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GI:BIZ Sony needs to stay humble and focused
- Thread starter Omnistalgic
- Start date
LOL
BlackBuzzard
Banned
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_of_the_Year_awards
I think its Gears 1.
Seems like Sony atleast in my country is ramping up with ad time. The entire night on several channels, tons of commercials for Far Cry 4,GTA V and the shareplay ad(Nick still sucks).
Pathfinder
Member
Halo 4 won GOTY in 2012 didn't it? (Inside Gaming Awards)
BlackBuzzard
Banned
2012 the biggest winners were Journey and The Walking Dead.
wapplew
Member
Next year or 2016, Halo5, Gears 4, Scalebound, Quantum break look like heavy contenders.
Especially Scalebound, Platinum always critic darling.
But in 2015, they need to face off with Zelda, Splatoon and Uncharted 4.
Dragonborn
Member
Halo 5 isn't winning GOTY with 343 at the helm. Gears 4, maybe. Scalebound? As much as I love Platinum, even their masterpiece Bayontta 2 probably won't score too many awards. Quantum Break might though.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
Halo 4 was like a 87 Metacritic so no...at least not by many.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
And Bloodborne...
Except Korra .That bombed!
I wouldn't be surprised to see Tomb Raider get some great scores as well
StrongBlackVine
Banned
And Wonderful 101 was a critical and commercial flop.
wapplew
Member
How could I miss that. Look like 2015 already have nomination locked down.
BlackBuzzard
Banned
Really the only critic darlings are Bayonetta 1 and 2. The rest are all below 8.5, its more accurate to say they are GAF darlings.
Pathfinder
Member
Probably because the Xbox 360 was an underdog success story.
Maybe some people expect more from Sony.
360 was never leading, though.
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Jk
wapplew
Member
Cause bashing Xbone is getting old and they need damn clicks.
It was...
Omnistalgic
Member
I would pay for this to come true...Truly...I can't imagine Shu releasing this title unless it's nothing short of amazing though. Sales-wise, I'm not sure a touching, engrossing silent story (even with beautiful graphics) will appeal to a mainstream audience with gaming consoles. Unfortunately, what Ico/SotC/Last Guardian (hopefully) do well people expect from good books or movies, not gaming. Thus these titles largely get ignored compared to COD+HALO sales.
Also, the article does mention that Sony are largely on the right track, just that they would like a bit better exclusive output (unfortunate scenarios we know) and more core gaming focused PR instead of broadening talk. I would imagine this Editorial would not have been written if this mid-December we were in.
Also, 2015 does indeed look quite amazing, starting to see why MS wanted to pull TR to go up against UC now. I really hope next month doesn't disappoint and we get more than updates on games coming out in the next few months. Don't need any TLG bombs, just 2-3 new reveals and updates on games with very high quality is enough to start the hype train over.
Let me find that 8th gen predictions thread again.
Not every game needs to be COD/HALO type sales, though. Shadow of the Colossus actually did quite well for itself sales-wise, and Last Guardian is something of an epic bake in this industry for how long it has been waiting to come out.
But it's coming, it definitely is. All indications point to that now. Just gonna take forever
Nintendojitsu
Banned
Perception is a helluva drug.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
I think PS4 had a great first year, maybe not as good as PS2's first year, but still great nonetheless. I also disagree with the people wishing for PS3 titles such as TLoU, GT6, Puppeteer, etc... never got released on PS3 and were saved for PS4. This is not what a console maker shepherding it's own console should do, why would you want to spend the last 1-1.5 years before he successor comes out with all the first party teams already focused on the next big thing? To me this is how Sony always differentiated itself from its competition, full support for their consoles for their entire lifetime or very close to it basically. This is why I am pissed off about PS Vita... the exception...
Third party developers? The same one who cried at moving to Xbox 360 and PS3 too early and losing potential sales on the previous gen lacking cross-gen titles at least? They know it is important too, but sometimes falter in execution.
El-Pistolero
Member
Nope it wasn't. It never had. That was the Wii...
filler games, novelty item consoles
man you sure do love putting worthless labels on things :/
What's Nintendo's reasoning for low Wii U sales if the motion gaming fad hasn't died out?
Just don't know many gamers who use it as a primary gaming system.
alexandros
Banned
Really?
Wii U isn't a predominately motion controlled system. The reasons for Wii U's failure are a pretty complex list of issues, a list which I'm pretty sure would not be dominated by "motion gaming fad died out."
I mean look I get it. At the start of the Wii gen I was barely 21 and I was still using nonsense terms like 'non-game.'
