Video game exclusives are great for Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. It allows them to have bragging rights and may even help sell their consoles. However, it can be kind of detrimental to games, which we will explore in the entries below.
Now, if a game releases on multiple systems under the same brand, we still issue it as a console exclusive. For example, a few games on here came out on both PS Vita and PS3. Dates are based on North American releases unless noted otherwise. Also, we want to give a quick shoutout to the remake of Final Fantasy VII, as it will be a PS4 exclusive until 2021. As it isn’t out yet, we didn’t think it would fit the confines of this list.
10 ZombiU
ZombiU launched on November 18, 2012, for the Wii U. For those that don’t remember the console date, that was the same day the system launched. It wouldn’t reach another system until 2015 when it got remastered for PS4 and Xbox One. It was fun for a launch title, but, even after it got retooled a little bit for the remaster, it’s only an okay game overall. We’d still love to see Ubisoft make a sequel that refines their ideas.
9 BioShock
The original BioShock released on August 21, 2007, for the Xbox 360 and PC. The PS3 would not get it until the following October in 2008. The Xbox 360, as will become clear in the rest of the list, had a lot of timed exclusives above the PS3.
BioShock was a hard one for Sony players especially to resists because of how dang unique it was. It could be classified as an underwater take on Resident Evil, but it was so much more than that. Still one of the best games from the last generation.
8 Mass Effect
Another big 2007 game, Mass Effect, launched on November 20 for the Xbox 360. Weirdly enough the PS3 would not get it until 2012, which was after both the second and third games released.
This is at least better than the Wii U, which only got the third game. While it may not have made sense to play the second, third, and then the first game in that order on PS3, plenty of gamers did that. No matter what order they’re played in that original trilogy was great.
7 Tales of Vesperia
Tales of Vesperia released on August 26, 2008 for the Xbox 360. It got ported to the PS3 in 2009, but in Japan only. It would not reach another Western console until 2019 with the remastered version that came out PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Switch. Eleven years is a pretty huge gap, which begs the question: was the wait worth it for other console holders? Absolutely! The remaster still proves that this is one of the best games in the series.
6 The Last Remnant
Another exclusive Xbox 360 RPG, The Last Remnant, launched on November 20, 2008. While it did hit PC in 2009, it would not hit another console until the PS4 last year in 2018 via a remaster. Unlike Tales of Vesperia, this is one game we are pretty sure no one asked to see again. The original release was incredibly rough with animation frames dipping into stop-motion areas of quality. The remaster did improve some things, but not enough to call it a Square Enix classic.
5 Cuphead
Cuphead released on September 29, 2017, for the Xbox One and PC. Surprisingly, it hit the Switch this year in 2019 with the help of Microsoft publishing it. This opened up a whole can of worms—or more like opportunities. Why can’t Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony publish a game for another platform? That just means more money for whoever publishes it!
Two years is a pretty good lead time too. With the good buzz around Cuphead it seemed silly not to bring it back for some double, or even triple-dipping. Will Halo ever come to Switch? Now that would be something.
4 Valkyria Chronicles
Valkyria Chronicles launched on October 31, 2008 for the PS3. While it did get ported to PC in 2014, it would not hit another console until 2018 with the Switch port. That gave Sony a six, or ten-year exclusive timeframe, depending on how one looks at it. It was great for Sony but bad for discoverability. It reviewed well enough to greenlight a PSP sequel, which also reviewed fairly high, but sales weren’t good enough to localize the third installment. It makes us wonder if the series would have been better supported if it had come to other consoles sooner.
3 Yakuza
Yakuza released on September 5, 2006 for the PS2. It got an HD port in 2012 for the PS3 in 2012. Now, this was Japan only, as was the Wii U release of it in 2013. The Wii U then was technically the first non-Sony console this game, and the series as a whole, released on. Western fans, much like Xbox fans, have to wait until 2020 when seemingly all games will finally reach a Microsoft console. The first of which will be Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2.
2 Dead Rising
Dead Rising launched on August 8, 2006 for the Xbox 360. It would not reach another platform until a remaster for it came in 2016 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. This is a game of a bygone era. It was a great showpiece for the Xbox 360 to demonstrate how many bodies the console could process at once. Even with some fixes in the remaster though, it’s pretty repetitive and doesn’t hold up.
1 Mercenary Kings
Mercenary Kings released on April 1, 2014 for the PS4 with it first launching a week earlier on PC and Mac. In 2018, it received a major update and released under the banner of Mercenary Kings: Reloaded for Switch, Xbox One, and strangely enough, PS Vita. The original launch was rough as it had bugs and long loads. Thankfully, this re-release fixed a lot of those problems and more. It’s definitely a smaller release, but still worth checking out.