God of War Creator David Jaffe Strikes Back at Online Critics

[malestrithe]

Let's start the petition right now to put the Halo series on the Playstation 3. I mean Bungie can only make more money if the game is on multiple platforms. I mean let's sacrifice Bungie's good working relationship with Microsoft just to appease the small population of the hardcore gamer that does not want to own a 360.

The people that are complaining about this are doing it for one reason. They do not want to buy another system to play it because multiplatform to them only means X-Box 360 and Playstation 3.

David Jaffe has a good working relationship with Sony and I do not want him to mess it up just to appease the small vocal minority of 360 owners. I am pretty sure the majority of 360 owners do not really care about Twisted Metal's existence and they might not even play it if the option is available to them.

Before anyone says so, I do not have a dog in this hunt. I own all 5 viable gaming consoles this generation and I use them all equally.

 

[UnderCoverGuest]

Awww, is there a minority group of single-console video gamers who aren't getting games they really want to play on the gaming system they have? Hint hint?

Well %$@*ing about time this happened to console gamers. We PC Gamers have to worry about every single game, and pray to whatever gods exist (or care) that the developers will announce some kind of PC version. If Xbox owners aren't going to get first play of a game because it's going to the PS3 instead, I can't sympathize or care. What goofballs.

 

[Alade]

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.

Of course it has a fanbase but a game having a cult following is just going to ensure mediocre sales, having a completely new fanbase to cater to would probably double, if not triple the sales, the avarage X360 Douchebag (no disrespect to the console itself) would be all over machine gun cars.

Ocarina of Time, SoC, and Half-life were all completely different playing fields, both console-wise and business-wise, Ocarina was basically forced into the 64 because it was made by Nintendo itself, they had to make the best of that situation and they did, who knows how it would have worked out had it been available for the back-then far more robust PS1.
Shadow of The colossus came out during a time where the only area the Xbox contributed was the FPS genre so it wasn't really a console war, nintendo was also just rehashing old titles so that was hardly an option either.
Half-life is the best example of this, at the time both the half-lifes were made no console was suited for FPS-play, once this trend started changing Valve adapted, that's why the Orange Box came out on the X360 and such.

The only thing that the Twisted Metal series can benefit from being Sony exclusive is a safety-net from Sony and a bit more processing power, and downranking graphics to fit a weaker console isn't exactly hard work and not much of the original flavor is actually lost.

 

[Shy_Guy]

Let's start the petition right now to put the Halo series on the Playstation 3. I mean Bungie can only make more money if the game is on multiple platforms. I mean let's sacrifice Bungie's good working relationship with Microsoft just to appease the small population of the hardcore gamer that does not want to own a 360.

That's probably not the best example considering Bungie signed with Activision pretty much to get future games on multiple platforms. Not Halo mind you, but the next Bungie game will be on PS3 and maybe more.

I think though, I quite understand what Mr. Jaffe is saying. I believe he has a better working relationship with Sony than Bungie ever did with Microsoft (just look at what happened with Halo 1 & 2).

 

[twistedheat15]

It's actually nice to see that a developer doesn't just sell out the ppl he feels he has a good relationship with and got him started just for more money.

 

[seekeroftruth86]

I hate choosing so I usually try to get all three consoles. I don't really PC game though.

Given my console agnosticism I don't really see any problems with sticking with a certain console on a developer level. As long as they all get good games I'm happy.

 

[WolfEdge]

I'd rather Jaffe stick to his convictions and produce what he's happy producing than try and appease those who would rather him do something else. Design by committee rarely actually works out in the long run, anyway.

After all, what is a camel if not a horse designed by committee.

 

[malestrithe]

That's probably not the best example considering Bungie signed with Activision pretty much to get future games on multiple platforms. Not Halo mind you, but the next Bungie game will be on PS3 and maybe more.

I think though, I quite understand what Mr. Jaffe is saying. I believe he has a better working relationship with Sony than Bungie ever did with Microsoft (just look at what happened with Halo 1 & 2).

Probably not the best example, but it is the most apt one at the moment. The people that were complaining about Jaffe only did so because they were dye in the wool 360 owners. Halo and its developer were considered in bed with microsoft for a long time, almost a decade. It fit.

 

[SpecJoe Magic]

Console exclusives, while negative in some respects, are, in my opinion, a good thing. Granted, there are those that don't get to experience them due to not owning a particular console, but many of us would have missed out on a lot of great console exclusive experiences were it not for people like Jaffe. Focusing on one console allows developers to take full advantage of the hardware available. This has given us epic experiences that would be nearly impossible to create across all platforms, such as God of War III, Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain. Don't get me wrong, I like the Xbox 360 a lot, as I own more games for it than anything else, but the PS3's hardware capabilities allow exclusive games to be created for it that are unique from a technological standpoint.

I'm glad Jaffe is sticking to his guns. No developer should be forced to create games for consoles that don't interest them. There are more than enough multiplatform games. I appreciate the fact that Jaffe values his relationship with Sony above the possibility of making more money. In an industry that is full of greedy publishers, it's nice to know that there are still some developers that desire creative freedom more than excessive profit.

 

[chaos order]

its completely ridiculous to criticize someone for working on a single platform. its just fanboys butthurt by that fact that the games won be on their platform. Also i hate how people cant differentiate between making more money and losing money. GOD people need to open their minds not their asses.

 

[MichaelJ325]

The real issue here is why are people criticizing him for doing what he wants to do? We don't criticize Picasso for not choosing to practice Impressionism along with Cubism, so why should we criticize any developer for choosing one platform over another.

If he loses all of his money because of it, then so be it. Sounds to me like Xbox users are just complaining because they don't have the money to buy a PS3 and want Twisted Metal to be on the 360. Well, suck it up, you've got Halo, and Fable.

 

[Richioso]

They're just pissed off because that's their default setting.

 

[xXDeMoNiCXx]

I don't see people complaining about Bungie making only games for the 360 for the past several years. Sure they're gonna start now that Halo is finally done with but during the time thy didn't I never saw any criticism about it so clearly some people are being hypocritical 360 fanboys/girls.

 

[Badabukavich]

Console Exclusives are the things that make console. If every game came out for the same console, then we'd just end up with shittier games because the developers will have to try and please everyone. The man said it himself, I've worked with Sony before and it worked out well so why should i risk the playability of this game by trying to make it multi-console.

 

[Jason Danger Keyes]

They're pissed off because some people can't comprehend liking a console that doesn't have Halo on it.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Good for the critics. In this day and age, ANY single platform game developer that [i/]could[/i] be multiplatform, should be criticized. There is and never has been a good reason for exclusive titles.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I don't mind a console exclusive if it makes sense that it's exclusive but that's never the case.

For example if the map and gameplay for Infamous was so immense that it could only fit on a BRdisc, it would've totally made sense for it to be exclusive.

 

[Atmos Duality]

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.

Yup.
The first is called "Accounting Profit". Where you, individually, made a profit/loss. Your expenses vs your revenue; nothing else.

The second is called "Economic Profit" which is the profit you could have possibly made vs the profit you did make.

Of course, there's more to making games than just money; though few people want to see it as anything else. I wish Jaffe luck in the future; hopefully his new Twisted Metal title will turn into one of those few reasons I would want to own a PS3.

 

[HT_Black]

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?

I think you confused EA with Activision.

But you made a good point: the contradiction is a bit baffling.

 

[mjc0961]

People are fools. First of all Jaffe can do what he wants. Second, like he said, Twisted Metal is owned by Sony, so you'll get that on 360 as soon as PS3 gets to take part in the next Halo release.