Microsoft's policies for third-party games on Xbox Live is terribly restrictive, as Eurogamer has discovered, to the point that titles which come out on PSN first are practically banned from ever being on Microsoft's console.
Unless a game is on Microsoft first or has a simultaneous release, with pressure to have some kind of benefit to users for purchasing it through Xbox Live instead of PSN, it's nigh-impossible to find the game on Xbox Live at all.
European Xbox boss Chris Lewis crossed his arms and started to pout defended his company's views:
We're a little biased, so obviously we're going to look to protect our own space as best we can and get exclusivity.
Whilst I can't be specific about the terms and conditions, you can be very confident we seek to maximise our own advantage to ensure the playing field is even, and certainly plays to our advantage wherever possible.
As you can also imagine, our partners have to be mindful of the relationship they have with all platform holders, and they need to be equitable…
But, honestly, and this is going to sound a bit contrived, we just want what our consumers want from us… It's great for everyone, and it makes for a very healthy race to higher and higher levels of quality of game experiences.
One anonymous publisher, though, believes that this emphasis on content parity is overdone:
Microsoft is suggesting that anything but parity will result in them not carrying a title. They may think this is competitive, but it's not. They are killing any creative exposure of titles to make up for their own platform's shortcomings.
[Source]
