Team17 boss calls 'bribed by MS' accusation 'bollocks'

Team17 boss Martyn Brown has refuted the accusation that the developer has been "bribed" by Microsoft to release Alien Breed Evolution as a timed XBLA exclusive.

[anh_duong]

err. i am not saying it is right or wrong since all games companies (Sony, MS and Nintendo) are involved in bribes but..

"Speaking to VideoGamer.com in an interview at the Develop conference in Brighton, studio director Martyn Brown said that Team17, the developer behind the hugely successful Worms series, gets “MORE PROMOTION” from Microsoft in EXCHANGE for EXCLUSIVITY."

DEFINITIION of Bribe in dictionary.

http://www.merriam-webster....

Main Entry:
1bribe Listen to the pronunciation of 1bribe
Pronunciation:
\ˈbrīb\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, morsel given to a beggar, bribe, from Anglo-French, morsel
Date:
15th century

1 : money or FAVOUR given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust 2 : something that serves to induce or influence

foot in mouth .... basically Team17 boss has just confirmed that they took FAVOURS in exchange for exclusivity..

[A HiFi]

That's business for ya.

[green]

Just standard business practice.The truth is the success of any console is due to it's 3rd party support and Microsoft have built a great relationship with devs by giving them extra promotion and other incentives to either develop on their platform, for timed,full exclusivity or dual release on both formats.

If Microsoft did not do this and concentrated on 1st party alone, then i doubt the 360 would be here today.

[Tony P]

It's not bribery.

It is no different from shopping around. You get better deals at different places. Best Buy isn't bribing you to come in. They are offering better deals/incentives than the competition.

[anh_duong]

no one here is saying msft did anything illegal.. like i said this is common practice.. but the irony is that by the standard dictionary definition of a bribe, team17 did actually take a bribe..

it's like your parents saying they will give you 50 bucks if you get good grades at school.. your parents aren't breaking the law but what they did is actually call a bribe

people can complain but this is standard practice.

[Tony P]

"no one here is saying msft did anything illegal.. like i said this is common practice.."

Yes they are and no, bribery is not. Incentive, however, is common practice.

It doesn't matter if you're talking about MS's XBL deals or Sony's Pub-funds or w/e Ninty does for Wii Ware-- it is NOT the same thing as bribery. End of story. Yes, you can twist the definition of bribery, but that doesn't make those offers bribes.

The bottom line is the finger-pointers are accusing Team17 of something seedy when there is nothing there. And it's sad they have to defend themselves from bile like this.

[anh_duong]

go on then show me a link of someone saying what microsoft did is illegal with regards to team17 ..

taking payments/favours for exclusivity is NOT illegal in the gaming industry..

take this link as an example of the word bribe being used:

http://www.theregister.co.u...

clearly microsoft has done nothing illegal and everyone knows that microsoft has tried a smart piece of marketing.

i think you are misunderstanding the word bribe here because i really do not think microsoft did anything illegal here.

[Mr_Bun]

Tony P is either confused or just getting defensive....Team17 are making it sound like they and MS are friends and that is why this is timed exclusive yet stating: "we get accused of being bribed or we've took Microsoft's money, and it's all bollocks", right after director Martyn Brown said that Team17 gets "MORE PROMOTION from Microsoft in EXCHANGE for EXCLUSIVITY."

The problem isn't with MS, it is with Martyn Brown insinuating that taking money from MS is somehow immoral and that they are above it, yet admitting they take the money in the same interview.

[crck]

@1.7 totally agree. This guy takes money (in the form of advertising money) and then says it isn't a bride. Then tells PS3 owners to talk to Sony about not receiving the game day and date (IOW Sony didn't offer them a bribe). Bribes are standard practice in business but calling a dog a cat and expecting people to believe it is just stupid and insulting. Just take the money and shut up instead of trying to justify it.

