Jason Schreier: Sony's Obsession with Blockbusters is Stirring Unrest Within PS Empire

[DonFerrari]

Doctor_MG said:

DonFerrari said:

Nope not really. The gen Sony made more titles and sequels (PS3) the overall sales of SW was smaller than on PS4 when they made less sequels and total titles. It was already summarized here.

If they release half the number of total titles but about the same number of new IPs or at least same proportion it means they really are pushing for it as most as they can, as sure some titles will be sequels and some others are just series that doesn't make sense to finish to start another (like Gran Turismo and MLB).

Bold: To me, this is a null point. You may see a difference in software numbers currently but the position the PS3 and PS4 were in is very different. PS4 was successful very early and sold really fast. PS4 was at 40M when Uncharted 4 hit and almost 80M when GoW hit. PS3 was at 27M when Uncharted 2 landed and 36M when God of War 3 landed. In addition Sony is spending WAY more on marketing this generation than they did during the PS3 generation. They just aren't like for like scenarios, so drawing the conclusion "less software meant greater sales" is not appropriate.

I agree with the premise that you shouldn't barrage your customers with sequels to prevent IP fatigue. That is not an excuse to develop other IP's which can be in house or outsourced. 

The rest: Releasing less titles overall does not mean they are pushing for it as much as they can. During the PS3 era they were also developing games for the PSP (and ported those to PS2) which had prequels/sequels to established franchises and their own IP's. It was only the beginning of the PS4 era that they were developing for two platforms and they dropped that support quick. I don't think Sony is doing everything they can to develop new games and new IP's. I think that they are pouring everything into those hollywood esque AAA story based games and dropping support for smaller new IP's that could become established franchises just as the recent rumors suggest. 

If that is what you like, fine. Enjoy it. This isn't what got me to love the Playstation brand though. 

I didn`t draw the conclusion that less software means greater sales, what I said is that even with less software released they achieved more sales, because they have sold much more SW even if less released. Sure we don`t know if they had released double the SW if they would have sold double the number, it is possible they wouldn`t but sure sales would likely grow. We do know that SW sales don`t scale linear or even near it. The higher the HW numbers the lower the attach ratios usually are. Although for the famous IPs someone posted earlier that the attach ratio increased.

Myself I wouldn`t mind if each of my favorite IPs would have year release if they were all of the quality they have done for the few releases (but that wouldn`t happen probably). My biggest point to Ludicrous was that Sony have been taking almost the same risk with new IPs as they were before (half their releases are new IPs), and that releasing less games but with higher cost can actually mean more risk.

We have received lower production type titles as well, and when I say as much as they can that is obviously with caveats like reason. They could open 10 studios tomorrow to make more games, but that isn`t within reason to demand. Sony have collaborations and deals. And not to forget that Sony plan from what they say is to compliment their platform with what is missing, so if they already receive a healthy number of Indies, A, AA and Japanese titles with several genres they don`t really need to make those titles as they don`t need to lose money on those titles as they are covered.

LudicrousSpeed said:

Doctor_MG said:

Bold: To me, this is a null point. You may see a difference in software numbers currently but the position the PS3 and PS4 were in is very different. PS4 was successful very early and sold really fast. PS4 was at 40M when Uncharted 4 hit and almost 80M when GoW hit. PS3 was at 27M when Uncharted 2 landed and 36M when God of War 3 landed. In addition Sony is spending WAY more on marketing this generation than they did during the PS3 generation. They just aren't like for like scenarios, so drawing the conclusion "less software meant greater sales" is not appropriate.

I agree with the premise that you shouldn't barrage your customers with sequels to prevent IP fatigue. That is not an excuse to develop other IP's which can be in house or outsourced. 

The rest: Releasing less titles overall does not mean they are pushing for it as much as they can. During the PS3 era they were also developing games for the PSP (and ported those to PS2) which had prequels/sequels to established franchises and their own IP's. It was only the beginning of the PS4 era that they were developing for two platforms and they dropped that support quick. I don't think Sony is doing everything they can to develop new games and new IP's. I think that they are pouring everything into those hollywood esque AAA story based games and dropping support for smaller new IP's that could become established franchises just as the recent rumors suggest. 

If that is what you like, fine. Enjoy it. This isn't what got me to love the Playstation brand though. 

Hit the nail on the head rather perfectly.

Also, Don, deflecting to MS doesn't make any difference either. I've never been a huge fan of MS games, but I am more so now because of the studios they bought being studios I mostly enjoy. I don't buy Xbox consoles for MS games. However, I do buy Sony consoles for Sony games, because anything else I can play on my Xbox or PC. Also no, IDGAF if Sony buys more studios. You do realize these PS4 new IP's like Ghosts and Horizon are from studios they bought? Who cares.

I'm just looking at you trying to look how you look different depending on the context. And it is cool that you buy Sony consoles for their exclusives but usually you only complain about their exclusives.