When an independent developer that isn't tied to a publisher produces an exclusive title, everyone has questions. Typically, the #1 question is, "why?"
Well, in regards to Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Conviction , it has nothing to do with anything but business, so says Lead Designer Steven Masters. According to Kikizo , Masters said they "absolutely could execute on the PS3," and the team's decision to keep Conviction exclusive to the Xbox 360 is a matter of "business." This was a direct way of answering the hidden question, which might question the company's ability to develop on Sony's more complex hardware. Said Masters:
"Well that's purely a business decision. That's it… Ubisoft as a company now has a lot of experience with PS3. Our processes, tools, techniques are very well-developed – we could absolutely execute on the PS3 if we had the opportunity, but like I said it was a business decision."
As Kikizo goes on to point out, there's really only one possible translation: Microsoft stuffed a bunch of bills in Ubisoft's pockets and said with a wink, "so, that new Splinter Cell …looks great…we'd really – hint, hint – appreciate it if it stayed exclusive to the 360…" While it might be possible that Ubisoft didn't believe the 24 million PS3 owners wouldn't help increase sales, it's not all that likely . For our part, we really are looking forward to this one; we play MGS and SC for two very different reasons. Still, we kinda wish Conviction would've been made available for both PS3 and 360 owners.
I swore I remember reading another article that was posted up on the PSX site, saying that the main reason for the exclusivity for Splinter Cell: Conviction was because Ubisoft believed that Splinter Cell "belonged" on the XBOX platforms, like how Final Fantasy just "belonged" on the PS Platforms (I know that's not true anymore, but I distinctly remember someone from Ubisoft was quoted saying that on the news article that was posted up; yes, the same one I mentioned earlier in my post).
Last edited by Victor321 on 7/21/2009 10:08:11 PM
But didn't every other Splinter Cell game find it's way to the Playstation at one point or another? That's a bunch of bs. Microsoft knows the 360's days are numbered and wrote Ubisoft a blank check
I remember reading that article here.
Vic,
That pic is awesome.
Yes, Vic, it was said that Splinter Cell and Xbox were connected by a "link of heart." Which I responded to by saying that it was likely that this sugary-sweet "link of heart" was almost certainly preceded by a "link of wallet."
Glad my cynicism was correct again. *sigh*
-Arvis
Thanks King James =), and I wonder if your cynicism is a blessing or a curse Arvis ;)?
Does Conviction star Sam Fisher or Jason Bourne?
This sucks for PS3 users. Microsoft must have handed Ubisoft a crap load of money for it to be exclusive. Maybe this is the game that is coming to PS3 that was exclusive to Xbox 360 as advised in a previous article here on PSX.
Well all I have to say is:
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots > Splinter Cell: Conviction
WOW!! Just…..just WOW……well what I have to say is:
I Completely Agree.
You haven't even played the game yet. Congrats on making an illogical decision 🙂
@Vertigo,
Few games this gen have come close to MGS4's grandeur
I doubt any Splinter Cell game will touch it. It never did in the past, it never will in the future.
The fact that you believe there are a few games that have touched MGS4 should tell you something. SC is a proven series and just as enjoyable as MGS IMO. I'm waiting to try it before I decide which is better, I think you should do the same. Don't miss out on something because of bias.
There is no reason to crap on the game just because it's not coming to PS3. I loved MGS4 as much as everyone else (it was my favorite overall game from any system last year), but to say Splinter Cell never touched any Metal Gear Solid game (and this one not touching MGS4 even before the game is even out) is blatant fanboyism. Maybe it won't be as good as MGS4, but Conviction looks to be shaping up quite nicely in its own right.
mayhaps Scarecrow just doesn't like the series. There have been other installments.
but how many disk is splinter cell going to take up? one?
if its going to be on 1 disk, than the game will fall short no matter what. the biggest example i can give is fable2. such a great game but fell short due to the 1 DVD disk size
the reason why MGS4 didnt make it to the xbox360 was cuz the hardware of the 360 couldnt support such a game. but splinter cell on the other hand, 'can' be on the ps3 no problem.
as a result, MGS4 is 'probably' and 'arguably' better than splinter cell conviction
*i have MGS4 but i only played the online, i never played the single player campaign yet
**i strongly believe the people who think mgs4 would remain better than splinter cell is not 'too' much of a fanboyish commment
xbox360 games generally are short, lack high quality cgi cutscenes, instead they use
in-game cutscenes cuz its so much easier, and takes less space to do so
but in result, this makes the game… kind of 'lacking' and it limits the game developers from making great and better games.
if splinter cell conviction was a ps3 exclusive (although it will require more skills, time, and effort) the game developer can really maximize the quality of the game instead of limiting the game quality like the xbox360 does to current-gen games.
another example is gears of war1. its shorter than heavenly sword. i really dont know what else to say. gears of war is over rated. if u add the online play, yes it is good. but again, this requires u to have a current gold membership
*i never played gears of war2, only gears of war1
Last edited by kreate on 7/22/2009 2:29:44 AM
Amen, Scarecrow.
