The majority of these exclusivity/timed-exclusivity deals hinge on what makes sense for the developer's game to maximize profitability.
The Shovel Knight Amiibo and co-op exclusivity makes sense because that game, despite releasing on all platforms, was associated most with WiiU/3DS. This was in-part to not only sales, but Nintendo focused youtube channels promoting the game. Here's an example that doesn't make good business sense: N++. The original N was on PC in 2005, N+ was on the Xbox 360 in 2008, and in 2015 N++ was on the PS4. All 3 games were on 3 different platforms, splitting the userbase and hurt sales considerably for the latest installment.
Deals like these go down because the market is rather crowded on certain platforms and this gives games a competitive edge. The PLAY 2015 promotion was a good example of this. Galak-Z, N++, and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture were all promoted on the official PS blog site as well as the PSN store. There is no question these games got a considerate boost in sales due to this. But is this kind of promotion really worth it? Shouldn't a good game win out by merit alone and shouldn't rely on these methods? It is a very competitive market each week, just take a look at some previous week's schedules:
July 28th:
- N++
- Life Is Strange: Episode 4
- King's Quest: Episode 1
- Sword Art Online Re: Hollow Fragment
- Abyss Odyssey
- Velocibox
- Legend of Kay: Anniversary Edition
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist
Aug 4th:
- Galak-Z: The Dimensional
- Submerged
- Beyond Eyes
- AeternoBlade
- Bedlam
- The Castle Game
- Boggle
Aug 11th
- Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
- Toy Soldiers: War Chest
- Gauntlet: Slayer Edition
- Goat Simulator
- Dragon Age Inquisition: The Descent
- Kung Fury: Street Rage
- TorqueL
- Commander Cherry's Puzzled Journey
That's a lot to compete with every week. Deals such as these guarantee more exposure, in both the storefront and additional reviews.
On a different note, I don't get this idea that Nintendo doesn't have exclusive indie games. They have a lot of exclusive indie games, the thing is, they are from no-name iOS developers that don't get attention. From the past month alone, here are some exclusive indie games on the Wii U:
- Runbow
- Pixel Slime U
- FullBlast
- Factotum
- Crab Cakes Rescue
- ZaciSa: Defense of the Crayon Dimension!
- Astral Breakers
- Sanatory Hallways
I'm sure the only one you might recognize is Runbow. Everything else was not promoted, despite being exclusive to the Wii U. So promotion is a large factor in a game's success, and being exclusive doesn't guarantee it will get attention, let alone be profitable.