[Kushan]

Going by your logic, when you go into a supermarket and buy something that's on offer, you're being "bribed" by them.
This is common sense and they ALL do it. It's in Microsoft's best interests, as it is for Sony, to promote the exclusive titles on their platform. So by going exclusive, even only temporarily, the developers get a lot of free publicity.
Everyone goes on about Microsoft "buying" exclusives, but the reality is that Microsoft is probably getting more (at least more timed exclusives) due to the sheer amount of promotion they do for them. We've seen plenty of PS3 fans complain about Sony simply not marketing things enough, even major titles like Killzone 2 could have done with a hell of a lot more promotion, so yeah, I'd say it makes perfect sense from Team 17's point of view, from a strictly business point of view.

[anh_duong]

generally when it comes to a shopping experience, as a consumer (which is also everyone else) i have a choice and buy the goods on promotion.. i (and anyone else) can buy the tin of baked beans that gives me bogoff or 40% discount etc..

however in this instance, if you are a ps3 owner, you can't just buy the xbox release because you can't play it on the ps3.. ms has made sure that the xbox version gets preferential treatment and the ps3 version gets delayed.. this is perfectly legit and what i would regard as perfectly normal business model..

so you can understand why ps3 owners complain about bribery because it's like heinz saying that 50% offer is only available to 50% of the the population i.e. it is not available for all..

see, not only microsoft are making sure you buy their own version of the game they are ensuring that you can't buy the ps3 version of the game.. analogy is if honda provides you with a discount on their cars but also forbid any one from selling GM branded cars - this affects competition because it denies the consumer choice. there is a slight difference bewteen a traditional incentive and taking away consumer choice.

so the fine line between fair competition and bribery appears.. the mergers and monopolies commission exists to make sure that the overall consumer does not suffer.. the recent eu judgement on windows 7 and internet explorer unbundling is an example of ensuring that consumers have choices if they don't want to buy a particular product..

since there are no monopolies (something we should be greatful given what COD is trying to do with MW2) in gaming, microsoft can do whatever it like.. and it is a good business model for msft. i have not complained about what msft did because sony and nintendo do the same thing too - it's fair game.. remember: sony did the same thing with blu-ray so hd dvd buyers can empathise..

however, i am not a big fan of any form of exclusivity and i don't like companies paying for things to keep it away from other gamers.. but this is life in the world of gaming.. there are enough games out there for everyone - regardless of what console they own..

there are more important things in life..

[Poopface the 2nd]

thats a business decision. Things like this happen everyday in the real world. Too bad when microsoft is involved it its "evil and a bribe."

If you create a product and are looking for a distributer, what would you do. Go with the ones who are gonna just help you get it out there, or go with the ones who will help with advertising and such as well.

[Jecht]

The difference between Best Buy and Microsoft is that Microsoft actually approaches people with these "incentives" whereas Best Buy gets you to come to them just by putting out blanket advertising.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

That means that when GameStop approaches the consumer via email for instance and offer them a pre-order incentive or should I say bribe to get you to buy something. That doesn't sound right does it?

That is because bribes are INAPPROPRIATE and frequently revolves around money being passed around. I'm certain Sony and any other console manufacturer do the same things. Otherwise you will see most developers will publish for all platforms especially since Xbox 360 and PS3 demographic is fairly similar.

[Jaces]

All this conflict over a timed exclusive?

Seriously? Jeeze, people these days.

[DaTruth]

"Microsoft have built a great relationship with devs by giving them extra promotion and other incentives to either develop on their platform"

Correction; Microsoft "BOUGHT" a great relationship with "publishers". There's a difference! Throwing cash at your children to do the right thing isn't really a good relationship; As soon as the cash stops flowing, they will do whatever they want!

@IdleLee: It is not the same when you own the developers, then it is called investing. You can't just throw around "I'm sure Sony does it too", that is called slander and slander is INAPPROPRIATE!

[FamilyGuy]

I wonder how much longer us PS3 only owner will have to wait. This game is said to be timed exclusive but when he compared it to sonys psn games he used two non-timed exclusives as examples. Makes it sound like it might not be timed after all.

"if it turns out good i'll welcome it whenever it releases but i'm not about to be jealous over it when we have tons of other psn games to play. Fat Princess comes out this week! and i just bought shatter which is a great game for a great price.

