Microsoft gives royalty breaks to next-gen developers

T

thorns

Banned
Haven't seen this posted yet?
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=116837
17:35 This morning we were simultaneously shocked and impressed to learn that the house that Gates built has been courting next-gen capable developers and publishers to exclusively create content for Xbox 360, by massively knocking down the cost of the company's per-disk publishing royalty, with one anonymous senior publishing source stating "for a select few there is no per disk royalty". Stunning if true.

If our sources our indeed correct (and these particular ones usually are), this could mean that the financially fortunate company will again operate (for an unknown time) at a financial loss, with the assumed reward being an increased market share through exclusive hosting of as much of the top Next Gen content around as possible. This would also prove to be a double-edged sword, as it would likely limit Japanese rival Sony's options for its upcoming PS3 console.
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If this is true, then I guess they're planning to make the money back with live subscriptions, premium content etc.
 
CVG has sources that are so f'n accurate that this has to be true... look out all other hardware manufacturers!
 
I doubt this is true (the part about no royalties for some companies, I can believe the discount though), sounds like an AntiTrust lawsuit in the making.
 
MS has some room to knock down royalty costs for exclusive games and it would be a wise move for them to do so. However, they can't possibly eliminate royalties altogether. It just makes no business sense, except if they extend that deal to a big developer like Square so they could gain marketshare in the process. Or if they get Square to make a new MMORPG and they share in the monthly proceeds.

This story just further strengthens the fact that MS is going all out next-gen to become the market leader.
 
I'd like to see them get away with no royalty fees. Sony and Nintendo would have lawyers on their asses so fast... I love to see that legal battle. That's almost like dumping IMO.
 
Good work, MS.

Make it so I don't have to buy a second console next gen!

Also, with royalty fees being so low what will be the excuse for $60 games?!

PS- This is probably an April Fools joke.
 
MS already did this for the "infamous" 8 (or 10?) exclusive Sega games. The rest is history :D
The real catch here would be to attract more japanese developers, that's for sure. I certainly would see MS agree to this no royalty thing for exclusive Square games for example.
 
Blimblim said:
MS already did this for the "infamous" 8 (or 10?) exclusive Sega games. The rest is history :D
The real catch here would be to attract more japanese developers, that's for sure. I certainly would see MS agree to this no royalty thing for exclusive Square games for example.
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WOOO DRIVING EMOTION TYPE S 2 AND THE BOUNCER 2 CAN'T WAIT!!!! :D
 
If MSFT is really doing this, then, HOLY SHIT!

Smart move IMO. Because this would help avoid another Dreamcast scenario where everyone just waited for PS2.

If they can get a bunch of AAA quality titles out at launch and keep a steady stream of them through the year and hit with some big time (Halo 3) titles at PS3 launch, then lookout, they may be a serious contender next gen this time.
 
I wonder if no royalty fees for a company plus MS's full tech support alongside the tools they offer would be enough to coax some of the Sony mainstays over. Plus there's the 'lazy' factor that comes with developing on the lowest common denominator (even if you're developing at that consoles peak performance).

Such a move would certainly make next gen a bit more interesting (from the fanboy wars perspective)...and may explain the Mistwalker type deals we've heard of so far.
 
Blimblim said:
MS already did this for the "infamous" 8 (or 10?) exclusive Sega games. The rest is history :D
The real catch here would be to attract more japanese developers, that's for sure. I certainly would see MS agree to this no royalty thing for exclusive Square games for example.
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I thought MS only did the marketing for the games. Do you have a link saying they gave them no royalty fee?
 
No way this will ever work. Do you realize how much money they'd lose? Where the hell would they make it back at? Xbox Live?
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Could be an April Fools thing, but this isn't really an uncommon practice. Happens all the time, especially with a hardware vendor trying to build some software heat. sometimes there's no royalty AND they PAY or contribute to the development of a title or titles.

Of course, WE'VE never been on the receiving end of such generosity (except in the TG days, which was such small potatoes it doesn't really count).
 
Firest0rm said:
I thought MS only did the marketing for the games. Do you have a link saying they gave them no royalty fee?
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It was an overall reduced royalty fee for 10 Sega exclusives iirc. Sega pays practically nothing in Xbox royalty fees to this day because of it... the only problem is that none of their Xbox games really sell all that well. Classic Sega. :/

Edit: I *think* the 10 exclusives were...

01 Jet Set Radio Future (Smilebit)
02 Gunvalkyrie (Smilebit)
03 Sega Sports World Series Baseball (Visual Concepts/Blue Shift/InXile Entertainment)
04 Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller (Hitmaker)
05 Sega GT 2002 (Wow Entertainment)
06 The House of the Dead III (Wow Enertianment)
07 Toe Jam and Earl 3: Mission to Earth (Visual Concepts/TJ&E Productions)
08 Panzer Dragoon Orta (Smilebit)
09 Sega GT Online (Wow Entertainment)
10 Spikeout: Battle Street (Amusement Vision/DIMPS)
 
Razoric said:
No way this will ever work. Do you realize how much money they'd lose? Where the hell would they make it back at? Xbox Live? :lol

No way I would support this if I was a stockholder.
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well, it did say they were only doing it for the bigtime devs, not everyone. this may be april fools though, so bleh. i hate this day. :/

jarrod said:
It was an overall reduced royalty fee for 12 Sega exclusives iirc. Sega pays practically nothing in Xbox royalty fees to this day because of it... the only problem is that none of their Xbox games really sell all that well. Classic Sega. :/
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they shoulda put Virtua Fighter 4 on Xbox and they shoulda waited and put the updated (and awesome) upgrade to Outrun 2.
 
