Guys, there was a thread a long time ago where we were discussing why Sony's strategy wasn't working. One of the reasons was that games like Killzone and Resistance etc. were taking up resources that could be spent in more marketing of games that needed to become flagships, and I mentioned Uncharted as one of those games.

Well, yesterday I stumbled on a thread, and I had been reluctant to purchase a PS3 for the longest time because

1) I don't care about blue-ray, neither can I afford it

and

2) I'm not a Sony fan, I like good games and I'm mostly a fan of Nintendo.

BUT, as most of you know already from my posts when I was padib, I am not a stranger to the Playstation brand. I currently own a 3DS and a, drum roll, a PS2. So, what is it I DO like about Playstation.

Well, have any of you heard of the game Shadow of the Colossus? Probably you have. I believe the game sold a total of 1M copies worldwide. That is not alot. But do you know how amazing that game is? You probably do. Why do so many others not? That's a good question.

Now backtrack some 15 years ago, 1997 I believe, the year when Final Fantasy VII came out. Do you remember being a teen at that time? Do you remember seeing the ads of Cloud all over the place? I do. Do you realize that wasn't even a Sony game?

--------------------

Yesterday I stumbled on a thread by Andrespetmonkey. The thread linked to 3 youtube videos, one for each uncharted game where you could watch somebody play it. After only a few minutes of watching it, I was ready to go pick up a 2nd hand PS3 and buy Uncharted (the first one) new, out of principle. Here is the thread:

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=142577&page=1#

My question for you is, if it only took for me to see a few minutes of the intro of the game to be so enthused, my question is, WHY THE HECK DID THEY NOT BOMBARD MOVIE THEATERS AND SHOPPING MALLS with even just a playthrough of the game, NO CONTROLLERS REQUIRED. It would mention "Spoil Alert", and let the viewer watch at their leasure, much like you would a movie playing on a corner TV at blockbuster.

If Sony wants to blend Hollywood and videogames, and if they're spending so much money and talent to make such a great game like Uncharted, don't you think they should at least do the right job and market it accordingly?

Just my two cents, now dear readers, what are your thoughts. And PLEASE, this is just food for thought and is an honest question, so no negativity for a change, yeah? Now let's talk , this is a forum afterall

Uncharted 3 shipped 3.8m first week, that seems like plenty

Munkeh: Compare that to the other flagships: Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy.

On another note, 3.8m is big for a usual game, but not for a game like Uncharted with such potential for mainstream appeal, what's your view on that?

Oh and guys, please read the OP before posting.

I guess they're trying to rid the PS3's reputation as just being a fancy Blu-Ray player.

Well i guess a little more could have been done, but i think Uncharted (and its reputation amongst gamers) is able to speak for itself, and if there are people who do own a PS3, someone will have at least TALKED to them about Uncharted., and regarding shadow of the colossus: Gamers are ignorant about things that dont strike their fancy from the beginning. And i think we cant blame people who bet their money onto the next iteration of a known franchise, instead of risking a mis-purchase. (Oh, and while i agree that SotC is BRILLIANT, i can see why many people dont care about it. some just need nonstop fast paced action.)

I don't think Uncharted has the potential to be much bigger than what it currently is. Mega Games (6m+) are usually those that consumers can sink a lot of time in, either through online or offline. These are usually RPGs or online FPS.

Uncharted being a very short 10 hour single player game can't reach that higher level I think. (Uncharted does have multiplayer but it's not more popular than the single-player). I think a great portion of the fans rent them because there isn't much incentive to hold on to them.

I think Sony does not suck at advertising. They just have a different approach. Like I said so many times now, they are the mainsponsor of the UEFA Champions League, which is one of the biggest sport events of the world. In fact the final is the biggest sport event in the world surpassing the Super Bowl (109 million vs 106 million) according to wikipedia. And Sony is the main sponsor for the entire tournament! They just expanded this sponsoring deal until 2015.

Sony is as well one of the biggest sponsors of the FIFA. For a sponsonring from 2007 untill 2014 Sony paid 350 million Euro ($460 million).

They really focus on advertising the brand and not the software. If this is a good thing remains to be seen.

Sony were notorious for their narcissistic marketing approach of flaunting the brand as opposed to the hardware or software. Half the time with their advertisements, the consumer is left scratching their heads as to what exactly Sony is advertising.

They aren't completely inept of marketing their playstation brand though. Butler's inception was arguably a stroke of genius. The advertisements not only showed off the Playstation brand but as well as the games it was attempting to market. Also where marketing fails, word of mouth usually does Sony's job for them. LBP, Infamous, Uncharted all had weak initial sales yet are now strong established IPs from what I believe to be strong word of mouth as opposed to Sony's marketing.

Like DirtyP2002 stated, they just have a different approach.

I don't live in the UK, so that's an interesting point. How did it impact you as a consumer, and did you see any adverts outside of game shops in order to attract the mainstream audience? Cinemas, public transit, kiosks to watch the awesome in-game footage?

That's what I'd like to know.