By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
JWeinCom on 01 December 2012
Edit Thread
Jay520 said:
JWeinCom said:
Jay520 said:
JWeinCom said:

Hmmmmmmm... So Sony released a derivative fighting game with a poor roster and a lack of polish and its sales are poor. Whodathunk.

The game might reach 1.5 M. Maybe 2M if you want to count bundles. Ok for the average game. For a game that features all of Sony's biggest franchises, and was their big release for the holiday... kind of sad.


Edit:  What's with this new IP rationalization?  Calling this a new IP is maybe technically correct, but willfully dishonest.  When a game launches with 20 supposedly well known characters that should negate a huge portion of the trepidation most new IPs face.  This isn't some risky obscure new title...


Huh?


Perhaps I phrased that poorly, but the point is that this game has characters like Kratos, Drake, Sack Boy, and a bunch of other Sony's main franchises.  So, it instantly has far more name recognition than something like Dishonored or Catherine.  

And no, that does not negate the roster sucking :)

Aside from Nintendo, since when were mere characters strong enough to negate the disadvantage of being a new IP? Sure, consumers may recognize the characters, but that's only a tiny part of the game. That doesn't mean they're going to be convinced to buy the game. There are much more important gameplay factors. The game could be crap from a consumer's perspective and that's why its treated like a new IP. 

The characters in PABR may be slightly recognizable but the actual game is not. So I'd expect a low opening just like I'd expect a low opening for a game nearly every film-to-video game adaptation, or a game like DC Universe, even if they have memorable characters. Merely having memorable characters isn't enough to encourage consumers to risk their money like its an established franchise. Consumers still know nothing about how the game plays, which is the most influential factor in the game's enjoyment.

Not to mention Sony doesn't have a single character with the popularity of say...Mario, Master Chief, etc. Kratos and Nathan Drake are the biggest characters in the game and they are not big characters at all.

It's not like I expect EVERY GOW or Uncharted fan to pick up the game, but you'd expect that fans of those games would at the very least be curious about  the title.  Even with a cult classic like Parappa, you'd expect a decent amount of old parappa fans to want to check out the game.  I mean, I bought Tatsunoko vs Capcom just to play as Mega Man Volnutt.

And that's the problem I see here.  I can't say for certain, but I think the awareness and interest in this game pre launch was reasonably high.  I know the youtube ads and such had big numbers, and the game had VERY strong coverage on sites like IGN, stage time at E3, a free open beta, presence at Evo, and so on.  I would imagine that fans of these various franchises checked out the game and just said "meh".

That's the problem when you make a game like this.  People see it and think "oh that's like Smash Bros".  Whether that's fair or not is a discussion for another day, but it's hard to deny that at least on a superficial level people see PSASBR and think Smash.  And it's hard for them to get really excited about something that's already been done incredibly well.  Sony needs to do a much better job of differentiating their products from their competitors.