Tomb Raider Underworld is the latest game to join the new face of platform exclusivity; a war fought for as long as the medium has existed.
Massive developers such as Rockstar, Capcom and Square-Enix have brazenly declared the war on traditional platform exclusivity futile, with Playstation family titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy, respectively, making the jump to Xbox.
Microsoft spends its budget making games multi-platform instead of uni-platform, and we rarely see Sony dip in to buy exclusivity. The days of Squaresoft passing the torch from Super Nintendo to Playstation are over; in today’s climate they’d more likely develop that long-lost N64 version of Final Fantasy 7 in harmony with its Playstation cousin.
The real battlefield for exclusivity has become the Downloadable Content space; not extra levels and throwaway costumes, but sizeable updates, with their play times quantifiable in hours.
The opening declaration of war started with Grand Theft Auto IV, promising future Downloadable Content to the Xbox 360. Despite being a controversial decision, factoring into much of Microsoft’s promotion for the Xbox 360 version of the game, and the 50 million dollar deal between 2K and Microsoft, the content has still yet to be shown in any form.
E3 2008 revealed two new titles offering platform specific DLC for 2008; Mirror’s Edge will feature downloadable content for Playstation 3 gamers and Fallout 3 will offer new content exclusively to Xbox 360 (and PC) owners.
The hefty price tag on Grand Theft Auto IV’s head may seem excessive, but the numbers tell a different story. Speaking to Gamasutra in August, 2008, Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business Manager, Kevin Salcedo explained that games with paid downloadable content sell, on average, $21 million more at retail, provided the DLC hits within a so-called 30-day sweet spot.
That should leave no doubt that downloadable content is a lethal weapon. Add that to the headline “Mötley Crüe single downloaded on Rock Band five times more than on iTunes”, plus the $240 million in DLC sales to Microsoft, and downloadable content is, worryingly, going to be yet another factor for console owners to fight and brag over.
So while this new war is just ramping up, an Xbox 360 exclusive chapter to Tomb Raider: Underworld is just another casualty of the battlefield.
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