Since E3 I've seen a new trend in forums … talk of game developers being "greedy" and "only out to make money". I managed to ignore the first few I came across by simply rolling my eyes, but enough is enough.

So what started all this in the first place? I'd say it was the announcement that Final Fantasy XIII was coming to the X-Box 360. For what ever reason … some people were outraged (I assume it was the folks who only bought the PS3 for that title … opps). Soon to follow this "outrage" was talk of Square-Enix betraying Sony and becoming greedy … only out to make money.

To those people I say the following: Shut Up.

Here's a couple of things to consider

1) Square-Enix does not belong to Sony; they are an independent development company.

2) Square-Enix has put several games out for the GameBoy Advance and the DS (which included several Final Fantasy titles), you didn't complain then. (I won't mention the GameCube game … )

3) The number one goal of ANY company (remember that's what Square-Enix is) is to make money. This doesn't make them greedy; it keeps them in business which in the long run makes you happy too. Consider the following:

Developing on more than one platform = More Money/Profits
More Money/Profits = More Staff, More Developers, and Very Happy Shareholders

More Developers = More Games and New Game Ideas
More Staff = Faster Development Time
Very Happy Shareholders = Freedom to continue with what you're doing with little to no interference

More Developers + Happy Shareholders = No Rushed Titles (nice, wouldn't you say)
More Staff + More Developers + No Rushed Titles = Great Games with less development time

Great Games + Gamers = Very Happy Gamers (that's you) and High Sales Figures
High Sales Figures = More Money/Profits

See how that works …

Now, you might disagree with the faster development time part, but consider how long a title like Final Fantasy XIII would take if they had less staff than they do now.

Finally I'll simply ask you this

If you had a software development company and roughly 92% of all computers on the planet were windows based, what platform do you develop your software for?

Let's say over the next few years the trend changes and only 50% of computers are windows based, 25% are Mac based and the rest are some other type. Do you still develop exclusively for windows? If you say yes … get ready to lay people off, have your shareholder breathing down your next, and lose millions in profits.

Please apply this to any development company you're ready to brand a traitor in the future.

As news comes in about Sony's recent "update troubles" all I can think is "Yet another blow for Sony..."

At least people are starting to realize that the only reason Sony has had a huge "kung-fu like" grip on the industry is because the last time around, most developers were exclusive to them. If you're an RPG fan like myself, you pretty much had to own a PS2 if you were going to play any good games.

Well that's changing ... Imagine my surprise when I learned that Star Ocean 4 was for the 360! But wait there's more; Square-Enix had several other projects slated for a 2008 release on the 360! And let's not forget that even Capcom joined in (Resident Evil 5). I know the Japanese have been slow the welcome the 360 ... but that may change soon.

After being a huge Sony fan boy for so long (just look at my game collection...) I find myself with very little reason to grab a PS3. To be honest, the 360 is looking mighty good to me right now.

It seems to me that in their mission to put out the most "impressive" console (be honest ... there's a ton of bells and whistles) they forgot what made them giants in the first place. And forgetting something like that is costly ... just ask a Sony shareholder.

Next came the slow sales and a long line of excuses to explain the slow sales. Some people say the price is too high. Well I bought the PS2 for $300 years back. Why? Because it was shinny? No, they had every game I wanted to play. At that point, they could have squeezed at least $400 out of me. (Please note that this was on a poor college student's budget ... I ate a lot of roman that semester ...) You want to know why their sales are so slow, nearly every note worthy game of this generation has been available on more than just the PS3.

People said Microsoft's idea of getting a head start was silly, heck I was one of those people. Now I see why that idea was so key for them ... it's leveling the playing field.

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing left to watch is if games like Metal Gear and Final Fantasy can save Sony. If they can't, I wonder how much work Sony will be willing to do in order to rope all the developers back in. Would they even be able to do that?

But heck maybe I'm wrong, maybe they'll come storming back and everything will be like it was. What do you think?