Exclusive titles are important to:
A) Give value to a game console. The more exclusives, the more value, the more reason to pick said console. The DS and PS2 have comparitively massive value because they each have untold numbers of exclusive titles.
B) Exclusive titles spur competition in the industry. I doubt I'm alone in remembering teh 16-bit wars as one of the best (if not the best) eras in the history of gaming. Part of the reason the 16-bit Genesis/SNES era was so memorable, and so strong was due to the intense competition between Nintendo and Sega, both in the 16-bit fronts, and in the handheld market. Each console maker featured massive numbers of unique, often high quality, strong, and memorable exclusive titles adding strength to their systems.
Phantasy Star & the Shining series -- vs -- Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger
Sonic -- vs -- Super Mario
Eternal Champions (and to an extent, Virtua Fighter) -- vs -- Killer Instinct
Sega Sports baseball title -- vs -- Ken Griffey Jr Baseball
Vectorman -- vs -- Donkey Kong Country
32X -- vs -- StarFox & Doom
Uncensored Mortal Kombat -- vs -- Censored Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat II with 3 buttons -- vs -- Mortal Kombat II with 6 buttons
Columns -- vs -- Tetris
Contra: Hard Corps -- vs -- Contra III: The Alien Wars
Streets of Rage -- vs -- Final Fight
Shinobi, ECCO, Golden Axe, Splatterhouse 2 & 3, etc. -- vs -- Uniracers, Mario Kart, Super Metroid, Tetris Attack, Super Punch-Out, etc.
Competition was fierce, and exclusive, unique, and quality games ruled the 16-bit wars. It was mighty glorious.
Exclusives are important.
