Microsoft states console exclusives are less important

Microsoft’s German Xbox 360 product manager Boris Schneider-Johne has declared that console exclusives are not only rarer, but also ‘less important’ in today’s games marketplace.

In an interview with Golem.de, Schneider-Johne discussed Microsoft’s views on the falling importance of console exclusives.

In the past, in the eighties and nineties, that was a major issue. I remember the big ‘Mario vs. Sonic’ debates. What we see today is that the influence of exclusive titles on the sales curves becomes ever smaller,”

In addition, we are in a situation that there is a head-to-head race on several consoles and that nobody is super clear in leadership – especially in matters of the PlayStation 3 against Xbox 360.”

Echoing comments made in a Reuters investigation on studios avoiding platform exclusives due to spiralling costs, as reported by Develop, Schneider-Johne said: Given the production costs of the games, it is hardly possible for developers to commit itself exclusively to someone. Now Sony makes its own games for the console, we make our own games for the console. The titles are exclusive, as they are also attempts turnout the best of the console, but someone like EA or Activision can have a business model of rarely developing for a console exclusively. Therefore, the exclusive title is a little less important.”

Thanks to GameRush.