Microsoft ‘quite negative toward user-created content.’
Amidst all the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 hands-on impressions and high-resolution videos, Gamasutra sat in on a Q&A session with Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney during TGS, where he discussed the difficulties and benefits of working with the PlayStation 3 hardware, how game development will change in the future and his enthusiasm for Sony’s “enlightened business model” when it comes to online gaming.
Sony’s approach will enable Epic Games to grant fans access to create their own content for Unreal Tournament 2007 using Epic Games-released development tools and distribute them to PlayStation 3 users. Nothing like this has been attempted on consoles before because it wrestles control over content from the publishers, but Sweeny says he “would love to transfer this mod community over to the console platforms.”
One of the key differences between online gaming in the PC space and the console world is the interaction between the gamer and the game itself. On the PC, developers typically release tools that open up entire communities to creating modifications, ranging from a new character to full-scale conversions of gameplay and assets. Previously, this hasn’t been possible on consoles.
Microsoft has started taken steps towards this issue with the release of their XNA tools, but this limits fans to developing their own games, not producing additional content for existing releases. Considering how shooter-oriented the Xbox machines are, it’s a little disheartening for the hardcore, and with the advent of microtransactions, it’s a little difficult to remove cynicism that Microsoft simply doesn’t want to take away from potential profit.
Even Sweeny agrees Microsoft hasn’t been easy to negotiate with on the issue. “Unfortunately it’s [Xbox Live] more of a closed platform,” and says they’ve even been “quite negative toward user-created content.”
If Sony’s gamble is successful, we could see an interesting balance between user-created content and developer-driven, more polished, purchasable releases. The model works on the PC — why else do you think companies are able to sell expansion packs while users continue to crank out their own content? The question is whether Microsoft will end up following suit.
Source: gametab.com