Squilliam on 10 February 2010
The reason is that its both cheap and effective. Most of the sales and impact of a title are within the first 6 to 12 months of release. Its the difference between say getting one game full exclusive or say 2-3 games partially exclusive and therefore the impact is that much greater. You just have to look at the Holiday seasons in 2006 and 2007 for their impact for the Xbox 360.
Most people aren't patient enough to wait 3 or 4 months to play a game let alone a full year so its an effective strategy. The hardcore gamers aren't going to not get all the systems but most important for Microsoft was getting people into the Xbox 360 first to make it their primary system.
Tease.
