serversurfer
Member
It seems like there's still a lot of confusion about who's really to blame here. I recommend reading this excellent thread on the subject, as it cuts through a lot of the PR-speak and seems to get to the heart of the matter.
Logitech currently have a full line of wheels they build and sell to PC users. Being able to sell the exact, same hardware to millions of PS4 users is effectively free money for them. AFAICT, the only rational reason for Logitech to leave free money on the table is if Immersion are standing in the way, doing their best to ensure said money is anything but free.
So for Logitech, their choices are to pay Immersion's ransom and get in to the PS4 market at launch, or "get out of the console business" and continue selling their hardware to PC users, and then next year when Immersion is out of the picture, they can "Reexamine their position in the console market, given the tremendous success of the PS4 and the excitement over the upcoming GT7, made even better by the Driving Force GT."
So yeah, Logitech miss out on the first two years of the generation, but those years are tiny anyway, and this way they dodge giving Immersion any more than they absolutely must.
I dunno if I mentioned it, but the Immersion agreement is also why Sony can't release DS4 drivers for Windows/Mac/Linux; Sony are explicitly prohibited from making controllers which work on anything other than a PlayStation.
It's a nice thought, but I imagine if Immersion were willing to be reasonable about it, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.this is a good point. Immersion had Sony's balls in a vice with PS3 so got a great deal. But there isn't anything out there with a risk of recall etc, so it can be a normal licensing negotiation. And Immersion may be more realistic considering Neither Sony or Logitech seem that bothered in supporting legacy devices on PS4, so some money will be better than none?
Logitech currently have a full line of wheels they build and sell to PC users. Being able to sell the exact, same hardware to millions of PS4 users is effectively free money for them. AFAICT, the only rational reason for Logitech to leave free money on the table is if Immersion are standing in the way, doing their best to ensure said money is anything but free.
So for Logitech, their choices are to pay Immersion's ransom and get in to the PS4 market at launch, or "get out of the console business" and continue selling their hardware to PC users, and then next year when Immersion is out of the picture, they can "Reexamine their position in the console market, given the tremendous success of the PS4 and the excitement over the upcoming GT7, made even better by the Driving Force GT."
So yeah, Logitech miss out on the first two years of the generation, but those years are tiny anyway, and this way they dodge giving Immersion any more than they absolutely must.
I dunno if I mentioned it, but the Immersion agreement is also why Sony can't release DS4 drivers for Windows/Mac/Linux; Sony are explicitly prohibited from making controllers which work on anything other than a PlayStation.