Why Achievements But Not Trophies?

[Neilcamp]

Does anyone know why some games have XBox achievements but not PS3 trophies? Tomb Raider Underworld is like this. It seems that it couldn't be that much additional work to add it but perhaps it is.

Is there some substantial difference between the concept of achievements and trophies?

I'm a "collector" by nature so having this (admittedly silly little) trophies in a game adds a slightly different and additional gameplay element.

It appears from everything online that Tomb Raider is unlikely to get trophies so I will go ahead and play it.

And it drives me just slightly crazy when trophies are added after I finish the game (Uncharted, Fallout, etc.). Oh well, a good reason to revisit them sometime in the future...

[gnunn]

I assume because a lot of those games are developed on the 360 and then ported to the PS3. With time crunches and short schedules, I imagine trophies would not be high on the priority list. Also, I believe trophies were only recently made mandatory for developers in 2009 whereas achievements are mandatory on the 360.

[prufrock]

You would think it would be a fairly easy patch to code, but perhaps the PS3 is more difficult to tinker with after the fact.

I personally don't see myself as an achievement whore, but with a game like Fallout, having the trophies has lead me to explore whole new areas in the game that I would have missed otherwise.

[99semaj]

I think gnunn's latter point is the correct one...it only recently became part of the PS3 framework, and one has to wonder if there's any ROI to go back in and release patches just to support it.

[Haroon]

And yet there are games that came out around the same time or slightly before/after that did have trophy support e.g., Prince of Persia (about 2 weeks after), Far Cry 2 (about 2 weeks before), Sonic Unleashed (2 weeks after).

Others released on the same day that if I remember correctly had trophy support right out of the box include Mortal Kmobat vs DC U, Shaun White Snowboarding, Alone in the Dark...

And then you have PS3 exclusives like Valkyrie Chronicles that have no trophy support either.

[iamstillvince]

sometime in beginning of this year, feb i think, ps3 trophy support becomes mandatory so all games after that point will have trophies

[Haroon]

I believe the announcement was starting 2009 all games will support trophies. I can't think of any notable releases with the exception of Lord of the Rings Conquest coming up pretty soon which does support trophies...

[MiniVan]

Since it's not mandatory the game developers probably dropped it for launch. Too many other things to finish. Battlefield: Bad Company added it later.

Tomb Raider may add it with a system update. They I couldn't find any news on that.

[Chizzer]

Time crunches are a big reason, as stated. Ports are a cash grab, and development time costs the big bucks.

Another reason is guidelines and requirements. I know the Microsoft has VERY strict guidelines for Achievements, and I imagine that Sony has similar guidelines that may not always mesh with Microsoft's.