God of War Creator David Jaffe Strikes Back at Online Critics

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
17,672
0
0
God of War Creator David Jaffe Strikes Back at Online Critics

Jaffe says he's confused about why people would criticize his preference for making Sony exclusives over multiplatform titles.

Whatever your opinion of David Jaffe, few would try to argue that he's not a very open man, or one to keep his opinions to himself. Unfortunately, this candidness seems to have rubbed a few people up the wrong way, as a number of internet pundits took exception to his comments about his working relationship with Sony.

During an impromptu Q&A session on his Twitter [http://twitter.com/#!/davidscottjaffe] feed, Jaffe was asked if the new Twisted Metal game would be coming to the Xbox 360 as well as the PS3. In his reply [http://twitter.com/#!/davidscottjaffe/status/9300756381306880], Jaffe said that he and everyone at his studio, Eat Sleep Play, loved other platforms, but he found greater satisfaction in improving the value of the PlayStation 3 than casting his net a little further out. He also pointed out that Twisted Metal was a Sony owned IP, so the game was just for PS3 owners.

This got reported on various places around the internet, but the comments on Destructoid [http://www.destructoid.com/jaffe-loves-ps3-exclusivity-more-than-audience-expansion-188679.phtml?s=0#comments] were especially unkind, suggesting that he was a fool for not making multiplatform games. Jaffe responded [http://twitter.com/#!/davidscottjaffe/status/9714302097293313] to this criticism with exasperation, saying that he would love to have his games in every home and on every system, but he also valued his working relationship with Sony a great deal. He said that Sony provided Eat Sleep Play with a great deal of creative, marketing and business support, and that the people there were like family. He expressed amazement at the idea that people thought he might want to give that support up to go multiplatform.

Jaffe's spent the last fifteen years working exclusively on games for the various PlayStations, including the incredibly popular God of War series, so it's not like he's ever been particularly secretive about his preference for Sony platforms.

The criticism that people leveled at Jaffe, that he was throwing money away by sticking with a single platform, is overly simplistic and far from being the universal truth that his detractors seem to think it is. There's a lot more to a game's success than just shoving it out on every platform going. Multiplatform games cost more to develop, market and distribute, and while a game might sell more copies with a wider audience, a large percentage of those sales will go towards covering the increased expenditure.

If Jaffe has a good thing going with Sony, and from his comments it sounds like he does, throwing it away for a chance of possibly making more money with a multiplatform release doesn't sound like a particularly smart move on Jaffe's part.

Source: via CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=278535?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-News-RSS]


Permalink
 

DTWolfwood

Better than Vash!
Oct 20, 2009
3,716
0
0
The criticism that people leveled at Jaffe, that he was throwing money away by sticking with a single platform, is overly simplistic and far from being the universal truth that his detractors seem to think it is.
He isn't losing money so much as he isn't making more. I'd love it when people can get the distinction between Losing money and making more money. They arent the same. <.<

Unless his studio is publicly traded, i really don't see the problem with him sticking to 1 console.
 
Jun 7, 2010
1,257
0
0
It's not a sandwich, It's somebody's valued working relationship with Sony.

Also he ain't a fool for only making games on sony consoles It's his choice which consoles he makes games on.
 
Jul 22, 2009
3,595
0
0
I still generally hate console exclusives... still he made God of War and I'm not interested in that in the slightest so I'm not too pissed.

I'll get a PS3 eventually for LBP2 anyway.
 

TheRealCJ

New member
Mar 28, 2009
1,831
0
0
Good on him, I say.

Imagine the fallout if people demanded that Halo be ported to the PS3. And a game developed for a single console is going to be technologically more polished than a game that has to factor in different hardware and fanbases. It also allows more time for the team to work on story elements. Not in God of War, obviously, but you get my point.
 

Xersues

DRM-free or give me death!
Dec 11, 2009
220
0
0
Secret world leader (shhh) said:
It's not a sandwich, It's somebody's valued working relationship with Sony.

Also he ain't a fool for only making games on sony consoles It's his choice which consoles he makes games on.
Lawl, I see what you tried there :)


In all seriousness, most of the biased online critics hate the PS3 brand for some odd reason. Do people criticize Peter Molyneux for Fable not being on the PS3? No. Maybe on the PC, but no one really expects Fable to be on the PS3.

David Jaffe just has a good things going with Sony and he is working on a Sony owned brand. His developers/designers really know the platform. A GOOD gaming company is concerned about making a GOOD game that works, runs well, and is polished. Rather than spending effort making a mediocre game available to the masses.

We aren't taking about EA or Activision here.
 

shadyh8er

New member
Apr 28, 2010
1,778
0
0
Logan Westbrook said:
...but he found greater satisfaction in improving the value of the PlayStation 3 than casting his net a little further out.
This is enough justification for staying with Sony. I mean, didn't Halo 3 alone outsell some of the big-name PS3 games?
 

