No Port for You

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• Prior to Activision's foundation in 1979, all games tended to be exclusive to the consoles they were developed for. It wasn't until a bunch of disillusioned former Atari developers called it quits and formed said video game studio that Multi-Platform titles came to be.
• Many licensed games were prey to this, as different companies could have different claims to a license for different venues and regions. The Simpsons Arcade Game is a notable case; it was developed and published by Konami in arcades, but because Acclaim held the home console license for the show during its release, it would not see a release on a home console until 2012.
• First-party developed titles are almost always this, for an obvious reason: exclusive titles created by the platform creator's own video game studios are meant as an incentive for the consumer to choose their gaming platform over the competition. So you're never going to see Nintendo's Mario series on a Sony platform, or Sony's Gran Turismo games on a Microsoft console. However, starting in the early 2020s, this began to change, with both Sony and Microsoft pledging to publish for all platforms instead of going first party. Sony has since published a number of their first party games like The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima and Helldivers 2 for the PC. Likewise Forza 5 was given a sudden surprise release on the PlayStation 5 in April 2025. Why this is happening is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic making companies that make both software and hardware realize that software is the more profitable business and it would make sense to capture the profit of consumers no matter the platform. Likewise consoles are starting to see a second crash as consumers shift to playing on their cellphones or realize that PCs are simply a better investment, and as a result both Sony and Microsoft saw sales of their consoles tank hard. The only holdout in this era is Nintendo, who are still egotistical banking on vertical integration.
• Nintendo has had issues with major multiplatform titles skipping release on their systems since the Nintendo 64. While part of this was initially due to burnt bridges caused by their draconian policies in the 1990s, these days it mostly comes down to technical limitations. While both the N64 and Nintendo GameCube were just as, if not more powerful, than the competition, they also suffered serious game size limitations due to their formats: cartridges instead of CD, and a proprietary form of MiniDVD instead of DVD, respectively. This meant many games would require significant cuts or unacceptable levels of compression to play on Nintendo's system.^note To say nothing of if publishers even thought their T- or M-rated games could find a home on the devices if they did expend that effort. Nintendo had a heavy "kiddy" stigma at a period when teenagers and young adults were being heavily catered to by the competition, and despite Nintendo no longer pushing content restrictions on third-parties, there was the engrained idea that these were consoles for "baby games" and that anything above an ESRB E10+ would either be bowdlerised (in the minds of audiences) or just not sell (in the minds of publishers). Even now, gamers and publishers alike still question how well M-rated fare can do on consoles traditionally sold on the backs of Super Mario and Pokémon sales. Following that, every Nintendo console from the Wii onward bowed out of the power race to focus on alternate ways of attracting people to their hardware (i.e. gimmicks such as motion controls and "hybrid" play), making these systems too underpowered to receive straight ports of graphically intense titles unless a developer goes out of their way to create a version specifically for Nintendo's hardware, hire another developer (specifically a porting house) to do it, or simply make a thin client with the game itself streamed from a cloud server especially if the game being adapted is too intense for the Switch to run natively even with major sacrifices.
• One of the many reasons why virtual machine software and Wine exist is due to macOS, Linux and a myriad of Unix-based operating systems (like Chrome OS for example) not getting a fair share of the pie, as the vast majority of games (and software in general, such as productivity applications) are released only for Microsoft Windows, a form of vendor lock-in.
• Some genres don't seem to get any PC treatment whatsoever, or when they do, they're rather uncommon. See if you can name any big-name boxing, wrestling or Mixed Martial Arts title for Windows, let alone Mac or Linux. It could be either due to the genre being best played on the comfort of one's living room, or others tend to end up either unplayable or just plain awkward on a joystick or a keyboard. Piracy also plays a key factor in why some games don't get PC ports, since it's easier to pirate a game that's on a PC as opposed to a console. Conversely, some genres like Real-Time Strategy or city-building games are generally PC-exclusive by default, because they're designed from the ground up to be played with mouse and keyboard, and trying to adapt their control schemes to a gamepad involves some very unhappy compromises at best. Not to mention some of the more complicated examples being very CPU and RAM intensive, while putting a relatively small load on the graphics hardware, which is the exact opposite of optimal for console specs.
• Mobile games will generally stay mobile due to either relying on a "free-to-play" model that console makers wouldn't approve of, or due to touchscreen controls which simply cannot be replicated very well with a keyboard-and-mouse combo or a gamepad. Some mobile games that do not rely on the F2P model do get ported to the now-retired PlayStation Vita or Nintendo Switch, two systems with multi-touch capacitive touchscreens similar to those found on smartphones, however early on, Switch ports of mobile games (particularly VOEZ, Deemo, and Lanota) were widely criticized for not being compatible in TV mode, leading to Nintendo to mandate that all games must have control schemes that are compatible in TV mode. This often leads to devs having to implement such schemes just to get Nintendo's approval, regardless of whether they are as intuitive as touchscreen controls.
• All Apple Arcade titles that aren't re-releases of older games fall under this in regards to non-iOS mobile platforms. Due to an exclusivity clause with Apple, any and all ports to Android are prohibited, though console and PC versions of those games are allowed. When the contract with Apple expires, the developers are free to port their games to other mobile platforms, but the number of titles that were released there after being exclusive to Apple Arcade is in single digits.
• Despite newer versions of RPG Maker supporting deployment for macOS, most games made with it are Windows-exclusive due to said deployment support not always being that reliable. Many developers will instead point to alternate methods to run the Windows versions on Mac if needed.
• When TV game shows were ported to home computers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, owners of Atari 8-Bit Computers were out of luck, except for homebrews of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
• Expect many modern Arcade Games to fall under this, as many of them use specialized controllers that would be too expensive if they were faithfully made for the consumer market; the more economical alternatives would be to adapt the controls to a gamepad or produce a lower-budget version of the gimmick controller, often with clunky results either way.
• Fan games based on existing franchises tend to be PC-exclusive by default for very obvious legal reasons. Some fan games based on franchises like Touhou Project have received official console ports, but those seem to be the exception rather than the rule.
• While Rare has ported the vast majority of their backlog to the Xbox One as part of the Rare Replay package, their games based on preexisting franchises had to be left out. These included games based on Nintendo's IP such as Star Fox Adventures and all their Donkey Kong games, as well as their other Licensed Games like GoldenEye and Mickey's Speedway USA. GoldenEye would ultimately see an Xbox release in 2022, and the Donkey Kong series has seen release on Nintendo's platforms. In turn, none of their non-Donkey Kong titles would be re-released on Nintendo platforms until 2022, when Banjo-Kazooie was released on the Nintendo Switch, with several others like GoldenEye, Jet Force Gemini and Perfect Dark following suit.
• Super Nintendo Entertainment System games that utilized the Super FX chip, such as Star Fox and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island weren't re-released on the Wii, 3DS or Wii U Virtual Console, either due to emulation issues or legal issues with the chip's developer Argonaut Software, who had since gone defunct. These issues were later resolved so that the games could appear on the SNES Classic microconsole and on the Nintendo Switch Online library. In the meantime, Yoshi's Island's GBA port, Super Mario Advance 3, was released on the 3DS and Wii U to make up for the SNES version's absence.
