DriftingSpirit
Member
UC4 was shown way before its release date and it had the best sales in the series.
Sony Playstation: First Party Studios & their Current Projects
- Thread starter JuanLatino
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Primethius
Banned
That's because it doesn't happen. Games sales aren't related to hype cycles on message boards but more so to the marketing schemes that publishers adhere too. Even when games are announced early, the marketing generally kicks up closer to release and is far more indicative of success than the time a game spent in dev (hello FFXV).
In the case of games like Fallout 4 with a quicker announcement to release, that initial announcement was a part of the marketing push. People overestimate the retention of the general gaming audience with the retention of a core gaming forum too much in this regard of pushing back against early announcements.
Edit: Since this is Sony, one should mention that TLG came out after years and years and still sold far better than any Team ICO game has at launch.
Sony kinda has to show its hand earlier than other publishers just because... well they want you to commit to their console and the major factor always boils down to the exclusive software.
I agree with some of the rollouts being overkill but I feel a year from reveal to release would be unrealistic in Sony's case.
I agree with some of the rollouts being overkill but I feel a year from reveal to release would be unrealistic in Sony's case.
I'm right there with Primetheus and DriftingSpirit. If Sony didn't show those games early there would be some pretty weak E3s. Consequently, there would be a lot of negative coverage by games media to follow. Look at MS right now, even before the cancellations there was questioning about their future lineup and their commitment to AAA and first party games. It's almost cyclical for them, and they are constantly battling a reputation of lack of diversity and lack of big games (whether you're in agreement with that sentiment or not) compared to Sony. These are console manufacturers who have to show differentiation in order to lure consumers to their platforms. If you're Sony and you've arguably invested a lot in big AAA games compared to the competition, you don't want consumers to spend the early days thinking you and the competition are on equal footing, or on the same future trajectory. 3rd parties are going to drive alot of sales for both systems...what makes you choose this environment over the other? You chose a console on the underlying notion that things get better, that there are more offerings, that there is continued support outside that first year and that launch lineup...Even when you don't see anything but ports, knack, and zoo tycoon at the time. Sure by showing you the game early, they are generating hype, but hype is a subjective byproduct of also providing you some consumer information so you can feel reassured in your purchase. They are in some ways honoring that underlying notion, that unspoken agreement between the consumer and the manufacturer. The downside may be that you as a consumer are now in the know and have to 'feel' the wait, and on Sony's end they have to battle with their own reputation as 'delaystation' or 'soony'. But I think it's a better image to wrestle with than the others. It puts pressure on the competition, it keeps Sony in the news cycle more often, and when those games finally do release (provided their good), they ride a wave of goodwill and beef up their reputation for having great first party.
Fallout 4, and rockstar games aren't trying to justify a console and gaming ecosystem. Like Primetheus said it's built into their marketing. The product is only meant to move itself. They want you to get the game no matter what platform its on. Uncharted needs you to have a PlayStation to get great sales. If you didn't know it was coming out and got an Xbox because of Titanfall, well it's probably too late. The sooner Sony gets people to commit to PlayStation the better, it gives uncharted a bigger audience and a better shot at sales growth. It allows for better potential ROIs on all projects, and allows the company to take more risks on new IPS, etc.
Not all strategies are upside only; usually plans have some drawbacks. I'm not one who prescribes to the saying that the consumer is ALWAYS right nor do I think that as consumers, we should ONLY be concerned with our perspective (as if to say, damn all reasoning behind what we want), so this may color my thoughts on this. Waiting, delays, cancellations is a part of life; I don't think it's reasonable to think business is exempt. Nor do I want to write off the early announcements as some excuse, cause I know Shu recently said Sony wants to try to avoid announcing things too early, but there's a line there and I think given certain circumstances (a period of time in the console lifecycle, the competitions known offerings, the status of various projects, etc) they are going to sometimes have to show a game early to maintain perceived momentum.
