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Are we ok with Console Exclusives returning? (Die Shrink Telegrams) (Patreon)

Published:
2026-04-15 19:56:25
Edited:
2026-04-15 19:56:46
Imported:
2026-04
Tags:

Content

Over the past month there have been numerous rumors circulating that not only will Sony, but also now Microsoft might consider pivoting back to relying on exclusive games to sell their next-gen consoles...if true, how do we feel about this?

Certainly having to buy a box to play a specific game can be annoying, but can anyone argue with the results we saw regarding how many more big games there were between PS1 and PS360? Let us know your thoughts on this protentional development, and how you see competition playing out with the next-gen of gaming devices below! You have ~3.5 hours!

https://www.ign.com/articles/console-is-where-they-want-to-be-reports-indicate-sony-is-pulling-away-from-pc-for-single-player-playstation-games

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-04/sony-pulls-back-from-playstation-games-on-pc

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/111050/report-xbox-exclusives-being-discussed-internally-at-microsoft-some-form-of-game-exclusivity-may-return/index.html

Comments

CompressedAIBlocks

Not a question but just my thoughts. It makes sense because you either have to go all in on exclusives or all in on being third party. Sony doesn't need to do the third party thing if they don't want to unless it makes sense (Destiny 2, Helldivers 2). Ditto for Nintendo. Xbox returning to exclusives after like a decade of training players/consumers on not needing them? That's gonna be a big thing to overcome for them IMO. I'll buy a PlayStation for exclusives, not an Xbox though. Edit: The other big issue is the quality of Xbox first party titles hasn't improved much, if at all, since they went on an acquisition spree. Look at Doom The Dark Ages, fun game but a noticeable downgrade over Doom Eternal...and are you gonna alienate PC players on a Doom game? 🤔

Waaah

My big problem is that I don't really care about sony or xbox's games. I guess Nintendo either. I haven't seen a game that I actively thought, I need to play that. Except psychonauts 2 or hifi rush

Jen-Hsun Huang, AI is not circular

Seems great to me. It should push platform owners to experiment more. Nintendo’s exclusives are the only reason I buy and keep their consoles. I’ve owned PlayStations to play games, but once they hit PC years later, I sell them. It also encourages Sony and Microsoft to try different things, perhaps even smaller scale projects to start new first party IP? So I think I’m on 3 games between a PS4 pro and PS5.

Girthmaxxer

Exclusives might encourage hardware sales but that is becoming less important as PlayStation has definitively won the console war. Exclusives had more gravitas during the Xbox 360/PS3 gen as both consoles were competitive. The problem with exclusives in today’s market is simply how much it costs to make games as some are costing $200 million or more. They won’t make their money back as easily by artificially limiting it to one platform in order to sell more consoles. 20% of Death Stranding 2’s sales came from PC which is about $32 million in additional revenue.

Jen-Hsun Huang, AI is not circular

Fundamentally the issue with Xbox exclusivity is what do they do about the PC sized hole. They’ve been trying to move Xbox onto PC. But if their “exclusivity” is Xbox and PC… it isn’t exclusive helping sell Xbox units.

Gob

The only Xbox game going back to being exclusive that I would want to play would be Forza Horizon. Microsoft’s first party output has been ok but nothing that I feel would warrant buying a Xbox. I’m also hesitant to buy anything Xbox after what they’ve done over the past few years. Xbox store games run worse than Steam and if PS6 and the PS6P are as good as they look, then I don’t see a need to build a new PC or buy a Xbox anytime soon. I don’t want to go back to the Windows ecosystem. I’d be willing to buy a used Series X for cheap to play the games I already own on Xbox, but won’t buy anything new on their platforms.

Jen-Hsun Huang, AI is not circular

If you just output the video to a monitor, and have a camera pointed at it, you can use DLSS5 to play the game on your PC perfectly interpreted without changes of any kind from the core gameplay! All you need is 1 5090

Jihad ROUANI

I guess I'll answer from the bottom, if the next Xbox is $1200 and the next PS6 is $700 then pragmatically only one option makes sense: Make exclusives and make a lot of them, to sell the console to avid gamers. And by exclusives I mean great single player narrative experiences, not yet another live service game with Heros that nobody cares about, few weeks ago Epic fired 1000+ employees because Fortnite isn't doing well, you know things are bad when even the giant everyone is trying to mimic is bleeding. What I said up to now is how I would think about it if I was Sony or Xbox, from now on I'll speak from my perspective as a player; Exclusives are bad, I do not want to spend 60% of my PC's value to play a few games on Console, if they are coming to PC I'm happy, if not then I'm more than happy to not spend $700+ to play a few titles. I'm already not planning to buy a console to play GTA 6 as big of a release that is, I just can't spare that much money on a game, not in this economy which is getting increasingly harsh for us normies. So that's my answer, if I was these companies I would 100% invest in great narrative experiences and gatekeep them to attract players, but as a player I am not buying into this, and I imagine there are many of us in the same boat so the question is will gaming once again become a luxury like it was in the past?

