A video game's exclusivity to specific hardware may either be permanent, or timed—the latter case allowing a game to be released on different console platforms and/or PCs after a specific timeframe lapses. Permanent exclusives are often developed (first-party title), published or heavily funded by the console manufacturer. In some cases, the exclusivity may only apply to a game's console release, either for games being ported from PC to console (such as ''
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'', whose console release was a timed
Xbox One exclusive), or games being released on PC along with a single console. Games may also include features and content that are exclusive to specific consoles, such as features that leverage a specific platform's distinguishing features, or appearances by characters from the platform's first-party franchises (such as
Banjo and Kazooie being playable characters on the
Xbox 360 version of
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, and
Fox McCloud from Nintendo's
Star Fox series being playable in special content on the
Nintendo Switch version of
Starlink: Battle for Atlas). Timed exclusivity may also apply to
downloadable content for an otherwise multi-platform game, such as
Activision's exclusivity agreements with
Sony Interactive Entertainment (which cover the
Call of Duty franchise). Exclusives are typically at the forefront of promotional efforts during gaming conferences such as
E3, in order to help drive sales of
hardware, as a consumer choosing between options may be swayed by the different range of games available on each different console. Analysts have stated that sales figures in the past have indicated that there is a relation between hardware sales, and the release of software specifically for that hardware. They state that there is also data which shows that during holiday periods, when
consumer spending is generally higher, hardware with a list of exclusive releases generally outsell those with a smaller selection. Correlations have also been drawn between the sales of
software, and the sales of relevant hardware, as in late 2009 the
Wii dominated both the hardware and software charts. A console manufacturer may invest in or acquire other
video game developers so that their expertise can be leveraged for first-party titles, such as Microsoft's acquisitions of
Lionhead Studios (
Fable) and
Rare (which, up until then, had been strongly-aligned with, and minority-owned by Nintendo), and Sony's acquisitions of
Naughty Dog and
Insomniac Games—two studios that had primarily developed titles for PlayStation (with the latter having also developed Sony-published titles such as
Ratchet & Clank and
Spider-Man). There have begun to be exceptions to the practice: Microsoft Studios-published exclusive
Ori and the Blind Forest was given a
Nintendo Switch port in 2019 (although this was part of a larger pattern of collaboration with the company, including
cross-platform multiplayer support between the Switch and Xbox versions of
Minecraft, and inclusion of the title duo from the Rare-developed
Nintendo 64 game
Banjo-Kazooie as a downloadable character for
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate). Following its purchases of
Double Fine,
Ninja Theory, and
Obsidian Entertainment, Microsoft stated that it would honor the multi-platform release plans for games from several studios that it had recently acquired (including
Obsidian Entertainment's
The Outer Worlds, whose publishing rights had already been sold to
Take-Two Interactive prior to Microsoft's purchase of the studio), but that they would focus on Xbox platform exclusives in the future. In December 2019, Sony announced plans to transition its first-party
MLB: The Show franchise to multi-platform releases "as early as 2021".
Exclusivity in PC gaming In the
PC gaming market, a form of platform exclusivity has emerged involving
digital distribution, whereby an online retailer acquires exclusive rights to distribute a game by means of either
vertical integration between a publisher and a co-owned distribution platform, or through a financial arrangement between a publisher and a third-party distributor.
Microsoft Studios employed this strategy on certain first-party releases by making them exclusive to
Microsoft Store (formerly Windows Store), including
cross-buy support with
Xbox One. This also made the games, such as
Quantum Break, exclusive to the
Windows 10 operating system, due to the use of
Universal Windows Platform (UWP). Games on the UWP architecture also included technical and compatibility limitations that critics and consumers considered unfavorable and contrary to norms (such as locked frame rates and incompatibility with third-party tools). However, Microsoft would later re-release
Quantum Break on
Steam with support for
Windows 7 and newer, and announced in May 2019 that it would begin to offer more of its flagship first-party titles on third-party platforms such as Steam to widen their availability, and in
Win32 architecture to remove the limitations of UWP.
Epic Games Store has faced criticism for employing this strategy. One prominent case was that of
Metro: Exodus, which was abruptly announced as being an Epic Games Store exclusive only shortly before its release, even after taking pre-orders on Steam. Its owner
Valve criticized the move as being unfair to consumers, but stated that it would still fulfill and support the game for those who had purchased it prior to the exclusivity deal. Justification for these complaints have included allegations that the store client is
spyware,
sinophobia (due to minority shares in the company being owned by Chinese conglomerate
Tencent, allegedly subjecting it to Chinese government influence and possible
espionage), lacking features in comparison to the market-leading Steam (such as per-game communities and cloud saves), and subjection of the PC gaming industry to exclusivity deals reminiscent of those seen on consoles. ==Impact of exclusivity on sales==