Though I'll still be buying 'Conviction', as I love the 'Splinter Cell' series. But no series has come close in comparison to the experiences provided me by the 'Metal Gear' series.
@kreate. Do you really know anything about software development. The size of content is not directly related to games play length. There are loads of factors like texture resolutions and the number of textures, games engine's resource formats, types of compression used for data.
As much as I loved MGS4 I don't think much was done to compress data as much if it had to go on DVD (or multiples). Plus I really cannot believe those long chapter load sessions were necessary.
Oh yeah do many of you people out buy a game and only use the on-line bit. Sounds weird to me. No wander I don't get a sense being "cheated" when another COD comes out.
what are u talking about? hideo kojima himself
came out and said that MGS4 couldnt be done on the 360 due to hardware issues. he said that if MGS4 'was' to be made on the 360, that it would have to be a totally different game.
and size does matter! what sources are u relating to when it comes to length of a game? which developer came out and said it doesnt matter if its on blu ray or on dvd disks?
*i dont know anything about software development cuz i never made a game before but i do understand the basics involved from the explanations and difficulties the developers explain in their interviews
Last edited by kreate on 7/22/2009 3:28:16 PM
Content requires more space. An XBox360 version would very likely end up on multiple DVD disks. I cannot believe each chapter could not fit on on a single DVD.
Plus analogy I was using was negating your analogy to game length and content size. Fallout 3 (1 DVD on XBox) for example; I spent a hell of a lot more hours completing it than MGS4 and it requires less space.
You'll probably find that the cut scene content takes up a good percentage of the disk space rather that the game engine and level data (which are probably not compressed).
im on the same page with u. i played a hella more hours on fallout than on mgs4. i agree.
but than again, i played tetris far more than any other game in my life. and tetris doesnt even require 1MB.
again, u also dont understand software development. hideo kojima himself clearly said that mgs4 could not be done on the 360. it doesnt need ur understanding. it just cant be done. or … u can email kojima production and ask them to bring it over to the 360.
"we would love to set the thing up where it filled one blu ray disc versus three dvds, which is about the right mix, but the game just… we can't cut it into a third like that"
"we can cut it into two pieces"
John Carmack – ID founder and technical director of ID Software
so… it seems like certain games just cannot be cut into multiple pieces. it could be on 2 dvd but not 3. i dont know how that works and neither do u. whether u believe it or not, no one really cares. its just how it is.
*game being described is RAGE and he was explaining the difficulties they are having squeezing all the content on the pc and 360 versions
Last edited by kreate on 7/23/2009 5:51:06 PM
I'll leave you to selectively believe whatever "spin" you want.
Carmack (Loads of respect) gave gave explanations based on creativity not technical. And they still had to cut a some of stuff out get Rage on two disks which sounds like the roaming will be like Far Cry 2 (speculation) north and south maps.
I've been professional developing software for 20 years and a lot longer as a hobby.
if thats the case i'll take ur word for it.
but can i get what ur job title is and which company u work for?
u are who from which company?
also why do u think hideo kojima said that. do u think hideo was lying when he said mgs4 couldnt be done on the 360?
he said if it 'were' to be done, it would have to be a completely different game.
looking at ur comment, u are a 40-50 yr old man right?
Last edited by kreate on 7/24/2009 5:37:19 AM
@ohmikkie
ok. i carefully re read all of the comments u made. i like to trash out the comment i made previously right above this one. apologies.
the problem here is.. i dont know these technical details. u do. but not me. so i was just basing my comments from what hideo kojima said about mgs4. simple.
we can go back and forth about these technical details. but i wont understand what exactly the technical issues are cuz i never worked in software engineering. so i give credit to u since u know the technical difficulties when it comes to software development.
im sure there is a reason why kojima said that but u can probably see the bigger picture while im looking at a much smaller picture.
thus, im making very generic theories while u are going very detail into the technical side of it.
but with my limited mind, it seems like its difficult to cut the games into multiple pieces depending on the structure of the game. creativty? technical? i dont know.
but i hope im at least right on 1 thing. blu ray is definately better than multiple DVD even on the technical side of it. the only thing that makes it difficult is the complex architecture of the ps3. am i at least correct on that?
