Why do some people seem to think that exclusives sell better?

[MikeRox]

Exclusives don't sell better. However they're useful to a manufacturer to give additional incentive for people to purchase their particular platform.

The only reason it can be more viable to do exclusive games as a 3rd party, are if your resources are limited. It can greatly help reduce development costs to target a single console. I think this is the only reason we really see this in Japan. Most of their target market is on a single format, and so the additional expense of other formats isn't necessarily covered by increased sales.