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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Sony and the Digimon franchise.

 

SCE Japan Studio announces tomorrow that they have been working on a series of exclusive Vita games based on the Digimon universe. What will you do?

I will buy one when the n... 17 30.91%
 
I already own a Vita and ... 10 18.18%
 
I already own a Vita and ... 9 16.36%
 
Digimon is not big enough... 19 34.55%
 
Total:55
RenCutypoison on 15 July 2015
pokoko said:

I've been arguing for years that Sony's absolute biggest mistake with their handheld division has been their failure to develop a kid-friendly IP.

In Japan, they can get by without it.  In the west, the handheld market depends on titles that appeal to a younger audience.  Developing such an IP--and I mean the whole nine yards, including games, television, and toys--should have been a priority from the moment they launched the PSP.  Even if it wasn't, it should have been one BEFORE they launched the Vita.  The adult gamer market is not going to support dedicated handheld devices in North America.

What makes this even more of a mistake is that Sony is in a good position with Sony Pictures to leverage kid-friendly properties.  They could make it happen.  If nothing else, they could have formed a partnership with someone that already had a popular media IP and offered to handle the video-game segment of the market.

It's the same criticism I have with Nintendo: no one is going to do your job for you.  If you wait for that, and it doesn't happen, it's your own fault.  If you want a particular market to develop on your device, you go out and lay the groundwork yourself.

 

It's just funny to see that Nintendo and Sony did the exact same mistake, selling 2 different products with 2 different markets with the same target audience in mind, family friendly for Nintendo and core gamers for Sony. 

I don't think Sony Pictures has anything good to offer as gaming franchises goes though. Adaptations rarely do well. But they could definitely have tried to get a deal on an exclusive Rayman or even make LBP:Karting for Vita at launch. This would have definitely been a better investment than a handeld Killzone or Uncharted IMO.



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midrange on 15 July 2015
pokoko said:
The_BlackHeart__ said:
Nothing can touch the Pokemon franchise when it comes down to the handheld market.

Actually, Pokemon is arguably the actual reason why there is a portable consoles market to begin with.

This is not a Digimon vs Pokemon situation. This is about unutilized potential and how much can both parties -Digimon and Sony- benefit from a partnership, given the fact that people love the idea of battling monsters.

Do Pokemon fans really feel that much threatened when somebody dares to use their religion as a point of reference?

Lets focus on the matter. Can the Vita be saved and more important, how?

I've been arguing for years that Sony's absolute biggest mistake with their handheld division has been their failure to develop a kid-friendly IP.

In Japan, they can get by without it.  In the west, the handheld market depends on titles that appeal to a younger audience.  Developing such an IP--and I mean the whole nine yards, including games, television, and toys--should have been a priority from the moment they launched the PSP.  Even if it wasn't, it should have been one BEFORE they launched the Vita.  The adult gamer market is not going to support dedicated handheld devices in North America.

What makes this even more of a mistake is that Sony is in a good position with Sony Pictures to leverage kid-friendly properties.  They could make it happen.  If nothing else, they could have formed a partnership with someone that already had a popular media IP and offered to handle the video-game segment of the market.

It's the same criticism I have with Nintendo: no one is going to do your job for you.  If you wait for that, and it doesn't happen, it's your own fault.  If you want a particular market to develop on your device, you go out and lay the groundwork yourself.


Sony's biggest handheld mistake isn't that they didn't make kid friendly IP's, it's that they didn't make big IP that appeals to everyone. The only really big games on the Vita are Gravity Rush and tear away, both new IP. I agree with the groundwork claim tho



midrange on 15 July 2015

Digimon may have potential for a good revival, but it will be awhile before it becomes as big as pokemon (if possible). Nothing will save the vita now, but I do think it would be wise of Sony to take digimon and make it big starting through games and a tv show on nick or Cartoon Network.



Roronaa_chan on 15 July 2015
Areym said:
Roronaa_chan said:
I wouldn't buy anything for either Digimon or Pokemon. Dunno why anyone likes that stuff


Probably the same reason you love underage anime school girls, everybody has preferences.


We'd best hope that it's not for the same reason



pokoko on 15 July 2015
RenCutypoison said:

 

It's just funny to see that Nintendo and Sony did the exact same mistake, selling 2 different products with 2 different markets with the same target audience in mind, family friendly for Nintendo and core gamers for Sony. 

I don't think Sony Pictures has anything good to offer as gaming franchises goes though. Adaptations rarely do well. But they could definitely have tried to get a deal on an exclusive Rayman or even make LBP:Karting for Vita at launch. This would have definitely been a better investment than a handeld Killzone or Uncharted IMO.

I mean that more in that Sony could handle cross-media work more easily than most other developers.  Look at what they're doing with turning Hotel Transalvaia into a TV series.  They've got the marketing and PR departments for that kind of stuff.

Yeah, though, it really is strange that both Nintendo and Sony did the same thing except with two different markets.  I don't know if it was arrogance or a lack of focus but they both failed to do all they should have done to support key products.  



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StarOcean on 15 July 2015

It has potential for growth but it won't be able to compete with Pokemon. The PSP did have its own "Pokemon" before, Monster Hunter, but those days are long gone. Sony needs a fresh IP that appeals both east and west, Digimon won't do that, but perhaps a similar concept



Blob on 15 July 2015

Why would sony bother obtaining ips for their handheld business at this point? I don't see them making another handheld, besides that id imagine western sales of Digimon will be skewed more towards the ps4 version anyway



RenCutypoison on 16 July 2015
pokoko said:

I mean that more in that Sony could handle cross-media work more easily than most other developers.  Look at what they're doing with turning Hotel Transalvaia into a TV series.  They've got the marketing and PR departments for that kind of stuff.

Yeah, though, it really is strange that both Nintendo and Sony did the same thing except with two different markets.  I don't know if it was arrogance or a lack of focus but they both failed to do all they should have done to support key products.  


I guess it has to do with marketing costs and cross marketing plus cross platform release.

I guess they could go Sonic Boom/Raving Rabbids with Sony Picture. I'm actually surprised at how conservative console manufacturers are as far as marketing go, while companies such as Riot Games (League of Legends) use their marketing budgets on Music Videos and albums or CGI cutscenes for their game. Bamco's announcement of Digimon re:digitize came a month after crunchyroll released subbed versions of the 5 first seasons of the anime too, and they will probably push for Digimon Tri to be broadcasted on TV in US.

Ratchet and Cank would have been awesome as a TV series.