Controversy over Xbox 360 exclusivity deals

A Namco Bandai Europe community manager has withdrawn comments suggesting that Microsoft paid for Xbox 360 exclusivity on role-playing title Tales Of Vesperia, despite earlier claiming the opposite.

Junior community manager Charlotte Toci previously claimed via Facebook that Microsoft had paid to ensure that Tales Of Vesperia remained an Xbox 360 exclusive in the West and was not be released on the PlayStation 3 outside of Japan.

"Microsoft paid for the exclusivity the same way Sony paid for having Heavy Rain only on PS3," she originally said. "It's just one way the business works, sadly. Those decisions are made really high up y'know, we do try and give them the max of fan feedback, but sometimes it's just out of our hands."

Toci has now insisted she had no official information before making the statement and has retracted her claims.

"A few months ago I replied to a fan who asked me why Tales of Vesperia wasn't localised in Europe on my Facebook page. I replied that it was because of a Microsoft exclusivity, thinking that that was the reason why, even though I didn't have any official information on that," she claimed in a recent post.

"I was wrong to do so, and sadly my reply was relayed on many websites, thus sharing a false information to fans around the web."

"I would like to send my sincere apologies to all the Tales Series fans I have wrongly informed, and Microsoft and Namco Bandai for any damage that might have been caused with this."

Although lower profile exclusivity deals such as the one originally implied by Toci are still believed to take place within the industry they are rarely acknowledged by either publishers or console manufacturers.

Namco Bandai has not yet commented on why Tales Of Vesperia has not been released on PlayStation 3 in the West.