ZwabberMicrosoft CEO Says He Would "Love" To Get Rid Of Xbox Exclusives But Can't Because Of Sony
As much as I don't like exclusives it primarily drives competition between companies, be it via hardware or software, if Microsoft go about buying all these companies and then exclusivity is gone then what's to stop them from going back to a Don Mattrick generation?
Does it drive competition? I would say it does the opposite. It encourages buying multiple consoles so you can play the games you like (if they happen to be split between consoles). If you buy both consoles, that's no longer competition.
I don't disagree that buying the entire block is bad, but not having access to the block and making your own that doesn't necessarily compete isn't great either. One's a monopoly, but the other is just two monopolies. Microsoft has had pretty crappy exclusives recently, but I'm sure if they started pumping out games as good as Sony you would find people would start having two consoles rather than switch over, at least those that could afford it.
That's twice in the same thread you're stating that customers are generally going to buy an Xbox Series X and a PS5. How much does a console even cost nowadays, $500? 550? I doubt a lot of people would willing to spend (or could even afford) $1000, when most of the library overlaps. When confronted with buying a new console, customers will look at the differences between the various options, and pretty much the only differences between an XBSX and a PS5 are the exclusives.
You're not wrong, but anyone with the budget to buy both will (and even some without the budget, unfortunately) when there's enough exclusives. You state that 'most of the library overlaps', but that's my point. When enough of the library doesn't, when enough games are exclusive, suddenly you have two gaming consoles that don't compete.
For instance, take the Nintendo Switch. While attempts have been made to port over games to the console, its hardware is a limiting factor and the Switch has many exclusives. There's no shortage of people who own a Switch and a PS5.