Developers Reaction to PS3 price?

[TheChefO]

Hello all - I've been a follower of the events on this forum for over a year now so I've got a pretty good idea of the mix of characters here and thought I should pose this question to the masses.

What do you all think the reaction to the ps3 price point will be?

Will they simply wish for the best and assume Sony will sell on the same projected path that they did for ps1/2, or will they assume the uptake will be slower and adjust their development plans accordingly?

Perhaps switch their "exclusives" to multi-plat?

Given the general consesus that Sony will sell out the first 6mo at the given price targets and will profit greatly from this, how will 3rd parties respond if game sales attach rate is poor if Sony does indeed market heavy outside the traditional games croud?

Thoughts?

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3030&Itemid=35

 

[Titanio]

There've only been a few comments on this really, but of those that have, they don't really seem specifically perturbed by it.

I'm sure Sony has discussed their strategy with partners, and judging by the support that exists there, I'd say most seem satisfied for now and it's business as usual. Sony probably informed some of their partners in advance even, or gave ranges, so it probably was not surprising news to many of them. A problem will only exist if they fail to create a market, but I don't think that's very likely.

 

[TheChefO]

Do you think it was a coincidence that dev support for Wii seemed to solidify around e3? Perhaps after being informed of the intended ps3 price point?

 

[Gholbine]

Do you think it was a coincidence that dev support for Wii seemed to solidify around e3? Perhaps after being informed of the intended ps3 price point?

... or perhaps they were just waiting until E3 to announce their support for the Wii?

 

[TheChefO]

also given that the market in the forst 6mo being ~6mil but out of that with Sony's intention to market outside traditional Gamers how many are buying it for purposes other than gaming which would not be potential customers for games developers?

 

[TheChefO]

gholbine - I have no doubt that Nintendo will have support just as they always have and that e3 is a good time to announce such, I'm just wondering if there isn't a bit of fallout from Sony's internal intentions with ps3 with those traditional partners.

 

[Urian]

1. Wii is going to have support if Nintendo pushes the sales of the console beyond the GCN sales and at the same level of N64 minimum.

2. If I am not wrong until today the support of PS3 is the same than PS2 until today.

3. Sony wants to be the Intel of electronic consuming. I see Cell everywhere in Sony products. (Cell with PPE+1 SPE in Cell phones perhaps?).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

gholbine - I have no doubt that Nintendo will have support just as they always have and that e3 is a good time to announce such, I'm just wondering if there isn't a bit of fallout from Sony's internal intentions with ps3 with those traditional partners.

Have any devs said 'we're ditching PS3 for Wii'? What you saw at E3 was what's been going on at software houses for the past year or more. They already have plans, already have games in development. Any repercussions over PS3 pricing will be in the form of announced titles being cancelled, or a sudden drought after the inital launch where all the games part way through development have been finished and the devs decided not to produce any more. You won't be seeing changes to software or dev support this early on. Anyone who says 'oh, Wii looks good, we might produce something for it' is likely talking about Wii from not knowing about it earlier and it being good, not about jumping ship and turning their backs on PS3

 

[TheChefO]

1. Wii is going to have support if Nintendo pushes the sales of the console beyond the GCN sales and at the same level of N64 minimum.

2. If I am not wrong until today the support of PS3 is the same than PS2 until today.

3. Sony wants to be the Intel of electronic consuming. I see Cell everywhere in Sony products. (Cell with PPE+1 SPE in Cell phones perhaps?).

1 yes but this is an after the fact kind of thing - obviously if they have a huge install base people will dev for them - im saying is there a connection with what seems to be greater support (for Wii AT THIS POINT than was there for gamecube 6mo from launch) and ps3 price

2 true it does but what I'm saying is are games that were once considered "no brainer sony exlusive" turning multi plat in the face of Sony's new direction for ps3

3 I can see their intentions and they may do it if positioned correctly

 

[TheChefO]

Have any devs said 'we're ditching PS3 for Wii'? What you saw at E3 was what's been going on at software houses for the past year or more. They already have plans, already have games in development. Any repercussions over PS3 pricing will be in the form of announced titles being cancelled, or a sudden drought after the inital launch where all the games part way through development have been finished and the devs decided not to produce any more. You won't be seeing changes to software or dev support this early on. Anyone who says 'oh, Wii looks good, we might produce something for it' is likely talking about Wii from not knowing about it earlier and it being good, not about jumping ship and turning their backs on PS3

I'm not suggesting anything as extreme as abandoning titles - simply choosing to hedge their bets so to speak. Before last e3 it was generally considered that ps3 would be the undisputed leader this gen.

