„Games are too expensive.” No Rest for the Wicked creator and Adrian Chmielarz explain why exclusivity no longer makes sense

Exclusive titles have always been a hot topic because they play a big role in which platform players end up choosing.

Lately, this issue's gotten even more interesting because Microsoft has decided to ditch that strategy and is happily bringing more of its popular games to rival platforms. Even Sony has loosened up its rules on this, but just for service games for now, like releasing Helldivers 2 on Xbox Series X/S. We write about this because several creators have made interesting comments on the subject on X.

It all started with a comment from the current head of the Xbox division, Sarah Bond. She said that exclusive titles are an outdated concept, both when it comes to games released only on a specific console and PC titles available exclusively in one digital store. She emphasized that the most popular games in the world, such as Fortnite, Roblox, or the Call of Duty series, are available on as many platforms as possible.

Sarah Bond and exclusive games – players criticize, developers support

Most players criticized this statement, but Sarah Bond was supported by Thomas Mahler, the head of Moon Studios, known for No Rest for the Wicked and the Ori series. He stated that exclusive titles no longer make sense for most developers. The reasons are financial issues, especially rapidly increasing budgets.

The Ori series began as an exclusive brand, available only on Xbox consoles and PCs. When the creators started planning their next project, No Rest for the Wicked, they initially negotiated a similar deal with Microsoft. However, the budget for this RPG was so high that the creators quickly realized they couldn't afford to miss out on sales from releasing the game on Nintendo and Sony consoles, too. That's why Moon Studios decided to work together with a different publisher. Ironically, No Rest for the Wicked hasn't even left Early Access yet, and Microsoft has already ditched their plan for exclusive game releases.

Mahler explains that things were different in the past because games were much cheaper to make. Grand Theft Auto III first came out as a timed exclusive for the PS2 and sold five million copies, making it a massive hit back in the day. Today, such numbers would be insufficient for many AAA titles. As a result, even Sony is now bringing all of its projects to PC.

Moreover, Mahler suggests that studios owned by console producres have lost many outstanding designers precisely because of exclusive titles. These people didn't want to accept high sales targets while lacking the ability to release the game on as many platforms as possible. The head of Moon Studios points out that Nintendo is an exception because its whole business is vertically integrated. People basically buy their consoles just for Nintendo games, which isn't really the case with Sony and Microsoft.

Adrian Chmielarz, the head of the Polish studio The Astronauts working on Witchfire, agreed with Mahler, saying:

Of course, the reality is that a lot of ebooks are only available on Kindle, which really annoys readers.

No Rest for the Wicked

April 18, 2024

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• Adrian Chmielarz
• The Astronauts
• Moon Studios