Why MS Won't Publish XBL Games from PSN

[Demon_Skeith]

Microsft has strict rules regarding games appearing on its Xbox LIVE platform. How strict? Games must ship on Xbox LIVE Arcade simultaneously with "competing" platforms or Microsft might refuse to allow them appearing at all on XBL.

The Windows giant also "demands" that publishers release games with at least the same content on-disc across platforms.

The policies listed above have been confirmed and defined by European Xbox boss Chris Lewis in a recent interview with Eurogamer.

Whilst I can't be specific about the terms and conditions, you can be very confident we seek to maximise our own advantage to ensure the playing field is even, and certainly plays to our advantage wherever possible.

As you can also imagine, our partners have to be mindful of the relationship they have with all platform holders, and they need to be equitable. But there are contractual situations where we get agreement with different people to do different things, and through what we have available on Xbox Live, we are able to offer things other people can't offer, that allows that exclusivity and unique elements to it that might not otherwise be available elsewhere.

Microsoft's Content Submission and Release Policy details its third-party guidelines and it says that titles for the Xbox 360 must "ship at least simultaneously with other video game platform," and must also have feature and content parity on-disc with other platform versions in all regions where the game is available.

This also applies to XBL games and other online content, as it states that online content "must simultaneously release on Xbox Live Marketplace in all regions where the game is available." For demos on XBL it says the demo "must ship within the same week of its launch on other video game platforms or via magazines."

While Lewis didn't rule out the possibility of publishing games that appeared on PSN first, he wasn't too keen on the idea either.

I'd be surprised if we saw that as something we'd encourage.

Despite the fact it can be irksome to have such strong competition all the time, it actually does keep us on our toes. It's great for everyone, and it makes for a very healthy race to higher and higher levels of quality of game experiences.

source

 

[Mufasa]

Interesting, thanks for that.

 

[KiLLMasTer]

sounds about right....