| zarx said: Did you even bother reading my post? People are not going to buy a new system to play games on systems they already own. And if they wanted that type of game enough to buy a platform to play it they would have already brought a platform that has that type of game. When a publisher brings a multiplatform game to a new system it is not to create a new market on that system, it is to access the market that exists on the system. And it's totally up to the platform holder to create and foster that market to create an installbase. It is not in publishers best interest to split the market up ether, they ideally want the market as consentrated as possible like it was on the PS2, they only support multiple platforms because they have to to address the audience on the multiple platforms, 3rd parties would be more than happy to see one of the big three drop out (2 can be good as they can get kickbacks and it keeps licensing costs down) if that means that they had to support less platforms. In simple terms, publishers support a platform for the audience it has (or at launch they expect to be) not to make the audience invest in the platform. And in publishers eyes the less platforms they need to support the better. Also I am not Mazty |
Admittedly, I didn't read beyond the relevant part, the part where you misinterpreted what I said.
As for what you've said in this post, you're actually wrong. I mean, your initial observations are right, but your conclusions are incorrect due to a failure to factor something important into the equation.
The vast majority of the gaming audience doesn't want to own multiple consoles unless they have to. While multiple-system ownership isn't uncommon, there's a large portion of the audience that own just one console, or at least want to. And therefore, so long as there are top-quality exclusives on platforms, the market will be fractured. In the case of the PS2, that wasn't too big a deal, as the other systems represented a far smaller fraction of the market, and thus only a relatively small fraction of the market would be missed by targetting the PS2 more. Note, however, that many developers still put their games on more than just the PS2, even in that lopsided case.
When the market shares are a lot closer, such as in the seventh generation, splitting development is the smarter plan, as people are unlikely to choose a platform based on one game when there are exclusives on each system.
It's different if the game is an exclusive to begin with. In that case, you're building a fanbase on a specific system, and are likely to draw people to that system. But if your game is multiplatform, spreading it across all of the available platforms (or all of the appropriate ones - meaning, those that can run the game as it was intended - no point putting a game designed around touch on the Xbox 360, for instance) is better than having it across only some of them. Why? Because if your game isn't going to be the deciding factor in which platform to get (and multiplatforms won't make that decision for a person unless one version is far better than the others), then you want to make sure that people who own all systems experience it, in order to maximise the exposure and to build fanbases.
When you've grown a large fanbase, you can consider going the exclusive route, and draw all of your fans to the same system. THAT would make sense, and would serve to minimise costs. But if it's already multiplatform, it can't do that.
So, bringing it back to Metro, here's the question to ask: what is the benefit of skipping the Wii U, given that it's capable of running the game (perhaps with some minor modifications to shift work from CPU to GPU)? It does reduce development costs, but only by a fractional amount - the majority of development costs go to art assets, game logic, etc, not to porting, and that's stuff that doesn't get duplicated on additional systems. It might delay the game's release a little, but when you're targetting early in the year, a bit of a delay doesn't do any harm at all (as opposed to releasing in November vs delaying to December or January). The concern about splitting the fanbase isn't a concern, because fanbases go where the game goes - if it became a PS4 exclusive, the fans would go to that platform.
It might sound like I'm making as much of an assumption as you. But here's the thing - if your assumptions were consistent, and your conclusion sound, then multiplatform games would be the exception, not the rule. Now, tell me - what is the biggest criticism that the Xbox 360 and PS3 get in terms of criticisms of both simultaneously? That's right - that they're too similar. That they're the "HD Twins". That they pretty much get 90% of the same games. If your reasoning were valid, and your conclusions sound, developers and publishers would have chosen one of the two, and focused everything on that platform. The failure to include the Wii in many games was somewhat reasonable - the Wii couldn't handle various things that could be done on the other platforms (an example being Dead Rising's number of foes on screen at once - as demonstrated by Chop til you Drop). My criticism on that front was always failure to do anything solid for the Wii, not failure to include it in multiplatform releases. But that reasoning cannot apply to the Wii U when it comes to 360/PS3 titles, as the Wii U is entirely capable of doing what those platforms do, and then some.
Oh, and I knew full well that you aren't Matzy. Hence why I referred to Matzy by name when replying to you, and spoke in third person about him (or her, I guess, I honestly don't care enough to check).
