Sony Computer Entertainment's president of worldwide studios, Shuhei Yoshida, isn't blind to the fact that exclusive games are becoming a rarity these days. In an interview with UK blog ThreeSpeech, the man who replaced Phil Harrison says that, given the trend towards multi-platform releases of major titles, first-party studios and games become "more important" – and that Sony is focusing its assets internally.Yoshida echos much of what we've been hearing from Sony over the past few months with regards to exclusives, stating that "in this generation, it costs much more to develop one product." This results in what he says is "pure economic pressure" that has caused "most of the third parties to move from some exclusive titles to more multi-platform titles."
"Because we know that is the trend, we, as a company, can invest in our first-party studios," says Yoshida, who is relocating to Japan as his division is set to play an ever more integral role in PlayStation's future success. Collaborating more closely with SCEI prez Kaz Hirai, Yoshida says he'll be working "not only to create games, but to participate in the overall direction-setting of our company and our future platforms." Future platforms? Let's just focus on exclusive, first-party titles for those present platforms of yours for now, 'kay?
[Via CVG]
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(Page 1) Reader Comments
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With mostly favorable results, i may add
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but on a side note, i'm sick n' tired of hearing this bullshiet about increasing costs for developers. As far as i know, when gran turismo 5 (final release) comes out, i'm going to pay 59.99 for it. I paid 49.99 for gran turismo 4 and 3, and i believe 39.99 for gran turismo 1 and 2. This isn't just. I'm curious to where this extra 20 bucks over the last 8-9 years is heading...cuz it sure as hell isn't inflation. And even the cost of media/packaging isn't a good excuse either.
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I also like your ideas MR.ESC about a Pursuit Force Sandbox game and Loco Roco for the PS3.
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I have a crazy contrary theory. How about the fact that the hardware specs on the Wii are about half of the specs on the other two consoles? Maybe most of the 3rd party developers see the Wii as a less viable candidate for their time and attention?
I have a crazy contrary theory. How about the fact that the hardware specs on the Wii are about half of the specs on the other two consoles? Maybe most of the 3rd party developers see the Wii as a less viable candidate for their time and attention?
I don't know if they know this, but most games for 360 and PS3 tend to be better on the 360 due to better support.
What the hell is the point of having a "superior" gaming machine if everything you own looks better on the 360, with the exception of a few of your 1st party titles?
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Top 3
Resistance 2 will get thrashed by Gears 2 in sales and thats not fanboyism speaking thats just pure fact and history also tells the tale.
SOCOM it might be good but not good enough to make the PS3 sales spike.
LBP might open up a whole new world but I doubt a lot of people are willing to pay $500 to play a casual game when theres the Wii and also it might be interesting to PS3 owners but that never makes sales spike or even go up.
All in all, first party games ARE more important this gen, because Sony could target third party devs until the cows come home, but without the system capabilities, ease of use and the 100% support from Sony, nothing much is going to be done, all Sony can do really is help where needed and work in thier strong areas. People who buy a PS3 for the first party games will buy third party games and not care about whether or not it looks better on 360 as long as they have fun playing the damn thing. Just the same way those of you who bought 360s alone for the likes of Halo 3 and picked up third party games wouldn't think twice about how the games compare on PS3, as long as you have the game and it works, fullstop. People who take the time to compare games that have little difference are the ones who are 30 years old plus and live with thier mothers. They then pass that unusful information down to use gamers to throw about the internet in fanboy arguments.
Are you to tell me that when you get a game you actually sit and compare the two, or check all video comparisons?
Just an insight.
Sony's promise was/is a superior console. It SHOULD be able to do more with every 3rd party game, like the xbox was to the PS2. It SHOULD be able to render more objects on screen, do more physics calculations, have better textures, etc, and be able to do so in true HD at 60fps.
To have a game even SLIGHTLY inferior to the 360's is an insult to Sony's promise, and to their supporters.
Most games are 3rd party. Hence most of a PS3's owner's games will, by your argument, look the same as their friend's 360...that got their console for $200 cheaper.
While it is true that things have gotten better with certain developers, there is still no compelling reason to say the PS3 is superior, 3rd party wise.
