| Rainbird said: I gotta say, this seems pretty pointless. I only see two actual differences here: 1) Sucker Punch will no longer need to write its own paychecks. 2) Sucker Punch are no longer free to create games for the platform of their choice. So Sony payed a bunch of money to have nothing change. We're not going to get more games, Sucker Punch isn't going to get more support (they're a big partner for Sony, there's no way they're not supported on the same level as Sony's internal studios). Is it good because Sucker Punch can only create games for Sony platforms now? Sucker Punch themselves said this deal wouldn't change much in their daily workflow, so why is this loss of independance good? Maybe you're such a big fan of Sony that you see this as a good thing. Insomniac decided to go multiplatform without Sony buying them up, and seeing their talents reaching audiences outside the Sony-sphere cannot possibly be a good thing. Is it really more important to be a fan of Sony then to be a fan of gaming in general? Because that's what I'm seeing here. People are so focused on what is good for Sony and their platforms that they forget whether something is good for the industry. What if Sucker Punch has an idea for a game that would work really well on the Wii U or Kinect, and they really want to create that game? Tough luck, you're stuck with Sony. I know Sony is a good publisher and they support their partners and internal developers very well. So why is it so important that Sony buys its partners, rather than keeping them on as actual partners instead? I honestly don't get this whole ordeal. Support the developers, not the publishers. |
That's one way to look at it.
However, as Infamous 2 is not exactly lighting up the charts, a part of me feared SP would have to go multiplatform, and could have failed with a new cross-platform project, then ended up in financial trouble and ended up being picked up by the likes of EA or some other publisher, or perhaps even meeting the fate of many other developers this generation.
At least with Sony, I know they can continue to make great games, with strong backing, funding and access to all of Sony's resources, without the potential for the independent studio to run into trouble down the line. Perhaps there was interest there from other publishers, so Sony made a pre-emptive move.
As for the industry, SP were making Sony games for the last 10 years or so. It was extremely unlikely they were going to branch out to a different fanbase or platform. I think it's a great thing they're making Sony only games. As a small studio, they can focus on one platform and create great experiences. There's other, much larger studios who can cater for multiple platforms and more risky business strategies.
You can support the industry, but I don't want an industry of all independednt studios mixing and matching platforms, I wouldn't know which system to choose. With Sony's first party getting stronger and stronger, I'm happy to stick with them.