I'm just sayin' that it's probably better to just say these things weren't your favorite systems than to try to put weighted, negative labels on them to discredit what they are to much of the market. Wii was insanely successful last gen because many genuinely loved it and it was a regular console like any other, just with a more innovative controller. Most of these games that won't sell like Call of Duty aren't "filler", they're fantastic games meant to appeal to more idiosyncratic tastes that aren't necessarily being filled by the latest clone AAA factory developed releases. Those tastes don't have to align with yours to not be considered 'filler.'
I'm pretty sure it was universally expected that the Xbox One would build on the 360's success and dominate whatever Sony was going to bring out at the time.
Didn't say the Wii U was motion based, stating a large amount of the success of it's predecessor comes from that specific factor.
When did I say non-AAA games are automatically bad? They can turn out great and some do look promising as I've listed them, just don't know if I could honestly consider any as games I am anxiously waiting for, hence the "filler" term. You can apply it to any platform.
EDIT: So my words don't get taken out of context, they're not the marquee games of systems for many reasons. Any game can have a lack of appeal depending the person.
When did I say non-AAA games are automatically bad? They can turn out great and some do look promising as I've listed them, just don't know if I could honestly consider any as games I am anxiously waiting for, hence the "filler" term. You can apply it to any platform.
EDIT: So my words don't get taken out of context, they're not the marquee games of systems for many reasons. Any game can have a lack of appeal depending the person.
To expand on the point above from amir0x, the reason for the messaging change at Sony after looking at their sparse lineup for the first 6-9 months is clear: Without casual audiences to fill the coffers at publishers, AAA games can't get made like they used to.
Despite what some people might say, PS4 wasn't being billed as a haven for games with a casual appeal and modest graphics; it was lining itself up to try to be a core gamer's boner-inducing dream come true right from the outset. It's Sony's go-to strategy, with mixed results. It doesn't really know how to sell a console by virtue of games alone, only potential for how much BIGGER and SHINIER and AWESOMER they could be, until reality sets in again. See for reference of when it goes bad: the first half of the PS3, Vita.
Xbox One puts itself in a similar position, with a huge elephant in the room from their PR disaster at E3 2013, to boot.
And Wii U, despite how I love it, isn't what it might have been. And publishers, to a certain extent, were probably banking on it a little as a console to make cheaper games for higher returns with no one thinking differently about it.
NO ONE in the console market is filling the void left by Wii, and the money that was once spent at retail on the much-derided "wagglefests", while possibly trickling back into the industry through other platforms like iOS, is not the relatively-consistent monetary returns they had during the peak years of the Wii. And without that, we're going to see a spike in risk aversion and fewer games. Just like we saw in the opening act of the PS4 life cycle.
Sony sees the void left by the Wii's special place in the console ecosystem and knows it will limp along on a comparatively sparse library of titles unless it can generate sales to the wider audience, and fast. But when you sell games on being bigger and better, efforts that seem scaled back by comparison will never garner the same attention, always getting drowned out.
Hence the message change.
Despite what some people might say, PS4 wasn't being billed as a haven for games with a casual appeal and modest graphics; it was lining itself up to try to be a core gamer's boner-inducing dream come true right from the outset. It's Sony's go-to strategy, with mixed results. It doesn't really know how to sell a console by virtue of games alone, only potential for how much BIGGER and SHINIER and AWESOMER they could be, until reality sets in again. See for reference of when it goes bad: the first half of the PS3, Vita.
Xbox One puts itself in a similar position, with a huge elephant in the room from their PR disaster at E3 2013, to boot.
And Wii U, despite how I love it, isn't what it might have been. And publishers, to a certain extent, were probably banking on it a little as a console to make cheaper games for higher returns with no one thinking differently about it.
NO ONE in the console market is filling the void left by Wii, and the money that was once spent at retail on the much-derided "wagglefests", while possibly trickling back into the industry through other platforms like iOS, is not the relatively-consistent monetary returns they had during the peak years of the Wii. And without that, we're going to see a spike in risk aversion and fewer games. Just like we saw in the opening act of the PS4 life cycle.
Sony sees the void left by the Wii's special place in the console ecosystem and knows it will limp along on a comparatively sparse library of titles unless it can generate sales to the wider audience, and fast. But when you sell games on being bigger and better, efforts that seem scaled back by comparison will never garner the same attention, always getting drowned out.
Hence the message change.
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
Now some people want to discount all kind of games because it fits their agenda.
It is real, real dumb. Games by definition are time wasters anyway. All games. And people who gloss over games because lack of budget, i won´t even bothered to waste my time answering them.
It is real, real dumb. Games by definition are time wasters anyway. All games. And people who gloss over games because lack of budget, i won´t even bothered to waste my time answering them.
