Sony interview with Game Informer

[radgamer420]

No. His opinion of the game is subjective, the quality of the game isn't. Big difference.

What he thinks isnt quality I might think is so it is subjective.

[F34R]

What he thinks isnt quality I might think is so it is subjective.

Ok, one last time.. his OPINION is subjective... the quality of the title doesn't change because two people feel differently about the game. The game doesn't mysteriously change based on preferences.

[radgamer420]

Ok, one last time.. his OPINION is subjective... the quality of the title doesn't change because two people feel differently about the game. The game doesn't mysteriously change based on preferences.

Well we would have to know what games he's referring to in particular first. Also hes taking Sony's statement out of context anyway. Sony was referring to marketing support as they were talking in the context of software sales compared to the competition not game quality.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Well we would have to know what games he's referring to in particular first. Also hes taking Sony's statement out of context anyway. Sony was referring to marketing support as they were talking in the context of software sales compared to the competition not game quality.

I agree. What I took from the article is just the marketing aspect that suffers. To be honest I'm not convinced that marketing is behind Sony's 1st party sales figures, I think it comes down more to things like demographic's gaming tastes and genre saturation.

[mickice]

All I know is that I bought more collectors editions and games in general last year than any other.

LittleBigPlanet 2: Collectors Edition
Killzone 3: Hellghast Edition
MotorStorm: Apocalipse
inFAMOUS 2: Hero Edition
ICO x SoTC
Socom 4: Special Forces
Resistance 3: Survivor Edition
EyePet & Friends
Medieval Moves
Carnival Island
Move Fitness
Uncharted 3: Special Edition

Perhaps less games is more sales? Hard to say, but only SONY offers this amount of diversity from their first party studios. Something for everyone.

[mynd]

All I know is that I bought more collectors editions and games in general last year than any other.

LittleBigPlanet 2: Collectors Edition
Killzone 3: Hellghast Edition
MotorStorm: Apocalipse
inFAMOUS 2: Hero Edition
ICO x SoTC
Socom 4: Special Forces
Resistance 3: Survivor Edition
EyePet & Friends
Medieval Moves
Carnival Island
Move Fitness
Uncharted 3: Special Edition

Perhaps less games is more sales? Hard to say, but only SONY offers this amount of diversity from their first party studios. Something for everyone.

Did you actually buy any non Sony games? Holly hell thats a lot of money.

[mickice]

Did you actually buy any non Sony games? Holly hell thats a lot of money.

The ones listed were pretty much launch price. Expensive yes.

Well last year also included:
Dissidia 012
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Parasite Eve: The Third Birthday
Lord Of Arcana.
(All for PSP obviously)

[The Sith]

Sony is making the right move by cutting back the number of firt party titles so each game can get equal advertising and support.
Sony was killing themselves by over saturating the market with first party titles which some of them didn't get the advertising and support that was needed for them to sell. I would be satisfied if they release six exclusives per year because majority of gamers just can't afford to buy all there games and third party titles.

LOL if Sony cutback the number of exclusives per year it will be the end of list wars.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Guess we wait and see what Kaz chooses to do.

[F34R]

All I know is that I bought more collectors editions and games in general last year than any other.

LittleBigPlanet 2: Collectors Edition
Killzone 3: Hellghast Edition
MotorStorm: Apocalipse
inFAMOUS 2: Hero Edition
ICO x SoTC
Socom 4: Special Forces
Resistance 3: Survivor Edition
EyePet & Friends
Medieval Moves
Carnival Island
Move Fitness
Uncharted 3: Special Edition

Perhaps less games is more sales? Hard to say, but only SONY offers this amount of diversity from their first party studios. Something for everyone.

That'd be one epic picture to have posted.. all those CE's, etc. Like a wall of Sony CE's. I'd love to see it. How much did all those cost?

[Yungstar 2006]

I disagree. Sounds more like he's talking about marketing support. They were speaking in context of sales and marketing. When you have that many games in the pipe and releasing its hard to properly market them all.

some average at best reviews on a few of those games says different.

[Yungstar 2006]

I'm going to start calling foul on this kind of comment. The quality of a game for each individual is based on their own personal preferences; yes. However, when a game is a critical failure, scoring 50 and below let's say, through a battery of reviews, etc., then the quality of a title becomes less "subjective" and more obvious that it isn't a quality title. So while there is inherently a subjective nature individually, there is also consensus based objectivity about the quality of a title.

