albionus said:
FF64 comes to mind, though of course Square bailed before it was released due to cartridges. Otherwise, what major exclusives did Square or Konami plan for a losing console? Unlike Capcom they both just rode the Playstation train for the most part so other than FF64 they weren't in a situation like they are today and Capcom was with RE4. Businesses are businesses and most likely will react similarly to a similar situation. I don't care what the rumors say, I'll believe there will be a 360 MGS4 until this generation is over for simple business reasons. I expect Konami will look at MGS2 selling 5.6 million on the PS2, then MGS3 4 million on the PS2, and realize a game whose total cost will be over $50 million (with marketing) and that needs to make huge profits to cover general expenses/failed games, requires a bigger user base than 15 or so million. I don't think it's so much business culture that caused Capcom to port RE4 to the PS2 but the reality that a game that Capcom spent so much time and money on needed to sell more than 1.7 million copies. That's a game that had to have cost well below half of what MGS4 is costing Konami. Despite selling some 3.6 million copies Capcom still wasn't happy which is one of the major reasons it was ported to the Wii as well. So I highly doubt the sales that the PS3 can generate will be enough to satisfy Konami. Then again for simple business reasons I keep expecting 3rd parties to take the Wii seriously, so maybe there is general lack of business sense in the video game industry which is why so many companies go out of business. |
The only problem for Konami is that Japan are not going to buy a 360 version, ever. Europe will buy the PS3 version of the game and that is MGS series strongest region. That just leaves the US, how much do you expect a 360 version to sell in the US 12-15mths after the PS3 version has been available?
Konami have made their bed with MGS4 already. A 360 port will not help them that much unless it is released with the PS3 version or not long after but definitely in 2008. Fall 09 MGS4 for 360 will do nothing for Konami and just be consilation for 360 fans.
Final Fantasy XIII is a similar situation. These games are VERY front loaded, year timed-exclusive is just too much and a 360 version of either will not recover costs. Either Konami/S-E make profit on the PS3 versions of the game or they won't be making profit. It's simple as that. Remember too that Sony have strong relationship with Komani/Square Enix and they are the closest 3rd parties to Sony. Sony and Capcom are not that close and Resident Evil jumping to Gamecube following with Mikami insulting the PS2 and Sony didn't help much either.
