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Media Create Sales: Week 3, 2012 (Jan 16 - Jan 22)

To be honest, anyone paying attenton during the latter half of the PSP's lifespan could have told you the problems that the Vita (or any PSP successor) was going to face out the door.

I don't disagree with this but Sony's future as a company is decided on by far more than it's video games business. If, hypothetically, Sony decided to axe the gaming division tomorrow then they still have other products and services to rely on. Nintendo only exists as a gaming company and even though they are in excellent shape financially they don't have the option getting out of the gaming business if the 3DS doesn't work out for them. That's the point I was trying to make and I apologize if I didn't do a great job at it

Well, this might be a better point if most of Sony's other divisions weren't also a mess right now.
 

Alrus

Member
Sony's first party support for Vita is following their PSP pattern of releasing mostly inferior portable version of their console franchises... It didn't work too well for the PSP and I doubt it'll do anything for the Vita. That's in stark contrast with Nintendo strategy to release either mainline iteration of their franchises on the handheld or developing brand new content for them.

They should really get their top studios working on new quality handheld content, but I have a feeling these people would feel insulted if they had to work on a portable machine...
 

donny2112

Member
the DS really took off in its second year, so it'll be interesting to see if the 3DS can keep up.

Hate to spoil it for you, so here's some spoiler tags.

It won't. Shortage DS had 100K weeks almost every week, without needing holidays to do it. No way 3DS can keep up with that, but it shouldn't be compared to that, anyways.
Hopefully 3DS is around for a long, long time like DS has been.

We now know that Revelations was moved over from PSP,

No, we don't. As has been explained in other threads, the PSP RE either was killed or maybe became Racoon City. RE:R is not RE PSP.
 

matmanx1

Member
Sony's first party support for Vita is following their PSP pattern of releasing mostly inferior portable version of their console franchises... It didn't work too well for the PSP and I doubt it'll do anything for the Vita. That's in stark contrast with Nintendo strategy to release either mainline iteration of their franchises on the handheld or developing brand new content for them.

They should really get their top studios working on new quality handheld content, but I have a feeling these people would feel insulted if they had to work on a portable machine...

Isn't MinGol the next mainline entry in the franchise? Is it inferior to the PS3 version? I can't say as I haven't played either one but the word of mouth seems pretty good. Likewise with Wipeout as it seems to be arguable as to if it's inferior to it's console counterpart. The framerate decrease is unfortunate but other than that it seems to hold up quite well from all early reports.

Uncharted GA is inferior to Uncharted 2 and 3 but might be equal to or greater than the original Uncharted. Resistance and Killzone aren't here yet but Resistance will most probably be worse than the console versions. Little Big Planet I have actually played and can confidently say that it's the best LBP of all. The new control methods really make that game shine.

So at this point I would say you are only partly right and maybe Sony is actually trying to do a better job with it's main franchises on the Vita.
 
So there's six already? I am impressed.

Nintendo gives a list of their worldwide million seller counts every quarter, don't they? Or is only at the end of the fiscal year?

If it's the former, we should know for sure (as of end of December) by this time tomorrow.
 
Isn't MinGol the next mainline entry in the franchise? Is it inferior to the PS3 version? I can't say as I haven't played either one but the word of mouth seems pretty good. Likewise with Wipeout as it seems to be arguable as to if it's inferior to it's console counterpart. The framerate decrease is unfortunate but other than that it seems to hold up quite well from all early reports.

Uncharted GA is inferior to Uncharted 2 and 3 but might be equal to or greater than the original Uncharted. Resistance and Killzone aren't here yet but Resistance will most probably be worse than the console versions. Little Big Planet I have actually played and can confidently say that it's the best LBP of all. The new control methods really make that game shine.

So at this point I would say you are only partly right and maybe Sony is actually trying to do a better job with it's main franchises on the Vita.

I would say he is completely wrong, myself.

MinGol - Part of real series (unlike PSP games), arguably most content in a MinGol game
Uncharted - Not quite up to the quality of a game like UC2 or 3 (budget and not ND) but feels nothing like a "handheld game" at all
WipEout - Amazing. Most content in a WipEout game ever, too.
 
The problem with Sony first party efforts is not quality, but the twofold fact that none of them really sell on portables and they barely make games for Japan. Nintendo can always bank on several franchises with consistent worldwide appeal.

