i disagree 100%. i think exclusives drive competition and push things forward.
but i would love to see mario and zelda and metroid on the ps4 and/or xbox 1.
It's an artificial constraint on competing for quality anyway (the buying out of 3rd parties from cross platform into exclusivity).
How exactly does that truly drive 'competition'? It's the opposite, it simply takes options away from people. And if taken too far, it would almost necessitate owning two, or even three console systems to have a chance at playing all the titles. Great for those than can afford it, but not everybody can. Let's not forget that a lot more than just guys in their 20s and 30s with disposable income like to play games in their spare time.
Imagine a world where :
Microsoft and Sony took the exclusive licensing to their ultimate conclusions :
Microsoft bought Madden, Call of Duty, Capcom, etc (roughly half of all major series and companies), and Sony picked up NBA, Konami, Battlefield, etc, roughly the other half of major companies and IPs.
Competition should come from creating incredibly great titles, not from a vacuum. I also don't buy the 'exclusives will have to be better optimized' line either. I think we can both name plenty of console exclusives that aren't very impressive over the years. Those that are impressive, are because they were done with the correct budget and staff.
Now think about that from a business perspective. Company A wants 'big title 2014' to be great, so they spend $XX million dollars developing it with a great staff, and enough time to polish it and test it well. They have an estimated install base and attachment rate to work with, and that is taken into account in their budgeting. Now take that same company, and take off the shackles of exclusivity. Now they can analyze all viable systems. It doesn't necessarily have to mean reducing the quality, unless their production values suck. But in reality, it's just a business decision. If they want a really optimized great-looking/playing title on multiple systems, they
can do so.
Consider the GLOBAL marketplace, and look at the tie that was with PS3/360. It was borderline insane for 3rd parties to sell for one console exclusively without the funny money coming from the Sony and Microsoft coffers. Anyway, in the end, the real competition is when a buyer goes to make their choice, is this game great, is it average, or does it suck?
If anything, with the X86 Jaguar + Radeon GCN architecture of the new consoles, it makes almost zero sense to do 3rd party exclusives from any technical perspective whatsoever. It's purely corporations playing games with us to limit our choices.
Look at this list, and tell me with a straight face that 99% of these titles wouldn't play just fine on both the XB1 and PS4?
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/24116-xbox-one-vs-playstation-4-postlaunch-exclusive-games/
But no, owners of one system or the other will continually miss a ton of great titles.
And no, I'm not talking about employees of Sony and Microsoft's gaming divisions working on their own IPs, but rather buying off 3rd parties to drop development on the competing console, or buying the company outright. I just think it's a net negative for the average gamer. Besides, that bribe money could be spent moving their own IP projects forward instead.