Sony has responded to a recent report revealing the lengths Microsoft goes to in ensuring its platform gets first dibs or at least has the same amount of content as competing platforms, and it wasn't too kind in doing so.
Last week, European Xbox boss Chris Lewis spoke with Eurogamer about a number of policies Microsoft has regarding third-party content. Microsoft's Content Submission and Release Policy, which Eurogamer got its hands on, requires a number of things, such as a demand that publishers release multiplatform games on Xbox 360 at the same time as on other platforms. The 360 version must also have at least as much content on the disc as on other platforms. And if they don't comply?
"If these conditions are not met, Microsoft reserves the right to not allow the content to be released on Xbox 360," the document notes.
The same goes for Xbox Live Arcade games; demos meanwhile "must ship within the same week of its launch on other video game platforms or via magazines."
Lewis wouldn't address specifics, but did say, "We're a little biased, so obviously we're going to look to protect our own space as best we can and get exclusivity," he said.
"As you can also imagine, our partners have to be mindful of the relationship they have with all platform holders, and they need to be equitable," he explained. "But there are contractual situations where we get agreement with different people to do different things, and through what we have available on Xbox Live, we are able to offer things other people can't offer, that allows that exclusivity and unique elements to it that might not otherwise be available elsewhere."
While it's not unheard of for the tables to be turned -- the finished Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV is known to have been held up by the unfinished PlayStation 3 version due to contractual obligations -- you don't typically run into issues with games first published on Xbox Live Arcade later coming to the PlayStation Network. On the other hand, PSN games later coming to XBLA isn't exactly something you see every day.
Speaking with Eurogamer, an anonymous publisher's representative said of Microsoft's policies: "Microsoft is suggesting that anything but parity will result in them not carrying a title. They may think this is competitive, but it's not. They are killing any creative exposure of titles to make up for their own platform's shortcomings."
Sony Computer Entertainment America's senior VP of publisher relations, Rob Dyer, has now addressed the report, going so far as to tell IndustryGamers "publishers are getting the living crap kicked out of them by Microsoft."
"I think what Chris and the other representatives at Microsoft are doing is protecting an inferior technology," he said. "I think they want to dumb it down and keep it as pedestrian as possible so that if you want to do anything for Blu-ray or you have extra content above 9 gigs or you want to do anything of that nature, you'd better sure as heck remember that Microsoft can't handle that."
"And that's a huge problem with them. It first started on the smaller pubs, and we can talk about what's happened on XBL and the policy they have there that requires publishers to have a whole litany of things in order to get onto their network or they have to go through and be published by Xbox, by Microsoft, which essentially lets them dictate how long they'll be exclusive and whether or not they own the IP, etc, etc. They -- for instance, if you want to be able to do something on XBL, you need to have an office, there's all kinds of restrictions.
"We don't do that. We don't have any kind of policy like that. We're not pushing that. In fact, we've gone the other way to try and encourage publishers through our Pub Fund... We want to welcome the indies and we've seen that become a very big part of our business because indies are recognizing that we aren't demanding a pound of flesh in order for them to get a game published on our network."
He went on to say the problem has expanded to affect even larger publishers; it's not as if it's only the independent developers out there who are being impacted. He highlighted the clause about content parity, noting the trouble it could mean for third parties.
"So potentially any time we've gone out and negotiated exclusive content of things that we've announced at things like DPS or E3, publishers are getting the living crap kicked out of them by Microsoft because they are doing something for the consumer that is better on our platform than it might be perceived on theirs," he said.
There are instances of PS3 games getting exclusives that haven't prevented them from coming to Xbox 360. Mortal Kombat on PS3 featured Kratos as a playable character; there was no such equivalent in the 360 version. The PS3 version of L.A. Noire came with an exclusive mission, albeit one that you had to download, which may have been a way to work around Microsoft's requirements. And Portal 2 features support for Steam, something that isn't seen on 360.
"I just wanted to make it clear from Chris Lewis' comment last week and the fact that he's saying, 'Well, this is great for consumers,' and that they're going to protect their consumers," he continued. "I think that that is an admirable stance to take. That being said, while they might be protecting their consumers, what are they protecting them from? And what it looks like they're protecting them from is the ability to see great content show up on a superior technology. And that, to me, is the problem we're having right now is these threats and these serious issues that Microsoft is throwing at publishers -- it's only going to dumb down what could potentially come out for a number of these games. And whether people are willing to stand up to Microsoft on this stuff or not is up to that publisher and they do it at their own risk."
Even before this news came out, Microsoft was frequently criticized by some for spending huge amounts of money on exclusive content -- Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Skyrim, or Fallout DLC, for instance -- and this isn't going to make them think any better of Microsoft.
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