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Definitive version of multiplatform games > 2 or 3 (timed) exclusives

we don't know which versions are definitive. from a pure technical standpoint, the pc versions are likely to be definitive. regarding consoles, that would probably go towards the ps4 version unless dedicated servers or features actually do make a larger difference.

 

[FairXchange]

True. This generation is a great example of it. What's really fascinating is Sony failed at first (Heavenly Sword, Lair, Folklore, Genji, etc) then came back when the first Uncharted was released.

Folkore is amazing. I wouldn't list it among failures like that.

 

[Vashetti]

yea probably money issues. Sony' couldn't even money hat Final Fantasy XV or Kingdom Hearts 3....

the company has been struggling for years

That's more to do with Square Enix not being able to make them exclusive.

They need those multi-platform sales as they've been bleeding money for a while now. Their projects go on for too long, with too much money thrown at them.

 

[SymbolicGamer]

Because they have the best and biggest lineup of first-party studios on the planet?

They make Knack, right?

 

[SniperHunter]

BTW Deep Down won't be exclusive to PS4. I am guessing the engine isn't up and running on Xbone yet.

And I agree Sony did a great job investing in the first party studios. It's been a while since they bought a new studio, they should do that ASAP

That's more to do with Square Enix not being able to make them exclusive.

They need those multi-platform sales as they've been bleeding money for a while now. Their projects go on for too long, with too much money thrown at them.

word is Square Enix were asking Sony for too much money and Sony backed off

 

[Uno Venova]

Don't know but I don't think it's the wrong choice. I don't feel like I'm missing anything playing games or DLC a month before it comes out on other consoles or big third party games a year before the other consoles.

 

[John Harker]

They are making exclusive added content deals with marketing support as oppose to large scale exclusive development deals.

They are casting a broader reach net to increase exposure for the platform

 

[Bulzeeb]

Knack?

knack looks lame but puppeteer looks awesome (it's a real shame the game is most likely a bomba)

 

[Derrick01]

Again, it's Microsoft published.

There is only one third party exclusive cited in the OP.

Sony is also publishing several games by external developers.

It's still owned by Capcom though. Plus several MS published games have appeared on PC and even Playstation platforms before so people don't trust MS that they'll stay on Xbox.

 

[AwRy108]

They're spending money on where it counts. Their own studios.

Yup.

 

[Bundy]

They make Knack, right?

Nintendo made Wii Music, right?

Spoiler

And KNACK seems to be a good game

 

[Nightengale]

WHAT IS IT?

We won't know till next year.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

They did invest in third party exclusives with the PS1 and PS2 but I think they made the right call investing more in first party for PS3

 

[Leflus]

Like Minecraft.

The list of MS-published retail games that has been ported to the PS3 is incredibly small.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

True. This generation is a great example of it. What's really fascinating is Sony failed at first (Heavenly Sword, Lair, Folklore, Genji, etc) then came back when the first Uncharted was released.

What's really interesting is that your examples were third party exclusives that Sony paid for. Sony clearly saw this would be a problem and looked inwards for their killer games and their studios really delivered.

MS had some amazing studios too before they allowed them to break off and be bought by the likes of Activision or they themselves shuttered them.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

I'd argue a steady tream of high quality Indie games is going to be as important this gen, as the blockbuster AAA's, not to mention the definition of Indie is changing, as is the ambitiousness of such title.. Even as the current gen peter's out, we are seeing indie titles garner more sales and media attention than we could ever imagine when those systems launched.

I think high quality indie games are important to the core but I don't think they'll move alot of systems. Minecraft is the one, huge exception. That game is the definition of lighting in a bottle, at least in the current gen, not sure if it will have a repeat next, I suspect that it's legs will be miles long though.

Edit: although I get your point about the nature of indies changing I think it's more likely that they'll morph into AAA games, thereby losing the "indie" touch

 

[Radec]

Agent?

Doesn't exists.

Like The Last Guardian.

All but Titanfall are Microsoft published, not third party.

If they count, then Sony published games from external developers also count - and there are several such PS4 games announced to date.

Wasn't EA the one publishing it? If it was MS then there would be no rumors that it is a timed exclusive.

 

[SniperHunter]

The difference between Knack and Puppeteer is really amazing though.

One game looks amazing, the other looks like trash and both are developed by the same studio. I am buying Puppeteer on day 1

 

[Soi-Fong]

The list of MS-published retail games that has been ported to the PS3 is incredibly small.

The list of Sony published games that's been ported to Xbox is 0. What's your point?

 

[jsnepo]

Folkore is amazing. I wouldn't list it among failures like that.

Not just quality but sales also. I have Folklore as part of my collection.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

Like Minecraft.

