thismeintiel said:
Because developing on the PS1 was much cheaper than the N64. Nintendo also wanted full control of making the carts, so they could choose how many copies of your game were produced. Sony gave devs/publishers more freedom on their console. And it proved itself by selling MUCH more than the N64. This was also the gen after the SNES/Genesis one where many devs/publishers left Nintendo, or published on both consoles, because they hated Nintendo's restrictions and general attitude towards 3rd parties. The PS2 was the follow up to the most successful console of the time, and it sold even better. Many companies, especially smaller one, were fine only publishing on the PS2 because it meant less time and money spent on development, but they still had many more customers to sell to than the Gamecube/Dreamcast/Xbox. |
You're wrong. It's a common misconception that third party devs only released games on PS2 because it was so sucessful. It was more true with the PS1, but there were moneyhats back then too. See Tomb Raider II. The first game was on Saturn. The franchise didn't leave the PS1 until 2000. On the PS2, GTA III was clearly bought. ALL of Square's PS2 games were bought as well, which is why FF Chrystal Chronicles was a spinoff (and made by a shell company), and why none of their 6th gen games besides the aforementioned left the PS2. There are other examples too, like SoulCalibur II selling well on all three consoles, and SCIII only appearing on the PS2. MGS2 released on the Xbox, 3 didn't.
Sony is no stranger to this. 
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