Dreamworks Studios has announced that they are still “locked” into an exclusivity deal with Toshiba to distribute their movies on HD DVD only and would continue to do so until Toshiba tells them differently.
“We have a partnership with Toshiba and have an obligation to see this through,” DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said.
“As you know, we have been well-compensated for our support. It really is in their court at this point to really declare what the next step will be. We’re poised either way to jump into the marketplace when the conditions are right to do so,” he added.
Katzenberg’s comments seem to imply that all the past rumors were indeed correct and Dreamworks and Paramount were paid over $150 million USD to go HD DVD-exclusive for 18 months. It seems however that Paramount had a different clause in there contract because they recently dropped HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray.
Result for: exclusivity
Crytek, the developer of the hit game Crysis, has announced that it will no longer be PC exclusive in the future, citing growing piracy as the reason why.
For those not into computer gaming, Crysis was arguably one of the most highly praised PC-exclusive for 2007 and even one some awards for its stunning graphics.
In an interview with the magazine PC Play, the studio’s director and founder, Cevat Yerli noted that there are a number of problems besetting his studio, the worst of which is growing piracy.
“We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin… PC gamers that pirate games, inherently destroy the platform.
“Similar games on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us, and I believe we won’t have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future. We are going to support PC, but not exclusive anymore.”
After that answer Yerli was asked if Crysis would be ported to consoles in the near future. Unfortunately not added Yerli, stating that it would be nearly “impossible,” and that the game would have to be “largely changed to bring it to Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.”
Result for: exclusivity
Two Italian carriers have announced today that they will be distributing the 3G Apple iPhone later this year, meaning that Apple is apparently abandoning its model of carrier exclusivity for the phone.
Both Vodafone and Telecom Italia made announcements claiming they will be offering the phone to its customers later this year.
“Telecom Italia announces today that it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Italy within the year,” the carrier said in a small statement.
The announcement should be welcoming to European citizens who have so far steered clear of the iPhone due to lack of 3G compatibility, steep pricing, and limited carrier options. In the US however, the exclusivity contract the company struck with AT&T seems to working fine as sales are high.
Recent reports have cited the high volume of European customers unlocking the phones themselves to use on GSM based carriers of their choosing as one of the other reasons for Apple’s latest decision.
