Insomniac Proves Exclusives Are Dead
Sony’s loss is Microsoft’s gain as Insomniac Games finally goes multiplatform…
Insomniac Games has revealed that its first major new IP for years will be bucking the trend of Sony exclusivity and making its way to the Xbox 360. While there are first-party studios that hinge their success on one specific console, there have always been others, though dedicated to the cause, that never sign on the dotted line. Microsoft’s relationship with Bungie is indicative of a studio relationship where the studio remained independent, despite a close working relationship. Similarly, on the Sony side, Insomniac Games has been instrumental in making sure the PlayStation brand is a success.
Successful series such as Spyro or Ratchet & Clank created colourful characters and platforming fun that lead into the more serious Resistance FPS games, but what has Insomniac in store for its first foray into 360 territory? Well, for those that have spent their gaming lives with a 360 pad glued to their hands, Insomniac has been keen to point out its core tenets of humour, exotic and explosive weapons, and immersive storytelling. You can usually add stunning locations and scenery to that list too, and currently, Overstrike’s lovely CGI trailer has been living up to that promise.
But, why wouldn’t it? Look past the glossy theatrics and on paper Overstrike is hitting a pretty perfect balance between action-adventure gameplay and four-player co-op; a feature of this generation of gaming that has been depressingly under used. The game focuses on four characters: team leader Brooks is cocky and to the point, best friend and black guy Jacob The ‘Pacifist’ is anything but, Maya is the stealthy femme fatale and there’s Isabel, shooting from the hip for women’s rights. It’s obvious that subtlty and avoiding clichés are at the bottom of Insomniac’s to-do list, but where most characters this banale would be the death knell of a third-person action game, in Overstrike, its humour and fun shine through regardless.
There’s little reason to doubt Insomniac’s history from an artistic or technical point of view, but where Overstrike will succeed or fail is how well its four characters and co-op gameplay can be implemented alongside its narrative.
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What a Microsoft CUM GUZZLER.
Go back to circle jerking with your Xbros, you f@g.
Really? Bungie went multiplatform, write an article about that! dumbass
I think we have already. But that’s the point, every developer will be multiplatform in the future because that means their games reach the widest audience possible. It makes sense.
While I agree to a point that 3rd party exclusives will become more and more rare in the future, I also know that both Sony & Nintendo have a lot of 1st party studios that will continue to make exclusives for their respective companies.
It is obvious that you are a total MS guy so I really think you are confusing MS’s lack of future exclusives and pushing it onto both Sony & Nintendo. MS is the only 1 who has a non existent 1st party which means no exclusive games for them because as you mentioned 3rd party exclusives are a thing of the past and will no longer exist.
So you should really reword your title to 3rd party exclusives no longer exist. Sony & Nintendo will both have tons of exclusives the rest of this gen of gaming and all of next. Can’t say the same for your beloved MS though.
Or a better title would be ” MS to have no future exclusives due to lack of 1st party studios.”
Lame article, Uncharted, Infamous, LBP, Heavy Rain, God of War, Gran Turismo…. how many other exclusive games are still there? It is Micro$oft who have problems when it comes to exclusives
funny that exclusives dont matter now the Xbox has none
PS3 fanboys in insecure ranting drama shocker
You guys are idiots. Gran Turismo sucked ass. Heavy Rain sucked ass, Little Big Planet is for children. The only games that are good out of all the games Heavy mentioned were Uncharted, Infamous, and God of War. Xbox has Halo and any game they want to be exclusive because they have money and don’t get their system fucked with.
steve, i just want to point out that the wii and xbox were both hacked within 2 weeks of them being released. The ps3 took 6 years and sony fought piracy so the hackers really tried to fuck with them. Get yo facts straight son
I own all three platforms and am not a “fanboy” so here are my 2 cents.
This article is terrible. It’s the same sort of crap I’d normally expect out of 360 Magazine. Your facts are wrong:
1) Insomniac is still creating PlayStation 3 exclusives and have said that their going multiplatform won’t hinder that.
2) Exclusives still and will continue exist. If they didn’t, picking a console to purchase would be pretty damn hard.
