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Jonathan Blow Explains Why The Witness Won't Be On 360 And PS3
Last month we reported that The Witness, the upcoming indie title from Braid creator Jonathan Blow, may not make it to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Now it sounds like this decision is pretty much set, and the developer has spoken up about why he's decided to stick to PC and iOS.
Speaking to Edge, Blow explained why it wouldn't be worth it for him to spend the extra time porting this title over to five-year-old consoles:
"We like 360 and PS3, but their specifications are over five years old now, and that's a lot in computer years. The kind of tricks we'd have to perform to get this game working on those platforms are such a lot of work that to port it over at this point is just not worth it for us. The budget of this game we would hope to make back through Steam and iOS, plus I would like to make a profit. But breaking even is most important as it allows me to keep making games, and I can do that without consoles."
Blow left open the possibility that he could be "singing a different tune" in a year. He also admitted that he will need to do some work to make The Witness run on the iPad, but he noted that he could do that as well as game updates without the intense certification process that Sony and Microsoft have in place for their consoles.
Blow also mentioned that he's interested in the Wii U, given rumors that it will be a more powerful system than the 360 and PS3, but he also said he's "unsure about that platform for other reasons."
For whatever it's worth, Braid eventually made its way to Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and Mac. Blow's reasoning for currently choosing to avoid the consoles seems solid enough, but if The Witness is as great an experience as Braid was, I hope it will be available the the widest crowd possible.
[via Joystiq]
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