: Well I would prefer they not be exclusive or "exclusive" or
: "timed" or whatever in the first place, and if they're dead-set
: on keeping people out, I really want them (game companies) to only do it
: for a while.
: The thing about launch-time-only content (or worse, pre-launch-only content)
: is you can say it only bothers people who weren't into the game (or series
: or developer) when it came out, or who didn't want to dish out the extra
: money, or who are just plain jealous or like to complain, but having it
: and not making it available in other ways locks the content out for
: everyone from the day after it launches to the end of the universe .
: Well, OK, not so much really, because piracy and emulation are moving forward
: just like gaming, and the copyrights on the content, the game, and the
: console, will (presumably, hopefully) run out eventually. So there are two
: contradictory reasons: you're keeping almost everyone, if you look at it
: in the long run, from having it, for a few people to feel special, and
: you're not really keeping anyone from having it for that long.
: You could say those cancel out but I think they provide twice as much reason
: not to have launch exclusives, and that still means anywhere from a few
: years to several decades or even over a century (with current US copyright
: laws) before anyone who can have the game can legally have all the
: content. Then again, the copyrights on the game and the exclusives would
: presumably run out at the same time, so you wouldn't be able to get the
: game for free until you can do the same with the extra content, but what
: about that content? Is there any guarantee it's still out there years or
: decades later, long after it's been possible to buy it, long after the
: game was last sold, long after the console was manufactured or sold, maybe
: even long after the companies involved disappeared? They say anything on
: the Internet is there forever and there are some intrepid souls out there
: trying to archive everything, some even including video game content, but
: I wouldn't want to rely on that-- assuming I'm still alive when I can
: freely get the content.

Ok wow, talk about scale. Let's get back to specifics.
It's the principle of the thing.

If they want to provide added incentives for 1) encouraging people to buy early or 2) exciting hard-core fans, then that's their prerogative. But however they "label" that advantage, they need to stick by it - for integrity and fan service. That's really all that's being said here, as far as I'm concerned, and can see. Not everyone likes true exclusives. Well ya know what? Too bad, aint it? That's an inherent property of exclusives, and hopefully the devs know that envy could turn sour against them among the less fortunate fans who want but can't have. It's a trade off. If they don't think the trade off is worth it, then they should release time-limited exclusives, instead of true exclusives. It's simple.
If you hate exclusive content, then make sure you never buy into any, and keep stomping your feet - maybe they'll hear.