Grand Theft Auto's An XBOX-Connected Franchise Now? Right.

After all, would I prefer Grand Theft Auto IV DLC exclusivity for 12 months, or a whole new Wipeout game? The $50million Microsoft paid for that GTA DLC is probably in a similar ball-park to what would be spent on a mid-large PSN release (perhaps less) and thus, absolutely I'd take the latter. But when it comes to franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy, I do wonder why Sony are letting Microsoft bully them.

Take Final Fantasy XIII for example. The game's getting a huge push on the XBOX 360 right now. An exclusive bundle, some avatar content, so on and so forth. Is Final Fantasy XIII on 360 going to outsell the PS3 version? Of course it's not, not in this world. But Microsoft are making people aware the game's coming to XBOX 360. They know what a draw the Final Fantasy franchise has been to the Playstation in the past, and I'd imagine their sole aim is to match that.

The same is apparent for Metal Gear Solid. The way Microsoft handled the announcement of Metal Gear Rising at last year's E3 was almost smug. "Now we finally have Metal Gear Solid coming to the XBOX 360." I'd imagine Microsoft will push the game on their platform in a similar fashion.

My question is: why are Sony letting them?

When it comes to Final Fantasy, GTA and Metal Gear Solid, the games were always due to go multiplatform. Honestly, for franchises as big as these, it doesn't make sense to focus on a single-platform. But this is where Sony should be using their connection, and historical affiliation with the franchises to bury the Microsoft version. The Japanese Final Fantasy XIII PS3 bundle should be coming to the West. Sony should have announced Metal Gear Rising, not Microsoft. Sure the press-release would list the XBOX 360 version, but Sony should be burying these connections. These are inherently historical Playstation titles, and yet Sony are letting Microsoft tell everyone about the XBOX versions. Why?

One can only imagine dollar signs are involved, but when it comes to the marketing of inherently Playstation products, I just can't understand why Sony aren't spending some of their money here. Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid and, to a lesser extent, Grand Theft Auto are historically Playstation-related franchises. Why not remind people of that?

“Twiggy” is an anonymous PushSquare columnist who has been spotted in three major cities across the globe. It’s rumoured he’s on the run from the British monarchy who accused him of treason.

Previous entries in the “Twiggy” range: