Why Heavy Rain is a 9/10 game

[saicho]

RVDondaPC said:

Gh0st4lifE said:

CGI-Quality said:

forevercloud3000 said:

CGI-Quality said:

WilliamWatts said:

CGI-Quality said:

I just got through reading this article. My favorite piece: (This is very much a 'Sony game'). Not only do I agree that it is, but I'm glad they mention that. Give better insight into Sony's tastes when it comes to sales. They prefer these artsy, story-driven games that don't do 10-20 million in sales, not even 5. They just prefer the top-notch quality, which as a gamer is most important.

Thats like totally not true. You're just spinning the fact that they haven't had a few massive sellers by saying 'oh they wanted it that way'. If they had released 2-3 5M + sellers you'd be singing another completely different tune 'gamers just respond well to quality Sony first party titles' or something like that. If SCE could make a game equivalent series of Spiderman they would!

It isn't? You can prove that it isn't, even when the article itself hints at it? Where in there do I say that they don't want high sales? I said the games they prefer don't sell those huge numbers. Sounds to me like an agenda you had in quoting me.

I think what my man CGI was getting at was not that sony dont want 10million seller games. Thats crazy talk, if one of their series started selling that much they would gladly embrace it(see GT).

What he means is that sony is looking to inovate a genre rather than just pump out what the rest off developers are doing. What was the idea behind Gran Turismo? To create the most realistic driving sim known to man, not to make a game that sells a lot. This was at a time when Racing games were pure arcade style and abhord realism, it was seen as not fun enough. This is Sony's trademark.

You got it.

 

Who could possibly believe a corporation chooses not to issue blockbusters but limit itself to niche products ???

Again,Brandpower got you fooled into believing something absurd.

 

Perhaps Sony doesn't have many 5 million plus sellers out there. But that's not a policy !! Either they haven't published yet the potent titles (GT5), had them go multiplat (GTA4, FFXIII) or had their attempts fail (Killzone 2).

I will now explain to you why this is so and show that CGI is in fact correct even if he doesn't know why or can't explain why... 

I would like to preface that yes Sony is a business and they want to make as much money as possible. However as contradictory as it may seem, selling as many copies of a game as they can isn't necessarily the best strategy for which a console manufacturer can make money in the long run. Sony's strategy in it's game publishing is to create distinct experiences. They do this by supporting games that are unique and may not be huge sellers but that they will greatly resonate with a certain minority of the gamer world. If you add up all these different niche groups that Sony tries to resonate greatly with, you are left with the entire market that will have some sort of wanting desire for a Sony game.

Their belief is that if you make games that greatly resonate with smaller audiences then it will have a stronger pull with those gamers to buy the PS3 and be loyal to them. Thus in the long run those gamers will buy their third party games on Sony's system and not only will Sony make money but it will keep other developers happy as well. With each game that Sony releases they try to grab handfuls of each niche target market. This is so with games like MLB: The Show. That game will never sell more than what it's audience is limited to which is probably 1.5 million tops(or much lower). However Sony makes this game because they believe that there is a group of die hard baseball fans out there that will be greatly influenced by the presence of MLB: The Show and the likely hood of them buying a PS3 is much greater. The same theory is applied to Singstar. The game will never sell more than it's limited audience, but Sony feels that it will have a strong pull with that niche group of gamers(so strong that MS felt the need to make Lips). The same theory can be applied to Little Big Planet, MAG, Eye of Judgement, BUZZ!, Gran Turismo, Shadow of the Colosus, and many many other games that Sony publishes. 

This is different than the strategy that other consoles/publishers may apply which is to make games that can sell as much as possible. This may mean selling a lot more copies of a single game but because the game is intended for broader audiences certain compromises must be made and thus the game may not be distinct enough for it to have such a strong pull or absolute desire from it's purchasers. Therefore people may purchase the game in greater numbers but very few will desire the franchise so much that it will feel some sort of sense of loyalty to the game and/or publisher. One recent game that refused to make this commercial compromise that I could think of and thus has suffered with sales but has resonated greatly with it's smaller audience and thus their fans feel a strong loyalty or great desire for the game now, is Bayonetta. Unfortunately it's a third party title and their is no rub off effect that Sony gets when they publish such a title.

Obviously in the business world there are many other variables (such as price, technology, social influence, etc.) that effect the results of certain strategies but Sony does believe in there strategy. I'm not saying it's the best strategy, or the worst, it's just one strategy that they have chosen, and this allows them to create unique experiences and give their developers more freedom and create this passion from their userbase. That is probably the reason why Sony fanboys are so adamant about their system and why even at a higher price point there seems to be a strong demand for the console. 

While you raised some good points, I do have some questions.

1. Gran Turismo is a niche market game?

2. While I understand the idea of pblishing games in a variety genre might be Sony's strategy to diversify the game porfolio, games that offer distinct experience are not the only games Sony publishes. While Sony publishes MLB: The Show, LBP, MAG, EOJ etc, they also publish more traditional games like Resistence series, Killzone 2, Uncharted series, Ratchet & Crank series etc. It's just that none of them really hit it big.

3. This is purely speculation but with your examples, you are saying that Sony would rather have 5 games in different genres that sells 1 mil each instead of having one game that sells 10 mil. I find it hard to believe. While diversified library of games certainly has its influence on gamer's buying habbit, I would think that one or two blockbuster games are the ones that make gamers make the purchase.