Speaking exclusively to MCV, Sony’s Head of Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison has said that the choice developers face when deciding what hardware formats to support is harder now than it ever has been.
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,” he stated. 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.”
To read MCV’s full interview with Phil Harrison, including his thoughts on PS3’s first party support, Sony’s hardware pricing strategy and the European roll-out of PS3 Home, click here.