Jack Tretton On MGS4 Exclusivity

Kotaku talks with Jack Tretton, the President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, about the exclusivity of Metal Gear Solid 4.

Jack Tretton:
"It will appear first on the PlayStation 3. What happens years down the road? I have no idea."

[sony fan]

As soon as it is announced for xbox, we will say it is a crappy game anyway. How about we flood the site with articles about one games possible exclusivety, and lets forget that all the other MGS games were just rediculously boring and crappy until then.

[ITR]

Don't mock the MG fanbase.

[tehcellownu]

the 360 cant handle mgs4 it be downgraded..but no video equals bs!!

[benny o klaatt]

and he's david brent AKA ricky gervais lol

[Shin_Akakage]

I have read several posts on here claiming that Metal Gear Solid 4 could not be made on Xbox 360. Simply not true as Hideo Kojima himself said it to be so. There wouldn't be this HUGE downgrade as some seem to believe...on the contrary..."Maybe some nuance or a small details here and there might be different, but I feel that hardware is no longer a matter" as put by Kojima-san. Of course there would be changes as the game would be optimized to take advantage of X360's strengths..just like is being optimized now to take advantage of PS3's strengths. So despite the words of any fanboy MGS4 could be faithfully represented on X360 (FACT).

http://www.1up.com/do/minis... (4-page hideo kojima interview from a while ago)

Someone mentioned how its "unacceptable" to swap discs because this is not the "ps1" era. Disc Swapping did not stop with PS1...It was a very prevelent practice on gamecube and on DVD movies. Even God of War 2 shipped with 2discs...as all the special features we placed on a second disc. How is it so different from swapping Disc 1 of Scrubs season 1 for Disc 2? It isn't. I doubt that MGS4 is significantly longer than any of the previous MGS titles....around 10-15hrs of gameplay. Blue Dragon on X360 is roughly 50-60 hours of gameplay..not including the amount of video. MGS4 will be nowhere near that long. I think X360 fans of the MGS series would find a 1-2 disc...even a 3-4 disc MGS4 more than acceptable. What many people fail to realize is that Bigger games don't mean LONGER games..at least not right now. If MGS4 takes up 20 gigs on a BR-disc its still only gonna be 10-15hr long game. Is that truly taking advantage of the extra storage space of the BR disc? Change the compression of the video and re-tool the game to play to X360's strengths and I think it could fit on 1-2 discs easily. But that's just my opinion.

Either way doesn't matter unless the game is announce for X360. My bro has PS3..I have a X360..so I have access to the best of both. All I need to do now is get a Wii and I'm all set.

[blackmagic]

Excellent comments shin, nice to see rational commentary with supporting links minus fanboyism. +bubbles

[Captain Tuttle]

Good post Shin. Nice to see around here. Bubble your way.

[AznSniper]

where is the video....i don't see it

[nomad117]

and a huge fanbase it is

[TheMART-sucksdick]

Xbots.

This Is Living.

[PSN Starfleets]

Video got removed. How can this have been approved you N4G monkeys

[aiphanes]

They just post crap to try and piss people off..

Get it through your thick Xbox skulls....MGS4 will not come to the Xbox 360....It is only comming to the PS3...You only have 8.5 gigs of space on the DVD that the Xbox 360 uses....MGS4 will be at least 25 gigs on the bluray....The developer is going all out...he might even use the 50 Gig bluray discs...which nobody has use yet for a game on the PS3...Killzone 2 definately will use 50 GB disc since they are at 2 gig a level right now...

[Agriel]

lol no video? are we making things up now?

[AznSniper]

That's what I was thinking...and how could u guys approve of this?

[LSDARBY]

Years down the road lol

[BaMYouRDeaD]

How do you guys manage to approve this stuff with now video?

[cdzie1]

I heard that the Virtual Fighter 5 team was disappointed with the royalties from the PS3 version and begged management to do a 360 version, which was never originally in the plans. I think we’ll see MGS4 on the 360 by summer of next year.

[AznSniper]

That's if Kojima will want to supervise it though....it will probably come but I'm not sure if Kojima will work with it....and i was thinkin that it would come out fall of next year

[funkysolo]

it would take more than a year to develop the 360 version. The reason Sony didn't pay for exclusivity, is because they are supporting the tools and helping with the development. For the game to run on 360 they will have to build a different game engine and probably won't look the same. Sony are not stupid, as Treton said there are tools that the public don't know about and will only be available to the PS3. It's different when you develop a game that's multiplatform and a game that is design only for the PS3.

[TheFamilyGuy]

Sony at their press conference claimed that Haze and UT3 were PS3 exclusives, but in reality they are 'timed' exclusives (probably both coming to 360 mid-2008). How do we know it isn't the same case for MSG4?

[achira]

are you kidding ? look at the conference again. for haze and ut3 they said exlusivity for this year! for mgs4 they said exlusive. so its a difference!

