Sony Calls Out Microsoft Over First-Party Development

[Andy Chalk]

Sony Calls Out Microsoft Over First-Party Development

Gears of War [http://www.sony.com] the best game it can possibly be.

Microsoft is forced to pay out considerable sums of money to developers to keep certain products exclusive to the The Lost and Damned [http://www.xbox.com] and some other titles, because we feel very strongly in our first-party line-up."

The Lost and Damned, the first DLC for Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV [http://www.rockstargames.com/iv], is available exclusively for the Xbox 360. The expansion is estimated to have sold around one million copies since it was released in February.

"I think it's safe to say that we'd put our first-party line-up against anyone's, and Microsoft and other manufacturers probably lead a little bit when they're writing checks about how they feel about their own internal line-up," Koller added.

But while Microsoft may be "writing checks," Gears of War Senior Producer Rod Fergusson said staying exclusive to the Xbox 360 was ultimately beneficial to the development of the Gears of War franchise. "Microsoft is just an awesome publisher. They're a great partner for us," he said. "They help us in so many ways, both in terms of the obvious with marketing support, and also in terms of usability, tested, play-testing, design reviews, support on the art side and a whole bunch of different things."

Fergusson said developing Gears as a 360 exclusive was a "tax" Epic [http://www.epicgames.com/] paid in order to gain the benefits of working closely with Microsoft, but added that being on a single platform let Epic "focus [its] efforts in terms of development."

"UE3 runs great on PC, it runs great on PS3 [http://www.playstation.com] and 360 as well, but for us as a team it allows us to focus and make the best game we can for that one particular platform, which has been great," he said. "I think it has helped the IP from that perspective as we've been focused on creating the best game possible."

Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/04/14/sony-microsoft-writes-cheques-for-games-thanks-to-first-party-line-up-insecurity/]

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[Gamer137]

First Sony does a personal and unneeded attack on Microsoft, then Epic replies with what sounds like a fake friendship decleration. This will end badly.

 

[Ranooth]

And i thought March Mayhem was bloody. Now the devs are duking it out in real life!

NEXT WEEK: BLIZZARD vs TURBINE!

 

[nathan-dts]

Well I do agree with Sony; thanks to Microsoft I get no Fallout DLC and that really pisses me off.

 

[Grae]

Sony should've taken a cue from MS and have been using their money with reason behind it than just throwing it away trying to build a base (again). Games will always be the most important part of a gaming platform ffs, I don't see what's so hard to understand, but Sony appears to just not get it for some reason

 

[ShameSpear]

Score one for capitalism! I have a PS3 and I think Sony needs to adopt some of Microsoft's business plan.

 

[SaintWaldo]

Wait. He's talking about a cross platform engine. I don't see any arguments as to why the IP, you know, the non-engine portions of the game, are going to any different due to platform issues. It's a spurious argument with no back up.

If the engine "runs great" on all platforms, as Ferguson himself says, then we have been given no real reason why there should be platform exclusivity. Note that he said the Gears exclusivity let them get help from MS. On what, I'd ask? The engine already works. Anything expressed in the engine is virtualized away from the platform. So to say that anything technical about Gears needed MS help sounds pretty far-fetched to my ears. It sounds to me more like post-facto marketspeak attempting to turn paid exclusivity into something it is provably not.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Well I do agree with Sony; thanks to Microsoft I get no Fallout DLC and that really pisses me off.

Don't be pissed 'till you try it. You're not missing anything.

I can understand the point of game exclusives as they move consoles. What I don't understand is why MS wasted money on DLC exclusivity. The kind of people who buy DLC are the same kind of people who bought the first console available (the 360) this generation. Sure some of them may have gotten fed up with the rrod or something but I don't think they're going back for some dlc. In fact, I can't imagine anyone buying a console for DLC.

Score one for capitalism! I have a PS3 and I think Sony needs to adopt some of Microsoft's business plan.

Sony's weak point has always been PR. Remember "all I want for xmas is a psp?" That made me want to shit in my psp's umd slot and mail it to Phil Harrison.

 

[IceStar100]

Sony starting to remind me of a kid who loses a game then blame then screams everyone else cheated.

 

[Sevre]

It will be interesting to see where this goes, of course,it could be just the barter of empty words.

 

[VitusPrime]

Sony starting to remind me of a kid who loses a game then blame then screams everyone else cheated.

Amen, not forgetting there copycat of nintendos motion control by putting it into theres...

