Just recently we found out that new DLC would be coming to Modren Warfare 2. The fact that it was coming was pretty obvious, but the fact that it would start out as a 360 exclusive took some people aback. Most of those people were those that don’t own a 360 and want the content at the same time. However, Microsoft has once again secured early exclusivity to some major DLC and they think it’s totally justifiable because they’re running a business.
Speaking with Ars Technica at CES this year Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg laid it out as a sports metaphor. “I think about it like a sports team, when you sign a star athlete for your team… when you sign that free agent, I think it makes your team better. At the end of the day, we want to turn as many people as possible into Xbox 360 fans.”
Greenberg went on to talk about all the exclusive content coming out for the 360 this year and then added, “And then to say, on top of that, to take the biggest game of last year, and be the exclusive place you can get that downloadable content first, I think that’s a big deal. That’s a big reason you’d want to buy an Xbox 360 instead of another console. So we think from a business standpoint that’s part of the reason more people are buying the Xbox 360, more people are on Xbox Live, it’s part of the reason more people are buying Modern Warfare 2—more than two to one our box vs. the PS3.”
It’s all about the Benjamins, baby. You can be pissed all you want that Microsoft writes big checks to get this content first, but it’s easy to understand why they do it.