• Nintendo GameCube games were for a long time absent from Nintendo's retro libraries until the Nintendo Switch 2 got them. The Wii lacked the necessary internal storage to store and run them, and while the Wii U wouldn't have had such problems no GameCube games were ever put up on the eShop for whatever reason. As such, many GameCube exclusives fell into Keep Circulating the Tapes territory unless they got a native port for the Wii, 3DS, Wii U or Switch.
• The Wii U Virtual Console had games for the Game Boy Advance, but not the Game Boy or Game Boy Color, which were instead available on the 3DS. No official reason was ever given why, given that Nintendo seems perfectly fine with blowing up handheld games with sub-240p resolutions to big TV screens otherwise, and ROMs of Kirby's Dream Land and the Game Boy version of Dr. Mario were included as Masterpieces in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, despite Dr. Mario even having a NES version available. Likewise, the 3DS Virtual Console never got GBA games either... unless you bought the system before the price drop in 2012, which made you eligible for the so-called Ambassador Program, granting access to a small selection of GBA titles. Said titles run on the 3DS not by emulation, but rather by slowing the CPU to GBA speeds^note Similar to how the console enters DS mode when playing DS games, this also precluded the titles from having savestate support, most likely proving why GBA titles weren't released on the console otherwise.
• None of the Nintendo DS games offered on the Wii U Virtual Console were DSi-enhanced titles^note although it doesn't help that most of these were Licensed Games or shovelware, DSi-exclusive titles^note all of these were basically tech demos for the DSi's enhanced camera anyway or DSiWare^note these were available on the 3DS eShop.
• Though most of the Wii U's library was ported to the Nintendo Switch, there are several exceptions. They mostly seem to be titles that rely heavily on the GamePad (Star Fox Zero, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Nintendo Land), franchises with heavy representation on the Switch (Paper Mario: Color Splash, Yoshi's Woolly World, etc.), or spur-of-the-moment type games (Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, or the HD ports of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
• The retro game library included with Nintendo Switch Online only offers titles for home consoles up to the Nintendo 64, and handheld titles up to the Game Boy Advance, and most likely never will offer any newer consoles due to technical limitations:
  • For the GameCube and up, the switch to discs meant that games started taking up hundreds of megabytes, meaning that a potential GameCube or Wii library app containing multiple ISOs would be several gigabytes large, eventually exceeding the Switch's 32GB internal storage. This could be fixed by downloading each game indivdually however. Eventually, GCN titles were added to the service, but only for the Nintendo Switch 2, which has eight times as much storage space as the original Switch.
  • In regards to the handhelds, the DS and 3DS both had two screens, one of which was a touchscreen, while the Switch only has one regardless if it's docked or handheld, and there's no touchscreen in TV mode. In addition, 3DS games are just as large as GameCube games in many cases. The Wii U also falls into this problem as there would've been no way to simulate a GamePad.
• Arcade publisher exaArcadia has this as a modus operandi: they explicitly state that their games are for arcade only and that they will not be porting any of them to home systems (even though, unlike many other modern arcade games, theirs are made for conventional arcade cabinets and don't have any gimmicks that would make a home port difficult if not impossible), in order to get people to visit their local arcade to play them. This has made them fairly controversial, as not only do many people not have any local arcade they could visit, but arcades that even have their games in stock are hard to come by. And while they do offer direct sales to consumers, said games cost upwards of $500 each (not even including the hardware necessary to run them, which will set you back a few grand) as they're meant for commercial use and priced accordingly, making them unaffordable to all but the richest gamers.

• Aka to Blue is exclusive to smartphones and arcades; the smartphone version doesn't even have Bluetooth controller support. The developers have stated that the costs of console development kits and the relative obscurity of Steam in Japan^note Furthermore, self-publishing on Steam requires a fair bit of hoop-jumping compared to mobile platforms, or signing on with an existing publisher which can have its own problems. caused them to pass over more conventional consumer platforms.
• American Girl is guilty of this - for no explicable reason other than mentioning on their Facebook page that they are comfortable with iOS development. Even if Android's market share "makes them attractive" they only released most of their recent games for Apple's mobile operating system.
  • This is compounded by the fact that the companion app for a toy television made for Maryellen Larkin is designed with regular-size iPad models in mind, since the TV playset essentially acts as a specialised case for the original model up to the iPad 4. While there are Android devices using a similar form factor, e.g. Goopads and models from lesser-known firms, they're few and far behind, and most tablets are just too small or odd-sized for it to fit inside the television.
  • Also, the comfort zone excuse is moot considering how the mobile games were written using cross-platform libraries like Adobe AIR or Unity for example. With the case of AIR all you have to do is to recompile the Flash project with little or no changes and set Android as a target, provided you have Android Studio installed. Whether American Girl was paid off by Apple to snub Android users or not is anyone's guess.
  • In general, anything put out by Mattel/Fisher-Price for the mobile platform tends to be this, if not a bad port that is several versions behind the iOS version, and all of their mobile accessories to date are for iDevices only. Many have speculated that they have an exclusivity deal with Apple.
  • Still an issue as of the recently released Wellie Wishers game, and that's despite AG's assurances of a port or two for other platforms, along with children's electronics firm Nabi (who were recently acquired by Mattel) releasing an American Girl-themed variant of their Nabi SE tablet. The latter would've given them an even bigger reason for them to port most of their games to Android, but strangely enough this hasn't been the case as of now.
    • Except that as it turns out, they did make a port of some of those games. The clincher is that not only it's exclusively available upon purchase of the American Girl-themed tablet, it is not available from other tablets in the series.
    • While the original WellieWishers remains iOS exclusive, Garden Fun is available on both Android and iOS worldwide. Except that the Android port of the game became a Porting Disaster when it was first launched, crashing silently on a number of devices, and was even made worse with the 1.1 update, of which American Girl seemingly forgot to upload the updated OBB files for the game; this was later corrected in a recent hotfix.
• Baldur's Gate III:
  • The game had its planned Xbox Series X|S port stalled due to the Series S struggling with the game's split-screen co-op features, and Microsoft requiring total feature parity between the two models. Ultimately Phil Spencer decided to waive their requirements and the port launched in December 2023 without split-screen co-op.
  • According to Larian Studios, the game will not receive a Nintendo Switch 2 port, due to the studio breaking off their partnership with Hasbro (parent company of Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast) and their wish to continue working on their Divinity series.
  • The game released on Google Stadia while it was still in early access. Stadia users never got the full game, however... because the platform was shut down in early 2023 before the full game launched.
• Batman: Arkham Origins never got PS4 & Xbox One releases despite being released in late 2013. It wasn't even included in the Nintendo Switch collection.
• The original Bayonetta was released on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 and was later re-released on the Wii U, PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Its sequels, on the other hand, are exclusive to Nintendo platforms, as they provided PlatinumGames with funding for the development for those games when Sega wouldn't.
• While the first two Burnout games were released on the GameCube, Takedown and Revenge weren't. While a reason was never given officially, most assumed the GameCube's lack of online play prevented a release there. Outside of a butchered version of Legends for the Nintendo DS, the Burnout series wouldn't see another release on a Nintendo platform until a remaster of Paradise was ported to the Switch in 2020.
