| Squilliam said: Final Fantasy was a very important series, Metro is not and will not be nearly as important. If 50% of console A owners also own console B and console B and A have sold the same quantity of total consoles then if you're comparing the potential release of a game on console A only versus console A and B what is the difference in the total addressable market? If people can already buy your title anyway there is really no point in releasing it on a different platform. If the total new market for a game is too low then it doesn't warrant a port, end of story. So tell me again why THQ would spend a couple of million dollars on porting a game for a series they don't hold rights to? Besides if you really want to make a stink about games not being ported you really should be focusing on Franchises which actually do have potential like for instance Bioshock or Metal Gear Solid which haven't go announced ports. |
The logic applies equally to all franchises. Bigger franchises are just a matter of scale, in this context.
Your console A vs console B comparison ignores three major points:
- that if there's more competition against your game on console A than console B, you have a better chance on console B, assuming equal quality,
- that serving games to new markets is often what makes the difference between a minor franchise and a major franchise, and
- that the cost of porting is far less than the cost of developing the original, as assets and basic code can be reused. If the cost of porting is 10% of the cost of developing, and lets you target 50% more audience, then you've got about 36% more chance of making a profit (or equivalently, an opportunity to make 36% more profit), even assuming that the additional 50% acts just like the initial market.
Anyway, I'll note again that I don't actually think Metro: Last Light is going to be a worthy investment, even on 360 and PS3. My comments are about the thought process that leads THQ to go "this game is worth our investment on 360 and PS3... but lets not bother with Wii U". And please don't try to tell me that they hold no sway over 4A Games, as their own wordings imply otherwise.
