http://www.gamingunion.net/news/8956/god-of-war-ascension-launch-sales-fall-short-of-god-of-war-3/
In the US the same, GoW3 NPD 1.1M, GoW Ascension 560k
http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/20/npd-march-bioshock-infinite-tops-us-retail-charts/
Sure the definition of a bomb differs from person to person but when the game fails to sell even half of the previous game, it is an irrefutable bomb.
"GT6 has no impact on PS4 GT" who is challenging this. PS4 had an impact on GT6 not the other way around.
I doubt Sony are satisfied with Beyond sales, it certainly doesn't look like a game that made its money back with a million+ sales. This game was more expensive than Heavy Rain due to involvement of top actors. HR had a slow start but great legs post launch due to good word of mouth. It wasn't there for Beyond. The PS4 port is all but confirmed at this point.
And yes he's partly responsible for TLG, otherwise he wouldn't be in charge. He should've made a better judgment call when Ueda pushed for the impossible years ago.
How is it an irrefutable bomb? You have no idea about its overall sales, its revenue, and the overall profit of the project. It's a project which had a generally quick turn around whilst another group focused on the new IP, which ultimately suffered an ending no one wanted. From God of War 3, to the God of War Collections, to Ascension, all of those projects were extremely successful. Your argument is that you're upset God of War: Ascension exists, because it didn't manage to do as well as God of War 3 which is one of the most successful action titles ever made (and maybe you just really don't like Ascension).
And if you're dissatisifed with Ascension, what did you want in place of it for 2013? Because you weren't going to get another new IP and you sure as hell weren't getting God of War 4 because there are going to be some big changes with that franchise. Santa Monica focused on producing a new IP since 2010, and at the same time, delivered another project which was a financial success in Ascension. Saying that was a terrible move just makes you clueless. How is this a bad move? This is a business at the end of the day, and Ascension did well both critically and commercially for SCE, even if it didn't reach the heights of God of War 3. Is Ascension going to hurt the next big "God of War" title? No, it's going to have no impact whatsoever.
Sony is more than satisfied with Beyond sales. Heavy Rain cost something like 30-33 million euros all in if I remember right. That was costs of production, marketing, distribution etc. Beyond is not much more than that. It has been very profitable. So again, please cut the crap and stop making assumptions. There is a reason why the partnership between QD and SCE continues to thrive, and even develop further.
With GT6, PD isn't going to release a fully fledged Gran Turismo title a year into PS4's launch unfortunately. It would be amazing, yes, but it's quite unrealistic. The ones that were supposed to make it for this year, couldn't make it, and their games/projects aren't as important as Gran Turismo. This is Sony's biggest franchise. We release Gran Turismo 6, and it may not sell 10 million, but it's going to sell millions and make a hell of a lot of money. We then continue and deliver full next generation title a couple years later, mostly on schedule. Alternatively, let's not release GT6 and wait a few years anyway. Great, so what now? How does this make sense for SCE? What did we gain? Nothing at all. We actually lose out. Fantastic outcome.
And if you're going to hold Shu partly responsible for TLG, then in the same manner, give part of the credit for every single title that is produced and released. That includes Naughty Dogs projects, because he's just as much "partly" responsible for those as he is for TLG. The chain of command doesn't work in the way you to seem to think it does. TLG is under Japan Studio and there is a reason why these studios have their own heads in place. There are over a dozen studios at Sony, and something like 30-40 projects in development. All of these studios have people directly in charge who manage them, who are the ones who report back to Yoshida. And what's a better judgment call? Do you want the project abandoned? Do you want them to deliver a mediocre game? Or is it better that they've been given more time, and people will ultimately get what they deserve on the PS4? You're a consumer. Why the hell does this matter to you? What stake do you have in SCE's financial success with TLG exactly? Their survival isn't dependant on this one project. In that respect, Yoshida made the best decision possible for fans, because at least you'll get to play it.