It wasn’t too long ago that game exclusivity was king among “third party” blockbusters like Final Fantasy and Guitar Hero.  When games were only released on one system and one system alone.  However, with this console generation having no clear cut leader to shoulder the burden of millions of sales, like it was during the Playstation 2 era, the ideas of exclusivity are beginning to change.  But why move away from single platform exclusivity when it’s obviously much easier to develop for one system?  The sad truth is that game development costs are a lot higher now than they were a few years ago.  The move to HD graphics means much more detailed art assets are required and production quality expectations are at an all time high.  Just like the movie business, video games are turning into a big budget, blockbuster-obsessed industry.  So game publishers are finding little reason to stick to one platform when they could be selling to a much wider audience.

The concept of exclusivity is not altogether dead yet.  Although not an entirely new idea, timed exclusivity is one way Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are continuing to compete for dominance in the continuing console war.  Traditionally, when a game receives a timed exclusivity window of a year or more, sales are generally skewed heavily toward the first version of the game, since all the buzz and anticipation will have worn off by the time the ported game comes out.  After all, the Grand Theft Auto series became a timed exclusive for the PS2, which later appeared on both the PC and Xbox.  The same could be said for Resident Evil 4, which first debuted on Nintendo’s Gamecube and was later ported to PS2.  Today, the timed exclusive has all but replaced the “third party” exclusive.  Bioshock and Eternal Sonata were both timed exclusives for the Xbox360 and Unreal Tournament III was temporarily a PS3-only game.

However, exclusive windows don’t quite carry the same weight as they once did.  For one thing, today’s timed exclusivity is more transparent and well known to consumers.  Since there’s no big mystery, gamers can make an educated decision on whether to wait for a specific version to buy.  But there is another variable to timed exclusivity that has changed recently, namely the amount of time the exclusive window grants.  Rock Band 2 is a good example of this, which saw the Xbox360 release on Sept 14th, while the PS3 version comes out Oct 19th, and the Wii and PS2 versions hit retail on Nov 18th.  In cases like this, with only a few months of exclusivity, a marketing deal is usually involved.  It’s unclear though, whether such tight windows of opportunity offer the same magnitude of benefit, especially when the average consumer will be able to buy any version they want within the same holiday season.

There is one more emerging form of exclusivity that is much more subtle.  Games are starting to offer exclusive downloadable content, or DLC, to a single platform version only.  One of Microsoft’s biggest marketing lines for Grand Theft Auto IV is that there will be exclusive downloadable episodic expansions for the Xbox360 version only.  Fallout 3 and the upcoming Tomb Raider Underworld will also feature Xbox360-only DLC packs of added content.  PS3 owners will get some relief in knowing that Mirror’s Edge will have PS3 only downloadable content of its own.  The problem with exclusive DLC is that it provides a less significant incentive to the average gamer.  Most don’t even beat the game or experience the majority of initial content a game has to offer.  And informing consumers about additional content to buy is still hard enough when every version has the potential to buy that content, let alone a small minority.

So what does this mean for you and me?  For the most part, the decline in exclusive software is a good thing.  It means a higher chance that game developers and publishers can continue making great games we all love.  In a way, it also reduces the need to own all three console platforms, since the software catalogs are seeing a much greater overlap, with most games being released across the entire gamut of game systems, or least a few.  Most gamers out there probably won’t even notice the constant battle for exclusivity that goes on behind the scenes.  It’s only the hardcore gamers that piss and moan about “lead SKUs” and scrutinize the latest GameTrailers side-by-side comparison video of the newest multi-platform title.  For the rest of you, know that “war never changes..”  The console war that is.

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