Top 5 developer ‘betrayals’

When a game developer makes a few games for one platform and not another it will soon become associated with that platform, and should it subsequently turn its talents to multi-platform development, there will be fanboy-hell to pay. It’s like stabbing your brother in the heart with a big knife, only worse. Here are the five worst brother-stabbers of all time…

[NYC_Gamer]

these companies didnt betray anyone because their games will still be on everyones console of choice

[sikbeta]

*looking at the picture*

The lombax betrayed us?

OH, sure the "article" is talking about Betrayal because Insomniac made a Deal with EA for the Development of ONE Multiplat Game while they [IG] keep making Exclusives for Sony....

[StanLee]

It's a garbage article. I don't see how any of those can be considered "betrayals". I'm sure fanboys somewhere will eat it up though.

[Cevapi88]

am i the only one who caught the sarcasm behind this guy's arguments....if you read this...you weren't suppose to take this seriously

case in point......

"Clank is said to be staying at his sister’s place until the divorce has gone through, while an unshaven Ratchet was last seen staggering out of a bar and crying into a dustbin."

[BannedForNineYears]

Ratchet and Clank is still a Sony owned IP so......Fail.
Misleading title is misleading.

[Lombax]

Woah!! Easy there!

I'll never leave Sony. We still have a great relationship, and they understand my developers desire to own and have full controll over their own IP.

I wanted A Crack in Time to be Clock Blockers too, but Sony said no. Insomniac now has the ability to name their game however they please.

Freedom is a good thing for Insomniac!

[jack_burt0n]

@lombax

exclusive development > multiplat development

for the fans,

there is no way to spin that but hey the proof is in the pudding lets see how blur sells ;)

People seem to forget so quickly it was the fanbases that elevated Bungie and Insomniac.

[Commander TK]

SE, Scamco, Crapcom, Ubisoft r the real betrayers

[ShadowRyuX]

...some of you didn't read the article or your sarcasm detectors are broken...one of the two.

[badz149]

all these companies are 3rd parties to begin with. I can think of worst true betrayals than these:

1. Epic games for saying that there'll be no PC gears1 but later on released it!

2. SE for announcing FFXIII as PS3 exclusives since the get go just to announce it multiplat later on and then provided the media with the obviously doctored screenshots of the 360 and the 360 turned out to be 576p when the said both version will be similar!

3. Remedy for cancelling the PC version in favor of the 360 and the game loses the sandbox element that was promised!

4. CAPCOM for releasing DLCs that are already on discs and DLCs on release dates! DAMN SCAMCOM!

5. M$ for putting "only on XBOX 360" on games not even exclusives!

6. Sony? for removal of other OS? (non-gaming related though)

[Domer25]

Just business. I agree with your comment and not the "article" which is just flamesh!t.

[bakasora]

No $quareenix?
I rate $E the 1st rank

[jerethdagryphon]

ratchet didnt but got to the forums and thers some deffinte betrayals

mostly in the evolutionary path lombax took

ig 'betrayed' darwin with the nearly inconcievable gender diamorphisms
which have no realistic counterpart..

but did they betray sony no
none of those did

[Christopher]

Yeah... It's a betrayal when a developer looks to make games for an even larger audience... Damn them for making games for gamers!

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Agreed!

What betrayal? I guess you can call it betrayal against fanboys!!!

[Pillville]

Really, I can't believe these businesses want to make more money. I'm so personally hurt.

/s

[BRG9000]

Why does no one seem to notice how tongue-in-cheek this whole article is? He's defending the "betrayers" every step of the way, and making fun of the fanboys who make big fusses about these. On that note, I'm surprised Insomniac was on there but not SE for FF13... there was far more fanboy rioting about that one than any other on the list as far as I remember.

[Aquanox]

Obviously written by a PS fanboy. If these are to be considered as "Betrayals" (which aren't) why in the whole green world didn't this guy mention the most earth shattering of this generation?

