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

amp316 said:

The truth is that they don't have any original ideas.  Little Big Planet wants to be Mario, Mod Nation Racers wants to be Mario Kart, and as good as Uncharted may be viewed by many; it is very reminiscent of Tomb Raider (just throw in a lot more shooting). 

Many of Sony's big exclusive games in the past; Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, etc. were made by third parties.  Now they're on all of the systems.

Don't know how much of this thread you've read, but this echoes Rol's post close to the first page of this thread. He got a lot of heat for it, but I agreed wholeheartedly with him and now with you as well.

Btw, Long time no see, hope alls well : )



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Just so you know CGI, what happened was

I said "mega" franchises probably need to develop early into the consoles life, or be sequels to old franchises (GT). I then said Sony having no "mega" franchises early into the consoles like probably hurt sales. Then Gekkoman flipped out on me and started accusing my of being a fanboy and being strong biased toward the 360. He even said things like I was on a "crusade" to I dunno undermine PS3. In responce I said PS3 did not have any real blockbuster titles in 2007, and that Uncharted was "nothing special", refering to sales and as a game that would be the tradmark 2007 title for PS3. Then Gekkokaman flipped out on me some more, at which point i pointed out Heavenly Swords and Lair being "underdeveloped" due to the games being extremly short, lacking re-play, and in Lairs case, being very glitchy. I was looking forward to Lair. The you started to really undermine my responces, and it's fine that you don't agree, but you can't say that I'm wrong and your right. I've had plenty of friendly debates with people here ending with respectibally disagreeing with them.

Even way back when when you wanted to "agree to disagree" I only added that I respect your opinion, but think differently. You kept going on trying to prove that you were right and I was wrong because you couldn't accept that I have a different opinion.

I made one negative comment on the PS3 and you two start to treat me like either a "fanboy" or a clown. I debate by reasoning, not by bullying. I don't over glorify any console, they all have pros and cons, and I think I have made my opinion clear on this thread about why PS3 has no "mega" franchises.

Good day to you, and I hope our next debate can be more civil.



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Michael-5 said:
Squilliam said:
Michael-5 said:
Squilliam said:

3 different shooters, yes, but thats hardly a good reason why they don't have a mega franchise from their efforts.

Well personally I think Sony came into this generation ill prepared. They made PS3 a Blu-Ray console well before Blu-Ray was the established form of media, they released PS2 exclusives up to 2007, and I think early PS3 exclusives were rushed. Lair was glitchy and short, Heavenly Sword was really short and had no replay, Resistance had no cinematics because Sony wanted it to be a launch title, and Motorstorm, although beautiful and fun, lacked variety in it's race type, tracks, and cars.

So thats 1 reason why I don't beleive Sony has a "mega" franchise. I think "mega" franchises need to establish themselves early within a generation, but the big, well polished PS3 games didn't start comming out until 2008, and even then I think Killzone was the first real shocking PS3 exclusive (to me at least). A lot of the bigger PS3 IP's took time to develop, GT5 still has yet to be released, Killzone 2 wasn't released until 2009, LBP was a 2008 title, and God of War was this year. Except for Uncharted, and Resistance, none of the big PS3 IP's came out until 2008. To be fair Nintendo didn't have much until 2009, but the success of Wii is another issue.

So thats my second reason, my third reason is that Sony has a lot more competition this generation. Were there any "mega" 10 million plus sellers on the Gamecube or X-Box 1? N64 only had a couple itself. PS3 was the first Sony platform with real attractive compeditors. N64, Cube, and X-Box were all great consoles, but they failed to attract the medias attention. PS3 this generation attacted the least attention, and most of it was negative at the start (high price, is blu-ray the future, etc).

My 4th reason is 3 competing shooters, and my 5th reason is that this generation, the PS3 has done soo poorly with respect to past PS consoles (only recently PS3 consoles have started making a profit), that Sony simply has not allowed a budget for a "mega" franchise other then GT5.

I guess thats my proper response to this thread, everything else is just getting off topic.

Sony came into this generation well prepared for the 3rd coming of the PS1, I.E. total market domination and weak oposition.

I don't believe big franchises need to establish themselves early in a generation, there are just a lot of new franchises released near the start of any new console cycle and its just a game of numbers as to how many new huge franchises emerge. However after the first title is out, most titles don't break out of that initial mould which is why you see consistancy generally once the first generation of games come out in a console cycle. There are very few titles which establish themselves on the 2nd or 3rd version as a mega franchise after having failed to do that previously. The start of a generation is the perfect time to attempt to hit these home runs as they can at the very least be milked for 3-4 game generations.

