exclusives
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Reeves: Exclusives with publishers probably 'a thing of the past'
David Reeves, president of SCEE, discussed his views on exclusives in an interview with GameIndustry.biz. Reeves believes that an enticing software lineup is more important than price in terms of promoting hardware sales. How does he plan to secure this lineup, more specifically exclusives? By "investment in our own intellectual properties -- as particularly Phil Harrison and I tried to do in the last five years with SingStar, or with The Getaway, or with Buzz! ... It's like a patent. We can take them forward."Reeves states that he is aware of the situation where publishers "cannot have exclusives unless they're given millions and millions of dollars not to develop a particular game for one particular platform." Instead, Sony plans to work with developers instead. He cites Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain, which he proclaims a "platform driver," as an example: "a great game, it takes a lot of time to develop, they need a little bit of funding, external development. In exchange, it's exclusive -- that works."The Sony exec doesn't completely discount the possibility of an exclusive with publishers though. "We have to accept that exclusivity is not a thing of the past, but it is probably with publishers. We might do a few things, where we feel that we need a push here or a push there." What are your thoughts? Is it possible to secure exclusives with publishers without the aforementioned "millions of dollars"? Is establishing relationships with developers like Quantic Dream key to the PS3's success?
PS3 exclusives sell 45% better than multiplatform releases
PS3 fanboys don't like to share, it seems. According to EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich, PS3 owners prefer exclusives on their systems. In fact, a title that is exclusive to PS3 will sell 45% better on the system than a multiplatform title. Exclusives on both the Wii and Xbox 360, according to the analyst, only have a "small increase" over multiplatform titles.June NPDs are almost guaranteed to belong to Sony, and Microsoft may respond to two consecutive months of PS3 victories through a price cut announced at E3. How will this affect the price of the PS3? "If there is a hardware price cut, it is not known if Sony will follow suit right way, but it would be safe to assume that Sony would execute some type of plan within a 2 month window of any hardware price cut from the Xbox 360."The console war looks to be heating up. It'll be interesting to see where it goes in the coming months.
Kaz Hirai: Sony can 're-evaluate' paying for PS3 exclusives
A long time ago, Jack Tretton mentioned that Sony will not pay for PS3 exclusivity in this generation of games. "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," he noted. Instead, Sony tries to seduce developers to make better games on the system, and use the appeal of the PS3 hardware to secure exclusives.This strategy has meant a bevy of formerly PS2-exclusive series to become multiplatform successes on Xbox 360 and PC. However, Kaz Hirai told ThreeSpeech "that's something that we can re-evaluate." High-profile exclusives act as differentiating reasons for system purchases. PS3 has a strong first-party line-up, but it will need to pursue third-party exclusives with an even stronger bite. However, with games being so expensive in this generation, such a proposal may be difficult. "It's also something that the publishers need to make a business decision on. Ultimately, it becomes a dialogue – if it makes sense for them to go exclusive, that's a business decision that they need to make. But generally speaking, because of the investments that publishers need to make in this round of hardware, it's going to be more difficult for publishers to make that decision."
Metal Gear Solid 4 needs a million sold on day one
Kojima Production's upcoming PS3 exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4 is a very pricey game to make. Making it exclusive to one console is a risky proposition, especially in an era of skyrocketing game development. Ryan Payton told Reuters that the high-profile title "needs to sell over a million copies on the first day it goes on sale due to its costly production." Will this be likely considering the PS3's small userbase?Sony says that it's been prepared for the loss of third party exclusives from the get-go, understanding that publishers will want to recoup their costs differently in this generation of hardware. "We understand publishers are needing to recoup their investment," said Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing for Sony. "From our perspective, as long as the games aren't going exclusive to other platforms, PS3 gamers are not actually losing anything." Their strategy? To have the most first party development -- more than Nintendo and Microsoft combined.Metal Gear Solid 4 isn't the last of Sony's big exclusives. In the far future, fans can also look forward to Final Fantasy XIII. In addition, Dille noted that "15 PS3 exclusives released between September 2007 and April 2008."