Final Fantasy Also on Xbox 360.
Assassin's Creed once "PS3 only", shown for the first time being played on.... an Xbox 360.
Devil May Cry 5 "Only on Playstation 3"... made its way into Xbox 360.
Tekken... same story.
And don't forget Kojima Productions making future MGS multi.

Now those are probably the ones the fanboys could consider "bretrayals" because they were promised something - which they of course hyped to hell and back - and the story changed down the road.

However, this guy only focuses on events related to developers but not to big franchises themselves. Mass Effect stayed on Xbox 360, same Halo (of course) and same with Gears of War...

Pathethic article.

[P_Bomb]

He could have easily brought up a host of high profile exclusives that the 360 lost as well you know.

BioShock has a higher Meta' score than every game you listed. Former 360 exclusive & GOTY, later released on PS3 with exclusive DLC that's still exclusive.

Ninja Gaiden series as well.

They also lost console exclusivity on the Dead Rising, Just Cause, Far Cry and Saints Row series.

The Orange Box, Braid, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Lost Planet.

Kane & Lynch started off as an XBox exclusive too, a mirror to the Assassin's Creed situation you mentioned. Splinter Cell started off as "only on Xbox" as well, then got ported a year later & spent the rest of the decade multi platform.

GTA Lost and the Damned & Ballad of Gay Tony were pretty high profile and are now on PS3 as well, 75 million $$$ be damned.

Your Metal Gear/Kojima comment is pointless since Metal Gear has ALWAYS gone multi' every so many years. It debuted on the NES & the MSX. MGS was remade on the Gamecube. MGS2 was ported to the XBox.You can even play Metal Gear games on your phone. A Raiden spinoff going multi' is no big deal when you realise he's already BEEN on XBox.

[Aquanox]

Lol... none of the titles you've mentioned were flagships of the console. They were TIMED exclusive from the begining, only that devs weren't allowed to talk about it. We're talking about Earth iconic titles in the case of PS3, titles that were PS exclusives for years... Final Fantasy, Devil May Cry, Tekken, Metal Gear...

You can't compare them with DLC and Bioshock in terms of impact. Come on!

On the other hand, those titles were still Timed exclusives on Xbox 360 whereas the PS3 one, on top of being flaship titles, were released on Xbox 360 AT THE SAME TIME, which stole any kind of console push advantage Sony could have with them.

Now THAT is what had the fanboys whinning all around the net about.

[arakouftaian]

ok for imsomiac to create a new IP with their main studio an not exclusive to PS
and let working to a new small studio for their PS exclusive
all this after all the help and evolution of their studio
in PS .

i hope the new studio turn out better
but its hard, we will see

[Legosz]

Especially Bungie because they have made multiplatform games before and their contract ended a long long time ago.

[Imperator]

Insomniac and Bungie did not betray. In fact, the revealed their multiplat status BEFORE E3. The right there shows respect to their fans. Instead of dropping a bomb at E3, they revealed it beforehand.

[AAACE5]

Don't be fooled! This article is all about the Insomniac deal!

No one has really complained too much about the other developers.Knights of the old republic didn't go to Ps2 because it wasn't powerful enough. Id didn't understand Ps3's tech at first, so they are now on Ps3. MS was first to sign Gears, otherwise it probably would have been multiplat. MS was willing to fund Bungie's Halo project which is why it was exclusive.

No one cares too much about that. If you read the article, it is all about the Insomniac deal that pisses him off. They aren't abandoning or taking games away from the Ps3. The Ps3 will still get it's games, but they will create some others that will be multiplat, that's all!

At least he didn't try to say SE betrayed fans by going to Xbox. The first betrayal was going multiplat from Nintendo, so Nintendo fans should be mad if anyone.

[iamtehpwn]

.

[MiamiACR]

If anyone honestly feels "Betrayed" by a gaming company going multiplat, should seriously consider getting their head checked.

[Cajun Chicken]

I personally think the worst one is Epic making Gears of War, not because it's on the 360, because it's rubbish and they should be fully concentrating on Unreal/UT instead of dumbing it down for the Gears audience.

