God of War III PS3 Bound, Barlog Leaves Sony

Gamespot is reporting big news in the God of War world today. Fans of the series will be happy to know that the company has confirmed the next game will be released on the PlayStation 3. At the same time, the company also announced that God of War II producer Cory Barlog is no longer with SCEA. "Barlog's departure remains shrouded in mystery. So far, he has shared no information about his future plans on his personal blog, where he last posted in mid-October. His exit comes just under four months after God of War series creative director, David Jaffe announced he was leaving SCEA's employ after 14 years."

Comments

Ohh Barlog...

[fuo]

I read this as Balrog leaves Sony...

too bad, that woulda been bad-ass

Re:Ohh Barlog...

[Anonymous Coward]

Come now; there's no way Barlog could be a balrog. He has no wings, for one thing.

Re:Ohh Barlog...

[Dr. Eggman]

Funny, I also though Balrog, but I though Balrog

Re:Ohh Barlog...

[fitten]

I read it that way too... and was wondering if we finally found out why Sony had become a bunch of evil bastards over the past few years and now they might turn around and be good guys.

But?

[LWATCDR]

Will it be a port of the PS2 version?
Sorry I just couldn't understand why GOW2 wasn't a PS3 Exclusive? It would be like Microsoft coming out with Halo 3 for the XBox.

Re:But?

[Anonymous Coward]

1) You missed a numeral. That's GoW3, not GoW2.

2) Sony, unlike Microsoft, has a successful console in the past generation that they can still make money and reap strategic value from releasing things from (well, at least they could reap it until they started dropping backwards compatibility, but that's a different rant). Releasing a game for a failed and abandoned console makes no sense. For the most successful console in history, much more sense.

Re:But?

[Megane]

Keep in mind that the PS2 is still way outselling the PS3.

Microsoft wanted none of that, so they burned their bridges from the start, by stopping Xbox-1 production when the 360 was released. It was probably costing them too much to source those 5-year old PC parts anyhow.

Re:But?

[Anonymous Coward]

everyone was better off releasing god of war 2 for the ps2

when they started working on the game, the ps3 development kits were either
a) not available
or
b) not ready for serious development

why rush a game on a new platform when you haven't had time to figure out the in's and out's of that platform.

the best they could have done would be to delay god of war 2 a couple of years (which is bad), or port a ps2 version to the ps3 - and no one would win that way...

not to mention your user base of the ps2 is probably about 50 times that of the ps3 - your current audience for the ps3 is minimal at best, let alone a year ago.

also i'm not sure if u could consider god of war a 'console selling game', but it's probably pretty close (at least a lot better than what they had) - but a ps2 port at launch just wouldn't look good to this new franchise.

Re:But?

[LWATCDR]

The XBox was a failed console? Sorry but that is just weird view of the world. The XBox was very popular. Yes the PS2 out sold it but by that standard the PS3 is a total failure as is the PSP!
I don't think it makes a lot of sense to release an A class title as an exclusive for your last generation console when your current generation console has been out for six months!

Re:But?

[inotocracy]

GoW2 is still a great looking game even on the PS2. I'd be tempted to pick up a PS3 just for GoW3.. assuming the game play doesn't go out the door with Barlog.

Re:But?

[trdrstv]

Keep in mind that the PS2 is still way outselling the PS3.

Right, but Strategically for Sony it would be better if they had a system seller available when the system launched or early in its life, to promote adoption of the console. The PS3 has some good games now, but none that are system sellers in the way that MGS4, or God of War would be.

Re:But?

[LWATCDR]

"Microsoft wanted none of that, so they burned their bridges from the start, by stopping Xbox-1 production when the 360 was released. It was probably costing them too much to source those 5-year old PC parts anyhow."
I think that Microsoft stopped production of the XBox for the same reason that Nintendo stopped production of the GC. Nobody was going to buy them. The PS2 is still selling because they are still releasing games for it. People are still writing for it because the PS3 didn't fly off the selfs.

Re:But?

[pokerdad]

The XBox was a failed console? Sorry but that is just weird view of the world. The XBox was very popular.

I don't really agree with the idea that XBox was a failure (though for different reasons than you I suspect), but is it really that alien to you that someone might think so? Just to play devil's advocate, here are some very good reasons a person might consider it a failure:

• It was a finacial failure
• Though very popular in North America it was a distant third in most other markets, especially Japan
• It was largely seen pre-launch, with plenty of help from MS, as the Playstation killer; the box that would do to Sony what had been done to Nintendo a generation earlier. This, of course, was nothing like what actually transpired.

