„Games are too expensive.” No Rest for the Wicked creator and Adrian Chmielarz explain why exclusivity no longer makes sense

by

Games that are only available on certain platforms are a major factor in where people choose to play.

Recently, things have become even more fascinating with Microsoft changing course and now actively bringing its well-known games to competing platforms. Sony is also becoming more flexible, though currently only for online service games, as seen with the release of Helldivers 2 on Xbox Series X/S. We’re covering this topic because many content creators have shared insightful thoughts about it on X.

As a big Xbox fan, I was really surprised to hear Sarah Bond, who’s now running the Xbox division, talk about exclusives. She basically said that having games only on Xbox or only in the Xbox store is an old idea that doesn’t really work anymore. She pointed out that the biggest games out there – like Fortnite, Roblox, and Call of Duty – are all available on pretty much everything, and that’s the way to go!

Sarah Bond and exclusive games – players criticize, developers support

Many gamers disagreed with the statement, but Sarah Bond received support from Thomas Mahler, the leader of Moon Studios, creators of games like No Rest for the Wicked and the Ori series. He explained that making games exclusive doesn’t make financial sense for most developers, largely due to constantly rising development costs.

So, the Ori games started out as Xbox and PC exclusives, which was cool. When we started planning No Rest for the Wicked, we initially talked to Microsoft about keeping it that way. But this new game is way bigger and more expensive to make. We quickly realized we couldn’t afford to skip out on all the potential players on Nintendo and PlayStation! That’s why we ended up partnering with a different publisher. It’s kinda funny, actually, because No Rest for the Wicked isn’t even fully finished yet, and Microsoft has already changed their mind about making games exclusive to their platforms.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DM@x9lwsoq

Mahler points out that game development used to be much more affordable. When Grand Theft Auto III was initially released as a PlayStation 2 exclusive, selling five million copies was considered a huge success. However, those numbers wouldn’t be enough for many major game releases today. This shift is even influencing Sony, who now releases all their games on PC as well.

Mahler argues that console makers’ studios are losing talented designers because of their focus on exclusive games. These designers don’t want to be pressured with high sales goals if they can’t release games on a wide range of platforms. Moon Studios’ leader notes that Nintendo is different; its business model is self-contained, and people buy Nintendo consoles specifically for Nintendo games – something that isn’t as true for Sony or Microsoft.

Adrian Chmielarz, lead at the Polish game studio The Astronauts – the team behind Witchfire – concurred with Mahler’s point, stating:

Think about your favorite author releasing a book that you could only read on a specific e-reader. That’s similar to how exclusive platforms operate – they limit access to just their system.

Most gamers stick to a single system – like PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC, or Nintendo Switch. Because of this, they miss out on a lot of great games that are only available on other platforms.

It’s true that many ebooks can only be read on Kindle, and this frustrates a lot of readers.

Read More

2025-10-24 15:32