I totally agree with you, however, that goes both ways too.  I think a lot of this constant talk of money has to do with backlash from the fact that every time MS gains an exclusive or a port, there are 10000 threads on here about how "Sony was betrayed" and"MS and their evil money hats."  As if that is the only reason games come to the 360.

Also, as was mentioned, Rockstar agreed to an exclusive after Sony lost GTA4 exclusivity.  At the time, it was said that this was a concession.

There's also more to a game than just direct sales. Making a game exclusive can keep the development team focused, get more exposure, first party support and ultimately help build the aura that is RockStar. Much the same way that Blizzard has done with it's name. There are many people out there now that will buy any game that Blizzard makes. Their name brand is now just as powerful or even more powerful than their IP name brand(except for maybe WOW). Rockstar wants to be that of the video game consoles. Put the Rockstar name on it, and people will want to buy it because they know it is quality.

Would going multiplat result in more direct sales, ofcourse as the user base is much bigger. But does it help in accomplishing the ultimate long term goal of the company? Probably not. Let RockStar cash in on the GTA's that have already built that hype and aura over the years. They need to start building it with Agent. This thread and the many that are sure to come full of debate and first pumping will surely help play right into the hands of RockStar.

the absense of evidence is not the evidence of absense. Just because there is no hard physical paperwork that is viewable to the public on MS paying these companies for at least most of it's exclusives doesn't mean they are not. Sony could possibly be doing it too by this very same rule. Only thing is Sony has come out to the public and denied ever doing so(at the time being at least), and blatently accused MS of doing so. I don't think large companies are into name calling, unless that is exactly what they are(from their point of view). MS is moneyhatting developers, that is the truth.

We can talk about how there is no physical proof(but really, what physical proof would exist for such a thing?) of it but at the end of the day you KNOW they are secretly doing it. They are Microsoft after all, it's the same way they have aquired everything else they have,with sheer numbers of dollar bills...

PS: And I am not trying to say whether Moneyhatting is wrong or right. Its just that Sony for a very long time had a moral belief against such practices and refused to do the same. In turn, MS kept swiping games from under them. Sony could have easily done the same as them. Yet think of it this way, do you really want to be in a bidding war with MS? My geuss is your answer is NO. So Sony's only way of securing a exclusive is left to making it themselves, or convincing 3rd parties that exclusivity holds some other benefit for them.

Let's see if their confidence pays off.

It's quite common around here.

MGS4, the perfect example when you put a great console, great developer, and great game together.

that whole statement they came up with is just a PR thing. the real reason this is exclusive is sony's deal with them from before. there's no real logic behind putting something exclusive on the lowest install base and hope for it to have large sales. if what rockstar is saying is true, they should've put it exclusive to the 360, where the action game demographic is more present.

makes sense i hope for the best

I don't buy it either, that is just PR. It's exactly what PS3 fans want to hear and that's why they say that instead of that they made a deal with Sony. It's a huge risk for them to do this, I don't buy that this type of thing would get approved. More userbase is less risk.

Rockstar North and Sony have been very close for a long time. Back before the launch of PS3 the Houser brothers had tried to make GTA afully exclusive franchise to Playstation. Unfortunatly Ken Kutaragi was not on the ball, and they were approached by MS before any talks could occur. During the development of GTA4 they were constantly bashing the 360 for not having a standard HDD, and not having a HD media format for an HD gaming console. So it comes as no suprise to me that they have went exclusive to Playstation for this title. The Houser brothers are Playstation fans, and they want to push tech to its limits. This generation PS3 is far and beyond the most powerful console, and I can not wait to see what they can do with no limits.

The same thing was said about Kojima with MGS4, that he was just spouting PR bull....