Jack Tretton insists that Sony won't buy any PS3 exclusives, but will earn them on the merit of the hardware.
The PlayStation 3 is having a very tough time as of late. The
Church of England is opposing it on one side, while gamers throughout the rest of Europe continue to rage about how they've been neglected by Sony. Even the
Orcs aren't best pleased with Sony right now.
Still, maybe if Sony bought up some cool exclusive games then it may be able to salvage something from the ruins?
Nope, apparently that just isn't how it works anymore.
In a recent interview with
PSM magazine, Jack Tretton explained just why the PlayStation 3 has been getting fewer exclusives than expected;
"We have a very different approach to exclusives than some of our competitors. We don't buy exclusivity. We don't fund development. We don't, for the lack of a better term, bribe somebody to only do a game on our platform."
So, encouraging users to buy your console by ensuring it gets good games is counted as 'bribery' now? Sounds fine to us, but then we're pretty solidly against the idea of console exclusives in general.
"We earn it by saying 'you can build a better game on our platform. If you focus your development on our platform, you will ultimately be more successful. We can try to partner up with you from a technological standpoint. We can try to partner up with you from a marketing standpoint. But just economically and technologically, this is the system that makes the most sense for you.' "
Hmm. Methinks Sony must not be working hard enough then because, as pointed out by
Game|Life, there are a fair few games out there which could have been exclusive, but which somehow slipped through Sony's grasp - games like
GTA IV,
Assassin's Creed are now showing up on 360 despite the original desire from developers for these titles to have been PS3 exclusives.
Meanwhile, games like
Beautiful Katamari are rumoured to be trashing PS3 versions and focusing only on the Xbox 360.
Would some decent PS3 exclusives tempt you to pick up a PlayStation 3, or do you hate console exclusives just as much as us? Is it already too late for the media's
whipping boy to make a comeback, or are things just getting started? Tell us what
you think.
This time round the PS3 isn't going to do so well on the exclusives front imo unless Sony start ponying up some cash.
What a larf. Sony clearly pays for exclusive content. They've probably signed more development deals with independent developers than any other. Perhaps Tretton means that they don't directly fund games being published by other people, but that's a trifling distinction. He should get off his high horse.
Thats an interesting article, i think sony could actually do with spending some money in order to get some exclusive games.
Sam
"We've spent too much money developing this console, we make a loss as we sell it, so we're not going to shell out for exclusive rights to a game, because our PS3 budget is already overspent. Sorry"
Yeah, but Sony buying it up is news. When they showed it last E3, they said it was in development for PS3, 360 and PC.
That's assuming the game is Heavy Rain which it probably is. But the Sony announcement doesn't name the game.
Not really. It just means Tretton is a bumbling idiot. Sony spends plenty on deals and development, he just wanted to make it sound like all these developers work for them because their platform is so good. Hmm. Money talks first, and Sony knows it.
Good thing they do have exclusives then :) There's over 20 exclusive titles scheduled for PS3 by the end of the year.
Comments like this are almost as silly as Tretton's ;) Dreamcast was lacking support period, before even talking about exclusive support. The largest third party publisher in the world ignored it. PS3 has the support of all the major publishers, and it has its exclusive stuff too.
In short, Something should seem a little off about comments like this if you consider on the very same day Sony was announcing a new exclusive deal with a developer, not to mention if you look at the deals and development investments they've already made. As for deals with third party publishers, Sony is notorious for offering marketing and promotional support, among other things, in exchange for exclusives or timed exclusives, and Kaz Hirai said just a few weeks ago that they'd be focussing on doing this again. For example, it's not coincidence that Silent Hill was predominantly a PS2 exclusive franchise, and that Sony Pictures funded a movie for it. Sony is known for more creative moneyhats. Interestingly, Sony Pictures recently announced it would be funding the Metal Gear movie project and I wouldn't be surprised if this was brokered by SCE in exchange for at least temporary exclusivity on MGS4.
That doesn't contradict what Tretton said. Sony may well not fund the games of other publishers directly, but they do pass money in other ways. He was choosing his words carefully to place himself on some imagined high horse, which he doesn't really have any business being on.
http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/Jeffrey_Sk_m417228.jpg
The former CEO of Enron Corp.
nah the dreamcast has decent games that are exclusives. THe PS3 has mediocre non exclusives.
How can it be more successful if other companies have sold more consoles than you have? Wouldn't that make for higher profits if they focused development for their system? Silly silly Sony.
Well hypothetically, if a game is only on PS3 and it is a great, must-have title then everyone who already owns the PS3 will want one AND any new/future customers that don't own a PS3 that are either a) looking at getting one anyway in the near future or b) will get one now that there is a great must-have title on the PS3 will also buy it, so what is Sony so "silly" about when using that statement? Take the original Halo for example: Xbox was a boring console that didn't really have the spark it needed until Bungie decided to make it's Xbox exclusive, and trust me there weren't THAT many Xbox owners at the time and now look what happened, so you better stop spouting off overly-opinionated comments about how Sony doesn't know what they're talking about, or you're just gonna end up looking like an ignorant, pompous a**.
You seem to miss the fact that he quoted Sony's statment. that being
Which is currently marketing speak from Sony, it relies on more people buying their machine. if developers focused on the x360 they could be more succesful as there are already more consoles out there. therefore you rely on a market that neds to only buy the game and not a console and a game. To be really truthful for a developer to be really succeful and sell more games they need to focus on all platforms to catch the largest market area. sony's statement really should be
"If you focus your development on our platform, WE will ultimately be more successful. "
You really seem to want to take anything said as a personal attack.
There is nothing wrong with your analogy, the PS3 does need a "must have" game the same as the Xbox did. However your comments regarding what is so silly about Matts statement are where I draw issue.
It is not the fact that the game is on a specific platform that makes it great, its the game itself thats great. Focusing the developer to a platform to make the developer more successful is silly, you wont make yourself more successful you will make the console more successful. Hence sony's statement was marketing doublespeak