Seems like every week we hear about one more game franchise abandoning the concept of platform exclusivity and heading out onto multiple-platforms. The two latest entries are Ace Combat from Konami and Devil May Cry 4 from Capcom, each heading for the Xbox 360. What usually follows such announcements are comments and forum posts from platform fanboys, either hailing the imminent demise of a rival console or blaming their beloved master for letting yet one more exclusive fall to the enemy.

Mr. Cynic is here to tell you it doesn't matter and that you should just get over it. Fact is, developers make games to make money, and they make money by selling product to as many potential consumers as possible. Add to this simple equation that the budget for creating a game is skyrocketing and you soon realize that limiting your base to a single platform is economically moronic.

Let's say you've sunk $150-million into a new movie production. Now do you want that movie to debut on 30 screens or 3,000 screens? That's the case as it stands right now between Xbox 360 and PS3. PS3 represents 30 screens because of its small, nearly insignificant consumer penetration, while the 360 is coasting right along on 3,000 screens. If I expect to make my money back and turn a profit as well, then it doesn't take a genius to see that I want maximum exposure. This, in essence, is why the PS3 is hemorrhaging exclusives at an ever increasing rate.

So let's pretend that I'm a PS3 owner and I hear Devil May Cry 4 is going to appear concurrently with the 360, as was recently announced. Why do I care? What effect does that have on my life? Why should I give a crap that more people will be able to play the game? There's really only one answer, and that's because you're a loyalist. It's your own ego and sense of pride that feels wounded. You want the PS3 to destroy the 360, so you greet all losses of exclusivity as the end of the world. Could it be that the machine you love, whether a PS3 or Xbox 360, is incapable of winning this war on its own hardware merits? I'll tell you one thing: if and when the day comes that Bioware announces Mass Effect for the PS3, I'll be happy for both PS3 owners and Bioware. Losing Mass Effect as an exclusive title would have zero effect on me.

There are still more shoes to drop before all this exclusivity nonsense finally slows. There's little doubt that Metal Gear Solid will eventually make its way to the 360. The same can be said for Final Fantasy. Neither announcement will make much difference for PS3 owners, but you can bet the quarterly shareholder's meeting at Konami and Square Enix will be a happy place with all that extra revenue pleasing investors.

Is there a downside to this new world of non-exclusives we're entering? There is. For one, with developers creating a single game as a cross-platform title, the chances are high that no one game will take full advantage of either platform. That's not a very good thing, as there are tricks the Xbox 360 can do better than the PS3 and visa-versa, though what the PS3 can do better is still a mystery, at least as far as gaming goes. Sure, it plays HD movies, is attempting to cure cancer at Stanford and will soon have a virtual doll-house where you can mount your Gundam trophies, but Mr. Cynic couldn't care less about frivolities. Mr. Cynic likes games, as well as referring to himself in the third-person.

So cheer up, all you haters, and learn to love. There's nothing wrong with your favorite developers making extra money. You can go on and on about brand loyalty and how dare they do this, but brands don't mean squat. Loyalty to the Almighty Dollar is what rules this world, and until the PS3 has an installed-base that can support exclusive titles, you better get used to a new cross-platform reality.