Heres the list of Sony owned Studios http://ps3.ign.com/articles/118/1186116p3.html
Almost every studio and their games have been mismanaged this generation except for Naughty Dog.
Evolution Studios - stayed with the Motorstorm IP way too long. Shouldve never allowed the 3rd one to be developed, as their was no demand for it and the sales prove that. Shouldve moved on to a new IP after the 2nd Motorstorm came out. Apocalypse was delayed due to disaster in Japan last year. Sales were horrendous, and Evolution wasted 3 years of development time that they couldve used on something else. Many will use the tsunami and game delay as an excuse, but even if those did not happen, this game would not have sold much better than it did.
Guerrilla Games - Lets not forget how poorly the almighty Killzone 2 flopped. It was supposed to be Sonys answer to Halo. PS3s blockbuster FPS and system seller. It flopped. Not completely, but it didnt have that game-changing impact that many expected. So where did Sony screw up? For starters, Killzone 2 was released in late-Feb. They missed the lucrative holiday season. Oh, and did I mention that another PS3 exclusive FPS Resistance 2 came out just a couple months before KZ2 and cut into its sales. Marketing/Commercials??? Barely any to speak of. There was a commercial made, but it was barely shown on TV and I didnt see any KZ2 in-store advertising at BestBuy or Walmart or GameStop... Way to go Sony!! You sure know how to generate hype for your killer IPs!
KZ2 itself turned out decent and had a little niche fanbase and sold decently... GG then went and alienated much of that original fanbase with KZ3 and all the changes they made. They spent years trying to make a Halo-killer, but then COD came out of nowhere and took over the market, so they quickly tried making KZ3 more like COD. So whats the deal with KZ? Are they always going to try changing it around to copy whatever game is most popular at the moment? It seems like it doesnt have its own identity.
Media Molecule - Cant say much here since they just recently bought them. But..... Missing the holiday season for LBP2 was one of the biggest management blunders Ive ever seen. It's a family game that sells big in holidays.. and they delayed it until Q1 the next year and the sales suffered big time. Games like LBP2 are supposed to Xmas gifts. The problem is that Sony doesnt give developers timelines for the YEAR, they give them a deadline based on their bussiness FISCAL YEAR... as long as the games are released before the fiscal year, Sony doesnt care. But they should, because they miss out on tons of sales when games like LBP2 are delayed until after the holidays.
Naughty Dog - Sony got lucky here. No thanks to their management or marketing. Uncharted 1 was largely considered a huge FLOP when it first came out. They were very lucky that Naughty Dog is so talented and ended up making one of the highest rated games ever in Uncharted 2. The game sold due to critical acclaim, countless GOTY awards, and word of mouth. Even at 5.5million sold it seems low. If they had advertised it the way Microsoft and Nintendo advertise their games, Uncharted 2 should be sitting at 7.5million right now.
Polyphony Digital - I dont even have to type this out, right? Sonys mismangement of Polyphony and Gran Turismo was flat out pathetic. This alone shouldve got someone fired. Delay after delay. Taking forever to get your best selling exclusive on the market, while the competition is beating you in sales. Delaying GT5 to get GT-PSP out first. Limited advertising in North America. That simply is not how you treat your console-selling game. Could you imagine the outrage if Microsoft delayed Halo so much, or if Nintendo took 4 years to release it's first Mario game on the Wii? If polyphony needed more help, Sony shouldve got it for them. If Polyphony were being perfectionists too much, Sony should said too bad. There comes a time when you have to stop trying to perfect little things and just release a game. Sony dropped the ball. There is no excuse for the GT5 debacle.
Bend Studios - Didnt do anything on PS3. Only work on Sonys handhelds. You cant really complain about that, but Im sure its not what Sonys envisoned them doing when they bought them out.
Cambridge Studio - Shouldve stayed home all generation. All theyve done this generation is a LBP PSP port and "Tv SuperStars" with the MOVE. Pathetic and a complete waste of a studio. What is Sony paying these people for? Does Sony not check up on their developers? Atleast now theyre working on Killzone for VITA, so theyre doing something productive now. But what were they doing from 2005 to 2008? That's a good 3 years with NOTHING produced or even started. It all comes down to poor management from Sony.
JapanStudio/TeamICO - Another poorly mismanaged studio in Japan. They made games like Ico and Shadow of the Collosus. Now the PS3's lifecycle is almost over and we've yet to get even ONE retail release for PS3 from this studio. The Last Guardian is in limbo and has been delayed many times. It might never come out. So once again..... another developer wasted the entire generation. Sony is not using their devs and resources properly. Pathetic.
London Studio - *shakes head*.... they're responsible for PlayStation HOME..... They made SingStar... and they cancelled Eight Days and The Getaway.[sarcasm] Way to go Sony!!! You really know what your fans want!!! [/sarcasm]. Once again, its poor management and Sony putting their eggs into the wrong baskets. London studio and spent all generation developing HOME and Singstar, when they shouldve been putting out games like Eight Days and Getaway.
San Diego Studio - Yearly releases of MLB:The Show. Cant really knock them.
Santa Monica Studio - For all the talent they have to create the God of War games...... They've still only released ONE game this generation on their own. Sure theyve helped on Twisted Metal and StarHawk, but they just had consultant roles for those games. I expected a little more from such a huge development team. No new IP yet, and only one GOW game. Something doesnt seem right. I also found it a bit odd that GOW 2 came out so late in the PS2's lifecycle. It wouldve made more sense for them to switch development over to the PS3 for that game. Something about spending $500 on a PS3 in 2006 and still buying new games for PS2 in 2007, while PS3 had no games... yeah... poor management. Its a perfect example of Sony holding onto PS2's past success and not allocating their resources to the PS3.
and once again, why not get a killer IP like God of War in stores for the holidays? Sure they could afford Q1releases when they damn near had a monopoly on the industry(PSone and PS2 eras), but their competition is too strong these days to be pulling that crap. It has to hurt both system sales and game sales.
SCE StudioLiverpool - Not much to say here, because they simply havent done much. All theyve done is Wipeout, which was a PSN title in North America. Think about that for a second.... 6 years into PS3s lifecycle, and all theyve released was one PSN title. And Sony are paying everyone on this team a high yearly salary. no wonder Sony continues to lose so much money.
SuckerPunch - Sony just bought them and they have yet to release a game while being owned by Sony... Give it a couple years and I'm sure we'll see some blunders. It was a bad decision to let them change Cole so much in InFamous. I understand giving developers their creative space, but it was a bad change and seemed irrational. Sony shouldve put their foot down and said No. They spent time and money marketing the original Cole, they shouldnt have had to market a new Cole. It was ridiculous and hurt the continuity of the franchise. Sales dropped off bad for InFamous 2.
