By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sony - The reason I believe Sony's exclusives can't sell as well as they should this gen.

S.T.A.G.E. said:
Mazty said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:


Question. Where are you from? Because in America Saturday morning cartoons lead to record breaking sales of Toys and videogames alike. 

You got figures to back that up? More specifically, you got figures to back up the idea that game cartoons helped increase game sales? The only game which certainly had a postitive effect from the cartoon was pokemon, but the cartoon came before the game, not the other way around.


Where are you from? Again.

Why does it matter?  It doesn't; it's an ad hominem and therefore a fallacy. Get back on topic. 



Around the Network
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Rafux said:
At Stage: Competition and expectatives.


Killzone franchise sells in the spring where as Halo and COD both sell in the fall so we're just talking about your preference rather than how Halo is killing Killzones sales. Second of all if Gears is synonymous but it isn't owned by Microsoft so they aren't in the argument.  The Uncharted franchise in three games have sold over seventeen million copies, which is amazing for a new IP in a generation without massive commercialization on par with Nintendo characters. God of War is in the near 20 million region and has no competition in the hack n slash genre (which is crazy for a hack n slash...just saying). GT has no equal in sales in the race car simulation genre. The ratings are there and PS3 games are high on the list. Whenever you go on Amazon theres a top 40 PS3 list and its largely exclusives with multiplats. If you did it for the Xbox it would be drowned out by multiplats because of their lack of exclusives. Sony has plenty of first party games with mass market potential for various audiences...but are not good at marketing them properly, so they will fall by the wayside. You would be surprised how much the psychology of marketing can affect the consumer psyche. 


It seems you didn't understand me on some points (sorry my English is bad, not my main language), I meant Uncharted sold so well because it didn't have competition and for me it actually created a new genre the platform/TPS/cover, GT is still a monster on PS3 and they had no real competition, also people did prefer COD to Killzone 2 (even if they didn't release at the same time COD4 was a phenomenon) and others convinced their friends to buy a 360 to play Halo 3.

So in conclusion Sony should focus on new genres or genres not exploted enough to create new IPs and they seem to be doing that with PA Battle Royale (no competition at all on PS3 and so far it seems like a quality game so it should sell well) but they also should have real expectatives. (like I said with the Twisted Metal example the car combat genre is not as popular as before).



Granted something like that could help, but consider that Super Mario got the show because it was already the biggest thing in the world at that point. The show came as a result of Mario's presence in gaming. It didn't exactly enhance that presence. At the time Mario already owned the gaming industry. The show came out of love for the game, not exactly to help sell games. And The Legend of Zelda was a wildly panned show by both fans and critics alike. So it's unlikely that the show for The Legend of Zelda actually helped the series become more popular. And if you were like me in those days, you never watched them anyway. You just knew what they were. Nintendo had a strong marketing campaign going for them and, at that time, they were also one of the only ways to really game. Mario came packaged with the system during a time when people were unsure if video games were back as a temporary fad or not. Mario would've become huge with or without a show because the timing in which it came allowed for it to.

And Sonic seems to have a loyal fanbase that will simply never leave. But I don't think the show really did a lot to boose Sonic's sales either. Like Mario, its show came out as a result of the success of the games, not exactly to market them more. I'm not saying that those shows didn't cause some strange onlooker to be curious about the game. I'm saying that I think the show was made as a means to appeal to fans of the games... not to get people who didn't play the games to suddenly get interested in them. But I'm not sure how well they're remembered. A lot of people remember the shows themselves, but I do not see that many people speaking of them... fondly. In fact, most people speak of that Zelda one with such disdain they wish it had never been made (it's become a joke). I've yet to come across a Zelda fan who actually liked that show.

And, of course, the most obvious thing here: Gaming has changed so much that it's not just a kids thing anymore. An animated show appeal to all children because it's an animated show. Most children like cartoons. But most children also watched those shows because they'd already played the games. Nowadays, gaming has changed that you have to appeal to adults and not the children inside of the adults. Again, Mario, Sonic and Zelda had shows because of the games. The games had already proved success. And did they help boost the sales of sequels? Maybe but... did they sell any better than what Halo or Gears of War sell now? Well, Mario did... but did Zelda or Sonic? Nope. And the shows were cancelled while they were still getting games that managed to sell a bunch. Take The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's the bestselling of the series (well, maybe... I'm guessing if you combine Gamecube and Wii sales of Twilight Princess it's different) but the show was a long forgotten memory by that point in time. And some of us even forgot it had a show. And Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess were much bigger than the original game and The Adventures of Link (the games the show would've pushed). And Ocarina of Time even came out on a system with a smaller install base.

