1st a History Lesson:
The PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable all have one thing in common. .. Their success was but built from 3rd Party Loyalty. Look at the Top ten game on each console listed above, they are ostly composed of 3rd party games. Its no secret that IP's like FINAL FANTASY, METAL GEAR SOLID, TEKKEN, TOMB RAIDER, RESIDENT EVIL just to name a few are what pushed PlayStation's into monster they were.
PlayStation in a sense was made by 3rd parties for 3rd parties and SONY just sat back with its feet on the table to reep the benefits. You cant Really blame them they were basically covered on all fronts: Action game? Let CAPCOM do it, JRPG? FINAL FANTASY should fiy the bill, Not to to say that SONY didnt have any involvement in its success because is the developer and publisher of a nice handful games... CRASH BANDICOOT, TWISTED MEDAL, SOCOM, SPYRO, ICO, SHADOW OF THE COLLOSSUS and Even todays IP's like UNCHARTED, RESISTANCE, INFAMOUS,LITTLE BIG PLANET and SONY's ONLY BIg Gun... GRAN TURISMO( yes I said only) SONY had it all.
Then comes the PlayStation 3
I have no idea what SONY was thinking but in its Mission to out " Hardcore" the other guys, forgot everything that made PlayStaion PlayStation... It did not defeat MS in that battle and the mainstream mantle that it left behind in its fight against the other guyS, NINTENDO swooped in recclaimed that, A very big mistake on SONY's part to let NINTENDO take back.
SONY lost more than just that mantle but its biggest strenght( now turned weakness) The Loyalty it had from its 3rd... TEKKEN, FINAL FANTASY, DEVIL MAY CRY's , RESIDENT E VIL no longer SONY's alone and just recently KOJIMA has plans to go Multi with the FOX ENGINE.
What does this Mean for SONY's PS4 and possibly VITA?
A Very Very Very tough fight and it stems form SONY's past mistake in not creating more franchises like GRAN TURISMO... Franchises that reach out to a broader audience has left SONY with 2 problems:
SONY has no UNIVERSAL IP's: PlayStation Fanbase is different from NINTENDO' and the Other GUY. You buy NINTENDO to 1st and formost play NINTENDO games..PERIOD. regardless of whatever kind of gamers that are on NINTENDO's console, NINTENDO can bet that they will all Unite to By the Next MARIO, POKEMON and ZELDA. Same thing with the others GUYS when they put that guy in greenarmor out or any 1st or 2nd party developed Shooter.. regardless of what kind of gamer is on that other console ..you better believe they are buying all it.
outside of GRAN TURISMO, SONY doesnt have any of these kinds of IP's or sorta... because of they let 3rd parties get big brfore them, THEY became those games FINAL FANTASY METAL GEAR TEKKEN ...but SONY doesnt own these,and they are on other consoles now while NINTENDO and the Other guys still have there IP's
SONY's current IP's dont have the Brand Power to Sell consoles: 1st party IP's should be made with 3 elements in mind
1. The abilty to showcase the ability of Hardware
2. The have the ability to appeal to a large chuck of gamers throughout the world....no....the Universe
3. Most importantly - To Sell consoles
all SONY's cuurrent IP"s do the first really well
SONY's IP's lack mainstream appeal, they are only aimed at certain gamers. Im shocked that SONY has no BIg IP's that are aimed at JAPAN. When PS3 beats the other guys... it will be BECAUSE of JAPAN why they have been ignoring JAPAN is mystery..and why they force SONY Japan to start creating theses types of IP's( cuase God knows Western developers cant do it) is a even bigger mystery. Like I said up above SONY fanbase is fragmented.. tthe ppl who buy KILLZONE are not all gonna buy SOCOM.. all the people who bought WHITE KNIGHT CHRONCKES arnt gonna be interested MAG...basically SONY cant depend on a good size of its fanbase to buy all thier games regardless of what kind of gamer they are like NINTENDO and the Other GUY
SONY IP's sell decent to Moderate, to this day SONY's biggest ahrdware mover was MGS4 and YAKUZA in JAPAN. The highest selling PS3 game is BLACK OPS..another party game...while SONY's own IP's - KILLZONE, MAG, INFAMOUS, SOCOM, LITTLE BIG PLANET are selling passable numbers. SONY's bg hitters UNCHARTED and GOD of WAR sold great moderate but comapred to NINTENDO and other guy IP' is just..ok. My point with this is Its not that SONY IP"s are bad sellers, they just dont sell enough to be system sellers.
SONY's goona be in a tight bind next GEN .. they dont have system sellers, and they dont have that 3rd Loyalty anymore, while NINTENDO and the other guys have 3rd party and there system seller IP"s....that they won.
What should SONY do?
Can there dead weight IP's and start fresh
KILLZONE
MAG
SOCOM
INFAMOUS
and maybe
LITTLE BIG PLANET
MOTORSTORM
Need to go!
and in there place IP's created with the 3 elements listed above
they need to tell SONY JAPAN to het off there ass and bring APE ESCAPE BACK! why AE? beause it has all the elements listed above..if SONY pushed AE hard enough it could be MRIO on SONY Console
push TEAM ICO to create projects with a broader appeal and shorter development times..TEAM has the ability tp create the kind of IP"s SONY needs
Push PD to set goals so GT doesnt take forever to get out the gate beacuase they dont know when to stop
A Big time JRPG for a worldwide( ok...this is just me,but still)
Please..Share your thoughts
