Exclusives likely won't ever be Major system sellers again

I mean console since the 7800, genesis, Snes (not NEs it's illegal) PS, 3DO, N64, CD-i those all different in exclusives than even the end of 6th gen.

All those systems, in order to sell, yeah you had multiplats,and having one run better than another was significant, but you also had a crap ton of exclusives, a crap ton. TP exclusives made up the majority of the library following FP and 2P (which are not just outsourced FP now for some reason it's the same thing) and that would sell systems.

Now it's literally all multiplats, who has the tempt deals, who runs slightly better, who advertises, more, how much is on the shelf for a particular system, and that's it. Exclusives don't really do anything sans Wii Sports, and Kinect games, no exclusives moves much of anything.

I think it's safe to say Exclusives are pretty much dead, and when they aren't it's a fad with it booming and then just dying instantly. Exclusive can help make a choice but even then Multiplats will sell more in the long run.

I mean what system sellers that can be exclusive do we actually have now this gen not bundled? The highest one may be Halo MCC (it was only bundled in japan and Brazil where there's barely any market)) and that's just sad that exclusives now have to be bundled to sell. This shows how bad exclusivity is.

I bet you the game you're thinking of is bundled if you don't agree with halo, Titanfall 9which isn't even exclusive) Forza 5, Infamous, killzone, knack, Smash, Mario kart 8, Nintendo Land, uh, hmmm. What else is there hmm?

Halo and Gears will sell XB1and Uncharted and God of War will sell PlayStations so I disagree.

May be... May be not... Not sure at this. Will see how it goes after Halo 5 and Uncharted 4.

Well we do know microsoft is giving up on them completely to save a few bucks by fooling people with timed exclusives, but i see nintendo and sony still having lots of exclusives.

I think Mario Kart is a pretty big system seller.

Mario Kart Wii did sell 30 million.

All of which will be bundled. So as i said in the Op, that's the only way to sell exclusives.

Halo 5 and uncharted 4 will be bundled to sell the games like titanfall, Infamous etc. Especially in major markets.

Halo MCC is the only major bundled exclusive that has sold well without bundles in major markets. And even then, not heavily. (in relation to the very small markets it's bundled Brazil and japan lol)

If uncharted 4 and Halo 5 released by itself outside of a small chane for Halo 5 I don't see much movement. COD sales without bundled, as had been prove over and over, so does GTA V, AC, etc. AC Unity did well without the Xbox One bundles, as shown with individual SKu sales, especially in NPD.

well, if someone makes a game which really appeals to me - i'd buy the console to play the game.

also, the bundled exclusive with the console isn't to shift the exclusive - the whole point of the exclusive is to shift the console. although it is kind of circular because the exclusive needs to have sufficient merit to convince someone to buy the console to play the exclusive. is that in agreement with what you're saying?

It's safe to say this early in the generation? It's not safe to say. Especially when Sony was still throwing exclusive 1st party support to their PS3 when the competition bailed on their old machines. The might of the Sony 1st party support is finally coming to PS4 and now you are saying exclusives are dead. Nope.

I see Nintendo doing just fine with exclusives being major system sellers, and I see Sony cranking out a lot of exclusives when this generation is all said and done, just like they did for their PS1, PS2, and PS3.

I think M$ would love it if exclusives were dead (or rather not a big deal) and this industry completely relied on only 3rd party games. It would take the pressure off and allow them to continue full force with huge marketing deals with the annual Forzas, Halos, Fable, and GeoW games as their big AAA offerings.

If you are talking about games not being exclusive if said games are bundled...they are still exclusive. Is your question really about bundled exclusives being the strategy over exclusive standalone sales? I know many millions have an Xbone right now...are they going to not buy Halo 5 because of the impending Halo 5 bundled Xbone? No, they will buy Halo 5 standalone. Same for Uncharted 4 for PS4, but there is a chance Uncharted 4 will be bundled.

If you are complaining or making commentary about bundled exclusives? Well have at it, I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other. The game exists and I'm happy enough with that.

They'll be the reason I get a new console

The reason I bought a PS1 was because of Crash Team Racing. I liked the game at my friend's place and I have been a PS buyer ever since. So I disagree, Exclusives can make or break a customer for the future etc.

Didn't you make a thread about Bloodborne selling consoles?

But you clearly didn't read, Nintendos best selling exclusives are bundled, if Bundles are the only way to move exclusives in mass except for lightining in a bottle which barely happened last gen, then uh, well Exclusives are dead.

Also you are stuck in a gear-Halo etc. Cycle when that cycle was not only for 3 years (and it's really only 1 because you freaking exclude kinect games for some reason which are still exclusives) but also the fact that 1st party has nothing to do with excluives (See ryse before the PC port) so uh what?

