Whatever happened to the third-party exclusive?

For many, this generation will be remembered by the popularity of motion controllers and integration of online gaming. Yet one of the biggest things to change has gone by relatively unnoticed – the end of third-party exclusives. Once they dictated a console’s success, but now their death has resulted in a better choice for consumers.

[NYC_Gamer]

the install base of different platforms are too huge to just ignore

[iamnsuperman]

More profitable to make non exclusive games because of the install base

[r1sh12]

its all about making the money... would you rather make a game and sell to 50 million, or to a possible 100 million??

[capitalK]

Higher budgets

[omi25p]

Gears of war? Resistance?

[Chinner]

I didn't go into that, but those two are the exceptions really. Either way, Insomniac games are multiplatform now and after Gears of War 3 Epic can do whatever they want with the I.P.

[Seijoru]

Just because they're making a new IP for EA doesn't mean they are going completely multiplatform.

[Theyellowflash30]

Isn't Resistance basically funded by Sony? And you only named 2. There are hundreds of games that are multiplat. Last generation there were far more 3rd party exclusives like: Monster Hunter, DMC, Metal Gear Solid 3, God Hand, Okami, Dragon Quest 8, Soul Caliber 3, Final Fantasy 10&12, Rule of Rose, Xenosaga games, and the list goes on. The PS2 had a HUGE number of exclusive games last generation.

[pepsilover_2007]

higher budget made it impossible to make profits on one console, thats what happened, id be surprised if i see any third party exclusive next gen

[manman6]

Companies are trying to make the most money they can from one game and I don't blame them.

[I HARLEM I]

IT'S CALLED "TIME EXCLUSIVE"

[Series_IIa]

Why shoot yourself in 1 foot?

[chadwarden]

When you can heal both.

[GunofthePatriots]

This could be good for some gamers who don't have the money to buy new consoles. Since most 3rd party games can be played on any of the consoles, they wouldnt be missing out on too much.

Still have 1st party exclusives but whatever.
I actually thought about trading in my 360 because of this since it doesnt seem to have that many exclusives coming out. I decided to hang on to it anyway.

[VampiricDragon]

more like each individual console doesnt sell as well anymore. The ps3 and 360 individual values are pathetic but together thats a bit

But there are third party exclusives

[Aarix]

I guess the hardware is so similar they feel more compelled to port it to another console and reap the profits.

[mindedone]

Whatever happened to cassette tapes for that matter?

[Zuhk]

lol there weren't exclusives in 3rd parties when all consoles were relatively equal in power. they started when the n64 and ps1 were released b/c nintendos system couldnt hold / do alot of the things that the ps0 could. they were never exclusives b/c a company liked one system over the other but simply b/c the system of choice better suited the game they were making.
A good example this gen is the wii. it doesnt get any 3rd party support other than games built specifically for the wii b/c it just cant handle the games. when the wii u comes out though theyll get every game that comes to the others, given that the company has had time to make the game for the console.

[Fallouts]

I don't think motion controls are all that popular, it's getting there though.

[coryok]

i think that sony had 3rd part exclusives because it had so much market share, now though, they dont have the 75% market share that they used to have.
microsoft doesnt have a very good first party so they were forced to buy exclusivity rights, and now with kinect, they dont have to buy them because most kinect games arent compatible in other platforms so developers have to choose. though i do think that theyre paying for games like mass effect 3 to have kinect functionality put in them.

[Chevalier]

HD gaming is expensive to develop. With some games taking 3-5 years to develop, there's high overhead to cover for. Just look at XCOM which was announced as 360/PC exclusive just last summer, yet this year it's now listed for PS3 as well.

[kevnb]

Only on pc.