Why does Sony fail at making another mega franchise?

[Doobie_wop]

RolStoppable said:

evolution_1ne said:

RolStoppable said:

Sony doesn't do amazing things first, that's why. Their games usually consist of ideas borrowed from somewhere else and mixed together. It's not surprising that Uncharted was compared to Tomb Raider and Gears of War a lot. Why did Gears of War do so much better? Because it redefined its genre and ever since then other TPS try to mimic its gameplay. God of War followed Devil May Cry. Killzone followed Halo.

nothing about gears of war was original, it was successful for the same reason Halo was successful, at the time of their release they were the only worth while quality games for the platform, which is why Halo success was never repeated. Also gears didn't redefine anything, that "revolutionary" cover system was a carbon copy of the cover system in killswitch, and game released last gen. but you wouldn't know nothing of that considering the level of ignorance in you comment (not surprising coming from you). God of war is nothing like devil may cry, a game I know you never played, you couldn't have. bayonetta is like devil may cry. and Killzone followed Halo.... seriously, how about you play them first and come back to me.

Why didn't LittleBigPlanet or Heavy Rain become mega blockbusters? Because they are not amazing to most gamers. The thing that's new in LBP is the extensive level editor, but most gamers rather play than create, so they don't care. Heavy Rain is more of an interactive movie and that's only amazing to a small subset of gamers.

and nothing is wrong with appealing to smaller markets.

Of course, this explanation works in reverse as well and that's why Gran Turismo is so big while it's imitators never come close in sales. Forza would be the most popular one and hardly anyone remembers Konami's Enthusia Professional Racing anymore.

If you want to hit it big then you either have to do something first or something that hasn't been done in a long time by anyone else.

but then you mention lbp and heavy rain, both games have done something first and hasn't been done by anyone else...... fail logic is so very very very very very very FAIL!!!

So much fail it isn't even funny..........

Sony doesn't do anything amazing first *sigh* demon souls, shadow of the colossus, 256 player in a single match......

now to answer op, because no one else but Nintendo does, Nintendo is by far the best at finding the biggest markets making great games for those markets and sticking to them, they play it safe and only take risk when the have nothing to lose, which is what Sony doesn't do, they are always trying to reinvent themselves  and refresh their ip's and franchises no matter how successful they are, which is why Sony unlike Microsoft and Nintendo aren't a defined brand and playstation doesn't have a mascot, it appeals to everyone and every franchise isn't around long enough to become extremely popular, GT is the only one that is and it's been 4 years since the first one have hit the console. But op you have to realize this is why fans of Sony love the brand so much. 

Doing something first or doing so in an amazing way are two different things. It doesn't matter that kill.switch used a cover mechanic before Gears of War. Or Operation Winback which predates kill.switch. And it was GeoW that redefined the genre, because it was only after that game that TPS developers started to regularly implement similar cover mechanics.

God of War is as much like Devil May Cry as Super Mario Bros. is like Sonic the Hedgehog. Do they have differences? Of course. But more importantly, are their similarities in the core gameplay? Absolutely. Killzone was a selfproclaimed Halo-killer. If the developers of Killzone say that they are going after Halo, then this is a clear case.

Regarding LBP and Heavy Rain, I already explained why the things they did first were not amazing in the bigger picture... and you have read that paragraph. What is amazing is not defined by me nor you. In any entertainment medium the market at large decides what it amazing and that is what gives birth to a mega franchise. Likewise, the market also decides when a mega franchise has to die. For example, Guitar Hero is not what it used to be.

You may think that Demon's Souls and whatever else is amazing and you are entitled to it, just like I am free to believe that Fire Emblem is super awesome. But your and my personal opinion doesn't overrule the market as a whole.

@leo-j

inFamous is more or less just another sandbox game with a couple of new ideas. Did the game do anything that would have an impact on the genre as a whole? I guess no. So the market sees another GTA wannabe game, even if that perception isn't fair.

Marketing is far more a factor in how a game sell's than the actual quality of the game. The market is ignorant and misinformed, most of the general public don't know they want something until they are told what to want. Nintendo would never have been the success that it was if they didn't start grabbing celebrities for ad's, putting the Wii on talk shows and advertising the system non-stop for the first three years of it's release. The same applies to their games. 

You've seen the marketing push that's followed games like Halo 3, MW2, Gears of War, Wii Something Something, Mario and Gran Turismo. If little Timmy had never heard about Halo from his TV box or never read the back of a Mountain Dew can, he most likely would never have heard of Halo. People could say that word of mouth is the cause of their success, but that only works after the ad's kick in because they have to develop a large enough userbase to spread the word to a significant amount of people.

Your opinion on what games are innovative and important is skewed because I'm willing to bet that you don't play most of the PS3 games you've mentioned or you already have some sort of weird affiliation with another console that hinders your enjoyment of PS3 games.