Fallout 4, and rockstar games aren't trying to justify a console and gaming ecosystem. Like Primetheus said it's built into their marketing. The product is only meant to move itself. They want you to get the game no matter what platform its on. Uncharted needs you to have a PlayStation to get great sales. If you didn't know it was coming out and got an Xbox because of Titanfall, well it's probably too late. The sooner Sony gets people to commit to PlayStation the better, it gives uncharted a bigger audience and a better shot at sales growth. It allows for better potential ROIs on all projects, and allows the company to take more risks on new IPS, etc.
Not all strategies are upside only; usually plans have some drawbacks. I'm not one who prescribes to the saying that the consumer is ALWAYS right nor do I think that as consumers, we should ONLY be concerned with our perspective (as if to say, damn all reasoning behind what we want), so this may color my thoughts on this. Waiting, delays, cancellations is a part of life; I don't think it's reasonable to think business is exempt. Nor do I want to write off the early announcements as some excuse, cause I know Shu recently said Sony wants to try to avoid announcing things too early, but there's a line there and I think given certain circumstances (a period of time in the console lifecycle, the competitions known offerings, the status of various projects, etc) they are going to sometimes have to show a game early to maintain perceived momentum.
I feel the same way...Can't speak for anyone else, but I always have other games to play or try, or something outside of games to do til then. It'll come when it comes; whether I know about it or not. If I'm not waiting for something in particular, I'm waiting for 'something' anyway.
Yeah, I also dont get why people are so annoyed by anouncing a game thats 1.5-2 years out. The only risk they take with that is if the game gets cancelled, which has not happened yet in this gen (SIE has dropped some smaller scale announced games, who are still coming to PS4, but didnt cancel any)
I know different industries and all, but movies sometimes are announced when they are 4-5 years out and people get really excited about those.
And as others said, there is no shortage of games to play right now...
I know different industries and all, but movies sometimes are announced when they are 4-5 years out and people get really excited about those.
And as others said, there is no shortage of games to play right now...
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
Everytime someone complains about game announcements it almost always ends with I hate waiting which I mean seems to be more a personal problem if anything else.
Monty Mole
Member
Theslammer
Member
I've never understood the gripes, either. Be excited for what's coming the same year, then, and go on with your life.
You mean Eight Days and The Getaway are still on the way?
Talking about this generation, which at first I though it was obvious since I mentioned PS4 in the post, but edited to make it more clear
mejin
Member
Yep.
So, I was deleting some press stuff from my PC today, and that included a bunch of fact sheets. Reading some of them, I came across the Matterfall fact sheet, which clearly I never read because there is some info there I did not know before:
-Game is indeed a mix of action platforming and bullet hell (not surprising)
-The ''Smart Matter'' can be manipulated to your benefit
-The game has co-op and competitive modes (dont know the nature of the competitive stuff tho, could be leaderboard stuff)
-Game is indeed a mix of action platforming and bullet hell (not surprising)
-The ''Smart Matter'' can be manipulated to your benefit
-The game has co-op and competitive modes (dont know the nature of the competitive stuff tho, could be leaderboard stuff)
sounds really cool! I hope we'll get a summer release.
LiquidSolid
Member
Well I finally set aside the time to go through this wall of text, so I guess I'll break it down into chunks.
How does it sum it up perfectly? Driveclub was originally meant to come out the same year it was announced. That's what you want, isn't it? The problem with those games is Sony announced their release dates/windows way too early, when they should've held off until they knew for sure they'd hit a certain date. It's weird you bring this up because Sony already seems to be learning that lesson, as they're giving out far less release windows than they were a couple years ago.
Perfect examples of what? TLG was leaked. You think Sony should've ignored the fact that a very rough looking trailer of TLG was out on the internet for everyone to see? As for Versus XIII, that was something that was typical of Square Enix at the time: Announcing games as part of wider initiatives before they'd even started development (also see: Crisis Core and Birth by Sleep). I don't think you'll find many people, even us who have some semblance of patience, who disagree that it was a stupid idea but they don't do it any more anyway. So how are those perfect examples? Because to me, the fact that happens so rarely doesn't make them examples at all, it makes them outliers.
