Microïds follows up on their
Syberia 3 April Fools' Joke with word that while the whole PC/PS3 forced
co-op thing is a gag, they are indeed working on a next installment in the
adventure game series for the PC (thanks
Joystiq). All joking aside, they are also hoping to make a PS3 release, but
based on history, are not completely confident that Sony is going to share these
hopes:
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 Fool’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:
supporToSyberia3PS3@microids.com
SYBERIA 3 on PS3, an April Fool’s? It’s up to SONY!”