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Forums - Sales - Why does Sony fail at making another mega franchise?

Slimebeast on 04 September 2010

But I'm only happy that Sony doesn't have any mega franchises.

I don't like mega franchises because they always tend to dominate everything else and overshadow other great games (at least in the eyes of casuals they do).

I always hated GTA for being so huge. In this generation that game is Call of Duty. All other shooters are compared to Call of Duty and they even have to adjust release dates in fear of CoD.

I love Assassin's Creed but I'm starting to feel it's getting too big (I mean AC II is on track to sell 10 million. 10 million!)

I hate Mario because everyone buys Mario instead of other platformers which I think are far more interesting.

I love Xbox but I don't like the extreme hype for Halo as if it's the only game on earth. Same with Gears of War.

And most of all I hate World of Warcraft and Starcraft because I don't like the style of Blizzard and it pisses me off that everyone is playing WoW and ignoring better MMOs. I will get Diablo but I think it's extremely overrated and it pisses me off.

And Age of Empires slays Starcraft.



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miz1q2w3e on 04 September 2010
RolStoppable said:

Sony doesn't do amazing things first, that's why. Their games usually consist of ideas borrowed from somewhere else and mixed together. It's not surprising that Uncharted was compared to Tomb Raider and Gears of War a lot. Why did Gears of War do so much better? Because it redefined its genre and ever since then other TPS try to mimic its gameplay. God of War followed Devil May Cry. Killzone followed Halo.

Why didn't LittleBigPlanet or Heavy Rain become mega blockbusters? Because they are not amazing to most gamers. The thing that's new in LBP is the extensive level editor, but most gamers rather play than create, so they don't care. Heavy Rain is more of an interactive movie and that's only amazing to a small subset of gamers.

Of course, this explanation works in reverse as well and that's why Gran Turismo is so big while it's imitators never come close in sales. Forza would be the most popular one and hardly anyone remembers Konami's Enthusia Professional Racing anymore.

If you want to hit it big then you either have to do something first or something that hasn't been done in a long time by anyone else.

How do you manage to make the perfect reply every time?

Did you make this thread with an alt, all the while having this reply ready to post??? - - - That's it! You've been busted >:)



iWarMachine on 04 September 2010
RolStoppable said:

Sony doesn't do amazing things first, that's why. Their games usually consist of ideas borrowed from somewhere else and mixed together. It's not surprising that Uncharted was compared to Tomb Raider and Gears of War a lot. Why did Gears of War do so much better? Because it redefined its genre and ever since then other TPS try to mimic its gameplay. God of War followed Devil May Cry. Killzone followed Halo.

Why didn't LittleBigPlanet or Heavy Rain become mega blockbusters? Because they are not amazing to most gamers. The thing that's new in LBP is the extensive level editor, but most gamers rather play than create, so they don't care. Heavy Rain is more of an interactive movie and that's only amazing to a small subset of gamers.

Of course, this explanation works in reverse as well and that's why Gran Turismo is so big while it's imitators never come close in sales. Forza would be the most popular one and hardly anyone remembers Konami's Enthusia Professional Racing anymore.

If you want to hit it big then you either have to do something first or something that hasn't been done in a long time by anyone else.


but uncharted 2 it's one of the best games this gen, even if it's copying Gears or whatever, the presentation, the story, and the gameplay it's far better than most of the games out there....following that reasoning, then killswitch has to be the best game ever, half life should be the biggest hit ever, Mario games should not sell that well, and Halo would be dead already.



I'm Back! - Proud owner of the best doomed handheld of all time!

miz1q2w3e on 04 September 2010
iWarMachine said:

but uncharted 2 it's one of the best games this gen, even if it's copying Gears or whatever, the presentation, the story, and the gameplay it's far better than most of the games out there....following that reasoning, then killswitch has to be the best game ever, half life should be the biggest hit ever, Mario games should not sell that well, and Halo would be dead already.

Which games did Mario and Halo copy off of?



iWarMachine on 04 September 2010
miz1q2w3e said:
iWarMachine said:

but uncharted 2 it's one of the best games this gen, even if it's copying Gears or whatever, the presentation, the story, and the gameplay it's far better than most of the games out there....following that reasoning, then killswitch has to be the best game ever, half life should be the biggest hit ever, Mario games should not sell that well, and Halo would be dead already.

