Can Microsoft continue to buy it's way to victory?

[Strategyking92]

kitler53 said:

badgenome said:

kitler53 said:

Chromium24 said:

Skeeuk said:

 

    

    Microsoft keeps buying exclusives from third party, but how much longer can they go on doing this? Third parties will gladly accept the money to make a game exclusive to the 360, but it doesn’t come cheap, and doesn’t always pay off. If Microsoft were smart they would put the money  they are wasting on third party, and get some first party started. These days a console can’t live on just third party, especially with Sony going all out on their first party. Modern games are so expensive to make these days, that a third party would need a really good reason to make their game exclusive. 

    

This paragraph is very true. Microsofts 1st parties are almost non-existant. They have a few good exclusives, but if you look at their top games on IGN or Metacritic they're mostly multiplats like GTA, Bioshock, etc. That is excluding games like Mass Effect, Gears of War and Halo which are great.

 

I think the may point to take is - mass effect, bioshock's time exclusivity, rock band's time exclusivity, GTA's exclusive dlc, portal's dlc, ect., MS is paying for this competitive advantage.  the more ps3s in the world (regardless of market share) the higher cost MS will have to pay to keep those advantages.  how long until it is cost prohibitive for MS?  and what then? will MS's "almost non-existant" first party be the only ones creating exclusive content for the 360?

i'll be honest, i hope so.  MS, if you want to have content to define your console please spend more time making awesome content for your console and less time playing interference on the compitition.

 

I think that's a false choice, though. There's nothing preventing Microsoft from contracting out to third parties to make games for their system, at least as far as I can see. They can pay upkeep on their own studios, or they can save that money, take some of it to Capcom or Square-Enix or whoever, and say, "Let's make a game." I don't see why that's considered to be a dirty tactic or moneyhatting or whatever, and I do think it's pretty funny that first party is suddenly king to so many people now that Sony is having to rely so heavily on theirs.

I will say that I'm less cool with timed exclusivity or exclusive DLC, though. It doesn't bother me as much as it does some people, but it does sort of reek of cockblocking.

there is really nothing much i can say except that you are right.  there is nothing preventing MS from doing what it is doing but it still feels like a dick move (as a ps3 owner).

 

 

Yeah, especially when it is so hard to own both HD consoles. I mean, an xbox costs as much as a trailer home, the wii costs as much as a house, and the ps3 costs as much as a house-with taxes.

Well, that's how it is in the states, with the crumbling economy and all.