same principle with oblivion though. released one year apart. That is beside the point.

To be honest, its not really that major due to the sequels hitting PS3 day 1 and in cases, (Skyrim PS3 > Oblivion 360) outselling the originals.

What they should have done was what Sony did with GTA on PS2. Get every entry as a timed exclusive. Boom.

This is a more accurate comparison. An example of it being "tied to the brand".

Timed exclusives are patchwork that benefits the console in the short term. It helps gain marketshare which is good for the company, but it's just bad for gaming overall. As was already stated, it's just wasting resources that could have been used to develop an actual exclusive. It brings no benefit to the owner of the console because while the game is on their system first, it's still on the other system. Unless you're exclusive to one console, what do the sales of the game matter other than the my penis is bigger than yours comments(which this thread is.) The publisher is the only one being hurt by the timed exclusive, as they're more than likely losing more money than they gained with the contract.

One thing beneficial for the other console that receives the timed exclusive later, is that even though it starts at $60, the fact that it normally doesn't sell well means that the title itself drops in price much quicker. Mass Effect 2 included all DLC but one they released after the PS3 version and could be found for $20 in a couple of months couldn't it? It's not like a timed exclusive actually stops other games from coming out, or stops other exclusives from coming out, Timed exclusivity gives them one less game to choose from and when they can choose it, it's going to be very cheap very quickly. Gamers can easily spend their money elsewhere and then pick the timed exclusive up for cheap a few months after release.

That's certainly true. But this is a hyper competitive industry with new games taking the spotlight in very quick succession. If a certain game was coming to one console first, its getting great reviews, and marketing is ramping up, your friends are buying it.....it is hard to wait for the other version.

Come next year, chances are theres another timed exclusive or exclusive to take the spotlight, meanwhile the other guy got the timed exclusive that is now a year old game. Its really all about having that "must have" great game every year (or more likely, every holiday), regardless if its going to other formats when the hype has moved on.

My point was it didnt really mean much.

Skyrim may have sold more on the 360, but will Bethesda be unhappy with over 4.5 Million units sold on PS3? Oblivion being a timed exclusive to 360 simply didnt matter in the long term, because Skyrim released day 1 on PS3 and went on to sell a LOT of units. Skyrim on PS3 is actually the 2nd best selling retail release Bethesda have had, only being beaten by Skyrim 360 - http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=&publisher=192&platform=&genre=&minSales=0&results=200 - despite the problems that Skyrim PS3 had.

Does an advantage of 2.6 Million units on a game that has sold a combined 14.7 Million units at retail really matter? Does 2.6 Million units really matter in the grand scheme of total software sold?

Apparantly that 2.6 million means a lot to MS to secure all that DLC and building on the roots of Oblivion favouring 360. Every game counts, it all adds up.

Never said Bethesda would be unhappy, just that MS got a bigger cut then Sony.

Yes, timed-exclusives do make a difference but you think PS4 won't have any of its own?

Looking at Bioshock and Mass Effect, those didn't exactly sell boatloads as Xbox exclusives. For every "Bioshock" or "Mass Effect" Microsoft buys up, Sony can have an "inFamous" or a "Resistance" to counter it.

Well you can say the same about Dark Souls, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid/Rising. But I think the low sales for the other console due to timed exclusivity is also because of little to no marketing for the release on the other console plus the game becomes stale after a while so not many people care. And yes I would agree timed exclusive does make a game seem synonymous with the console it originally released on.