Ninja Theory: exclusivity is "draining"

Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory has recalled how being used as a pawn in a console war was both draining and, at times, unfairly abusive.

"When you are exclusive, sometimes the pressure to demonstrate technology can override other aspects of game development," studio co-fouder Tameem Antoniades told Eurogamer in an interview published today. "Being involved in one side of a format war as if it's the machines that make great games can also be draining.

[WildArmed]

I still wait for Nariko's sequel.
The game was heavenly. (although short)
One of the best action games I've played this gen easily

[rockleex]

Perfectly describes how Heavenly Sword was received by the media and those who were blindly following the media.

But, Heavenly Sword I think could have benefited with just a couple more months of development. So they can add unlockables, extras, new game+, or anything to increase replayability.

Edit: Here's the article for the full interview about Heavenly Sword and their new game Enslaved.

http://n4g.com/NewsCom-4311...

[VampHuntD]

Heavenly Sword was a great game, the action was great, the use of sixaxis was OK (I'm glad you could turn it off, but it was cool to have the option), and the story and visuals felt like a film. The game was very well made and Ninja Theory took a lot of flak just due to console war nonsense.

[nix]

Graphics were top-notch.. acting, voice... everything was perfect. the game is a beautiful gem. it's short but god it's sweet.

Sony should just come out with Heavenly Sword 2. i'll be the first in the line to buy it when it comes out.

it was sad that this game got badly reviewed.

[PirateThom]

Heavenly Sword came out at a time when Sony could do no right in the eyes of the media. That game wasn't reviewed as a game.

The game's graphics were unmatched at the time, the story was excellent, the acting was superb and the gameplay was tight.

Its only real flaw was the length. I'd say most people who bought it probably felt the same way. Good game just too short.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

I said it before and say it again, the game had significant frame rate issues and the control was fairly unresponsive. The gameplay mechanic was for the most part barely average.

There are plenty of other PS3 exclusives that was far better. I think the game could have been so much better given time to polish it, because it had potential, but felt rushed.

[Darrius Cole]

Heavenly Sword was planned to be a release title, ended up release about a half-year after the PS3 launch, was the most beautiful PS3 game at the time, and carried the burden of justifying the PS3's then-$600 price tag. Furthermore it was developed at a time when no one truly understood how to use the PS3, least of all Ninja Theory. Ninja Theory needed more time to polish Heavenly Sword's combat-engine and it showed. Still, Heavenly Sword had wonderful production values, and still the best cinematics in a video game to date.

In spite of all the negatives Heavenly Sword sold about 1.4 million according to VGChartz. Mind you that was to a fan-base of less than 10 million users.

Now the PS3 has 25 million users. It is cheaper than its nearest competitor. Developers now know how to use the PS3 to clearly surpass anything we have seen on other consoles. Ninja Theory already has a working PS3 engine. Heavenly Sword has name recognition and gets good reports on internet chatter. The PS3 is getting good press now. Everything is in place for them to make a good cash-cow game now. Yet, Ninja Theory decides not to make a HS sequel.

That is exactly backwards. Ninja Theory has already braved the storm they should be going for the gravy now. They could have made a sequel, released it 6 months after the public witnessed the greatness that is GOWIII, and sold 3 million copies easily. They have the know-how, the tools, the talent, and the environment to make a truly profitable game now. Its like having million-dollar check and not cashing it.

[Bodyboarder_VGamer]

screen-tearing not frame-rate issues, the game never had any slowdowns... And don't question me because I am playing it right now.

And yes, it is awesome. For some reason I'm enjoying it more then the first time I played it.

[Xgamerzus]

Sorry But GOW3 is now the bar setter !!!
It was a quick fix as GOW2 was released on PS2 Heavenly Sword was that filler!
But BOY IT was Amazing the sheer amount of enemies and the quality of the HD graphics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
'
BUT we are approaching GEN 2 of PS3 games (except GOW3 is gen 1.which is phenominal!!for a first title)
But the bar is so high now!!!!
Ninja theory can either roll with it or bow out!!!
But they are wasting their talent on PC 360 ports sadly!!!