[whothedog]

I love all the people trying to compare it to consumers shopping at a retail store to two company's making a "deal" and give each other "incentives" to follow through with their end of the "deal"

Yes just like me going bargin shopping....

anyways on topic its really not that big of a deal and happens all the time behind closed doors, PROBABLY.

[pixelsword]

Not me; I don't think I've never even heard of the game; so what's the big deal some unknown game you weren't planning to get comes out a little later anyways. Besides, it's coming out around the same time as Uncharted 2; So I guess that the game would've sold poorly on the PS3 around that time. I may get both, but I'm sure Uncharted will be the game to dominate my time.

[LightofDarkness]

In legal/business terms, it's not a bribe. A bribe has to compromise your public/legal duties, this is merely known as an incentive. Bribery connotes some form of illegal action.

[anh_duong]

the dictionary definition is the one gamers are talking about.

i think when people talk about bribes in this instance they talk about inducements/incentives since this practice of exclusivity payments has been part of the gaming industry for years and there has never ever been a question of it being illegal..

[Sarick]

The word bribe is used in two ways. In in the legal field it's usually referenced as some form of illegal activity. In reality it's a simple generic term for accepting a incentive that influences judgment.

I think some people are confusing it with blackmail.

http://www.thefreedictionar...

blackmail >>

The use of unfair pressure in an attempt to influence someone

To attempt to influence (a person) by unfair pressure.

Blackmail is illegal in most cases by no means is this blackmail it's a simple bribe. If the DEV was the one to initiate the negotiations then it can't really even be considered a bribe.

If MS initiated the DEV and said "tell you what, will throw in more publicity and promotion if you do this for us." Then yes it's a bribe as long as it's not unfair pressure to influence or force the hands of the DEV.

[DelbertGrady]

“The reason is that we've got a long relationship with Microsoft's first party unit. We get on great with them. In exchange for exclusivity we get a lot more promotion. We've got a closer deal with them. That's just how it is. It's unfortunate. That's just how we work.

“If we were a standalone publisher, then yes we'd do both formats. But the sales and promotion we get on LIVE Arcade far outweighs the reason for doing that. It isn't the case of here's some cash in a suitcase. It just doesn't work like that. It would be nice if it did!

“I appreciate PS3 owners getting pissed off because it's not on their platform immediately, but that's up to Sony I guess to address that.”

Brown added that exclusives are “just the way the world works”, and pointed to PSN exclusives Super Stardust and Pain as examples of games Xbox 360 owners don’t have access to.

“They've [Sony] got their own exclusives. You look at Super Stardust, which is exclusive to PS3. It works the other way round. For people complaining, at the same time, people on LIVE Arcade can't play Super Stardust or PAIN or a bunch of titles. It's just the way the world works really.”

[DelbertGrady]

What is it you disagree with? I just posted his comments from the article.

[tehReaper]

Because every time 360 has an exclusive or gets a high review score, fanboys say MS paid them off.

The same fanboys seem to disagree with you, because all they see is a threat to Sony.

Anyway, bubble up.

[DelbertGrady]

Could be that my avatar is a monument of truth.

[Persistantthug]

Did you honestly buy Ghostbusters on any of the current "next gen" systems?

[Natsu X FairyTail]

When I read the Title I already knew it was the ps3 biTc2ches that where saying that Team17 had been bribed anyways. that's called bitc1hassness and we dont want it no more here.

[Natsu X FairyTail]

Fanboys got Owned once again.

I'll get this game on day one.

[DaTruth]

I almost got owned there for a second! thank God for the Edit feature!

[timmyrulz]

With all of this apparent "Bribing" MS are accused of doing, i'm suprised they have any money at all.
Does anyone think that the higher install base the x360 has plus the much higher attach rate MAY have something to do with all of the companies getting on board and showing some love?

[Sez]

"Does anyone think that the higher install base the x360 has plus the much higher attach rate MAY have something to do with all of the companies getting on board and showing some love" it does. but many sony fanboys will never admitt it. they would rather claim that MS bribes everyone to get games as a exclusive or timed exclusive just to keep it off the ps3. yet sony buys the dev's just to keep games off the 360.