I'm at a loss to explain why Sony never created their own answer to EAD. I can only assume that they thought the good relationships with third parties from the PS2 era could sustain them forever. As things stand now, nothing Sony can produce themselves would be game changing, no matter how good the quality is.
 
The problem with Sony first party efforts is not quality, but the twofold fact that none of them really sell on portables and they barely make games for Japan. Nintendo can always bank on several franchises with consistent worldwide appeal.

I'm at a loss to explain why Sony never created their own answer to EAD. I can only assume that they thought the good relationships with third parties from the PS2 era could sustain them forever.

This post nails it.
 

Kazerei

Banned
Hate to spoil it for you, so here's some spoiler tags.

It won't. Shortage DS had 100K weeks almost every week, without needing holidays to do it. No way 3DS can keep up with that, but it shouldn't be compared to that, anyways.
Hopefully 3DS is around for a long, long time like DS has been.

.

I think you're right, but I think the 3DS will put up a good fight. Many of the big DS games of 2006 will have sequels or similar games out for the 3DS. The biggest omissions are Pokemon Diamond/Pearl and Brain Training. Something like Pokemon Gray 3DS is a possibility, and something else to capture a broader audience ... maybe. Overall I think the 3DS lineup is actually looking stronger than the DS lineup was, especially with Monster Hunter filling in that teenage demographic.
 

Zen

Banned
They've also mismanaged the IPs that they did have that were selling hundreds of thousands during the PS1 and PS2 era. It's also possible that, with a globally focused SCE, the idea of investing heavily in a constantly shrinking market may seem unappealing. Especially when they view themselves as wanted to appeal to the teen and early mid 20's market, which means that they are inherently producing higher cost properties.

Still SCEJ has been generally useless, and it's a real shame that, to this day, Sony is still haunted by relying heavily on third parties during the PS1/PS2 era. They really should embrace having more E for everyone properties.

They also need to really start working to form a sense of cohesion in their first party. That's not the right term, but like Nintendo, I think it would behoove them to start creating a sense of legacy with a few properties that they take super seriously and carry over from generation to Generation.

Sony Smash Bros is a good start, make sure to create a Sony Smash Bros 2 for the PS4. They need to focus on some more international properties that will also do well in japan, because essentially they have nothing.
 

Vic

Please help me with my bad english
The problem with Sony first party efforts is not quality, but the twofold fact that none of them really sell on portables and they barely make games for Japan. Nintendo can always bank on several franchises with consistent worldwide appeal.

I'm at a loss to explain why Sony never created their own answer to EAD. I can only assume that they thought the good relationships with third parties from the PS2 era could sustain them forever. As things stand now, nothing Sony can produce themselves would be game changing, no matter how good the quality is.
Seems that it was a weak plan since it's been easily dismantled by Microsoft. Unanimous third-party support was the only real strength Sony ever had in this business and it's been diluted by Microsoft in the US and Nintendo in Japan. They don't have an actual powerful asset that show dominance in the console markets other than the Playstation brand itself, which as lost quite a bit of it's luster this gen. We could mention Gran Tursimo but that's arguable.
 
Seems that it was a weak plan since it's been easily dismantled by Microsoft. Unanimous third-party support was the only real strength Sony ever had in this business and it's been diluted by Microsoft in the US and Nintendo in Japan. They don't have an actual powerful asset that show dominance in the console markets other than the Playstation brand itself, which as lost quite a bit of it's luster this gen. We could mention Gran Tursimo but that's arguable.

It was shortsighted, but Sony was unbelievably arrogant following their success with the PS2. You need only look at the comments they made about the PSP in order to see that. They don't seem to have a strategy at this point now that their backs are against the walls.

They've also mismanaged the IPs that they did have that were selling hundreds of thousands during the PS1 and PS2 era. It's also possible that, with a globally focused SCE, the idea of investing heavily in a constantly shrinking market may seem unappealing. Especially when they view themselves as wanted to appeal to the teen and early mid 20's market, which means that they are inherently producing higher cost properties.

Still SCEJ has been generally useless, and it's a real shame that, to this day, Sony is still haunted by relying heavily on third parties during the PS1/PS2 era. They really should embrace having more E for everyone properties.

They also need to really start working to form a sense of cohesion in their first party. That's not the right term, but like Nintendo, I think it would behoove them to start creating a sense of legacy with a few properties that they take super seriously and carry over from generation to Generation.

Sony Smash Bros is a good start, make sure to create a Sony Smash Bros 2 for the PS4.

