Reeves: Exclusives with publishers probably 'a thing of the past'

David Reeves, president of SCEE, discussed his views on exclusives in an interview with GameIndustry.biz. Reeves believes that an enticing software lineup is more important than price in terms of promoting hardware sales. How does he plan to secure this lineup, more specifically exclusives? By "investment in our own intellectual properties — as particularly Phil Harrison and I tried to do in the last five years with SingStar, or with The Getaway, or with Buzz! ... It's like a patent. We can take them forward."

Reeves states that he is aware of the situation where publishers "cannot have exclusives unless they're given millions and millions of dollars not to develop a particular game for one particular platform." Instead, Sony plans to work with developers instead. He cites Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain, which he proclaims a "platform driver," as an example: "a great game, it takes a lot of time to develop, they need a little bit of funding, external development. In exchange, it's exclusive — that works."

The Sony exec doesn't completely discount the possibility of an exclusive with publishers though. "We have to accept that exclusivity is not a thing of the past, but it is probably with publishers. We might do a few things, where we feel that we need a push here or a push there." What are your thoughts? Is it possible to secure exclusives with publishers without the aforementioned "millions of dollars"? Is establishing relationships with developers like Quantic Dream key to the PS3's success?