Microids prez confirms Syberia 3 for PC, says PS3 version is in jeopardy because of Sony
Good news, adventure fans. It turns out that Syberia 3 wasn’t an April Fools prank after all! The PC release is a sure thing according to Microids prez Emmanuel Olivier, but there’s still some questions about a possible PS3 version. Why? Because of Sony. In a press release, Olivier accused Sony of censorship and exorbitant royalty fees, both of which are keeping a PS3 release of Syberia 3 from becoming reality.
Good news, adventure fans. It turns out that Syberia 3 wasn’t an April Fools prank after all! The PC release is a sure thing according to Microids prez Emmanuel Olivier, but there’s still some questions about a possible PS3 version. Why? Because of Sony.
In a long press release/call to arms, Olivier accused Sony of “censuring” (I think he means “censoring”) Microids in the past by denying a US PS2 release for Syberia 2 and a dozen other Microids titles. Furthermore, Olivier said that Sony demanded “exorbitant royalties” which have amounted to more than half of Microids’ turnover for the PS2.
The statement also asked all fans of the Syberia series to rally and support Microids in convincing Sony to “change its rules”. Here’s the press release in its entirety:
Paris, April 17, 2009 – Following the countless messages and questions from fans which followed our announcement on April 1st regarding the launch of Syberia 3, Emmanuel Olivier, President of Microïds, gives more details on that announcement.
“Syberia 3 is not an April Fool’s joke. The game is highly expected by the community of fans of adventure games and fans of Kate Walker and it will be launched, it is one of our most strategic projects at Microïds and we have been anticipating it for a long time.
It will be released on PC for sure, however, on PS3, this could actually turn into an April FoolÂ’s joke because SONY is the only decision-maker on this point, as strange as it may seem to some people.
Benoît Sokal, the author of Syberia and Syberia 2, has mentioned several times in the press that he would only participate in a sequel to his masterpiece if he had enough financial means to design and develop an exceptional title. Today Microïds is ready to invest in this ambitious production. But everyone knows that to amortize the development costs of a major video game with that level of quality, it is essential to develop it for multiple platforms, PC and consoles.
However Sony Computer Entertainment has already censured Microïds in 2003 by denying that Syberia was released on PS2 in the United States though it had previously been released in Europe on that console. The same refusal happened for a dozen other Microïds titles for the U.S.
Beyond this censorship of the authors and their producers who believe in their creations and who take the financial risks when building up productions for the console without knowing whether they will be approved or denied by SONY in the last minute, the exorbitant royalties demanded by SONY to manufacture the games on its consoles seriously hamper the financing ability of independent producers. Microïds has paid more than 15 million Euros of royalties to SONY for its entire catalog, which represents 55% of the Microïds turnover for this platform. April Fools? Well no! It is unfortunately the “rule of the game” imposed by SONY.
The revenue shortfalls due to the PS2 games we were not able to sell in the United States, a highly significant territory, coupled with the excessive royalties paid to SONY for the European territories, have so far prevented Microïds from having the ability to reinvest in an ambitious sequel to the Syberia series.
So today we launch an SOS to all fans of the Syberia series: let us rally to support the independent creation and convince Sony to change its rules. Send all your messages of support to: [email protected]
SYBERIA 3 on PS3, an April FoolÂ’s? ItÂ’s up to SONY!”
Emmanuel Olivier
President
Microïds
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