| Dallinor said: Either way, the series went from 3 releases on the PS1, to 2 releases on the PS2 then only one release on the PS3 and it was initially only as a PSN title. I think the franchise may have been on the decline. |
Rubbish.
3 releases on the PS1, 2 releases during the PS2's life and 3 releases during the PS3's life. WipEout was still here - they were just spread out over handheld/home console rather than being solely on one.
All the other points you make are true, though. The series did top 1 million sales with WipEout Pure (PSP launch title - 'chartz numbers are off), but it's never been a stellar seller. It's more been indicative of Playstation culture than anything else. I suspect you're right about putting it on handhelds because there was more money to made from it there (smaller budgets and all). And to be honest, Psygnosis themselves never really made a runaway 'hit' game. Everything they've made has been small and niche at best.
Still devestating to see them go though. It's one of the reasons I love(d) Sony's WWS program so much, they supported the smaller studios developing niche stuff who would have gone bust years ago as independents. The case is kind of different with Psygnosis because they were such a big publisher in the 80's/90's, but other British publishing houses seem to be really struggling these days and I'd imagine Studio Liverpool as independents would struggle too (Codemasters having to pull back to just racing games; Eidos bought by Square Enix etc.)
