Though EA will deny sort of relationship or special deal with Microsoft, there’s no denying that the Xbox holds a special place for the publisher’s different studios. PopCap Games producer Brian Lindley recently spoke to OXM about the initial development process and how the game’s migration to the Xbox One, where it is a timed exclusive, felt natural.

“It was kind of interesting. We have a lot of experience with the Xbox platforms, and our primary development platforms at first were the Xbox 360 and PC. And I think as EA’s relationship with Microsoft has grown and improved, it was just a natural migration for us to go from PC and Xbox 360 to Xbox One. And it’s a great piece of hardware, it’s given us the opportunity to make the game look incredible, run at a great frame rate and just visually be really impressive.”

Did Garden Warfare initially start life on other platforms? According to Lindley, “It didn’t really come about that way. We’d always envisaged ourselves as a very focused game, and I think the relationship with Microsoft just made it a convenient place to start. Additionally, we’re kind of a small team. We’re not really staffed to just launch on five or six platforms at once, so we really needed to focus on a couple of platforms to start with, and then the relationship with Microsoft has made those choices easier for us.”

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will release on February 18th 2014 in North America and February 20th 2014 in Europe for Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

While the Watch Dogs DLC has yet to be properly revealed (only indicated as an extra 60 minutes of gameplay), we do know that the Assassin’s Creed IV DLC is centered around Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation protagonist Aveline de Grandpre and will take place across three missions, making for an extra hour of gameplay.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is slated to release worldwide for Xbox 360 and PS3 on October 29th, with the PlayStation 4 version releasing on November 15th/29th in NA/EU. Watch Dogs will be releasing in Spring 2014.

(Source)

Of course, Activision being Activision – which recently showcased a next generation engine for the Call of Duty franchise at this year’s Game Developers Conference – was going to try and monetize the next generation as soon as possible. So word of a new engine? Not exactly mind-blowing.

But the bigger surprise is the fact that the developer will be showing off the game at the May 21st reveal of the next Xbox. We already know that Ghosts is coming to all present and next gen consoles. Heck, Activision has used opportunities like this to showcase timed exclusive DLC and whatnot. However, this is the first time the company has planned to premiere gameplay footage for an upcoming game of the franchise at a console-exclusive event.

Couple this with a few other facts: It’s been reported that Microsoft’s internal development of games isn’t going so well. Is it above the company to resort to outright buying a blockbuster’s timed exclusivity? Especially considering how much of a money maker the console has been for the franchise in the United States and Europe (and yes, those are the only countries Activision is concerned about).

The Xbox 360 has been pretty undefeated in sales in the United States, reigning supreme for more than 25 consecutive months. That’s more than two years of nothing but the Xbox 360 on top. We’ve seen the PS3 come out with AAA exclusives, besides a new Super Slim model. Nintendo has released its next generation Wii U console, riding on the success of the original. And yet, Microsoft’s console won out.

The decision to have timed exclusive DLC content for Call of Duty games may have been overtly anal and ridiculous, but it worked to marvellous effect. It even increased demand for the DLC – and all of that is extra revenue, remember – on PSN and PC. The DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops II has been ranking in the top 5 for PlayStation Network sales since its release earlier this year.

And I hate Black Ops II. I realize there are several people out there who like it and respect, but geez, that damn game.

Why is Sony pursuing the same approach with exclusive content for Watch_Dogs and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag? Because it wants to drive sales for its console when it launches. Neither of those is timed exclusive (for now) and Sony’s line-up which includes Killzone: Shadow Fall, DriveClub and inFamous: Second Son – with more titles be revealed at E3 – isn’t exactly the most encouraging one.

That the company considers it the best line-up it’s had in the history in PlayStation is telling of how much it over-estimates the popularity of those franchises – even among their “core” fan base.

Coming back to Call of Duty: Ghosts, as of now, there might not be anything really extraordinary about it. It could end up just being yet another Call of Duty title – which they’ve all become as of late, whether you’re a fan of the formula or not – but that’s just fine. For better or worse, the series is successful because fans expect a certain kind of gameplay befitting the game.

Whether it’s repetitious or monotonous is irrelevant – they like it, and they enjoy the hell out of the multiplayer. And while it’s not just Xbox 360 gamers who are enjoying the series, they are the highest margin of gamers who pick up the games in the United States. Why else would Activision be so concerned about bringing the best version of Call of Duty to the Xbox 360?

Whether Microsoft has something special with the Xbox 720 or Durango or whatever it ends up being called it another issue altogether – there can be no denying however that whatever timed exclusivity deal the company has set up for Call of Duty: Ghosts will end up striking a major blow at the PlayStation 4’s success.

We’ll wait and see, especially in concerns to how close both consoles release to each other, but this generation’s console war may be even hotter than the last.

Sure enough, SCE Worldwide Studios boss, Shuhei Yoshida talks about how , “We need to make sure users consider the PS4 version to be the best and the one that they want to play.

“That might mean that the graphics are better, the controller is more comfortable, or the point I mentioned earlier about the console being more user-friendly, like you don’t have to turn the power on and off or you can switch between your game and Netflix at will.”

In conversation with 4Gamer.net, Yoshida also talked about how “you can start playing as soon as you want to and quit whenever you like” on smartphones and tablets and that, “PS4 will be a home console that can do that too.”

We’ll see how far that rings true when the PS4 releases this Holiday season.

Speaking to Kotaku, he stated that, “If you are an independent you have zero marketing money. You have nothing. Then you need someone to support your project. So, if someone asks you for exclusivity and it’s going to help you to bring out your product into the market, I think that can be good. Sometime, I think it’s the only way to get something out.”

Apparently Papa & Yo “cost $1.5 million to make and we’ve already made a part of our investment back.” The studio is currently going to release the game on Steam in hopes of recouping more of its costs.

“It’s a great opportunity for us because Sony really helped us to push the game out and make people know about it, and then they really helped us in the development, too. It was an amazing relationship.”

Minority Media’s next title will be coming out for the Android-based OUYA console.