| dbot said: @bbsin - I think you are saying that Sony bought exclusivity indirectly by paying Konami for product placement. Correct? |
Here is an example of what may have happened:
(1) Konami pretends (or seriously considers) that it may release MGS 4 for the Xbox 360. To add weight to these statements, they announce publically that they're considering it and that they're not happy with PS3 sales performance.
(2) Konami wants Sony to give them marketing budget, favorable licensing rates, a bundle and/or cash to keep the game exclusive. Konami wants kickbacks if the bundle sells very well implying that the game is selling PS3s.
(3) Sony eventually caves, but wants Konami to serve Sony with a lot of product placement.
(4) Konami agrees, they have a contract for exclusivity over some period of time (say, 1 year minimum but perhaps as much as 3 years).
Konami will obviously never agree to a permanent exclusivity contract with Sony for one of its games, because they may want to release an essential collection for multiple patforms in the future, or maybe they'll want to put MGS 4 on cell phones in a few years. Whatever, but they're obviously not going to permanently sign away the rights for the game.
