Reasonable said:
I know extra disks costs more, my point was more that the DVD size for 360 is known well up-front, and waiting until well into development (as their quote implies) to make this decision isn't the best approach. They should have either budgeted assets to remain on 1 DVD, accepted 2 DVDs and worked out their targets accordingly or worked with MS on other incentives. If the 1 DVD is really becoming limiting, and given the 360 needs those titles to be on the platform more than ever, I actually don't know why the studios don't simply put pressure on MS around their charging scheme for multiple disks. In truth the power is with the developers here not MS, MS doesn't have enough first party support nor enough install base globally to lay down the law right now. I'm pretty sure they'd relax such charges if needed to keep the games on the 360. The developers can also play the card that MS doesn't want the 360 to start appearing as limiting for games - which with Rage, FFXIII and now this is a very real danger. TBH though my main point remains the same - if you know your goals beforehand it's not great design to break them so badly as implied. This smacks of someone making a 3.5 hour film when the studio commissoned a 2 hour film. You either fight the battle right up front and insist the film is going to be 3.5 hours and get it sorted out, or you rework the design to hit the target. The other option that has just occured to me, but I believe it would break another MS mandate, is to have a mandatory install. That way the entire game could be compressed on the disk then uncompressed when installed to the 360 HDD.
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The IHV's do have a lot of sway over developers. I would say the two major rules Sony implemented "Though shalt not make the PS3 version worse than the Xbox 360 version" has really set the tone for the generation as far as multiplatform games are concerned. As well as "Though shalt put more content into thine PS3 version if it be late" so its not a hard stretch that "Thine shall not make games which span two discs unless thine desires additional royalties" Is a significant stop for them to use more than one disc and represents a significant expense. Lost Planet 2 doesn't have the same sway as say Rage because they expect up front that the sales will be heavily biased towards the Xbox 360 anyyway and the designer doesn't have the same sway with the media as Carmack - Tech god and extraordinary gentleman who drives a Tesla roadster.
I don't see them as needing a justification for DLC and no reasonable game developer speaking to the media would court controversy, especially controversy which puts the main SKU into a negative light. In the case of Rage it was a case of 3 discs vs 2 and the embarrassment of multiple discs (for their image) escalates with the number of discs required. In addition to this, the engine was earmarked as something which multiple developers would use. So they compromised.
So if the developer courts controversy for no real gain then why does he do it? I suspect the content may have actually been important enough for him to feel the need to tell people about.
Essay Pro