The exclusives are still exclusive sif bundled, but all it does is prove you need to bundle in mass exclusive games for them to sell, other Exclusive games are pretty much worthless when you make that a habit and it's been a habit for 2 generations.

Uncharted 2 didn't move by itself, it was bundled, directly and indirectly officially by Sony (as well as a bundled with uncharted 1) Halo (as I said before) is the only one with a possible chance (showing again you read nothign), look at Sony's best selling exclusives, Infamous, knack killzone, all bundled. All of othem, in mass. Halo MCC is the only non-bundled that seems to have moved decently. So uh,........... yeah Exclusives are in band shape when the habit of bundling one or two games makes the other exclusives pretty much die off even smei-mainstream radar. Even with games that people THINK are exclusives like Dragon Age Inquisiton, which MS did nothing with despite the deal, and the game only made it because it was on a bunch of stuff, if people actually had the mindset of Dragon age being Xbox one exclusive that thing would have flopped because well uh, it wouldn't move without some bundle. Hell it still hasn't done "well." just ok.

And that's another thing, even retailers do unofficial bundles to move left over exclusives Sometimes.

Mainly because what used to be the biggest exclusives are now the biggest multiplats.

Most games sell systems, how many varies from game to game.

I disagree

Far from dead. Sony has the best 1st party in the biz. Titles like Uncharted/Crash Bandicoot, God of War, Last of Us, Gran Turismo sell minimum 5 million copies each. Their secondary tier include LBP/Tearaway, Killzone, Infamous/Sly Cooper, MLB The Show, Ready at Dawn, Motostorm/DriveClub, Ratchet & Clank, Team Ico/Studio Japan, Quantum Dream, which sell 2-3 million minimum. And now we have third tier with indies and developers like Housemarque and Hello Games. A.K.A. Sony dominates for a reason. 5th and 6th gen was easily a K.O. by Sony. 7th gen started slow, but Sony still came out strong, despite coming out a year later. And now Sony is dominating again 8th gen. The hate Sony gets here is from a vocal minority. Gamers love Sony.

Yep Crash bandicoot, that games now owned by Sony and never was and was on Sony's unofficial mascot list way back in 1998. Also most of the game syou stated are all bundled, and all other exclusives failed that were not or barely sold "to make it" so uh.. No you proved my point.

Also this is 8th gen, and 7th just is ending, and 7th is when this started (well end of 6th kind of started it to be honest)

If it's all about the games, then you are obviously wrong. I'm sensing some confusion here though, mainly between the words exclusive and multiplat. A console like the wiiu throws a wrench in the gears because it is the superior modern console if we're judging them on exclusives, and yet there are many games which are exclusive "not to the WiiU". I actually didn't mind terms like "console exclusive" that so many people here got all whiny about because it compromises the 'system wars' logic somewhat.

Exclusives will always be the number 1 system sellers. Why? Because if you are comparing two pieces of gaming hardware, the multiplats between them cancel out, even if one system has a slight edge in the quality of the multiplats.

Just watch. Someday there will be a truly remarkable exclusive game on the ps4 or xb1 that will push sales massively in that console's favour over the other. There isn't a single remarkable exclusive on either system atm so we don't see that yet, but we will see it

lol seriously? last gen the biggest selling exclusive was a bundled game. Hell people would argue that this single game was the reason why there were 100 million consoles sold. Half of all Wii U owners own MK8 and the MK8 bundle sold out within a week of its debut. Bad idea for a thread.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to object to your opinion with these.

"Nintendo has released its financial results covering the period from April to the end of June 2014, revealing sales of 510,000 Wii U consoles and 820,000 3DS handhelds in three months.This brings the total of Wii U consoles sold since launching in November 2012 to 6.68 million, helped largely by the release of Mario Kart 8, which managed to sell 2.82 million copies in just over a month. Total Wii U software sales now sit at 36.67 million."

source - IGN-

"Microsoft boasted today of an uptick in sales of its Xbox One, saying that sales of the console have "more than tripled" in the U.S. over the past week and that Xbox One has led current generation console sales for the past two weeks......Microsoft attributes the Xbox One's recent boost in sales to a new batch of bundles featuring Assassin's Creed Unity, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Sunset Overdrive, as well as a limited-time holiday price drop, which lowers the console's price to $349.99."

source -Polygon-

"With Sony having claimed 4.2 million PS4 sales by the end of 2013, this would indicate that almost half of all PS4 owners have picked up a copy of the Guerrilla Games first-person shooter (Killzone Shadowfall)."

source -CVG-

Mario Kart 8, Sunset Overdrive, and Killzone Shadow Fall.

