eltacohombre
07-13-2007, 11:47 PM
Looks like making a developer friendly console has become a major advantage for Microsoft. Sony tries to play it off saying it's up to the developers when to release games...
E3 2007: Sony Dismisses Multiplatform Publishing
Up to publishers to ensure PS3 version is ready.
During a blogger meeting of the minds with Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton, 1UP brought up that a number of multiplatform titles are being shipped late on PS3 or cancelled outright. Most recently, Fatal Inertia, a game initially announced as a PS3 launch title, became multiplatform on Xbox 360, but it was recently cancelled for PS3, with Koei citing development issues. Also, Medal of Honor: Airborne will arrive in August for Xbox 360 and PC -- but now in November for PS3.
"If games are shipping later and they're not at least in parity and that's a disadvantage for us and one that we'd want to correct. Part of the reasons for that that I surmise, that platform was out a year earlier and anybody that supported it has a year more experience with it. I'm not a development expert, but PC-based development system, certainly in terms of initial efforts and investments, a little earlier to get your arm around than PS3 development," said Tretton. "But, I hope, that if we're successful and really evangelize the technology, that trend tends to shift and people start hosting their development on our platform. Whether we accomplish that, time will tell."
Furthermore, we brought up the story 1UP broke a few weeks ago about Madden NFL 08 and All-Pro Football 2K8 both running at 60fps on Xbox 360 and 30fps on PS3. Tretton's response: Sony did it with MLB 08 and NBA 07, so why can't Electronic Arts and 2K Sports?
"On our NBA game and our MLB game, it will ship at 60fps. We win the baseball battle handily against our competition, so I guess we took away that concern by building a game that does take advantage of the technology in the two sports we participate in. In the case of a sport we don't participate in, that we're not offering at a standard comparable [to the other] platform, I guess the challenge the publisher faces is that somebody doesn't buy it on PS3, or they buy it on PS2 or buy it on a competitive platform," he said.
From there, Tretton laid it on the line and basically dismissed the multiplatform strategy that every publisher out there sits behind. On one hand, you can't blame him for wanting more companies to start development on PS3. On the other, what's it mean for publisher relations when a platform holder is dismissing the majority third-party strategy?
"The reason why publishers put games on multiple platforms is that they want to sell multiple copies of it. If you put it on three, four, five platforms just so you can sell a few to each one and if the numbers add up for you, I guess that strategy works," he said. "If you look at most multiple platform publishers, they wanna sell to the owners of each of those platforms, and if the game isn't up to the standard that the consumer expects, they're not going to buy your game, and that's a decision that a developer has to make."
-Patrick Klepek
E3 2007: Sony Dismisses Multiplatform Publishing
Up to publishers to ensure PS3 version is ready.
During a blogger meeting of the minds with Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton, 1UP brought up that a number of multiplatform titles are being shipped late on PS3 or cancelled outright. Most recently, Fatal Inertia, a game initially announced as a PS3 launch title, became multiplatform on Xbox 360, but it was recently cancelled for PS3, with Koei citing development issues. Also, Medal of Honor: Airborne will arrive in August for Xbox 360 and PC -- but now in November for PS3.
"If games are shipping later and they're not at least in parity and that's a disadvantage for us and one that we'd want to correct. Part of the reasons for that that I surmise, that platform was out a year earlier and anybody that supported it has a year more experience with it. I'm not a development expert, but PC-based development system, certainly in terms of initial efforts and investments, a little earlier to get your arm around than PS3 development," said Tretton. "But, I hope, that if we're successful and really evangelize the technology, that trend tends to shift and people start hosting their development on our platform. Whether we accomplish that, time will tell."
Furthermore, we brought up the story 1UP broke a few weeks ago about Madden NFL 08 and All-Pro Football 2K8 both running at 60fps on Xbox 360 and 30fps on PS3. Tretton's response: Sony did it with MLB 08 and NBA 07, so why can't Electronic Arts and 2K Sports?
"On our NBA game and our MLB game, it will ship at 60fps. We win the baseball battle handily against our competition, so I guess we took away that concern by building a game that does take advantage of the technology in the two sports we participate in. In the case of a sport we don't participate in, that we're not offering at a standard comparable [to the other] platform, I guess the challenge the publisher faces is that somebody doesn't buy it on PS3, or they buy it on PS2 or buy it on a competitive platform," he said.
From there, Tretton laid it on the line and basically dismissed the multiplatform strategy that every publisher out there sits behind. On one hand, you can't blame him for wanting more companies to start development on PS3. On the other, what's it mean for publisher relations when a platform holder is dismissing the majority third-party strategy?
"The reason why publishers put games on multiple platforms is that they want to sell multiple copies of it. If you put it on three, four, five platforms just so you can sell a few to each one and if the numbers add up for you, I guess that strategy works," he said. "If you look at most multiple platform publishers, they wanna sell to the owners of each of those platforms, and if the game isn't up to the standard that the consumer expects, they're not going to buy your game, and that's a decision that a developer has to make."
-Patrick Klepek