[DaTruth]

We all know Sony supported the development and published the game, so how can they complain, when they likely could not have afforded to launch a game their selves or find the funding. Especially for a new IP!

Heavenly Sword is likely funding their next endeavour!

[DevastationEve]

Next Ninja Theory game to be released multiplatform.

[ABizzel1]

Hopefully Sony does something with Heavenly Sword.

They could always give it to me along with a team of developers and we'll make another great game ;)

[katanafx]

I bought and played Heavenly Sword with the hype that it was a great game but I was terribly disappointed especially at the controls and fighting move mechanics.

Those who have played the Devil May Cry, God of War series can easily tell Heavenly Sword is just a mediocre action game that is not in the same league.

[edgeofblade]

Certainly a pretty game. I might finish it some day.

I remember the King was hilarious.

[raztad]

Does someone remember how was HS deemed a GoW ripoff? Nariko = Kratos female? Game was radically diferent from GoW but the NA media bashed it to death just to please its biggest costumers.

HS was one of the first game I can recall, incorporating fully mo-capped performance. The combat was pretty good, the time reacting counter attack was so much fun. Chained combos make it different than GoW gameplay. Good fun albeit pretty short.

Nariko deserves a longer sequel, with obviously improved visuals and more replayability, perhaps some platforming and exploration.

[Marceles]

"Does someone remember how was HS deemed a GoW ripoff? Nariko = Kratos female?"

Meh...people just saw her moves with the chains and the QTEs and automatically pinned as that. I'll never forget when Heavenly Sword first came out, that's one of the top games this gen that were underrated and treated unfairly when it was released.

[jack_burt0n]

Wow still crying about it, I thought they hated MS after the nightmare of making Kung Fu chaos. Hope namco doesn't do a splatterhouse to them lol.

Looking forward to nariko being in a proper game like GOW3 hope they get the girl from fringe to do the voice would be lacking without it.

[Keowrath]

What happened with Kung Fu Chaos? I still think it's one of the best games on the original X-bucket. Remember having an absolute blast with that game with friends.

[Bnet343]

Kung Fu Chaos was a fun game, goes to show you reviews really don't mean jacksh*t.

[Perkel]

yeah heavenly sword was awasome, but short. And there wasn't any replayability at all. Nothing to collect, no multi no nothing only game and story.

And best part were bonuses unlocked after beating 3 star ranting lvl. Every of bonuses was released before game. So for enyone this wasn't bonus at all. Heavenly sword short animations were superb but again we saw them 3-4 months before game on playsattion blog and almost on every site...

[WildArmed]

I think that was the problem with it.
Too much media exposure makes the game seem dull-er.
I got the same effect for MGS4 for some scenes.

So I closed off all my media for all major games now.

[Consoldtobots]

that's why I NEVER bother with these gameplay videos (unless its an unknown title and I want to an idea of what it will be like) they make the material old before its new. Same with BETAS , you can count on one hand with two fingers folded the number of betas I have been in. When the game comes out you're not really that excited about it because its not new to you, while everyone else is experiencing the finished product. you're cheating yourself IMO.

[fOrlOnhOpe57]

Heavenly Sword was a quality (especially for its visuals) product. Scripting, acting were excellent and good gameplay.

One of those games where a sequel would have been a great hit - bit like UC2 after Drakes Fortune and Killzone 3 WILL be after Kz2.

Shame it never got a Trophy patch.

[lightningsax]

That game was really unbalanced in my opinion. Not nearly enough variation in enemies - it made the game seem much longer than it was just because of how boring the gameplay became.

As a manager with a vision for your company, you need to fight the stupid trends of the time, convince other execs and the press that you don't need to create a film around a game to create a good game, and follow through with making your game. They spent a great deal of their finite amount of money on gimmicky effects and cutscenes, pressure or not, and now they're whining about it. Go figure.

There are much better exclusives on the PS3 right now. Maybe it's because Sony or the media outlets let up on the graphics thing, or maybe it's because smarter people are making and selling their decisions effectively.

