Blu-Ray wins on Black Friday week.

[Mornelithe]

Not really man, I don't see how Sony has any control in the affairs of EA or Valve. Correct me if i'm wrong, but both companies are completely independant of Sony, right? If that's the case, then no, Sony bears no responsibility in this situation. It's entirely up to the developer to create a finished product, and then deliver that product to their contractor.

I honestly don't see why this is a hard concept to grasp...or agree with. I mean...would you give unfinished or poorly created work to your boss, just because the company that hired you to do it was getting anxious? Well, that's not fair, because I don't know what you'd do. But...in my position, I'd personally take heat for needing more time, than giving something with my name on it that's unfinished or done in a poor manner. It would get me fired, or even worse, tarnish my name/ability.

Sony may have put pressure on Valve/EA, but as a developer, and a studio that designs 'great' titles for their constituency, they turned a deaf ear to PS3 owners, imo. And, as such, they won't get a dime of support from me.

Hehe, and on a more amusing note...I just can't really see how Sony would 'force' Valve/EA to produce...did they hire some hit men to 'take care' of some Valve family members? LoL. Point being is...if Valve/EA caved...that was their decision, you know? It's their proprietary software title, not Sony's...right? So, if Sony produced X sum of money for it....Valve accepting said money, is Valve's responsibility, and poor judgement... Rather, they should've said while the offer is tempting, we still feel our product is not complete to our specifications and therefore, we cannot give it to you now etc etc etc...


Morne

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Mornelithe

Not really man, I don't see how Sony has any control in the affairs of EA or Valve. Correct me if i'm wrong, but both companies are completely independant of Sony, right? If that's the case, then no, Sony bears no responsibility in this situation. It's entirely up to the developer to create a finished product, and then deliver that product to their contractor.

You don't understand the business very well. Sony had a CONTRACT with EA/Valve. By the timeframe specified Sony wanted a copy. When they were told that 6 months of extra development would make it shine, Sony CHOSE to take the copy that worked but wasn't polished. In this case a working copy wasn't even ready yet. So as soon as a working copy was available it was released.

That was SONY's decision and EA/Valve had no say at all. Their recommendation was declined by Sony.

Again get mad at Sony. 9 times out of 10 the company at fault for a product released too early on console or PC is the fault of the Parent Company (EA) or the Console Company (Sony). If it was a PC release and released with massive bugs that would have likely have been EA's fault. In this case however it was Sony pushing the release.

[Mornelithe]

Ubisoft and Free Radical Design have a contract with Sony also. Haze is finished and is a working game, but it's not released yet because FRD wants to polish it more. I fail to see how this is any different than EA/Valve. This is even more important, and possibly financially damaging to FRD/Sony (probably not Ubisoft since they're still riding the AC wave), because it's generally recognized as a Timed Exclusive by most of the fans who've been following it's developement. And the further it gets delayed, the sooner the multi-plat versions will be finished, which may shorten the exclusivity timeframe. Also, the sales that Haze could generate via the PS3 console, are decreasing due to consumer disappointment in a title not being released at the previously announced time. You know?

And you're right, I don't know the internals of the gaming industry...and my ideals are probably far from reality...but...is it too much to ask that gaming developers...show a little loyalty to their product and fans and a little less fear towards big brothers and Sony/MS? Is that really that big of a request?


Morne

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Mornelithe

Ubisoft and Free Radical Design have a contract with Sony also. Haze is finished and is a working game, but it's not released yet because FRD wants to polish it more. I fail to see how this is any different than EA/Valve. This is even more important, and possibly financially damaging to FRD/Sony (probably not Ubisoft since they're still riding the AC wave), because it's generally recognized as a Timed Exclusive by most of the fans who've been following it's developement. And the further it gets delayed, the sooner the multi-plat versions will be finished, which may shorten the exclusivity timeframe. Also, the sales that Haze could generate via the PS3 console, are decreasing due to consumer disappointment in a title not being released at the previously announced time. You know?

And you're right, I don't know the internals of the gaming industry...and my ideals are probably far from reality...but...is it too much to ask that gaming developers...show a little loyalty to their product and fans and a little less fear towards big brothers and Sony/MS? Is that really that big of a request?


Morne

The problem with OB was that it was supposed to be Multi-platform but was playing out as a 360 exclusive so Sony made the decision and the push. Each circumstance is different and each contract different.

[Mornelithe]

Well, I dunno, I guess if I were Valve/EA I would've just told Sony sorry, it's not ready yet. And leave it at that. Let them terminate the contract if they so desire...obviously Sony wanted OB, right? So, it's probably a good bet, that while not happy about it, Sony would've just aquiesced and waited...what more option would they have had, other than stealing the copy illegally which would most likely not happen lol.



Morne

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Mornelithe

Well, I dunno, I guess if I were Valve/EA I would've just told Sony sorry, it's not ready yet. And leave it at that. Let them terminate the contract if they so desire...obviously Sony wanted OB, right? So, it's probably a good bet, that while not happy about it, Sony would've just aquiesced and waited...what more option would they have had, other than stealing the copy illegally which would most likely not happen lol.

If they cancelled it they would have had to pay Sony back likely around 5 times what Sony paid of up front money. I don't see EA doing that do you? They legally were not in a position to say no or face having to pay Sony a large sum of money AND lose the deal.

Sony was obviously seriously considering counting their losses and enacting that clause of the contract. That forced EA to push Valve to release.