I remember days where exclusives were all the rage. It was almost a surprise when games came out for two consoles, instead of a surprise when they went exclusive. These were days before the Internet, if you can even fathom such a time. I believe we rode mules to get around the village in those days as well.
Sony has had a strict ‘we won’t pay for exclusive content/games’ policy for some time. That policy came down from former exec and current bald man Phil Harrison. But now that he’s gone, Sony may be rethinking their standpoint on exclusivity especially since their competition is doing what Sony won’t.
When asked about the current standpoint on paying for exclusives, Kaz Hirai replied, "That’s something that we can re-evaluate, but it’s also something that the publishers need to make a business decision on." I’m not sure if that is re-evaluation, unless he means Sony will be there to sweeten said business deal.
He continues, "Let’s face it – all the games are coming out on a Blu-ray disk which has 50GB capacity, so let’s put in some making-of content, or maybe additional levels." Ok, extra levels are certainly exclusive worthy. But that’s extra work, and therefore extra money. Kaz is not a stupid man and he understands this. However I’m not sure publishers are going to approach Sony asking for that money. Microsoft has actively sought out developers and funded large chunks of their game to get the exclusivity (Mass Effect) or has come out and said, ‘we want exclusive DLC and we’ll pay you for it’ (GTA4).
Sony still seems to be under the impression that companies are going to approach them and say ‘we want to do this on the PS3′ when they’re not. Unless your last name is Kojima it seems that the publisher loyalty Sony built up last generation has been knocked back and only money will bring it back.
[via Next Generation and ThreeSpeach]