3) It’s 3rd-party exclusives on the drop, which is what you should be talking about. Though, even they exist. Then again, I’d understand why 360 Magazine might not want to talk about it as they exist nowadays moreso on PS3 (this is not a “fanboy” comment, check the facts).
G’ day.
It actually proves, that exclusives are even more important than ever before,..
Since third party games are mostly multiplats, the things that are most relevant in terms of product differentiation: are exclusive IPs, first party developers and product price point.
Exclusives today matter a lot more, when deciding which system to get in a way,.. from a consumer standpoint,..
360 sites are really trying to hard,… 360 is a dead console.
You guys are going to love this…
I have an Xbox360 this gen; last gen it was the PS2, and before that it was the SNS, Atari 2600, Commodore64, etc. Yeah I am likely old enough to be your father, kiddies.
If you really bought your gaming rig based on a single game or series, or if you bought it so you could say “Hey look at me! I am supercool! I can play Halo / Uncharted and you can’t!’ then you are the biggest loser on the entire planet.
So you PS guys have Uncharted, Resistance, Heavy Rain, blah blah blah blah. The Nintendo guys have the Super Mario games woo-hoo. Not only do I not care that I can’t play them, I have never in my life seen anyone play these games whether in real life or YouTube or whatever. I couldn’t possibly care any less. I don’t care if your multiplayer is free, I don’t care how many extra pixels they can stuff on a screen, it all flies over my head. I play what I want to play on the machine I have, and it makes me happy.
Now to be honest, I was shopping for a PS3 when it came time to get a new rig this gen, and you know what? I based the decision solely on 1 thing – price. So your $400.00 PS3 was out by default. I’m not gagging on Microsoft’s cock you idiots, sorry if it makes you all sore & butthurt :)
The only exclusives that really matter are Sony one’s! I admit that I would like to start seeing R* exclusives for Sony again cuz the quality is so much higher than their multiplats!
the only reason studios go multiplatform is to make money! Look at bungie – u guys are just jealous cuz u dont even have ONE exclusive worth talking about!
It’s funny how an Xbox magazine is talking about exclusives when the console they hold so dearly is devoid of any. Irony, you gotta love it.
Lol coming from the xbox fansite. Did you forget you lost bungie a long time ago lol where was this article then????????/
just like bungie they made a deal with EA games for their EA Partners Program to make a multiplat games, insomniac games is still making exclusive games for Sony like Resistance 3 and the New Rachet and Clank. Get your Sh*t together……..
I have to say that I disagree with the title of the article…What you fail to point out is that Insomniac are still making PS3 exclusives…and they’re not first party developers. Two very important things completely left out. If exclusives are dead they’re only dead for the 360. MS has been losing them left and right but Sony has been putting them out in droves. So this is a very misleading article taking one instance that isn’t the norm and publishing it as an actual fact that will continue to happen. That’s called yellow journalism and makes you sound like one of those over-the-top tabloids that i’m alway’s laughing at. Key word there is at, not with or about.
I say this with complete respect in the hopes that you’ll try and rectify this behavior, it’s not becoming of a professional journalist, even a gaming journalist needs integrity…don’t lose it.
That has to be the stupidest title ever – exclusives dying simply becos 1 company goes multi. There are still a lot of 1st part, some 2nd party and a few 3rd party dev. making exclusives and exclusives arent going away anytime soon.
I think Microsoft has the right idea with regards to exclusives. If you want to keep a game exclusive just give the developer a lot of money and have them agree to wait 6 months or provide extra content for its console when the DLC is ready. This is what I think the future of exclusivity will be.
They have been predicting the end of Exclusive Games since the PS3 came out.
It’s all hogwash MS-Fanboyism. The whole reason this is an issue is because the Xbox 360 is so weak on exclusives. Year after year Sony still brings plenty of console exclusive games and content to their platform. This is just an article from one Xbox fan to the other Xbox fans reassuring them that exclusives don’t matter.