• Call of Duty:
  • The series has a few titles from its early years that are exclusive to one platform. The Spin-Off games Finest Hour and Big Red One remain exclusive to sixth-gen consoles, while Call of Duty 3 remains exclusive to seventh-gen, making it the only mainline game in the series to not be on PC. In turn, the first game remained exclusive to PC until 2009, when an upscaled port arrived with the release of Modern Warfare 2, and its Expansion Pack United Offensive is to this day still only available on PC.
  • The series hasn't been seen on Nintendo platforms since Call of Duty: Ghosts on Wii U in 2013, due to the platforms' underpowered hardware and Nintendo's stigma as a family console that clashes with CoD's reputation as a mature shooter game. That said, Microsoft and Nintendo did sign a deal in 2023 that promised to bring the games to Nintendo's consoles in the future.
• Cassette Beasts is not available on PS4 or PS5 despite being on PC, mobile and the other two consoles.
• Chrono Trigger, despite being highly acclaimed as one of the greatest games of all time, has not been ported to any 8th- or 9th-generation consoles, despite Square Enix having released nearly their entire back catalogue of 90's JRPGs to at least one of these consoles. The last version released on a console is still the Nintendo DS version.
• Code Violet won't receive a PC release according to its developers TeamKill Media, due to them not wanting any inappropriate/NSFW mods to be made for the game.^note Many critics however, theorize that the real reason is that Steam has a far more lenient return policy than the PlayStation store, given the game's Obvious Beta status at launch and the fact that the unmodded game already goes out of its way to sexualise the player character both during gameplay and in cutscenes.
• The Command & Conquer series has had a rather mixed history on consoles: while the PC version of Tiberian Dawn is quite obviously the definitive release, it did receive conversions to the Sega Saturn, PlayStation and Nintendo 64, the latter being the first C&C game to be presented in full polygonal 3D, predating Renegade and Generals. Red Alert only got a PlayStation conversion, and the series has been PC exclusive starting with Tiberian Sun onward likely due to limitations imposed by consoles in terms of performance and controls. It wouldn't be until Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars when the series would be released for consoles and PC simultaneously, albeit with a retooled interface and controls to account for a gamepad as well as population and resource limits due to limited hardware.
• Condemned 2: Bloodshot, unlike the first game, lacked a PC port, making it the only game that the mostly PC focused Monolith Productions ever made to only be on consoles. Apparently, this was part of a publishing deal. Not to mention that it's still not backwards compatible with Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S.
• Crash Bandicoot:
  • Crash Twinsanity did not receive a Nintendo GameCube port, although a version was briefly in development and was canceled.
  • Crash Tag Team Racing, unlike its predecessor and the other Radical Entertainment games, did not receive any handheld ports. A Nintendo DS version was in development, but it was cancelled out of fear that it would flop against Mario Kart DS.
  • Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant released on the Xbox 360 and the PS2 but not on the PS3 for reasons unexplained, forcing PlayStation fans to stick to SD resolution. Notably, this leaves the PS3 as the only Sony home console to lack a native Crash game.
  • Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled lacks a PC port, despite all the other recent non-mobile Crash Bandicoot games, and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy having one.
  • Crash Team Rumble forewent a Switch release, being the only revival era console title not to appear on the platform (and first in the entire series since Twinsanity to not have a Nintendo version). A port was planned, but due to the game's underperformance, premature end-of-support, and Toys for Bob leaving Activision to become an indie studio, it never came to be.
• Dark Cloud, Dark Chronicle and Rogue Galaxy are all exclusive to the PS2 due to Sony owning part of the IP. This is also why no more games in the Dark Cloud series have been released.
• A number of Dead or Alive titles were exclusive to the Xbox, like Dead or Alive 3, Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball and Dead or Alive: Ultimate, a remake of the first two games. This was also the case with Dead or Alive 4 and Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 for the Xbox 360. The series became Multi-Platform once again upon the release of the fifth title, though there still are some exclusives, in this case for PlayStation consoles, namely Dead or Alive Paradise for the PSP and the Asia-only Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 for the PS4 and Vita.
• Nippon Ichi is well-known for their numerous ports and re-releases, but for some reason neglects Disgaea 3 over anything else. The first two Disgaea games were ported to the PC (plus a remake on the Nintendo Switch for the first one), and 4, 5, and 6 had their Complete Editions ported to the PC, and six other games from the PS2 era were brought to the Switch and PC as a Compilation Re-release, which includes Updated Re-release content that were never released outside of Japan previously. Disgaea 3 had an Updated Re-release on the PlayStation Vita and nothing else after that. Disgaea D2 is also an unusual case of never having a re-release or a port of any kind.
• Disney:
  • The Licensed Games of Hercules (1997) and The Emperor's New Groove did not get versions for the Nintendo 64, possibly due to hardware limitations. The Pixar tie-ins of that era, A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2, did get N64 versions, although they lacked the movie clips found in the other console and PC versions.
  • Disney's Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge, released around the same time, also did not get a N64 port. Donald Duck: Goin' Qu@ckers did get one, however.
  • And then there was Mickey's Speedway USA, which was exclusive to the N64 (and the Game Boy Color) due to being developed by an at-the-time Nintendo-owned studio.
  • The Disney Afternoon Collection was mysteriously absent from the Nintendo Switch despite all six featured games being NES games back when it released in 2017. It wouldn't be until 2026 when the Switch and the Switch 2 would receive the collection, with the addition of two SNES Capcom games exclusive to it.
  • Only the first iteration of Disney Infinity got Wii and 3DS ports due to the consoles' underpowered hardware and imminent discontinuation in the Wii's case. In addition, only 2.0 was ported to the PlayStation Vita.
• Donkey Kong 64 was not ported to the Wii's Virtual Console, despite the SNES Donkey Kong Country titles being available on there. It's been speculated that legal issues were in the way due to Rare being owned by Microsoft, which would also explain why the DKC trilogy suddenly got delisted later on. The game would eventually be ported to the Wii U, and the DKC trilogy got relisted eventually. It has since been made clear that Nintendo owns the full copyrights to the Rare-made Donkey Kong games.
• Dragon Quest:
  • The series, despite being stupendously popular in its home country and having a growing cult fandom in the West as well, has surprisingly few recent console and PC ports. While this might be chalked up to Japan's preference for handheld and mobile platforms, it's still baffling to see such a prestigious series be confined to phones and old handhelds/consoles, not helped by many of those ports being Japan-only. This is starting to change, however, with the first three games getting HD2D remakes for most current platforms in 2025 and Dragon Quest VII getting a full-blown 3D remake the following year.
  • Only the first two games got ported to the MSX. Dragon Quest III stayed NES-exclusive until its 1996 Super Famicom port despite its immense popularity and critical acclaim; the MSX is one of the very few platforms to have the first two games but not the third.
  • Dragon Quest IV did not get remade for the SNES and the Game Boy Color like the other three NES titles, instead getting a PlayStation remake and later a Nintendo DS port.
  • Dragon Quest IX has never been rereleased, not even on mobile, and is currently only available on the Nintendo DS.
• Dreams is only available for PS4, despite Sony's increasing dedication to porting their exclusives to PC and the game seeming like a good fit for PC by its very nature of being a Game Maker.
