| Dodece said: To be fair to Take 2 it might not be an issue of paid exclusivity, but I would applaud them if they were able to finagle it out of Microsoft. Why turn your nose up at free money after all. No it may be the delay station phenomena at play. Take 2 has a game they want to deliver to the market this year. Scratch that perhaps it is more like needs to deliver. |
Microsoft brings a lot to the table beyond money. It was the massive testing and advertising resources that turned the original Bioshock from a middling failed release into one of the big games of 2007. Because they don't have a significant 1st party investment they don't have a conflict of interest in pushing someone elses intellectual property. Bioshock would have failed and noone would have cared about it had Microsoft not been involved with the name, so any exclusivity would be moot.
Epic games was a middle of the line shooter developer, making good money but not much more and became a powerhouse in the industry because of a partnership with Microsoft. Just as Gears of War made Epic, it also made the Xbox 360 into the force it is today. What Epic doesn't tell you when it opens its books is how much Microsofts testing and coding departments really helped push that game far beyond what Epic alone could achieve, they simply were not big enough at the time to make Gears alone.
So for any developer wanting to make a game for HD consoles, getting a Microsoft exclusivity contract with full support from their marketing and testing departments is probably one of the best things that can happen for them.
Tease.
