Of course exclusives are anti-consumer. Why would anyone want to be forced into buying a product to play something?
As a share holder it makes more sense to invest into something where products are locked behind a device, this forces a sale.
As a consumer, why would you want to be stuck limited to a device or 2? Why would you want your friends/family locked out of a game unless they own a specific platform?
I think true colours will come out if the same thing was happening against the consumer who had the least popular console. Shoe on the other foot method.
Lets use an example - If the PS5 was the least selling console and Nintendo and Xbox had all the timed exclusives and exclusives, you can bet your mums dog that those PS5 owners will be complaining and not saying "Well fair is fair" nonsense. If MS paid for Street Fighter 6 to be a permanent exclusive to XB2, you can guaranteed an uproar. How many PC gamers are happy that Halo MCC is coming to Steam? How many Switch owners are happy to see Hellblade and Cuphead? These are 1st party IPs (Cuphead 1 is anyway) The industry clearly shows these signs. Its weird that gamers stick up for exclusives, I question that there gamers or something else to be perfectly honest.
I love how people only look at the good and not the bad. Games that fall short on sales expectations and are locked into 1 platform can hurt the businesses and can sometimes cause closures. Look no further than DriveClub, PS4 Exclusive that died. Could have been popular maybe on PC, Switch and Xbox, possibly those extra sales from other platforms might have saved the company and the game.
Last edited by Azzanation - on 15 April 2019