Prior is the theme 999

I’m ok with it I’d actually prefer it, I understand the argument most gamers have that “iTs AnTi cONsuMeR tO lOCk sTuFF To a PlATfoRm” and honestly I don’t care. If I want a Big Mac I go to McDonald’s, if I want a baconator I go to Wendy’s I don’t care that places that sell essentially the same thing create stuff to differentiate themselves. With the steam machine coming out and the steam deck too, I hope valve creates more exclusive software too. Side note, make your own burgers it takes no time, they are cheaper, taste better, and way healthier than the slop food industry burgers.

Cleansweep

I think whether or not people care about exclusives depends entirely on what those exclusives are. I feel like Microsoft has basically no first party IPs anyone cares about anymore, either due to botching multiple releases in a row or not using them in forever. So they would have to not only show off well in the pre-release marketing cycle, but actually be good for anyone to care. Playstation has a bunch of IP they haven't used in forever that could give them a really strong slate of exclusives. I just don't know if they'd ever greenlight them. I do hope that Japanese developers don't go back to the "Playstation is our only release platform" bad old days though, after finally getting them to respect PC.

Prior is the theme 999

Do you think its smart for microsoft to acquire some fans of their ip now for let's say the gears, forza or halo with the next games/remakes coming to ps5 and make next gen iterations xbox helix only in hopes ps users or even people who switched from 360/one to ps4/ps5 get an xbox too? Or will that feel like a rug pull to some? I think it's a good idea. Theres so many games that were great or had good potential on xbox's side that if they were on playstation they would be very well received or the start of a great franchise. If you told a pony sunset overdrive was made by insomiac they would gladly buy it and enjoy it bias free because its actually a good game.

AL Games

For Playstation and Nintendo it makes sense, since they can keep their games from the PC market to sell more consoles. Microsoft on the other hand is in a different spot as players would expect Xbox games to launch on PC as well.

HaveAGoodDay

I have a lot of Steam games, but in reality, loading and just the general mental weight of dealing with the computer vs just getting into relax mode at a console, with PS5 SSD, I pick console. I bought SATA SSDs for PS4 & PS3 because it became so combersom to play, especially if you die. I gave up from PS3 to COVID because of how much time it took to load games. I'm getting back into gaming with PS5. I was amazed how fast Oblivion was on PC vs PS3.

Eric Bagely

I've been a fan of Nintendo most of my life, so I can't really have a problem with exclusives. One of the great things about exclusives: It drove a lot of the passionate rivalry with consumers we've seen over the years. Some people might call it fanboyism, but I still prefer passion. Also, it seems that people buy consoles for 3 reasons: price, ease of service, and exclusives. If you can't have the first two, better ante up on option 3. As for where the console gen is going, I think WAY to much emphasis gets put on "who won the generation", but its probably just a natural outcome of passionate fans looking at it like a horse race. Nintendo will do great, but they need some consistency on their first party titles. Donkey Kong and Pokopia were amazing, but the two mainline Pokémon games and Metroid Prime 4 were trash. Their efforts to get proper switch 2 upgrades for switch 1 games has also been abysmally slow, free money Nintendo, pick it up. Sony will also do great, but their exclusives for Ps6 need that "holy shit" factor. You know that feeling you got when you first saw FF7 remake, new god of war, ghost of Tsukshima, and spider man on Ps4, or Last of us on Ps3? And I'm sorry, because I know this isn't fair, but the sequels on Ps5 just dont carry the same level of excitement as a new Mario or Zelda game. It sucks, its not fair, but it is what it is. Microsoft......oh dear lord. I know we want Helix to succeed, but at a certain point isn't optimism just hopeless naivete? I'm convinced that Microsoft's corporate culture is just cancer, and infects every studio that they own. Exclusives? Microsoft can't even release a good game and they're contemplating exclusives?! Look, maybe they surprise me, but I think this thing is doa.

Lorenzo Linares

I like it. Compared to Microsoft, Sony's first party is laking in western style RPG's like Elder Scrolls, the stuff Obsidian makes, or even Fable. I would like for Sony to be forced to invest in those types of games, wether its be 1st Party or funding someone else to make it. Remember that Demon Souls only exists because Sony wanted to something to go up against Elder Scrolls Oblivion (wether that was a success or not is irrelevant). I think only good can come from this.

Krzysztof Korotko

Next generation will be Store Wars and exclusives will most likely come back. Some 1st party exclusives may be subsidized to promote storefronts rather than to make money directly. Similar how consoles were sold below cost. That's my theory. It will be painful to miss out on some amazing games but on the other hand it will likely inspire some crazy competition, rivalry and may bring us some of the best games ever. Multi-platform, AAAA, open world bloatware didn't work out that well. Many big studios were crushed under the weight of their budgets. Smaller and cheaper games like RE9 is what many players want and miss.

