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Jerking Your Fans Around

Posted by Amber Ahlborn

Console exclusivity; to gain sole rights to that singular game with hopes for drawing in the crowds. Game and franchise exclusives have been part of the strategy to gain fan following since the first video game machines began competing. In the early days, consoles had pretty distinct catalogs. It was easy to determine what games would appear on what systems and pick where to spend your dollars. These days almost everything not developed by a first or second party is cross platform (for the moment, we will be ignoring the Wii which plays by its own rules). However, don't think for a moment that exclusivity is a thing of the past, it has merely evolved into a new, sinister form.

Made possible in an age of downloadable content; extra levels, costumes, and other goodies are becoming the new system exclusives. An example of this trend was pointed out in a blog post by Zachary Miller. People who bought Tomb Raider: Underworld for the Xbox 360 are getting all sorts of new content while gamers who bought it for the PS3 are getting the shaft. In my opinion, this is a terrible way to treat your fans.

When games are exclusive to a system, or even when different versions of a game with unique content are made console specific (see Soul Calibur II as an example), fans know up front what they are getting and can make choices on which system to buy for which game. Downloadable content, however, is something that tends to come down the pipes later on, long after the game itself has been purchased. If downloadable content becomes the new console exclusive, consumers can't make informed choices about what version of a game to buy because not all of the information is available up front. One group or the other is going to end up punished for buying the game for the “wrong” system, and that's really not cool.

Related Links:

Millions of Disappointing Tomb Raider Sales for Eidos

The Uncanny Valley: Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Are Starting to Freak Me Out

Pitying Lara, or How to Make a Million Seller and Still Get Fired

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Posted Mar 03 2009, 10:00 AM

Filed under: xbox 360, amber ahlborn, tomb raider, ps3

Comments

Minor Setback said:

I agree. I hope it is a passing trend. How many people actually base their console-purchase decision on which one lets you play as a biker dude in a game released a year earlier?

I think you've made a good point. Console specific games? Fine. It's a consumer-swayable product. Console specific DLC? Bad mojo.

March 3, 2009 1:44 PM

Roto13 said:

It's a pretty shitty business practice, I definitely agree. So far there hasn't been any DLC exclusive to the 360 that I'm interested in, but I'll probably be pretty annoyed when it inevitably happens.

March 3, 2009 1:47 PM

About Amber Ahlborn

Artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

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