it timed or otherwise.
What is your opinion about exclusives in general? Do you think they are worth it for the developers or is it just a misguided attempt by the hardware manufacturers to boost sales of their respective platforms?
 
Last edited:
don't really care. if they don't want people to play their game then it's their loss

besides, these days nothing really stays "exclusive" for very long
 
MalicE said:
don't really care. if they don't want people to play their game then it's their loss

besides, these days nothing really stays "exclusive" for very long
Click to expand...

Not always. I'd love to play Heavy Rain and The Last of Us on PC, but I don't see that happening.
 
Last edited:
I'm not in favour of the practice. If the publisher needs to restrict themselves for some obscure reason then they can go ahead, it won't make me buy x or y console just to play it.
 
Developers sometimes target platforms for various reasons - time to market, budget and hardware restrictions.

It takes longer and is more expensive to develop for multiple platforms, so developers can focus on polishing a title for a specific platform, rather than doing a half-arsed job on multiple.

Hardware, specifically control schemes, play a major factor in a game - after all, that's what makes it interactive. I believe developers build a platform exclusive with the chosen platform's controller in mind. Yes, you can use a controller on a PC, but the developer isn't guaranteed that each gamer will have one. The Wii is a prime example of controller integration into the very core of each game...

Platform exclusives also tend to be slightly better than multi-platform releases. Look at Halo, Gears of War (2+), Forza, Uncharted, Killzone, Civilization, Total War, etc...
 
Don't really mind since I'm not rich enough to buy consoles for exclusives :p but here's wot I zink:

1. Management/sales team is forcing the dev team to do so.
Development time only allows for the game to be optimesd (or made working) for one platform.
Once the predicted sales number hits the management team basks in bonuses while the dev team are given some slack.
The dev team is probably only then given the go ahead to port it to other platforms.

2. Lazy devs: because redesigning UI for other controllers is hard work mmmkay...
Ok, maybe understandable. Having dabbled with Unity, I can say that scripting from touch screen to KB+mouse is quite a bit of work. :p
Then again, they get paid sooo...
 
Don't mind if it's exclusive from the get-go as a means to increase their console's demand or whatever. But stealing a 10+ year franchise that has always been on multiple platforms from it's fans in an attempt to force them to buy your console is very very wrong in my opinion.
 
It's just another fanboy fight starter. Last of Us and Uncharted are PlayStation exclusives...? Oh wow! That's awesome suck it everyone else!! :p

New Tomb Raider game is a Microsoft exclusive? Burn the world and everyone in it, cause unfair waaah! Waaaahh! Waaaah!

crying-baby.jpg
 
FarligOpptreden said:
Developers sometimes target platforms for various reasons - time to market, budget and hardware restrictions.

It takes longer and is more expensive to develop for multiple platforms, so developers can focus on polishing a title for a specific platform, rather than doing a half-arsed job on multiple.

Hardware, specifically control schemes, play a major factor in a game - after all, that's what makes it interactive. I believe developers build a platform exclusive with the chosen platform's controller in mind. Yes, you can use a controller on a PC, but the developer isn't guaranteed that each gamer will have one. The Wii is a prime example of controller integration into the very core of each game...

Platform exclusives also tend to be slightly better than multi-platform releases. Look at Halo, Gears of War (2+), Forza, Uncharted, Killzone, Civilization, Total War, etc...
Click to expand...

chan0o said:
Don't really mind since I'm not rich enough to buy consoles for exclusives :p but here's wot I zink:

1. Management/sales team is forcing the dev team to do so.
Development time only allows for the game to be optimesd (or made working) for one platform.
Once the predicted sales number hits the management team basks in bonuses while the dev team are given some slack.
The dev team is probably only then given the go ahead to port it to other platforms.

2. Lazy devs: because redesigning UI for other controllers is hard work mmmkay...
Ok, maybe understandable. Having dabbled with Unity, I can say that scripting from touch screen to KB+mouse is quite a bit of work. :p
Then again, they get paid sooo...
Click to expand...

You guys make valid points, but what about a timed exclusive then?
A game like The Last of Us is almost guaranteed to be a hit on XBox and PC if it gets released. Naughty Dog could have developed exclusively for the Playstation and after six months (when they saw the success they had) they could have started the porting process and released a decent version for both PC and XBox. Porting is, after all, cheaper and faster than developing a new game from scratch. This way they can have a second and even third bite at the pie.
But TLOU is one of the killer apps for the Playstation, so I don't see it happening.
 
Mister 44 said:
You guys make valid points, but what about a timed exclusive then?
A game like The Last of Us is almost guaranteed to be a hit on XBox and PC if it gets released. Naughty Dog could have developed exclusively for the Playstation and after six months (when they saw the success they had) they could have started the porting process and released a decent version for both PC and XBox. Porting is, after all, cheaper and faster than developing a new game from scratch. This way they can have a second and even third bite at the pie.
But TLOU is one of the killer apps for the Playstation, so I don't see it happening.
Click to expand...
Naughty Dog is owned by Sony, so yeah, unless that changes, it'll never happen.
 
Uncharted and TLOU on xbox and pc..........hahahahaha it aint happening children

Anyway back to the question I think exclusives are excellent it pushes that specific console to the limits and you get a proper end result
 
brendanvb said:
Don't mind if it's exclusive from the get-go as a means to increase their console's demand or whatever. But stealing a 10+ year franchise that has always been on multiple platforms from it's fans in an attempt to force them to buy your console is very very wrong in my opinion.
Click to expand...
This. Xbox can get a developer to create a new IP , even a tomb raider action adventure clone and call it Plaas Raider for all I care, basically what Sony did with Uncharted. Don't go and buy out a franchise that's been multi platform from the beginning with tons of fans already and alienate the majority. They are just making even more enemies this way.
 
Viking said:
Uncharted and TLOU on xbox and pc..........hahahahaha it aint happening children

Anyway back to the question I think exclusives are excellent it pushes that specific console to the limits and you get a proper end result
Click to expand...

Ja, just like GTA V.

Oh no wait, that wasn't an exclusive :wtf:
 
I get why the hardware companies do it - it's pretty obvious that good exclusives push hardware sales. And I get why the developer agrees to it - security. Unlike a typical publisher, MS's goal is to move more consoles. Revenue from game sales is secondary.

In the end I think this will mean a better game, as there is an emphasis on quality rather than to push out a product as cheaply as possible to as wide an audience. Anyone noticed how many good exclusives there have been?

At the end of the day this is good for the people who already own an XBONE :D Everyone else is getting shafted.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top