Mateo

God of War Greek Saga Remake could be hints into the future

curryking3

I think there are a few elements which are commonly ignored by audience members in games discussions 1. There are genuine differences in audiences between platforms, and there isn't a directly proportional association between platform audience sizes and sales, different platform audiences also play different games (MOBA is dominant on PC, whereas it is non-existent on consoles, and vice-versa for annual sports games), have different spending behaviours, and have different temperaments in regards to price or even publisher, there was a recent video by Mystic discussing these factors with Flat2VR's leadership about where their more reliable sales can come from (PlayStation) versus where it is most unreliable (Meta VR), 2. We also have to be very clear the discretionary spending per user on different platforms and in different regions is likely extremely variable too, this was touched on in the last BS episode with Colin, or in a recent other episode, where it is very clear when you target a low spending audience that audience is going to spend less (Xbox Series S, Game Pass), and the discussion will only become about value and volume and hours, rather than quality or the fun in those experiences (and we have to be honest, this is not how an invested audience discusses their favourite books, movies, art, or videogames) 3. I think it is underappreciated how social relationships and unwritten social contracts and social expectations between games publishers, developers, and consumers can really alter business decisions? What do you think of for example the PlayStation account controversy on Steam? If the unwritten rules are different and more hostile to a publisher or developer, I can imagine this really does impact business decisions, and this is to also include the low sales of PlayStation games on Steam (aside from Helldivers 2 as a second-party game), this also ties into point 1 about how consumer's games tastes can be completely variable between platforms 4. I think this point has been touched on a few times by BS as well, which is affordability, where else will divergence happen between consoles and PC? There was a long period for 2 full generations where the equivalent cost PC generally vastly outperformed the consoles, especially after the halfway points of the generations, whereas now the performance/dollar calculus is completely switched. Even if RAM prices come down, will we see both consoles and PC settle in the same ratio of price/performance as they are now in comparison to one another? Or will we ever reach a point where high-performance PC parts are only marginally apart in cost to the consoles, but with PC having vastly superior performance again? Is that even in the realm of possibility now? It seems like a far-gone dream at this point as a mainly PC end-user 5. Do we want to have platforms with less exclusives, or more exclusives again? And why? The reason I ask is we are simultaneously as an audience lamenting the lack of unique character in platforms and games, but expecting those games to hit all platforms. Is this a reasonable expectation? Intersect this with the factor of cost of development... is this even a good thing for the health of the industry to homogenize all platforms into an amorphous blob where we can't differentiate among the platforms? How can a new platform make itself attractive without an exclusive game, or 2, or 10? Even eliminating development costs to deliver games on multiple platforms, would exclusive content even help the industry or platforms? I ask this, because with Netflix vs Disney Plus vs [streaming service 2342], how can they differentiate themselves except with exclusive content? There is no technical restriction to streaming a video library on a competitor's platform, but I doubt anyone is excited to give up exclusive content without receiving top dollar for it OK that was long enough! :D

HMS

Hi Tom and Dan. Your episode with Colin got me thinking about the future of the PS5 Pro. I think Sony having a separate SDK for the Pro vs base PS5 says to me that this is a separate console for future devs to focus on. We know it has vastly better AI and RT than base PS5. Could this indict that the Pro will have a much longer lifecycle than the PS4 Pro, now that it has very decent AI upscaling and RT performance? Will PSSR3 and the Pro's 60% more TFLOPS and 300 TOPS future proof it and save it from early obsolescence?

BespokeEP

It's not a separate SDK, they just didn't update older ones with the Pro profile. I think they figured if your game came out like 3+ years ago, and you haven't felt the need to update to a later SDK, then you likely won't want to update the game with a Pro patch. The reason they updated all the SDK with the "low power" aka PS6P support is they want as many PS5 games playable on the handheld on day one. PlayStation has never forced devs to do anything, and they won't force them to update their game with a LP mode, but most will because they like Sony and would likely want people to play their game on the go. Another thing Sony likely won't do is mandate native PS6P support. Just like Switch, if your ambition is too great for the portable, Sony will likely allow a cloud version, or perhaps a hybrid cloud version that draws a little extra power from the cloud but the majority of the game is running locally. I believe Sony had a patent for this a few years ago. But to get to your true question, no chance Sony allows devs to only support the Pro. It will likely be discontinued before they announce the price of PS6, which will likely be in September next year

BespokeEP

Also the problem with updating to PSSR3 on the Pro, is the same issue older Nvidia GPUs have running the latest DLSS. Frame rate takes a hit, and even though devs may be able to update their game to PSSR3 on PS5PRO, it likely won't be able to automatically implement itself due to some games dropping a lot of frames, though this is why Mark couldn't talk about it, cause they still don't know what the frame time penalty will be, but it is likely more than PSSR2 on Pro hardware

BespokeEP

I found the whole refusal of wanting to create a PSN account absolutely hilarious, every single major publisher requires an account link lol. And even more hilarious was people using the 2011 hack as their reason on why they didn't want to make one lol. PSN is actually the most secure Network, and Steam is the most hacked. People need to stop thinking of PSPlus and whatever Xbox calls it now, as paying for online... You are paying for security, think of it like virus protection or a VPN on PC, except on PS at least, you get +$1200 worth of games with it each year

BespokeEP

This is why I stopped gaming on PC around 2002, like you literally spend an hour messing with settings and by the time you get things right you don't even want to play anymore, it's like looking for a movie to watch or game to play on Gamepass/PSPlus... I guarantee you that people subscribed to services, spend more time browsing then actually playing/watching anything