3 Exclusive games each releasing and somehow catching the attention of the Gaming Audience to entice them to buy a new system. Now I'm probably stretching it with the PS4 and Xbox One since I'm assuming many bought the PS4 and Xbox One mostly with Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed in mind (I don't know which Xbox One bundle sold the most). But we can keep linking the stories about the WiiU alone to say that Exclusives are what sell the systems the most.

@TigerSuperman: yes it was, just google it. Sony used to own it. And exclusives do matter, why do you think Sony went after street fighter and MS after tomb raider?

Games like Halo and Gran Turismo do guarantee a lot of sales but you can't ignore the gamer who will only buy a few yearly releases like CoD and the sports games any more. There's just too many people who are happy just getting the big multiplats these days and we've seen it reflected in the consoles. The PS4 captured those people by entering at the better price, boasting better graphics and better "for the gamers" based marketing.

Look at the Wii U, Zelba and Mario just aren't enough for a console to survive on.

two games that aren't exclusive

So is this the official preemptive damage control thread for xbone not having exclusives?

Did Mario Kart Wii sell well because it was an exclusive or because over 100 million Wii owners needed a game to play?

Outside of a few outliers, multiplats rule the sales charts. COD, GTA, sports titles etc. No exclusive has attach rates like those titles. Except the already mentioned Mario Kart Wii or bundled games like Wii Sports. Multiplats run the industry now. And when the PS4 runs those titles better, it's no wonder why Sony is winning.

can microsoft and xbox 1 come back from this tho?

like if they keep in the multiplat game xb1 is gonna just lose everytime microsoft now has to make some moves or something

im guessing most people who have an xbox 1 also have a ps4 and bought all the multiplats on that system

so like microsoft has to make a move here right or there dead in the water on multiplats ppl won't buyu the game for xbox one an sales will dip an ppl might just buy ps4 microsoft must see this right?

TBH, I never really liked the concept of exclusives. I mean, what if DVD players had exclusives, depending on which company manufactured the DVD player?

Now, to be fair, I understand that the situation is different with games. Game platforms actually run on different hardware and CAN'T play all games. So there's gonna be a need for exclusivity simply from a technological standpoint. I'll even understand exclusivity for first party titles. If Nintendo or Sony actually makes a game in house, then I can understand that being exclusive (though it's not as if Sony makes it so that Sony movies will only run on Sony DVD players). But third party exclusives kind of rub me the wrong way.

Don't get me wrong...I still UNDERSTAND the need for third party exclusives. I mean, making a game work on a particular platform is a bit harder than making a DVD work on a competitor's DVD player. That costs time and money. And if the market research indicates that porting a game over to other systems isn't worth the costs, then you don't do it. Yes, I understand that.

I'm just saying that while exclusives are sometimes necessary, it's not like I just love exclusives. On my end, exclusives kind of suck. I'm not hot for exclusives, I just recognize them as a necessary reality of the industry. But ideally, I'd like all games to play on all systems. That can't happen now, but there's no reason for us not to be closer to that being a reality. Whenever possible, I'd like to AVOID the type of situation in which the X1 version of a game is drastically different than the PS4 version of a game is drastically different than the PC version of a game. And sure, I can understand that there might be perfectly valid reasons for an X1 game to not be on PS5 or PCs. But whenever those reasons don't apply, then by all means, make the game multi-platform. People just want to play games, and it actually kind of SUCKS when they can't play a game without shelling out money for an entirely different system when the system that they already have is perfectly capable of running the game.

I still believe that exclusives can be major system sellers.

The only reason we still buy consoles is because of exclusives. If everything came out on PC, I would never have a reason to buy a PS4.

Considering who the TC is, I'd say yes.

I think exclusives are on their way out, there are so many talented third party studios now.

To keep up with them the console makers have to invest a shit ton of money into their existing studios, and that's not happening, Sony are closing their studios, and Microsoft never bothered to invest in any in the first place.

Now they are both playing paid timed exclusives wars, which will sadly probably be the future from now on.

If exclusives don't sell consoles then what does? Just get a PC and call it a day. One device to do everything.

Exclusives have lost some of their punch power but they are still very important.

Eh, Halo 5, holidays 2015 will cause a bloodbath for the other consoles sooo, there's that. :P

You're rejecting facts with selective reading by posting games that were bundled heavily or above average in important markets.

If the Xbox one (currently) has more retail exclusives now how does this post make sense presently? but i guess you do have an obsession problem.

UI see you did selective reading as well, the game sold because it was "bundled"

Most exclusives flop, you have something blocking reality. They have to usually be bundled to even sell, the only non-exclusive this gen so far that has sold a lot alone in important regions s HAlO MCC. There's literally no other yet. And that thing was broken.

Sony never Owned Crash don't be dumb, Crash was owned by universal Day 1, it's why Sony didn't have it. They owned Spyro to, the rumor by Sony fanboys back then abut them selling Crash still makes no sense to me because it actually makes Sony look stupid, the truth is they had no control.

