Shacknews

Sony is expected to announce its next PlayStation console at its February 20th press event. Every day until then, Shacknews will look at PlayStation's history, and analyze what that could mean for the company's future.

While Sony has a strong collection of first-party teams to rely on, the PlayStation brand has always been synonymous with strong third-party support. Key studios pledged allegiance to Sony, but as the generations have gone on, that support has waned. During the transition from PS2 to PS3, third-party publishers moved away from console exclusivity, leaving Sony to rely on the support of second- and third-party developers to build up its exclusive portfolio.

Unfortunately, not all of these relationships ended fruitfully. Many developers, once synonymous with the PlayStation brand, are moving on to other platforms--some abandoning Sony altogether. The transition to PS4 will make it even more difficult for Sony to find exclusive content to rely upon.

First-Party Closures

Over the PS3 era, Sony has closed a number of its studios. BigBig's closure is perhaps the least surprising, considering their games--from Pursuit Force to Little Deviants--never really caught on. However, more surprising is Zipper Interactive's shuttering. Founded in 1995, the studio was responsible for Sony's SOCOM franchise. The team's final PS3 release, SOCOM 4, was largely considered a disappointment--but the lengthy PlayStation Network outage did the game no favor. Unit 13 for Vita proved to be an adequate launch game, but at that point, the writing was already on the wall.

Perhaps the biggest first-party studio to be closed by Sony was SCE Studio Liverpool. Founded as Psygnosis in 1984, the team was responsible for the Wipeout series. Not only were the games critically acclaimed (even during the PS3 era), but they were regularly technical showcases for PlayStation hardware. WipEout HD is one of the most impressive games on PS3, running not only in "full HD" 1080p, but offering remarkable 3D support as well. Given the team's pedigree, it's rather unnerving that Sony would close the studio, which was rumored to be working on a Wipeout game for PS4 and a stealth action game as well.

The future of Sony's WipEout franchise is unclear since SCE Liverpool was shut down

Going Multiplatform

One of the most talked about losses to the PlayStation family is Insomniac Games. Although never owned by Sony, the studio was well known for its support of PlayStation platforms, having worked exclusively on PS hardware from 1996. The platform's biggest franchises were created by the Burbank studio: Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and the Resistance series. However, after lackluster sales of Resistance 3, the studio announced plans to go multiplatform. Since then, the team has released Outernauts on Facebook and is working on Fuse for PS3 and Xbox 360.

thatgamecompany, whose Journey earned multiple Game of the Year awards, and brought newfound attention to the PlayStation Network, is also leaving Sony. Recent revelations that PS3 development led the studio to go broke could be one of the reasons why Jenova Chen and company are seeking new platforms for their future games.

Another long-time Sony partner, Q-Games, has been dabbling with new platforms. Although the studio has never been exclusive to Sony (having released multiple games on Nintendo platforms), the PixelJunk franchise is no longer PSN-only territory. In addition to PixelJunk Eden on Steam and PixelJunk Monsters for Facebook, the studio's next game (currently codenamed 1-6) has only been announced for PC.

The next game from the developers of Journey will not be exclusive to PlayStation

Going Mobile

Other developers of high-profile PS3 exclusives are leaving console development altogether. Eat Sleep Play, which shipped the PS3 version of Twisted Metal, actually suffered layoffs before the game even came out. Outspoken developer David Jaffe left the company, which is now working on iOS games. At the time, co-founder Scott Campbell said that the incentive to work on mobile was the ability to reach more people. "It's a platform that is in our pockets almost 24/7. It's kind of the size and types of games we're playing," said.

The developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified for Vita also downsized after releasing the game. While critically panned, it was pretty much doomed from the start, with a five-month development time that would cause any developer to suffer. The experience not only tarnished their name, but had the developer leaving console development altogether. As "nStigate," the smaller studio will focus on mobile games.

Housemarque, developers of PSN's popular Super Stardust series, is also making a transition to mobile. The studio recently released Furmins, after the studio was supposedly denied work on a sequel to the PSN-exclusive Dead Nation.

Idol Minds, developer of PSN-exclusive PAIN, is also moving onto mobile development. The studio was supposedly working on a Vita/PS3 game called Warrior's Lair which has since disappeared entirely off of PlayStation.com, suggesting its cancellation. Instead, the studio recently released Linked Together.

LightBox Interactive shipped the impressive 32-player online multiplayer shooter, Starhawk. Three months later, the studio would lay off most of its team to work on iOS games. Well, as you know... the industry is changing," LightBox president Dylan Jobe said then. Sony apparently "amicably ended its working agreement" with the team--a sentiment that's been echoed yet again with another high-profile developer.

Starhawk's developer is now focusing on mobile games

Recent Burns

SuperBot Entertainment, developer of PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale, also had its relationship with Sony "amicably ended," a move that surprised many. Although the developer promises to move on to its "next chapter," studio head David Yang told Kotaku that "it is unlikely we can continue with our current work force for an extended period of time. We are still working things out and hope to continue on with as many of us as possible."

