Rock stars aren’t known for being monogamous, but until recently Rockstar Games appeared betrothed to Sony. The mutually beneficial marriage between the Grand Theft Auto series and the Playstation 2 had both companies bathing in dollar bills.
But when it came time to announce GTA IV, Rockstar decided an open relationship would be for the best. In fact, just last week a R* spokesperson told Gameradar that thanks to the additional downloadable Xbox 360-only “episodes,” (which Bill Gates bought for a cool $50 million, “I guess if you want the complete experience with the episodes, then yeah, you should buy the 360, I suppose.”
In a three-console race, exclusives games have become increasingly vital for hardware manufacturers—not so much for the game-makers. The PS2 was so dominant it was easy to give ‘em dibs, but with the PS3 still flailing, Sony’s having a harder time pleading their case.
Sure, they’ve got buzzy first-party titles like the innovative LittleBigPlanet, Jak and Daxter Future and, at some point, God of War III, plus Square-Enix’s highly-anticipated Final Fantasy XIII and Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4. But most third-party developers would rather sell to the most gamers possible by going multi-platform.
When the big blockbusters drop this fall, only 360 owners can pick up both Halo 3 and GTA IV. Plus, Microsoft can claim potential third-party hits like Reality Pump’s Two Worlds, Bioware’s Mass Effect, and 2K’s BioShock.
Nintendo, of course, is as much about software as hardware and the Wii is a success because of its first-party exclusives like Wii Sports, Zelda and the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid. But they've has some cool third-party exclusives like Konami's Elebits and expect new editions of Atlus’ Trauma Center and Ubisoft’s Rayman Raving Rabbids.
According to the number-crunchers at Gaming Target, post-E3 the 360 has 96 first-and-third party exclusives (split evenly between released and announced) and the Wii has surged ahead with 113 exclusives (90 of which have yet to come out, though many admittedly look pretty ass) while the PS3 has only 47 (with 8 already on shelves).
Wait, make that 48 because Rockstar has given Sony another private dance.
On the official Sony blog Michael Shorrock, director of 3rd party relations, has announced they’ll be the sole home to Rockstar’s “next great franchise.”
There’s no details, except that it’s not the gumshoe game L.A. Noire and that “Rockstar really wanted to make a game that you can truly only do on PS3, harnessing the power of CELL and Blu-ray disc and this deal lets them do just that.. This is really a win-win situation for both companies.”
Except mostly, it’s a very much-needed win for Sony.