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freebs2 on 24 January 2021
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curl-6 said:
freebs2 said:

Switch owners, myself included, are getting a benefit from the fact a formerly exclusive games (from Microsoft) are being released on Switch (Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and Will Of Whisps, Cuphead, etc.). The same way, as a PC gamer, I'm getting a benefit from the fact Sony is releasing some of their games on PC (Detroit, Horizon Zero Dawn, Death Stranding). The fact I'm enjoing these games on different platforms doesn't hinder the enjoyment of Xbox or PS4 players, so from a genereal consumer perspective (regardless of the platform I own), in the worst case I'm not losing anything, in the best case I'm getting a benefit.

Without exclusivity you could just choose the platform with the hardware specs and features you like the most and play the games you like regardless. The userbase of a specifc console would soley depend on hardware features and not depend on artificial paywalls to access specific games.

That said, I don't realistically expect exclusives to go away anytime soon since Nintendo, MS and Sony are all getting benefit from it. At the same time as consumer, exclusives are hurting me in two ways: by making me spend more money and by limiting my choice.

I wouldn't be able to play the games I want on the platform I want though, if exclusives weren't there to build the userbase of my preferred platform to the point of it being worth supporting.

It's a bit like the chicken and egg problem...what made you choose your current platform of choice? The hardware features or its exclusive game library, or both? If you hypothesize a game market without exlcusives you can just leave one variable out of the equation, in other words regadless of what console you choose you could still potentially play any Nintendo, Sony or MS games on it. Your choice would be based just on hardware features: your favourite form factor, your favourite controller, your favourite online service, the most suitable price point, etc.

If a console, in that specific scenario, doen't get enough traction to get software support, the reason must be because its features are unappealing to the market. In that scenario, even if you 'bet on the wrong horse', the cost of switching to another console would be lower, since you don't lose access to any exclusive title.

Now, consider the same console (with the same unappealing hardware features) in the current market. Thanks to exclusives it could expand the userbase in a way that wouldn't be possible otherwise. This means players are accepting to buy a console with sub-optimal features in order to gain access to its exclusive library...I don't see this as a gain from the consumer perspective.

Last edited by freebs2 - on 24 January 2021