Sony: Developers Face Tough Platform Choice

Easy multi-platform ports of games are a thing of the past, according to Sony's head of worldwide studios, Phil Harrison.

Speaking in an interview with MCV, Harrison said “Development and support for a format is very important yes, and the story is very different these days to how it was with older formats. In the past you could pay a million dollars for a PS2 game and get a $50,000 Xbox port thrown in. Those days are gone. Developers have to pick their formats much more carefully.

“This is partly because of the huge cost of development. But it’s not just a financial consideration. It’s about strategic marketing and the online consumer. It’s about how a game fits its format.”

Harrison's words have a faintly ominous ring when taken in context with some other comments he's made about platform exclusives. Earlier in the month Harrison was boasting that Sony has the largest “platform-dedicated development resource” out of the platform holders. Is that because he doesn't expect third parties to see the PS3 as the most viable platform for their games? Answers in the Forum, please.

However, the current trend towards making platform agnostic titles that once would have been platform exclusives seems to cast doubt on the accuracy of Harrison's statement. GTA IV, anyone?

^{Source: MCV}