Which games did Mario and Halo copy off of?


i think none, i'm saying that after all the sequels without much innovation, they should be going down, yet, they aren't going anywhere.



I'm Back! - Proud owner of the best doomed handheld of all time!

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youarebadatgames on 04 September 2010
Slimebeast said:

But I'm only happy that Sony doesn't have any mega franchises.

I don't like mega franchises because they always tend to dominate everything else and overshadow other great games (at least in the eyes of casuals they do).

I always hated GTA for being so huge. In this generation that game is Call of Duty. All other shooters are compared to Call of Duty and they even have to adjust release dates in fear of CoD.

I love Assassin's Creed but I'm starting to feel it's getting too big (I mean AC II is on track to sell 10 million. 10 million!)

I hate Mario because everyone buys Mario instead of other platformers which I think are far more interesting.

I love Xbox but I don't like the extreme hype for Halo as if it's the only game on earth. Same with Gears of War.

And most of all I hate World of Warcraft and Starcraft because I don't like the style of Blizzard and it pisses me off that everyone is playing WoW and ignoring better MMOs. I will get Diablo but I think it's extremely overrated and it pisses me off.

And Age of Empires slays Starcraft.

Your non-conformity makes you so cool.  In fact I bet there are a lot of people out there like you.

People play those games because even if there are better games out there, it's not better enough to get people to switch.  Which tells me that those Halo killers and WoW killers just aren't as good as they think they are.



youarebadatgames on 04 September 2010
Slimebeast said:

But I'm only happy that Sony doesn't have any mega franchises.

I don't like mega franchises because they always tend to dominate everything else and overshadow other great games (at least in the eyes of casuals they do).

I always hated GTA for being so huge. In this generation that game is Call of Duty. All other shooters are compared to Call of Duty and they even have to adjust release dates in fear of CoD.

I love Assassin's Creed but I'm starting to feel it's getting too big (I mean AC II is on track to sell 10 million. 10 million!)

I hate Mario because everyone buys Mario instead of other platformers which I think are far more interesting.

I love Xbox but I don't like the extreme hype for Halo as if it's the only game on earth. Same with Gears of War.

And most of all I hate World of Warcraft and Starcraft because I don't like the style of Blizzard and it pisses me off that everyone is playing WoW and ignoring better MMOs. I will get Diablo but I think it's extremely overrated and it pisses me off.

And Age of Empires slays Starcraft.

Your non-conformity makes you so cool.  In fact I bet there are a lot of people out there like you.

People play those games because even if there are better games out there, it's not better enough to get people to switch.  Which tells me that those Halo killers and WoW killers just aren't as good as they think they are.



Slimebeast on 04 September 2010

Thank you youarebadatgames.

And oh yeah, I agree that for the large masses it's the most logical choice to pick the "standard" game in each genre and stick to it.



miz1q2w3e on 04 September 2010
iWarMachine said:
miz1q2w3e said:

Which games did Mario and Halo copy off of?


i think none, i'm saying that after all the sequels without much innovation, they should be going down, yet, they aren't going anywhere.

No one's talking about sequels here. We're talking about why some new franchises fail to become the commercial successes they were expected to be, and maybe even deserved to be (based on feedback and reviews)

I think Rol's got a point, just look at the Wii.

I'd also like to note that "doing something first" when making a new franchise is but one of many factors it takes to make a potential hit, and even IF you have all that it takes to make a hit it's not a guaranteed to become one.



A_C_E on 04 September 2010

It's because the PS brand has the most balanced demographic. Casuals for the Wii and hardcores for the 360 and both for the PS3 just not as quantified as the other two this gen. Of course there are also hardcore gamers on the Wii and the opposite for the 360 but they are still represented by their adopted crowd. The problem with the PS3 is that $299 is still too expensive for alot of casual gamers and the 360 is a more than viable choice in place of a PS3 for the hardcore gamers. All this will affect the software sales alot but as for the PS2 era, Sony was not nearly as pushy with their software as they are this gen.