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id Software on Rage Going Multiplatform: Xbox 360 is Primary Development Platfrom

id Software has, through the years, been a premier PC development house, producing great technology mostly exclusive to PC. However, the company seems to have been affected by changing times, as they recently went wholly multiplatform with Rage, their upcoming shooter, ditching PC-exclusivity for console release.

Gamespot talks with company CEO Todd Hollenshead about the shift. And here’s what he had to say:

Well, actually it’s been a fundamental, sort of philosophical shift at the company, is that we really have transitioned from, first and foremost, a PC developer to a multiplatform developer. And so when John [Carmack] developed id Tech 5 (see below), it really was targeted from the initiation as a multiplatform technology solution.

Now, there’s no question that our roots are in PC gaming. And when I play a first-person shooter, keyboard and mouse is the configuration that I want to play on. I’m devoting my gaming time right now on the PC to Quake Live. I like a little Rock Band on the console, to be honest about it. But we feel like, in terms of your triple-A, big-budget, big-market title, that you really have to be cross-platform to be successful, unless you’re a first party.

So as an independent developer, we feel like we have to be on all the relevant platforms. So we don’t really view ourselves as PC first. I think I would say that John says that probably the primary development platform for Rage is actually the 360.

So, there you have it: Rage is primarily being developed for Xbox 360. Let the online game boards flame up.

id: No Rage This Year

Bearing bad news for us all is the latest episode of GameTrailers TV where id Software’s CEO Todd Hollenshead revealed that the studio’s open-world shooter Rage definitely “won’t be out this year”.

While there was an initial confusion over whether he said “will” or “won’t”, host Geoff Keighley confirmed via Twitter that the game isn’t coming out this year.

id has remained mum on the title’s release date so far. They are still sticking to their age-old saying: “when it’s fun and when it’s done.” Next year then?