Re:But?

[Anonymous Coward]

What's so weird about it? Companies create game consoles so that they can make money. From that standpoint, considering that the XBox never turned a profit, was produced for only 4 years, and put Microsoft billions of dollars in debt, it was a massive failure.

Re:But?

[asc99c]

The PS2 is still a very profitable venture though. Sony has actually got a pedigree in making consoles profitable over their lifetime - both the Playstations stayed on the market a good long time. The Xbox was just at the point where it could start to break even and it was cancelled - just not enough units were selling. The Wii has taken another approach of launching a product that was immediately profitable. Maybe Sony could push people to upgrade PS2 -> PS3 by cancelling the old model but it would be at the cost of making less money over the system's lifecycle.

I'm rather worried that so far MS isn't showing many signs of creating a profitable business model around the Xbox. The claim it should be profitable in 2008 seems to be mainly based on counting $1bn losses this year so that they don't need to count them next year. Profitability isn't much of a problem for Microsoft with money flooding in from Windows/Office, but if they do manage to capture the market, potential competitors will be put off re-entering it - there's just not much point if there's no money to be made over a product's lifetime. Part of the reason for the success of the Xbox has been the relative ease of programming. The reason for this is mainly down to Microsoft's monopoly in PC gaming - DX10 is mostly shared between PC and Xbox. I'd hate to see them extend this monopoly to yet another area.

Re:But?

[LWATCDR]

As far as being a financial failure I just don't know if I trust that. I wonder if you may not be seeing Hollywood style accounting there.
Only being popular in North America? North America is a HUGE market. I frankly don't think that an American made console will ever do well in Japan. The Japanese market is far more nationalistic than the US market. Heck PCs had a hard time making it in Japan. Fujitsu and a few other Japanese PC manufactures made MS-DOS but not PC compatible machines for years that dominated the Japanese market. Only when the Japanese made a big push in laptops in the US did that really change in Japan. Selling a US console in Japan is probably harder then selling a Japanese cowboy hat in the US. The Japanese are going to buy Japanese video game consoles and that is that.
I do agree with your third point. However I wouldn't count the 360 out as a Playstation killer. The Wii is the current run away hit but with the hard core gamers I know the 360 is the current king. They love the online play and they love the graphics. The 360 seem to be the king of HD gaming in North America and Europe.

Re:But?

[Anonymous Coward]

As far as being a financial failure I just don't know if I trust that. Dude, get out from under that rock. Consider it another way, if it HAD made any gross profit, you'd have heard about it from Microsoft by now.

Japan...
How did the XBox do in all the other countries of the world then? Maybe they're just all nationalistic.

So you have a machine that never turned any profit, never achieved its goal of PS2 domination, and had its production stopped as soon as the 360 came out. That's a failure, friend.

Re:But?

[dancingmad]

The Japanese market is far more nationalistic than the US market...Selling a US console in Japan is probably harder then selling a Japanese cowboy hat in the US

I am so sick of hearing this meme bandied about the Internet. It's frankly a little racist, if you ask me - "of course the Japanese are xenophobes!" Let me refute this bit of armchair cross cultural punditry.

I live in Japan and people like to buy quality here. Usually that is associated with a Japanese company, but not always. Apple's products, the iPod, their laptops are considered cutting edge here and a lot of people have them. Even in my office out in the middle of nowhere, one of my coworkers has a Macbook and just got an iPod Touch. The mayor has an iPod video (they both beat me, I just have a 4G Photo). Most PC makers are having trouble here (though Dell isn't doing so bad), but most U.S. PC makers suck. Apple caters to the audience here and if the Apple stores in Ginza and Shinsaibashi are any indication, they are doing just fine.

When companies take Japanese consumers into consideration (robust options in language and aesthetics) they tend to do well here.

Maybe it's not all of Japan being xenophobic - maybe Microsoft won't cater to Japanese audiences? The most popular games in Japan this week that I know of are Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 (which is awesome, by the way) and Mario.

When I go to GEOS (sadly, Tsutaya, my favorite game/cd place in Kansai isn't as popular in Tohoku) there are tons of Xbox 360 games for sale, including Oblivion. The same game that was sold for the 360 UNTRANSLATED in Japan. It would have been impossible to play for 99% of Japanese people. Even despite that, there are few games Japanese people like playing for the Xbox. Most Japanese gamers don't like FPSes.