[StanLee]

Accusations that Microsoft are paying for exclusives have persisted but their strategy seems to make more sense in this economy. Would you rather spend 30 million dollars to develop the new technology behind a game like Splinter Cell Conviction and then millions more in marketing and distribution, plus the cost of carrying a first party studio's overhead or pay 10 or 15 million to Ubisoft for it's exclusivity and then still get a share of the profits and royalties?

[Sarick]

We've been seeing a lot of multi-platform games showing only one logo at the end like they're exclusive. I've seen Sony and MS doing this. For most of these games. Fallout, Need for Speed, Rockband and GTA advertisements as examples.

Most of these have the 360 logo placed at the back of the advertisement. The only one I recall that showed the PS3 logo was Need For Speed.

Of course, MS now owns a large advertising partnership firm that they use ever so wisely. A lot of the advertisements we see on the web today are either managed by, Yahoo, Google or Microsoft. Honestly It'd silly if MS didn't exploit this capability to promote products of interest to the community. In MS case by promoting another companies product they're advertising themselves.

It's win win because MS own their own advertising firm. Sony on the other hand must go through a 2nd or 3rd channel to advertise through a middleman. I'm not saying that Sony doesn't produce their advertisements. I'm simply pointing out that MS has an advantage in promoting their products effectively with their large partnerships through consoles, TV, radio, roadside billboards, internet and cell phones. These services need to be outsourced by Sony costing them more in the long term.

When given this incentive as a dev it'd be hard to pass this up, so yes it's a very powerful tool and the cost advantages make it easier for MS to utilize in negotiations.

[devilhunterx]

Lets suppose they DID take a bribe. Would they admit it? NOPE.

So asking if they did/nt is pointless.

[Persistantthug]

You can probably call it alot of different names because a thesaurus would have lots of different entries.....bribe is among them.

[al9036]

Team 17, didn't they put out Lesiure Suit Larry, I think they did & that game was horrible. After such a horrible game like that I think it's safe to say I'll be waiting for a demo 1st, I don't trust them enough to buy it on day 1 LOL...

[Natsu X FairyTail]

Alien Breed is a Old Gaming Classic dude. get informed

[Elven6]

Alien Breed is a retro game, probably before your time.

Plus, right after putting out the atrocious Larry they put out the super awesome Worms 2: Armageddon on XBLA.

[sukru]

Why wouldn't they? A simple port of Worms had been in top 10 sellers list of arcade games for many many many weeks, providing them some "breathing space" as a small developer. And after the second game they had two top 10 sellers!

This was basically providing them "easy money" to be able to work on future projects (like Alien Breed!), and they have decided to do some "thanking" by making it a timed exclusive.

And it's not a big deal, PS3 will get the game too, anyways.

[DaTruth]

They should have said that; Instead they said Microsoft would advertise the game for them and in essence, admitted to the bribe

But regardless you're right, it is not a big deal!

[LightofDarkness]

They also made worms and the original Alien Breed. Do not question their ability to deliver.

[sofresh200]

This is the LAST game i'll be thinking about when i'm playing Fat Princess and PJ Shooter.

[kingme71]

Isn't the term bribe a bit much here? A bribe has a negative connotation as if it is shady or illegal. Any store that offers a sale to get you to come in is bribing you. You could just as easily say MS or Sony pays a developer a service fee for bringing the title to their system first.

[DaTruth]

No, that is called a good deal! What MS did is a bribe, regardless of the negative connotation.

There are no negative connotations to good deals in any way, shape or form.

[Scarfy]

Timed Exclusive = You'll just have to wait a little longer to get my money, Mr Brown.

[Ninji]

They lied about getting bribed and then they even point out that they got bribed in the article.

"In exchange for exclusivity we get a lot more promotion."

I won't buy this garbage anyways because it's going to be like those Penny Arcade/Watchmen games that break into parts so you'll be spending at least $30 on it.

"It’ll be released in three parts, offering in total around 15 hours of single-player gameplay."

Another reason why I won't buy this game is because the same people made the flopped leisure suit larry game and Team17 sounds like they are full of assholes.