Yes everything at e3 that was shown obviously has been planned well in advance I'm not questioning that - merely announced future development intentions. I have no doubt everyone who has a game in development RIGHT NOW for ps3 will stick to it and will release it on its intended platform. I'm saying what may be happening at this point is developers making provisions to have these titles ported to the 360 and potentially Wii JUST IN CASE. Do you think this is improbable?

 

[Titanio]

Do you think it was a coincidence that dev support for Wii seemed to solidify around e3? Perhaps after being informed of the intended ps3 price point?

That was a long time coming. And it's still nowhere near PS3's, if you're making the comparison.

As for the PS3 market, it will almost be wholly a gamer's machine in that I doubt very many will purchase it without the intention of using it as a games machine

 

[nelg]

I would think that the best reaction that MS and Nintendo could hope for is Sony losing some exclusives.

 

[Nesh]

2 true it does but what I'm saying is are games that were once considered "no brainer sony exlusive" turning multi plat in the face of Sony's new direction for ps3

Like?

 

[TheChefO]

That was a long time coming. And it's still nowhere near PS3's, if you're making the comparison.

As for the PS3 market, it will almost be wholly a gamer's machine in that I doubt very many will purchase it without the intention of using it as a games machine

I'm not saying Wii will have anywhere near ps3's development support - just that they along with 360 have perhaps gained more than they would have if ps3 were at a similar pricepoint to ps2 at launch... to what end I don't know. What do you think?

 

[TheChefO]

Like?

I'm not saying "here are facts heres x number games leaving the Sony Ship" merely questioning if the pricepoint is having an effect on developer support.

 

[TheChefO]

I would think that the best reaction that MS and Nintendo could hope for is Sony losing some exclusives.

I hardly think that's best case scenario - perhaps likely but not best.

ok - I'll give a dooms day example:

fall 2007 - Sony has shipped 6 million ps3's - there were supply issues with x component, consumer uptake was surprisingly low after the holiday period. at this point Sony market the machine as a psuedo pc replacement - hd-dvd is outselling bluray players/media 4 -1. ms shipped 25 million and Wii shipped 15 million (manufacturing was simple based on simpler components) mgs4 is about to be shipped.

What will Konami do with the game? will they leave it as and start on mgs5 (or whatever direction the game will head in) for the ps3 or will they decide with this market that it will be multi.

Something catastrophic would have to happen for them to abandon Sony outright and obviously this is doomsday but what would these numbers have to look like before developers are faced with this/these decisions?

 

[expletive]

I dont think we can expect developers who rely on Sony, MS, Nintendo for their paychecks to come out publicly against these companies. (except that guy from Ubisoft of course)

I doubt any developers want to get on the bad side of the current market leader. A flurry of negative comments from developers would ceertainly mean something, but i dont the lack of negtivity can be taken as support or even indifference.

Also, the development partners probably have some transparency into a longer term pricing strategy whereas we do not, and i'm sure thats what they really care about. The first 6 million PS3 will sell regardless, so the 12-18 month out pricing is really key when making platform decisions.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I'm not saying Wii will have anywhere near ps3's development support - just that they along with 360 have perhaps gained more than they would have if ps3 were at a similar pricepoint to ps2 at launch... to what end I don't know. What do you think?

Well if there's no evidence for it, there's surely no reason to think it. If there's a few devs who have commented, or a few games that were PS exclusives that are appearing on other systems, then there's reason to question. Until then it's things as normal. Any opinions on devs migrating to an alternative platform is random guesswork otherwise, founded with the certainty of an Inquirer article.

 

[TheChefO]

Well if there's no evidence for it, there's surely no reason to think it. If there's a few devs who have commented, or a few games that were PS exclusives that are appearing on other systems, then there's reason to question. Until then it's things as normal. Any opinions on devs migrating to an alternative platform is random guesswork otherwise, founded with the certainty of an Inquirer article.

I would agree if everything were "things as normal" however they are not. successful hardware launches into the games industry have always been met with comparitivepricing to your direct competitors. Others have attempted to take gaming into the high end (3do, Pioneer laserdisc) but have failed. True it has never been the market leader of the past 2 generations but this has never been attempted before and I would certainly not call it business as usual. There are many unanswered questions regarding ps3 installed base 1 -3 years out AND HOW THAT COMPARES TO THE COMPETITION.

 

[Nesh]

I'm not saying "here are facts heres x number games leaving the Sony Ship" merely questioning if the pricepoint is having an effect on developer support.

Almost not at all