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S.T.A.G.E. on 13 May 2012
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denniswaterman said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:

First party means Microsoft owns the intellectual property to the games and its made internally. They don't own any rights to the game except that they paid for the titles development to ensure its exclusivity to the console.


Uhhh no. First party is a term that simply refers the game was published by the manufacturer of the console. Ownership of the IP is something else entirely, especially when you consider licensed games...and not really relevant in this case since MS considers GoW a MGS franchise and always refers to the games in the series as "first party" amongst others from non-owned studios like Harmonix and Frontier

Microsoft Studios has a number of successful core franchises: Halo, Fable, Forza Motorsport, and Gears of War

No......these are the definitions right here.Gears of War is a THIRD PARTY game. Microsoft does not own either the Intellectual property nor the developer of Gears of War. It is a third party exclusive. In a second party generally the IP is owned by the publisher and the developer focuses full time on that console. Gears is third party.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_development_party#First-party_developer

First party developer

"In the video game industry, a first-party developer is a developer that is part of a company that manufactures a video game console, and develops exclusively for it. First-party developers may either use the name of the company itself (like Nintendo), have a specific division name (like Sony's Polyphony Digital), or have formerly been an independent studio before being acquired by the console manufacturer, such as Rare or Naughty Dog.[1]"

Second Party

The term "second-party" developer is a common misnomer used (erroneously) in place of subsidiary. It is colloquially used in reference to a type of first or third-party developer that specializes in development for a particular platform. Some of these studios may have exclusive publishing agreements or other business relationships with a particular manufacturer while maintaining independence. An example of this is Insomniac Games, which, until recently, had been developing games solely for Sony's PlayStation platforms despite being an entirely independent studio. Another example is Game Freak, which mainly develops the Nintendo-exclusive Pokémon game series. Studios like Insomniac and Game Freak are very rare in the video game industry because without the direct support of the platform owner, it is very risky financially to be developing solely for a particular platform. Other studios that have been called "second-party" may be wholly owned and funded by their parent company, but these are all considered subsidiaries.

 

Third Party

 

A third-party developer is a developer not directly tied to the primary product that a consumer is using. The primary product may be software or hardware. In the video game industry, many third-parties publish the games they develop, such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Bethesda Softworks, Activision, and Sega, while others only develop games to be published under other companies, such as Raven Software. Furthermore, third-party developers can be owned by larger third-parties, such as the relationship between Neversoft (creator of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series) and Activision. Because of this, much larger third-parties that also publish their own games are typically referred to as publishing houses even though they do develop many of their own games internally.

Another example is a developer that is a separate legal entity from the software being used, usually providing an external software tool that helps organize or use information for the primary software product. Such tools could be a database, Voice over IP, or add-in interface software, among others.

In addition, accessories like headsets can be referred as third party headsets, meaning that the company of the headset is different from the console company. For example, Turtle Beach is a third party headset company to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[2]