 

[scotth266]

Hilarious. Sony says this, but there's not much reason for devs to stick with one platform anymore BESIDES money. It just holds them down in sales. The only reason a dev would stick with a platform anymore is if they were fanatically loyal or just have a hard time programming for other consoles.

Point being: Most exclusives these days are paid to stay that way. MS isn't the only guilty party here: Sony's just trashing them. Ah well, all the companies do this to each other.

 

[opium of the people]

Wow, one company talking shit about another. I'm surprised. Lets all draw conclusions and ignore their obvious ulterior motives.

 

[Zer_]

Wait. He's talking about a cross platform engine. I don't see any arguments as to why the IP, you know, the non-engine portions of the game, are going to any different due to platform issues. It's a spurious argument with no back up.

If the engine "runs great" on all platforms, as Ferguson himself says, then we have been given no real reason why there should be platform exclusivity. Note that he said the Gears exclusivity let them get help from MS. On what, I'd ask? The engine already works. Anything expressed in the engine is virtualized away from the platform. So to say that anything technical about Gears needed MS help sounds pretty far-fetched to my ears. It sounds to me more like post-facto marketspeak attempting to turn paid exclusivity into something it is provably not.

Just because the UT3 engine itself runs fantastically on the PS3 it doesn't mean that anything built on the engine will. Epic still had to tweak the engine and configure it to run on the 360 and these tweaks had the added benefit of pushing the hardware to its limits to provide some impressive visuals and physics.

I also find this ironic since I believe it was Sony that was essentially doing the same thing for Idie Developers.

 

[Jumplion]

First Sony does a personal and unneeded attack on Microsoft, then Epic replies with what sounds like a fake friendship decleration. This will end badly.

Sony starting to remind me of a kid who loses a game then blame then screams everyone else cheated.

Sony starting to remind me of a kid who loses a game then blame then screams everyone else cheated.

Amen, not forgetting there copycat of nintendos motion control by putting it into theres...

Are we already forgetting Microsoft's "Attack [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90335]-s [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90352]" on Sony?

Don't assume that this is a one company thing, all companies do this sort of stuff, and yet people are always so quick to jump on the "Sony Stiupd!" bandwagon.

One neednst to only list Sony's First-party companies to show it's pedigree;

Team Fucking ICO
Sucker Punch
Insomniac
Naughty Dog
Zipper Entertainment
Incognito

And maybe a few others I've missed. All those companies have an amazing pedigree while as for Microsoft, they have Lionhead I believe and Ensemble but they've shut down.

So, yes, I agree that Sony has an amazing First-Party lineup of companies and it beats the crap out of any First-Party companies that Microsoft own. That doesn't mean that this whole article is stupid, but come on, this shit always happens! It's common practice to downgrade yoru opponents while raising yourself up!

 

[shatnershaman]

And maybe a few others I've missed. All those companies have an amazing pedigree while as for Microsoft, they have Lionhead I believe and Ensemble but they've shut down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Game_Studios#In-house

I have to agree with Sony on this, they do have the better in-house studios and "second-party" (like Insomniac and Sucker Punch). Too bad they misunderstand the idea of competition, Microsoft writes a check to EA for $1,000,000 you offer $1,500,000 ,not complain that they're doing it wrong.

 

[joystickjunki3]

This seems like a weak defense for Sony. Almost like "the Bulls wouldn't have been so great if they hadn't had Michael Jordan."

 

[33TieGuy]

Ha ha! Sony whines about what they used to do to everyone else when they were on the top! Talk about Karma coming back and biting you! Look how many years Sony had a stake in Square after Nintendo couldn't support their needs with cartridges. It took this long to finally get their claws out of it. I feel no pity for Sony and never will.

 

[Jumplion]

And maybe a few others I've missed. All those companies have an amazing pedigree while as for Microsoft, they have Lionhead I believe and Ensemble but they've shut down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Game_Studios#In-house

I have to agree with Sony on this, they do have the better in-house studios and "second-party" (like Insomniac and Sucker Punch). Too bad they misunderstand the idea of competition, Microsoft writes a check to EA for $1,000,000 you offer $1,500,000 ,not complain that they're doing it wrong.

Huh, I was looking for 1st/2nd party companies owned by Sony but I couldn't find the page.

I will agree with you that it's business to offer them 1.5 mill instead of complaining, but you cannot deny the pedigree of Sony's 1st/2nd party games.

As soon as Team ICO is mentioned, everything else gets tossed out the window and run over by a truck.