Germany’s Xbox 360 product manager Boris Schneider-Johne has downplayed console exclusives and commented on their waning importance this generation. Stating that the influence of exclusives on console sales is decreasing more and more, Schneider-Johne also touched on how it’s nearly impossible for a developer to “commit” itself to one console:
What we see today is that the influence of exclusive titles on the sales curves becomes ever smaller… In addition, we are in a situation where there is a head-to-head race on several consoles and nobody is super clear in leadership — especially in matters of the PlayStation 3 against Xbox 360… Given the production costs of the games, it is hardly possible for developers to commit themselves exclusively to someone…
Now Sony makes its own games for the [PS3] console, we make our own games for the [Xbox 360] console. The titles are exclusive, as they are also attempts [to] turn out the best of the console, but someone like Electronic Arts or Activision can have a business model of rarely developing for a console exclusively. Therefore, the exclusive title is a little less important.
Microsoft understands what we already know, that the third party exclusive is a dying breed. Well, don’t worry about it too much guys — you still have Too Human, eh? Killer app right there, son.
