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[fudgybrownie]

Seems like the author of the article is calling it a risk making the game. Not the team themselves. Never in the article did he say he was taking a risk in making the game.

 

[Sethbacca]

Well, if as Nintendo does we also count the bundled copies for the heavily bundled games (like NES SMB, GB Tetris, Wii Sports etc.), the previous Astro title (Astro's Playroom) sold 60M+ units.


Absolutely nothing leads to think that all Sony content will go this route.

Out of what we know, only Astro Bot and Lego Horizon (and maybe one of the Bungie unannounced projects) have the "all ages" approach, not the case of the other more than two dozen games that Sony has under development or recently released.

Sony obviously won't stop making their other more adult focused type of games to focus on "all ages" instead. They simply are growing the type of games they cover with 1st party, now also covering again the "all ages" stuff they already covered in the PS1-PS3 gens, on top of the traditional type of games they normally cover.

100% agree with what you're saying. I wasn't trying to imply they were going completely this route, I was just saying that they should always have some studios working on this type of content.

 

[The Cockatrice]

The story is Doucet pushing for more of this kind of content at SIE

Which we then circle back to my point. We do not need more of this kind of content, all ages, we need both equally. Actually adult content has been lacking lately.

 

[yurinka]

100% agree with what you're saying. I wasn't trying to imply they were going completely this route, I was just saying that they should always have some studios working on this type of content.

I agree, I think Sony should continue focusing where they are stronger (mainly SP AAA narrative action adventure games regarding genres, and mainly aduts as demographics), but they should cover better this too, instead of just making Ratchet and basically leaving it all this demographics to Nintendo.

In the same way I think they should also cover better the MP shooter area (as they are starting to do with Destiny, Helldivers or Concort), on top of their efforts in SP games.

 

[nial]

Which we then circle back to my point. We do not need more of this kind of content, all ages, we need both equally. Actually adult content has been lacking lately.

SIE publishes far more teen/mature content, though.

 

[Ozriel]

'All-ages character platformer' is the key part, though.

So…like well received platformers franchises like Crash, Spyro and Mario?

I actually agree somewhat with this, but needlessly to say that SIE is not always producing games like Rift Apart or Astro Bot.

The story is Doucet pushing for more of this kind of content at SIE, while XDEV collaborations can exist and will most likely be the stronger part of such initiative, Team Asobi and Media Molecule are just two studios compared to SMS, Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, Bend and Guerrilla.

that commentary was really focused on ‘single player, offline game’ being risky compared to ‘live service GaaS multiplayer game’. Not really about it being a platformer.

It really felt jarring since the writer should know the strengths of the publisher in question lies with single player, offline titles.

 

[Dacvak]

Nintendo has been dominating this market for years, and their games don’t just sell to children. I bet most people here who have a Switch also have Mario Odyssey.

It’s smart for Sony to try and take some of that market share, even though competing directly with what Nintendo does best is a monumental task. Usually that fails (see games like PS All-Stars, Foamstars, etc), but Team Asobi is an incredibly talented and focused developer, so if anyone can do it it’s probably them.

I’m really rooting for Astro Bot. Mario is my favorite franchise, and it could definitely use some real competition.

 

[Deerock71]

Sony execs: "What's Nintendo's secret sauce?!"
Sony spies: "They, uhhh, don't make Mario and Bowser have sex!"
Sony execs: "Let's go with that!"

 

[nial]

So…like well received platformers franchises like Crash, Spyro and Mario?

Crash and Spyro (except for CB4; low budget nostalgia-driven remakes, btw) are some of the few examples, and Mario is within the Nintendo bubble (already addressed that before).

that commentary was really focused on ‘single player, offline game’ being risky compared to ‘live service GaaS multiplayer game’. Not really about it being a platformer.

It was not well put as a whole, now that I can see, but they were definitely talking about the platformer/all ages part, it's like the whole point of the article, and something Nicolas Doucet went on to focus too.
I really doubt anyone out there at Kotaku is not aware of news like these.

Sony Praises Marvel's Spider-Man 2 As It Hits Massive Sales Milestone

Sony heaps praise on Insomniac's title Marvel's Spider-Man 2, after the game reaches yet another extremely impressive sales milestone.

gamerant.com