Injustice proves it isn't set in stone

Today came some ground breaking news. The news that Injustice is expanding it's horizons to other platforms and is even gracing itself on PS4 the very first day. It is also on Vita. Wii U is glaringly missing but much of the content already exists to Wii U owners who have, or are getting the game. What is more suspicious though is that the game is missing in action on the 360's successor the Xbox One. Why is this?

There is only one reason that pops in my mind. Sales. When one believes things will end differently they tend to get laughed down the road. Sadly a lot of people believe history repeats itself. Except in an industry like this (especially in the console market) history has proven all too often things can go in any direction. I was one of those people. Research my blog history and you'll see I constantly fought the Wii U's corner. More importantly, I thought that this would be the point where Sony reclaim their former PS1/PS2 glory.

It just goes to show how much Microsoft have influenced the media. Whereas people laughed 360 off as an afterthought once Sony's console came out, Xbox One is now set to be part of the reason Wii U is now doomed to become an afterthought.

Everybody has said that Wii U will be abandoned by developers once the new systems come out and can run these engines. Except it seems despite the fact 360 got a lot of multiplats, its successor is missing one. And honestly I see this becoming a trend. One of the parts I focused on was Japanese support for XBO. Xbox clearly struggles in Japan. My point was that Nintendo have greater relevance there so Japanese companies will eventually see Wii U as a nice home for stuff like JRPGs. Despite the generalizations made by companies like EA Japanese companies have found fairly decent success on Nintendo. As I said before, go back to the GC era and you will see Gamecube was seeing a lot more Japanese releases then Xbox was. And that is why I thought (and still think) Wii U will have a better time of it then Wii did. As Nintendo rise it several companies there will no doubt see goods they don't see on Xbox.

But if Warner Bros is anything to go by it may not only be Japanese companies that Microsoft loses next generation. Warner Bros had mentioned in interviews they weren't sure about Xbox One. In fact Take 2 shared similar concerns about Microsoft's plan to block used games at the time. Indeed Agent is rumored for PS4 now. Yet where once everybody assumed Xbox was a shoe-in for a port, Agent could very well be another that will skip the Xbox One. This is pretty funny considering many proclaimed Wii U was the only one that could lose third party support.

It also proves that support has nothing to do with power. It has been claimed by many that people won't buy a Wii U on the basis that everybody has no idea if it will get the next Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty or Battlefield. But could people buying an Xbox One expecting support be jumping the gun?

It doesn't remotely surprise me that Injustice isn't on Xbox One and it won't surprise me if this happens far more often. Every multiplat has more pre-orders on PS4. Its considerably more expensive to port a game to XBO then it is to current generation consoles or even Vita and Wii U. When the exclusives are having less pre-orders then single PS4 games how well do you expect a multiplat to do? What people tend to ignore is a lot of Microsoft's success in the console market this gen came from was mistakes Sony made with PS3. Xbox bigwigs like J Allard and Robbie Bach admitted that 360 only gained the footing it did because of the goofs Sony made.

http://www.computerandvideo...

Its a term referred to on forums as the third console curse. It has haunted every big manufacturer in the console market and now it looks set to haunt Microsoft. The third console curse is caused by the manufacturer believing that the many fans they have will buy into anything they do. In Microsoft's case not only are they asking virtually the same price Sony were with PS3 (I am in the UK so am basing this on that pricing model) they also requested you give up your rights to used games. A price which clearly backfired. Some have moved on to forgive Microsoft now but how many remains to be seen. I would wager they have lost. How many people do you know in real life that have said "its too late" or "PS4 is still cheaper" when they backpedaled and removed the feature? I don't know a single one that decided to reconsider XBO. As far as everyone is concerned, it is too late.

Titan Fall is obviously timed and if games really fail to live up to the expectations EA has for it it may very well get delayed and put on PS4 and PS3 day and date with the others.

It remains to be seen how Wii U will fair but certainly the charts show that despite the nay saying, things are finally looking up for Nintendo's new system. Wind Waker has done it's job. The problem Microsoft have is different to Nintendo. The majority who play games like Call of Duty buy either PS3 or 360. Very few own both. Aiming for the exact same person is where Microsoft's problems are worse then Nintendo's. Pretty much everywhere PS4 is getting the mass of pre-orders. Every multiplat seems set to outsell the XBO version and even all the exclusives combined can't seem to get more pre-orders than one single PS4 exclusive.

I don't believe Injustice is Sony having a contract. I think its the same reason Revelations isn't on the Vita. The company doesn't believe the risk is worth it. And if this proves correct and others follow suit, Microsoft will be forced to money hat or risk losing their market share. If you are buying Xbox One under the assumption that it will get the same support 360 did it looks like you are going to be as disappointed as Wii U or Vita owners currently are.