Another coworker has a 360, which he mostly uses as a media center. He has two games for it Blue Dragon and Dead Rising (he's also played Eternal Sonata). I'm an Oblivion fan but I see how it probably doesn't appeal to Japanese tastes.

Re:But?

[LWATCDR]

One it isn't racist. It is an observation of a market. If I said NO Japanese person would buy a US made console then that would be racist.
PRGs are a lot more popular in Japan than the US. FPS are more popular in the US than Japan. Guess what, I am am not a huge FPS fan and I do like RPGs. My favorite games are RTS games and Flight Simulator.
You are correct that part of it is being attractive to Japanese tastes. The problem is that Japanese software companies don't really seem interested in porting to the XBox. Again I would say that is part of the the Japanese market being nationalistic when it comes to game consoles.
It has nothing to do with being Xenophobic or racist. It has everything to do with cultural bias. Every culture has them as part of their culture. The people in France will never think that wine or cheese from the US is as good as French wine and cheese. English beer will never sell as well as German beer in Germany. A Japanese style cruiser style motorcycle will never be as good as a Harley Davidson even if it is technically a very good prodcut. The XBox is very unlikely to ever be an important development target for Japanese game companies. Of course if a company makes a REALLY GOOD PRODUCT like Toyota trucks and Apple notebooks then they can over come that cultural bias.
BUT FOR GOODNESS SAKES STOP MAKING EVERYTHING ABOUT RACE WHEN THIS HAS NOTING TO DO WITH RACE!
A person of Japanese decent living in the US is as likely to want to by an XBox as someone of Irish decent living in the US.

Barlog

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought Barlog worked for Capcom.

Film at 11.

[Kirin Fenrir]

Breaking News! Sony game franchise to be a Sony console exclusive!

In a related story, the sky is blue. More details as they come in.

They're taking the Barlogs to Microsoft!

[charlesbakerharris]

"A Barlog of Mogrosoft"

"What did you say?"

Dialog

[Anonymous Coward]

Balrog: I'm going to leave Sony!
Sony: I can't let you leave.
Balrog: No! I'm leaving 4 realz!
Sony: YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

*lighning bolt*

end scene

From an anonymous source...

[nonos]

Rumour says he had an affair with Stuart Scott...

What does this mean for GoW?

[Devir]

Ok, GoW was simply one of my favorite series for the PS2. It took me a while to pick up, pretty much after it wentto the $20 classics mode.

GoW2 was even more so incredible in story, game play and just all out fun for mature people.

Taking the PS3 out of the equation (I have one) what does his departure mean for the series?

How much input did he have, how much of the game was because of him? Will his departure leave the GoW franchise an empty shell the same way When Peter Molyneax left Bullfrog and EA made a valient attempt at Dungeon Keeper 2 and Populous whatever. Ultima became a nothing when Garriot left...

People hate Sony, and Microsoft, and some cheer when good people leave those companies. But what do these departures really mean to the Game franchises we love?

Re:What does this mean for GoW?

[evann]

It may mean that the old franchises we love are going to be replaced by new franchises we will love. If a guy was such an influential and creative person, another company will put 'em to good use.

Re:What does this mean for GoW?

[nuzak]

> When Peter Molyneax left Bullfrog and EA made a valient attempt at Dungeon Keeper 2 and Populous whatever.

Dungeon Keeper 2 was more of a face lift, but was otherwise an excellent game and what DK1 should have been. Shame that it doesn't run on XP (for more than 5 minutes at a time anyway). Populous: The Beginning was a rather different game, but excellent on its own merits.

What did Molyneaux bestow on us in the meantime? Black and White, a virtual pet with a mediocre RTS tacked on and a control scheme that hates normal people. Fable, a story of great myth and superreal fantasy -- those adjectives are to describe the marketing, of what was otherwise a standard action/console RPG with no really coherent plot.

I miss Bullfrog too, but it's clear that Bullfrog was not Molyneaux alone.

Re:What does this mean for GoW?

[hansamurai]

I'm sure it will hurt the series in some way, but the original creator of God of War, David Jaffe, is still around. He worked on GoW 1 and 2 (along with Barlog).

Re:What does this mean for GoW?

[Frenchy_2001]

I'm sure it will hurt the series in some way, but the original creator of God of War, David Jaffe, is still around. He worked on GoW 1 and 2 (along with Barlog).

