Whilst not as polarising as it was in previous generations, console exclusivity is still very much a thing in video gaming. Have you ever really wanted to play a game but been unable to because it's exclusive to a console you don't own? Have you ever purchased a console just because it has a game or series you want to play on it? As for me...I've purchased the last three Nintendo home consoles for their respective Xenoblade titles, and regrettted it with the Wii U and the Switch, where they turned out to be awful...although the Switch at least has offered more games than that so it hasn't been a complete disaster. I also bought an Xbox 360 for Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata (which both sucked) and Star Ocean: The Last Hope (which did not) and all three of those came to PS3 within a year of me buying it...although the PS3 was too expensive at the time for me to buy, so. xD
Yeah, I've wanted to play the Halo games, but sadly they're xbox exclusive. I'm definitely going to miss out on the Pokémon games coming to switch too. Still I'm glad I stuck with Playstation because I love the Ratchet and Clank series.
No. I'll only buy a console if there are multiple games on it that I want to play, which is why I've stuck by Nintendo - regardless of the console, there have always been enough games on them that I've wanted to play (yes, even the WiiU). The PS2+3 have also had these positives for them, but due to the high price of the PS3 I never got one (did enjoy playing on friends' consoles, though). Never wanted anything on the XBox consoles (besides them being ugly as all-get-out) because they share games with either the Playstation or the much-superior PC (such as the KotOR and Mass Effect games).
I would be lying if I said I owned a 3DS for any reason aside from Pokémon Gen 6 and 7. Sure, I also played Smash4 and Fire Emblem Awakening and Majora's Mask 3DS, but I could honestly live without all of those. If Pokémon was available for smartphones (and the Gen 4+ battle and storage boxes interface works beautifully on a vertical smartphone, and I'm sure they could make overworld controls work better), I wouldn't own a 3DS at all. So, congrats Nintendo, you got an extra $250 out of me by making these games exclusive. It worked fantastically, and you are a profitable business.