Lord Beautiful

New member
Aug 13, 2008
5,940
0
0
TheRealCJ said:
Good on him, I say.

Imagine the fallout if people demanded that Halo be ported to the PS3. And a game developed for a single console is going to be technologically more polished than a game that has to factor in different hardware and fanbases. It also allows more time for the team to work on story elements. Not in God of War, obviously, but you get my point.
Indeed. One could also argue that he'd lose creative freedom should he choose to go multiplatform because he'd have to satisfy more execs to get a game released.
 

Sixcess

New member
Feb 27, 2010
2,719
0
0
The only time exclusive content annoys me is when it's part of a series that has previously been multi-platform, like the 360 only DLC for Tomb Raider: Underworld. That is a shameless cash grab and a big fuck you to fans who bought the game on other platforms.

If the series has always been exclusive to one platform though, like GoW, then I don't see the problem.
 

The Rockerfly

New member
Dec 31, 2008
4,649
0
0
Secret world leader (shhh) said:
It's not a sandwich, It's somebody's valued working relationship with Sony.

Also he ain't a fool for only making games on sony consoles It's his choice which consoles he makes games on.
I think The Escapist may have made a meme but don't let 4chan know
OT: Meh, his loss. I think all games should be cross platform so they will have to compete and be a lot higher standard to break through to the market
All it does is create annoying problems for gamers who already own one of the console. It can be an initial decision maker but not a permanent one
 

Super Jamz

New member
Apr 16, 2009
141
0
0
If people care about getting PS3 exclusives for Xbox they should just buy a bloody PS3.

I'm pretty sure me and bunch of others would've enjoyed the hell out of MGS4 or (possibly) Haze on Xbox, but it doesn't mean Hideo Kojima should go out of his way to develop it to please a bunch of people who can't make the effort to buy the bloody console he developed it for.
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
1,846
0
0
I like exclusives; it fuels fanboys, which sucks, but it also gives consoles identity. I seriously think consoles are lacking a lot of identity these days.

Also:

 

Alade

Ego extravaganza
Aug 10, 2008
509
0
0
Actually going multi-platform would be an investment, and a good one on top of that in the case of Twisted Metal, Xbox 360 being the go-to Jock/casual shoot-em-up player the twisted metal games usually cater to.

Wanting to be exclusive with a certain platform is usually just an excuse to get out of a bit more work and to have the possibility to fall back to the platform publisher in case of a fallthrough.

Safe to say that this can be a way to reliably make just good games, but most genre/industry changing products ever made involved risk that had to be taken.
 
May 25, 2010
610
0
0
Alade said:
Actually going multi-platform would be an investment, and a good one on top of that in the case of Twisted Metal, Xbox 360 being the go-to Jock/casual shoot-em-up player the twisted metal games usually cater to.

Wanting to be exclusive with a certain platform is usually just an excuse to get out of a bit more work and to have the possibility to fall back to the platform publisher in case of a fallthrough.

Safe to say that this can be a way to reliably make just good games, but most genre/industry changing products ever made involved risk that had to be taken.
I don't agree with this. Why should he even think about taking this kind of risk, when the reward is next to zero? The Xbox360 fanbase is pretty much exactly like you describe it but it's worth remembering that Twisted Metal is and has always been on Sony consoles, and so has its fanbase. Most of 360 gamers haven't heard of it and will probably dismiss it.

Besides making a product that's genre/indusrty changing has absolutely nothing to do with taking risks when it comes to what platform it's on. Ocarina of Time was a Nintendo 64 exclusive and it changed everything. Shadow of the Colossus was a Sony exclusive and it blew everyone away. Half-Life was a PC exclusive and it was also very influential.

I don't understand your point of view at all.
 

Scabadus

Wrote Some Words
Jul 16, 2009
869
0
0
EA want to charge for online multiplayer, a service that costs them money. Internet: "Fuck you EA, you greedy bastards, how about making a good game instead of re-rleasing CoD every year?!" (I'm quite aware of how CoD is developed by different studios and has more than a 1 year development period, thanks in advance).

Jaffe decides to make a decent game for one platform, sacrificing making every last penny he can for the quality of his work. Internet: "You're throwing away money you moron!"


What the hell?
 

Angerwing

Kid makes a post...
Jun 1, 2009
1,734
0
41
Secret world leader (shhh) said:
It's not a sandwich, It's somebody's valued working relationship with Sony.

Also he ain't a fool for only making games on sony consoles It's his choice which consoles he makes games on.
I love you.

OT: I work at an Electronics retailer, so we often get Sales Reps in. Had the Tom Tom, Lexmark and Sony Playstation reps in today. The Playstation lady is lovely. Far better than the Microsoft dude.

So I understand what he's saying about the working relationship. The day-to-day people at Sony seem pretty chill.