From the summary:
His exit comes just under four months after God of War series creative director, David Jaffe announced he was leaving SCEA's employ after 14 years.

So, no. They lost both it seems...

Re:What does this mean for GoW?

[AbRASiON]

I also have similar concerns.
Rumour has it that he and not Jaffe influenced GOW1 and GOW2.

I'd love for GOW3 to be kickass and I do hope it is but it sure is a shame to see this guy go if he was the primary influence.
Sony need all the support they can get right now, despite the haters - so many internet posters fail to realise, without Sony - we'd only have Microsoft (for the 'hardcore' gamers) to rely on and frankly that idea doesn't please me.

(no, I'm not a Sony fanboy, I'll be buying both consoles eventually, infact the 360 likely first - but we NEED competition and right now, Sony aren't doing so good)

Let's hope GOW3 is awesome because it's one of the reasons I'd buy a PS3.

I can tell you why...

[Hamster Lover]

If you watched any of the DVD extras that came with God of War, you would have heard David Jaffe talk about how much money was spent developing all of the custom tools they used to create the game and how much material didn't make it into God of War because of time constraints or technical hurdles. A lot of that material made it into God of War 2, such as the Icarus wings, and that combined with the mature development tools allowed SCEA to push God of War 2 out just a year after God of War was released. If they had moved the game to the PS3 such a timeline would have been impossible and it is likely the game would still be in development.

In completely unrelated news...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Microsoft announces that a new, completely unrelated and innovative game called 'Goddess of Major Conflict' will be released for the XBox 360 in late 2008."

Why should fans be happy?

[7Prime]

Why should GOW fans be happy that it's being released on the PS3? Shouldn't that be "PS3 fans" should be happy that it's on the PS3? Because nowhere near all of the GOW fans are ever going to purchase PS3s to play GOW3 on.

Why be happy about a game being released, exclusively for the most expensive console with the lowest market share?

Re:Why should fans be happy?

[ToasterMonkey]

You could say that about ANY sequel launched on a new platform. If you want the game that bad, get the new system. Has this changed at all in the history of video game franchises?

Besides, you're better off whining about Wii sequels. I can stand right in front of dozens of titles I want, cool accessories, etc, and have no hope of buying a Wii. This hasn't changed for about a year now. That being said, I'm not shedding any tears because the sequels to my favorite games weren't released for the Game Cube instead. Only a fool would (OK, maybe children too).

Re:Why should fans be happy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why be happy about a game being released, exclusively for the most expensive console with the lowest market share?

Playstation 3 80GB version (with 1 bundled game): $499
Xbox 360 Elite (with 2 bundled games): $499

I don't know about you, but those prices look pretty similar, minus one bundled game.

Re:Why should fans be happy?

[7Prime]

Wii = $249
XBox 360 Core = $279
Wii + 1 game = $298
XBox 360 Core + 1 game = $338
XBox 360 = $349
PS3 40Gig = $399
XBox 360 + 1 game = $418
PS3 40GIG + 1 game = $458
XBox 360 Elite (with 2 games bundled) = $499
PS3 80Gig (with 1 game bundled) = $499

I'm sorry, but no matter how you try to cut that up, the price of entry to play GoW3 is a lot more with the PS3 than on anything else. Let me just show you the price of entry for every system:

Wii = $298
360 = $338
PS3 = $458

There's a $40 gap between price of entry between Wii and 360, and then there's a whopping $120 gap between 360 and PS3. Sure, at the high end, they converge, with one less game on the PS3. But at sheer price of entry, there's no comparison. Hell, there's no comparison, period. The PS3 is still a lot more expensive. You can buy a 360 with a game for $61 less than you can buy the PS3 alone. When the 360 starts looking like it's closer to the Wii price point than the PS3, you've got a problem.

And let's face it, the PS3 starts, uncrippled, with the 80Gig version, at $499. The normal 360 is uncrippled at $150 less. So if we're comparing uncrippled systems, price of entry is:

Wii = $298
360 = $418
PS3 = $499

Here we have a $120 difference between Wii adn 360, and a $81 difference between 360 and PS3. Still the PS3 comes out way more expensive.

Needless to say, I think I'm entitled to say that the PS3 is a lot more exensive a console for fans of a particular game to ask for.

Barlog shouldnt leave sony!

[Saidog]

I have a PS3 and I think that Barlog should stick with sony!