Japanese Developer: Microsoft Making PS3 Development Easier [Update]
Tales of Vesperia was originally announced for the Xbox 360. Microsoft touted it as an exclusive, but the game ended up on the PS3. How did this go down?
A blogger who was apparently a developer on the title explains why the game was originally developed for the Xbox 360. "For developers, it's way easier to develop for the 360," the blogger writes. Developers sign a one year contract, the blogger continues, with Microsoft that states the game will not come out on other platforms for one year. "Microsoft provides sufficient development funs," the dev writes. "Support is fast and all encompassing."
According to the apparent dev, "Sony Computer Entertainment doesn't really provide money (maybe no money). Support is a mess and unreliable. (At the time I was involved)"
"Developing for the 360 is easy. The cost is lower to an extent." So what developers like Namco do, the dev explains, is develop for the Xbox 360 first at a low cost. However, it's not possible to sell a lot of copies of the game, and thus difficult to recoup the development costs and turn a profit. So, the game was then ported to the PS3. "Then Sony says," the developer blogs, "'We won't approve the game if it's exactly the same as the Xbox 360 version. You must put in lots of extra content.'" Namco added new content such as a new pirate girl character.
While its easy to go from the Xbox 360 to the PS3, it's difficult and time consuming to go from the PS3 to the Xbox 360 — thus, don't expect to see that extra PS3 content turn up as DLC for the Xbox 360 version.
Namco was intending to make a complete game, the developer writes, that Xbox 360 owners would enjoy. The PS3 owners, it seems, will enjoy the game slightly more, though.
Update: As a reader points out, the blogger is a former game developer, but did not work on ToV. He did work on Vampire Rain. Vampire Rain, however, was originally released on the Xbox 360 and then ported to the PS3 a year later...