Minecraft was published by MS out of necessity as they didn't allow self publishing when it released.

That and they paid for the port as Sony are likely paying for the PS3, PS4 and Vita ports.

 

[SgtCobra]

They care more about relationships with devs and pretty talk to ensure that their games get a Console Debut™ on the PS4.
They didn't even moneyhat FFXV and KH3, so I don't expect them to announce a big third party exclusive (which stays exclusive) anytime soon.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

They have a big one according to Verendus.

no offense to Verendus (I personally think he's a good guy), but what, exactly, has he gotten correct with his 'insider' status?

I know he called FFvsXIII being renamed to FFXV, but a lot of us predicted that years ago when the game went dark and the entire 'XIII Saga' started getting a nasty reputation.

I seem to recall him saying FFXV and KH3 would be PS4 exclusive and we saw how that went.

 

[gofreak]

It's still owned by Capcom though.

Right, but my point is that the OP is counting games that are part of Microsoft's publishing portfolio as 'third party exclusives'.

If Ryse counts then there are several third party PS4 exclusives that Sony has 'invested in'. The Order, Rime, Shadow of the Beast, Everyone's Gone to the Rapture, Resogun, Quantic Dream's game etc. etc.

Really weird definition of 'third party exclusive' IMO. Titanfall is the only third party game there.

 

[Soi-Fong]

Minecraft was published by MS out of necessity as they didn't allow self publishing when it released.

That and they paid for the port as Sony are likely paying for the PS3, PS4 and Vita ports.

Notch doesn't give a crap about loyalty. He'll go where the money is and there's a ton to be made on the Playstation.

 

[casablanca]

Sony is too busy donating money to the gods.
Naughty gods.

 

[Duxxy3]

A lot of the Xbox one third party exclusives are former 360 games that got caught up in development problems.

 

[Theonik]

Because Sony has actually competent first party studios to invest in instead.
They are also hedging their bets on exclusive content for multi-platform games and indies.

 

[Dr Mayonnaise]

They don;t have too, they have the best studios in the industry!!!


name one developer that can outdue gorilla games or naughtydog?

CD Projekt Red says Hi.

 

[SniperHunter]

I seem to recall him saying FFXV and KH3 would be PS4 exclusive and we saw how that went.

he didn't say that at all. he said they were exclusive kind of. Even thugway said FFXV was going to be exclusive. Sony backed off at the last minute IMO

 

[BigDug13]

we don't know which versions are definitive. from a pure technical standpoint, the pc versions are likely to be definitive. regarding consoles, that would probably go towards the ps4 version unless dedicated servers or features actually do make a larger difference.

PC argument is so out of place in console threads. Ultimately the PC version is nearly always the best because you can always brute force poor optimization with beefier hardware. But that's not really the point.

 

[Silphonica]

They're spending money on where it counts. Their own studios.

Yeah, all 3rd party developers are irrelevant.

In fact, the gaming should just be playstation and all playstation first party developers. :lol

 

[SparkTR]

Aren't they trying to minimise the massive costs associated with a console launch? Third party exclusives are insanely expensive.

 

[Impeccable]

Waste of money.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

Notch doesn't give a crap about loyalty. He'll go where the money is and there's a ton to be made on the Playstation.

Exactly. Either the exclusivity period ran out or Sony finally decided to pay for the port. Either way, it's a win for console gamers everywhere.

 

[Curufinwe]

They don't need to and it's really expensive.

 

[Nymphae]

Love that the OP completely discounts the appeal of indies. Whatever helps you make your point I guess.

 

[SniperHunter]

CD Projekt Red says Hi.

Witcher 2 was ok, Witcher 1 sucked...

they take too long to release games. I dunno

 

[Rashid]

The wrong in this post exceeds next gen levels.

I'M DONE.

I don't understand. Why would the fact I don't like many indie games be 'wrong'? Get off your high horse. And also, have you even seen what's behind the XBL Gold paywall? Something like 80 features.

 

[foogles]

Huge third-party exclusives will come later. (Even Titanfall isn't coming for several months after XB1 is released.) What third party publisher is gonna put a game that would probably sell five million on a console that only has five million actual devices out in the wild? That's just stupid and bad business. And what would Sony or MS have to pay them to do it anyway? They'd have to subsidize millions of lost sales.

 

[BigDug13]

Yeah, all 3rd party developers are irrelevant.

In fact, the gaming should just be playstation and all playstation first party developers. :lol

Third party developers are irrelevant to this discussion when almost every third party game will be on both consoles. The OP is asking why Sony doesn't throw money at third party developers to make games exclusive but the bottom line is these games wouldn't be exclusive at all without the bags of money thrown at them. Better to use the money on your own studios and let "almost" all the other third party games come automatically.

