The necessity of console-exclusive games
In today’s highly competitive gaming industry, there are fewer games out there that are exclusively on one system. It seems the current trend is to get gamers from all consoles to experience the game. Granted, there are some games that should be multi-console. But in order for each system to have a competitive edge toward the other, there needs to be more exclusive games on each console.
A good example of this is “Mass Effect 2.” Once an exclusive title to the Xbox 360, it is being ported onto the PlayStation 3 and is expected to release sometime during the first couple of months of 2011. The “Mass Effect” series is a well-known franchise, but its exclusivity to the Xbox has been one of the reasons why gamers sought out the Xbox. Of course, other reasons, such as the “Halo” series and “Gears of War” games, are also good justifications to buy the 360, but one can only wonder how long those games will stay as an Xbox 360 exclusive.
On the PlayStation side, two series that were once PlayStation exclusives announced that the next iteration of their games will end up on the Xbox 360. The first is “Metal Gear Solid: Rising.” For the past 12 years, fans have bought a PlayStation console because of the “Metal Gear Solid” franchise. Sure, other games were also PlayStation exclusives as well, but people usually stated two games when they justified their intent on purchasing a PlayStation: the “Metal Gear Solid” series and the “Final Fantasy” games.
“Final Fantasy” might have the largest impact on gamers worldwide. It told great stories, had amazing graphics and entertaining combat scenarios. Like “Metal Gear Solid: Rising,” the series’ latest game, “Final Fantasy XIII,” was released on both the PS3 and the 360, with a few changes in the 360 version. The most obvious change was the 360 version needed four discs to play the game when the PS3 version only needed one.
I understand how developers want to reach out to new audiences by making their games available to both systems, but I think if their games are already exclusives, they should stay that way. I like the idea of a console war between the Wii, Xbox and PS3. And if fans want it to stay that way, then exclusives are a must. Basic human nature is competition, so why not have it in the game industry?
Even to this day, I still hear people arguing about which system is better, and they use exclusives as part of their argument. Imagine if there were no console exclusives, then no one would be arguing about anything between them because they have the same experiences of the same game on each platform. Console developers want more sales of their product. The only way to do that is to have a game as an exclusive. That way, more people will buy their products because they are an exclusive to the console. As I said before, there are some games out there that should be available to both consoles, but that argument is for another time. In the end, exclusives defined the system they were on. Without them, we would have a smaller view on our perception of the industry.
