Limbo Developer Snubbed Sony Over IP Rights
Popular indie title could have hit PSN first.
Limbo became a rather popular indie hit on Xbox Live Arcade. But it could have started life on the PlayStation Network - an environment that some have said is more open to such creative interactive concepts. So why didn't it? Sony admitted that it was due to its insistence on having exclusive rights to the IP.
Sony Computer Entertainment executive producer Pete Smith told an audience at the Develop Conference that the Danish studio behind Limbo, Playdead, was in talks with the platform holder about releasing the game exclusively on PSN. Those talks fell apart when Sony insisted that it kept the IP rights.
"I maybe shouldn't say this, but we had issues when we were trying to sign Limbo because of the IP," Smith said. Of course, the result of those issues was a move to Xbox Live Marketplace in 2010. The PC and PSN versions arrived a year later, but the snub meant Sony missed out on a key chance to benefit from a game that sold one million copies by the end of 2011.
Speaking of the logic behind Sony's IP deadlock, Smith explained, "There are obvious benefits to keeping [the IP], but also to giving it up: you're way more likely to get the deal. Remember: 100 per cent of nothing is nothing. A publisher is much more likely to commit to marketing and merchandising if they own the IP.
"Sometimes all we want is protection so [devs] don't make a game, finish it then go to one of our rivals. We look at IP on a case by case basis. With a bit of common sense, you can find common ground."
Via EDGE
Sony Computer Entertainment executive producer Pete Smith told an audience at the Develop Conference that the Danish studio behind Limbo, Playdead, was in talks with the platform holder about releasing the game exclusively on PSN. Those talks fell apart when Sony insisted that it kept the IP rights.
"I maybe shouldn't say this, but we had issues when we were trying to sign Limbo because of the IP," Smith said. Of course, the result of those issues was a move to Xbox Live Marketplace in 2010. The PC and PSN versions arrived a year later, but the snub meant Sony missed out on a key chance to benefit from a game that sold one million copies by the end of 2011.
Speaking of the logic behind Sony's IP deadlock, Smith explained, "There are obvious benefits to keeping [the IP], but also to giving it up: you're way more likely to get the deal. Remember: 100 per cent of nothing is nothing. A publisher is much more likely to commit to marketing and merchandising if they own the IP.
"Sometimes all we want is protection so [devs] don't make a game, finish it then go to one of our rivals. We look at IP on a case by case basis. With a bit of common sense, you can find common ground."
Via EDGE
Companies:
Sony
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