As part of our long standing relationship with Rockstar, and the incredible success for both companies with the cultural icon that is Grand Theft Auto, we've agreed to the PlayStation exclusive rights of the next great franchise from the Rockstar studios.
No, it's not L.A. Noire. It's something totally different, although it appears LA Noire (whenever it comes out, if it does) will be a PS3 exclusive, too. How strange. I guess this is why Rockstar took the $50 million from Microsoft. Actually, here's what I figured what happened: Rockstar decided that, since Microsoft hadn't really gotten a day-and-date release with the game, and since Rockstar hadn't used Xbox Live yet for something other than multiplayer table tennis, they decided to give the 360 exclusive downloadable content. For free. They see that the PSN is awful for patches and upgrades without the game having a specific bit built for it (see: Motorstorm's simplicity vs. Oblivion's "Game Of The Year" package instead of DLC). Might as well put the extra stuff on a simple, workable online platform, right?
Cut to a year later, Microsoft panics that since Rockstar's so close with Sony, they offer $50 million to make sure it's exclusive DLC. While Rockstar was probably negotiating for whatever this new franchise is.
I'll give Microsoft an A for effort in trying to be the #1 console in this generation, even though they won't be simply because of the Wii; however, I've got to give them an F for business plans on achieving that. I mean, the weird exclusives (Ace Combat? Really? THAT'S a huge exclusive?), the expected multiplatformness of most of their third-party developers who produced early hits like Dead Rising and Gears of War, and the tossing of money like it's confetti is getting to be a bit ridiculous and unwieldy. They just threw a billion dollars into the hole for something that they could still get into a lawsuit over, and probably should have been looked into when it started happening at more than the normal level. J Allard is a smart guy, so who the fuck is middle-managing this system into oblivion? Someone is cockblocking the 360 at Microsoft.
I'm glad to see that I managed to turn a quick and simple news article about Sony getting a new franchise as a PS3 exclusive (without paying for it, mind you - or at least not letting people know they did) into a "who is fucking shit up at the Microsoft compound?" rant.
I'm thinking of writing an editorial about a couple of things in the games business. I'll probably put that up after the podcast (yes, it got recorded, don't worry).
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