The concept of platform exclusives always seems to drive fanboys into a tizzy. It’s politically correct to say that they shouldn’t, but the reality is that purchasers want to know that they made the right choice in products that they plunk their hard earned money into. Non-game technology has become more important these last two generations in differentiating, but exclusives rule the roost. If your console doesn’t have unique game ideas, how can you set it apart from the competition?
Now that we’re two years into the latest generation of consoles, exclusives seem to be on everyone’s mind. Money seems to be thrown left and right at securing them, in hopes to maintain or spur sales numbers. This is an important year, since Microsoft’s Xbox One is closing the gap to the Playstation 4 in the West and announcing that exclusives will be a big part of their E3, and Nintendo looks to prolong the Wii U’s life until their NX console is released. And to top that off, we’ve already seen some huge games delayed into 2016.
So 2015 is going to be fairly important. We’ve compiled a list of the remaining exclusives for the year, focusing on full titles and not exclusive or timed content coming to multi-platform games, games that have appeared on PC first in the past, remasters, or giant expansions. We did include a couple of titles that *may* be timed exclusives, or exclusives to all the platforms of a specific publisher. The focus is also on “AAA” level titles, though those are somewhat subjective to label. The results show three companies at very different levels, which may end up impacting sales this holiday season considerably. Granted, there are several more titles yet to be announced before now and the end of the year, so that will impact things as well. We’ll do our best to update this list as often as possible to help you make your choices, at least from an exclusives standpoint.
Xbox One
Retail
- Forza Motorsport 6
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
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- Fable Legends
- Superhot
- Magic Duels: Origins
Unconfirmed
- Crackdown 3
- Scalebound
- Inside
- Below
- Cuphead
PlayStation 4
Retail
- Godzilla
- One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
- Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance
- Dragon Quest Heroes: The Dark Dragon and the World Tree Castle
- Persona 5
- Until Dawn
Download
- Amplitude
- Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
- Killing Floor 2
- Let It Die
- Alienation
Unconfirmed
- Drawn to Death
- Gran Turismo 7
- Hellblade
- No Man’s Sky
- Volume
- The Witness
- Rime
- The Tomorrow Children
Wii U
Retail
- Splatoon
- Yoshi’s Woolly World
- Xenoblade Chronicles X
- Mario Maker
- Rodea the Sky Soldier
Download
- Swords & Soldiers II
- Runbow
Unconfirmed
- Star Fox
- Project Giant Robot
- Project Guard
As it currently stands, Microsoft has the blockbuster exclusives. Even with Quantum Break getting pushed out, Forza and Halo are huge first party titles — possibly console-sellers — but there doesn’t seem to be much beyond that. Sony has a lot of Japanese publisher support, but there isn’t much in the way of first party confirmations with Uncharted 4 slipping into the following year. Nintendo has their usual solid mix of family-friendly and core games, but losing Zelda to 2016 was a massive hurt.
Of the confirmed games, both Nintendo and Microsoft have shooters coming. Sony and Nintendo have RPGs arriving, and Microsoft is showcasing some impressive Free to Play chops. With E3 just over a month away, all three platform holders will be showcasing new games for the rest of the year. We’re excited to see what’s next, since we’re in a fair amount of a fog at the moment.
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