PS3 SHOULD be doing all the things they stupidly promised back when they were all smoking crack as celebration for the success of PS2, but this is not the PS2 gen, things have changed, making games is more expensive, thus the reason PS1 and 2 could rely on third parties and good graphics to win, not to mention the fact PS1 and 2 were easier to program for. The original Xbox, graphics, power and all still couldn't beat that. Where 360 prevails is the ease of use and third party support, but even 360 can't rely on third parties all the time unless Microsoft is willing to cough up the cash, which it did for Bioshock to secure the timed exclusivity, to secure the Gears name, to secure the additional GTA4 content, to get Last Remnant timed. Sony can't do that, yeah they made promises and yeah, they were dumb as hell promises, but now is now, and it makes sense to concentrate thier resources in areas that will make them succeed. If what you're saying is right and third party titles look better on 360, then you've pretty much summed up the reason why Sony should stack up the pressure in the first party department. If people see lots of nice looking games on PS3 they want, they will buy PS3, third party titles looking better or worse will mean little to them as long as they have the games they want on that console, and as first parties are exclusive, it means they will potentially MAKE PS3.
Third party games are really if you look at it, bonuses for a console, and if Sony spots something that takes thier interest, much like MGS4, no doubt it makes sense to secure that third party title as an exclusive, but for the time being, first party titles will aid the PS3 alone, nothing much can be done about the state of third parties except to ensure they keep appearing on PS3 and don't go exclusive to other consoles. Without the cash and full support of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, third party devs have control over which console they want to make money off of, if they decide to go exclusive or multiplat without any incentive, its completly up to them.
:/
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All they said is first party is more important, and they are 100% right, Sony is lacking in the first party department. They should be concentrating on third party, yes, but with so many games going multiplat, there is only two choices, be like Microsoft, start spending to get third party exclusives or simply start making more first party original games.
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Nintendo hands down, demolishes everyone, when it comes into 1st party games. Honestly, that's what is keeping the Wii alive at this point. If someone had a 360 and a Wii, and Gears of War 2 was out on both consoles, which do you think would sell more? 360 / PS3 are for the hardcore gamers, while Wii is for the fun, all around video gamers.
In my opionoin, 1st party games should not really be on the list of Sony's to do list. You want to get better 3rd party support, so people won't automatically buy a game on the 360, even though it's on the PS3 as well.
1st party games are important, but not in Sony's aspect. Nintendo, 100%. Microsoft, is doing quite well, with Halo 3, Gears of War 2, Fable II, Viva Pinata, etc. Microsoft is giving it a push, but Nintendo is the king.
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They better not have let one of the best game development teams in the world go to waste by doing nothing this whole time. Sony has their own Miyamoto with that group, they should have released a game by now, what the hell have they been doing in the last 3 years?
They are exactly what the PS3 needs. If Sony got rid of that studio then they need to do some serious firings, starting with Kaz for letting it happen.
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"We are supreme, all our games will rock the earth, we own third parties" etc etc
Its good to see them making good business decisions now, rather then stupid desperate and childish ones.
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Well can someone give me a list of Sony's FP games this year?
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This isn't a bad thing though. Sony has loads of money. If they wanted to, they can do the same thing microsoft did of bribing 3rd parties. But then it would lead to a whole tradition of bidding wars and such, which would be bad for the industry.
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Its like you, if you want to succeed in life, you will have to do most of the things yourself, others can't always be there to save you. They have thier own lives to worry about, and the same goes for 3rd parties looking to make big bucks.
This isn't a bad thing though. Sony has loads of money. If they wanted to, they can do the same thing microsoft did of bribing 3rd parties. But then it would lead to a whole tradition of bidding wars and such, which would be bad for the industry.
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Publisher's take into consideration whether they want their title to take a risk and garner as many sales multi-platform OR become synonymous with a particular system ala GTA or Metal Gear Solid. Despite both of these series being going multi-platform they both gave the ps2 the status of universal entertainment rather then the "then" toy-like Gamecube or the Computeresque
"l33t box" . Sony catered to the casual gamers AND the hardcore by offering affordable hardware and diverse "exclusive" software. They have done neither in this generation. Blue-ray is not the equavelent of
the groundbreaking dvd in the ps2. The 400$ price tag seems punishing to play the exclusive MGS4, and many of the other exclusives have better or as good as counterparts on the 360.
Sony just realized that they cant just win with brand loyalty alone. This hit Nintendo very harshly hey can in the N64 and the 'cube eras. Perhaps now Sony can realize that Nintendo's blue ocean strategy of winning
with innovation is the key to success. Perhaps if a console maker could combine powerful hardware and innovation with a large 3rd party support...
Well...........
I'm gonna go play Crysis on my $3000 gaming computer..
......... Just kidding :)
(its actually Team Fortress 2 and a $1000 computer mwuhahahah)
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