Why do developers BS us when it comes to exclusives?

dpatel

dpatel

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You may have all heard about DMC4 going multiplatform. That is great news as I think its a good series and people deserve the chance to play. My question is, why the hell was Capcom so secretive about it. They said time and time again that it was a PS3 exclusive, yet we now learn that 360 gets a version. The 360 gets the game on the SAME DAY, meaning the 360 version has been in the works for a while.

This isn't just for DMC4. It has already happened quite a few times, and I don't understand it. The developers of Mercs 2 kept implying it was a PS3 exclusive (they never flat out said it, but they avoided the question for some strange reason).

I really don't see the point in this. I could understand a game like Oblivion which had a port well after the initial release. Whether or not the PS3 port was planned from the start is unknown, but I could see the developers wanted to keep it a secret to keep form people holding out for the PS3 version. Some PS3 only owners may have bought the PC version of Oblivion thinking that would be the only way to get the game. So, in that scenario, it makes sense. However, with games like VF5, Mercs 2, DMC4, etc, I just don't fucking understand it. Maybe someone can enlighten me.
 
George Bush hates sony fans!

nah, I dunno. maybe they genuinely thought it would be, then the boss decided otherwise after the fact.
 
I just read something today, actually (maybe from the Mercs 2 people?) that for one reason or another a certain version of a game may not be up to snuff and so they don't want to announce it / show it until it's ready to be seen.

It's also possible that, at times, MS, Sony, or Nintendo see what is an exclusive on one system as something good for thier userbase, and approach the company about getting it ported / developed for them as well. In cases where there's not a contract involved making it exclusive, they begin work for the other system. So, when the original statement was made it was accurate, but since that times the environment has changed.

A lot of times, though, I think its just a PR stunt to get people talking about their games. "Will appear on ???" when no one would be talking about said game until much later, when it was closer to release.
 
[quote name='Apossum']nah, I dunno. maybe they genuinely thought it would be, then the boss decided otherwise after the fact.[/QUOTE]

I could see that being the case in some scenarios, but when a game goes multi and somehow the other version gets a simultaneous release, you have to wonder how long ago the multiplatform version was planned. Obviously the 360 version of DMC4 did not just start recently, so why all the secrecy?
 
[quote name='daroga']I just read something today, actually (maybe from the Mercs 2 people?) that for one reason or another a certain version of a game may not be up to snuff and so they don't want to announce it / show it until it's ready to be seen.

It's also possible that, at times, MS, Sony, or Nintendo see what is an exclusive on one system as something good for thier userbase, and approach the company about getting it ported / developed for them as well. In cases where there's not a contract involved making it exclusive, they begin work for the other system. So, when the original statement was made it was accurate, but since that times the environment has changed.

A lot of times, though, I think its just a PR stunt to get people talking about their games. "Will appear on ???" when no one would be talking about said game until much later, when it was closer to release.[/QUOTE]

That's entirely possible. I just feel that some of these 'former exclusives' were never really meant to be exclusive in the first place. I don't see why Mercs 2 was being touted as a PS3 exclusive. The game was never really a flagship Playstation title, and the original was multi. The only way I could see Mercs 2 being a PS3 exclusive, was if Sony cut them a deal. However, this is not the case as it has already been revealed to be on the 360 as well.
 
I also should mention Ace Combat 6 here. Right now, it is being announced only for the 360. Now, I will eat my own words if it remains a 360 exclusive, but I am almost certain that this will be on the PS3, yet the choose to announce it in a way that doesn't make it seem as such. Yet, I'm pretty sure a couple of months down the line, it will be announced that the 360 has 'lost an exclusive' when the truth is is that this was planned from the start.

I guess I really have no proof that developers purposely do this. It is possibly that developers honestly make these statements with the intent to follow through with them, but I find it hard to believe sometimes.