[alphakennybody]

Exclusivity is draining but without taking risks nothing will come to out of it Heavenly sword is great it could have been greater if given enough time, it has potential for a great franchise.

[lightningsax]

Either enough time or the decision to make a better game instead of a better group of cutscenes.

[-Alpha]

It was a big gamble going Sony-exclusive back at the launch. It's tough for developers, which is why Sony got so screwed with exclusives when it came to games like Assassin's Creed.

Luckily they are doing better now. MGSIV was a rare but fine piece of a third party exclusive, so was Valkyria Chronicles, and now even big names like Rockstar games are working with Sony (Granted Sony is funding them, but Sony is at least trying to alleviate the in-game studio pressures by having third parties make games for them).

I feel sorry for Ninja Theory, as they would have done much better on the 360 or even better as a multiplatform. At least they did a great job though, for a first stab at this gen they did great.

[Makidian]

Ninja Theory has a tendency to point fingers at a lot of different parties and not at themselves. Yeah the game got the shaft because the media at the time was being bought, but there were also problems with the game. Don't get me wrong, I loved Heavenly Sword and I still look forward to a sequel, one that I think will be made by Santa Monica Studio after God of War gets finished and released. The games was just to short, I finished it in four hours on Hard and that is completely unacceptable when there are no additional anything to make someone keep playing. Ninja Theory needs to worry less about blaming other people when they should be looking at what they did wrong with their past games.

[spinbot_lv1]

rumors reports that a sequel of heavenly sword is in development at cambridge studios. if this is true we should be very happy because they are very talented (their past games -medievil,primal and ghosthunter- prove it) and they have turned their hand to helping ninja theory on heavenly sword and recently guerrilla games on killzone 2.

[Darrius Cole]

I wish Ninja Theory would do another on since it is their vision. I liked their production and want them to cash it in.

If they are not going to do it, then I prefer Santa Monica because I know they have experience balance chained blades type of gameplay. But Cambridge should be okay. I just hope they don't change the production style too much.

[beardpapa]

I agree with Makidian. A lot of the recent Ninja Theory articles we've been seeing has all been about them whining and pointing fingers at other people. Did they not realize that maybe their game got a poor reception because of its lack of any replay value and that rather absurdly short length? I brought the game home, popped it in at 3pm and finished it before 8pm. That's how memorable the game was to me. The length.

[Bigpappy]

Seems like Sony really put the whip to them boys. "Get those graphics up or we will never release your work. We don't care if its 5 mins long, just make it pretty!"

[LastDays]

Actually the "draining" part didn't come from sony. It came from ANTI SONY PEOPLE. You might know some

[spinbot_lv1]

fortunatly heavenly sword is a Sony IP.the sequel at this moment is developed by sony's cambridge studios (medievil,primal,ghosthunter.) they are more talented than ninja theory.

[cereal_killa]

Sequel!!!!! can you confirm this because that is Great News if true I loved HS and would love HS2

[Chubear]

Ah, I'm glad someone said it. I've been bursting to say it too XD

[YLOD Service Tech]

In other words, we didn't make enough money on the PS3. Droids don't buy games so we are making our new games multiplat.

[Foliage]

Well they will capture 100% of the 360 audience, seeing as there is nothing else to buy on the 360.

[saimcheeda]

.

[cereal_killa]

In other words, we didn't make enough money on the PS3. Droids don't buy games so we are making our new games multiplat. But we already know we'll have to add Halo, Gears of War or Call of Duty in the title because thats the only way a game will sell on the 360. Fixed

I see no one is calling you to have there YLOD fixed there's always a need for the RROD Service Tech should be loaded with calls everyday Muppet.

[foreverflame]

Droids love to watch Movies instead of playing games just look at the MGSIV sales

[Chubear]

You'll notice that 5yrs later, the 360 still has not done a game that has the amount of enemies on screen as this year one title. If you look at many 1st year titles, they had millions of enemies on screen with no slow down but on something like gears, if it pushes more than 4enemies at a time you can hear the 360 moaning and groaning.