[apoc06]

for haze and ut3 they used the terminology "timed exclusive" and "exclusive this fall".

for metal gear solid, they had the hideo kojima get on stage and say that it was "exclusive to PS3". sony execs have said that it is "exclusive to ps3". peter moore said in response that he "wishes to have metal gear on the xbox360, but ultimately it is up to the heads of konami to decide that".

its clear as day in my eyes at least that metal gear is exclusive to the ps3. alot can happen within a year's time, but until you have proof or they make an announcement otherwise, the xbox360 version of metal gear is simply not in the plans.

[novaIS350]

If it does indeed come out for the 360...it will be many years later, and it will ship in a 3-4 disc set.

I can almost guarantee MGS4 will be a multi million copy seller even with the small install base.

At least the xbox guys are dreaming big.

[Expy]

Kojima-san is not a backstabber and will not turn his back against the people he promised would remain exclusive to. He's a very proud man, and will step down from Metal Gear on a good note.

[Vojkan]

there is no Video, why are people lying? It is so childish

EDIT:Why did they pull it from site? Very strange

[TnS]

I'm uploading it to Google Video. Be patient.
Here is the proof: http://image.kotaku.com/ass...
http://xs217.xs.to/xs217/07...

You can watch it with this (or any player that supports FLV):
http://www.videohelp.com/to...

[AznSniper]

thanks man

[PSN Starfleets]

Thanks TnS

[TnS]

Sorry for inconveniences. That's just my luck... Here is the first 44 seconds... the other part is broken :(
http://video.google.com/vid...

[Hypnotic]

Now why couldn't MGS be done on the 360? I hear a lot of people saying that but they never really have any proof to back it up. As far as I can tell the only reason it couldn't be done is because of the exclusivity rights.

[Lucky232]

It can't be done because the 360's medium could not support the content in an acceptable manner. That's why.

[ITR]

It comes down to storage issues.
I believe the real reason MGS is so big is because they aren't compressing anything.
With new compression tech I bet you could cut down the PS3 size game by 50%.

If it releases on 360 it'll probably fit on 1-2 discs.
Hell, just cut out the CGI movies and it'll fit probably.

[Jamaicangmr]

@ ITR

The movie sequences in MGS is what makes this game so great. The way the sequence caries along the Story is detrimental. Them doing that would be just as devastating as if Square removed their movie sequences from Final Fantasy, it just wouldnt be the same game. So maybe you'd be ok with the Story being told by picture clips in order for it to fit on 2 or 3 DVD9's but not the rest of us. Thats like defacing a great abstract art because you want it to look normal. How could you?

[Hypnotic]

So you can't expand content on multiple dvds? If I remember correctly that's how MGS on the PS1 was done.

[Lucky232]

Do you not understand the term "acceptable"? This is not the PS1 era. Was MGS2 and MGS3 two discs? No. I haven't seen a multiple disc game in recent memory since Blue Dragon.

The XB360 does not have the medium to support MGS4 and that's one of the main reasons why it is not on the platform.

[Jamaicangmr]

@ Lucky232

Thank you, finally some logic to this whole we used to do it bullcrap. Back in the day even Final Fantasy 7 came on i think 4 an i think 8 or 9 was 7 disks if am not mistaken. However the point is that was acceptable then because we didnt have a better alternative. Today we have a hugh storage medium in the PS3 why would developers settle for 4 disks when they can have it all on one. For one it's cheaper to put out one disk than multiple. It's not a whole lot more but when on a budget every cent counts. So i wish people would quit with this the PS1 used to have multiple disks crap already.

[Hayabusa 117]

Blue Dragon came on 2 discs and it still sold, so obviouly you're wrong about it "not being acceptable" in this day and age. it would a bit of a shame if the only advantage Blu-Ray brings to the industry is to keep multi-disc games on a single disc.

[ALIEN]

This is BS, That's all i have to say.

[StateofMind]

I've been hanging around Kotaku quite a bit this morning, watching all of these interviews with Moore and Tretton (which are great btw). I never saw this video pop up.

[7ero H3LL]

there previous experience(game cube twin snakes)was 2 GDs.

[Jamaicangmr]

Yeah but concidering Nintendo's we want to dominate a format attitude back then Konami didnt have much of a choice. Besides Mr. Kojima said he promised Mr. Iwata one day at lunch i think. He's a man of his word so he got it done. They handed off the project to another company who's name slips me right now but it just goes to Show that Mr. Kojima is an artiste and a man of his word. If he leaves Konami i hope Sony grabs him up but then again someone like him will probly want his own independent studio.

[Hayabusa 117]

Silicon Knights, who are currently making the Too Human trilogy.

[TnS]

Damn Kotaku. :) Here is the link:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/ko...

[7ero H3LL]

AT the Beginning of there new trailer you see snake up against a wall(look at the wall and the shadows and there is a crate behind him it has low detail)everything els looks fine except for meryls hair.The games movies will no doubt be to high(1080p 20gigs in movies)360 (11 gigs in movies)IN the future we mite see 3 dvds.

