With the news today of Bungie joining up with Activision Microsoft has lost another exclusive developer.  It seems that MS cannot hold onto company's or exclusive deals whatsoever and I do honestly think in the long run this is going to hurt them alot.  With the reports basically everywhere that Splinter Cell Conviction is also going to be making the jump to PS3 within the next year it just seems that they are having a losing strategy.  What MS doesn't seem to understand is timed exclusives boost in the short terms sure but for the long term it doesn't help you at all like a first party developer will.

So my question is when will MS start focusing on 1st parties and making 100% sure that they get real long term exclusive deals?

Is this a joke thread?

*EDIT: Oh shit, it's a not a joke: http://www.bungie.net/News/Blog.aspx?mode=news#cid25920 . What are they thinking?

**EDIT: Oh, it's not that bad. They just want Bungie to create a new IP. Bungie remains an independant company and still own their intellectual property. Still, seeing them associated with the company of evil, Activision, makes me cringe a bit. Also: Halo on PS3?

Also, to answer the question... I doubt this is going to change the way Microsoft see first party titles. They own Halo (at least 343 Industries), that's all they will ever need IMO. They'll keep on releasing timed exclusive titles this generation if they can.

If Natal takes off, I reckon a lot of games will have to be made especially for the interface. Maybe that's what they're banking on happening.

If Natal flops, they're domed.

You don't a gazillion exclusives to win a console war:)

How will they respond? You'll see in just a few minutes, I'm prepping an article on that right now...

Yeah I know guys, everyone on this site knows that I'm a big 360 supporter through and through. However I do feel that they are making huge mistakes by not completely locking up exclusives and getting a very strong first party line up. I'm still gonna always support them and all that but I do believe things like this might come back to haunt them in the future.

Obviously the majority of the public don't give a shit about exclusives nor pay much attention to them so its unfortunately not always the deciding factor in sales.

You think this was something that MS did not know about. Also, MS lost Bungie when they gave them their freedom. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Also do not forget that this agreement is for one IP. Bungie could still have other projects that are exclusive to MS because MS still have first refusal for Bungie games.

ok guys, I'm a long term member here and know all things your saying. Duh. I never said OMGZ MS IZ GOING TO LOZE THE CONZOLEZ WARZ!! I don't care about console wars at all, I'm just saying that the fact is they are being outsold currently by the PS3 and if you think that losing exclusives is in any way HELPING them......well we all know the answer to that. This is basically just a discussion on when if ever MS will realize the importance of a very strong first party.

I'm a big Xbox supporter as well, and I HATE the fact that they don't get enough real exclusives. We just haven't seen all that the 360 is capable of because no one is developing an engine just for it, they just use frickin' middleware all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love Gears and Mass Effect but come on, let's get an engine that uses every inch of that GPU!