Domicinator said:
I've worked for several companies, both public and private. Shareholders want to see companies succeed so that their shares are worth more. Developers want to make as much money as they can because development budgets are just getting bigger and bigger these days. Square Enix knows that it's pretty stupid to release a game only for the 22 million PS3 fans, when there's another 30 million 360 fans, a percentage of which will also buy their games. Shareholders are largely NOT PS3 fanboys and are largely NOT going to be offended or angered by Square Enix releasing a game to MORE potential buyers. PS3 owners are largely NOT going to skip out on buying a game just because it also came out on the 360 and they're all butthurt about it. The whiners you see on the internet about loyalty and "this game should only come out on this platform" are the minority. Most gamers don't care as long as they get to play the games they want to play. This concept is becoming more and more prevalant which is why third party developers' word means absolutely NOTHING (I'm looking at you, Splinter Cell: Conviction) when they say that a title is exclusive. If the console maker doesn't have a hand in the development as well as rights to the name, it's probably not going to stay exclusive for much more than a year. That's just the way the industry is now. |
You are right saying that the vast majority of FF on PS3 fans aren't fanboys and aren't offended at all if SE releases its games also on XB360, even simultaneously. But you can bet they would be offended if the PS3 version, even if ready, were delayed to please MS. Existing fans are almost sure money, offending them is the wrong thing to do, SE can get new XB360 users and please them in a lot of ways that don't imply offending existing PS3 ones. This said, IMVHO SE would be even more right releasing a Wii version too. About pleasing MS: FF main titles are usually so huge that there's no moneyhatting that could compensate lost revenue from sales, so pleasing user bases of each console without pissing off the others is of the essence. And about shareholders, maybe they aren't games fans, but they perfectly know it's games fans that pay their dividends. It's like FIAT with Alfa Romeo, maybe it's getting huge economies of scale, but if they really ditch typical Alfa Romeo suspensions in next models, the only real mechanical difference remaining besides engines tuning, they'll waste a lot of this brand potential, losing more from missed earnings than they get from savings.