Anyone know the last time DMC4 was claimed as a PS3 exclusive? If it was sometime recently (like TGS or GDC) then that would pretty much prove the developers were full of it since there is no way the 360 version JUST started.
 
well, i dont think that developers are full of BS, i think they often intend for exclusives to be just that. but look at the market, sell virtua fighter 5 to a few million, or add 10 million potential customers. i think the same goes for other games that have become unexclusive (dmc4, assasins creed). these companies want to make money, so why not make money.
 
I really don't see this as Capcom being sneaky, DMC4 isn't even comming out for 6-8 months, sneaky is when you annouce a game is going to be ported with bonus content a month after it hits stores.

DMC4 was probably suppose to be an excusive but with slow PS3 sales and good sales figures for Dead Rising and Lost Planet by not porting DMC4 Capcom could turn their hit series into a flop.

I also wonder if some of these exclusives are starting to disappear because it's easier to port/create games for both the PS3/360 than developers originally thought.
 
[quote name='zionoverfire']DMC4 was probably suppose to be an excusive but with slow PS3 sales and good sales figures for Dead Rising and Lost Planet by not porting DMC4 Capcom could turn their hit series into a flop.[/QUOTE]

True. I'm not specifically talking about DMC4 though. I guess the better example would be Mercs 2, or Ace Combat 6 (as of yet, only announced for 360, but I'm about 99% sure that it will be out on the PS3). I don't understand why those two games were originally touted as exclusive. Going back to early Mercs 2 interviews, it was clear they never actually stated it was a PS3 exclusive, but their ambiguity on the subject lead people to believe it was. So, the question is, after all the false articles claim it was PS3 exclusive, why not clear it up? Instead, they just continued to avoid the question. And, unlike DMC4, I seriously doubt this was a game that was meant to be exclusive at first.
 
Except you can't be sure that the "multi"platform game has been in the works for that long. More likely Capcom and others have realized with sales how they are, that if they use a middleware tool (i.e. Renderware) they can produce two games for the same price as one plus some extra labor.

This brings me to my next question, why was Crackdown using Criterion's renderware, is it possible we will see it on other consoles?
 
Not sure if anyone said this but aren't PS3 games hard-er to make then 360 games? So even if they did a last mintue change of mind, they should be able to get the 360 verison out right on time even if they did just start it.
 
Never buy a console for exclusives. The exception being a nintendo console. The chances are always really good the game will be ported to another console or the PC some day.

I'm in with the theory that the devs want to keep the buzz going by not realeasing all game info at once.
 
Games will only stay exclusive if the developers / publishers get paid. With the PS3 install base still being relatively small it does not make sense for Sony to pay up for the rights to keep the games exclusive to their platform. Sony's Phil Harrison touched on this in a recent interview about why GTA IV was not a Sony exclusive.
 
my theory is that if you are Capcom and you have a game that is getting a lot of hype and you are only making it for one system(let's say Sony), then maybe one of their(Sony's) competitors will throw some money at you to make it multi-platform. If you just announce that it is multi-platform in the beginning then you won't get any free money.
 
[quote name='hufferstl']my theory is that if you are Capcom and you have a game that is getting a lot of hype and you are only making it for one system(let's say Sony), then maybe one of their(Sony's) competitors will throw some money at you to make it multi-platform. If you just announce that it is multi-platform in the beginning then you won't get any free money.[/QUOTE]

yea, that does make complete sense actually. Never thought of it that way.
 
because the developer doesnt get to make that decision. sometimes a port is handle by a different team. Shinji Mikami actually doesnt want RE4 ported to PS2
 
It's just the Capcom way. I learned this when they betrayed Sega by releasing Code Veronica on other consoles (even though it was partially funded/made by Sega). NOTHING Capcom makes except for the rare niche title is an exclusive.
 
I'm thinking the developer might not know for certain, maybe these things are still being negotiated or they are still in discussions Microsoft/Sony and don't want to say anything, even if they are already working on the 360/PS3 version, until the deal is finalized. Normally they probably give info to the gaming press about the version they know is happening for sure, and the gaming press runs with it as exclusive.

I'm guessing the DMC4 news was originally intended for only the PS3, but with Capcom's success on the 360, Microsoft has been pushing to bring it to the 360, and only recently inked the deal?
 
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