One that also came around that people commonly forget is Donkey Kong Country. But again, by the time the show came around, the success of the games was sealed. And that show didn't help increase the sales of the game. When they ran in the United States in 1998, the games were already going out of print. And Donkey Kong Country 3 never saw the same sales that Donkey Kong Country or Donkey Kong Country 2 had seen. And by that time, Nintendo stopped manufacturing the game. The show COULDN'T have helped sales of the Donkey Kong Country games. No matter what.

The other big elephant in the room: Nintendo relies quite heavily on lifetime sales more so than anything else. The reason Nintendo tends to push huge numbers is because the next sequel isn't always right around the corner. When the new Modern Warfare comes out, it only keeps selling until whatever the next Call ot Duty is. It pushes those enormous sales, sure, but they drop off fast. Nintendo games typically keep selling until the console is dead. If anything, Nintendo doesn't exactly need a show.

So with that in mind, would shows and adaptations help Sony's first party sales? I doubt it. It might be good fanservice for those who love the games themselves, but in order to actually appeal beyond the gamers and to actually get people to actually play those games based off that is a hard thing to do. Take God of War. You suggest an anime... I would suggest a mini series similar to Game of Thrones or Spartacus. Why? It's a broader audience, speaks more clearly to adults (because that pesky stereotype that anime is primarily for adolescents isn't going away any time soon) and isn't niche. But again, would it guarantee sales is the big question? And it's really not likely. There's quite a bit to appeal to, but as a rule, video games haven't had the best luck with another medium improving sales in this day and age. Because it's not just a matter of it being out there... it's a matter of that adaptation being good. Game of Thrones on HBO didn't push sales of the books just because it was an original series on HBO. It happens to be so well done, and compelling enough that people WANTED to read the books.

So Game of Thrones has HBO. Your favorite graphic novel has... things like The Dark Knight. Things that appeal BEYOND the intended audience. In the case of Game of Thrones, you don't have to read the book to love the show. With The Dark Knight you don't have to be a fan of Batman to like it. But video games have had a shakey recent history when it comes to other mediums. Take Uncharted. Sure, it could easily make a good movie, but look at the track record of video game adaptations. The one that seems to be looked upon the most fondly is Mortal Kombat and the one that made the most money is Tomb Raider... and the only franchise that has survived in theaters is Resident Evil. None of these adaptations caused people to want to go out and play the games. Many people who saw them didn't play video games either.

That's not to say none of them could work in other ways. Jak and Daxter, for example, has the best shot of anything to be a fantastic show. It's lighthearted, humorous and would easily appeal to a kids sensibilities. But again, this would be coming after the games themselves have already been big successes at this point. It wouldn't help the sales at all. InFamous is a no brainer--MAKE IT A GRAPHIC NOVEL! Not an anime. A Graphic Novel. The game pretty much speaks to that audience as it is. You publish two different versions. One where Cole is good and other where he's evil. There's your marketing gimmick right there!

The point is this, though: Crossing over mediums hasn't really had a track record of helping games sell. Because the end result is usually a pretty bad adaptation or it just happens to come when the game doesn't need it. Do you honestly think Super Mario Bros. would've sold less had there been no show? Do you honestly think that Sonic would've declined in popularity had there been no show? And do you honestly think that terrible Zelda show actually helped increase sales of the game? I honestly don't think so. And I can't really see it working out here either. I could see them perhaps picking up new fans, but that wouldn't mean they'd be interested in the games in the slightest. And many watching would already have either played or owned the games to begin with.

Until someone finds a good way to cross mediums it's not going to benefit the sale of the video games themselves. It's likely the sale of the video game would benefit that other medium more so. We're slowly approaching where it could work in the future... that being that at some point there will be more gamers to appeal to, but as it stands, a lot of what comes on television or out in theaters doesn't exactly have the gamer in mind. When a movie is released the concern is movie goers. When a television show is released, the concern is people who watch television. If a play is done the concern is people who enjoy the stage. When a graphic novel is made the concern is people who enjoy reading graphic novels.

