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Microsoft's Sleazy Tactics in the Video Game Industry?

Posted by Cliff on from the if-it-work-for-the-PC-market... dept.

Dyrandia asks: "I'm currently working on a Legal and Ethics course for my software engineering degree and have decided to write about microsoft's tactics of buying up video games and companies in order to keep games limited to their own platforms (pc and xbox). I am currently using the following games as examples: Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee; Halo (Microsoft bought the developers, however rumour has it that Halo will actually make it to PC next year); and Shenmue 2 (they even bought the rights to it so that it couldn't be released for the Dreamcast in the US, even though it was released in Japan and Europe). Does anyone know of URLs for sites that would have more information and possibly other games Microsoft has used similar tactics on?"

17 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Why take this as 'bad tactics'? by OnyxRaven · · Score: 3, Flamebait

    It is possible that there is a reason these companies were bought by microsoft. In the case of Bungie, it was to help fund the last phase of development for Halo, and to push the development of their next two games (Project Phoenix and something like Halo 2). Microsoft offered more people to work on the projects, more resources to produce a quality game and all within less time (It was crucial to the Xbox launch that Halo be shipped with it. It is the killer game for the Xbox still).

    Halo will be coming out for the PC and Mac, but it may not be for a while... personel are still focused on the next game release, and not porting the game to PC/Mac.

    Bungie will keep its name, as one of the many subsidiary companies of a larger company throughout the gaming industry.

    Its all about project funding.

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    --onyx--
    1. Re:Why take this as 'bad tactics'? by Keith+Russell · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Halo will be coming out for the PC and Mac, but it may not be for a while... personel are still focused on the next game release, and not porting the game to PC/Mac.

      I think Microsoft has another priority. Halo is XBox's Killer Game right now. As long as Halo continues to drive XBox console sales, they have no incentive to release it on other platforms, even if the ports are already done. Why buy a $299 console to play a game that's available for PC?

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      This sig intentionally left blank.
    2. Re:Why take this as 'bad tactics'? by photon317 · · Score: 2


      I guess that's one way to spin it.

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      11*43+456^2
  2. Is this really sleazy, though? by realgone · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I mean, pretty much every console out there lives and dies by their "exclusive" content.

    • PS2: everything Squaresoft
    • Nintendo: Mario, Zelda
    • X-Box: Halo
    It's not so much a Microsoft thing as it is an industry thing. I've fallen into their trap myself. I bought a PlayStation primarily to run Final Fantasy. I bought a N64 primarily to run Zelda. (X-Box? I'll wait for Halo on the PC, thanks. No mouse, no WASD, no service.)

    As fun as it is to punch MSFT in the nose every once in a while, don't blame 'em for this one... =)

    1. Re:Is this really sleazy, though? by OnyxRaven · · Score: 2

      dont knock the halo control scheme until you have tried it. I like it a lot - it lends itself well to the game.

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      --onyx--
  3. Sleazy tactics... by dtfarmer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now, I dislike microsoft quite a bit, but having been a gamer most of my life, this kind of thing goes on all the time in the industry. The only problem with the strategy here is that Sony has deep enough pockets to go head to head with Microsoft doing the same thing. In the end, though, MS has already lost the Japanese market, and Sony has such a larger user base worldwide that despite the difficulty programming the PS2 - developers will support the platform that has 25 million users better than the the one that has 2 or 3 million (especially when the XBox is still underselling PS2 by a factor, they can't catch up if they can't outsell) - I'm used to this idea, I'm a mac user.

  4. a better topic by AdamBa · · Score: 5, Insightful
    You could instead look at why people's view of Microsoft is so warped that a standard tactic like this pushes people's "legal and ethics" hot buttons.

    - adam

  5. Don't Forget SubLogic! by zulux · · Score: 3, Interesting

    SubLogic made Flight Simulator for Microsoft to brand - it also made Flight Simulator for other computers, even the TRS-80 CoCo has a version. After Microsoft bought SubLogic outright - the only playform they produce for belongs to Microsoft.

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    Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

    1. Re:Don't Forget SubLogic! by Kris_J · · Score: 2

      If you need any info on the SubLogic versions of Flight Simulator I have have the original C64 and Atari XL/XE versions of it. Manuals and everything if you need dates or developer's names or whatever.

  6. Empire Earth (by the same guy) by devphil · · Score: 2


    EE is like AoE with all the good add-ons included, and all the bad parts removed.

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    You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
  7. Re:Just Microsoft? by dimator · · Score: 2

    D'oh!

    /me hits himself in the face with a shovel.

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    python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
  8. This isn't sleazy. by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 2

    You want sleze in the video game industry, you go to the master: Nintendo. Go find a book called 'Game Over.' Read it. Boggle in amazement at the realization that Microsoft is a lightweight in the world of sleaze.

    --
    Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
    1. Re:This isn't sleazy. by Kris_J · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's not illegal or unethical.

    2. Re:This isn't sleazy. by White+Roses · · Score: 2
      True, but IBM, Nintendo and Sony don't generally make crap products and then tell you it's gold. The three companies you mention built their reputations more on providing quality products at (usually) reasonable prices. Sure, there was always a latest and greatest that you could buy next year, but it was more, "Only if you really want it," rather than, "Guess what, the only way to fix your current problems is to give us more money." They made the newer versions have better features so you did want them, which is not the way MS does business.

      The first Gameboy was pretty lame, but it didn't cause any Navy ships to go dead in the water. The early Walkmans were expensive, but didn't crash every third song. IBM . . . well, I guess I don't have a great example for IBM, but they are the only typewriter company still in business today. And why? Because the products aren't crap.

      How dare you call me blind when you can make such a comparison with a straight face.

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      Do not touch -Willie
  9. Single out M$ because it's a monopoly by yerricde · · Score: 2, Offtopic
    10 LET M$ = "Microsoft"

    Sorry, Microsoft is just playing the game in this case:

    There are some specific games that Microsoft is not allowed to play under United States law. Microsoft has been convicted of using a monopoly to create another. Leveraging its Title 17 monopoly on Windows software into a monopoly on the broader market for x86 PC operating systems is one thing; leveraging that monopoly into new areas (XboxOS is based on Windows 2000 Embedded) is another. Bill Gates III does not like to talk to the judge.

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    Will I retire or break 10K?
  10. Other tactics by Snowfox · · Score: 2
    As another datapoint for the paper...

    MS also frequently makes acceptance of 3rd party games contingent on the inclusion of a few XBox-only features. Sony (and presumably Nintendo) frequently do this as well. All three are guilty of the tactic the original poster describes, although MS may be pursuing it a bit more strongly than most.

  11. Digital Anvil by hether · · Score: 2

    Microsoft bought out Digital Anvil in Dec. 2000

    http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2000nov/gam20001 205003170.htm

    More often than buying up the companies, they just make deals with them where they are the only platform that that the game can be developed for.

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    Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.