Sony had to react to Microsoft’s shocking coup eventually, and Tretton has stepped up to voice his disappointment over Final Fantasy XIII being stripped of exclusivity status. Claiming that Microsoft “curried favor” with Square-Enix, the Sony boss talked moneyhats and the future of exclusive games.
“I guess disappointed is clearly an appropriate term,” stated Tretton during a Q&A session. “I think Microsoft has spent the majority of their money on trying to curry favor with third parties … I think software companies look and say ‘there’s no check big enough for us to do exclusive development’ … I think it’s going to be harder and harder to have third-party exclusives as we move forward.” You think an awful lot, Jack.
Final Fantasy XIII was arguably the biggest feather in Sony’s cap going into E3, and was clearly something that the company hadn’t looked to counter with its own press conference the day after the revelation. Sony’s long term solution is to concentrate on first party games, and Tretton states that internal development is undertaken by half of Sony’s worldwide employee base.
At this rate, Sony is clearly entrenching itself and digging in for the long haul. For the fast-paced games industry, however, this has led to a fairly dismal showing from the PlayStation camp. Will things change in a few years? If Sony’s plan is indeed to quietly work internally and unleash a slew of its own games at a later date, then maybe the tortoise will indeed win the race. Until that hypothetical day, The ‘Soft is clearly going to be smug for quite a while.