Also, overlooking some weak math you've got there ("Late 2014/16" to Feb/Mar is 6 months?), Infamous wasn't officially delayed.
Good for you but I DO care. It makes the industry look childish, just look at Ubisoft's laughable responses to Kotaku's leaks, and prevents developers from sharing exactly what they've been working on in their CVs. Insularity isn't a good thing.
"The greater the chance the interest, sales, etc decrease"? You're going to have to provide some sources for that because I seriously doubt it has any affect on sales, not unless the marketing campaign itself has been done poorly or something. I mean hell, you're complaining about Sony announcing their games so early and yet I'm pretty sure they're doing well, right? Meanwhile, Watch Dogs 2 bombed.
Overlooking the part where there is no such thing as "70% finished", especially for games that are continually patched for months post-release, why on earth is it unacceptable to you? This is the thing I don't understand. You can't wait two years to play a videogame? Really? Why are you so impatient to play these games? There's plenty of great games coming out every month that will tide you over till they come out.
A quick check tells that just under 50% of the games they've announced since 2014 have come out and only a couple of those are from 2014.
Announcing games early and delaying games are two different things and as I mentioned above, the latter is something Sony seems to be trying to fix. I don't think there's much chance Uncharted will be delayed to next year, it's already been delayed once.
Like I said, if you're not interested in any of the other games Sony has coming this year, that's your problem. I'm not interested in some of them but I'm not going to dismiss them because I know there are others who are.
Colin Moriarty? I think he's an idiot. Is he still bitching and moaning about the PS4 Pro?
How does it sum it up perfectly? Driveclub was originally meant to come out the same year it was announced. That's what you want, isn't it? The problem with those games is Sony announced their release dates/windows way too early, when they should've held off until they knew for sure they'd hit a certain date. It's weird you bring this up because Sony already seems to be learning that lesson, as they're giving out far less release windows than they were a couple years ago.
Perfect examples of what? TLG was leaked. You think Sony should've ignored the fact that a very rough looking trailer of TLG was out on the internet for everyone to see? As for Versus XIII, that was something that was typical of Square Enix at the time: Announcing games as part of wider initiatives before they'd even started development (also see: Crisis Core and Birth by Sleep). I don't think you'll find many people, even us who have some semblance of patience, who disagree that it was a stupid idea but they don't do it any more anyway. So how are those perfect examples? Because to me, the fact that happens so rarely doesn't make them examples at all, it makes them outliers.
Also, overlooking some weak math you've got there ("Late 2014/16" to Feb/Mar is 6 months?), Infamous wasn't officially delayed.
Good for you but I DO care. It makes the industry look childish, just look at Ubisoft's laughable responses to Kotaku's leaks, and prevents developers from sharing exactly what they've been working on in their CVs. Insularity isn't a good thing.
"The greater the chance the interest, sales, etc decrease"? You're going to have to provide some sources for that because I seriously doubt it has any affect on sales, not unless the marketing campaign itself has been done poorly or something. I mean hell, you're complaining about Sony announcing their games so early and yet I'm pretty sure they're doing well, right? Meanwhile, Watch Dogs 2 bombed.
Overlooking the part where there is no such thing as "70% finished", especially for games that are continually patched for months post-release, why on earth is it unacceptable to you? This is the thing I don't understand. You can't wait two years to play a videogame? Really? Why are you so impatient to play these games? There's plenty of great games coming out every month that will tide you over till they come out.
A quick check tells that just under 50% of the games they've announced since 2014 have come out and only a couple of those are from 2014.
Announcing games early and delaying games are two different things and as I mentioned above, the latter is something Sony seems to be trying to fix. I don't think there's much chance Uncharted will be delayed to next year, it's already been delayed once.
Like I said, if you're not interested in any of the other games Sony has coming this year, that's your problem. I'm not interested in some of them but I'm not going to dismiss them because I know there are others who are.
Colin Moriarty? I think he's an idiot. Is he still bitching and moaning about the PS4 Pro?
VanCityGamer
Member
I think it makes real strategic sense for Sony to announce its exclusives early. It surprises me that some people don't see that.
