Why does Sony fail at making another mega franchise?

[zgamer5]

RolStoppable said:

Rpruett said:

This had better be a joke. 

It's not even remotely accurate in most accounts.  Do you think that Gears of War was the first third person shooter?   Or that Devil May Cry was the first 'slash em up' ?    Killzone followed Halo but Halo followed a myriad of other games.

Gran Turismo certainly wasn't the first racing game.

Little Big Planet did sell well, but not spectacular.  Yet NSMB Wii sold spectacular.  Why?   Little Big Planet had rights to the multi-player / platformer far before it did.     Heavy Rain is a one of a kind type of gameplay experience.

My post must have hit a nerve, because it keeps getting quoted. What I got out of this thread is that the most favorite explanation as to why Sony doesn't have more mega franchises is due to Sony sucking at marketing their games. That reasoning isn't sound, but it does what it is supposed to do: protect the games. In other words, there's nothing wrong with the games.

But the games themselves are the problem. None of them with the exception of Gran Turismo are really genre-defining, so nothing that Sony makes becomes huge. Their games usually borrow elements from already popular games. Sure, Sony's games are polished, but they lack the wow-factor of offering something new. This isn't a Sony only problem, it holds true for pretty much every major publisher in the entire industry.

Now I'll address some of the things you said.

Do I think that GeoW was the first TPS? I said that it redefined its genre. If that isn't clear enough, in order to redefine a genre, games of that kind have to exist already. So no, I don't think that GeoW was the first TPS. Devil May Cry wasn't the first of its kind either, but it made its genre popular years before GoW. Halo changed the FPS genre on consoles and other games still take inspirations from it to this very day. Killzone brought nothing new to the table, at least not anything that other developers would be eager to imitate.

Gran Turismo redefined its genre, no other racing simulation before it offered so many licensed cars. So games that do something outstanding have a chance to become mega franchises while games that do not have no chance. Since Sony mostly uses ideas that have been done before and polishes them up, their games just sell well, but not spectacular.

NSMB Wii would have sold more than ten million copies even if it had only two players taking turns like previous games of the series. This franchise was already huge and had an amazing track record. What LBP had going for it was the extensive level editor, but as I already said in another post in this thread, most gamers aren't interested in building their own levels. And LBP as a platformer is really not that good of a game as anyone who has played platformers during their golden era on the 8- and 16-bit consoles will most likely confirm. Heavy Rain is unique, but never had any massmarket appeal. For what it is, it did very well commercially and exceeded everyone's expectations.

rol please answer, your post is wrong on so many levels. im going to say it again a game wont be big if its genra refining! again example with halo and gears. which games doesnt get an insipiration?  what game this generation gave you a wow factor? 3 sony games gave me a wow factor this gen: heavy rain(for the story and the interaction) little big planet(the create part) and kz2(for the weight system), now those franchises arent big, because you necessarily dont needa  wow factor to become big! why cant you grasp that? also stop insulting the games of sony.

again gears of war didnt refine its genra, you guys says that because you never heard of games like kill switch which had the same elements( blind fire, cover system....) i already told you that, when will you learn?

the only thing halo did was it made fps games popular on consoles! it didnt redifine the genra.( the game which made fps popular is counter strike). also the akimbo guns the health bar the shields were all done before. only thing it had as redifining is the forge. nonetheless the first halo is one of my favorite fps games of all time.

so just because the elements in killzone arent being copied it means that its not unique? that shows it that to put such elements in a game you have to have dedication and you have to take risks.(also il have to add that battlefield bad company: 2 has in a way a weight system)

and you think that if lbp was a better platformer it would have sold more? that is ridiculous, the market on the ps3 isnt their to make it a blockbuster hit. also if most gamers arent interested in building their own levels lbp woudnt have had over 2 million levels. also if they are like somsone like me who doesnt like building levels they can just play levels, i would rather play new levels every day then play the same ones over a year.