PlayStation 2 Fall 2001

Exclusives are the gamer’s equivalent of bullets. Venture into the dark recesses of any popular video game forum, and you’ll find format fighters striding into battle, armed with a list of titles that’s sure to ensure victory for their given side. It’s only natural, of course, that people should want to compare and contrast each console’s catalogue – after all, the next-gen user base is still small, and many will be deciding which device to pick up this Christmas, be it a PlayStation 4, an Xbox One, or even a Wii U. As far as I’m concerned, though, those titles that can only be found on a single system don’t matter anywhere near as much as they used to – especially not at the end of the year.

Take yourself back to 2001, when the console market was very different. The colossal Xbox was the new kid on the block, while SEGA had just announced that it was exiting the hardware business. Sony, meanwhile, was the king of the console space, only needing to breathe in the general direction of the Dreamcast’s comprehensive catalogue of software in order to cast aside its dreams of dominance. In a post PlayStation 3 world, any hints of hubris from the Japanese giant are frowned upon, but back then, high on the success of the PSone, the firm practically excreted solid gold.

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Ps2 Fall 2

And, unsurprisingly, it had the kind of first-year exclusive lineup that system soldiers could only ever dream of today. While the PS2 was already off to a grandstand start around the world, the company solidified the system’s success with eight outstanding titles: Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy X, Gran Turismo 3, Grand Theft Auto III, ICO, Jak & Daxter, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Silent Hill 2. It also had a couple of other bullets in its chamber – the likes of Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance can be glimpsed in the image embedded above – but it's the ‘Great Eight’ that will forever go down in history.

It’s worth tempering that, of course, with the benefit of nostalgia, this roster of software arguably looks stronger today than it did 13 years ago. ICO, for example – the heart wrenching Fumito Ueda directed hand hold-‘em-up – was a major flop, attaining significant critical acclaim, which didn’t result in any real commercial success until the ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection was re-released on the PS3 some ten or so years later. Similarly, and it seems incredible to think it now, Grand Theft Auto III was something of a sleeper hit, its sandbox approach a remarkable departure from the isometric escapades that had previously earned developer DMA Design some success.

Ps2 Fall 3

There were, however, also the known quantities: Gran Turismo 3 was the successor to the most popular racing property on the planet, while Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was already single handedly responsible for selling millions of PS2 consoles courtesy of a Hideo Kojima special at an E3 press conference a year or so prior to its launch. Meanwhile, the twisted Silent Hill 2 – which is still arguably one of the greatest survival horror games ever made – was the successor to a PSone classic (though it wasn’t exclusive for very long, as a Director’s Cut launched on the Xbox shortly after), while Jak & Daxter was the next franchise from Naughty Dog – the team responsible for Crash Bandicoot.

It’s the kind of software offering that makes a mockery of the current back-and-forth between LittleBigPlanet 3 and Sunset Overdrive – but that’s largely because the industry has changed. Sony’s borderline monopoly on the gaming market at the time made it the default host for most third-party games, and the company leveraged its success to ensure that popular properties like Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill came to its console first. There are still signs of this happening today – the recent Rise of the Tomb Raider announcement is a good example – but the outpouring of online outrage that accompanies these deals is evidence of just how much the market has adapted.

Ps2 Fall 4

And, as a result, I don't think that exclusives matter quite as much anymore. There was evident disappointment when The Order: 1886 was pushed outside of its holiday slot into February instead, but I could only react with enthusiasm. Yes, it’s one less bullet in the battle between the PS4 and the Xbox One, but it also gives Ready at Dawn a legitimate shot at success outside of a Christmas release calendar which is dominated by multiplatform games. Indeed, it’s the likes of Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and FIFA that control this time of the year, and an exclusive lineup like the one outlined above will never occur again.

That doesn’t mean that you should stop looking at each format’s first-party offering: it’s still a massive part of a platform’s value, and, as someone who enjoys covering Sony’s selection of software more than anything else, it’s often where the most exciting titles are found. But this idea that a single good or bad exclusives lineup will make or break a particular platform is nonsense, as it’s the major multiformat games that now own the most important quarter of the year. Until one of the three manufacturers can come up with a comparable list of titles to the one outlined above, then, in my opinion, there aren’t many (if any) individual first-party franchises that are capable of turning the tides alone.

Do you remember the PS2’s sensational selection of exclusives in 2001? Do you think that it will ever be bettered? Is it wrong to suggest that first-party titles don’t matter quite as much as gamers make out? Go to town in the comments section below.

Can the PS2's famous fall 2001 lineup ever be beaten? (79 votes)

  1. Yes, anything can be bettered28%
  2. Hmm, I'm not sure22%
  3. No, of course it bloody can't51%

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