Sony President: Exclusives Don't Always Make Sense

[Junaid Alam]

Sony President: Exclusives Don't Always Make Sense

Sony Computer Entertainment President Kaz Hirai recently conceded that it's hard for publishers to commit to exclusives, given production costs.

"If it makes sense for them to go exclusive, that's a business decision that they need to make. But generally speaking, because of the investments that publishers need to make in this round of hardware, it's going to be more difficult for publishers to make that decision," Hirai said in an interview with unofficial PlayStation blog ThreeSpeech.

Hirai also said the PlayStation 3 still needed to properly fill out its role as a gaming platform: "If we're saying it's first and foremost a video games console, we've got to back it up with some big games."

Hirai's statements stand in contrast to Sony's earlier marketing message, which sought to justify the PS3's initially high price as reflective of the console's status as a media and entertainment center.

The remarks also appear to reflect a realization that, despite either Sony or Microsoft's desires, most big-name games are being produced for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, as well as for the PC, and often simultaneously.

Source: Gamespot.com [http://threespeech.com/blog/?p=1114#more-1114]

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[Fenixius]

It wouldn't surprise me if, at some point down the line, perhaps a console generation or two, that there will be no exclusives from third party developers, and fewer even from second party devs. Because it's exactly as Hirai said - it's too expensive to make an exclusive.

Unfortunately to MS/Sony, this is a problem, because it's the exclusives that tend to draw sales for their console. Nintendo, having taken such a radically different approach, really can have nothing BUT exclusives, since any standard game ported to the unique control system of the Wii tends not to play as well, from what I've heard.

So what happens then, when there ARE no exclusives? Well, it stops making sense, I think, for there to be seperate online networks for Xbox and Playstation. I don't see any reason. other than a contrived moneymaking reason, why players of Call of Duty 5 or 6 on Xbox 720 shouldn't be able to play with people on their Playstation 4's. Which means that MS and Sony won't be making very specific consoles anymore, and games will become more like movies, where the media is playable on any brand's platform. I have no idea if that'll be good or bad for the industry, but that's what I can see coming out of this trend for more expensive games.

 

[Wolfdale]

This isn't exactly surprising. What with High-Def graphics and all, many average gamers don't seem to quite grasp the extent to which Publishers really do have to fork out the dough in order to meet the expectations associated with the hardware, although those in the online community certainly seem more well aware of it. It all means more costs for rendering hardware, more costs for the software to do so, and then there's production and development itself taking longer due to the greater attention (hopefully) to detail. That's leaving aside the thousands more things to troubleshoot and figure out, and the costs associated with that.

Given these numerous economical issues, it makes it hard to really understand why anyone would release on a single console. If you've already got the game content rigged, porting it to another console and thus doubling the audience (roughly, I'm not looking for hard figures on that) for the game itself rather than developing a whole 'nother one to make back more money, it's only logical.

The real question then is where will it go from here? With the lack of exclusives, this also seems to beg the question why in the hell should there be more than one console on the market? Back in the day, it was exclusive series that often got people purchasing consoles (such as Resident Evil on the PS1, or Super Smash Brothers on the N64). Will one of them die out? (Fanboys, please take any flame wars that may spark to another bloody thread.)

At Fenixius' mention of the Wii's unique approach, it also raises questions as to whether or not the next generation in Nintendo's Console line will even be a true console, or perhaps some advanced family-friendly gaming device a step above those Fisher-Price "video game" systems that you see advertised for tots?

 

[ear8dmg]

I can't help but think, Wii-isms aside, there's increasingly less reason to have a difference between the PC, PS3 and 360 versions. Within a few years (maybe decades) I can see a gaming standard that's equivalent to DVD for movies. There will be dedicated consoles that will run it. You'll be able to get a PC components that run it. Even a Mac will run it natively (when Apple eventually pull their finger out).

You'll still get high grade hardware that will run it better, perhaps equivalent to the Audiophile Hi-Fi market, but it'll all do essentially the same stuff.

The question in my mind - is how far off are we from being where budget and creativity are the fundamental limits, rather than the technology? I think we may already be on the stage of diminishing returns with new hardware.

 

[Undeed]

We are constantly approaching technological singularity, the moment in time where technology is obsolete the instant it debuts. All technology grows exponentialy because the better tech we have the more we are able to do. Even now the console expecience is fairly standard in terms of controls and whatnot, obvious exception aside. I think that what ear8dmg is talking about isn't very far off the horizon.

 

[The_Prophet]

Go Go sony president.

 

[Lord George]

Go Go sony president.

Why did you necro a thread from a year ago to say that?

 

[The_Prophet]

Go Go sony president.

Why did you necro a thread from a year ago to say that?

Oh shit, didn't notice. Sorry guys. It just popped up on the latest content for some reason.