None
Hardcore gamers may have noticed that several games that were originally due only for the PlayStation 3 have now been announced for other systems. The primary examples of this phenomenon are Assassin’s Creed and GTA IV.
Newsweek has presented a new take on this mystery, stating that a slow response on Sony’s part lost them their exclusivity on these lucrative titles.
“We’ve learned that Take-Two and Rockstar Games were interested in continuing their longtime relationship with Sony, in which they premiered their Grand Theft Auto games on PlayStation platforms exclusively for 6-12 months before bringing them to other systems,” N’Gai Croal, correspondent for his blog Level Up, stated. “Also, Ubisoft was interested in making Assassin’s Creed, due in stores next spring, exclusive to the PS3.”
Yet, Sony delayed on finalizing these deals and eventually lost them. “For the greater part of this year, PlayStation chief Ken Kutaragi hadn’t finalized the business terms for independent publishers on the PS3,” wrote Croal. “But PlayStation’s Japanese headquarters was effectively radio silent, and without Kutaragi’s signoff, the normally independent American and European branches had no authority to reach agreements on the exclusives they believed could be valuable to the PS3 cause.”
Newsweek reported that Microsoft contacted both Take-Two and Ubisoft and offered them generous terms to bring the games to the Xbox 360. Sony hasn’t responded to the article at this time.