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

Yeah, all 3rd party developers are irrelevant.

In fact, the gaming should just be playstation and all playstation first party developers. :lol

They are irrelevant if they are making games for all platforms because they want to make their own money. Sony doubling on them to make games for their systems when they have the money and capability to hire the same talent to make their own games sound like a smart cheap and effective way of making games.

 

[Leflus]

The list of Sony published games that's been ported to Xbox is 0. What's your point?

The post I replied to was implying that Minecraft could be used as an argument for saying that DR3, Sunset Overdrive and Ryse could appear on other consoles.

My point is that MS-published retail games very rarely get ported to other consoles. It has only happened two times, and one of them was because Bioware got aquired by EA.

 

[Audible Phonetics]

To put it simply. Imagine if M$ didn't make all these deals with 3rd parties, their 1st/2nd party launch lineup would be dismal.

On the other hand remove PS 1st hand studios, and their console loses its appeal.

It's a balance that works for each consoles strength.

 

[SoundofSilence]

Xbox One is getting DR3, RYSE, Titanfall and that Insomniac game exclusively. Sony has a lot of good games too, but nothing exclusive from 3rd parties. Seems like Sony invested a lot of money into smaller indie games but most people don't care about those.

Why couldn't they just get 1 or 2 exclusive 3rd parties? They are good with Ubisoft maybe they should have paid them more to get Watch Dogs to release early on the PS4.

If Sony had announced and shown the games Naughty Dog, SSM, and Media Molecule are working on, no one would be discussing this.

 

[SymbolicGamer]

Nintendo made Wii Music, right?

Spoiler

And KNACK seems to be a good game

What does Nintendo have anything to do with it?

I just asked if Sony made Knack. Knack and Infamous: Second Son are the only two PS4 games I'm really hyped for.

 

[Soi-Fong]

Yeah, all 3rd party developers are irrelevant.

In fact, the gaming should just be playstation and all playstation first party developers. :lol

3rd parties become partly irrelevant or less relevant than 1st party studios when the money spent to moneyhat one game can be used instead to fund a first party game that is guaranteed to stay exclusive to your console and if well made, propel that studio's reputation.

Naughty Dog is a good example of this. Name me an MS studio that can stand to Naughty Dog or Sony Santa Monica.

 

[BruiserBear]

Because Sony has actually competent first party studios to invest in instead.
They are also hedging their bets on exclusive content for multi-platform games and indies.

People keep saying this, but then we have games like Driveclub and Knack at launch. I think it could easily be argued, regardless of whether they own the studios or not, Microsoft has paid for some good looking exclusives on XB1.

I really wish Sony would consider these deals themselves, and frankly I'd rather see the money they spend keeping a studio like Evolution open, used to pay for an exclusive like Titanfall any day of the week.

 

[Gemüsepizza]

Why pay for exclusive games when after launch publishers will scramble for being able to release their games on PS4? This is what I think will happen with Titanfall. Clearly EA's plans where based on the popularity of the Xbox 360 as the most popular CoD platform. They didn't anticipate the current Xbox One reception but believe me: They will react. They will look hard at the sale numbers and they will bring Titanfall on the most popular platform as fast as possible. I would not be surprised at all if they are already working on a PS4 version. This is an IP that they invested much in and an IP that they want to expand, it can not fail. I think Microsoft was only able to secure these (timed) exclusives because of the success of the Xbox 360 and it will be much, much harder and much more expensive for MS to get exclusives at this point.

 

[Prince Vultan]

Well, setting aside the fact we don't KNOW if they haven't yet (Yakuza PS4 is probably exclusive, but I doubt they'd have had to pay for that one given that Nagoshi is pretty confident where his target audience is/is going it seems), why the fuck would anyone want third party releases to be exclusive exactly? That shit needs to stop surely?

My guess is that they considered first party investment to be a more worthwhile way to spend their cash, which is absolutely the right call. Third party exclusives will likely end up on other platforms eventually, but first party output will always only be where you want it to be... so which would you rather spend money on? Obviously Microsoft needs third party exclusives to offset their barren first party library at this point in time, but Sony obviously do not.

Oh... Plus, not buying timed exclusives has the added bonus of taking away Microsoft's favourite PR play from this gen: Betrayaltons! MS tried to get one of these early with the Insomniac thing... then no one cared. If Sony had signed that FFXV exclusive deal they supposedly had in front of them, they'd have had a re-run of FFXIII 360 all over again at some point.

Staying away from full game exclusivity and instead getting extra content to make your version of the game look a bit more appealling is the better move for them right now... and may end up proving unnecessary down the line if and when word starts getting around about PS4 versions of games being the best you can get on consoles anyways.