[Software_Lover]

It's one game.

Agent was always a playstation exclusive. Microsoft lost nothing in that regard.

Lastly, I wouldn't call this groundbreaking. If EA/Activision came out and said Call of Duty or Battlefield were not coming to either the XBone or PS4, I would call that groundbreaking.

[colonel179]

Publishers want money. Just look at what they all have said about the Wii U. They don't want to support it until it sells better, which you get in a loop, since you need games to sell a system, but they don't want to make games until it sells, so it's an infinite loop right there until someone actually risks something.

Anyway, PS4 is looking to have much more momentum than Xbox One at the moment, everything could change at release, although unlikely. Also, Microsoft can turn everything around like Sony has been doing with the PS3, but the fact remains that publishers will be always interested in the money they get, and if they don't see the Xbox One selling well, they won't be making games for it, just like they are skipping the Wii U. However, Xbox One has a big advantage over Wii U, and that is Microsoft's money. Microsoft won't let the Xbox get in the position of the Wii U, which will make them pay any amount of money so that games don't become exclusive, or even timed-exclusives to PS4.

But something that it's a reality is that games such as Titanfall, will become multiplatform games sooner than later. Big publishers won't ignore for a second the hype and "success" (is not out yet) the PS4 is having. Titanfall is only on Xbox consoles because Microsoft spent money, nothing else, and developers won't be stupid. Even Sunset Overdrive will be on PS4 at some point. There is no way that Insomniac will ignore the PS4 either if it sells better than the Xbox One.

Nevertheless, all this is speculation until the consoles are out and we start to see sales for both systems. Also, even if the PS4 is successful, it will never have 100% support like the PS2 had at that time. Those times are long dead, but it could happen that the tables are turned and that PS4 becomes the new 360 in mainstream success and third party support (better multiplatform games, timed exclusives, excusive DLCs, etc)

[rdgneoz3]

The same reason Titanfall is on xbone, is the same reason Agent will be on a PS. Both companies invested a good deal of money into making the game. They might come out later on the competition (think ME or NG sigma), but at launch and for a while after they'll be exclusive.

[ZHZ90]

MS didn't pay anything for Titanfall, that's why it does have the chance to be on PS4 as for Sunset Overdrive and others like DR3 impossibe because MS is publishing them.

[Christopher]

Fighting games tend to sell better on Sony consoles.

Not really "out there".

[Fireseed]

So what I'm getting from this blog is that you see something like Injustice not announced for Xbox One... make an assumption as to why that is... and then completely base the remainder of your blog on that assumption being true. And then you get towards the bottom with your comment on TitanFall and make an assumption, based on the first assumption you made.

You also pull completely untrue comments out of thin air to help further prove this assumption of yours. I mean "Its considerably more expensive to port a game to XBO then it is to current generation consoles." This isn't even remotely true. With the PS4 and X1 both being x86 architectures now they are actually cheaper and easier to port to. We can speculate all we want as to why Boon told a 360 owner who asked if he should trade in his copy for an X1 copy to not sell his 360 copy. But until then it's just that; speculation. But writing an entire blog that attempts to prove your speculation as true is a case of tin foil hatting it.

[pixelsword]

who is that dude on the far left of that picture with the goggles on his forehead?

[fsfsxii]

Zod.

[pixelsword]

Ah, yes; thanks.

[black0o]

time will tell .. and if ps4 got a bigger way bigger market share 1st year it's gonna be as u said other wise Naah

[e-p-ayeaH]

Last of Us needs a PS4 version.

[Hufandpuf]

So one game determines the popularity of a console? How about the fact that Injustice may have had more sales on the ps3 in general spanning back to mortal kombat when it was only on PS2 and sold a lot more copies of MK9 on PS3.

Maybe, just maybe it's not because MS is doomed, but because Netherrealm games tend to sell more on Playstation. Thought about that?

[Software_Lover]

***Hearing the news of Injustice Ultimate Edition, some fans tweeted to Ed Boon about the news. Despite Injustice Ultimate being a PS4 launch title, Ed Boon stated that the Xbox One is not ruled out after all***

[memots]

TEH DOOMZ !!!

Here we go, Sony had its fair share not its getting flipped back?

[KwietStorm_BLM]

huh?

[memots]

Doomz article. If you were here in 2007 you would know what i am talking about lol

[mixelon]

X1 support would make more sense later. You don't want your rereleased fighting game available on the same day as another NEW fighting game, even if its F2P. Killer Instinct will get the day one fighter action (and dlc money).. Wait until that's died down or been critically panned or whatever - THEN you announce the X1 version?

By being there day1 on ps4 they're filling the next gen fighter niche left wide open by KI on the other side. Tekken or *something* really aught to be ready before the Japan PS4 launch though.