Scalebound and Gears 4 will be 2016.
alexandros
Banned
Some general thoughts regarding Sony's "arrogance" and the PS4's "lack of games".
Sony are not arrogant. Their gameplan focused on delivering a core-focused game console that would be at least as cheap as the Xbox with a solid lineup of early exclusives. Sony didn't want to trail Microsoft like last time so they released quite a few important titles during the console's launh window. Most of those games weren't rated that highly so my guess is that Sony are now taking their time and polishing the new batch of exclusives as much as possible in order to avoid debacles like Knack and Driveclub or "meh" experiences like Killzone. The console is selling well enough as it is that they don't feel the need to rush more exclusives to market right now, or else it's possible that at least the Order would have been a Holiday 2014 title. So the current lack of big-name exclusives this season is not, in my opinion, a show of arrogance but an acknowledgement that their recent exclusive offerings weren't that great and that more effort is needed on that front.
Is it true that the PS4 has "no games"? Well, kinda. I would rephrase that like so: Sony doesn't have any highly-rated big name exclusive titles so far except Infamous. Indie games are great, many times they are much more fun than their triple-A counterparts but the truth is that noone is buying next-gen consoles to play small indie games. Noone. For the mainstream audience indie games are a fun distraction until the latest Halo or Uncharted or FIFA or COD hits. I don't like this at all but it is what it is. Big triple-A games sell consoles, not niche indie titles like Tearway, D4 or No Man's Sky. It's the truth and we all know it. In that sense Sony may have over-diversified their lineup, as silly as that sounds. The PS4 does currently lack in highly-rated triple-A big name titles and those titles are that push console sales.
Sony are not arrogant. Their gameplan focused on delivering a core-focused game console that would be at least as cheap as the Xbox with a solid lineup of early exclusives. Sony didn't want to trail Microsoft like last time so they released quite a few important titles during the console's launh window. Most of those games weren't rated that highly so my guess is that Sony are now taking their time and polishing the new batch of exclusives as much as possible in order to avoid debacles like Knack and Driveclub or "meh" experiences like Killzone. The console is selling well enough as it is that they don't feel the need to rush more exclusives to market right now, or else it's possible that at least the Order would have been a Holiday 2014 title. So the current lack of big-name exclusives this season is not, in my opinion, a show of arrogance but an acknowledgement that their recent exclusive offerings weren't that great and that more effort is needed on that front.
Is it true that the PS4 has "no games"? Well, kinda. I would rephrase that like so: Sony doesn't have any highly-rated big name exclusive titles so far except Infamous. Indie games are great, many times they are much more fun than their triple-A counterparts but the truth is that noone is buying next-gen consoles to play small indie games. Noone. For the mainstream audience indie games are a fun distraction until the latest Halo or Uncharted or FIFA or COD hits. I don't like this at all but it is what it is. Big triple-A games sell consoles, not niche indie titles like Tearway, D4 or No Man's Sky. It's the truth and we all know it. In that sense Sony may have over-diversified their lineup, as silly as that sounds. The PS4 does currently lack in highly-rated triple-A big name titles and those titles are that push console sales.
To be fair, I still contend that if Wii U was a motion controlled console like the Wii was, it would've been successful... Perhaps not as successful as the Wii was, but a lot more successful than what the Wii U currently is. I also believe the major issue with Kinect 2.0 was the fact that it made the Xbox One $500 which is far out of the price range of the casual gamer. Had Wii U been a continuation of the motion controlled paradigm of the Wii and was $250, I think it would have been successful at retaining most of the Wii's userbase.
In any case, it is now up to Sony and the PS4 to try to fill the role of regaining those casual consumers because PS4 is the console that has been chosen by consumers already. Neither Nintendo nor Microsoft are in as good a position as Sony is in the console generation.
In any case, it is now up to Sony and the PS4 to try to fill the role of regaining those casual consumers because PS4 is the console that has been chosen by consumers already. Neither Nintendo nor Microsoft are in as good a position as Sony is in the console generation.
Nightengale
Member
I'd like to throw in some general thoughts on Sony talking about the 'Wii' audience.
Some may say that trying to regain the void left behind by the Wii is a mistake, and depending on the kind of strategy they choose to attempt to fill the void (Wonderbook, etc), it may very well be terribly executed by Sony, but I think it's essential to recognise that you cannot ignore the market's contraction and the void left behind by the Wii.
I feel like other than GAF, the industry, or the games media, largely ignores the market dynamics with the Wii included. They're quick to write it off as a fad that will never reoccur, and instead talk about "omg consoles are selling 70% better than their predecessors", while completely ignoring the Wii in that context. The market is smaller, period.