Lair, Heavenly Sword, Motorstorm, Resistance all these 1st year titles that did massive scale battles that we've not seen on the 360 'till this point in time.

[gameraxis]

to this day i feel it was the only game to PEFECTLY use the six axis control...

The cannon sequence fending off waves of armies, BRILLIANT!

The bow and arrow sequences, protecting you father, and others, BRILLIANT!!

If you get hit and start flying back, all you have to do is jolt the controller upwards and Nariko recovers by throwing her swords into the enemy pulling herself toward them and kicking them on the ground, AWESOME!!!

I really hope for a sequel, even if it has to be multi, as long as its a good multi, and pushes the 360 far, i'm all for it... but Ninja Theory HAS to be the one's who create it, or else it won't have the same charm.

[Darrius Cole]

I agree with everything you wrote except for the "okay if its multi-plat" part. You and I both know the Xbox 360 would hold back Heaven Sword 2 or whatever they would call it. There still hasn't be a 360 games that looks and performs as well as Heavenly Sword (1).

EDIT:

GAMERAXIS WROTE:

"If you get hit and start flying back, all you have to do is jolt the controller upwards and Nariko recovers by throwing her swords into the enemy pulling herself toward them and kicking them on the ground, AWESOME!!!"

I find myself instinctively trying to do that when I play the God of War III demo and Kratos gets knocked back.

[DevastationEve]

Consoles can't "hold each other back", cuz if they could then Wii would be the most likely suspect.

You guys need to let go of the old PS3 is better then Xbox 360 arguments, there both HD gaming consoles.

edit at the disagree:

You don't want to believe it, that's fine. But PS3 is not technically superior to Xbox 360.

[PirateThom]

The games would beg to differ.

Whether or not it's hardware or just better developers, PS3 games are on another level entirely.

[LiquifiedArt]

But it had framerate problems and the gameplay wasn't anything new. Factor in how short it was and you got a problem. I think a more skill-based system like demon's souls or ninja gaiden would be much better. And put nariko in an open environment AND throw in some small rpg elements.

(Just dont make the open environment "mission based" I HATE HATE HATE THAT, Be innovative!)

Instant success.

[theEnemy]

was released ahead of it's time.

if it was released today, it'll be getting 9's and 10's.

[DevastationEve]

It wasn't ahead of its time...a hack n slash with great cinemas and voice acting and a particularly epic production value. But besides sixaxis integration and of course the graphics there really wasn't too much "next gen" in it. Heavenly Sword may have been a great next gen effort on Ninja Theory's part, but it carried over an idea and style from the previous gen. It felt like it was supposed to be released on the 128bit consoles.

The next game they develop will be their TRUE next gen effort. On both consoles to boot.

[BrianC6234]

I don't understand that interview. Heavenly Sword was a great early PS3 game. I don't remember anyone putting them down as being a problem. If this was about Lair I could see the point. Heavenly Sword did a great job of using the Sixaxis controls. Lair had issues. All early games on consoles are mediocre or don't push the console.

[Raoh]

Ninja Theory should stop crying..

Lick your wounds and get back to work on the Heavenly Sword sequel.. i've seen the scans of their new game and i can tell its going to fail.. they are not only going for more simplicity but more generic to be multiplatform...

seems to me everyone has it wrong, being a third party dev like valve and being exclusive is the wrong way. being a third party dev and going pure multi platform is also the wrong way.

do like From Software.. some games should be exclusive to either system.
. some games multi platform.. pick and choose your battles accordingly..

[Prophetcizer]

Being involved in one side of a format war as if it's the machines that make great games can also be draining.

Exactamundo - machines dont make great games! Games make the machine!

[clarkdef]

I didnt love the game but it could be improved as it was only the first one. I think the next one will be alot better as a game, because of the natural evolution of things. But maybe not so good if its gonna be multi plat

[ThatCanadianGuy]

The only one that this really affects is microsoft.Since, you know, they don't have any first party developers..

Sony & Nintendo meanwhile, can just keep churning out 100% exclusive games.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Looking back through the year..