The simplest answer here is that if Sony hasn't published anything which has hit the home run whilst other companies have, then theres something which Sony is failing to do which Microsoft and Nintendo has done. It's obviously not for  a lack of talent that they haven't sold many 10M selling franchises, funnily enough the closest developer to that mark is Naughty Dog whom had gone down hill  somewhat from their Crash Bandicoot days after they were acquired. The more likely answer is that the way Sony developers make games do not resonate with a wider audience and that its probably how Sony themselves act as a publisher which is the reason.

The hardcore gamer Loves Sony (except for PSN) is iffy on Microsoft (except for Live) and is not so fond of Nintendo.

Order of highest selling published exclusives go Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony in reverse order of how much the hardcore gamers love the titles themselves.

 

That 1st generation establishment theory is interesting, and well yea it's kind of true in the case of Sony and Microsoft. Some games do emerge as "mega" franchises down the road of a consoles life, but most started on the home consoles first system. However It's not always the first generation that establishes franchises. Take Nintendo for instance, Mario and Zelda started on the NES, Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country started on the SNES, Pokemon started on the Gameboy, Smash Bros started on the N64, Nintendogs and Brain Age started on the DS, and Wii -- started on the Wii. So with the exception of the N64 and Gamecube, two consoles who didn't really sell that well in the first place, Nintendo has created at least 1 "mega" franchise per console.

For MS it's only Halo, so your theory holds, and for Sony it's only GT, so your theory holds again, but not for Nintendo.

I'll agree that Sony hasn't published anything home-run worthy as a game since Gran Turismo

As for the part I underlined, you can't generalize that. I consider myself a hardcore gamer and I like the 360 more then the PS3 (I admit it, big deal), and I love the Wii. I think the Wii has more interesting games then the PS3 and 360. If I had to put those consoles in an order it wouldn't be fair because everyone has different tastes. My tastes do not reflect others, and I think most people in the forums here need to realize that their tastes don't reflect everyone elses

You missunderstand me. I was talking about software generations.

I.E. Generation 1: Call of Duty 2, Generation 2: Call of Duty 3. Or Assassins Creed 1 or Assassins Creed 2 = generation 1 and 2 of that franchise. Most games if they don't make it big on generation 1 they aren't going to make it big at all. On the other hand once they make it big they can be milked for 2-3 more software generations for large assured profits. The best time to release new attempts at making massive software is generation 1 of a console hardware generation. So 7th generation console, software generation 1 Epic releases Gears of War and it proves to be a big hit as a new I.P. Thats the reason why Sony released so many new I.P. games. They wanted to hit it big and get another 1/2 huge seller I.Ps to go alongside Gran Turismo.

Furthermore I was talking about published games. I.E. anything from 1st or 3rd party which is stamped with the publishers logo. It takes as much skill to find a big selling franchise and get it published as it does to develop one in house. Theres no difference between Microsoft seeing great potential in Gears of War and publishing it and their making a similar game in house.

For your last paragraph I admit I am wrong. It was a gross over-simplification. Though I do wonder why they are so set to produce / publish so many cinematic influenced games. In this generation a significant proportion of their titles are cinematic whereas none of the Nintendo published games are cinematic and Microsoft published games tend to be traditional as well. In a nutshell a lot of Sony titles this generation seem to focus on the experience of playing the game whereas Nintendo and Microsoft tend to focus on the experience from playing the game. Its a slight and stark distinction at the same time.



Tease.

Squilliam said:
Michael-5 said:
Squilliam said:

Sony came into this generation well prepared for the 3rd coming of the PS1, I.E. total market domination and weak oposition.

I don't believe big franchises need to establish themselves early in a generation, there are just a lot of new franchises released near the start of any new console cycle and its just a game of numbers as to how many new huge franchises emerge. However after the first title is out, most titles don't break out of that initial mould which is why you see consistancy generally once the first generation of games come out in a console cycle. There are very few titles which establish themselves on the 2nd or 3rd version as a mega franchise after having failed to do that previously. The start of a generation is the perfect time to attempt to hit these home runs as they can at the very least be milked for 3-4 game generations.