[Double Toasted]

You get the dumbest comment of the day award. Congrats...

Edit: Cornelius, thats what I was getting ready to type. I mean, did UT even have a story or a driving force behind it besides a tutorial fighting bots? I've played a couple of them but that was the bases I came across.

[Cajun Chicken]

I beg to differ.

[Active Reload]

Nah, he's right, your comment is rather dumb.

[Cajun Chicken]

Aye, like the Gears franchise over Unreal. "I thank you".

[Lombax]

You've always carried a deep seeded hatred for Gears.

[corneliuscrust]

Gears is NOTHING like Unreal/UT. Gears is not the result of "dumbing UT down" ...if ANYTHING, that new Bulletstorm game Epic is working on would be the "dumbed down UT" you're looking for.

Don't harp on Epic because you personally hate the Gears franchise, and if you're going to make rash comparisons, at least make sure they are in the same ballpark.

[Elven6]

Two different teams are making those two franchises, besides, the two games are nothing alike in terms of playability. UT is a first person shooter is it not while Gears is third person?

Unreal Tournament 3 was a great game yet it sold like crap, even the online community is small in size in comparison to previous titles. Gears of War is selling great for Epic, the consumers have voted with their wallets and Epic if they want to stay in business need to accommodate it long term.

It can also be argued that Unreal Engine 3 is as popular as it is among developers due to the showcasing done in Gears of War.

[ATLGAMER]

Gears is so Overrated...I agree..Over the top and corney

[ULTIMATE_REVENGE]

Wait! how exactly did Insomniac betray Sony? they weren't owned by them to begin with.

Talk about fail.

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

Lol, betrayals. It's business, deal with it.

[VersusEM]

This article is stupid, all developers are making games for every1, except bioware, but then again who doesn't have a PC, these days.

[Sarcasm]

The article is satire and sarcasm.

Who's really stupid for thinking it's real?

[karlowma]

Real or not, it's 2 minutes of my life that, regretfully, I'll never get back.

[solidjun5]

...

[jmare]

That most people will just read the title and spout off some ridiculous fanboy bullshit or other without realizing that the article is making fun of fanboy bullshit like, "Developer X betrayed Community Y by making games for Console Z."

[heroicjanitor]

Making multiplats isn't a betrayal... But what I'd call a betrayal is square enix announcing ff13 at e3. It was kind of a slap in the face, if they had announced it like insomniac there wouldn't have been an uproar(well not a big one anyway).

[Nathan Drake2]

versusEM

yea. everybody has pc but still

MW2 on consoles 15 million
MW2 on pc maybe a million

gta4 on consoles 14 million
gta4 on pc maybe a million

assassin's creed 2 on consoles 9 million
assassin 's creed 2 on pc maybe a million

[Gun_Senshi]

MW2 was boycotted, because its horrible P2P with less Players per match, when on PC you have 64 Player mayhem and dedicated servers with less then 50 ping.

GTA4 on PC came way after Consoles version, most people already played it and found out how bad it is. Not to mention GTA4 on PC has the worst optimzation and bugs I ever saw.

Assassin Creed 2 on PC, DRM say hi!

[blodulv]

Excuses, excuses. The biggest games tend to sell more on consoles now days. Get over it.

[WLPowell]

Anything by Blizzard kind of laughs at your comment...

[Ri0tSquad]

Play it yourself if you think its a bunches of excuses. I'm not a huge PC gamer and I even know it.

MW2 = $60, took away mods, and no dedicated servers

GTAIV = How good you think it is, is opinion, but the game is terribly optimized and some users still face issues such as hiccups that have never been fixed

AC2 = DRM. You have to be online at all times to play this game. Sure this wouldn't be bad if it was an online-only game but it's a single player game, and most DRM on games only require an online activation. Go look at PC games with DRM on Amazon, you'll see that a ton of games get low ratings because of DRM.

Besides that, BC2 has more players on PC then PS3 & 360 combined. Mind you, the first one never came to PC.