Sony's Jack Tretton: 'We don't buy exclusivity'
Perhaps now would be a good time to start? In an interview published within the latest issue of PSM, Sony Computer Entertainment America president, Jack Tretton, responds to the magazine's observation that there are fewer exclusive titles bound for (and to) the PlayStation 3 than there possibly could be. Mr. Tretton explains that Sony's approach to the acquisition of exclusives is different than those of competitors, perhaps in the sense that it's far more noble and devoid of unspeakable acts of bribery. Or perhaps in the sense that there isn't much of an approach at all."Yeah, 'fewer exclusives' is a term, and I don't know what makes an exclusive," says Tretton. "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." That's correct, generating reasons for consumers to purchase and enjoy your console over others became a dubious, underhanded maneuver when you weren't looking. Since the publisher (of third-party titles such as Heavenly Sword and Lair) isn't willing to stoop that low, it would much rather "earn" exclusives. "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.'"With money apparently not changing hands for that exclusive status, how do you suppose the system's comparatively small install base makes "the most sense" economically? No answer is obtained from Tretton, who then rightly notes that as a first-party, Sony has a very strong ability to provide plenty of exclusive titles. However, he warns that relying too much on first-party endeavors as Nintendo does might not make for a "healthy environment" and that conversely, Microsoft is "too dependent on the third-party community."Grab a copy of this month's PSM to read the full interview.[Via GamesRadar Forums]
Exclusives: Sony's loss, Microsoft's gain
Chris Kohler of Wired magazine recently took a moment to list exclusives that Sony has lost to Microsoft. Perhaps the most intriguing titles on the list are GTAIV and Assassin's Creed, both of which were offered as exclusives to Sony. Sony didn't pursue the titles as exclusives, and two major titles became simultaneous releases for multiple platforms. Another interesting story is Beautiful Katamari which began as a mutliplatform title and is now slated only for Xbox 360. Finally, according to the article, Metal Gear Solid 4 on 360 is only a matter of time. The article is a decent read and serves as a good conversation starter (without even considering once Sony-only franchises like Ace Combat). It begs the question: are console exclusives as important as they once were?
GDC 07: Why no GTA exclusivity?
This is an undeniable truth of the gaming industry: it's all about the games. Sony's multimedia approach to PS3 is certainly novel, but many have felt that Sony has neglected its gamers by abandoning high-profile potentially exclusive games, such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Assassin's Creed.Phil Harrison put it quite succinctly: "There wouldn't have been an economic sense in keeping GTA as an exclusive." When exclusive deals are made, someone has to pay for the potential difference in install base and sales. Considering how the PS3 install base won't be as large as the Xbox 360's for a while, the economic ramifications of such a deal would've cost Sony quite a pretty penny--and considering how they're losing money on every PS3 sold, it didn't seem too worthwhile.Sony seems to be taking an approach that's been long-familiar to Nintendo fans. Harrison notes that Sony will have a "greater investment in first party [games] than third." Sony maintains the largest collection of development teams, and certainly it has some truly significant franchises: Ratchet & Clank, God of War, just to name a few.
What exclusives will the PSP Spiderman 3 have?
When Sony Pictures is the one putting out Spiderman 3, I wasn't shocked when I heard the PS3 version would have an exclusive 2nd playable character (new Green Goblin) and collector's edition behind the scenes videos. It only makes good business sense for Sony to leverage their film division's biggest property to help sell PS3 versions of the game. One thing I haven't heard yet is what exclusives will the PSP version have? Now, some may assume that since nothing has been announced yet, there may be no exclusive content. That's unlikely however, since Sony will undoubtedly want extras on PSP as well. Besides that, every multi-platform game that comes to PSP has to have extra content for Sony to approve it (which is why sometimes the PSP versions of ports are better than their console brothers). So what exclusive content would you like to see in the Spiderman 3 for the PSP.