First party games should be announced early; third party games should be announced 6-12 months prior to release.
Announcing first party games early gets people to weigh those future games when deciding which console to purchase. Just look at Sony: people are stoked for a shitton of first party games coming anywhere from the next few months to the next few years. By comparison, people see a dearth of future Xbox games (especially single player ones) and there is a perception that their future lineup is much weaker than Sony's. if Microsoft has a bunch of great games coming in the next few years, this E3 is the time to blow their load.
The key to this strategy working is that first party games need to be consistently releasing as well. So the reaction is: "holy shit, Nioh just came out and it's amazing!" "And look at the list of incredible games still coming!!"
First party games should be announced early; third party games should be announced 6-12 months prior to release.
Announcing first party games early gets people to weigh those future games when deciding which console to purchase. Just look at Sony: people are stoked for a shitton of first party games coming anywhere from the next few months to the next few years. By comparison, people see a dearth of future Xbox games (especially single player ones) and there is a perception that their future lineup is much weaker than Sony's. if Microsoft has a bunch of great games coming in the next few years, this E3 is the time to blow their load.
The key to this strategy working is that first party games need to be consistently releasing as well. So the reaction is: "holy shit, Nioh just came out and it's amazing!" "And look at the list of incredible games still coming!!"
Caipirinha
Member
Is it possible that Sony London could ever go back to producing AAA games again?
Imagine Getaway 3 on PS4 tho..
Guaranteed multi million seller.
Imagine Getaway 3 on PS4 tho..
Guaranteed multi million seller.
WhiteMoon Dreams did a dev walktrough of the PSX trailer for Starblood Arena to explain more about the PSVR exclusive
Also, the game is launching on April 12th
Also, the game is launching on April 12th
Omnistalgic
Member
I still this it's stupid that Dreams isn't LBP world or LBP 3D or something. Sony better not let that franchise just sit on the sideline. It's the perfect unofficial mascot for Sony since LBP can be cosplayed to represent any franchise.
Should've been called LittleBigUniverse.
Shin-Ra
Junior Member
LittleBigPlanet is a '2.5' platformer at its core, loosely capable of different camera perspectives but never fully 3D.
Dreams is fully 3D with an engine far more capable of adapting to different game designs and rendering loads with smooth level of detail transitions and data-light streaming.
I'm sure you can build LBP-like levels in Dreams but when the starting point's so much more ambitious than LBP, why limit themselves to that. LBP has a very distinctive textured polygon style using a bunch of pre rendered assets whereas Dreams encourages making everything your own.
Dreams is fully 3D with an engine far more capable of adapting to different game designs and rendering loads with smooth level of detail transitions and data-light streaming.
I'm sure you can build LBP-like levels in Dreams but when the starting point's so much more ambitious than LBP, why limit themselves to that. LBP has a very distinctive textured polygon style using a bunch of pre rendered assets whereas Dreams encourages making everything your own.
Primethius
Banned
David Shaver, who was a level designer for a couple of Titanfall 2 levels (among other things) and worked on TF1 before that, has joined Naughty Dog.
A very good addition to Naughty Dog I'd say. "Into the Abyss" was a really good TF2 level, near the top alongside the time-travel one.
A very good addition to Naughty Dog I'd say. "Into the Abyss" was a really good TF2 level, near the top alongside the time-travel one.
I think it would be stupid for them to have made Dreams a LBP game. This is far more ambitious than a 2D platformer and limiting the amount of creativity Mm has to LBP seems like a waste. Why stick to the old when you can make something 10x bigger and better. It being LBP just to have Sackboy as a mascot is a little silly.
Sackboy is already a PS mascot, he get promotion in other games all the time. Hell there is a Aloy sackboy keyring for just pre-ordering the game lol.
I even won a Galahad sackboy from a photomode competition for The Order 1886.
There were also Hunter sackboys being sold when Bloodborne was coming out, these are just a few examples.
