Exclusives ‘ethics’ discussion

Gaming
41

I disagree on many lvls.

First of all: no the quality of a game does not goes up when its exclusive. Time, money, dev. skill and tech are the only factors.

I don’t mind Bethesda games remain multiplat but let’s be honest why buy a publisher for billions to NOT make your platform more appealing.

The gamepass argument for multiplat also doesn’t fit. Microsoft wants you in gamepass and what better way to do it than with exclusive content.

Also remember Xbox has the lowest entry point in gaming. If you dont have the money but the connection turn on your tv open the gamepass app (in the future) and play the game for 15 $/€ or so.

Xbox don’t needs any other platform for their games. People have so many options to get gamepass and this is what xbox wants.

Being the Netflix of gaming and with it the market leader. You won’t see anything outside their eco system.

5 Likes
42

Someone who buys a Playstation 5 is poor… yeah no :smiley:

1 Like
43

Alana is fine but I completely disagree with her in regards to Bethesda games should be going to PlayStation. Uh, NO, they fucking shouldn’t. Unless Xbox is getting God of War Ragnarok, Horizon 2, etc. in a one for one “trade” so to speak, in no way, shape or form should Bethesda’s games go on PlayStation 5.

Want to play them? Easy solution. Don’t be a fanboy, buy a Series S as a secondary console and there you go. Or play them on PC via Steam or Windows 10 Game Pass. Or play them via X-Cloud via Game Pass. Plenty of other options in regards to being able to play Bethesda games.

If Sony fanboys don’t want to do any of that, then oh well, your loss, not mine. Being so loyal to either console brand is fucking stupid and is why I always own every damn console. Because I want to play the games on the other console that I can’t play on my primary console.

I do agree with her regarding the accessibility and disabled people opinions. Of course, she should probably start bashing Sony for not putting their exclusives on PS Now day one so those same disabled people or people in countries that have less money or in which the money there isn’t worth what it is in other regions can play them for a $10 monthly rental and see if they can play the game despite having a disability as opposed to buying the damn game which could turn out to be a total and complete waste of money.

As someone who’s been a PS4 guy and bashed Xbox to hell for the last generation, Microsoft and Spencer are finally doing what they should be doing and everyone wants to bitch about it but if it was Sony who acquired Bethesda (or even Nintendo for that matter), not a single person would be saying jack shit and that’s a simple fact because over the last generation, it’s become very clear what the narrative and agenda is by most when it comes to Xbox.

Well, too fucking bad. Bethesda’s games will be exclusive because that’s how you get more users into your eco-system. No one who will only own a PS5 is going to buy into the Xbox eco-system if they can still play Edler Scrolls 6 or Starfield, etc. on PS5 because they would have no reason to do so.

I hope Microsoft buys another massive publisher and more development studios and makes all of their games exclusive just to piss off the other side because for the last generation, everyone has praised Sony for their dominance and success. Well, only problem with that is eventually, the other side gets pissed off and fights back which is exactly what Microsoft and Spencer should be doing and are doing.

If you don’t like it, oh well. Sucks to be you then. Maybe stop being a fanboy and embrace both for their own offerings which honestly, isn’t hard to do at all.

12 Likes
44

While I agree, you could say a company is more willing to provide all of that in excess for first party titles since they have a platform to sell. Outside of a couple of counter examples (Rockstar and CDPR) it is pretty much true.

45

One thing for sure, there are going to be alot of folks in for a rude awakening when Elder Scrolls is Xbox exclusive. “But YouTuber XYZ told me that PlayStation was special!”

2 Likes
46

True but the argument a Playstation game has more quality because of it being an exclusive is just wrong.

What I mean is that wherever ES6 is exclusive or the quality doesn’t change and also wouldn’t change if it would be a Playstation exclusive.

Only the publisher can decide this really. Time is value and Rockstar/CD project red are reliant on perfect games. Still money is the greatest factor and the longer a game is in production more expensive it will be.

47

Yeah, where was this concern for street fighter 6 or final fantasy, both of which are 3rd party multiplat that Sony locked away. I don’t really care but I am kind of sick of the double standards.

3 Likes
48

Yeah. Nobody can use the “locking out beloved franchises is bad” until I can play FF 16 on xbox :rofl: This FF case is so weird that we saw the game running on PC but nobody is willing to confirm that it will be released on PC.