• Duck Hunt, despite having a Wii U Virtual Console port and being one of the best-selling NES titles due to being a pack-in title along with Super Mario Bros. 1, is not included in the Nintendo Switch Online NES library, despite the Joy-Cons easily being able to replicate the Wiimote control used in the Wii U port.
• Dungeons of Hinterberg would seem like a perfect fit for a Nintendo console given its obvious Zelda influence, but despite getting ports for both Sony and Microsoft's systems, the game is unavailable on the Switch. The most likely culprit would be the console's underpowered hardware. Time will tell if it ever shows up on the Switch 2.
• The Elder Scrolls: The first two games, Arena and Daggerfall, are still exclusive to PC even though the rest of the series is available on consoles now. Additionally, Morrowind is still completely absent from PlayStation consoles.
• Fable II, unlike both its predecessor and successor, has no PC port.
• Mobile apps based on the Fancy Nancy series are exclusive to iOS for whatever reason. Much like American Girl, ports for the other platform are nowhere to be found, though a dedicated fan or a savvy parent could just load up a ROM of the DS game and play it on an emulator.
• Final Fantasy
  • The only platforms to have Final Fantasy I but not Final Fantasy II are the MSX2, Windows Phone and the NES Classic Mini. Otherwise, II is always ported to the same platforms as the first one.
  • Final Fantasy III is the only 2D Final Fantasy to not be ported to the PS1 or the Game Boy Advance, and it's the only one of the three NES games not to be ported to the WonderSwan Color. Square had trouble porting the game to the WonderSwan due to its large amount of content meaning that a remaster would require too much manpower and storage space to create; while storage space would be no concern on the PS1, they likely decided it wasn't worth it in the end and ultimately decided for a full-on 3D remake for the DS instead.
  • While the PSP versions of the first two games got mobile ports, the PSP version of Final Fantasy IV did not, leaving mobile gamers with only the 3D remake.
  • The GBA versions of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI were not ported to the PSP with enhanced graphics like the GBA versions of I, II and IV were. Instead, they got ported to iOS, Android and Steam with graphics that weren't exactly enhanced according to most fans.
  • For the longest time, the only mobile port of Final Fantasy VIII to be released was through Square Enix's now-defunct Japan-only Dive In service. Why it never received a proper mobile port like the others of the first nine games was unknown. Eventually, a mobile port of the 2019 Remastered version was released in 2021.
  • Final Fantasy IX did not get a PC port shortly after the console release like the other two PS1 games, probably due to the Development Hell those ports went through and their generally shoddy quality. A remaster of the console version was eventually released on PC in 2016.
  • Final Fantasy XI was originally released for PC and PS2, with the original Xbox getting left out. Later, the game would be ported to the Xbox 360 with no equivalent port for the PS3, forcing Sony users to stick with their older console unless their PS3 could run PS2 games. There would be no further console ports after this, with only the PC version remaining online after support for those consoles ended in 2016. A mobile port by Nexon was planned, but was cancelled in 2020.
  • Final Fantasy XII was never ported to the PS3, being the only main series single-player pre-8th generation installment not to be ported to the console (although the original "fat" model could run it with backwards compatibility).
  • The Final Fantasy XIII trilogy has not been rereleased on PS4 or PS5 despite their availability on PC and Xbox One via backwards compatibility. Given how much Square Enix and Japanese fans and critics (if not Western ones) seemed to love the trilogy one would've expected ports or remasters by now. It's also not available on Nintendo Switch despite that console now having ports of every single-player Final Fantasy up to Final Fantasy XV (albeit as the Pocket Edition).
  • Final Fantasy XIV was for a long time blocked from appearing on Xbox consoles due to Microsoft's mandates, which would've disallowed crossplay with other platforms and required an Xbox Live subscription to play. Later, Phil Spencer promised to bring the game to the company's platform, and in 2024 the game launched for the Xbox Series X.
  • The console/PC version of Final Fantasy XV wasn't released on the Nintendo Switch due to the console's underpowered hardware, although it did get a port of the stripped-down Pocket Edition originally intended for mobile phones.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake never released on the Nintendo Switch or the Xbox One, most likely due to Square's console exclusivity deal with Sony (as well as the former platform being too underpowered). It, along with ''Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, was eventually on the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S instead.
  • Subverted with the Pixel Remaster versions of the first six games. At first, it seemed they were going to be exclusive to PC and mobile, a decision which was thoroughly bashed by console users, especially as the games are console JRPGs to begin with. Ultimately, the remasters did get ported to consoles in the end, with the PS4 and Switch getting it in 2023 and the Xbox Series in 2024.
  • The HD version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles released on mobile and all consoles except for the Xbox One. It wasn’t released on PC either.
  • Similarly, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon's HD port Every Buddy! & Theatrhythm Final Bar Line released on Switch and PS4, but not on PC or Xbox. These did not get mobile ports either.
• Fire Emblem:
  • Out of the three GBA titles, only Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones was ported to the 3DS as part of the Ambassador Program. The Elibe duology was later ported to the Wii U and Switch instead, along with The Sacred Stones.
  • The DS remake of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light was ported to the Wii U Virtual Console, but its Japan-only successor, the remake of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, wasn't.
• Five Nights at Freddy's World became the first Five Nights at Freddy's game not to receive an iOS port, due to severe Creator Backlash that also affected the Android port, which was put up for sale then delisted only a few hours later.
• Ford Truck Mania was released exclusively for the original PlayStation in 2003. While it isn't unheard of for a third-party game to be a console exclusive, what makes Ford Truck Mania so interesting is that by the time it was released, the PlayStation 2 has been around for three years.
• The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles never arrived on Xbox consoles, despite Xbox receiving all the mainline Ace Attorney games and the Investigations duology.
• Guitar Hero III, Aerosmith and World Tour were the only Guitar Hero games to see a release on PC and macOS; the rest were exclusive to consoles and/or mobile devices.
• Gears of War:
  • The series was exclusive to Microsoft Studios's Xbox systems even before they bought the rights to the franchise. Thought funnily enough, it was later revealed that series developer Epic Games did build a version of the first Gears of War for the PlayStation 3 internally as an Unreal engine test. An almost fully functional version, just lacking optimization, no less. So a PS3 port of Gears technically did exist, they just didn't release it. The Reloaded Updated Re-release of the first game was eventually released for PS5 in 2025, while the sequels are currently exclusive to the Xbox 360, but are backwards compatible with newer Xbox consoles.
  • The original game also came out on PC, but as was common during the 360 and PS3 generation it was a lackluster effort the devs clearly didn't care about compared to the console version (most infamously, they forgot to renew the game's copy protection certificate in early 2009, leading to a full week where only pirated installations could even play), leading to the next two games skipping PC entirely.
• Halo 5: Guardians released on the Xbox One, and is the only mainline Halo game not to receive a PC port. The first two games were released for Windows in the 2000s, while The Master Chief Collection brought the rest to PC in 2019. Even Guardians' sequel, Halo Infinite, released simultaneously on Xbox and PC. Oddly, Halo 5's Forge Mode has been released on PC as free-to-play.