"I appreciate PS3 owners getting pissed off because it's not on their platform immediately, but that's up to Sony I guess to address that."

I suggest getting this game through gamesharing (PS3) if you really want it. Besides, i'm sure they'll get enough money out of their bribes to cover it.

[iceman2929]

While i admit i didnt read all of the comments above , after the first 10 I saw a common oversight. A the key term in the definition of bribe is "position of trust". A bribe is when money is given from one person/company to a single person who has the power to control a company's/ organization's actions. The company does not necessarily benefit, but the person with the power does. In the case of incentive, it is not the individual but the company who is receiving benefits, therefore it is good for the company. To illustrate, I am the CEO of a cellphone retail chain, and steve jobs comes to my office with a briefcase full of cash. He gives it to me on the condition that i sell a bunch of defective iphones which would ruin the reputation of the retail stores, but i would be a very rich man. This is illegal. Now same situation but steve gives the company the money to only sell the iphone and no other touch screen phone, this is incentive. This is normal business.

[DaTruth]

What if it's a bunch of defective XBOX 360's? So that's what happened!

[Claudinho69]

sony spends their money on 1st party instead, therefore thats why they have the best 1st party games

[xaviertooth]

i dunno what are these people and these stvpid bots are saying, but no ps3 owners are claiming that microsoft bribed this developer. in fact i haven't heard this game to be marketed.

so maybe, these people are trying to get free promotion at the cost of ps3 and its owners.

[Biggunz]

I have never heard of this game either. I agree with you, it looks like a silly attempt at marketing to me.

[vShinobi]

Nothing new really, IF it is true we knowSony does it aswell as Nintendo, did you think having the Joker exclusive to PS3 on Batman: Arkham Asylum was a gift?

[DaTruth]

That is why these things are bad; Because it leads to a climate of distasteful activities where other companies are forced to act similarily to compete.

Like the sub-prime mortgages and derivitives; Many companies probably didn't like them, but their competition was killing them with it, so they gave in, feeling like their hands were tied. Look how that turned out!

Just because something is legal, doesn't make it right!

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

is good for the consumer, but if they don't want me to buy their game, I won't.

[Bankonit]

Bribe no bribe who cares I never even heard of the game or team17
if they perfer ms over sony big deal the world is not ending this game is no big factor

[Pootangpie]

and even if it was sony is not scout free from the matter espically considering Sony secertly slipping kojami paychecks to keep MGS4 exclusive as well as future sequals couldn't be done my ass I see sony reference pretty much everywhere in that damn game

[thedukeofkna]

I'm going to become rich and famous when I invent a device to slap people over the internet...

please shut up, lol.

[DaTruth]

It is okay to tie people up, shoot them and then chop them to pieces because, Sony did it once!

What's with all the stupid "Sony does it to"! When there are ten articles a day of Sony bribes, then they should be brought up, but there are none... wonder why?!

[Biggunz]

is fooling themselves. 95% of PS3 owners have never heard of this game nor gives two craps if it goes to the 360. Looks like a publicity stunt to me.

[thedukeofkna]

Ask yourself, does it really matter in the end?

I have never once not bought a game because i was under the impression they were "bribed" for exclusivity, were you?
If SCEA bribed Naughty Dog for the PS3 exclusive Uncharted 2, would that stop you from buying the game? Thought not.

*virtual slap*

[Pootangpie]

apperantly so why don't you go cry to sony about your promblems since you know there are careing company obviously LOL

@DaTruth how many Bribe articles has MS had none and even then there kept hush hush to the press sony probably is doing the same thing as well with all those so called first party exclusives

[thedukeofkna]

I said that being bribed hardly hurts sales, if at all...

please explain your rebuttal, it makes no sense.

[xg-ei8ht]

And why does anyone care about alien breed?

[jackdoe]

To be honest, this is similar to accepting money from MS, even if it is going directly to advertising. That being said, plenty of other developers have done it so it isn't anything new. Capcom has done it multiple times for their digital titles and demos, Flock, RE5, MvC 2 for example.

However, the Team 17 boss should really shut up as he is contradicting himself.