49

I think it’s important to bear in mind that it’s not “someone who buys a PlayStation”, it’s “someone who would buy a PlayStation regardless and therefore has to spend more money in addition to that.” It’s easy for us to forget that because (presumably) we’re part of the Xbox ecosystem so it’s not anything extra for us. I’d say the average person is unaware of the big differences between ecosystems and/or already has a PlayStation game. Changing ecosystems is difficult and costly when you’re already embedded, and frankly we’re in the minority. The casual gamer will default to PlayStation, especially since both consoles are the same price (X vs Non-Digital).

We’re very tuned in so we can appreciate the value of Game Pass, especially when it’s stacked up against the increase to 70 USD/ 80 EUR but that kind of information hasn’t trickled down to the common consumer yet.

All that said, I want to again stress that Sony exclusivity means you have to buy a PlayStation while Microsoft exclusivity means you can play it on a PC if you have a capable enough one, or stream it to certain devices for a significantly lower price. In terms of value, flexibility, and price accessibility, Microsoft is the clear choice.

To sum up, the average person would see it as “well there’s two boxes that cost the same so I’ll go with the one that I know on sight/have games for” and then proceed to buy games normally (albeit at an increased price). It’s Microsoft’s responsibility to call attention to the massive paradigm shift that is Game Pass so that the consumer is informed enough to change the immediate assessment to what it really is “the two boxes cost the same but one of them offers more games at a lower price if I invest in Game Pass.”

I don’t have any particular insights into the industry, but my understanding is that if a game is thrust out half-baked (which would be a decision made by management) it’s much less likely to be good. I don’t know the story behind the development of the PS4 exclusives this gen but I wouldn’t be surprised if part of their success is due in part to Sony giving them the time they need.

My guess is that the financial security afforded by being part of Microsoft will immensely help polish the output of these studios. I’ve heard that part of the reason Bethesda games are legendarily buggy is because the higher-ups at Zenimax refused to invest the money in improving/upgrading their engine because “the games sell anyway.” I have hope that if this is true, Microsoft will be willing to let these devs upgrade/share their tools and that quality will improve overall. I’ve heard that Wasteland 3 is super buggy, so I guess we’ll just have to see.

To sum up, I wouldn’t say that the “a Playstation game has more quality because of it being an exclusive” is necessarily entirely true; moreso “Sony knows that their greatest advantage is quality exclusives so they’re willing to grant the devs the time.” Incidentally, there aren’t any Sony first-party games I would have personally considered must-plays aside from Spider-Man.

50

Honestly, it’s on consumers to know what they’re buying. I have no sympathy for someone who doesn’t do their due diligence in researching a $4-500 purchase. They obviously won’t, but that’s their problem.

2 Likes
51

  1. I care only about Gamepass and doesn’t care if games end up on other platforms

  2. I would love to see the change in industry and hope games can reach more players irrespective of there hardware or platform. PS games on Xbox and Xbox games PS. Nintendo too. Happy World for gamers.

  3. Unfortunately, No. 2 is not possible because of buisness. Also, i won’t blame one party to keep exclusives. Every platform is equally guilty to keep games exclusives.

52

Yup, I totally agree. I feel the same way about the whole “the names are confusing, think of the poor grandmas” argument. If you’re willing to spend 300+ bucks then do some research and make the informed decision. I’m just making the two points that:

  • Being embedded into the Sony ecosystem (such as it is) makes it harder to switch over
  • There are a lot of people who (however distasteful to me) don’t do the research. They’re still prospective customers though, and Microsoft should pursue them by being appealing (they are) and loud (could be louder)
2 Likes
53

I like Alanah but she has this hippy dippy approach to this that is not realistic. Which she does at least acknowledge. Yes it would be nice if there were no exclusives and we could access them all on our hardware. But then she also says that exclusives focus the hardware and we get great games from it.

The fact she also acknowledged that if Sony brought them it would not be a question that all those games would be exclusive to PS5 undermines her points. And shows again how the games press talking heads have this strange approach to how they look at both companies and what they can and cant do.

I’m sure we can all imagine the talking points and headlines if this was the other way round.

I was in a thread on otherERA yesterday which contained a lot of the same points she argues in her video. The hilarity of using people may only be able to afford 1 console so this is bad, is naive at best.