• Several of Hallmark Card's apps, especially the e-books for their Interactive Story Buddy toys, are iOS only, to the annoyance of Android-device-owning parents.
• While Horizon Forbidden West was originally scheduled as a PS5 exclusive, it ended up receiving a PS4 port due to the PS5 shortage. The DLC expansion Burning Shores, however, is on the PS5 only due to the PS4's strict system limitations. It did eventually get a PC port that contains both the base game and the expansion together as a Complete Edition.
• Injustice: Gods Among Us was released on the Wii U in addition to PC and other consoles. Injustice 2, on the other hand, isn't available on Wii U or any other Nintendo platform. The Ultimate Edition of the first game also didn't release on the Wii U.
• I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is not avaliable on Xbox, despite being on every other console and PC operating system.
• Certain Kairosoft games are Android-only.
• The King of Fighters XIV is a console exclusive for PlayStation 4, while both past and future entries are multiplatform. It did get a PC port, though.
• Legacy of the Wizard released only on MSX and the NES, unlike the other classic Dragon Slayer games which were all Port Overdosed.
• The Legend of Heroes:
  • The Gagharv Trilogy got ported to fewer platforms with each game. The first game was released on PC-98, Windows, PS1 Sega Saturn and eventually the PSP. The second game got the same treatment minus the Saturn port, while the third game was only released on Windows and PSP. However, given that the PC-98 could also run Windows (albeit one with a specialized bootloader but is still fully compatible with software written for the PC version of Windows), the lack of a PC-98 version isn’t as big of an issue as it was made out to be.
  • While The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - First & Second Chapter had a release for both PC and PlayStation Portable ^note(downloadable only on PlayStation Store), Trails in the Sky - The 3rd had its English release only for PC as XSeed didn't had enough time to port it to PSP. Additionally, the Liberl arc as a whole is missing from the PS4, being the only Trails games to be unavailable on the platform.
  • The remake of Trails in the Sky FC releases on PS5 but not PS4, despite the existence of a Switch version implying that the game should run fine on previous-gen hardware.
  • Only the first two games in the Erebonia arc were released on the PS3 due to the console being discontinued by the time of the third game's release.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The 3DS only had the DX version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, while the Switch only has the original monochrome version. That said, the Switch does make up for it with its full 3D remake, which has all the content from the DX version.
  • The GBA version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and by extension The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, never got a Wii U port. Given that the entire Super Mario Advance series was released on the console, you'd think that Nintendo would've had no problem giving Zelda the same treatment.
  • The HD versions of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess haven't been ported to the Switch, leaving them as the only 3D Zelda titles not on the console. The Switch 2 would eventually get the original GameCube version of Wind Waker via the Nintendo Classics Collection, however.
• LEGO Horizon Adventures, unlike most LEGO Adaptation Games, is not available on Xbox platforms. This is most likely due to the game being based on a first-party Sony property, but the game is available on Switch, so...
• Like a Dragon:
  • The franchise, after being exclusive to PlayStation systems for a long time, had each of its games ported to the the Xbox One, along with PCs. However, its spin-off games, Judgment and Lost Judgment, were caught up in Executive Meddling for about a year that threw the status of PC ports for the series (and potentially the future of the subseries itself) into question. Johnny's & Associates (a.k.a Johnny's Entertainment), the agency representing actor Takuya Kimura, who provides both the voice and likeness of protagonist Takayuki Yagami, refused to allow for a PC port to be made due to a dispute regarding Kimura's likeness^note Johnny's is known to be extremely protective of their clients' likeness, and likely fear that the Game Mods that would inevitably result from a PC version might compromise Kimura's likeness in some way.. Fortunately, in September 2022, both games in the series were brought to PC.
  • Despite the series branching out drastically, a few of the home console titles haven't been ported to non-PlayStation platforms, those being the Japan-exclusive samurai duo consisting of Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! (exclusive to PS3) and Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! (PS3 and PS4), Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3 only), and Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (PS4 only). For the first case, both games were released at a time when the franchise's popularity outside Japan was in question, the former being a very early entry in the series and the latter being released at a time when Sega had lost faith in bringing Yakuza games overseas due to the failure of Dead Souls - given that PlayStation is the dominant line of consoles in Japan, it more than makes sense that they were exclusive since they never made it outside the country. In the second case, as stated prior, Dead Souls was a failure outside Japan and was almost singlehandedly blamed for nearly killing the franchise in the west, making it anything but surprising that it's been left untouched. Finally, in the third case, while Lost Paradise was released at the peak of the series' growth in worldwide recognition, it received significantly weaker reviews and fan reception than the rest of the games, which may have made Sega reluctant to bring it to other platforms. Ishin would be Remade for the Export in 2023, but time will tell if this changes for the others.
• The Lord of the Rings: Gollum did not get a Nintendo Switch port due to Daedalic Entertainment shutting down their development studio and refocusing to become a publisher only following the release of the game on other platforms.
• While the original Lost Planet: Extreme Condition has gotten a PlayStation 3 version after the Xbox 360 and PC versions were released, a few months later the Colonies Edition Updated Re-release came exclusively for Xbox 360 and PC as it uses the Games for Windows - LIVE platform.
• Mario and Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games was released on the Wii U but not on 3DS, being the only game in the series to not have a handheld version (excluding Tokyo 2020 which released on a hybrid console)
• Subverted with The Matrix Awakens — the game itself is a console exclusive, available only on PS5 and the Xbox Series S and X, but Epic Games released the city environment from Awakens as a sample project with which PC gamers could import and compile as a playable game.
• Mega Man:
  • The original Mega Man Legacy Collection received a port for the Nintendo 3DS, but Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 did not, presumably because the 3DS was too weak to run/emulate the featured games.
  • The Legacy Collection as a whole skipped out on a Wii U release, either because the first seven titles were already available on Virtual Console (although this was also true for the 3DS, which still got the first volume of the collection anyway) or because of the console's low install base. It doesn't help that the platform was discontinued by the time of the second volume's release.
  • Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection is not available on Xbox, unlike all the other Legacy Collections.
  • Mega Man Legends was ported to the Nintendo 64 under the title Mega Man 64. Mega Man Legends 2 did not receive such a port, due to either technical limitations or the weak reception of the first game's port.
• The main developer of PC game Mega Man Maker WreckingPrograms listed "mobile or console versions" among the "Deconfirmed Features". That means fans are never to request ports for consoles or for mobile phones.
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots only saw release on the PlayStation 3, due to Kojima wanting to make full use of the Blu-ray format's storage space. At the time of its release, 50 gigabytes of data was unheard of for a game, in contrast to most titles even for a few years after its release eating up six or eight at most. For nearly two decades, it was the only mainline MGS title that was never ported to any other platform, as MGS2, 3 and Peace Walker were eventually released on the Xbox 360 alongside the PS3 via the HD Collection and MGSV was developed as a multiplatform game from the get-go. While Kojima would go on to state that he would be willing to port MGS4 to other consoles if they supported the Blu-ray format (which both the PS4 and Xbox One did), he would leave Konami shortly after the completion of MGSV, leaving MGS4 stuck in PS3-only limbo. It was only in 2026 Konami announced that game would become available for for the PS5, Xbox Series consoles, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and PC.
