[b][u]Background[/u][/b]: I'm an Xbox player that grew up on Halo starting my sophomore year of high school 8 years ago. Now let's begin. There will be a slight bias, but I will try my best to keep it to a minimum.
[b][u]Overview[/u][/b]: As Destiny developed it became known that Sony would be getting Playstation timed-exclusives. It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that made an informed purchase. The timed-exclusive content would remain that way for a year. No surprise, that's nothing new. However, why does it even exist? For this, I will break it down into two categories. "True Exclusives", and "Timed-Exclusives".
[b][u]True Exclusive[/u][/b] include games like Halo, God of War, Pokemon, League of Legends. They only appear on one console respectively. Reasons for this very, but many have some strong similarities. These would include funding, time to program, and hardware limits.
[b]Funding[/b] is brought on by one major component. That being that the publisher is the console owner. Being Microsoft Studios, Nintendo, Sony (something). Regardless this is a financial decision made by the developer in order to create a dream that fits their image.
[b]Time to program[/b] is also a big key. Different consoles have different software. This means that I can't take my Xbox game and expect it to run on Playstation. It physically cannot comprehend the file types. To elaborate a little more, Destiny (XB1) is a different game than Destiny (PS4). Where they share the same everything, there coding is distinctly different. Bungie has the time to create versions for both consoles mostly because it has the funding needed to hire enough staff to work on it simultaneously. A smaller developer doesn't always have that luxury and has to program each separately causing it to take twice as long. Due to this, they may just opt to develop it for one console.
[b]Hardware limits[/b]. To be frank, this is mainly a Nintendo and PC issue. Nintendo because it's hardware is significantly lower than the Xbox/PS, and PC because it's significantly higher. A console would have a hard time running Arma 3. That said another limitation to consoles is controller design. Almost all controllers work for PC which makes games like League of Legends and DOTA2 easier to play (example, keyboard and mouse).
[b]Overall thoughts:[/b] True Exclusives have valid reasons to exist. On top of that, it doesn't really hurt the gaming community to bad. Would love to play Uncharted 4? Sure, but it won't ruin my experience not to. If I went on YouTube and watched a video on Uncharted 4 it won't have a significant impact on me. I'm not invested enough in the universe to care what happens.
[u][b]Timed-Exclusive[/b][/u] are exclusives like CoD 1 month on Xbox first, Skyrim DLC on Xbox first, or certain Destiny DLC exclusive to PS for a year. The reason for this is almost entirely funding.
[b]Funding[/b] for timed-exclusives acts in the same aspect as a scholarship does for college. The party asking for the scholarship doesn't have affiliation with either party. They generally have the funding they need, they just want to have less debt when all is said and done.
[b]Overall thoughts:[/b] Yeah, Timed-Exclusives had a lot shorter explanation. I could only think of that though off the top of my head. That said, I have a negative feeling towards timed-exclusives. Where "True Exclusives" players of the opposite console don't have an extensive attachment to the universe, in a "timed-exclusive" they easily can. They are playing the same game as you and have attachment. But why should I be entitled? Honestly, I'm not. I'm using the same thing that publishers use before they launch a game. When they launch a game they are very strict on leaks. They want you to experience the game first hand for yourself. Timed exclusives take that away from you in certain content. Where I haven't watched the Dust Palace strike, or the Black Garden strike, I know they are both underrated strikes where nothing is very glamorous. Now I have negative expectations of them and it will be harder for me to enjoy it. Timed-Exclusive content just doesn't seem fresh like it did to the lucky group that owned the right console. In addition I don't believe it is a wise purchase of a console solely because one console will some content before another.
[b][u]Final Notes:[/u][/b] This isn't a rant on playstation, Bungie, or activision. This is a comparison of different types of exclusives, and a rant on the timed-exclusives. I'm not demanding that we get the Hawkmoon right now, I would just like to see this system shied away from in the future. Sorry for the long read.
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I heard PS gets Two DLCS just for them