Why Game Developers Are Flocking to Sony and Fleeing From Microsoft

[techbeck]

Devs are going to go where the money is. Why do you think EA/Activsion/etc release ported titles on as many systems as possible?

A smart dev isn't going to ignore millions of potential sales because one console is "better".

Depends...if it is hard to develop on on console and not worth the money, then I can see them picking the one that is easier.

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Microsoft has shown a complete lack of vision with indie games on Xbox 360. It's too bad because they had pretty much the dream framework (XNA), but outside of that management was terrible; it was a royal pain for developers to get any visibility for their games, and for users to find the newest and greatest indie titles. On the outside it looks like someone had an idea, a few ran along with it and everyone else tried to kill it as much as possible. There's a lack of cohesion and leadership at Microsoft and it shows.

XNA is dead, April 1 2014 is the last day of support, and no new versions.

They buried Indie games in there interface pretty deep several times, you had to stumble across it, or knew where it's at.

Microsoft obsession with control on xbox live, not allowing some to go on sale at the request of the game makers, etc.

Will see how Microsoft handles indie games at there Xbox next reveal or even talk about it at all (which would not be a good sign).

[techbeck]

I get tired of his nonstop ant-MS articles though.

Ignore him...dont read his posts. No one is forcing you to read/respond to them.

[ShareShiz]

Game developers are stupid. Just make EVERY game cross platform. If you pull favorites then you lose profit. Simple as that. -_-

[BajiRav]

Ignore him...dont read his posts. No one is forcing you to read/respond to them.

I tried but it's kind of difficult when he keeps flooding the Xbox section (and damn that minispy :p).

[compl3x]

A couple?

(again, I have no problems with his pro-Sony stories).

It seems to me there are a few people on this forum who absolutely jump at the opportunity to pick a fight about their favourite plastic gaming box.

[theyarecomingforyou]

There's no denying that Microsoft's strategy for the current-gen has been incredibly successful and the Sony has had to work hard to get to where it has. However, Microsoft's policies have become increasingly arrogant - from its steadfast policy of charging developers to issue patches, to its poor treatment of indie developers, to the refusal to release games planned for PC on PC (Halo 3, Halo Wars, Gears Of War 2/3, etc) or timed exclusives (Alan Wake, GTAIV, etc) and now with strong rumours that it will require gamers to connect online before playing games on the X720. Meanwhile Sony has worked hard to mend its relationships with developers.

Personally I don't have any interest in consoles but I'd like to see Sony do better in this coming generation, as I think that would be better for gamers.

[compl3x]

And I would say relative to how many stories are posted on here, there are only a handful of pro-Sony topics.

[Brony]

And I would say relative to how many stories are posted on here, there are only a handful of pro-Sony topics.

Check Gamasutra and indies forums. There are a lot of nasty stories involving XBLA and indies.

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Game developers are stupid. Just make EVERY game cross platform. If you pull favorites then you lose profit. Simple as that. -_-

Assuming they can, some do not have the resources to make it cross platform, or the in house expertise for certain systems.

Also, spending $$$ on a specific port that may not sell well at all or bombs is also a risk they have to calculate.

For big publishers, they have the resources to do this, Indie / Self publish may not.

[fusi0n]

Maybe Neowin should move their console forums to NeoGamr?

[threetonesun]

Does this assume developers left Sony at some point? The PS2 killed the original Xbox, I'd guess the PS3 and Xbox 360, in terms of console specific games, have been about equal.

I mean, big picture, Sony still lost developers to the Xbox. If it were still just Nintendo and Sony, you can guess which console all of those Xbox exclusives would have ended up on.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

In a forum (GH) that is slowing down in speed, and has been in decline for a while, either contribute and post topics of your own interest or hold back on the childish telling of others to stop posting news/topics you don't like. What goes on inside said topics, is up for moderators to sort out, but news is news. Most of the stuff I've posted in the past few days has been posted on Neowin's front pages, for anyone criticizing quality.

I only post from the known gaming sites, and will stick with rumours that at least have multiple source/some credibility. Outside of that, it's not my fault your favourite console is getting the headlines you do not want elsewhere on the web. Don't shoot the messenger, yadda yadda. MS have been in multiple stories to do with developer unhappiness and red tape in the past years, it's not suddenly a new opinion piece I've conducted myself.

A new console generation spices things up on these forums, and you need not worry about my behaviour, let me worry about that and it's something I these days, do not worry about. Neither do the mods considering the last time I ever got a warning was years ago, just fyi.

[HawkMan]

XNA is dead, April 1 2014 is the last day of support, and no new versions.

They buried Indie games in there interface pretty deep several times, you had to stumble across it, or knew where it's at.

Microsoft obsession with control on xbox live, not allowing some to go on sale at the request of the game makers, etc.

Will see how Microsoft handles indie games at there Xbox next reveal or even talk about it at all (which would not be a good sign).

MS buried XBLIG because it was bad publicity, 99.9999% of the games there was terrible. absolutely horrible. And any developer who made anything worth anything made it for XBLA anyway. XBLIG was a playground, and it was free, why would it be MS job to put it front and center and even advertise the games there. if you want publicity as an indie, well you're indie do it yourself. that's the point...

Check Gamasutra and indies forums. There are a lot of nasty stories involving XBLA and indies.

Funny thing, a lot of those "indie" (overused word that don't fit most of them, small studio is better) who have gone out against MS and XBLA terms have later had to go back on their word, when not only did XBLA turn out to be their biggest money maker, but the other platforms they tried on had the same problems they complained about on XBLA.