• Mighty No. 9 had its 3DS and PS Vita ports cancelled due to the Troubled Production, despite said ports initially being promised as a stretch goal.
• Monster Hunter had its first two installments be exclusive to the PlayStation 2, but after that, its availability and port history started getting erratic:
  • Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) made the jump to Nintendo exclusivity, releasing on the Wii and eventually the Wii U. Ports for the PSP and PS3 did eventually come out, but only in Japan.
  • Monster Hunter 4 never released on anything but Nintendo platforms at all.
  • Then came Monster Hunter: World, which DID release on PC, Xbox One and the PS4, but this time, Nintendo users were left in the dark, presumably because the Switch couldn't run the game.
  • To compensate for that, Monster Hunter: Rise launched on the Switch... and the Switch only. Later subverted as the game got a PC release in 2022, before finally getting PlayStation and Xbox ports in 2023.
  • Monster Hunter Wilds launched on PC, X|S and PS5, but just like World, no Switch release is planned due to the console being vastly underpowered compared to its competitors. If the game were to be released on a Nintendo platform, it would most likely be the Nintendo Switch 2.
• Nightdive Studios consistently had their remasters ported to the PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X and Switch, but there are some exceptions to this. Forsaken Remastered only has an Xbox One port, Strife: Veteran Edition only has a Switch port, while System Shock: Enhanced Edition, Noctropolis and Blood: Fresh Supply are PC exclusives without any console ports (although the last one was mitigated with the release of ''Blood: Re-freshed Supply", based on the original game's source port, being released for consoles in late 2025).
• Nintendo once licensed out their characters to Philips as part of a failed deal to create a CD add-on, with Hotel Mario and The Legend of Zelda CD-i Games being Philips CD-i-exclusives. Also likely due to (at the time) Nintendo not making a Disc-based console until 2001.
• Some of Nintendo's earliest arcade titles besides Donkey Kong have surprisingly few or even no console ports:
  • Popeye has never been rereleased on Virtual Console or Nintendo Switch Online, presumably due to licencing issues.
  • The only way to play Sheriff on a console is through WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, which contains both a straight port and a microgame based around it; the game hasn't had a single standalone port since its original arcade release in 1979.
  • Sky Skipper only saw a brief release in Japanese arcades before getting shelved for decades due to negative reception, with the only console release being a simplified Atari 2600 port by Parker Brothers that served as the only way to play the game for almost 40 years; it wasn't even ported to Nintendo's own consoles until Hamster finally rereleased the game in 2018 on the Nintendo Switch using a ROM extracted from one of the few extant cabinets left in the world (most of the others had been converted into Popeye cabinets after the game's initial failure).
• While Onimusha is primarily a PlayStation franchise, the original game Onimusha: Warlords also received an Xbox port under the name Genma Onimusha, which featured a plethora of new content, including new costumes, increased difficulty, green souls which increase attack power, and new areas. Due to the 2019 remaster of the game not containing the content from this version, the Xbox (or the Xbox 360 through backwards compatibility) is still the only way to experience this version of the game.
• None of SEGA's Performai games (maimai, CHUNITHM, and O.N.G.E.K.I.) are available on home platforms, as a curse of being arcade games that use specialized controllers.
• Persona:
  • Neither of the first two games in the series have been rereleased on any platform beyond the PSP^note not counting the first game being on the PlayStation Classic miniconsole despite the franchise's growing popularity.
  • Persona 3 FES wasn't ported to PC and ninth-gen consoles like Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal, with the Portable version of the game getting a port instead. This might've been because of the game getting a full-on remake instead, so Atlus likely didn't want the two versions competing.
  • No spinoffs besides Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and the fifth game's ones have been ported to PC.
• The compilation Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD was released for iOS and Android in Japan, but other countries only got it on iOS for some reason, despite every subsequent mobile release being available on both platforms in all regions. Finally overturned in May 2022 with the release of a remastered version of the trilogy for Android.
• Pokémon:
  • While both versions of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team were ported to the Wii U, only Red Rescue Team got a Switch port due to the NSO library not offering DS games.
  • When Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers got ported to the Wii U, only Explorers of Sky was available. Most fans didn't mind given that Sky is just an improved version of the first two versions with extra content anyway.
  • PokéPark Wii was ported to the Wii U, but its sequel wasn't.
  • Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red, Leaf Green, and Emerald have yet to appear on Nintendo Switch Online. It's speculated that this is because the NSO service has cloud saves, which could allow players to clone their Pokémon (which is why Sword, Shield, Let's Go Pikachu!, Let's Go Eevee!, Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl, Legends Arceus, Scarlet and Violet disabled them) and due to the Switch Online being a cloud service (unlike the Virtual Console, where each game was a standalone app), disabling saves for some games would disable them all.
• Professor Layton: The prequel trilogy (games 5-7) as well as the crossover with Ace Attorney have never been ported after their initial release (DS for 5, 3DS for 6-7 and the crossover) unlike the rest of the games, which received mobile ports. The only way to play them now, since the closing of the eshop, is emulation or to buy the hardware secondhand.
• Professor Pac-Man has never seen a re-release on non-arcade machine media after its first and only disasterous release.
• Psychonauts:
  • The original game was not ported to GameCube possibly due to the low disc storage, as the game has a fair amount of FMVs and loads of voice work.
  • Psychonauts 2 got ported to the PS4 but not to the PS5 due to Microsoft aquiring Double Fine during development, meaning that while PC and Xbox owners get to enjoy the game with 9th gen enhancements, PlayStation owners have to make do with the previous-gen version running in backwards compatibility mode. Although a similar case happened to the first game, the PS2 version was rather unpolished and weaker than the Xbox & PC versions.
• Puyo Puyo Chronicle: In a rarity for major Puyo Puyo games which are usually ported to whatever consoles are supported at the time, Chronicle is only available on one platform, the Nintendo 3DS. This can likely be attributed to the larger-than-average amount of time/money that would be required to make the game look acceptable on HD platforms.
• The vast majority of games made by Raw Thrills are exclusive to arcades, with only a few exceptions: Target: Terror (ported to Wii), The Fast and the Furious (got a Wii Porting Disaster as Cruis'n which was also a Franchise Killer for the series), Big Buck Hunter Pro (ported to Wii), Cruis'n Blast (ported to Nintendo Switch), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ported to Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants).
• Rayman 2 wasn't ported to Nintendo Switch despite being ported to its predecessors the DS & 3DS. Also Rayman Revolution wasn't ported to GameCube or Xbox.
• Konami's and M2's ReBirth line of WiiWare games (Gradius ReBirth, Contra Re Birth, and Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth) became non-purchasable effective March 2018 along with the rest of the Wii Shop Channel's catalog, and non-downloadable effective January 2019. The only legitimate way to play them now is to have a Wii that already had it downloaded prior to the termination of the Wii Shop Channel service.
• In spite of efforts by fans to coax Rockstar Games into releasing a Red Dead Redemption PC port, word has it that the codebase was messy enough to rule out a Windows release. Given how badly they screwed up with Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008, the latter isn't that far-fetched of an excuse. On the other hand, Red Dead Redemption was notoriously so full of bugs even on the platforms it was released on that they probably decided that revisiting the messy code to try to fix things was not worth it at the time, as it took until 2023 that the game was released on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, then eventually the PC port on October 29, 2024. No words with Midnight Club: Los Angeles and a few others yet.
