Sucker Punch explains why it remains PS3 exclusive
by Jason Dobson 
{ Jun 11th 2009 at 9:00AM } 
According to Fleming, while going cross-platform puts a game in front of more potential eyeballs, "it also introduces a whole bunch of problems and compromises and difficulty that doesn't make making games a lot more fun. In fact, I think it subtracts from that."
While the exec notes without reservation that the studio is in this business to make money, he adds that you "have to be careful about being greedy." He adds that the pursuit of dollars has to be weighed against other things, like enjoying what you do for a living, publisher relations and game quality. We'd be hard pressed to argue, especially since our obsession with inFamous has only grown since the game first shocked our hearts.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
chad @ Jun 11th 2009 9:08AM
This game was pretty good.
Storm Eagle @ Jun 11th 2009 9:08AM
That's easy. They know where the power lies.
Achievement Unlocked: Comment Without Reading The Post
Chaos744 @ Jun 11th 2009 9:15AM
Don't you unlock achievements on Xbox 360? BOOM ROASTED! hahahhahaha
Storm Eagle @ Jun 11th 2009 9:22AM
Yeah but I'm not posting from my PS3, I'm posting from my Windows XP PC.
Drago Dracini @ Jun 11th 2009 11:51AM
for the record you don't get achievements on XP either... just vista... just clarifying. ;p
Bagels: Commander in Chief of the lolcat sarcasm alert force. @ Jun 11th 2009 1:10PM
Soory to jack your post, Storm Eagle, but I have an announcement that needs to be as close to the top as possible:
The following pages of comments are people argueing about and making personal attacks around the subject of VIDEO GAMES. Meanwhile, the rest of society, including the people making these games, keeps moving on. If you would like to rejoin such society, please leave now.
Alphathon @ Jun 11th 2009 2:45PM
@ Drago Dracini, for the record, you do get achievements on XP AND Vista... just clarifying. ;p
roger @ Jun 11th 2009 9:08AM
I've gotta Sony must be doing something right with developers because they mostly give the company a lot of praise for the working relationship (first party), unlike the ones that have left MS which mostly give negative remarks.
joeybeast @ Jun 11th 2009 9:35AM
So when a couple is dating, they praise the relationship.
And when thy break up, one talk shit about another. Sounds about right to me.
David @ Jun 11th 2009 11:19AM
Hmm, what does that make Kojima Productions?
roger @ Jun 11th 2009 11:43AM
Even companies that were with MS at the time gave out statements they weren't happy with the working relationship, and they you have people like David Jaffe who are not under SONY and yet love working with them.
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Jun 11th 2009 12:38PM
"Hmm, what does that make Kojima Productions?"
The popular girl at school that everyone fights over, except she sleeps with everyone at one time or another anyway.
Roto13 @ Jun 11th 2009 1:02PM
But it's obviously only love when Sony lays her quivering body down on his bluray bed. :P
Copland @ Jun 11th 2009 9:08AM
Well, I think their decisions were right, cause although it cost me, because I imported it, I'm really enjoying inFamous and its one of the games that makes me feel really happy about being a PS3 user.
shaitien @ Jun 11th 2009 9:10AM
"have to be careful about being greedy." ...I like that. I personally think game quality is better when companies focus on one platform.
ScottG13 @ Jun 11th 2009 9:13AM
Fine by me. I have both consoles and I just want good games. I don't care where they land. If Sucker Punch thinks they make better games because they only focus on one development platform, I think that's great. I look forward to their next gem.
el serpiente @ Jun 11th 2009 9:51AM
Yeesh, why so defensive Kenny?
Jack Hollow @ Jun 11th 2009 9:13AM
"you have to be careful about being greedy."
We're all looking at you Activision
DeathroW @ Jun 11th 2009 9:16AM
Yeah, what can go wrong?
Sony fund their game 100%, they advertise it and because it is an exclusive title - they get more attention.
And they also have the support of the the huge list of first party studios that sony have.
Lookhappy @ Jun 11th 2009 9:16AM
Sounds good to me!
