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Mike_L on 20 March 2016
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Shiken said:

Yes they do, there is no dancing around it. Most gamers buy consoles for the multiplats yes (reason WiiU is doing as bad as it is), but it is the exclusives that make a person choose one platform over the other OR what urges some to be multiplatform gamers. Without exclusives the console will have no identity and eventually drop off altogether. I mean look at the X1, it had huge momentum from holiday 2014, but it was killed to a crawl with a barren first 3/4 of 2015 with nothing in the retail exclusive lineup other than screamride.

Even Halo 5 couldn't put it back above the PS4 for even a month due to this loss of momentum because fact of the matter is that the PS4 had just as many retail console exclusives as the X1 for the holidays (even though they were not megatons like Halo) and delivered several exclusives throughout the year in 2015.

And no, the PS4 does not sell on hype anymore. We are far beyond that. Hype on exclusives down the road sure (Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, No Mans Sky, Persona 5, etc.) but that in of itself further strengthens my point. Exclusives sell consoles because that is what makes it better than the competition.

I mean seriously, are people still blind to this fact?

 

And imo this is the downside of buying timed 3rd party exclusives instead of building up 1st party studios and permanent exclusives. If these games end up on other platforms they won’t contribute to the identity of the brand.

As you said, XB1 had huge momentum from holiday 2014 where it received great permanent exclusives (Forza Horizon 2, Sunset Overdrive and Halo MCC). Nearly all of its exclusives since then have been timed (Titanfall, Ori and the Blind Forest, Gears of War Ultimate and Rise of the Tomb Raider). And it seems that future XB1 exclusives will release on PC simultaneously (Quantum Break, Forza 6 Apex, Halo Wars 2, ReCore, Gears of War 4 and Scalebound).

Imagine if Microsoft generally had spent their money on developing more games themselves with 1st party studios. Imagine if franchises like Dead Rising, Ninja Gaiden, The Elder Scrolls (Oblivion), Bioshock, Mass Effect, Star Ocean, PvZ Garden Warfare, Titanfall, Quantum Break, ReCore, Scalebound etc. were all franchises and experiences only available on Xbox consoles. That would seriously contribute to a strong identity and brand. Xbox would most likely be my go-to console.