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the_dengle said: I'm aware of the relationship between the PS2 and GBA versions of Tony Hawk games, my point was that Activision went to great lengths to make that game a strong IP on every possible platform 15 years ago, and now they seem content to settle for just a few platforms when they could be reaching a wider audience with far less effort than it took to make an entire game from the ground up. |
This part of your argument is one of the bits I'm having a problem with. Back in previous gens, Tony Hawk games were part of an IP Activision clearly saw lots of potential in - it was still growing and growing across each successive entry. Since the 7th gen, pretty much, the IP has slowly been assassinated by poor entry after poor entry to the extent where it clearly wasn't viable anymore. Right now, this game seems like quite a cynical attempt (even down to the naming) to cash in on the last bit of goodwill left in the IP - so comparing it to how things were 15 years ago is not a good comparison to me. You seem to be making out that an extreme sports game in 2015 is something which has broad appeal and should be put on as many platforms as possible - that's just not the case any more.
Compare it to something like Skylanders. A new IP with broad appeal, still growing that - coincidentally - does get ported to every platform under the sun (including WiiU and 3DS - not Vita still, admittedly). It's not the best example due to it being a younger-skewed IP (which third parties don't have a problem putting on WiiU in general), but it's the best example I've got for now since Activision don't do a whole lot else apart from CoD.
As for the rest of your argument, I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here. I'd rather we were still in an age where mid-level titles are made with reasonable budgets that make reasonable profits. I'd rather games that were capable of being ported around to multiple platforms were ported around. I'd rather publisher goodwill took precedent over short-term profits. But I can understand the view that publically-traded company wants to see big profits, and there's a host of other options other than a minor goodwill profit from porting a game around these days that seem more attractive.
