Is PlayStation Going Overboard With Console Exclusive Content?

When you get your hands on a new game, you’d expect to play it around, have fun with your friends, and more. The fun comes to a halt when one platform has the upper hand; at least in terms of exclusive content. The latest game to add to that would be the upcoming Marvel’s Avengers; one of the most anticipated games of the year that will release on PlayStation 4, Xbox, and PC.

PlayStation unveiled a big surprise some days back. They announced that Spider-Man will be coming to Marvel’s Avengers exclusively for PlayStation users. While this was a piece of happy news for many, PC and Xbox players weren’t so delighted.

PlayStation brings in Spider-Man to Marvel’s Avengers

Spider-Man is one of the most recognizable and loved superheroes of all time. Now, the character will end up being an exclusive hero. Many would miss out on playing him leading us to ask whether console exclusive content is a problem or not?

Sony holds the license for Spider-Man and it is easy to see why they roped the character in. The Superhero has been monumental to their success before and Spider-Man for PS4 is still hailed as one of the best games ever released. PS5 will see the release of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a sort of stand-alone, but what are we missing?

Well, for starters, these games are exclusive to a single platform. However, with Spider-Man game, it was rather fine, as the game was set for release only on PlayStation. Now, when we take Marvel’s Avengers, the story changes.

More additions to one single platform

Things get even worse for other platforms. In a blog post, PlayStation detailed the added advantages coming to Marvel’s Avengers for their players.

“PlayStation players will have 30-day exclusive access to a Legendary Outfit, Legendary Emote, Epic Takedown, and nameplate for each Super Hero as they are released – this is also for the six launch heroes.

In addition, we also have rewards for those with a PlayStation Plus subscription. For each Super Hero added to the game post-launch, Hawkeye included, all PS Plus members will receive a free bundle that contains a Rare Outfit, nameplate, and 100 Credits to celebrate the addition of another Avenger to the roster.

At launch, we’ll have a free bundle for Ms. Marvel available for PS Plus members to embiggen our love for Kamala”

Obviously, all these companies would want to bounce on the opportunities. For every game that comes out, they’d want to market it as if their version is the one to play with.

Not the first time something similar has happened

Marvel’s Avengers isn’t the first game to go through this scenario. Take Soul Caliber, Mortal Kombat, Destiny, or even Super Mario for example.

Destiny 2 had timed-exclusives whereas Mortal Kombat had some in-game fighters that were exclusive to PlayStation platforms. Even Nintendo has pulled similar things in the past.

It goes to question whether this is alright with everyone. If Avenger’s were to come with cross-play support, a good portion of the players would miss out on Spider-Man while their friends would enjoy playing the character. And not everyone owns both consoles or more than one gaming setup.

While console exclusive content benefits the likes of PlayStation in the given scenario, it is a huge hit to fans of the character. Companies would like to profit and Sony is going to market this very game with Spider-Man. In short, the opportunity to play as the character could even prompt new players to take up their console.

End of the day, this ends up as a heated debate. Console content exclusives are likely to drop even in the future; timed or not. The loss is evidently for those missing out just because they are on a different platform.

The only solution is if contents for a single game are the same across all platforms. That being said, we are aware that such an implementation would be a hard task. Hopefully, there is a solution one day.

Source – PlayStation Blog