[George P Global Moderator]

MS controlling the price has it's reasons, as far as xbla goes the bigger studios and publishers could come in and undercut the smaller guys who can't afford to start off selling a game at $1 or $2. Keeping the prices even for everyone, big and small makes it fair for the little guy.

Also, more money is being made this way in the end, if it was a free for all and we had a race to the bottom the odds of making any good profits shrink.

Anyways, as far as the next Xbox goes I expect to see it even more open for devs, both for apps and games though MS will still keep a level of control over any Xbox branded arcade games for obvious reasons.

[helios01]

My question to these guys is why did they start on XBOX at all? As mentioned earlier, games like Braid have been very successful in XLIVE. These are guys who had no prior big game releases or notable titles to their names, that they do now (something Sony usually looks for), so my question to them is why start at XBOX?

I don't doubt MS manages XLIVE horribly for small developers, but when you're unknown and don't have a concrete product to sell, you can't expect the red carpet. Yet some of these guys made a name for themselves on XBOX, and now that they have a product and recognition, they say how they're treated better elsewhere. It's easier to get more backing and support when you have done something. What does Sony do for any unknown developer that wants to make something for Playstation?

So how do I get started on the Playstation platform?

?We allow developers to self-publish on our platforms; no slotting, no voting, or any of that rigmarole.?

I know Sony is doing something similar to XNA with Vita and I applaud them for it, it's certainly a step in the right direction. But their tools are not nearly as robust as XNA as of yet. Do I still have to buy a dev kit in the thousands of dollars just to get started developing something on Playstation 3/4? Where are the free tools to get started so I can deploy something on my local box and if satisfied upload it to the PSN market?

Mind you, MS has been getting worse on this by killing XNA and who knows how developing for the next XBOX will be. But so far all I see from Sony is the same thing, a closed platform that offers backing to their selected developers. I hope they really do open up. I developed a game for XBOX and Windows Phone and it was a great experience and I spend no money on it, so I hope I can do the same on Sony platforms soon.

[Snake89]

. But so far all I see from Sony is the same thing, a closed platform that offers backing to their selected developers. I hope they really do open up. I developed a game for XBOX and Windows Phone and it was a great experience and I spend no money on it, so I hope I can do the same on Sony platforms soon.

PlayStation isn't a closed platform to selected developers at all, check out this link on who can develop and publish games:

https://en-support.psm.playstation.net/app/answers/detail/a_id/41/c/14

[George P Global Moderator]

Killing xna might make it harder to code quick little games but at the same time you now have more options. The next Xbox will have the same development tools as Windows 8/RT and Windows Phone does, I have no doubts about it. The goal is to allow developers to target all three platforms with very little work and porting needed.

There are other alternatives to XNA out there btw and they work fine.

[MorganX]

Sad story.

[trag3dy]

I have no problems with his Sony love or him posting articles. I get tired of his nonstop ant-MS articles though. I can't remember a single article he has posted in Xbox forums that wasn't somehow negative.

You act like you're forced to read them.

[MorganX]

There's no denying that Microsoft's strategy for the current-gen has been incredibly successful and the Sony has had to work hard to get to where it has. However, Microsoft's policies have become increasingly arrogant - from its steadfast policy of charging developers to issue patches, to its poor treatment of indie developers, to the refusal to release games planned for PC on PC (Halo 3, Halo Wars, Gears Of War 2/3, etc) or timed exclusives (Alan Wake, GTAIV, etc) and now with strong rumours that it will require gamers to connect online before playing games on the X720. Meanwhile Sony has worked hard to mend its relationships with developers.

Personally I don't have any interest in consoles but I'd like to see Sony do better in this coming generation, as I think that would be better for gamers.

MS has done well. And IMO, PSN doesn't compare to XBL. But despite a one year lead and overwhelming lead in US, PS3 has outsold it worldwide. MS doesn't have a lot of room for mistakes that might cause any slip in US popularity next gen.

[theyarecomingforyou]

MS has done well. And IMO, PSN doesn't compare to XBL. But despite a one year lead and overwhelming lead in US, PS3 has outsold it worldwide. MS doesn't have a lot of room for mistakes that might cause any slip in US popularity next gen.

While the PS3 has outsold the X360 worldwide that is primarily due to Japan, as Sony is a Japanese company. In western countries the X360 has been the stronger seller, especially in the US. Technically the Wii is the winner of this generation but sales numbers aren't everything.

[MorganX]

While the PS3 has outsold the X360 worldwide that is primarily due to Japan, as Sony is a Japanese company. In western countries the X360 has been the stronger seller, especially in the US. Technically the Wii is the winner of this generation but sales numbers aren't everything.

I understand the Japan factor, but regardless, even with the significant US lead, PS3 still outsold with a year less of life. Sony will be in very good shape next generation if they make any meaningful gains in the US.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I understand the Japan factor, but regardless, even with the significant US lead, PS3 still outsold with a year less of life. Sony will be in very good shape next generation if they make any meaningful gains in the US.

Everything I've seen so far suggests that Sony has a better chance at the next-gen, particularly if Microsoft is going to require online connectivity and bundle the Kinect with every SKU. The bundling of the Kinect takes away from the computing power and is a risky move, though it does open up some compelling gameplay advantages. But it's really Microsoft's lead to lose, rather than Sony's advantage to make.

[SnowMizer]

Hey Audio, when are you going to post a story that is not "anti-MS" or "pro-Sony"? I've been waiting for years. You are like an internet crawler that is hunting for stories that put MS in bad light even if slightly. It figures why would you post the "always on" story from Paul Thurrot but conveniently omit his remarks against Sony because it put Sony in bad light.

He posted the same kind of crap last gen and has zero credibility to those who have been around for a while.