Jay520 said:
JWeinCom said:
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.
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Sure, they would be curious about the game, but that doesn't mean they would pick it up. Just like a Star Wars fan wouldn't necessarily just buy Star Wars: The Force Unleashed because they're familiar with the story. Star Wars and this game both face the same disadvanteges as a standard new Ip. Consumers do not know anything about this game aside from what it looks like on the surface. That's not enough to not consider as any other new Ip.
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But... Star Wars the force unleashed sold in excess of a million copies across the three systems in its first week. Even the Wii version sold about 250K despite nobody ever buying non-Nintendo games on Nintendo consoles ever. The games reviews weren't any better than PSASBR. Do you really think that the force Unleashed would have sold that well if it was a completely new IP without a popular license? Not a chance in hell. Star Wars the Force Unleashed benefited greatly from being part of a well established IP. It had a HUGE leg up on actual new IPs.
So, if Star Wars got such a huge bump due to its license, why not PSASBR? I don't expect Sony's franchises to have the same kind of following Star Wars does, but considering that they have their biggest franchises reprecented and they have an audience completely comprised of gamers, shouldn't we expect SOME boost over an actual new IP which features no recognizable characters? Kratos, Drake, Ratchet, Jak, Sackboy, and Cole have to be worth SOMETHING don't they?
So, we come to one of two conclusions. Either
A) The collective value of Sony's franchises is absolutely nothing.
or
B) People thought Playstation All-Stars looked like crap.
Either way, not good for Sony. If I was a Sony fan, I'd be rooting for B.
