Xbox |OT|

[G2ThaUNiT]

Ryuu96 said:

G2ThaUNiT said:

I know PlayStation uses the term second-party, which Shuhei Yoshida confirmed further and had articles written on the subject. So it doesn't seem like something gamers invented. At least I wouldn't think game companies would adopt a term that gamers invented lol.

This was Yoshida's quote, which is exactly how I've always viewed the matter: “We call second-party when an independent company created the game and funded it or joint funded it, so the IP is still owned by that company. A recent example is Rise of the Ronin by Koei Tecmo. PlayStation published that game so we call it second-party.â€Â

Yeah but Tbf to me he made that quote in 2025, haha, I think the term was still made by gamers but co-opted later by some studios/publishers cause it works, here is what Insomniac said on the matter once.

Insomniac Games: Sony Interactive Entertainment is the publisher of the game. It's 1st Party.

Greg Miller: That's how it works? I thought they had to own the studio to be first party. Wouldn't this be second party?

Insomniac Games: 2nd party doesn't really technically exist except to indicate outside studio doing a 1st party game

Greg Miller asks: So Spidey is First AND Second?

Insomniac responds, with an example for another franchise they developed for Sony

Think of it more as inclusionary. Ratchet is a 1st party game. Insomniac is 2nd party developer.

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We also used to have people calling things 2nd party simply because the studio wasn't owned, even if the IP was owned by the publisher.

This was Microsoft's stance on the matter back in 2014.

And Insomniac went as far to say this, they too said people made the term up, haha.

Insomniac Games on X: People made 2nd party up to deal with Rare's "status" back in the day. No one really "uses" that in development" / X

We can't even take Xbox's word from a year ago. How you think we can take their word from over 10 years ago?

Seriously though, I actually am starting to think you're right about some companies having co-opted the term in more modern times. In concept, it does make sense. A studio like Team Ninja or Kojima Productions aren't under Sony or Microsoft's payroll. They don't have any sort of creative oversight. So it's like, how can you honestly consider releases like that first party?

Would be funny if gamers created the idea and companies started going "you know, these people may be on to something" and if we'll start to see the term brought up more often going forward. Because it is odd Yoshida straight up admitting to the term.