Currently playing:
inFamous (PS3), Hakuna Matata (PS3)
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Well it's official: Metal Gear Solid is coming to Bill's Big Green Machine. While I'm sure it is not what many gamers were hoping for (MGS4 for the 360), it is still a promising and major announcement. Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima unveiled his latest project as "Metal Gear Solid: Rising," and while he didn't say it was an exclusive for the Xbox (possibly implying it will be a multiplatform title) it is still a major blow to Sony. Here's why.
Metal Gear Solid have been to Sony what the Legend of Zelda and Metroid series have been to Nintendo. They've been there for Sony since the beginning. They helped catapult the first Playstation to the level of success that it and its successors have today. Imagine if Microsoft announced the next Zelda or Metroid game would be coming to the 360. That's what we're talking about here.
(Note: Just to clarify, I'm very much aware of the fact that both of those games are first party games for Nintendo and that, as such, Nintendo would never, EVER, license them to a rival. That being said, the impact those franchises have had for Nintendo is comparable to the impact Sony has had from the Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy franchises.)
It's very understandable that Konami would make this move. Sony has remained incredibly bullish about keeping the PS3 at its current price point of 399.99 USD, and the only way that a developer can put pressure on a company like Sony is to do exactly what Kojima and Co. have done: take the business elsewhere. The Playstation 3 has approximately 25% less hardware on the market as Microsoft does, and it makes financial sense for Konami to take its biggest franchise to the platform that has the most consumers, yet also possesses the technology to remain true to their vision. Microsoft and the 360 fit both criteria.
In addition, exclusive franchises are what tend to drive hardware sales in this industry. Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid are as big as they come. These two each have as rabid a fan base as you could hope for, and any fan that hadn't bought a PS3 up to now would, in all likelihood, strongly consider going that route if the next installments of each were announced exclusively for the PS3. Now that isn't the case, and hardware sales for the PS3 will very likely suffer for it, especially as long as Sony holds out on a price cut for its big black behemoth.
At E3 2008, when Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XIII would arrive on the Xbox 360. Now, a year later, Microsoft has scored what could possibly be considered a major coup against Sony. In a span of twelve months, Sony lost exclusivity rights to the next installments of its two biggest franchises, and there's no reason to think it would go back to the way it was before.
Where do they (Sony) go from here? Basically, they had better have the absolute best showing of any developer as well as the Big Three this week. Personally, I don't think that an announcement of a PS3 Slim or a major price cut (read: $100) for the PS3 overall will do it.
Sony had better have the Ace of all aces up their collective sleeve. If not, I cannot help but wonder if this will mark the beginning of the end of Sony's reign atop the gaming mountain.
15 years ago
Today at E3 was absolutely huge. Not long after MGS4 came out there was a picture on Konami's site that showed the exclaimation point and a image that looked like a 360 power button. This started rumors that it was going to the 360, which if I remember correctly, Konami denied. Guess they wanted that to be their home run for E3 this year. This is definitely one of the biggest hits that Sony could have possibly taken. MGS is a part of its core, as is Final Fantasy. The lost of exclusivity on both could be potentially crippling. They'll need a powerful showing tomorrow if they want to counter this. I'll address other points on E3 today on my own blog.
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