14 DAY TRIAL // Exclusive platform titles are a bit of a two-edged sword, slashing at both the developing studio as well as at the hardware manufacturers. A big game, a good game, which comes out on a single console does a lot for the reputation of the producer of both the platform and the developer. The console gets to enjoy a larger number of games than its competition, as well as the fame of the exclusive title being attached to it, while simply labeling a title as an "X-console exclusive" can help it increase its sales and gain ore-launch popularity.
On the flip side, the sale market for the game is reduced to half, if not a third, while hardware manufactures have to pay a very large amount of money in order to secure exclusivity. If anything, exclusive titles are a long-term investment that financially balances itself out in the present and only pays off in reputation in the long run. The money developers lose from less sales is compensated by the money they get from the hardware manufacturers for promising exclusivity, money that gets returned to them from the increase in console sales. As such, deciding if a title should get an exclusive release or not is a complete headache.
And according to the very well-known analyst Michael Pachter, Epic Games could be filled with regret and kept awake at night from second thoughts for making Gears of War an Xbox 360 title. During the GameTrailers Bonus Round discussion, Pacther explained that, "I think the Epic guys can't wait until they can start doing multiplatform games." Concerning his opinion on the next Gears branching out, his thoughts don't reflect his previous statement, as he believes the series won't make its way to the PS3.
"I don't, I think Microsoft has a contract to make sure they get that sequel," he said. "But I think Epic regrets signing that contract. You're up to 11 million PS3s in the U.S. and probably similar number in Europe, you got a 20 million addressable market with a game like Gears of War. I mean, that thing would easily sell 3 or 4 million on the PS3, that's a lot of profit. No way is it worth it."
Even so, we should make it clear that this has nothing to do with Epic's official stand on the matter, and these are just Pacther's speculations. As far as we know, Epic might be very happy collaborating with Microsoft, planning to keep Gears of War in the same familiar setting.