[RagTagBnd445]

Pc gamers don't like console games on pc, MW2, GTA4 and AC2 are not really suited for the PC audience.
Instead look at:
Starcraft: 11 million
WoW: 10 million ACTIVE players
Half Life 2: About 8 million sold?

[likedamaster]

Yet that same GTA4 you mentioned is #1 on Games for windows. That same MW2 should be right at the top on Steam as well. And I myself am currently playing AC2 on none other than... wait for it... PC!

http://majornelson.com/arch...

[mrv321]

MW2 on PC, had no dedicated servers and few features.
GTAIV was released months later on PC and wasn't a good port.
Assassins Creed 2 was released months later on PC and has stupid DRM.

You point being?

http://www.mygaming.co.za/n...

[Gun_Senshi]

No other developer makes as much money as Blizzard or Valve from PC only.

[crapgamer]

Mass Effect wont go to PS3. Not that I'm really against the end of 3rd party exclusives, but with Bioware working on Mass Effect 3 I doubt they have time to port them all over and they wouldn't throw an audience into the trilogy in act 3. Especially since so much of Mass Effects revolves around your previous decisions and actions and you import those to the next game etc...

[bobdog626]

There are More companys that will Fall to this.Just wait and you will see.

[ThaNewDealer]

Insomniac is lookin at their profit

[SuperStrokey1123]

I dont see any of these as betrayals at all, the only one that i can really think of is square and ff13, thats about it though and its weak at best too.

[BeaArthur]

Stupid article. They aren't betrayals, they are smart business tactics.

[vhero]

Agreed but I still think to myself where is Rockstar??

[BeaArthur]

I think Rockstar is owned by 2K. If not they have some sort of exclusive publishing deal with them.

[vhero]

They made games for Xbox long before they joined up with 2K and made PS1 games long before that they done it twice once from PC to PS1 then from PS2 exclusive to Xbox/PS2 multiplatform before releasing PC versions of GTA III and Vice City. They can't make there minds up. S-E are another one.. They were Nintendos best mate at one point, then Sonys, then Microsofts and now they seem to be stuck in a state of flux..

[Matthew94]

ARE YOU ALL STUPID ITS A JOKE ARTICLE MAKING FUN OF EVERYONE SAYING "X DEV BETRAYED X COMPANY" BUT YOU ARE ALL TOO BLIND TO SEE IT

EG Never mind the fact that Epic Games has, for almost its entire existence, developed tools designed for cross-platform development, how dare it develop Unreal Tournament III on the PS3!

[Lombax]

You expect anyone on N4G to read past the title?

[Unicron]

A company doing what it wants/needs to do to survive and bring gamers more games?

Yeah, "betrayal" alright.

[Whackedorange]

Last generation Sony owned the console market alone so therefore it was plenty of exclusive titles on the PS2. This time around nobody really owns it so small studios like Insomiac among others need to develop for more than one console in hope of getting the return of the capital they invest in a game. Unless we see a trend starting that the console manufacturers buys the independent studios like Sony did with MM we will see more and more games going multiplattform with the sad effect that it wont be as good as the hardware is capable. They have to make same kind of sacrifies just like they do on the pc market with so many different hardware in the PC`s.

I would love more exclusives to a console rather than multiplattform titles but i dont see that comming cause of the development cost of a game.

[lcsapo]

Am I see right that this article is a little... green? (MS green?) It is funny to call these steps a betrayal. IMO the only one was "The BIG Square-Enix". Not because that FF13 was ported to X360(what I think had a big influence on the whole game and what was a knife in my "piano black" heart) but that they betrayed the RPG fans with their massive amount of westernized garbage.

[sarshelyam]

Betrayal...X-shaped tears? Did I really just read that? Why can't people wrap their heads around the fact this is a business, everyone is in it to make some money so decisions are made that will ultimately effective profitability of these company's.

That said, even if their were something to warrant such an article, NONE of the companies on the list deserve to be branded as traitors to "us". Certainly not Insomniac who made it their choice to remain with Sony for 14 years, certainly not Bungie who wanted to explore other avenues. It's just a baseless and silly article with nothing more than fanboy accusations. I hate using that word but there's so much unnecessary anger here.

