Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Are Third-Party Games Really System Sellers?

Are Third-Party Games Really System Sellers?

Everyone knows first-party exclusives are always a huge deal in the gaming industry. Every company has its iconic characters and franchises. When you think of Nintendo, you can’t separate it from Super Mario , The Legend of Zelda , Metroid , Animal Crossing , and Fire Emblem . Sony has icons like Kratos, Nathan Drake, Sackboy, and Kat. Microsoft has things like Halo, Crackdown, and Gears of War. But what about third-party exclusives? Do they matter as much as these first party games? Do they play a huge part when it comes to console choices and sales?

in a recent interview with Gaming Bolt , International Data Corporation Research Director Lewis Ward downplayed the value of third-party exclusive games for systems. He said that many customers didn’t care about such things. His exact thought was, “This is a way of using the word “exclusive” without having to actually pony up all the dough to get a full exclusive game. I think most players see through this, and I don’t think it’s a big factor in platform buying decisions.” While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I can’t help but think Ward’s stance is quite far from the truth. For years, third-party games have been a big factor in driving purchases, and it seems foolhardy to discount their power.

From gaming’s very beginnings, third-party exclusives mattered. Beginning with the third console generation, such seeds were sowed. Nintendo forced companies to sign non-compete clauses to guarantee their games would appear on the NES for two years before heading to another platform, like the Atari 7800, SG1000 or Sega Master System. This continued on into the SNES generation. As a rather specific example, consider Street Fighter II: The World Warrior . While its subsequent updated releases were multiplatform, Nintendo locked down the original console port of the fighting game and it did not appear on the Sega Genesis, Neo Geo or TurboGrafx-16.

The Final Fantasy series is also a big name to point to when it comes to third-party exclusives’ power. Back in the day when Square Enix was just plain Square, it didn’t go around porting its games to every possible platform. Originally, the third-party series was a Nintendo exclusive. That changed with Final Fantasy VII, which was originally developed with the Super NES in mind. Square Enix jumped ship to Sony, due to CD-ROM’s advantages, and the series’ single-player installments went on to be a Sony exclusive until Final Fantasy XIII . This is a huge, third-party system seller, and it would be foolhardy to even suggest that it isn’t a big factor.

But there’s no greater evidence that third-party games are huge than this current generation. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One all each rely on third-party exclusives to help move systems. Microsoft paid to ensure Dead Rising 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider were timed exclusives for the console. The PlayStation 4 has tons of console-exclusive releases like Street Fighter V, Persona 5, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Disgaea, and Yakuza. Even Nintendo is gradually starting to grow its third-party exclusive library with games like Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers, Super Bomberman R, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, and the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei V .

Are Third-Party Games Really System Sellers?

And clearly, such companies are looking to the future to hype up these third-party exclusives when they get them. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is one of the hottest titles of the moment, and it is currently an Xbox One console exclusive. Microsoft has put together all sorts of PR campaigns to hype up that knowledge. Not to mention, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft’s latest press conferences all go out of their way to promote when a game will be on their console first or be a console exclusive. They know when people want things. Stardew Valley is consistently among the top five Switch digital games and that will be the first console to get multiplayer.

There are a lot of selling factors for consoles. The game library is absolutely up there as one of the most important elements. That includes multiplatform, first-party exclusives, and third-party exclusives. Knowing what you will be able to enjoy is a big deal. Games like Persona 5, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and even PUBG are called system sellers for a reason!

Image Credit: Liangxing

To top