It's already quite clear that microsofts lack of exclusive games have been disapointing.At least me & my fellow bots had DLC to play.

Thank god...we were so desperate..

[djroberts]

That seems missleading since Heavenly Sword was originally for XBox and they moved over to the Sony camp for various reasons. They had the choice to go multi-platform.

[NecrumSlavery]

Heavenly Sword was great game. These guys are just cop outs. I bet they are looking at Uncharted 2 and kicking themselves for going multiplat. Ninja Theory is just another crybaby company. You had a great game that didn't sell cause it was too short and never got any developer support(trophies DLC etc).

They kind of fvcked themselves. So eat a shlong NT.

[bozebo]

solution? develop for pc

[OpiZA]

Well I think they did an outstanding job in retrospect, given that it was so early in the ps3 start up. Look forward to what they've got lined up

[Figboy]

when your completely enjoyable, beautiful, and FUN Playstation 3 debut title is ripped to shreds by a bitter, spiteful gaming media, which, in turn, causes even the most diehard Playstation fans to avoid the title like the plague until playing it themselves and realizing it was awesome, pushing the game to nearly a million sales, but by then it was too late, the damage to the brand was done, and the exclusive was dead.

Heavenly Sword was an AWESOME year one PS3 title. it had the graphics. it had strong characterization and a great narrative. it had fun gameplay on par with games like God of War, Ninja Gaiden, and Devil May Cry. if it was multi-platform, or exclusive to "the OTHER" platform, it would have received just as much praise as GoW, NG, and DMC.

it had the misfortune of releasing during the "Great PS3 Hate Wave" of 2007, where even games from REPUTABLE developers (Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction from Insomniac, Unreal Tournament 3 from Epic, and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune from Naughty Dog) were downplayed. even the improved Ninja Gaiden Sigma, which is the DEFINITIVE version of that game, was downplayed.

Heavenly Sword was a casualty of this stupid console war. the gaming media couldn't get their own heads out of their asses with numerous stories of "this game doesn't justify the cost of the PS3," that they couldn't even give credit where it was due.

we'd have had Heavenly Sword 2 by now if it had been given a fair shake. but it wasn't, and the franchise is dead.

as much as i'd LOVE a sequel, i don't see it in the cards, and definitely not developed by Ninja Theory. since the game DID eventually go on to sell nearly a million units, maybe Sony (since they own the IP), will hand it over to Santa Monica Studio (God of War 1-3), and they'll take over. that'd be awesome, actually. but probably unlikely.

[WLPowell]

As the xbox 360 crowd plays the numbers game, I play the "watch the gaming media burn every bridge they can" game. I've completetly given up hope on them, as they seem dead set on shooting themselves in the foot.

[Chubear]

I mean, it was a new 1st gen IP that had more SP campaign length than MW2 or ODST etc. I remember I got through it on normal in about 8hrs and got through Hell Mode in about 7 so altogther I got roughly 15hrs out the game so I don't get why length is always used to down this game.

I think it's one of those things that editorial reviews pounded into peoples minds and they just accepted it as is.

If no editorial reviews complained about SP length of Halo3, MW2, ODST etc then I don't get why it's a big deal for a new 1st gen IP... but we all know why it was turned into being a big deal.

Remember Rockstars Table Tennis? That was a 1st gen new IP that gamespot willingly gave 8.5 and all you did was play ping pong. Heavenly Sword though, they thought was less of a gaming experience and settled with a 7.9 or 8 something.

I also found it hilarious how they rated a top notch launch title in Motorstorm 7.9 and then it's sequel that added a tonne of things to it was given an 8 LMAO! Dayum, Sony had it raw from these NA editorial gaming sites in those first 2yrs and they're still trying 'till today to kill Sony's momentum a bit. Sad.

[PhoenixDevil]

Nariko's character was hated from her birth and never accepted until her death even though she was one of the best fighters and mastered the heavenly sword. Ninja Theory was discarded from heavenly swords launch due to it being a PS3 exclusive, even though it has some of the greatest free form fighting style and beautiful graphics

First PS3 game I completed, and what an experience