Anyone who didn’t own a PS3 still has yet to play…
God of War 3
MAG
Heavy Rain
Metal Gear Solid 4 / Metal Gear Online (even after all the rumors still exclusive)
Uncharted
Uncharted 2
Killzone 2
Killzone 3
Warhawk
Yakuza 3
Yakuza 4
Resistance 1
Resistance 2
Gran Turismo 5
Infamous 1
Infamous 2
LittleBigPlanet 1
LittleBigPlanet 2
ModNation Racers
3D Dot Game Heroes
MLB The Show 7
MLB The Show 8
MLB The Show 9
MLB The Show 10
MLB The Show 11
NBA 07
NBA 08
NBA 09
Prince of Persia Trilogy
Ratchet & Clank Future Tools of Destruction
Ratchet & Clank Future Quest for Booty
Ratchet & Clank Future A Crack in Time
SOCOM Confrontation
SOCOM 4
Heavenly Sword
MotorStorm
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
MotorStorm: Apocolypse
WipeOut HD
Katamari Forever
Ridge Racer 7
SingStar Series
Tomb Raider Trilogy
Time Crisis 4
Demon’s Souls
White Knight Chronicles
White Knight Chronicles II
Any ThatGameCompany game
Any PixelJunk game
While I understand that Xbox 360 has exclusive titles most of them are Halo and Gears of War. Sure they have their share of casual titles like SingStar, but MS just doesn’t have many people exclusively working on their platform unless MS pays them not to develop the game elsewhere.
I like exclusive games, I like it when a studio tailors a game from soup to nuts for 1 platform. Generally that means that you are going to get a better game overall. They don’t need to port things to a different platform and get different results.
Mark my words as long as console makers have first party studios and as long as MS has money there will be exclusive content for each console. Only the Xbox’s will be retrofitted for the console after the fact. Where as the majority of PS3 games were developed in that environment from the get-go.
@Dirk It would be sad if my console only defined itself by 6 month exclusives and crappy DLC that will come to all platforms eventually.
As long as they dont screw over the ps3 version, I dont really care! Xbox owners are gamers too
@Gamer what a cop out comment. So what do you call the drama queen who wrote this article saying “exclusives are dead” …. This is not even close to fact there is still Guerilla games, zipper and I have not even tried to name them all yet. Not to mention Nintendo. Any fanboy or non fanboy with a brain knows that so just because someone chooses to mention something would not mean they are a fanboy it means they have thought about the article and noticed the article is wrong and anyone calling that commentor a fanboy basically just labeled them self
MS fanboy’s love the idea of having no exclusives…because the 360 doesn’t have many exclusives at all. But at the end of the day, if for instance, this console generation didn’t have exclusive games…the only console worth buying would be the PS3. Think about it..the 360 has a massive failure rate and no blu-ray…the only thing better about the 360′s online are the social features..other than that…they run equally. We’d only have need for one console in a generation and if we go by what each console offers, not the games…the PS3 would be the clear winner in this regard. What makes a console great and worth owning are the exclusive games. Gears of War, Halo, Forza…amazing games that are exclusive to MS. (granted MS needs a lot more but still, those are good reasons to own the 360)…and God of War, Uncharted, and many other games are worth owning the PS3 for…on top of it being one of the best blu-ray’s on the market…Even with Wii has great games like Madworld, Little King Story, Mario, Metroid Trilogy, and link…plus many other awesome games. So really, if a system doesn’t have exclusive titles it becomes a worthless pile of junk. Which is one of the reasons MS needs to start buying up first party developers and putting out core games again. Because lets face it, they are down to only a few exclusive games and you can’t survive on that. NOt forever.
IPAD FTW, BITCH said:
What a Microsoft CUM GUZZLER.
Go back to circle jerking with your Xbros, you f@g!
Really so this is how you spend your clearly limited brain power? Anonymity allows for those with small genitals and no balls to post hate mongering nonsense. Sony does indeed have a slew of studios that make some fantastic content exclusively for the PS3 and let’s face it Halo and Gears barely stack up, but verbal attacks on a fellow gamer are unwarranted.
Then it stands to reason Bungie proves exclusives are dead? Right….RIGHT!!!!
3rd party exclusives may be dead, however, in this case, Insomniac, as a dev went multi-platform, all the games they made for Sony are Sony’s forever, they own the IP.
No matter what happens, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, Infamous (Sucker Punch) and other games made by 2nd/3rd party studios chances are Sony owns the IP to it.
I imagine this is the same with Halo, but I know it isn’t the case for Mass Effect, Bioshock, Gears of War etc.