And realistically, companies need to find a way to recover that contraction, either by identifying new markets they've never catered to (China, etc), or fill in portions of the void left by Wii.
Say what you want about the OG Kinect, but that device did help the 360 gain a second lease of life, and boosted the console's appeal and profile to being more than just a core console. Devs like Harmonix, etc found success and an audience because of that.
Whether or not the Wii void can be filled or not, platforms holders need to look into filling it in some shape or form.
Some may say that trying to regain the void left behind by the Wii is a mistake, and depending on the kind of strategy they choose to attempt to fill the void (Wonderbook, etc), it may very well be terribly executed by Sony, but I think it's essential to recognise that you cannot ignore the market's contraction and the void left behind by the Wii.
I feel like other than GAF, the industry, or the games media, largely ignores the market dynamics with the Wii included. They're quick to write it off as a fad that will never reoccur, and instead talk about "omg consoles are selling 70% better than their predecessors", while completely ignoring the Wii in that context. The market is smaller, period.
And realistically, companies need to find a way to recover that contraction, either by identifying new markets they've never catered to (China, etc), or fill in portions of the void left by Wii.
Say what you want about the OG Kinect, but that device did help the 360 gain a second lease of life, and boosted the console's appeal and profile to being more than just a core console. Devs like Harmonix, etc found success and an audience because of that.
Whether or not the Wii void can be filled or not, platforms holders need to look into filling it in some shape or form.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
A kind of a long winded road get to "so, basically, I don't understand why it is selling so well..." huh
?
Seriously now, I think that list wats aside the PS4 had a lot of big games, first and third party alike, released on this platform. Some were exclusive, some were clearly better technically on PS4 which might have helped to tip the scales in Sony's favor too. While indies are not a system seller to some people, they do help the system offer s perceived healthier ecosystem and enrich the landscape of games people can choose from and this helps quite a bit IMHO.
Other people felt like jumping in maybe because Sony has usually shepherded their home consoles very well for a long period of time, consistently bringing a great variety of games, big first party exclusives, and improvements all around their software ecosystem (PSN and OS wise too yes
). A gamer who has owned PSOne, PS2, and PS3 for the entirety of their respective software lifecycle can see that Sony does support their systems very well over time.I don't think it would have retained most of the user base, but it would be selling a lot better than the GameCube.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Well, since the infamous "do not read too much into those sales numbers", I think the pressure on the market leader from the press has not dropped off.
alexandros
Banned
A kind of a long winded road get to "so, basically, I don't understand why it is selling so well..." huh
Not at all. I fully understand why the PS4 is outselling the Xbox One: Because it was the more powerful console of the two while also being the cheaper one until recently and because Microsoft shit the bed with its DRM shenanigans. It doesn't get any simpler than that.
Yeah really.
If you think it's not true please tell me why i have never seen articles like this in the last years of the 360?
travisbickle
Member
The other funny thing about some within the press, it felt as though last year there was a sense of "these console manufacturers can do what they want and the consumer will just take it because they're idiots" from writers when it came to rumours about DRM. But now we are at the opposite end of the spectrum where Sony have to walk on egg shells or face the wrath of a savvy buying public.
It's just typical flavour of the month tabloid writing over some conspiracy of hate towards Sony.
It's just typical flavour of the month tabloid writing over some conspiracy of hate towards Sony.
Tell me, what makes the people who began gaming with the Wii any different than the people who began gaming with the PS1 other than the type of controller and games they like? PS1 sold 102.5 million consoles, and yet the SNES and Genesis sold a combined total of 89.1 million. PS1 obviously gained some non-gamers and PS2 certainly continued gaining them if being the best selling console of all time is any indication. PS2 also kept a similar controller to the controller that the PS1 used. People who like motion controls as defined by the Wii... are going to want their future controllers to be like the Wii Remote in function, not the monstrosity that is the Wii U GamePad nor do they want the standardized Dual Shock form either. They want a controller that looks like a remote that they can wave around to play games.
MatrixMan.EXE
Member
You're wrong. I wonder when people will get it into their heads that while exclusives matter to a degree, they're not as important as us here on enthusiast social networks would like to believe.
The reason PS4 is selling the way it is is because it DOES have AAA big name titles. Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Battlefield, FIFA, GTA....these are the games that will sell more consoles than any exclusive Microsoft and Sony can offer.
On the contrary, the wider market doesn't really care for most exclusives that release on these systems. You'll find that most exclusives sales are regulated to a more focused and core subset within a consoles user base. Of course, this isn't an all encompassing rule as there is some bleed out, so to speak. But, predominantly, it's the big AAA multiplatform games that drive consoles sales, not exclusives.