Mario kart Wii Was also bndled, and Bundling exclusives is the only real way to move them for the most part with some exceptions. This Gen so far, only Halo MCC, which was borken at launch, sold many of it's sales without being bundled. it's the highest selling exclusive so far in that aspect.

Based on what? The last 9 year generation outside the starting couple years, showed that You need to bundled exclusives for them to sell otherwise they sell "ok", this gen so far exclusives without bundles have had some issues.

Which is false, exclusives don't move much at all, and haveto be bundled to mvoe at all and even then that's not always successful.

How so? Reality disagrees. Certain exclusives that get number are usually bundled and thrown in your face. All best selling exclusives in have been bundled in an important region or region of game sales. Some of which, did not get that success,and most individual exclusives have done nothing. Most of last gen was in this category sans the first couple yours and Kinect, with a couple exception on Wii Sports as well. Those exception were very small or lightning in a bottle.

As I said halo and GT are the only exclusives that seems to have a chance of still selling without bundles to make them sell. Although Halo 5 WILL have a bundle but Halo often has legs. GT also has legs.

You are factually wrong YET AGAIN, damn it's like you enjoy being wrong all the time, remember delusion =/= reality. Also, which exclusives? the few it had are already on another platforms lol.

Where have i heard this before.... hmmm.....

oh right, "MUH MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION GONNA BE DA BESTEST THING EVEREST!!!!!"

Exclusives certainly can and do still sell consoles in the same way as a power hungry PC game can help shift hardware. They're just going more out of fashion with developers though, as they stand to have better returns from Multi-plats. Especially with the cost associated with making a modern AAA budget game.

What console is "7800"? never heard of that, it was Nes/Master System invented consoles !!!

this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_7800

Oh cool, we never saw that one in stores there i live tho

Exclusives is the only reason people buy Nintendo consoles, so yeah it is very important

I smell sarcasm, if not then you may want to look up Ralph Baer, The Brown Box or Magnavox Odesy.

It was no internet back then, was not as easy get info on small "niche" things. Atari for me was something like Amiga, a PC/computer thing

While they might not have the same impact they once did, exclusives definitely help shift consoles. TC keeps harping on the bundles, but those bundles ARE examples of how exckusives help sell consoles. People will be holding back on picking up a console till the exclusive they are anticipating comes out. Then they go and buy the bundle and THEN begin to build a library from that foundation, likely including some more excmusives they have been waiting on.

Multi-plats definitely dominate the market now which has certainly weakened the impact exclusives have, but at the end of the day it usually comes down to a person wanting a specific consoles exclusives that drives their decision on which console to pick up.

A new IP like The Last Of Us(ps3 version) sold 7million copies in it's first year. I wouldn't exactly call that dying.

While there's still great exclusives on each console that one can only play by having that console, yes a great majority of what I'll be playing and enjoy this gen will be multiplatform on consoles. Still, exclusives matter, that's why I fully intend on owning each console so I don't miss out on anything, and can have a much more rounded experience overall.

I think I went about it rather well this gen, even if accidentally or compulsively. While I saved up to get either a Xbox One or PS4 during launch in 2013, I was on the fence when launch came around, and the Wii U was looking more appealing by the day. So I finally broke down and got a Wii U instead, and waited to see how things settled between the Xbox One and PS4. And it was a rather good choice for the time, the Wii U had acquired a respectable library of games to play while I waited to see how things for the Xbox One and PS4 worked out. I got to play quality Wii U games, got caught up on my 3DS backlist. By the time Black Friday rolled around this year I was still on the fence, the Xbox One had more exclusives currently available that I was interested in over the PS4, but the PS4 has better prospects down the road. I decided to go with the Xbox One, partially for the current library, partially because the MS store had awesome deals over the holidays on bundles and on games. Besides, I'll probably get a PS4 next year, and over the year I'll get to see what PS4 exclusives look worth playing, definitely Persona 5 which hopefully gets localized before year's end, however there's nothing exclusive in the PS4 library at the moment that demands I get one but I see potential down the road with titles like No Man's Sky, Tomorrow's Children, hopefully Last Guardian at some point, maybe The Order won't be that bad after all, maybe there'll be some sleeper hits we're not even aware of yet.

To me though, exclusives matter. Enough so that I don't want to limit myself from missing out on them.

@TigerSuperman: Like I said, I may have been stretching it for Xbox One and PS4, but you can't argue the fact that Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros did not sell WiiU consoles, because they in fact did.

Those two games alone smash your argument into pieces regardless if they were bundled with the console.

Grats, Achievement Unlocked: Dumbest post of the day.

And just so you know, MCC rocks harder and worth at least twice the asking price than anything on The Bore. :P