i just recently did some research and i found out level 5(makers of white knight chronicles) and media molecules(littlebigplanet) are NOT sony's 1st and 2nd party developers...i'm sure alot of people thought they were...anyone know other developers that seem like they're 1st or 2nd party but when in fact they are actually 3rd party??...

please note...i'm talking about developers not games.....littlebigplanet and wkc are 2nd party GAMES...sony publishes them that's about it...but the companies themselves dont have contracts with Sony to make only Sony games...which makes them 3rd party developers....

and there seems to be confusion about 1st party and 2nd party as well...but that's another story...here is a link to explain those confusions...but example of 2nd party would be insomniac....1st party would be Sony, SCEE, London Studio,SOE, etc

http://www.infendo.com/industry/game-development-defined-through-parties/

Sorry but everyone already knew that lol

And i am sure sony will get the hands on media molecule at some point, and the rumor is that if WKC does well Level 5 are going to offer themselves to sony

Insomniac Games is 3rd party... They just have a really good relationship with Sony...

damn i feel so retarded now...lol...

2nd party studio = an independent studio that is tied exclusively to one of the three console manufacturers, and only makes 2nd party exclusives for that company.

Insomniac is a 2nd party developer, and it looks like Media Molecule now is as well.  We don't know if they are tied to Sony via any sort of contracts, but Sony owns the IPs they work on (Ratchet, LBP), and they only have titles in the works for Sony's consoles.

Level 5 are a 3rd party developer that makes some 2nd party titles for Sony (Sony owns the White Knight Chronicles IP, and is fully funding development. They did the same for Dark Cloud 1/2, Rogue Galaxy, and Jeanne D'Arc).

 Good explanation.

I forgot about owning IP's. So Insomniac is 3rd party but Sony owns Ratchet and Resistance?

Is Sucker Punch the same as Insomniac?

No, Insomniac and Sucker Punch are not the same. Both are independent companies that work exclusivly with Sony, now, Sucker Punch was part of Microsoft developers, but the team became independent and released a game for the 64 (Rocket: Robot of the Wheels), then it became working exclusively with Sony (Sly Cooper series and now Infamous). Insomniac has developed every single title for Sony platforms, including the Spyro series (only that IP didn't belong to Sony).

@makingmusic476 Last time i checked, Insomniac is not under contract with SCEA, but you have a good point since Disruptor, Ratchet and Resistance are Sony's IPs.

@munkeh
i believe so...i just read into insomniac as well...always thought they were 2nd party developers...apparently they dont work under contract with sony which makes them 3rd party...

in that sense...i think there are alot more loyal developer for sony than everyone thinks...and than that i thought....looking at the loyal developers they have...u can safely say they are exclusive developers for sony...and there are more exclusive developers for sony than anyone else...

like 360 has alot of exclusive title but doesn't seem like they have much exclusive developers...same goes for nintendo.....it's kind of strange in a sense that there are more developer taking faith in the console that is in 3rd place than the rest...i could be wrong in all this but wat do i know...i'm only a consumer...neither developer nor publisher...

Insomniac are second party developers. What this means is that they only make games for Sony consoles. Sony feels no need to buy them, because it would cost them money, Insomniac feels no need to be bought, because this way they get more freedom.

Media Molecule have only made one game for PS3, with another scheduled for PSP, so SO FAR, they are second party developers. If they made, say, a fighting game exclusive to 360 or Wii or even a PS360 multiplat, they would become third party, but Sony would still own LittleBigPlanet.

Is that right?

EDIT: Level 5 has made games on many platforms, so they are third party developers. Bungie are Microsoft's second party because they have no games scheduled that are not on 360/PC. Right?