anyone who says/said "Sony lost exclusive" seriously needs to have a reality check

Devil May Cry was on PC
the 2-D GTAs were on PC
the 3-D GTAs were on Xbox and PC (much better version)
Resident Evil was on Gamecube (and it was the better version)
Final Fantasy was on NES, SNES and Gameboy
Metal Gear was on Xbox , Gameboy , NES , Gamecube

you call that Sony Exclusive?

Really? another butthurt using the "$" in MS. Try $ony...there, you like that? There really is no difference between the two in terms of money grubbing.
Anywho, MS is going to try and buy up any profitable franchise they can. It would be bad business not to.

Let me see here: You made a conclusive statement that MS bought out franchises based upon, as you said, speculation?

Look, I'm not going to scream fanboy, but post PS3 slim and price drop, the number of PS3 fanboys has exploded over the internet, so be careful about the timing when you bring up certain discussions.

I think the more interesting question is, how long until Sony stops trying to be Nintendo and starts paying to retain those franchises exclusively. I'm not saying MS paid for exclusivity (a year head start and a bigger install base makes them more enticing anyway), but if they did, can you blame these companies for going with the better business option

“^ their whole jrpg line up.”

That makes no sense...most of the JRPG line-up was all new IP...sooo what "popular" franchise?

GTA4 and Fallout...sure...M$ secured exclusive deal with the developer, but I doubt it was a cash exchange, especially with Fallout DLC, since it wasn't exclusive to the 360.

Metal Gear...dunno...might have something to do with the Publisher/Developer looking at the sales distribution, and making a decision that double the sales, at the very least is a better deal for them.  Let's look at the math...

- Devil May Cry 4 : 360-1.15M/PS3 - 1.26

- Resident Evil 4: 360-2.31/PS3- 2.43/Wii - 1.60

As those are two prominent franchises to jump to the 360.  Basically, had those developers NOT brought those games to the 360, they would have passed on $70 to $130 million in brand revenue…so I’m not sure what more convincing M$ would need to get them to multi-plat there game.  Any 3^rd developer that works a game exclusive, and DOESN’T get some support from the console maker is smoking crack!  Some point to Valve, but they do so, because they aren’t interested in expanding their studio size…and they consider themselves a PC programming firm.  They tried to port a game to the PS3 and so I think they are in the best position to understand their GAP in capability.  If they already have all of their teams focused on stuff in the works, people are basically asking them to go out, and get talent to work on PS3…why…better sales, but they are a studio under a conglomerate, so what does that really mean for them?  Square Enix is a Japanese firm that made the early decision to invest in the 360…THAT probably why there were so many 360 games in the pipeline…

I course they paid for exclusivety! It might not be an outright monetary transaction but there was certainly a financially beneficial deal being strucked to entice some third parties.

You really think Namco decided to make their flagship RPG on a console with less than a million in install-base in the games' biggest selling market when every alternative would have netted them FAR more profit? (Wii, PS3, PSP, DS take your pick!).

Company don't make absurd choices like that without being finanically assisted.

It's nothing to be ashame of too, God knows MS didn't start the practice.

i never said anything about a popular game O_o i don't what you are smoking.

and u beat your point both games both sales split you are saying that if one didn't exist people would buy the other version which is wrong.

if you look msg4 sales it sold over 4 million, same as MSG3.

 i agree multiplatform it's the way to go, it doesn't make sense to release JAPANESE rpg on the LOWEST selling console IN JAPAN, this gen exclusive.

agreed.

Microsoft has not bought any franchises, except for Splinter Cell and maybe Star Ocean (which will probably go multiplat at some point). Microsoft did not "buy" FF, Tekken, Soul Calibur, DMC or GTA (especially that last one, it was never exclusive), because they are all STILL ON PS3. The only series one can say they've really bought, as I've said, is Splinter Cell, which was always a gimped version on Sony platforms and sold more on Microsoft platforms, particularly Double Agent.

Of course, the series in general has really dropped like a rock in terms of sales.

Exclusive DLC Microsoft has bought a fair bit of, which does annoy me. But hey, if they can afford to do it, why shouldn't they? It's not Microsoft's fault for doing it, it's Sony's for not retaliating.

Will they continue to buy exclusives? Yes. Will does exclusives backfire on them? Yes. Why? you ask. They paid Rockstarr 50 million for 2 exclusive DLC packs. Will they ever make a profit from that? Probably not. But look how Rockstarr repay them. Giving PS3 an exclusive game for free to add to there 2010 line up. Lol a game that rockstar is making, probably from that 50 mil Microsoft payed.

I also think Square enix choose to bring FF13 to Xbox 360 just to regain some of the production costs. Microsofts still getting screwed though on it because FFV13 still remains PS3 exclusive. How many Xbox 360 owners are going to play FF13 and not want to continue the saga in FFV13.

I've heard rumours of Microsoft trying to get timed Exclusivity on MGS Rising. Does anyone think that could happen. What have yous got to say about that

A) MS has payed for content. we do not have the exact details on how much and exactly which games/dlc but it has happened. dismissing this fact is just stupid.

B) as much as I hate missing out on content, buying content is fully within MS's rights. We all know that Sony does it too (joker for batman: aa for instance).

C) as install bases increase for both platforms the cost of exclusive content probably also increases. i would assume that is why early on there was a lot of exclusive games and now there is a lot of exclusive dlc.

D) at least as far as MS is concerned, i would guess if anything they are buying up whatever resources they can to get people developing for natal. or should i say, if I were in charge of MS that's what I would be doing to help ensure natal sucess.