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Why does Sony not bother adapting their IPs for TV shows?

T

Takao

Banned
A TV show allows for a much more direct adaptation of their games than a movie could, so why not?

They're both probably crap, but why didn't they bring over the anime versions of Parappa and Ape Escape? Parappa is a dead franchise now, and had the anime been going it probably would've helped the performance of Parappa 2.

With Ape Escape, the situation is kind of sad. At one point it was one of SCEI's largest IPs, and now many of the games don't even leave Japan. It would've been a decent idea to get the anime on the air to keep the franchise in people's minds, or at least get a new audience interested (the anime premiered the same year Ape Escape 3 was released in North America). Instead, for some odd reason a bunch of Ape Escape shorts produced entirely in the US aired on a Nickelodeon sister network last year. That makes sense...

It's just so weird to see them adverse to having their gaming IPs on TV. Sony's a multimedia company, and yet they do nothing. Insomniac mentioned how the wanted to make Ratchet huge, an easy way to do that is a TV show, but with Sony I don't think that's going to happen.

I can't comment on the quality of the show itself, but the Parappa's anime OP is kind of amazing.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Even for the world of games, they're rather non-compelling IPs... I get why they haven't taken over TV...
 
I

ivysaur12

Banned
Because the network television landscape is currently devoid of any creativity, and all of the shows would be way too expensive for cable.
 
B

badcrumble

Member
the television shows based on Nintendo and Sega properties in the '90s were horrid unmitigated shit, why would this be any different
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Sony IP's are so non-compelling, this has the weight to me of "Why doesn't Quaker Oats license their IPs to TV? Capn Crunch would make a great cartoon!"
 
T

Takao

Banned
BocoDragon said:
Even for the world of games, they're rather non-compelling IPs... I get why they haven't taken over TV...
Click to expand...

Eh, both F-Zero and Blue Dragon's tv shows ended up on TV here (although both tanked), and I'd say neither is bigger than Ape Escape was...

and you gotta believe!
 
B

blame space

Banned
BocoDragon said:
Sony IP's are so non-compelling, this has the weight to me of "Why doesn't Quaker Oats license their IPs to TV? Capn Crunch would make a great cartoon!"
Click to expand...
:lol this is so sad coming from your avatar
 
A

antonz

Member
Sonys library is practically devoid of anything that could remotely be a profitable childrens show.

Nintendos own lineup I dont think fits well with tv much either especially in an age where cartoons are hardly like cartoons of old.
 
B

BladeoftheImmortal

Member
antonz said:
Sonys library is practically devoid of anything that could remotely be a profitable childrens show.

Nintendos own lineup I dont think fits well with tv much either especially in an age where cartoons are hardly like cartoons of old.
Click to expand...

Ratchet and Clank could be a great Jimmy Neutronesc endeavor.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
blame space said:
:lol this is so sad coming from your avatar
Click to expand...
That's exactly it ... even a Parappa fan isn't particularly interested in a Parappa cartoon. :lol

Also Rachet, Kratos, Crash, Sly, Ape Escape, Jak... I have no particular interest in seeing those cartoons, ever...

Now an Ico/SotC/TLG style animated movie in the style of Studio Ghibli...? Could work. Maybe.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
Agreed with the BocoDragon. None of their IPs would make for awfully interesting stuff.

The people always begging for a Ratchet and Clank film from Pixar are out of their minds.
 
B

BladeoftheImmortal

Member
Discotheque said:
Agreed with the BocoDragon. None of their IPs would make for awfully interesting stuff.

The people always begging for a Ratchet and Clank film from Pixar are out of their minds.
Click to expand...

what about an invention of the week type kids show. Ratchet or Clank builds some new contraption that goes haywire. Then you have thier cast of villians every other week doing sometihng evil or nefarious(pun intended). seems like an easy formula given Ratchet and Clanks nature/universe.
 
B

bernardobri

Steve, the dog with no powers that we let hang out with us all for some reason
Shalashaska161 said:
They should make Killzone Babies. It would feature the whole Killzone gang when they were kids, going on all sorts of wacky adventures!
Click to expand...

Something like The Little Rascals + Killzone? :lol
 
L

Le-mo

Member
Discotheque said:
Agreed with the BocoDragon. None of their IPs would make for awfully interesting stuff.

The people always begging for a Ratchet and Clank film from Pixar are out of their minds.
Click to expand...
Pixar doing a LittleBigPlanet film would be awesome. There is a lot of room for creativity.
 
DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
Gran Turismo could work. Get the designer, Jay Leno, and the guy who does all the video game voices (Uncharted, etc).

Can't be any worse than the US version of Top Gear.


Or maybe Syphon Filter? That could make a decent action show.
 
B

Boney

Banned
I mean, if they're well handled, they could be fun, all the properties. But all track records point to no.
 
A

antonz

Member
Ratchet and Clank doesnt even sell well enough for them to consider that. Didnt the last one sell something like 70K units in its launch month in NA?
 
T

Takao

Banned
antonz said:
Ratchet and Clank doesnt even sell well enough for them to consider that. Didnt the last one sell something like 70K units in its launch month in NA?
Click to expand...

I'd imagine it would help sell games given the cast is pretty likeable. Heck, I never would have known what Monster Rancher, Digimon, Medabots, or Pokemon were if there wasn't a TV show telling me about it.
 
A

apana

Member
The other problem is that stuff we care about like God of War doesn't translate well into cartoons because its too "mature", but it's not mature enough to be made into a movie. I'm not sure if mature is the right word I'm looking for.
 