• Resident Evil:
  • Subverted by Resident Evil (Remake), Resident Evil 0, and Resident Evil 4, which initially were released solely on the Nintendo GameCube as part of an exclusivity deal between Nintendo and Capcom. The obvious plan was that the games would each be a Killer App and drive sales of Nintendo's newest console. It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, but with the benefit of hindsight it was a much bigger gamble than either company had assumed; the mainline Resident Evil titles so far had been exclusive to the PlayStation, so both companies were banking on the series' large installed user base all running out to buy a new console that —Eternal Darkness aside— offered very little else that might appeal to fans of M-rated Survival Horror. The gamble ostensibly did not pay off, and despite being a huge hit with critics and fans who played them, sales for the games underperformed on the Gamecube (though unlike the remake and 0, 4 was not an Acclaimed Flop and still sold well). Capcom managed to wriggle out of the deal in order to release 4 on the PlayStation 2 later that same year (more than doubling its total sales figure), and the other two games would eventually also go multiplatform beginning with the next console generation.
  • Almost the exact same song and dance occurred with the original 2000 release of Resident Evil – Code: Veronica, which was exclusive to the Sega Dreamcast. It performed decently by the console's standards, easily outselling the Dreamcast's other Killer App Shenmue, but ultimately the size of the Dreamcast's user base wasn't enough to provide the sales figures Capcom was hoping for. Code: Veronica would get an Updated Re-release on PS2 the following year, which almost doubled its total sales. Between these two debacles, Capcom appears to have learned a valuable lesson (i.e. "Don't shaft a considerable share of the console market and expect to get a bigger pile of cash out of the arrangement, especially not when it's the share that made your IP a cash cow in the first place.") and given up on Resident Evil exclusivity deals ever since, with the only games to not receive any ports thus far being the ones that were never popular or successful enough to warrant it in the first place.
• Senjin Aleste is arcade-exclusive, unusually for an Aleste game, as all prior games in the series have been exclusive to consoles and PCs.
• The original Shantae (2002) for the Game Boy Color has only been ported to recent Nintendo consoles, PS4 & PS5 as of 2024, unlike the rest of the series which is available on all three console families as well as Steam and GOG.
• The first Shrek game was exclusive to the Xbox, which is unusual for animated movie tie-in games. A Mission-Pack Sequel for the GameCube titled Shrek: Extra Large was released the year after, but a planned PS2 port of that game never saw the light of day. It's the only one of the four Shrek tie-in games to never release on a Sony platform.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Despite the 2013 remasters of Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 being well-received, both are exclusive to mobile devices despite the demand for a broader multiplatform release. This is despite the 2011 remaster of Sonic the Hedgehog CD being released on PlayStation Network (though Japan inexplicably didn't get it on PSN), Xbox Live, and Steam. The reason is that Sega signed a deal with Nintendo which requires them to publish three Sonic games exclusive to Nintendo consoles before any could come out on competing platforms, which excluded mobile games. But even after the contract expired and Sonic Lost World was ported to PC, the Sonic 1 and 2 remasters remained mobile-exclisive until the 2022 multiplatform Compilation Re-release Sonic Origins.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 3 would suddenly experience a port drought during The New '10s, getting neither a mobile HD remaster or a Sega AGES release like the first two. It's believed it has to do with music licensing issues, given that Michael Jackson and some of his regular collaborators did some work on the soundtrack. It did finally get its first port in ages with Sonic Origins, but some music tracks were replaced with prototype tracks, seemingly confirming the music licensing theory.
  • Sonic Heroes' 2004 PC port has not been rereleased on Steam for whatever reason, forcing fans to either hunt down a physical disc or emulate one of the console versions.
  • The same also applies to Sonic Riders with their lack of a Steam port, although in this case it may be due to the game's SafeDisc DRM and/or the PC port being considered inferior to the console versions.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and Sonic Unleashed are as of now the only main series Sonic games to lack PC ports. While 06 probably has a good excuse, the lack of Unleashed on PC is still a mystery. Fans have attempted to remedy this with projects like Project 06, a total conversion mod for Sonic Generations and an unofficial PC port of Unleashed using recompiled source code.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I was released on the Wii as WiiWare, but Episode II wasn't due to the Wii not being powerful enough.
  • Sonic Lost World was originally fashioned as a Nintendo exclusive, but it eventually received a PC port in 2015. Despite this, it has not been released to any other consoles, and it's currently the only main series Sonic game to be exclusive to one family of consoles.
  • According to a post by a Sega HARDlight ambassador◊, Sonic Dream Team is unlikely to be released on other mobile platforms outside of Apple Arcade (such as Android) due to Apple themselves being involved in its development. That said, it's been stated that it could get a console/PC port somewhere down the line, although no plans for that have been announced so far.
  SonicWindBlue: The Apple Arcade release only prevents the release on other mobile platforms (e.g Android) due to exclusivity agreements. This does not mean that the game can't get a release on console / PC. The news is not correct, by the way. #SonicDreamTeam
• The licensed beat-em-up based on Space Jam: A New Legacy was exclusive to Xbox platforms due to a sponsorship deal. It didn't even receive a PC release, a rarity for Microsoft-published games.
• Splinter Cell: Conviction only received an Xbox 360 version besides Windows, with Ubisoft citing the game series being developed with the Xbox in mind since the original; despite the fact that both past and future entries were on Sony and Nintendo consoles as well, though the latter two conversions were cut down compared to Xbox and Windows due to memory limitations.
• 'Splosion Man is still only on Xbox platforms despite its sequel being released as far as on the Nintendo Switch.
• SpongeBob Heropants was a critical & commercial flop, one of the reasons being the fact that it (unlike its predecessor) was only released for 3 platforms, For a 2015 released game, It was only on the Nintendo 3DS, the PlayStation Vita & the previous-gen Xbox 360. It was never released on any 8th gen Home Console. Possibly because the 360 may be the cheapest active home console to publish on at the time as it had dual layer DVDs & other consoles after it used Blu-Rays.
• The Spot the Dog mobile games are iOS exclusive as well. In fact, Penguin Interactive are only publishing for iOS devices.
• The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, unlike its predecessor and successor, did not release on any Xbox platform for whatever reason.
• Starfield, being Bethesda Softworks' first major release since being bought up by Microsoft, was also their first major release in over two decades to not be available on PlayStation consoles due to said buyout.
• Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness was exclusive to PlayStation systems, unlike both the previous and next games in the series.
• Stellar Blade was originally announced for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One, but it was later made into a PS5 exclusive when Sony took up publishing duties. While a Windows version was released in June 2025, an Xbox port is unlikely.
• Street Fighter V was released on both Windows and Linux, but as far as consoles are concerned, Capcom had a deal with Sony and thus the only system it is available on is the PlayStation 4.
• Tembo the Badass Elephant is one of Game Freak's very few titles not to be available on a Nintendo platform, despite being available on PC PS4 and Xbox One.
