PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3)Hirai: Sony Could Pay to Secure PS3 ExclusivesNext-Gen.biz - May 30, 2008
Submitted by Rol83 (481)
at 7:31AM PST on May 30, 2008
SCE president Kaz Hirai says that Sony may consider the possibility of shelling out to secure exclusive third party releases for PlayStation 3, while the company will be pushing for exclusive content on PS3 versions of multiplatform titles.
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I think he is just being political. I mean he pretty much backed up what Harrison was saying. He did however choose not to slap certain publishers - *ahem* R*, Epic, Harmonix - in the face avoiding the hard line and saying it "could" happen.
But, we all know that Sony has taken the standpoint that the PS3 is more than a games machine and will have a lifetime of at least 10 years. It doesn't make sense for them to spend money on exclusives that will only make a difference early in the fight. Especially since the 360 isn't doing so hot and it's been shelling money out all over the place for exclusive titles. Sure, it's outselling the PS3 but for a console in it's 3rd year with barely 20 million units worldwide it's kind of a joke.
I mean imagine being Kaz Hirai. You know that all of these 3rd party "exclusives" are eventually going to come to you and try to port the game or go to them as a port. Why? Because all their projections are based off of a generation where they had over 50 million XBOXs and PS2s in the same time frame - and now it costs considerably more to make these games. Why would you pay them a ton of money for something you will eventually get for free, especially since you released a tool that assists developers in porting games from the PS3 to the 360? You wouldn't! You would keep drilling it in developers heads that they can only avoid the pros of Blu-ray for so long. You'd bait the good ones into helping you solidify the Blu-ray standard as above and beyond what is possible on a DVD. Then everyone else would have to fall into place for fear that their review scores would lose a couple points based on lack of features when compared to 1st party titles and "financially assisted" 3rd party ones.