However, the entire premise of this article is incorrect.
king of arcadia needs to get a life… what a loser
I’m sure more dev’s will go multi-plat but not all, assuming ‘the big three’ keep their 1st. party studios :P which they most likely will! haha
It sucks because this late in the console life people are only buying exclusives and major established titles. Borderlands was probably the biggest new franchise since the first two yrs of this cycle that did anything. Sorry insominac but I won’t be buying your game but I will get resistance
I’m really quite surprised these articles continue to be so….controversial. Wasn’t it not even a year ago when the tables were turned in regards to the Mass Effect series?
False.
It proves that resources are constantly shifting to balance out the economy. Gamers are getting smarter…more research…more experience. They know what a good game is and know even better who the good developers are.
Insomniac wants money. Sony has always been pretty lght on their marketing campaigns for Insomniac games compared to things like GOW, Uncharted, Killzone, LBP etc.
Insomniac is a great dev but they realized they might need to branch out as the game industry adapts to the current economy.
Insomniac will still develop Ratchet and Resistance games but they’re not as profitable as possible. These exclusives are still very much alive and beloved by PS owners and you wont see them go anywhere.
If anything Bungee proves exclusive game developers are dying as Halo will be taken over by a completely different company and Insomniac will still make their beloved franchises.
I found a little bias against them in this article when they”re not even the most famous or even first case of a formerly exclusive dev going multiplatform.
Good lord?!?
Why is it that if someone, anyone, writes something that is not so pro PS3/Sony, we see dozens upon dozens of Sony worshiping scumbags pour out of the woodwork like roaches, defending the billion dollar corporation and the inadament black box we call PS3?
Why is that? Xbox fans dont give a rip if you write negative stuff about 360, what is wrong with you PS3 douche bags, why are you guys so fragile?
Why are PS3 owners so nuerotic and insecure about exclusives? There are so many dozens of regular games, not too mention many more dozens of arcane downlodable games, it’s hard to own even a fraction of them on most people’s budgets and time frames to play.
this article is pathetic piece of shit
Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica say hi, they’re not less important, they actually DRIVE THE INDUSTRY FORWARD, 3rd party games are not innovative , they’re same shit all the time.
you’re just a butthurt ms fan fag, exclusive matter and will continue to do so, jujst because MS has non doesnt mean it’s the other way around
lol. Again I see the PS3 fanboys having a whinge !!!!!! PS3 fanboys would have to be the worse type of fanboy, ever. and I was a HUGE SEGA fanboy back in the day, when I was playing my master system II and Megadrive/Genesis and it was never as bad as this during the nintendo vs SEGA battle
Remember the shanigans PS3 fanboys had over FFXIII ???? or the recent Insomniac immaturity shown again by PS3 fanboys on their website.
Well the latter you probably do, as this article is basically about it …….
Grow up guys!!! Exclusives will eventually be phased out. Devs and publishers just can’t afford to release a game on one system anymore. Considering a game can cost millions of $$$$’s. It makes sense not to miss out on another million or so sold on another console. It’s business. If you don’t like it stop playing games !!!!! Because it’s gonna happen.
I own 2x 360′s and a PS3 slim and I don’t miss out on any games. So stick that up your pipe and smoke it.
To summarise. PS3 fanboys stop being girls and grow some kahuni’s because you all sound like a bunch of spolit bitches
The fact that the list of games being used to show that the PS3 “really does have exclusives cos I own one so its awesome!” is about 5 games long proves the point of this article.
Perhaps if the people bitching (or their parents if they still live at home) had worked harder at school they would be able to afford more than one console. I buy every console that is released but from the next generation on it looks like I won’t need to bother. Not sure if I’m happy about this or disappointed.
Resistance sucks. In other words, no one cares about you Insomniac.
Exclusives are DEAD ON THE 360….that’s a FACT….different story on the PS3….this article is GARBAGE.
Exclusives are dead. Except on the PS3. And the 360. Because they both still have exclusives–well, the 360 has some, if you’re not counting the Kinect core titles which are all mistakes. And this article is null and void without a good example. It feels like an attempt to strengthen the 360 brand in it’s own magazine while blatantly failing while comments pour in telling them that Insomniac is still working with Sony, and knowing just several months ago Bungie left “the Microsoft” to develop it’s own games multiplatform.