Gaming is an expensive hobby. And will remain so. Most of us will be getting both systems at some point. Only the hardened fanboys were making excuses for why they cant get an Xbox despite being able to afford one. Or why they cant play on PC and why they dont want to stream or get all access. All options that MS offers as entry into their ecosystem.

Again MS is always expected to always compromise to keep people who dont like their system and never will happy.

9 Likes
54

Why is Microsoft being held to a different standard here? Fact is, Sony has been depriving Xbox of pretty big games, let us not act like that won’t have an impact on the platform if Microsoft does nothing to offset it. Playstation would be far more attractive than Xbox by a wide margin if Microsoft started releasing big games on the platform. Why would they cripple their platform? Not to mention if Xbox starts dipping even further in sales, I could see even more devs (indie or AAA) drop the platform or get swayed easier to ignore it by monetary offerings.

11 Likes
55

See, MS already covered this. There is he option to play on PC, $500 box, $300 box, and $15 a month to stream it. They have given so many options why is it incumbent on MS to spend the money to port games to PS when they’ve already provided numerous ways to access their titles?

11 Likes
56

This is my primary view. All games not already locked into a PS release should be put on a hard hold for PS development. Focus ALL resources to leverage all capabilities of the Xbox Series and PC then release. Focus on post launch support, DLC, and monitor engagement. After a year, do a market analysis and see if the game makes sense to port technically and economically (that “case-by-case basis”).

Using a wider lens, this exclusive or one-system business has been common practice since at least the Apple II series and DOS PC. There have always been exclusives.

Xbox prepped a low barrier of entry for nearly everyone. I don’t see Xbox exclusives as locked away as Sonys are when you can play Xbox games on BILLIONS of devices now. I don’t see the correlation to excluding a few million where Sony locks out BILLIONS for the benefit of only a few million devices.

These are the same mental gymnastic arguments that religion, politics, sports, and paid media outlets use and they hurt my head. I really don’t want them in what is supposed to be an enjoyable past time.

7 Likes
57

I agree 100%. Sony has been known to have stellar exclusives and now that story has changed dramatically. The irony is that now Microsoft has them, it’s a problem and they are somehow obligated to share those exclusives with Sony because that’s what their known for and Microsoft is somehow wrong to keep their games exclusive to their platform. Hard, hard disagree. I for one am glad Microsoft finally stepped up and put it on the line for am acquisition like this. It levels the playing field tremendously and puts the Xbox platform in the spotlight, as it should be.

I’m still baffled at how this one move remedied their 1st party stable problems. That was the one problem they had left to mend. Everything else was on point anyway. Now their a huge force to be reckoned with. This was long overdue.

4 Likes
58

I don’t see anyone suggesting Microsoft would be wrong for the games to become exclusives. They are just debating how this is going to play out lol

59

When Alanah plays the “what about the poor gamers that can’t afford another console?”, she is definitely suggesting Microsoft is wrong. She flat-out says “there are a lot of Playstation fans that love these games”, and uses the worst-case scenario (lack of finance) why some can’t play. She never acknowledges that the vast majority of Sony-only gamers CHOOSE to be Sony-only out of some ridiculous loyalty to Sony and resentment towards Xbox.

She tried to dress it up but it’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t like MICROSOFT having these exclusive IPs. It isn’t about some altrustic “all exclusives are bad” thing she tried to use as a fig leaf.

Owning all the consoles doesn’t mean someone isn’t biased towards one. Just like having multiple kids doesn’t mean one is not your favorite.

7 Likes
60

Exactly, a poor person can’t buy a video game console and honestly this would or should never be a a priority for this person. In the other hand, prolly everybody passed for tough moments in life where we couldn’t spend money on things we like, and that’s ok. If someone can afford to buy a next gen console or even last gen and keep up on building a library, it should have the money to, at very least, pay 15 for one month of GP ultimate to play the game he wants on the phone or buy the Series S using all-access. MS is giving them the option of not needing to buy a console or a decent pc and offering cheaper options. What other option Sony offers to “poor Xbox gamers”? PS now is improving, but still does not touch the toe of gamepass.

For me, looks like she is using the poor argument to dress up the real issue here, the console war BS and the fact the Sony core fan won’t jump on Xbox ecosystem for whatever reason.