Huge pickup. Can't wait to see what comes out of it
funkystudent
Member
The LBP brand had its moment. Its time to leave it alone
People made the same complaint after Mod Nation Racers and we got LBP Karting and it sucked. Would have totally rather had Mod Nation 2
fastest finger
Member
They are currently hiring staff for a new VR title.
I'd like to see London Heist expanded to become a full game.
Chobel
Member
DriftingSpirit
Member
I think that is the plan, at least.
... or he's just completing his work on it in 2017. Wrapping up voice acting, perhaps? I'd love to see it ship this year but I wouldn't take this as confirmation.
The game is playable from start to finish and they were almost done shooting back in December
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1327351
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=226220990
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1327351
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=226220990
ArkhamFantasy
Member
A Kingdom hearts voice actor said the game was coming out in 2015, he was only 3 or 4 years off.
McMoneyman
Member
Fuckin' Goofy!
VanCityGamer
Member
Nah, God of War is not coming out this year. It's a Spring 2018 game.
Rap2thaMoon
Member
It's hasn't been true the last 3 year why now?
DriftingSpirit
Member
Gran Turismo will be the holiday game.
I don't think they'd throw Detroit to the wolves lmao
Knack 2 and GT Sport for the fall is my guess, with smaller stuff like Parappa, Patapon and Matterfall rounding it out.
Putting out GOW or Detroit around the same time (the fall) as other AAA stuff like Battlefront 2, Destiny 2, COD and RDR2 is unnecessary, especially because Sony has the marketing rights on those games, which will keep them in the general headspace for the holidays.
Also, they've found great success in releasing their AAA games outside that timeframe, like UC4, R&C, Bloodborne and, by all accounts, Horizon, so there's that too.
The best way they could release a AAA game in the fall though is if they release in early September or something (like the MGSV or Until Dawn timeframe), but ultimately it's unnecessary for them to put one out, as I explained above.
Putting out GOW or Detroit around the same time (the fall) as other AAA stuff like Battlefront 2, Destiny 2, COD and RDR2 is unnecessary, especially because Sony has the marketing rights on those games, which will keep them in the general headspace for the holidays.
Also, they've found great success in releasing their AAA games outside that timeframe, like UC4, R&C, Bloodborne and, by all accounts, Horizon, so there's that too.
The best way they could release a AAA game in the fall though is if they release in early September or something (like the MGSV or Until Dawn timeframe), but ultimately it's unnecessary for them to put one out, as I explained above.
After playing Modnation Racers for the first time last month, I desperately want a sequel on PS4. There are a few Sony exclusives that were on PS3 that I miss this gen.
McMoneyman
Member
Even though it's not Sony and Sony probably didn't have anything to do with it. But a new 3D Dot Game Heroes on PS4 would be so sick. One of the best PS3 games imo.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
They really don't need a holiday game. Destiny 2, COD, Battlefront 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2 will all have Sony exclusive marketing. Bundles for any of those games will push more units than any exclusive.
Well... Sony did published Modnation Racers (hence why it is a First-party IP). It is not like United Front had full creative control on this game. They most likely had producers from SIE overseeing the project through the end. :/
McMoneyman
Member
I was refering to 3D Dot Game Heroes.
That too. I wish the PS4 had a MAG, Modnation, LBP that isn't a port, Twisted Metal, Warhawk, Socom, Motorstorm, and Jak. The PS4 has had some great games but it feels like there is less variety on this system in terms of exclusives. Indies have filled some gaps and there are exciting games on the horizon (no pun intended), but I have concerns. GT Sport feels like GT5 all over again. If Sony doesn't talk at all about Dreams at E3, I hitting the panic button. I really hope the gameplay is new and exciting for God of War. Uncharted, Knack, and Detroit I am super pumped for. Horizon is day one. I just wish that Zipper was still around lol
I agree that they don't need a holiday game and probably won't have any big game outside knack 2 but I think they can get away with releasing Spider-Man in the holiday season if the movie turns out good in the summer and cash in on the marvel hype and it is like the perfect mainstream game. Insomniac are pretty good at finishing games on time so let's hope the target is this holiday season.
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