Are they still the exclusive console as important as before?

There are few subjects that have caused so many debates (and quite heated) like that of the exclusive of the different companies and videogame platforms. There will be those who think that the exclusivities are always negative, but it would be entirely to think that the videogame industry could have been developed in the same way without them. Do you imagine that games like Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64 would have been multiplatform in its launch? An authentic nonsense. And the same thing we could say of titles as the great Shenmue of Dreamcast or the first Gran Tourism of PlayStation.

The exclusives have served to generate a brand image and a user base that, with each new console, looked for the return of some of these licenses. It is a path that comes from a distance, forged at a very basic principle: Find the user . The question is whether several decades after this phenomenon originated, we can say that it is still booming. Are the exclusive ones remain relevant? We have seen movements in which games initially released on console passed part of the PC catalog. This has happened especially in Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and we are already seeing that in the new generation the story is repeated.

However, borders remain unwavering. You can not be able to play the futurible uncharted in the Microsoft machine, nor the next Gears on the platform of Sony . That barrier will always exist, and it is good that there is: what was the meaning then that we have different consoles available? Nintendo is surely the one that does mostly follow this logic. Probably, there is no hardware manufacturer that currently depends on your licenses and the company based in Kyoto. Hence, with each vulneration of copyright leave as an exhalation with all its legal arsenal.

So my answer is that the exclusives remain very relevant. If you are passionate about the Forza Saga, you will be conditioned to make you with an Xbox Series . If you are expectant before the sequel to Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you will be tilted by a Nintendo Switch . If you re crazy about playing God of War Ragnarok, you ll be tempted by a ps5 . In the end, it is about making decisions, and they end up being very personal. In addition, there are more factors that determine a certain platform: the appreciation of the brand, technical characteristics or retraction, and of course the price.

Therefore, the exclusives are important, but not always determining to acquire a console. A Nielsen study published during the past generation, highlighted other aspects such as the innovative characteristics of these machines, the best resolution, the processing capacity, the fun factor or the value for money. Exclusive video games were located fourth in Xbox One and in fifth position in Wii U. All this should make us think that everything is relative , and that many more factors are taken into account today that at the time of 8 and 16 bits.

The exclusives are important, but not always determining to acquire a console This is obvious in an industry that is increasingly revolved around the quality of services . Game Pass and PlayStation Now, among others, are offering more and more versatility to enjoy the games, even without having to have an Xbox console or a PlayStation, thanks to the use of a PC or mobile devices using cloud game technology. It is more interested in the companies currently than paying for their services and that you acquire videogames in their online stores. The borders diffuse, but I think that the exclusive barrier will continue to exist. Not as clearly as once, but yes to mark the differences as so that you keep doing the eternal question of what console to buy (or what service to hire). Because in the event that the consoles disappear, the scenario can be one similar to that of Netflix, Disney + and HBO in which each has its exclusive content. And it is that, in the end, everything goes about that, about differentiating and forcing users to make purchase decisions.