I agree with shaitien - exclusives on either console tend to be higher quality. Focusing on one platform means you can get the most out of it, without having to compromise.
Greediness = epic fail!
Wizzleteets @ Jun 11th 2009 10:40AM
Worst use of fail ever.
"Epic Fail" Fail
Sly [PSN SniperChameleon] @ Jun 11th 2009 1:33PM
wizzletweets, your post was a legendary fail. that's the first one i've seen in a LONG time.
http://knowyourmeme.com/i/2816/original/legendfail.jpg?1243541009
Hedgeson @ Jun 11th 2009 8:40PM
I liked that poster.
Oh shi-... blargh...cough...wheeze.
sonicspike41 @ Jun 12th 2009 1:41AM
+1 just for including such an awesome picture I've never seen before.
Oh, and I guess I liked the actual comment as well.
waynski1457 @ Jun 11th 2009 9:20AM
Sounds like odd reasoning, especially when you consider the usuall "PS3 IZ H@RD TO PR0GR@M 4!" argument.
But that gets thrown out the window when you realise that they make amazing games. Seriously, inFamous almost (aaalmost...) makes me forget that we don't have another Sly Cooper yet. I really should get around to getting a PS3 one of these days.
CtrlBurn @ Jun 11th 2009 10:34AM
I don't know that the PS3 is "hard" to program for, it's just very different from other platforms. It's hard to go from X360 programming to PS3 programming, but that's just because it's such a big change. If you're working with PS3 code all the time, it's likely a lot easier to stick with that than to make the change in the other direction to X360 or Windows.
jumpshot @ Jun 11th 2009 10:47AM
Plus the relationship gives them access to first party devs that do nothing BUT write Sony games. That makes the "hard to code for" argument pretty much dissapear.
sonicspike41 @ Jun 12th 2009 1:49AM
Anyone else remember when the PS2 released and everyone criticized it for being hard to program for? I still can't believe how many exclusives games the PS2 ended up getting, despite generally being the worst console from a hardware point of view.
I guess they must have done so well last generation that now everyone already has a general idea of how to program for them, though that still wouldn't explain games like Flower or many of the other great titles from smaller groups.
Perhaps Jumpshot is right, having access to a network of people who do nothing but make AAA first party titles must really be nice.
waynski1457 @ Jun 12th 2009 1:58AM
I understand that the programming argument applies mostly to multi-plat games, but I just figured I'd throw it out there.
Like I said in the original post, Sucker Punch makes great games and they can do what they want for all I care because they are so awesome.
tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 11th 2009 9:21AM
Psh, they're only staying exclusive because they're all pathetic Sony fanboys!
Am I doing this right Sprinkles?
TheLionOfAzzalle @ Jun 11th 2009 9:33AM
I don't know about "pathetic" seeing as I don't know those people....
But of course they're sony fanboys....
Anyways if this bait you're doing a horrible job of it. Bottom line is that it's THEIR RIGHT to develop for whatever company they choose to do that for. And they happen to prefer only sony which is their prerogative.
el serpiente @ Jun 11th 2009 9:53AM
Wow, looks like sprinkles is making an honest attempt at maturity.
Lets hope it lasts.
copa @ Jun 11th 2009 9:53AM
Oh, sweet Jesus. Tmac just make sprinkles look like the reasonable person in an argument.
That alone should earn Tmac a one-day ban.
Cody @ Jun 11th 2009 10:01AM
LOL @ copa.
tmac does many things everyday that should earn him one day bans.
The Baron @ Jun 11th 2009 10:12AM
A permanent one day ban, if you will?
doom saber @ Jun 11th 2009 10:35AM
At least Sucker Punch's comment is more professional than the ones commin out of Valve regardin on why they don't make games for the PSIII.
It doesn't matter if Sucker Punch's makes games for one system over the other as long as they don't badmouth theother in trying to fuel this so called console wars.
Fun DMC @ Jun 11th 2009 11:15AM
Oh my god.
Vesper just
What is this I don't even
ryamcw @ Jun 11th 2009 9:26AM
I think their absolutely right.
