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Jonathan Blow Issues Clarification Regarding The Witness' PS4 Exclusivity

When Jonathan Blow took the stage at the PlayStation 4 announcement earlier this week, some people walked away from the event thinking that his new game, The Witness, is a PlayStation 4 exclusive. To clear up the confusion, creator Jonathan Blow posted a new entry on his blog

"Our deal with Sony is a limited-time exclusivity that applies to competing console platforms," he wrote. "Basically it is that you will see the game on the PlayStation 4 for a while before you will see it on the Wii U or the rumored next Microsoft console. (We haven’t been disclosed on Microsoft’s next console, so I don’t know anything about that platform besides the rumors that are on the internet). This exclusivity does not prevent us from being on the PC or iOS at launch, for example."

Blow also addressed the chatter from some of the more cynical corners of the Internet claiming he sold out by signing this deal with Sony.

"People have been speculating that we got paid for PS4 exclusivity, but that is not the case," he wrote. "There was no money involved."

So why did he sign the deal? 

"The real situation is that, because we are a small developer, we only have the ability to launch on a small number of platforms at once...To launch a high-spec version of the game on a console, it came down to a choice between the next Microsoft console or the next Sony console. There were people at Sony who really liked the game and were keeping in touch with us about it, and so we naturally started going to their PS4 developer events, got a dev kit, and started playing with it. I don’t have good communication with anyone at Microsoft right now, but all our technical people like the PS4 specs a lot more than the leaked Durango specs, and we like the positioning of the PS4 (it’s about games) more than what we perceive Microsoft’s positioning is going to be."

To read more about Blow's decision, head to his blog by clicking the link above.

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Comments
  • Yeah I never thought it would be exclusive by the way he said it. Something like it's the only console that it will be out for during the launch time.

    But smart move for Sony by... well caring about games and the developers of games.

  • WELL OKAY THEN...

  • "and we like the positioning of the PS4 (it’s about games)" That statement just put a huge grin on my face. I could not be more excited for the direction of the PS4.
  • so basically this time the PS4 is coming out first
  • I'm not sure about this game. The enviorns look cool but all the puzzles look the same
  • BTW not interested in the PS4..I bought the PS3 because it was the cheapest BluRay player at the time...now I dont have to buy PS4 because the new Xbox will have BluRay on it...
  • "we like the positioning of the PS4 (it’s about games) more than what we perceive Microsoft’s positioning is going to be"

    "This exclusivity does not prevent us from being on the PC or iOS at launch"

    I don't get his logic. He cares about a games focused machine and yet he wants the game to be on iOS at launch. This is after he brings up HW specs as a reason for going with PS4, which I find odd considering his game could easily run on current gen hardware from everything I've seen of it. I think his choice is more a financial one and less of a philosophical one or a preference of specs. He probably likes the PS4 open publishing setup and ditto for Steam and iOS, which naturally favors him in multiple ways, the most important of those being money. More people will buy this game at launch than further down the line. He earns more money on each sale on these platforms than on XBL Arcade, so they get it first. He should just say that because there is no shame in it and all these other reasons he keeps tossing out conflict with each other.
  • That seems like a big call to make on the perception of console direction. I think he may know a little more about what MS has up their sleeve and is strongly hinting at the focus of their next console. I take this as MS is hitting hard with the box being the center of entertainment in the living room and taking games from the central focus of the hardware. That's just speculation from those quotes, though.
  • That so many games are bound to jump to other platforms is why I'll wait until the other platforms come out to decide.
  • I don't blame him for not wanting to deal with M$. They really screwed him over with Braid (then again, they screw over a lot of indie devs). Also, did he just confirm the durango? is he allowed to do that?
  • I'd been following The Witness as is, and already knew it would be available on the PC. I think someone needs to look up the word "exclusive" and find out what it means. So many news sources were using that word and it was incorrect.

  • yay, figure this will be better on PC anyway.

  • The way he talks about the next xbox is...scary. May be time for me to get my first sony console
  • It'll be on the Wii U? Sweet.

  • I like this guy, very transparent
  • Finally, someone who's honest about the way Microsoft operates.

  • jonathan blow is wonderful. he seems to always speak carefully and deliberately, and i am fascinated by his mind. i will be among the first in line to play the witness upon its release.

  • Current gen would be nice.

  • Oohh, thats a pretty big diss to Microsoft, considering he released Braid on Xbox Live. But I agree, the play station looks focused on games, no gimmicks.

  • I'm glad you're smart, Jonathan Blow.

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