LordTheNightKnight said: Sorry, but a blog just made up the 18 month limit and the $150 million payout. And don't try to counter with the $50 million for GTA IV DLC. That was based on actual company documents. This thing about Paramount was based on no actual evidence. |
Well, you're sort of correct. While there is no direct evidence for a payout, it's somewhat accepted that some money did change hands during this deal. Some reputable sources did comment on it, and while I despise DigalBits (that Bill Hunt guy is a hack who often perpetuates ridiculous rumors as fact in his blog), I do believe that Paramount was paid in order to support HD DVD. It for sure wasn't the only reason for them switching as I feel they did have some other good reasons to switch (production costs WAY cheaper than Blu-ray for instance), but I'm fairly confident that without some payout they wouldn't just switch on their own.
Now, where it gets interesting is where people try to pull MS into this deal. In actuality, it was a Toshiba deal. Toshiba has commented on it, and have clarified that MS had nothing to do with the deal. MS has also commented on the deal and clarified that they had nothing to do with it.
MS paying for it was never really based of anything more than a theory; albeit a very flawed theory at that based on no evidence. I think the whole theory reflects a bit of wishful thinking by people wanting to believe that MS had something to do with. After all they're big scary evil corporation, and no other large mega-corporation does similar things in busy (if you're not picking up on my sarcasm, you should be as I'm laying it on fairly hard).
The whole thing is a completely flawed argument, and it goes something like this: MS has a lot of money; MS likes to make monopolies with their money; MS somewhat supports HD DVD (even though they really don't support it in any true way as their largest contribution to the format war, software, is used by both HD DVD and Blu-ray); MS wants everyone to download and will accomplish this by killing off all physical media (a terrible conspiracy theory (that I hope dies a bitter death) dreamt up by a fanatic somewhere); THEREFORE, MS MUST have paid Paramount to support HD DVD! Yes, what a logical argument, is it not?
Now, there is not one single shred of evidence to support this "theory", and in fact the only evidence from this deal supports the fact that MS had nothing to do with this deal. I like to believe facts. I don't think there is an argument to say that Toshiba didn't pay Paramount (mainly because it just makes perfect sense and because they have pretty much admitted it), but I also think it's fair to say that MS had nothing to do with it.
People should also keep in mind, about all this mega-corporate buyout crapola, that at the end of the day both sides in this "fight" aren't exactly playing fair. I think you'd have to be a pretty blind fool to truly believe that the studios exclusively supporting Blu-ray were paid off to do so. Please don't come in here with a "holier-than-thou" argument as Sony is FAR from innocent in any shape or form.
And you think they don't pay for exclusives in gaming? Please, give me a break. They may not be “fed-exing” the publishers a check in the mail, but you can bet your ass the publishers just don't support Sony purely out of loyalty; especially when the development costs for their system isn't exactly low. There is some financial incentive being given to the publishers, and it'd be silly to think there were never. I do love the arrogant comments from that Jack Tretton fellow; "we don't need to pay for our games" (paraphrased). Just a lovely quote, it is.
I'm no particular fan of MS as a whole company, but I'm also not naive enough to think that Sony is some angel either. After all, at the end of the day, I could really care less what they do because it's really all about the games. I don't care what the company has to do to get said games on the system; just get some quality games on your system, and all will be happy (for the most part, that is). I would appreciate it, though, if people would get off their damned high-horses and come back to reality please: pretty much all mega-corporations participate in huge buyouts/exclusivity deals. It's business (well big business), and whether you like it not it's here to stay.
If you want to get angry at big companies for "ruinnig gaming", you shouldn't direct your "hate" (however illogical it may be to "hate" a company) solely at MS as Sony was truly the first huge corporation to enter gaming. Just some "food for thought". Thanks for reading
