Jimquisition: Rise Of The Exclusivity Wars

[nexus]

Ben Kuchera's article on Polygon is anti-consumerist corporate dick sucking garbage. Not altogether shocking, just to be expected in this glorious New World of video gaming.

 

[Ariseishirou]

If Jim keeps making these predictions I'm pretty sure every big publisher is going to explode into burning money come year's end.

I find it weird that the only financial point on Rise of the Tomb Raider's exclusivity in this video came in the form of "the previous game sold more on the PS4". Tomb Raider 2013 took seven million sales to become profitable, the Xbox One doesn't even have seven million households with one inside yet. Then again, it's obviously a timed exclusive so oh well.

Well that offers an idea as to how we the consumers could get them to cut this shit out. Timed exclusive? Everyone who has the other console(s) boycotts it. Force them to nut up and make an actual exclusive if they want to pull this shit. See how much they like it when the new Tomb Raider has less than a million sales because they chose to put it exclusively on a console where that was inevitable.

Anybody with me?

 

[Thanatos2k]

I lost a fair measure of respect for Kuchera when he wrote this. There's reporting cold realities, and then there's just not being on the public's side; I don't think the big boys really deserve a journalist doing their "Surrender Dorothy" schtick for them.

(And, y'know, he was just flat-out wrong on that account, so there's that.)

As to the big issue: yeah, losing the next TR temporarily kind of sucks, but then, I never bought the original until it became available in one of those to-the-bones Steam sales; waiting six months or more isn't really an issue for me. As far as exclusives go, I'm far more interested in No Man's Sky, which remains particular to the PC and PS4 last I checked.

Obviously, this is my personal opinion and your mileage may vary, but the games I buy on or near their release dates these days are few and far between. A game pretty much has to be something I feel a need to individually support to get my money early; it has to be bringing something to the field that I feel a need to encourage, that I think we need to see more of in the medium. Day-one DLC? Pffft. It will probably be available in the GOTY edition, or for $0.99 well after the critics have weighed in on whether it's actually worth the trouble.

The Tomb Raiders of the world seem like they'll do just fine without me, and if they don't, well, I guess that's our turn to snidely reply "business is business".

Yeah Kuchera has not exactly been pro consumer. Besides the fact that he was COMPLETELY WRONG in underestimating the gaming public (which he doesn't seem to hold much respect for in the first place).

Plus he has a nasty habit of banning people who expose the hypocrisy of his articles.

I'm just waiting for the eventual picture of him next to the Mountain Dew and Doritos.

 

[tdylan]

Well here's my question: If Tomb Raider, or hell, ANY game is sold on preorder as 'exclusive', and then later released for another system, shouldn't Microsoft or Sony(whichever you bought from) refund the difference? If I bought TitanFall on preorder form $80, operating under the idea its an Xbone exclusive, then 6 months later it comes out for Steam at $50, shouldn't I get my $30 'exclusive' service fee back?!

Nope! For you see, what you paid for was the "privilege" of "early access." While all the commoners had to wait longer for the once thought "exclusive" whatever to arrive to their peasant tables, you were feasting and growing fat on its "innovative" whatever, however long in advance.

 

[CaitSeith]

Yahtzee said it before: the consoles no longer provide access to something you want, instead they hold something you want hostage.

 

[Trishbot]

What bugs me as a Tomb Raider fan of the reboot, and an Xbox owner, is that Tomb Raider had been struggling for awhile, selling less and less, and with Uncharted around seemed headed for irrelevancy.

Then the reboot came out and gave it a much-needed shot in the arm, one supported STRONGLY by Playstation and PC fans. For the first time in YEARS, people liked Tomb Raider again.

I feel this will take that forward momentum, that fresh start, and just utterly grind it all to a screeching halt. That roughly 80% of their market share is upset and angry, which is NOT what you want to have on a franchise that only JUST got its legs under it only a short year ago.

 

[praetor_alpha]

Jim, I really didn't mind you doing over and over again the "Thank God for me", but your ego is getting so big that it might overshadow EA's greed. Do you see how *****ed up that is?! Tune it down a bit, ol' boy, tune it down!

I agree.

Jim, your personality comes off no better than the companies you criticize. Yes, you are right, but I'm not going to "Thank God" for someone who is so full of himself.