• None of the Tetris: The Grand Master arcade games have ever been ported to a consumer platform. A PS2 port for Tetris: The Grand Master 2 was allegedly in the works only to be cancelled. This isn't Arika's fault, though; The Tetris Company has a series of strict guidelines on what is allowed in a game carrying the Tetris brand and gameplay, and the TGM series goes blatantly outside of those guidelines, which unfortunately means that it is extremely unlikely there will ever be a port of any arcade TGM game. While there is Tetris: The Grand Master ACE, its adherence to the same guidelines (which were made after TGM 2 and were still quite lax when TGM 3 was released, but got very strict sometime between the releases of 3 and ACE) result in a drastically different and less challenging game than the arcade TGM games. The first two games would eventually get console ports as part of Hamster's Arcade Archives series, so this might be changing.
• Treasure Planet (Disney Interactive): The PS2 version wasn’t ported to GameCube & Xbox.
• Toby Fox originally wanted to port Undertale to the 3DS and Wii U, but it proved impossible due to the platforms not supporting the GameMaker engine Toby used to program the games. It would eventually be ported to the Switch instead, alongside ports for the PS4, PS Vita and Xbox One.
• Vanillaware's games have not yet been ported to PC and are only released on consoles. This agreement was revealed in an interview regarding Unicorn Overlord.
• World of Mana:
  • The Collection of Mana Compilation Re-release that includes the first three games in the series is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch due to Nintendo providing assistance with the new translation of Trials.
  • Adventures of Mana, the second remake of the first game, is only available on mobile platforms and the PlayStation Vita. One would expect something like this to get a PC port at the very least, but... nothing.
    • This, combined with the aforementioned Collection's Switch exclusitivity and Sword of Mana being in outright Keep Circulating the Tapes territory means that the first game is the only main series Mana game (except for the widely-ignored Dawn of Mana) to have no PC release of any kind whatsoever.
• By the time of its release, Xexex (Konami's answer to R-Type) was considered impossible to port to any of the available consoles at the time without downgrading its fantastic visuals, which were the game's selling point. The company was considering porting the game to the Super Nintendo and the TurboGrafx-16, but cancelled both version because of the already mentioned visuals, plus the absurd amount of slowdown it would cause on both platforms. In fact, the minigame included in Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shōgun Magginesu, while downgrading the game, still causes slowdown. The game would finally see the light of day years later as part of Salamander Portable for the PlayStation Portable and as part of Hamster's Arcade Archive series.
• Ys:
  • Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished – Omen got ports for the Master System and the Apple ][, but its direct sequel, which follows this game's Cliffhanger, did not, meaning that users of those platforms had to jump consoles if they wanted to see the ending of the duology.
  • Ys III: Wanderers from Ys also got no Master System port, despite also releasing on the Famicom, the Super Famicom and the Sega Genesis.
  • Ys Seven is currently exclusive to PC and the PSP, with no home console release at all in sight.
  • The entire series is currently absent from Xbox platforms, sans Ys Origin which has an Xbox One port. In an era where more and more JRPGs are starting to arrive on the platform, this is starting to get noticeable.

While certain films and TV productions did receive Blu-ray releases, some titles are unfortunately stuck on DVD or perhaps even on VHS.

• The Criterion release of AKIRA is confined to LaserDisc only.
• Amélie only got a standard Blu-ray release in 2024 due to Jean-Pierre Jeunet stating he hates 4K and seeing it as a ploy by manufacturers for people to buy new TVs.
• 1998's The Count of Monte Cristo has a Blu-ray version in Spain, and nowhere else, not even in its native France.
• The Walt Disney Treasures sets were never reissued to Blu-ray, resulting in many Classic Disney Shorts and Walt Disney Presents TV serials being unavailable in HD.
• Any serious attempts at releasing the Happy Harmonies on home video ended after the VHS era, so the only way to see these on DVD or Blu-Ray is by rummaging through re-releases of older MGM films, which sometimes include these as bonus features. Thankfully, MGM's post-1940 cartoon catalogue is much easier to find, and the Harmonies do occasionally air on MeTV.
• Looney Tunes:
  • Several of the cartoons included on the Golden Collection and Super Stars DVD sets still haven't been released on Blu-Ray.
  • The DVD version of the Platinum Collection sets include none of the extras found on the Blu-Ray version.
  • In 2018, the Stars of Space Jam VHS tapes were re-released on DVD, but not on Blu-Ray.
  • The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie and the other compilation movies haven't been released on Blu-Ray, although digital HD versions are available on streaming and VOD platforms. In addition, only The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie was released on Betamax.
• In spite of Legend Films' efforts at remastering Shirley Temple's back catalogue, a high-def release seems out of the question at least for now.
• Ditto with Baby Peggy - Undercrank Productions' recent release of a restored version of The Family Secret is only on DVD, and that's in spite of the Library of Congress bringing up the film's quality to par with Charlie Chaplin re-issues. Also true with the documentary about her career entitled The Elephant in the Room. By the time of its release in 2012, surely an HD release isn't out of the question given the film's 16:9 aspect ratio.
• Song of the South never got a home video release in the US, while in the rest of the world it can be found on VHS and DVD. Disney really really doesn't want to do it.
• Stitch! The Movie was never released on Blu-Ray, only on VHS and DVD. An HD version of the film is available on Disney+, however.
• 1961's The Three Musketeers has been released on DVD in Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain... but never in the country it was made in — France, oddly enough. Luckily, those tend to include the French version (with removable subtitles).
• For some reason, the only country where Wasabi ever got a Blu-ray release is Germany. The rest of the world (its native France included) must contend with DVD.
• The pilot episode of The Wild Thornberrys has never seen a release other than on VHS. Because of this, the episode became lost media until in 2013 when a low-quality home recording of the episode surfaced on YouTube.

• Clip Studio Paint, a graphics program used commonly by manga and webtoon creators, has no native Linux port.
• Adobe's Creative Cloud software suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator etc. does not have any native Linux ports.
• Procreate, the popular drawing/illustration app for tablets, is exclusive to iOS platforms, with no Android release in sight.
• MikuMikuDance only runs on Windows, with no Mac or Linux versions being made.
• SteamOS is as of writing not available for desktop computers, and has mostly been used only for Steam Machines and the Steam Deck. To be specific, 3.0 isn’t available on Desktops, the older 2.0 version is given that a Steam Machine is a PC in all but name. However, 2.0 is long out of support; and SteamOS 3.0 isn’t available for PCs and is only available to a handful of handhelds aside of the Steam Deck. Nonetheless, it will install and run just fine on desktops, provided that you are using an AMD CPU and an AMD GPU (or an AMD APU). The only thing you won’t be getting is official support.
• On that note, macOS on anything that isn’t a Mac. Officially, there is no way to install MacOS on a PC, as it was built ground up for Macs and only Macs. And with Apple’s shift towards ARM CPUs, the days of the Hackintosh appear to be numbered. Whether someone will make it possible to install MacOS on ARM systems like the Raspberry Pi and similar ARM Pico computers or even the up and coming Windows-based ARM laptops remains to be seen.
• Wolf RPG Editor, and by extension any game made in it, will only run on Windows PCs.
• Chrome OS, Google's operating system forked from Gentoo, named after their Chrome web browser, is exclusive to Chromebooks.