[jmare]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=satire

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sarcas...

[Godmars290]

In all those "betrayals" not one has produced anything to get excited about. Even with Unreal 3 first on the PS3, the game's largely been forgotten. The free file/map sharing thing great for its fans, but only screwed up on the 360 because of how MS manages XBL. Don't want to give things out for free.

[Pillville]

Taking an exclusive game and making it multiplatform is not a betrayal. The original platform loses nothing.

I betrayal would be if when FF13 was announced for Xbox, they also announced that it would NOT be on PlayStation.

[Tzuno]

Angry Sony fan-boy article. You can not stop the GREEN LIGHT Mwuahahahahhhhhhh

[Dead_Cell]

They're keeping there deal with SONY and still making Multiplatform titles.
People should stop bagging on Insomniac so much, they're one of the best developers going. Hell, they're the only Developers I know to make an all-ages game (R&C) and not condescend or cater to any one age base.
They're also inventive with weapon selection and enemies, which all of the A.D.D Halo players should be happy with.

[TheMrMadzen]

Didn't see that one coming(sarcasm)

[prettyboy1]

is making 1 count it 1 multiplat game.and with the other studio still making ps3 exclusives so what betrayal r they talkin about cus what i see is jus a samart buissness deal so do urselves a favor and not read too much into it ight

[interrergator]

if there still makin games on ps3 exclusively this economy is bad and these companys have to do this

[llMurcielagoll]

I think nice addition to this Article is Bandai Namco as well. When Ace Combat 6 was set to be released for the xbox 360. A lot of people were shocked of that

[gumgum99]

*Sees Insomniac on the list*

http://assets.knowyourmeme....

Wow...its kinda hard to fail harder than that. Insomniac is an "Independent Developer". Independent! That means they could do whatever they want outside of Sony. and besides, the Ratchet and Resistance games are still owned by Sony, so where does this "betrayal" stem from? Its not like those two games are gonna be on any other platform. sigh...Do people even know what they are talking about anymore?

[spektical]

as long as IG keeps making R&C and Resistance games; im a happy camper. :)

[Kahvipannu]

Gamedevelopers don't "betray" anyone, it's just fanboys making live hard for themselfs. It's business, period.

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

''Top 5 developer ‘betrayals’''

Sigh...

[8thnightvolley]

this list so so one sidely skewed.. what about
square enix, and kojima
those would come in strong ... way over epic

[MadMan00]

FAIL, SE didn't start on Sony you stupid fuck.

[awi5951]

This article makes just as much sense as the Fanboys on this site.Yes this is the typical thing that happens on N4G so this is the perfect article for N4G.This site makes neogaf Look level headed and cool. AND YEAH I SAID IT THIS SITE IS WORSE THAN NEOGAF!!!

[dillydadally]

I'll never get why when a company decides to go multi-platform everyone gets upset as if they've been betrayed. Doesn't anyone realize this is GOOD news? People care too much about what console they play on - don't you realize that by making games multi-platform, you get to play more games on your platform of choice? Not only that, but the game company you love makes more money for their efforts and thus are more likely to make sequels to the games you love and be around longer? The only possible negative would be if the game has limited graphics by being on multiple platforms, but usually that's the developer's fault. They can focus on one platform and taken the game to its fullest (such as the incredible graphics in Uncharted 2) and then port it to other platforms with reduced graphics. If the other platforms complain, they really should be thankful for the opportunity to play an amazing game without buying another system.

I mean, why do people care so much that 360 owners got to play Final Fantasy 13? That alone could have made moving the game to an international market lucrative. We used to be happy if we even got to play a Final Fantasy in the U.S. because Japan worried over whether it was worth adapting games for other countries. I bet PS3 owners wouldn't be complaining if Halo Reach was coming out for PS3.

I just wish gamers wouldn't complain so much about such trivial things.

[GSpartan777]

Useless article by a useless person.