 

[DSP_Zulu]

Jim, I really didn't mind you doing over and over again the "Thank God for me", but your ego is getting so big that it might overshadow EA's greed. Do you see how *****ed up that is?! Tune it down a bit, ol' boy, tune it down!

I agree.

Jim, your personality comes off no better than the companies you criticize. Yes, you are right, but I'm not going to "Thank God" for someone who is so full of himself.

Someone doesn't understand satire.

 

[CaitSeith]

O was very eega to see Jim's take on this. After watching RTU and Boogie2988 make videos about this I was interested to hear Jim's side. I'm a PC gamer myself and don't really care for Tomb Raider but I thought this was a great video for putting into context just about everything wrong with exclusivity.

Microsoft has always been about buying out the competition instead of competing themselves but it's good to see their not getting away with it like they used to.

I haven't watched Boogie2988's video. But I have been subscribed to RTU for a while, and let me tell you. I have never seen so many dislikes in one of his videos since the last time he badmouthed Minecraft.

OT: I agree with Rich (RTU) that the XB1 needs something that gives to the consumer a good reason to get one. However holding a multiplatform hostage is a cheap move... figuratelly. Microsoft must have offered a really nice deal to Crystal Dynamics for them to pospone their PC and PS4 ports sales for God (and Jim) knows how long.

 

[m19]

If Jim keeps making these predictions I'm pretty sure every big publisher is going to explode into burning money come year's end.

I find it weird that the only financial point on Rise of the Tomb Raider's exclusivity in this video came in the form of "the previous game sold more on the PS4". Tomb Raider 2013 took seven million sales to become profitable, the Xbox One doesn't even have seven million households with one inside yet. Then again, it's obviously a timed exclusive so oh well.

Not exactly. At 6 million it is "exceeding profit expectations" and is (according to SE) on route to becoming the best sold entry in the franchise. And it became profitable somewhere towards the end of that year.

 

[Something Amyss]

I haven't watched Boogie2988's video. But I have been subscribed to RTU for a while, and let me tell you. I have never seen so many dislikes in one of his videos since the last time he badmouthed Minecraft.

OT: I agree with Rich (RTU) that the XB1 needs something that gives to the consumer a good reason to get one. However holding a multiplatform hostage is a cheap move... figuratelly. Microsoft must have offered a really nice deal to Crystal Dynamics for them to pospone their PC and PS4 ports sales for God (and Jim) knows how long.

I don't think Rich got dislikes as much because of his stance, but because he was an utter dick about it.

I agree.

Jim, your personality comes off no better than the companies you criticize. Yes, you are right, but I'm not going to "Thank God" for someone who is so full of himself.

Wouldn't God, by his very nature, be full of Himself? Then why not His most holy prophet, Jim Sterling?

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Rise Of The Exclusivity Wars

The Rise of the Tomb Raider news confirmed one thing - this war over exclusivity is going to make the game industry an everso slightly worse thing. Yes, something else to do that, now.

Watch Video

"massive wank" or slap the shrivelled stump Jim?

another great video

 

[LoneWolf83]

Jim, I really didn't mind you doing over and over again the "Thank God for me", but your ego is getting so big that it might overshadow EA's greed. Do you see how *****ed up that is?! Tune it down a bit, ol' boy, tune it down!

I agree.

Jim, your personality comes off no better than the companies you criticize. Yes, you are right, but I'm not going to "Thank God" for someone who is so full of himself.

So you don't get the joke? Jim being so full of him self is the joke.

Why must we thank God for Jim when he is so much greater than God? Than Jim for Jim!

 

[GonzoGamer]

You don't have to be God or the amazing Rando even to have seen this coming.
We saw this happening last gen.
"Why am I going to buy a machine with an absurd defect rate and a monthly fee?"
"Because it's getting the GTA4 dlc exclusively."
So those people got to pay the absurd $20 first...for some extra missions. And they knew people would pay however much for whatever they released because thats why they bought the thing.

I'm tempted to buy whatever (pay for) dlc they release for GTA V, not because it's going to be exclusive, but because it's a year later and I'm still playing that same $60 game that they constantly update for free.