Most recently, Sanzaru Games, developer of the recently-released (and very good) Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, was also burned by Sony--who did little to market the game's existence. 1UP's Chris Pereira sums it up best: "The fact remains that not marketing the game is effectively a slap in the face of everyone who made it, as the result of their efforts is not being given a reasonable chance of making its mark." According to Superannuation, Sanzaru had to "lay off most of their staff" after wrapping up work on Sly 4. We discovered that Steve Kuroki, who served as senior game designer on the title, quietly left the studio at the end of last year, aligning with Superannation's report.

The excellent Sly Cooper 4 was sent to die by Sony

What Remains

There are many reasons for developers to no longer work with PlayStation. The primary root of these departures appear to be sales: developing on a PS3 is expensive, and it takes many copies to recoup costs. Developers are seeing greener pastures in multiplatform development, and mobile and social gaming. And with many of these titles, Sony has proven inept at being a proper marketing partner. However, what external development partners still remain in Sony's favor?

Clap Hanz, developers of the Hot Shots series, is likely working on another entry in the franchise, given their long-standing partnership with Sony. Quantic Dream, developer of Heavy Rain and the upcoming Beyond: Two Souls, is rumored to be working on an Orbis title, and has admitted to being quite fond of Sony's support. Tarsier Studios and Double Eleven, developers of LittleBigPlanet for PS Vita are likely to continue working for Sony--the latter due to a newly signed exclusivity contract with the publisher. Finally, Novarama Technology, developer of the Invizimals games, has also signed an exclusive deal with Sony. A potential question mark is Ready at Dawn, a studio that has already shipped two God of War games for Sony. The team has been quietly working on a next-gen title, and it's a good bet that it will make an appearance on Sony's next console.

That's a rather short list going into the next generation. Sony has burned a lot of bridges in the PS3 era--but PS4 presents a new opportunity for the company. Sony will have to deliver on the promise of next-gen to build new relationships, and restore its stable of exclusive third-party partners.

Quantic Dream will continue to support Sony in the next-gen

http://www.shacknews.com/article/77805/burning-bridges-abandoning-playstation-exclusivity

Looks like the editor does not like Sony. You can make a similar list of all the negatives on Microsoft and Nintendo, while also leaving out the positives.

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate 3rd party exclusives. It's a concept that should have died years ago. Sure the Playstation and PS2 owned their markets and small devs could focus on just Sony and make all the money they could want. But that time has gone and with the advent of multiplatform tools like Unreal Engine 4 the future of needless exclusives should be put down like a rabid dog. Unless a dev has been paid to make an exclusive no 3rd party game should ever be on less than two platforms and really should be on as many as they can get the game to run on.

Uhmm... sure...

Of course, the bigger picture is that the entirety of core gaming is declining, and it will get worse.

Goodness me, another one of these ill-conceived article aimed at Sony. Like the last one, the general point of it is pretty sound, but there's just some ridiculously glaring errors all over the place.

Trying to keep it as brief as possible; the biggest problem for Sony regarding loss of excusivity was at the beginning of the seventh gen - because the third parties needed to - since the PS3 on its own just wasn't a financially viable option. Things like Final Fantasy; Grand Theft Auto etc. is what changed the brand from what it was to what it became.

I mean yes, it sucks to lose first party studios. I can't tell you how much it blew hearing the developer of my favourite IP was shut. But that's ignoring the fact that they gained 6 studios this generation; while expanding studios like Guerrilla, Santa Monica & Naughty Dog into multiple teams. (Also, they forgot the closure of Incognito Entertainment, but who cares about checking facts when you're writing an article like this eh?)

My biggest problem with the article, though, is that many of the bridges burnt this generation were created this generation. Nihilistic; Lightbox; Superbot; Idol Minds etc. were all recruited for specific projects this gen, They're second party for starters. They created games in Sony's ecosystem then left. Teams like these - in general - are having a hard time finding a place in the market making "the middle" (there's that phrase again). Just look at studios like Eurocom; Dark Energy Digital; Bizzare Creations etc. If studios like these are even around in the future, I'm sure they could just be recruited again.

Some of them hurt more than others. Insomniac, for example. But while they're going multiplat, author fails to mention that they haven't stopped developing for Sony. Ratchet games are still coming, so while Sony may not have 100% support anymore, I'd hardly say they "burnt that bridge".

Honestly, again, I understand the point the article is trying to make. It's a fair point. But examining only the negatives; not looking at any of the positives and just showing a general lack of knowledge about the events being talked about make this another hyperbolic article worth skipping.

Sony screwed up this gen. they marketed what they knew would sell, move hardware, and create profit.

hopefully Sony will market their games, and take better care of their partners next gen.

Seems like it's cool to hate Sony these days.

I'm not surprised by this article at all. Sony is all over the internet these days with all those PS4 rumors. So, everyone is trying to be in the spotlight by bashing Sony.

Bravo. Now THAT is how you write a tabloid article. Ignore the truth and be as sensational as possible. Really, well done.

Considering most 3rd party devs left Nintendo many years ago it woudnt really be a new story worth reading, unless we find out big games like GTAV were planned but cancelled.

Micrososft on the other hand would be interesting read.