With Microsoft securing a major coup, Rise of the Tomb Raider being exclusive to the Xbox One, questions arise. Is this good for gamers? Is this good for the gaming industry?
On paper, this looks like it sucks for gamers. For those of us that only own one console, seeing a game we were waiting to play end up on another console really twists our balls. I mean, how could they do this? Don’t they know that I’ve been dying to play it? I’ve bought all of their games prior to this and now I can’t buy this one. SCREW YOU (INSERT COMPANY NAME)!
I can understand the frustration some gamers are feeling now. Even though I never really felt pissed that another game was exclusive to another console, I can still understand the frustration. You were hoping to play a game on the console you just shelled out over $400 for only to see it end up on another console. It’s frustrating. Many of us can’t justify owning two consoles. I know I can’t justify it. When consoles were cheaper, or launched far apart, it was different story.
In the past I had both SNES and Genesis. They came out far enough apart, and were cheap enough, to justify owning both. I mean, we had to play Sonic and Mario, am I right? The only game I could have seen my buy an SNES for, I had Genesis first, was Street Fighter 2. It was exclusive to the SNES for about a year if memory serves. Sega Genesis ended up getting Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition. If I hadn’t had an SNES at the time it would have pushed me to buy one. While I can understand the negative feedback the Tomb Raider exclusive deal has garnered, one thing remains certain, exclusives are necessary for the future of the video game industry.
Each console already has first party exclusive. Some may say that’s enough exclusives per console and that multiplatform games should come out on all consoles at the same time. If that were the case there would be one dominant console. The dominant console would be the one with the most power and price trade off along with the following the console has. It wouldn’t happen overnight but it would happen. We’ve seen it already with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. If multiplatform games look and perform better on the PlayStation 4, what’s the reason to buy an Xbox One? The reason, exclusives. That includes first and third party exclusives.
First part exclusives can only carry a console so far. The games don’t come out often enough and production costs are coming in at an all-time high. In order for console makers to secure a strong market share, they have to look beyond their first party exclusives. They need to secure third party exclusives in the way of wholly, timed and content exclusives
The video game industry has always been about exclusives. That's how it’s going to continue for the foreseeable future. Console makers need a reason to brag and sell their console beyond what they’re doing first party wise. While this may fan the fanboy war flames, it’s needed for the survival of the industry. Don’t look for it to change any time soon. In the end, you’re either going to end up enjoying the games by buying the other console or realize it’s not worth the money.
On paper, this looks like it sucks for gamers. For those of us that only own one console, seeing a game we were waiting to play end up on another console really twists our balls. I mean, how could they do this? Don’t they know that I’ve been dying to play it? I’ve bought all of their games prior to this and now I can’t buy this one. SCREW YOU (INSERT COMPANY NAME)!
I can understand the frustration some gamers are feeling now. Even though I never really felt pissed that another game was exclusive to another console, I can still understand the frustration. You were hoping to play a game on the console you just shelled out over $400 for only to see it end up on another console. It’s frustrating. Many of us can’t justify owning two consoles. I know I can’t justify it. When consoles were cheaper, or launched far apart, it was different story.
In the past I had both SNES and Genesis. They came out far enough apart, and were cheap enough, to justify owning both. I mean, we had to play Sonic and Mario, am I right? The only game I could have seen my buy an SNES for, I had Genesis first, was Street Fighter 2. It was exclusive to the SNES for about a year if memory serves. Sega Genesis ended up getting Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition. If I hadn’t had an SNES at the time it would have pushed me to buy one. While I can understand the negative feedback the Tomb Raider exclusive deal has garnered, one thing remains certain, exclusives are necessary for the future of the video game industry.
Each console already has first party exclusive. Some may say that’s enough exclusives per console and that multiplatform games should come out on all consoles at the same time. If that were the case there would be one dominant console. The dominant console would be the one with the most power and price trade off along with the following the console has. It wouldn’t happen overnight but it would happen. We’ve seen it already with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. If multiplatform games look and perform better on the PlayStation 4, what’s the reason to buy an Xbox One? The reason, exclusives. That includes first and third party exclusives.
First part exclusives can only carry a console so far. The games don’t come out often enough and production costs are coming in at an all-time high. In order for console makers to secure a strong market share, they have to look beyond their first party exclusives. They need to secure third party exclusives in the way of wholly, timed and content exclusives
The video game industry has always been about exclusives. That's how it’s going to continue for the foreseeable future. Console makers need a reason to brag and sell their console beyond what they’re doing first party wise. While this may fan the fanboy war flames, it’s needed for the survival of the industry. Don’t look for it to change any time soon. In the end, you’re either going to end up enjoying the games by buying the other console or realize it’s not worth the money.