I doubt Sony's closer partners like Rockstar, Square-Enix, Konami, etc. pay full royalty fees either, so I doubt this changes much.
 
lockii said:
Sony stands to lose the most out of this, if true. Nintendo doesn't have 3rd parties to lose ;)
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Who says Sony wouldn't match on the more important titles.

Besides, the major publishers EA/Rockstar/Namco/Konami/Sega/Capcom/Square-Enix probably already have locked relationships with Sony concerning third party licensing fees.

This could be why though Microsoft is not willing to match Sony on hardware, they plan to blow a lot of money by not charging much for licensing fees.
 
It could be the weakest machine and as long as it has good exclusive content, it'll be a great system. Sony proved that this generation...

No shock here, but I remain excited for all three upcoming consoles.
 
I have a feeling we're all going to be in for quite a shock come E3 re: PS3...

<rubs hands with glee>
 
soundwave05 said:
Besides, the major publishers EA/Rockstar/Namco/Konami/Sega/Capcom/Square-Enix probably already have locked relationships with Sony concerning third party licensing fees.
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:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol
 
Sega sells a lot of their games in Japan so I don't see them siding with Microsoft.

Despite all the Sega fanboy rallying behind the XBox on the internet, just about every game they've put on the XBox has tanked miserably.

I definitely think Sega and Sony will work together to come up with mutually beneficial agreements for both parties (read: Virtua Fighter 5 on PS3).
 
Despite all the Sega fanboy rallying behind the XBox on the internet, just about every game they've put on the XBox has tanked miserably.
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It doesn't help that Sega put all their shitty games on the Xbox. Oh yeah, I went there - bitches.

Well it helps me.

Now that Sega has realized that crap like Jet Garbage Radio are Donkey Bombs maybe they'll get back to making good games, circa 1995 and not crap circa 1999.

Sega needs Yakuza bosses again!
 
The Take Out Bandit said:
It doesn't help that Sega put all their shitty games on the Xbox. Oh yeah, I went there - bitches.

Well it helps me.

Now that Sega has realized that crap like Jet Garbage Radio are Donkey Bombs maybe they'll get back to making good games, circa 1995 and not crap circa 1999.

Sega needs Yakuza bosses again!
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All their games are shitty save for VF4 and SMB. I left out OR2 because its on Xbox anyway, and it also still bombed.
 
akascream said:
Except Sony's game division makes money, so they can afford it.
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yup, microsoft probably can't affort it [/sarcasm]

sounds like a 1/2 truth covered in an april fools gag. who here does NOT expect microsoft to pay for exclusives, etc. next gen.
 
chinch said:
yup, microsoft probably can't affort it [/sarcasm]

sounds like a 1/2 truth covered in an april fools gag. who here does NOT expect microsoft to pay for exclusives, etc. next gen.
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How much money has thier game division made off of the xbox so far? Somewhere around negative three billion last I heard.
 
kutaragicry.gif
 
Deepthroat said:
Isn't this kinda desperate by MS? Seems like they'll do anything just to get some games :D
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It's the same thing Sony did to get 3rd parties to back PlayStation initially (huge fee cuts for exclusive content). Hell, Sony invented "developer incentives".

Today's "desperate" manufacturer is tomorrow's market leader. ;)
 
If that's true MS is dumb. They won't make money on hardware (at least the first year), but software. Well, not anymore according to this :lol They should just let the big games be royalty free, not all of them.
 
How in the world would anyone think that not charging some developers/publishers a royalty would result in anti-trust violations and/or dumping charges? Or is it just more people talking out of their butt with no idea what they're talking about?
 
First of all I think it's an april first joke. If it's not, MS is doing a very smart move (unless there will be consequences from stockholders or lawsuits from the competition -I seriously doubt the second one) and I expect a lot of developers to jump ship.
 
Besides, the major publishers EA/Rockstar/Namco/Konami/Sega/Capcom/Square-Enix probably already have locked relationships with Sony concerning third party licensing fees.
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And they ALL had relationshops with Nintendo before the PS1 (Besides Sega.) Nintendo won for 2 generations, Sony won for 2 generations, maybe it's MS's turn.
 
Link316 said:
problem is you never know what's gonna become the next big thing
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That's true, but there's always the existing IP's that you know (or at least think) that will see quite a bit. If MS can possibly get something like GTA\MGS\FF, you know it will sell. The next big thing is a risk, but they can always say that if the game sells they won't take the fees (and return what they took), just in case it becomes huge.
 
Che said:
First of all I think it's an april first joke.
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I doubt it's an April's Fool joke, it make too much sense. Not to mention that it's not a very funny joke (not that that's ever stopped someone).

Che said:
If it's not, MS is doing a very smart move (unless there will be consequences from stockholders...
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Why wouldn't the stockholders like this? "Ok, you're charging less royalties to attract more good developers, which will result in more in-demand games, which will attract more gamers, which will attract more sales. THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"

Che said:
...or lawsuits from the competition
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On what grounds? "Ah, you're making yourselves more competitive by reducing a charge on something that has no material cost in the first place! PLAY NICE!"

Che said:
I expect a lot of developers to jump ship.
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If this is true, and widespread, I'd certainly agree with you there.
 
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