I mentioned in previous postings that Vanguard, an upcoming MMOG originally to be published by Microsoft, has now switched publishers to Sony. This is interesting at least in part because the founders of Sigil, the developers of Vanguard, originally jumped ship from Sony’s EverQuest team to develop their game.

Anyway, I came across this post on Joystiq regarding another possible explanation for why Sigil separated from Microsoft. Basically, the rumour is that Microsoft wanted Vanguard to be an exclusive release on Windows Vista. This would mean that folks who have Windows XP would have to upgrade to Vista to run Vanguard. It would also mean that Vanguard couldn’t be released until Vista ships.

This explanation has a ring of truth to it. Microsoft wanting to tie Vanguard to Vista’s release was something I hadn’t thought of, but it makes a great deal of sense. Likewise, I could understand why Sigil would have a problem with that. None of the gamers out there in PC-land have Windows Vista today, and forcing them to upgrade to play would undoubtedly limit Vanguard’s market. And furthermore, Vista has been delayed several times, by well over a year- linking the release of a product to Vista’s release seems a poor choice if you want your game to be out on time.

But who knows what the truth is?