*i didnt realize how old u were until i clicked on ur profile. i sincerely apologize for sounding so rude in the previous comments.
Last edited by kreate on 7/24/2009 6:03:16 AM
No worries kreate. your last comment is justified opinion but it depends on if the game engine is highly optimised for the PS3 hardware (i.e. the SPU utitilsation). I suspect some difficulty porting the engine to 360, in that case, but not an impossibility (it would cost more). A lot of code would have to be re-implemented rather than just converted.
Conviction will be released for Windows too (according to wikipedia anyway), so i'll still be able to play it. It looks amazing, so i'm glad i have a (somewhat) decent gaming rig.
"Well that's purely a business decision. That's it… Ubisoft as a company now has a lot of experience with PS3. Our processes, tools, techniques are very well-developed – we could absolutely execute on the PS3 if we had the opportunity, but like I said it was a business decision."
::TRANSLATION::
"Well that's purely a exclusivity contract with Microsoft. That's it… Ubisoft as a company now knows how to make a good PS3 game, honest! Our processes, tools, techniques are very well-developed. We have mad skillz on PS3 and if we didn't have an exclusivity clause we'd show you. But like I said it was a truck load of cash delivered in the wee small hours with a Microsoft Logo on the bags of cash."
You'd make a great translator.
=)
Selling a good game in less install base by going exclusive is DEFINITELY a business decision.
Obviously Xbox would have little to brag about if they don't have any exclusive this and next year.
"A business decision" they say. Hey Ben, didn't you write an article before that the devs said SCC AI performs a lot better on the 360 than on the PS3. I guess Killzone 2, Uncharted 2 and MGS4 slapped some sense into them, huh?
The question is, was the guaranteed cash from MS more than the potential sales on PS3 would have raked in?
I'm sure taking into account the time and money that would of been spent bringing it to PS3 makes it pretty close. Close enough for them to take the easy way out.
They probably looked at it as some who play and win the lottery. Do I take the smaller lump sum now or do I wait yearly for it to roll in?
I wasn't a big fan of the originals but I know some people were so I feel sorry for the people that are missing out.
Just another xbox exclusive I'll be getting for PC.
Agreed
Since everone here is saying that microsoft paid them but it could just be because they want it to be on xbox only.
I can't imagine them choosing to only make it for the 360 this far into the console's lifetime without a generous nudge.
"business decision" means money is involved.
I might have my facts wrong but doesn't isnomniac games make games exclusive for Sony? I didn't know that Sony paid them for exclusives. And isn't naughty dog the same way? I could be wrong but it's not the craziest thing ever.
They get incentives, it's common knowledge.
Who has incentives? insomniac and naughty dog or Ubisoft?
All three of them. Ubisoft is clearly getting money for developing SC exclusively for the 360 and the other two get 1st party like status support for developing for Sony. I'm sure there is money involved with all three. It's business, makes sense.
Sony has a strict policy to NOT pay for games. I'm sure Insomniac and ND get perks though, like early SDKs, a seat at meetings with sony's first party devs, shared codebases (we all know how insomniac likes to share code), etc. I dont know what im talking about ,but it seems likely.
Insomniac said several times that they can make games for the 360 whenever they feel like it, but they enjoy working with sony and have a good relationship.
Sony devs seem to think with their head, not their wallet.
This is a huge mistake for Ubisoft. Splinter Cell is nowhere near as popular as they might hope it still is. Watch for this game to fail in the sales numbers followed by a "we planned to bring it to PS3 all along" comment late 2010.
I doubt it will fail because of one main reason, and that is the huge amount of positive press the game has been getting since E3. That combined with Microsoft paying them for it to be exclusive way back before it was first announced (there is no doubt they did) and they should make plenty of money off of the game.
With six games in the series, four novels with two more releasing this year, and a movie in the works, though stalled since the sale of Dreamworks. To say it's not popular is a mistake. I prefer MGS, for the story and characters mainly, but Splinter Cell is a great alternative as was Syphon Filter back in the day.
@alienange – I was kinda thinking the same thing. For the most part, all I see in the cheapy bins are Splinter Cell games. But time will tell if the 360 users whose console isn't in the repair shop, have a decent exclusive to play.