'Destiny' and Console Exclusivity: Why It's Gone Too Far

[Mike Andronico]

Activision's upcoming "Destiny" game has PlayStation-exclusive goodies that Xbox fans will have to wait a year to enjoy. Platform exclusivity has reached a tipping point.

'Destiny' and Console Exclusivity: Why It's Gone Too Far : Read more

 

[epobirs]

Perhaps the author has forgotten but Halo was first demoed as a game for the Mac. Then Microsoft bought the company to make the game exclusive to the Xbox. Bungie was originally known as a Mac game company and there was a certain sense of betrayal from Mac adherents then.

So, can we crank down the volume on the whining a bit? Once Bungie stopped being owned by Microsoft, all bets were off on any new IP created after they'd become an independent company again.

Are the Metal Gear fans offended by the newer entries being on multiple platforms when they'd been nearly exclusive to Sony for three generations? Are people still mourning the shift from Nintendo by the Final Fantasy series?

Get over it. If you have to play all of the big titles you are simply going to have to own multiple platforms to play them on. It is no different in other areas. You might regard the best dirt bike at moment as being from one company while another offers the best street racer. Locking yourself into one brand for all forms of motorcycling would be limiting.

 

[oxiide]

Neither console empire has shied away from locking down entire games to their platform at times. I'd rather see no exclusivity whatsoever—there are PLENTY of better ways to differentiate their products—but baby steps should be worth something. It will be playable on Xbone on day one. On my platform we generally call that a win.

On that note I'll point out that there's still no indication we'll ever get this game on PC. Personally I could take or leave it, but I think I've made my point.

 

[Durandul]

Well, this biggest point I would like to point out for people who think that Bungie hates this or likes that, is the fact that it's totally irrelevant. Bungie as a whole could curse sony and microsoft for all the publisher cares, but if the publisher wants it, and Bungie wants to get paid, they will do whatever the publisher tells them to do.
Hence the reason for Sony first: Sony pays the publisher to have the developer give them exclusives. This is the same reason why we aren't seeing a PC release, at least for now. Publishers, if they can, will attempt to make customers buy the same game twice, once for consoles, and then again on PC.

 

[booyaah]

PC Gamer master race...thumbs up if you're with me

 

[rayden54]

Let's see if I get this straight: It's going "too far" to give PS players a head start, but an Xbox exclusive game is fine?

 

[mrjoe96]

The irony in this article is unbelievable the writer complaining about how Sony is getting the timed exclusives when Microsoft have had so many timed exclusives in the past with Call of Duty etc. Now all of a sudden they don't like it cause Sony is getting some timed exclusives and Microsoft are having a taste of their own medicine.

 

[Jacob Strickland]

The irony in this article is unbelievable the writer complaining about how Sony is getting the timed exclusives when Microsoft have had so many timed exclusives in the past with Call of Duty etc. Now all of a sudden they don't like it cause Sony is getting some timed exclusives and Microsoft are having a taste of their own medicine.

One month of irony, 11 months of douchebaggery.

 

[Stirfrymassacre]

As a gamer who prefers the Playstation consoles over the XBOX ones, It was pretty annoying to have to wait a month for every Call of Duty Map Pack, there were so many. Also Bethesda always releasing their add ons for Fallout games and Elder Scrolls games a "Month" in advance. It took them what.. a year or more to get the Skyrim expansions out on Playstation? By that time I had sold my Playstation version of Skyrim and bought it for my 360. How was that fair? Well regardless I don't really see the big deal here, it doesn't seem like the Sony exclusives are really game breaking content, I know it would be nice to have it on XBOX from the start but at least they know they will be getting it at some point.

 

[cats_Paw]

And what should PC gamers (who buy windows OS, from Microsoft) feel like because games are not relesed on PC but are on XBOX?
And how Am i supposed to feel about the fact that my ex left me because she wanted to try something different?

Guess what, nobody cares how you feel.
Frankly, If they decide not to make a game for a certain platform, thats their loss in income, Ill find enought games to play elsewhere.

 

[SageElf]

This article is such a load of biased crap. Okay author, here's my rebuttal, you are an Xbox fan, I'm a Playstation fan, however I see both sides. Playstation has had slower releases to DLC and other downloadables on multiple cross platform games such as call of duty, oblivion, and Skyrim. In fact in the latter two there are things Playstation will NEVER get and they are both fantastic games. Destiny was going to solely be for Playstation when it first started, Microsoft begged bungie to let them have some of it bringing up halo and all the time they had working together. The contract that was written up was Microsoft could have 75% of the game while Playstation had 100% for the first year then Microsoft could have the rest of the game. So with that all said, before you run crying and screaming let's gather both sides, that being yours and a Playstation fan, and both sides of the corporate side of both, then write your article with a bit more facts.

 

[alextheblue]

This article is such a load of biased crap. Okay author, here's my rebuttal, you are an Xbox fan, I'm a Playstation fan, however I see both sides. Playstation has had slower releases to DLC and other downloadables on multiple cross platform games such as call of duty, oblivion, and Skyrim. In fact in the latter two there are things Playstation will NEVER get and they are both fantastic games. Destiny was going to solely be for Playstation when it first started, Microsoft begged bungie to let them have some of it bringing up halo and all the time they had working together. The contract that was written up was Microsoft could have 75% of the game while Playstation had 100% for the first year then Microsoft could have the rest of the game. So with that all said, before you run crying and screaming let's gather both sides, that being yours and a Playstation fan, and both sides of the corporate side of both, then write your article with a bit more facts.

Destiny was going to be Playstation exclusive until MS begged them and brought up Halo and all the good times? Yeah OK, add some talking bears and a trespassing blonde and you've got a full fairy tale.

A 1-month or so exclusive DLC is no big deal. But intentionally making the DLC a year long exclusive? That's a tad bit excessive, and I think if the content was Xbox exclusive for a year it would STILL be excessive and you'd be quite unhappy.

As for Skyrim, they ran into technical limitations due to the split RAM configuration which was not present as a limiting factor on Xbox. After the OS you have around ~200MB or so of main RAM available on the PS3. They won't have that issue if and when the next Elder Scrolls hits PS4/XB1, due to both consoles employing large pools of shared RAM.