Kazper @ Jun 11th 2009 9:23AM
I agree with all those saying that you get better quality focusing on one platform. There are a lot of extra work and/or compromises involved in trying to make a game multiplatform. Both will likely cause a game to be weaker than if it'd been exclusive. More work spent on making it multiplatform means less time to improve the game idea and mechanics, and more compromises obviously limits the end result.
It's true no matter what console you look at. While some games are realtively easy to make multiplatform (sports, licences, generic FPS, etc.), and should continue to stay that way, we need more exclusives (on all sides) to push the envelope of each platform.
Comtar @ Jun 11th 2009 9:36AM
I admit focusing on one platform usually ends up a better product, but usually you end up with two good products with timed exclusives as well. Resident Evil 4 on Gamecube looked half-way decent on PS2, even with the graphic limitations. Bioshock on PS3 some argued looked better then the X-box 360 cause it took almost a full year after the 360 version until it was released.
So usually when they take the time to port the product, you usually come out with two great looking games. Unless you have the money to work on both versions independently, side by side...
Best example of this is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. That game looked amazing on both systems, because they had two different development teams working seperately to use the best features and programming techniques for each system. Companies like Capcom and SquareEnix have the money to shovel two different teams for one game, that's probably why we see alot of Capcom games nowadays have almost zero graphic differences in games like Street Fighter 4 or Resident Evil 5.
Square is also having two teams make Final Fantasy 13. That's why there probably won't be huge differences either... except for the amount of discs the game comes on...
Bottom line, Sucker Punch doesn't have the money for two teams.
Crimson_Ryan @ Jun 11th 2009 9:24AM
I wish Konami would take some notes here.
Seriously.
baby sea tuna @ Jun 11th 2009 9:35AM
That wouldn't really work since manyof their most profitable IPs are dogshit like DDR which probably pulls record numbers on the Wii, when compared to other platforms.
I see what you're getting at though, and you're right, MGS: Lightning-whatever should be exclusive...TO THE 360!
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Jun 11th 2009 9:44AM
I could see if you said Kojima....but Konomi NEEDS to be Multiplatform with their shit....the best selling game they have has got to be that Soccer game....
Crimson_Ryan @ Jun 11th 2009 9:45AM
Konami is probably the only Japanese company ever that don't have morals. Its not even about MGSr, they have always been like they are.
They need a good bop on the head.
eNrique @ Jun 11th 2009 10:19AM
I'm not so sure about that.
I don't really think that Kojima wanted to bring the MGS to the 360, because Rising isn't really a MGS game, like he said in the Sony media briefing, instead he is doing what he called the next TRUE step in the Metal Gear Solid frachise for the PSP. So I guess if he wanted to bring the MGS to the 360, he should have made Peace Walker to the PS3 and the rrod-machine instead of a spin-off developed by no one from the team involved on previous MGS games or port MGS4.
So I think that's why The true step in the MGS series remains exclusive to the PlayStation franchise.
Kojima is still a fanboy.
PedoJokerBear (aka Deeznuts) @ Jun 11th 2009 11:43AM
u didnt really have to throw in "rrod machine" in that paragraph, it threw your whole argument into fanboy nonsense. its a shame cause you were sounding reasonable.
Viney @ Jun 11th 2009 9:30AM
Valve should hire this guy for his PR skills alone. Taking notes, Tom Leonard?
R (XBL: Esoteric Lord) @ Jun 11th 2009 9:33AM
And a guy that just professed his love for Sony is going to swap to a company that only develops for the PC/360 is going to change jobs because....?
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Jun 11th 2009 9:35AM
Well dude from Valve DID say that the PS3 is becoming to BIG to ignore and they are going to start developing in house for it.
Viney @ Jun 11th 2009 9:57AM
I'm not proposing an actual swap, R. Just making a point. You can explain exclusive development professionally, like Fleming here, without mocking the other console. Or you can do this => http://ps3.ign.com/articles/993/993592p1.html and make it seem like your company isn't smart enough and doesn't have the technical talent and know-how to do so.