 

[Toadfish1]

I resent this being referred to as a war. The term war implies that both sides are fighting. Sony have been getting their exclusives the old fashioned way, like you said - being the better, more popular console, having better first and second party studios, and funding and supporting promising devs (usually indie) to secure exclusive content.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

i hate exclusives in almost all its forms (not the games, the concept), but you do have a point when it comes to competition, i guess when they come from first party devs or if the game couldnt exist otherwise, theres an argument there

 

[Evonisia]

If Jim keeps making these predictions I'm pretty sure every big publisher is going to explode into burning money come year's end.

I find it weird that the only financial point on Rise of the Tomb Raider's exclusivity in this video came in the form of "the previous game sold more on the PS4". Tomb Raider 2013 took seven million sales to become profitable, the Xbox One doesn't even have seven million households with one inside yet. Then again, it's obviously a timed exclusive so oh well.

Not exactly. At 6 million it is "exceeding profit expectations" and is (according to SE) on route to becoming the best sold entry in the franchise. And it became profitable somewhere towards the end of that year.

Well then, forgive me for misreading. It's been a while since I checked the "has finally become profitable" article on whatever website it was.

It won't just be the publishers. If Jim is as spot-on as he was last week, then we can expect to see the following announcement from Microsoft within the hour:

"Playstation 4 will be exclusive to Xbox One this December"

Can you imagine?

Well, you can run a PS4 through an Xbox One (or at least something similar to that) with reduced smoothness so it would be a good fit. And I say that as an Xbox One owner.

If Jim keeps making these predictions I'm pretty sure every big publisher is going to explode into burning money come year's end.

I find it weird that the only financial point on Rise of the Tomb Raider's exclusivity in this video came in the form of "the previous game sold more on the PS4". Tomb Raider 2013 took seven million sales to become profitable, the Xbox One doesn't even have seven million households with one inside yet. Then again, it's obviously a timed exclusive so oh well.

Well that offers an idea as to how we the consumers could get them to cut this shit out. Timed exclusive? Everyone who has the other console(s) boycotts it. Force them to nut up and make an actual exclusive if they want to pull this shit. See how much they like it when the new Tomb Raider has less than a million sales because they chose to put it exclusively on a console where that was inevitable.

Anybody with me?

Heh, that would still allow me to feel free to buy it. Everyone else, know yourselves out. Whether I buy it or not it cannot possibly be profitable off the Xbox One alone. Still I hate that one console (regardless of which one it is) is the guinea pig group for the game so the other consoles/PC get the GOTY edition later on.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Can you predict all these companies going down in flames. Although in truth I don't blame the companies any more, I blame the consumers who continually buy their stuff despite all the shitty things they do.

 

[Vivi22]

That kind of dickery is not really new, isn´t it ?
More than 10 Years ago, Microsoft wrapped their greasy fingers around Halo, that was originaly scheduled for a realease on PC and made it an exclusive title for their first X-Box.

It's not new, but until Microsoft got involved in the industry it was rare. Every other console manufacturer had first and second party development teams that were talented and made some great exclusives that were exclusive because they paid to have them made in the first place. Even now, Nintendo and Sony still develop their own stuff.

Microsoft came in with next to nothing in the way of first party developers, tried to buy their way there a bit by starting some teams, and buying Rare, but nothing has ever really come of any of their efforts because they are a bureaucratic mess of a company that wouldn't know how to develop a good game if someone came in and offered to do it for them if they just fund it. So now they're still buying exclusives. But they aren't even really doing that here because we all know that almost nothing from a major publisher these days is actually exclusive for more than a few months to a year.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Remember when we all used to joke about paid Demos? Like it was this ridiclous thing that exemplified the money grubbing and content lite excess of some sections of the industry. Like it was some kind of ludicrous example of how mad the games industry COULD go but never would because it was so transparently morally and creatively bankrupt.

"Yeah those guys just want to sell us paid demos one day lol"

Well we're not fucking laughing anymore are we. If i told you 10 years ago people would be paying, just straight being charged, for demos you would presume there would be gamers rioting in the streets.

Next up is paying for patches. You know, because it took work for the devs to make them, so they should be compensated.

Sound insane? Capcom's halfway there. EA or Ubisoft will be the first to actually do it though.