I didn't say that, I jus think Sony could choose a better studio and projects to fund in the future.
It's not a zero sum thing, publishing budgets are extremely elastic. Sony didn't steal money from Psygnosis making Dark Wipeout Souls 2098 so they could fund Quantic Dream. They're funding Quantic Dream specifically because they're doing something different. And it's not clear to me that there are too many teams of a comparable size that would be looking for funding to do something different--you could have probably made the argument for Team Bondi (which Sony did fund!) but they're gone now. I don't think it's as easy as saying that $30 million could fund 60 indie games or whatever, because again I don't think Pub Fund or indie outreach is being negatively impacted.
I guess what I'm saying is, it's okay to point out that you wish Sony was choosing a "better" studio, but unless you really expand on who you think is out there wanting, what you think they'd do with the money, and why you think Sony couldn't fund both Quantic Dream AND that studio to achieve their publishing goals, you're basically just saying "games I don't like shouldn't be made".
Right, like, I don't think Killzone is a particularly good franchise. So, if Sony wasn't funding it and was making some game I really liked, I guess that'd be a net positive for me. But I think the reason why Sony are funding the franchise is because they want a mid-high tier internally owned FPS franchise. I think they've probably given up on "Halo killer" or in contemporary terms "Call of Duty killer", but I think they still want a high profile internal FPS franchise. Killzone 2 had a pretty brutal development, but 3 and Shadowfall appear to have been on time and on budget. So to me, that's an indication that Sony is getting their money worth there, even if the franchise ends up being a loss leader or not hugely profitable overall. I don't think funding Killzone is preventing Sony publishing, like, a fighting game or something. I think if they saw an opportunity and felt a fighting IP would benefit them, they'd do both. So the real question is is there a studio out there who can make an FPS that's going to be more successful or a better strategic fit than Guerrilla or work cheaper or faster or whatever. And I think if Sony saw that opportunity, they'd take it. That's why Sony's racing holdings have consolidated as much as they have, right, because it didn't make sense to fund quite so many racing options.
I also figure that QD has some value for their mocap tech, although it's not clear to me if Sony has access to any of that and/or who QD serves as a client.
May I proffer that Beyond appeals more to a female audience?
I'm not sure it's 100% successful at that, but yeah I just think the basic framing is obvious:
Heavy Rain:
- Crime story
- 3 male leads, one female
- Core plot is a man and his kidnapped son
- Violence is part of the shady world of crime
- Law and order type themes
Beyond:
- Story about a girl's life
- Really only one lead (Defoe's character is QUITE minor compared to Page's, no one should get the assumption it's a double-lead story), and she's female
- Writing emphasizes girl's internal monologue (through conversations with Aidan)
- Ending and ultimate resolution of game centers on emotional perspective of player
- While violence is a part of the game, much of the violence is abhorrent, against the character's nature, and dealt with immediately after with a severe narrative pushback
- Themes mostly include human dignity, identity, service
To compare the two, it seems pretty obvious to me that Beyond has a comparatively more feminine appeal. That's not to essentialize it and say "boys can't wear pink" or whatever, obviously I'm male and it appealed to me. But there's no doubt if you compare Eat, Pray, Love to The Expendables, one targeted women more and one targeted men more, and I think the same thing is true.
There's probably still some male gaze stuff and I don't think Cage writes women as well as he could, but yeah I would agree with your submission.