I’m not telling you this because I’m butthurt. I’m telling you this because I have the PS3 and the 360, and I play all my 3rd party games that come on a single disc on the 360. But I have a PS3 purely for those exclusive titles and games like LA Noire because more than one disc is a problem in my book.
If 360mag wants to write a real article, they should write one on how annoying to other console owners that Microsoft buys shit out for several months and makes others wait, it really needs to secure what gamers want, and that’s one of the reasons a lot of my PS3 friends don’t want 360s–because they know Microsoft doesn’t have the gamers interest in mind, just their consoles.
LMAO PS3 FANBOYS ARE MAAD KEEP THOSE ARTICLES UP!
This is funny!!!!
My console has more exclusives than your console!!!!
Big question to all the 10 year old kids…. how many of those games you actually buy, I own all 3 consoles and play the most on the 360 because of my friends, but I don’t have the time to keep up with the games for the 360 forget about the PS3. I still have Duke, Dirt3 and Infamus 2 wraped. So yes right now the PS3 has better exclusives coming, people who say that the xbox has nothing worth talking about and list Gran Turismo and uncharted and forgets about Gears of War and Forza is just stupi4.
Xbox also has good games coming out and to the guy who posted the list of PS3 exclusives… the XBOX list is longer, exclusives on the PS3 are better now, not before.
Well have a good day and keep playing.
ok well yes PS3 has more exclusives so woohoo.. Like I said I have a PS3. Have uncharted 1 & 2, Gran Turismo and God of war 3. I don’t have a problem with multiple discs so 360 is my #1 choice of gaming console. The whole friends system is just a lot easier. If the PS3 UI was simpler and more UF I would certainly play the PS3 more. and while the 360 may not have many exclusives. Here are a list of games you won’t be getting on the PS3 in 2011
Gears of War 3
Mass Effect 3
Kingdoms by CRYtek
Forza 4/Kinect
XCOM
Perfect Dark 2 (Rumour)
PGR 5
and for those going to reply and saying XCOM will be on PC !!! Where in my post did I say they were exclusives??? I just said games you won’t be getting on the PS3. As well as some the awesome looking kinect games coming. The 360 has enough to look forward to. As well as the 3 month hiatus 360 has on map packs for Black ops.I’m playing the anihilation map packs NOW !!!! :P MS did this just to piss off PS3 fanboys lol
Don’t get me wrong I’ll be buying uncharted 3 and a few other PS3 exclusives, I’m just sick of the PS3 fanboy jibber jabber and trying to have a intelligent conversation with 10year old PS3 lovers
@ps360
Actually…xcom was announced for PS3 as well. Just so you know.
My problem with MS not having many exclusives isn’t because i’m a fanboy…it’s because i love the console and wish they had more. MS hasn’t been supporting their core base and kinect hasn’t proved itself as a core gaming device on it’s own merits. I’d much rather MS have Rare work on Kameo 2, which looked amazing…than kinect sports 2.0…seriously. I’d much rather they have blue dragon 2 announced than another kinect game. The truth is that Halo, Gears, Forza and the like are great…but MS needs more and without more they’ll end up in trouble. Valve, Epic, Bungie…Bioware…they’re all developing for PS3 now. MS needs to find more developers and they should start thinking of purchasing a bunch of developers…otherwise they’ll end up screwed. That’s just the truth of business in gaming. Without exclusives a console is worthless.
@ps360
Just noticed this…but ME3 is going to be on PS3 as well…and Gears could end up on PS3 if these recent rumors and denials are anything like the ME series and many others before it. codename kingdoms is actually a game called Ryse…and is kinect exclusive…as well as being on the rails. Though it does look like it could end up being one of the better kinect games…not many of them out there. I hope PD2 is announced….but honestly, Rare was working on Kameo 2 (which was looking amazing) before it got canceled so they could work on Kinect Sports 2.0..which is sucky in my opinion..as Kameo was a great game and Kameo 2 looked much more realistic and so much cooler than anything Rare has worked on in forever. So considering they’re getting core games canceled so they can work on kinect only titles…means PD2 might not get made either.
Is there a “delete all comments button”? Good God.
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