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What's the point of making next-gen exclusives if no one can play them?

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bing

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Apr 27, 2020
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nowhere, canada
I've been thinking about this a lot -- Sony is supposed to have a couple of next-gen exclusives coming up, including Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy 16, and (maybe) God of War: Ragnarok. Considering that it's nearly impossible to get your hands on a PS5 and there is barely any stock anyway, what's the point of making these games exclusive to next-gen?

Edit: I'm trying to get at the financial incentive for game sales moreover than the financial incentive for console sales. Sure, it makes sense for publishers like Sony who are concerned both about console sales and game sales, but what about games like Resident Evil 8?
 
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fourfourfun

fourfourfun

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Oct 27, 2017
7,678
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bingo said:
I've been thinking about this a lot -- Sony is supposed to have a couple of next-gen exclusives coming up, including Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy 16, and (maybe) God of War: Ragnarok. Considering that it's nearly impossible to get your hands on a PS5 and there is barely any stock anyway, what's the point of making these games exclusive to next-gen?
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They're a way off though? Surely we'd start to see machines out there for when they arrive.
 

Jalen

Member
Dec 18, 2017
190
Just because not everyone who wants one has one doesn't mean that they aren't still selling. The games will do fine and people will likely pick them up once they get their systems. Look at the Switch and Mario Kart/Zelda/Odyssey.
 
Akela

Akela

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Oct 28, 2017
1,849
You really think that the PS5 will still be out of stock by the time Final Fantasy 16 and the new God of War rolls around?
 
salromano

salromano

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Oct 25, 2017
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To make people buy consoles to play them.

PS5 will be easier to obtain with time.
 
jaymzi

jaymzi

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Jul 22, 2019
6,539
Sony ain't going to pull a Nintendo and make these games available for a limited time only.
 
Euler007

Euler007

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Jan 10, 2018
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Goes on to list games coming out after the initial supply constraints will be resolved...hopefully.
 
Vashetti

Vashetti

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Oct 27, 2017
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bingo said:
Why make huge, big-budget games for an audience the size of ~300,000 people when you can make the same game for an audience of 140,000,000 people?
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Because it's been 7 years and it's time to move on. If the new devices don't have software, what's the incentive to upgrade? Also the game inherently won't be the same.
 
Tohsaka

Tohsaka

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Nov 17, 2017
6,791
PS5 production isn't stopping at the end of the year. They're making them as fast as they can.
 
NediarPT88

NediarPT88

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Oct 29, 2017
15,080
bingo said:
I've been thinking about this a lot -- Sony is supposed to have a couple of next-gen exclusives coming up, including Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy 16, and (maybe) God of War: Ragnarok. Considering that it's nearly impossible to get your hands on a PS5 and there is barely any stock anyway, what's the point of making these games exclusive to next-gen?
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Don't know about Ratchet but I doubt there'll be stock problems by the time GOW and FF are out.

Also it remains to be seen if GOW is exclusive.
 
Nameless

Nameless

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Oct 25, 2017
15,343
Isn't PS5 on pace to shatter all of Sony's previous launch window production numbers? The scarcity speaks more to insane global demand. Those games will be there as more & more get their hands on the hardware.
 
Dragoon

Dragoon

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Oct 31, 2017
11,231
Is OP even 18? You have to ask because they have done this sucessfully for decades, so I don't understand why there's any confusion.
 

Bundy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
20,931
bingo said:
I've been thinking about this a lot -- Sony is supposed to have a couple of next-gen exclusives coming up, including Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy 16, and (maybe) God of War: Ragnarok. Considering that it's nearly impossible to get your hands on a PS5 and there is barely any stock anyway, what's the point of making these games exclusive to next-gen?
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Dude, the PS5 is a hot item and no matter how many Sony makes, they will get sold out asap.
They're the marketleader and everbody wants one. It sucks for those who can't get one at launch, but it isn't serious.
Just wait a little bit longer.

I mean, just look at this:
 
Strings

Strings

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Oct 27, 2017
31,379
BSkWRE0.gif
 
Vashetti

Vashetti

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Oct 27, 2017
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bingo said:
What's the point in selling more consoles when you don't have any to sell? It's not like these are just sitting on shelves at Walmart.
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How are you not understanding that any available stock is selling out instantly? Sony and MS are making these devices as fast as they can but currently can't match launch demand. If they could make more, they would, and those would sell out instantly too. Millions and millions of devices have been sold already and it's barely been two weeks.
 
LeBigMac

LeBigMac

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Oct 26, 2017
609
bingo said:
I've been thinking about this a lot -- Sony is supposed to have a couple of next-gen exclusives coming up, including Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy 16, and (maybe) God of War: Ragnarok. Considering that it's nearly impossible to get your hands on a PS5 and there is barely any stock anyway, what's the point of making these games exclusive to next-gen?
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Loads of people have a PS5. I had zero trouble ordering one for me and another for a friend. No need to get salty over it.
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

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Sep 24, 2019
34,305
Console manufacturing WILL pick back up. Also, you don't need to play everything day one. It's very frustrating to not get a launch console when you want one, and that problem is exacerbated when you're checking on a daily basis. Don't know what else to say other than be patient. The consoles will be available in due time.
 

kitler53

Member
Oct 15, 2020
208
what a silly question.

i didn't have a ps4 at launch. i played knack and killzone shadowfall. i didn't play them day-1 but when i played them i was actually impressed and happy to have upgraded my console.


what's the point of upgrading a console if you don't get access to games that can't just be played on your existing 10 year old hardware?
 
Akela

Akela

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Oct 28, 2017
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Also, at least part of the reason why the PS5 is so supply constrained is because of the existence of games like those - people aren't buying PS5's just to play their PS4 games at higher resolutions.
 
Dan Thunder

Dan Thunder

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Nov 2, 2017
14,018
bingo said:
I've been thinking about this a lot -- Sony is supposed to have a couple of next-gen exclusives coming up, including Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy 16, and (maybe) God of War: Ragnarok. Considering that it's nearly impossible to get your hands on a PS5 and there is barely any stock anyway, what's the point of making these games exclusive to next-gen?
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1) - You sell more consoles with big exclusives.
2) - By the time these games come out the PS5 should be freely available.
3) - By the time these games come out there will probably be 10-15m consoles out there. Not sure where you've plucked 300,000 from?!
 
EinBear

EinBear

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Oct 27, 2017
1,663
OP is right, we should all buy consoles on an honours system. We all buy them, put them in storage, and then if they've sold enough units after a year or two we can get them out and start to play games on them.
 
Cosmic Voyager

Cosmic Voyager

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Oct 24, 2019
6,560
Having a huge shiny new game that can only be played on the new hardware is a great way to drive sales of said hardware.

Besides, shortages won't last forever and once most people have a next gen console they'll want a lot of stuff to play. It would suck if you got a next gen console and there was literally just one big game that you couldn't play elsewhere, because then you might as well have saved your money and kept your old console.

Games at the beginning of a console's life cycle are basically investments -- pubs need at least one killer app (ideally more) to drive sales of the new console. Those games may not sell as much as they would have on the previous console, but it's an important investment into building up the install base of the new console so that by the end of the gen they can harvest the fruits of those efforts by selling games to a much larger install base.
 
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