A

AkuMifune

Banned
mf.luder said:
Kratos in weekly battles against skeletons + 1 God a week. Who wouldn't watch?
Click to expand...
A God of War sitcom with a laugh track would be awesome.

"Hey dad! Meet my new boyfriend!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH" Kratos beheads him.

(Audience) "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

That's My Kratos!
 
M

Mindlog

Member
ivysaur12 said:
Because the network television landscape is currently devoid of any creativity, and all of the shows would be way too expensive for cable.
Click to expand...
The way to foster creativity would be to license existing properties. I would like to know more.

Put some Colony Wars on (shudder) Syfy.
 
CamHostage

CamHostage

Member
badcrumble said:
the television shows based on Nintendo and Sega properties in the '90s were horrid unmitigated shit, why would this be any different
Click to expand...

The Nintendo shows were garbage (although enjoyable garbage, especially now) because...
A) the medium was not at all respected in those days and the product was rushed out to meet the demands of NES fiends, and
B) the characters and worlds of its games were a hodgepodge of ideas thrown together in order to maximize the color pallete and tile/sprite quality. (Even Mario 64 was in large parts a use of tech demo experiments where gameplay was found. And not that there's anything wrong with that refined experiment process, I wouldn't say Nintendo planned ahead for a canon Mario 100% until Sunshine and that's the least revered of the console releases.)

(I kind of remember not thinking ill of the first Sonic show though, as just base kiddie fare. When it got all anime'ed out, it was lame, but wasn't the Jaleel White show decent? Maybe I'm remembering it wrong.)

Video games now have much more story and defined worlds. That doesn't mean automatically better non-interactive entertainment, but I do agree with the OP that television is oddly ignored for video game franchises. (And it's possible that games could be a better fit than movies in many instances.)

Sony Pictures produces some good shows (Breaking Bad, Justified, Boondocks... previously Walker Texas Ranger) and although it's not fully vertically integrated, there's synergy in the company. If they could handle a license like the lost Spectacular Spider-Man (a casualty of the Marvel deal ending,) I could see Sony doing something good with one or two of the PlayStation properties.

Maybe a Buzz! trivia show, or a White Knight CG anime? For adults, a live-action Resistance show ala Walking Dead could be just the right sci-fi post-Battlestar, and a Fat Princess cartoon could have that rude, subversive style of humor that sometimes does well (the tone would have to be very different from the game though). Those Heavenly Sword and Mark of Kri franchises aren't headed off anywhere in a hurry...
 
N

Night_Trekker

Member
Defuser said:
How many weeks before kratos kill all the greek gods and have nothing left?
Click to expand...

He could move on to the Norse gods after that :D

But yeah, I agree that their IPs wouldn't make for shows anyone wanted to watch.
 
I

ivysaur12

Banned
Mindlog said:
The way to foster creativity would be to license existing properties. I would like to know more.

Put some Colony Wars on (shudder) Syfy.
Click to expand...

An Uncharted series would certainly be an interesting endeavor for television, but it's not going to happen.
 
I

ivysaur12

Banned
yencid said:
do we have any first party IP with a show out now?

From the big 3


Saturday morning cartoons dont exist anymore
Click to expand...

Pokemon is the only one. I don't think there has ever been a primetime television show based off of a videogame franchise, actually.
 
Y

yencid

Member
Right so wouldnt the thread title be more fitting of why are there no video game cartoons?

Last one i remember is Tak and the Power of Juju and i dont know how well that did.
 
T

Takao

Banned
yencid said:
Right so wouldnt the thread title be more fitting of why are there no video game cartoons?

Last one i remember is Tak and the Power of Juju and i dont know how well that did.
Click to expand...

Japan produces a tonne, just from the top of my head (this is all recent stuff too):

Blue Dragon
Sands of Destruction
Inazuma 11
Sengoku Basara
Megaman Starforce
Valkyria Chronicles

+ the stacks of icecream games that get 13 episode series no one anywhere cares about.

As for the US, there's supposedly a deBlob cartoon, and potentially a new Pac-Man cartoon for 2011. SEGA recently opened an animation branch, and we all know a new Sonic project has to be in there somewhere.

The reason I brought up Sony is simply because Sony is a media company as well as an electronics company. Capcom would need to get a third party to bring over Megaman Starforce and Sengoku Basara (which actually happened to both), and don't necessairly have the means to produce a show on their own. Sony certainly does.
 
F

farnham

Banned
this would work if sony as a corporation would be more unified

sony computer entertainment, sony music and sony columbia for example are in the same corporation yet they act like they are not oftentimes. the decisionmaking is way to split up into the various divisions. cooperation between the division seems to be harder then working with other companies sometimes.
 
K

kevm3

Member
I'm very glad they aren't doing this. When companies start over-saturating media with their products, I start liking them less.
 
Meesh

Meesh

Member
ivysaur12 said:
Because the network television landscape is currently devoid of any creativity, and all of the shows would be way too expensive for cable.
Click to expand...
Not sure about Sony's IPs...but Bayonetta needs to be an anime! :)
 
R

RiverBed

Banned
Are you sure they don't have anime adaptations? I think there is an anime about everything out there- including games. But maybe there isn't that big of a market in the weird cartoon world of the West- which I can never understand.
 
E

Ellis Kim

Banned
This thread reminds me of old 1UP Yours episodes where Garnett and John talked about how Sega was dropping the ball on brand awareness by not working on a Yakuza cable TV show, like on Showtime or whatever.
 
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