[Lord Anubis]

the last portion of the interview is cut, anywho, the game is exclusive to PS3 but like tretton said, Kotaku would need to ask Kojima/Konami.

"The game is not being developed on any other platform"

[DiLeCtioN]

Who wants this game on 360? (serious question) for 360 owners

I know am going to buy mgs4 but what do you 360 owners think of it.

[Hayabusa 117]

I was a very big fan of the original MGS on the Playstation. However, I didn't like MGS 2, and after that I lost interest. I'm really on the fence with MGS 4. The latest trailer in particular has perked my interest in the game again, but I really want more playability. I know MGS is about being cinematic, that's what's so great about it, but I also want to enjoy playing the game without being interupted every 10 seconds.

It's certainly one of the PS3 games that interest me, but even if I get my own PS3 by the time the game is out, I may not bother with it. If it came on the 360, I'd be more inclind to buy it, (...achievements). I just want to know more about how the game plays, but the latest trailer certainly helps.

[Captain Tuttle]

I've never been interested in the Metal Gears. Bad camera and silly storyline IMHO. I'm also not a big fan of the CGI movies. They had their place in games of the past when graphics were weak but today the games look almost as good. What's the point? I say take all of that storage space and add gameplay.

Just my opinion though.

[Maldread]

MGS4 will be a PS3 exclusive, but MGS4: Subsistance (or whatever they decide to call it) could come to 360 a year later, which is my prediction.

To people who says MGS4 couldn`t run to a 360, i will say the same to as people who said Gears of War couldn`t run on PS3, why not ? I`ll give you some reasons why too :

1)MGS4 dosn`t look impossible to pull of graphicly on 360.
2)The MGS-series dosn`t use CGI, but in-game cinematics (as confirmed by Kojima on E3), so i can`t see why it has to have 50gig.
3)MGS-games havn`t been that long either, which would require more space.

With that said, i would still buy MGS4 on PS3, because it has at least one year (if not more) exclusivity with the game.

[hotshot1237]

http://media.ps3.ign.com/me...

[Hypnotic]

Sorry guys I'm going to have to disagree with you both. Apparently we have a different definition of "acceptable." I hardly think it isn't "acceptable" to put a game on more than one disk and it certainly doesn't make it impossible to put the MGS on the 360. I'm pretty sure any gamer would buy the game regardless of how many discs it comes on.

I don't know the prices of blu ray discs compared to dvd but I'm sure blu ray discs are more expensive compared to a couple dvds.

[Bloodmask]

How many articles do we need on Jack Tretton? First text and now on video?

This is the exact same.

[TheMART]

So that Sony dude saying in the Sony show saying MGS4 is exclusive...

Was just again a lie... Nice Sony, just nice!

[7ero H3LL]

Blu-rays advantage in space is only limited to media files, since data files aren't usually that big. And since the Ps3 has only 256mb for its GPU, you'll never see more than 256mb in use for textures. Only in video and audio can credit its advantages. However the 360 uses "Windows Media Formats", like wma, wma pro, wmv, wmv-hd and so forth. A WMV-HD video file is roughly 45-50mb per min, with an hour of video consuming only 3GB. That's 1280x720 video, with WMA-Pro 5.1 audio. Nothing to laugh at! And 1080 video is simply defeating the purpose, since you're trying to cram video into a compressed format. 1080 only benefits the user in graphics, since all of the aliasing issues and also textures and models get ACTUAL per pixel and per vertex based processing, whereas media files can sort of be smoothened using a more precise set of codecs.

MGS4 doesn't use any CG cinemas, but then again I could be wrong. Just at how good Resident Evil 4 looked, and ALL of its cinemas are actually PRE-RENDERED! I was almost tricked into believing that they where all in real-time! By the way, the PC version proves it, since you can see into its program folder and spot where all the video files are (gosh, I was SHOCKED).

[7ero H3LL]

PS3's exclusitvity is shot, since there is NO reason (technical or theoretical) that can't make a port. But that doesn't mean that should keep your hopes up. Just at the war in Iraq. Peace CAN be achieved, they just don't want it. Well, same goes for Kojima. He CAN do it, he just don't wanna!

[airforcex]

For those with short memory: Kojima himself said that the 360 can easily do it. I must say, that Jack seems honest. There is no reason to throw dirt at other companies. There's market for all!

[jay3]

The system is too expensive for most people to afford, therefore, the games won't be able to regain all the money for the companies. If the PS3s price drop was permanent, they'd be able to get a hell of a lot more exclusives. Well, i'm assuming they did the temporary price drop to squeeze out lots of systems quickly to convince companies to make their game timed exclusives for the PS3. To be honest i don't know why Sony doesn't mae the price drop permanent. I hope they're not just money-hungry, and that they have a good reason. It would have to be a damn good one though.

I promise to you all i'm not a fanboy for either side, seems if you say one bad about one side, you must be destroyed!

[Captain Tuttle]

You're not a fanboy. Bubble for you.