Graphic Novels actually serve other mediums really well and their increasing popularity is much more ripe and in sync with video games than any other medium out there--they share a much more similar audience. Granted, so does anime, but consider that there's a portion of the audience that anime alienates. Much like graphic novels. Anime certainly appeals to those who like games like Final Fantasy or other JRPGs and you can easily capture that audience. In fact, in Japan the Tales series, Wild Arms and Final Fantasy all have animes (the Tales of the Abyss and Valkyria Chronicles animes follow the video games to a tee... even having the dialog be word for word the same). I like the idea of animes but they are NOT going to help sell Westernized games. Games like God of War, Twisted Metal and Infamous are not going to benefit from an anime. This is especially true given that anime hasn't exactly been able to escape the perception that it's primarily for teenagers and people in their early twenties (again, it's a perception, go to any convention and you see people of all kinds of ages). Those games want to be broader than that audience. Meaning that should they have a show or something.

As much as the idea is fantastic, it's not something I can see that would help sales of the game. At least not right out of the gate. Part of the reason Nintendo succeeded earlier on wasn't because they had those shows. For one they had a lack of competition for a while before Sega jumped in (and the competition they DID have was pitiful) and two, Mario was already everywere. Super Mario Bros. came with the system. Mario was the first game that many of us played when the gaming medium came back after the video game crash of '83. He introduced himself and became a part of our culture and lives. He didn't need a television show to obtain the glory he did. All it was was a matter of timing.



Being a gamer is about getting your hands on any damn game you can find and playing the hell out of it!  It means experiencing the good, the bad and the ugly.  It means playing the 360, the Wii and PS3.  It's not about that Hardcore and Casual bullshit, it's about your passion for the medium itself!

The crazy wacky misadventures of Nathan Drake with the sexual escapades of a young Victor 'the player' Sullivan to end every episode.

I think it's just poor marketing. People say Sony markets a lot, I don't see it though, maybe I should watch TV more often before jumping to conclusions but all I ever see are Nintendo and 360 ads in Australia with the occasional Vita ad.



sony not marketing games well is myth



Around the Network

Sony's hasn't been the driving force for their own hardware sales for a long time now.

The first Playstation they had legit blockbusters like Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, Wipeout, and Parappa.

But PS2 ... not really. ICO wasn't a huge hit. Neither was Killzone or Dark Cloud. I guess there's SOCOM which did alright. The PS2 outpaced everyone on the back of third party exclusives like GTA3 and Final Fantasy X and MGS2/3. God of War was a solid hit, but not exactly a monster seller.

Now that Microsoft (and to a degree Nintendo) and broken Sony's hold on third parties, Sony's internal efforts are high quality, but sorta lost in a sea of similar games.

I think basically when Sony entered the game business in the mid-90s they were the "cool" company and there was a lot of room to create different types of franchises like Gran Turismo aimed at teenagers/older males.

But today, Microsoft has eaten away much of that mindshare/brand marketing. Sony is not "special" anymore, and in the broad scope of things their brand has completely collapsed. It's no longer a big deal to have a Sony.



Sonys problem is that their Games are not separate enaugh from other games, they made to many games only as response to already existing succesfull Games from other companies. Uncharted was a response to the success of Gears of War, Resistance and Killzone was response to Halo, Little big Planet Karting and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale are vast respones to Super Smash Brother and Mario Kart. Sony only copies from other companies they never really developed some individual IPs. That is their biggest probelm you never will have the same success with a cheap copie as with an original. Sony rather should try finally develop some individual Games than always only copie other ideas.



You do know there is an Uncharted Movie in the works, right? Since 2009. Columbia Pictures. Currently it seems Mark Wahlberg starring as Drake. They had to replace a writer and started over so that's why its taking so long.



Before the PS3 everyone was nice to me :(

Yes they should of made the God of War movie a long time ago.


I dont think that comic books helping because they already made a uncharted , infamous and dcuo comics though i'm not sure how well they sold.



 

Bet with gooch_destroyer, he wins if FFX and FFX-2 will be at $40 each for the vita. I win if it dont

Sign up if you want to see God Eater 2 get localized!! https://www.change.org/petitions/shift-inc-bring-god-eater-2-to-north-america-2#share

Speaking mostly about America here...

When the PS1 came out, gamers wanted variety and Sony filled that gap in the market.

Now, gamers don't care much for variety and want to play a couple genres only. (online FPS and motion control casual games). Microsoft catered to that this generation and did well.



"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY."  --Hermann Goering, leading Nazi party member, at the Nuremberg War Crime Trials 

 

Conservatives:  Pushing for a small enough government to be a guest in your living room, or even better - your uterus.