The simplest answer here is that if Sony hasn't published anything which has hit the home run whilst other companies have, then theres something which Sony is failing to do which Microsoft and Nintendo has done. It's obviously not for  a lack of talent that they haven't sold many 10M selling franchises, funnily enough the closest developer to that mark is Naughty Dog whom had gone down hill  somewhat from their Crash Bandicoot days after they were acquired. The more likely answer is that the way Sony developers make games do not resonate with a wider audience and that its probably how Sony themselves act as a publisher which is the reason.

The hardcore gamer Loves Sony (except for PSN) is iffy on Microsoft (except for Live) and is not so fond of Nintendo.

Order of highest selling published exclusives go Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony in reverse order of how much the hardcore gamers love the titles themselves.

 

That 1st generation establishment theory is interesting, and well yea it's kind of true in the case of Sony and Microsoft. Some games do emerge as "mega" franchises down the road of a consoles life, but most started on the home consoles first system. However It's not always the first generation that establishes franchises. Take Nintendo for instance, Mario and Zelda started on the NES, Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country started on the SNES, Pokemon started on the Gameboy, Smash Bros started on the N64, Nintendogs and Brain Age started on the DS, and Wii -- started on the Wii. So with the exception of the N64 and Gamecube, two consoles who didn't really sell that well in the first place, Nintendo has created at least 1 "mega" franchise per console.

For MS it's only Halo, so your theory holds, and for Sony it's only GT, so your theory holds again, but not for Nintendo.

I'll agree that Sony hasn't published anything home-run worthy as a game since Gran Turismo

As for the part I underlined, you can't generalize that. I consider myself a hardcore gamer and I like the 360 more then the PS3 (I admit it, big deal), and I love the Wii. I think the Wii has more interesting games then the PS3 and 360. If I had to put those consoles in an order it wouldn't be fair because everyone has different tastes. My tastes do not reflect others, and I think most people in the forums here need to realize that their tastes don't reflect everyone elses

You missunderstand me. I was talking about software generations.

I.E. Generation 1: Call of Duty 2, Generation 2: Call of Duty 3. Or Assassins Creed 1 or Assassins Creed 2 = generation 1 and 2 of that franchise. Most games if they don't make it big on generation 1 they aren't going to make it big at all. On the other hand once they make it big they can be milked for 2-3 more software generations for large assured profits. The best time to release new attempts at making massive software is generation 1 of a console hardware generation. So 7th generation console, software generation 1 Epic releases Gears of War and it proves to be a big hit as a new I.P. Thats the reason why Sony released so many new I.P. games. They wanted to hit it big and get another 1/2 huge seller I.Ps to go alongside Gran Turismo.

Furthermore I was talking about published games. I.E. anything from 1st or 3rd party which is stamped with the publishers logo. It takes as much skill to find a big selling franchise and get it published as it does to develop one in house. Theres no difference between Microsoft seeing great potential in Gears of War and publishing it and their making a similar game in house.

For your last paragraph I admit I am wrong. It was a gross over-simplification. Though I do wonder why they are so set to produce / publish so many cinematic influenced games. In this generation a significant proportion of their titles are cinematic whereas none of the Nintendo published games are cinematic and Microsoft published games tend to be traditional as well. In a nutshell a lot of Sony titles this generation seem to focus on the experience of playing the game whereas Nintendo and Microsoft tend to focus on the experience from playing the game. Its a slight and stark distinction at the same time.

Oh sorry, I did misunderstand you. In that case I agree with you, but there are exceptions. Also franchises only need to sell well on their first software generation, they do not need to have the first software generation become a "mega" game. I would also like to add that if an initial game does relativly well, the second installment can still crash saleswise. Resistance 2 only sold about half as well as Resistance 1 despite being just as good, and Lost Planet just crashed (but LP2 sucked, and I was soo disapointed as LP1 is one of my favorite games). However it's very difficult to build a super successful IP, if the first title was received poorly (e.g. Killzone was only an average shooter on PS1, and that image hurt Killzone 2 sales).

Anyway I agree 100% on your first 2 paragraphs, but I think your last paragraph is generalized, yet I still agree. First of all pre-PS1, cinematic experiences were not possible due to the memory limit of cartridged based games. PS1 games such as Final Fantasy VII and MGS were among the first to produce proper cut scenes. I think games are becoming more and more cinematic because a. memory limitations are constantly growing, b. Cinematic trailers make great video game ads (e.g. Gears of War, Killzone 2, etc), c. Cinematics explain the games plot better then in game dialogue, and d. They attract people who are new to games better then games without cinematics.

