Sony: Exclusive Doesn't Come With A Price

Microsoft and Nintendo are beginning to reap the benefits off of Sony’s diminishing exclusive titles. From Devil May Cry 4 to Katamari Damacy, Sony seems to be losing focus in keeping their popular third-party titles at hand. Does it simply mean that Sony is not offering enough money to third-party publishers to keep their exclusives?

According to an interview by PSM with SCEA president Jack Tretton, Money does not equal to exclusive titles. He said:

"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 lack of a better term, bribe somebody to only do a game on our platform. We earn it."

Tretton also had an opinion about Microsoft and Nintendo’s third and first-party title support. He said:

"Microsoft is too dependent on the third-party community, and Nintendo is too (dependent) on first-party. We like to feel that we got a pretty good mix."

I agree with Mr. Tretton, but not completely. Microsoft is already conjuring new first-party franchises of their own such as Mass Effect, and due to the continuous success of the Wii, third-party publishers are on the lookout for Nintendo’s hot system.

Although Sony has some outstanding first-party franchises like God of War and the Ratchet & Clank series, they don’t seem to stand in the same plateau Microsoft’s Halo and of course, that famous plumber. Sony needs all the third-party support they can get to sell more systems. And with more PS3s in peoples’ homes, the more chances Sony gets to elevate their own franchises.

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Video Game Community Head Administrator