[AriesFury]

as everyone keep saying, it's a business

[ForeAllEternity]

I wouldn't consider it a "betray" when developers go multiplat. It's only a betray when they sacrifice quality for $$.

[Xi]

what about nintendo, and it's sale of rare?
or their backstab to sony which lead to the development of the ps1?

What about kojima and squaresoft?

for some stupid reason it only selected negative ms/xbox 'betrayals'.

bad article is bad.

[Pootangpie]

LOL that's a laugh considering the later news about rage performing and looking better on the 360 thanks to the extra DVD's being used

[neil90]

Moving from snes to playstation exclusive.

[DFresh]

These guys are 3rd party developers unless Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo buy them out or pay for exclusives then more then likely they'll be going multiplatform.

[Wardog1368]

What rubbish is this? These are some of the best developers in the industry and they should be treated as such! not this fanboy crap! 0_0

I love you Insomniac! <3

[yojoe26]

Some people act as if their best friends walked out on them. These are companies that are running a business with the purpose to MAKE MONEY. I'm sorry but that's just how this sad world operates. These people in these companies I'm sure appreciate their fans who support their products, but in the end they are not in some kind of close mutual relationship with their fans. Don't make so much out of nothing. Just play their games or don't. In the end, it's no skin off their noses.

[N4BmpS]

Gavin Mackenzie, is this guy for real? I mean seriously all of these studios were and still are Independent they gave(Sony, MS, EA, Activision etc.) publishing rights to these publishers. They gave them franchises not their companies. This is officially the dumbest article of the Week, maybe of the month.

[SuperMassiveGav]

Well, no, not entirely. A few commenters have been trying their best to point that out, bless 'em. But, y'know, the article doesn't really work if everyone gets it, so I don't mind.

[air1]

Oh c'mon did they have to use the word "betrayal"

who did the "3rd party" developers betray?

you really felt like you got stabbed in the heart? Man up!

[Shendow]

God does anyone stop crying about pointless things?

[-DeathWraith-]

This guy seems mega butt hurt

[cmrbe]

No. Not at all. I.G in particular have been and will continue to do amazing things their PS fans.I wish them nothing but the best for their new IP.

[hankmoody]

Makes me feel like I'm discussing video games with my old friends again.... from GRADE SCHOOL. Seriously, why was this even approved?

[Meryl]

lol 4 x360 betrals compared to 1 ps betrayal, which most ps fans don't even consider as a betrayal lool, so what exclusives does x360 have again???

[MadMan00]

LOL at the idiots saying SE...So people really think FF started on Play station?

GTFO losers.

[nunley33]

If microsoft treated their studios better, they wouldn't be bolting from them now to go multi-platform to work on PS3 games. Talking about bungie & Bizare specificly. Soon they'll just be left with Rare & Microsoft Games Studios LOL!

[nunley33]

The Worst Betrayal Overall was when Nintendo backed out of the cd-drive add-on with Sony for SNES and chose Phillips, who went on to make the crappy CD-I. So a spurned and but-hurt Sony created the playstation out of the ashes of their Nintendo deal and sealed their fate as console makers for the next two generations eating Sony's dust. Playstation may have never been made if not for Nintendo screwing Sony over with a very bad business decision.

[kanedaakira]

Oni - Loved that game on the PS2 - under-rated

[Run_bare]

There is nothing wrong with what they do. Insomniac did the right thing, beside Sony will not lose Resistance and Rachet and Clank and they will continue developing for PS3. I am sure there will be more exclusive coming from them.

[Gawdl3y]

Rofl lol.
Bungie, before Microsoft bought them out, used to develop games exclusively for the Mac. did you know that? I did.

And none of these are actually "betrayals", because the games are still available on their respective platforms.

[Lightel0s]

pure garbage article, developers cant be betrayers, obviously the guy behind this article dont know anything about company managment, etc.

[Ares84PS3]

at it's finest.

[AliTheBrit19]

I can no longer hear of read the word "Betrayal" without hearing the Halo voice over guy saying it in my head xD