This gets at a more ephemeral point I've been thinking about; Sony does not have a collective creative vision for its first party games. It does not even have anyone who could pass for a visionary. Naughty Dog has become the first party darling of the company and no one would question the quality of their output, but their output does not reflect a philosophy shared by the rest of the company. The suits at Sony are neither qualified nor inclined to interfere creatively.

Sony is a hardware company first and foremost and their business practices reflect this. Nintendo is a gaming company. From top to bottom and from east to west they have cohesion. Iwata himself was a game developer at HAL before being anointed. Miyamoto continues to have his fingers in almost every pie. When Retro Studios gets down to business in Texas, creative overseers in Japan are watching their every move.

This is why Nintendo has been able to build a legacy as game makers that Sony will probably never be able to rival.
 

Jonnyram

Member
I'm at a loss to explain why Sony never created their own answer to EAD.
This is nonsense. Who do you think develops Near, Friend lists, Trophy lists, Home, Remote Play, Ad-hoc Party, etc? If Sony didn't invest into the development of them, maybe they'd have a half-assed online feature set, with a couple of decent games that noone would buy anyway.
 

Fair enough. I actually saw that interview but misread it.

I'll still take CVX's word on it. The interview was about the technical aspect so it's possible the scenario or other preproduction had already been done for PSP.

This is nonsense. Who do you think develops Near, Friend lists, Trophy lists, Home, Remote Play, Ad-hoc Party, etc? If Sony didn't invest into the development of them, maybe they'd have a half-assed online feature set, with a couple of decent games that noone would buy anyway.

Are you really trying to argue that the presence of some OS features means that Sony has a Japanese first party game development combine that can match up to EAD?
 
Patapon on the Vita plase! if only Sony had creative visionaries and not just suity men! ;)

I think it isn't a lack of creativity, but a misguided vision for what the market wants. They assume that the market only wants AAA console styled games, while ignoring the needs of portable gaming.
 

Jonnyram

Member
Are you really trying to argue that the presence of some OS features means that Sony has a Japanese first party game development combine that can match up to EAD?
No, I am saying that Sony's efforts to make a solid OS preclude the development of game software. Nintendo, on the other hand, comes up with games first, and tries to bolster the OS later.
 

Erethian

Member
That's a good question. Who is it working better for? Is that not a subjective question? Or are you talking financial bottom lines?

Well seeing as how this is a sales thread.

And those two things aren't mutually exclusive, you can have a good OS/online and a robust lineup of first-party titles that sell well.
 

Jonnyram

Member
Well, let's see.
When 3DS went on sale, Nintendo's stock price was 25000 yen.
Now it's 10780 yen.
And they made losses for the first time in decades.

Guess that worked out really well for them.
 
Well, let's see.
When 3DS went on sale, Nintendo's stock price was 25000 yen.
Now it's 10780 yen.
And they made losses for the first time in decades.

Guess that worked out really well for them.

Nintendo(and investors) having wildly unrealistic expectations for the number of 3DS they could sell at $250 isn't really up for debate.
 
Nintendo's problem with its stock price is jitteriness over 3DS performance pre God Mode Nintendo, but mostly uncertainly over the Wii U and its performance. There is also concern about the strength of the yen vs. the dollar and Euro. Especially the Euro as the value of the Euro has collapsed in recent months. Overlaid on top of that is pressure for Nintendo to participate in the smartphone market.

Their current market valuation is basically saying Nintendo's cash holdings account for 60% of its entire value. That's a very bearish take on a company like Nintendo, with a nimble workforce, no debt, lots of money to pivot strategy and a stable of billion dollar ips. we'll have some clarity within the year.
 

DCharlie

Banned
When 3DS went on sale, Nintendo's stock price was 25000 yen.
Now it's 10780 yen.

Stock was at 25,000 yen no one wanted it and now it's bombed you can get it for 10780! COINCIDENCE?! I THINK NOT!!!!

(no, i'm not serious)
 
Well, let's see.
When 3DS went on sale, Nintendo's stock price was 25000 yen.
Now it's 10780 yen.
And they made losses for the first time in decades.

Guess that worked out really well for them.
Lol stock price, why not talk about the billions Sony lost on the PS3?

I have no idea why you're so anti-Nintendo these days, you're being way too ignorant, its pretty baffling.

If it was so easy, every gaming company had its own EAD. Sony may have tried, but failed.
They focused on appealing to the west too much, none of their games really sell in Japan cept for GT and Mingol.
 
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