How is this relevant btw? Just curious why you brought this up.

Anyway I don't think you can centralize this trend on Sony. Metroid: Other M is a largly cinematic game, and I think they made it this way to explain the Metroid story better, and to attact casual Wii owners to the franchise. Gears of War and Halo also contain a fair bit of cinematics. Lost Odyssey requires 4 disks to contain all the cinematics, and lots of franhcises (like Final Fantasy and MGS) have been cinematic heavy since the PS1 era.

What I think is fair to say is that because during the PS1 era, only the playstation was properly copable to include cinematics on game disks they pioneered cinematics into games. During the PS2 era, the Gamecube still had data limitations, and X-Box was more of a shooter platform and had far less games then PS2, so PS2 continued the trend. However this generation, most HD games are a lot more cinematic driven then older games, and even Wii titles have more cinematics. I mean compare the amount of cinematic time in Super Mario Galaxy to Super Mario 64, it's astonishing.



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The answer to your question is very simple: since when has Sony even made a megahit series? Gran Turismo is the only one. Sony is notorious for relying on third parties for their content. This is the main reason why the 360 can easily compete with the PS3. Sony has never been strong at making their own games and they never will be.



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Smashchu2 said:

The answer to your question is very simple: since when has Sony even made a megahit series? Gran Turismo is the only one. Sony is notorious for relying on third parties for their content. This is the main reason why the 360 can easily compete with the PS3. Sony has never been strong at making their own games and they never will be.

 

Lol , I hope you're not serious XD

sorry couldn't resist to post :p



I'd say Sony's a great developer and publisher, and honestly always have been (Skyblazer <3 <3).  I'll admit to not being entirely happy with their output this gen (wtf happened to Japan Studio?!  Dude Raider, that hokey French non-game and all those wish-they-were-Halo FPS can diaf!) but there's really no denying their progressive and innovative history in terms of games.  Stuff like Parappa the Rapper, Carnage Heart or Tail of the Sun, I couldn't have really seen anyone else take the chance on back in the day (certainly not Nintendo or Sega).  And honestly, gaming is better off for it.

They do seem incapable of developing a "ground up" mega-hit franchise though for some reason, especially now.  Even the success of something like Gran Turismo is entirely predicated on real life licenses... does anyone think the GT games would've sold 9-15m each if they used purely fantasy cars, manufacturers and courses?  The closest I think they've legitimately gotten to a home grown ground up megahit is probably Crash Bandicoot, and unfortunately there they didn't own the IP (or the developer, at the time).



CGI-Quality said:
Smashchu2 said:

The answer to your question is very simple: since when has Sony even made a megahit series? Gran Turismo is the only one. Sony is notorious for relying on third parties for their content. This is the main reason why the 360 can easily compete with the PS3. Sony has never been strong at making their own games and they never will be.

 

Funniest line I've read in a while.

Well, perhaps you can direct me to a Sony made game that actually pushed software. Because from what I've seen, all the system movers have been from third parties. Due to the need for third parties to port, Sony can nevber be on top again.



So, I guess 3 million is no longer "pushing software".

Sure, 3 million is not a megahit (back on topic) but is not bad.

For the most part Sony has never had any 1st part mega hits with the exception of the GT series.  And while there were some 3rd party hits (the REs, the GTAs, the FFs.) most of them weren't exclusive, they just happened to thrive more on the PS platforms for whatever reasons.



Arius Dion said:
amp316 said:

The truth is that they don't have any original ideas.  Little Big Planet wants to be Mario, Mod Nation Racers wants to be Mario Kart, and as good as Uncharted may be viewed by many; it is very reminiscent of Tomb Raider (just throw in a lot more shooting). 

Many of Sony's big exclusive games in the past; Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, etc. were made by third parties.  Now they're on all of the systems.

Don't know how much of this thread you've read, but this echoes Rol's post close to the first page of this thread. He got a lot of heat for it, but I agreed wholeheartedly with him and now with you as well.

Btw, Long time no see, hope alls well : )

I didn't read much of it.  30 something pages is a lot.  This is why people call me a wannabe Rol.  I type up pretty much the same thing as him and don't even know it.

Good to see you too.  Everything's good and I hope that it is with you as well. 



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