yup. Exclusive deals are just like exclusive games for consoles. It only feels good for the first party publisher and the fanboys but its bad for pretty much everyone else.
I wish more people were able to see this. Any exclusive that isn't due to actual limitations and is solely being done because someone paid for it is harmful to consumers. The console manufacturers do it to prop up their consoles, Netflix et al. do it to prop up their services. In this case, Twitch is doing it to ensure their dominance in streaming.
There are exclusives for the Nintendo consoles that depend on their wacky hardware. There are more PC exclusives than all the other systems combined for many reasons: no cost to release, no cost to update, no online service costs, vastly superior compute power, unrestricted machine access, and special peripheral support (e.g. HOTAS for flight sims) which combines to enable lots of smaller, niche games to come out on PC.
Paid exclusives suck. They exist purely to make companies happy because it forces people to buy what they don't already have or need and it makes the people who construct their identity around a brand happy because they have something other people cannot have.
> There are exclusives for the Nintendo consoles that depend on their wacky hardware.
Not really. Actually, not at all. It is a terrible excuse for Nintendo, who I think is one of the worst offenders in the gaming space at using exclusivity to drive hardware sales and lock in.
The Wii Mote, for example, has been fully supported on PCs since about 2008 - a year after it came out. And there were probably beta drivers dating back to its release. It uses bluetooth, after all, its just an HID device. You can easily ship a game for PC that requires that controller.
Since their Wii U pad was just a dedicated computer that communicated over wifi (proprietary, I think?) with the base console, that kind of logic code can be ported anywhere. It just requires a server that converts the pads touch events and controls into a local touchscreen + joypad with haptics and gyros. Every major OS supports these, and has since well before the Wii U came out.
And don't get me started on the Switch. It is just an Android tablet (and the worst part is Nintendo stopped Nvidia from releasing a much needed Shield Tablet 2 because it would have just been a literal Switch without the controller parts included for half the price in exchange for using their SoC) with attachable joystick pieces. Again, every OS can support this input style, and any game can require it.
Nintendo has invested in manufacturing and distributing really shitty computers (since the Gamecube every Nintendo console has been underpowered compared to the average PC and was way behind its contemporary consoles) and writing a giant proprietary freedom-hating set top OS for them that uses proprietary APIs that are non-portable for developers to target for what I believe no reason than power hunger. There isn't even a profit motive in it - they make a tiny amount of money per console sold, nobody ships games on their systems anymore so they aren't getting any licensing money, and the vast majority of their income is from first party sales. But their first party titles only ever support their shitty hardware. It means they are dramatically reducing their potential audience of $60 pure profit releases per box (and their games have ravenous fans, even those that cannot afford a redundant $300 piece of junk) to move console units that don't make any money. The only reason to do that is because that is what you have always done. So you keep doing it, because you are addicted to having that level of control, even when it doesn't have a business benefit. It is pretty stupid.
