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Team17 boss Martyn Brown has refuted the accusation that the developer has been “bribed” by Microsoft to release Alien Breed Evolution as a timed XBLA exclusive.
Speaking to VideoGamer.com in an interview at the Develop conference in Brighton, studio director Martyn Brown said that Team17, the developer behind the hugely successful Worms series, gets “more promotion” from Microsoft in exchange for exclusivity.
Alien Breed Evolution, the latest in the Alien Breed series that began in 1991 on the Amiga, is a lovely-looking sci-fi horror co-op shooter that’s due out this September or October on XBLA, with PS3 and PC versions due later.
It’ll be released in three parts, offering in total around 15 hours of single-player gameplay.
When asked to explain the exclusivity deal, and if he had any words for potentially upset PS3 owners, Brown said: “I understand that. It’s difficult. Obviously we’d like everything on every platform day one. The LIVE Arcade thing… we get accused of being bribed or we’ve took Microsoft’s money, and it’s all bollocks.
“The reason is that we’ve got a long relationship with Microsoft’s first party unit. We get on great with them. In exchange for exclusivity we get a lot more promotion. We’ve got a closer deal with them. That’s just how it is. It’s unfortunate. That’s just how we work.
“If we were a standalone publisher, then yes we’d do both formats. But the sales and promotion we get on LIVE Arcade far outweighs the reason for doing that. It isn’t the case of here’s some cash in a suitcase. It just doesn’t work like that. It would be nice if it did!
“I appreciate PS3 owners getting pissed off because it’s not on their platform immediately, but that’s up to Sony I guess to address that.”
Brown added that exclusives are “just the way the world works”, and pointed to PSN exclusives Super Stardust and Pain as examples of games Xbox 360 owners don’t have access to.
“They’ve [Sony] got their own exclusives. You look at Super Stardust, which is exclusive to PS3. It works the other way round. For people complaining, at the same time, people on LIVE Arcade can’t play Super Stardust or PAIN or a bunch of titles. It’s just the way the world works really.”
Wondering what all the fuss is about? Never heard of Alien Breed? Check out our hands-on preview of the game and all will become clear.
What do you think readers? What’s your take on timed platform exclusives? Let us know in the comments section below.
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