Just because a game appeals to a person, or group of people, doesn't make it a quality title. It becomes less individually subjective when dealing with a titles sales and acclaim. Thus it isn't really necessary to point out that "quality" is subjective. If that were the case, then I think EVERY game ever made is quality to someone out there. It's a spin phrase, nothing more.

+rep

[mickice]

That'd be one epic picture to have posted.. all those CE's, etc. Like a wall of Sony CE's. I'd love to see it. How much did all those cost?

Killzone 3: Helghast Edition was the most expensive - $249

inFAMOUS 2: Hero Edition - $189

LittleBigPlanet 2: Collectors Edition - $109

The list also has Resistance 3 added because it released last year but honestly I was bone dry when it released and picked it up this year for $59 instead of $180.
When I finish moving into my new rental I might do a 'year that was' and post a picture of every first party game release and bought last year.
Just under 1k for that list for the entire year. Not bad really.

[Nitey]

The KZ3 steelbook case looks fantastic

[Tibiquera]

Perhaps less games is more sales? Hard to say, but only SONY offers this amount of diversity from their first party studios. Something for everyone.

The thing is that the reason for first party titles to exist is not to sell games, but to sell consoles. That's why it's better to have one breakthrough game than several decent ones (which is the opposite for a third party publisher). Look at how nintendo gets to sell so much hardware releasing very few titles.

I also think marketing is an issue. Just think what would happen if ms had uncharted. They would hype that thing to death, just the way they do with halo and gears. So the thing is, it's not that their titles are not good enough, but there are so many of them that they just don't concentrate on the marketing properly.

On the subject of quality being subjective, that's totally wrong. Quality is something objective. If you don't like a quality game, that doesn't change the game's quality. The quality is always there, it depends on you whether you appreciate it or not. You can eat the best dish in the world and still don't like it, but that dish will still be the best. This quality is subjective argument is being used whenever it suits people, so just stop using it, please.

[davin_g]

I think advertising has a lot to do with it but I think the bigger issue is that Sony has I believe a more diverse set of gamers than Microsoft and Nintendo. Nintendo has everything mario and casual childrens. Microsoft is the shooter king and sports games with a small mix of racing. Sony on the other hand has a group of gamers from all genres. RPGs, shooters, sports, platformers and on and on. They get sales from all those categories. Microsoft has the benefit of most of their gamers coming from NA and UK who by all measures love two things....FPS and football...NFL/FIFA. On top of that they have a vast amount of funds to support them with adverts...unlike Sony. Remember PS1 and PS2 early days...Sony adverts all over the place...well Sony in general was making a profit...the current economic climate at Sony has changed thus so has advertising funds dwindled. Sony mostly now partners with other people for their advertising now...like the VITA and Taco Bell...or with EA and Madden.

I think they are fine with the number of games they are putting out..however they need to make sure when they have a killer title such as Uncharted or Killzone or Littlebigplanet that they say ok...delay some other games and lets market the hell out of this. These titles or flagship franchises should get calender space and marketing space all to themselves. Their calender is so full they can't allocate enough funds for all their games. They just have to say this quarter is all about Uncharted and market the crap out of it..or this month Littlebigplanet or whatever they want to carry their console on. Microsoft does that....like a whole month dedicated to one game. Sony has a long way to go to market better but at least they are making some better choices. Example Battlefield. First off its a shooter and third party but lets be honest when Microsoft got Activision and COD exclusives they almost got an exclusive title out of it. Sony got EA on board and I think that has been a good idea. Remember when GTA was an exclusive/timed exclusive or content exclusive...you can't underestimate stuff like that on how it will sale on your console. COD and GTA are proven AAA titles that sell more games than all Sony's exclusives combined...they can't ignore that. It amazes me that Sony has arguably one of the best franchises out there in Uncharted and they don't market it. You can't tell me that game shouldn't be a console seller yet it gets very little support from Sony. Granted more than other Sony titles but like a fraction of the ad dollars compared to what we see Microsoft, EA, and Activision spend on their AAA games. Sony just has to get ultra focused and get aggressive with like 3 games a year...then let other really good exclusives like Infamous and Resistance or whatever piggyback off them like give away free dlc with them or link them together somehow..like Microsoft does with games like Crackdown or whatever and Halo....or EA ddi with Medal of Honor and Battlefield. They just need to try different marketing schemes on some games...granted they don't have a consolidated gaming group like Nintendo and Microsoft but they still have a big enough base to sell better.

[Soldier 95B]

Quality is subjective.

Interesting. So the poor quality of the original Xbox 360 suffering RROD is subjective, not factual. Good to know.

[radgamer420]

Interesting. So the poor quality of the original Xbox 360 suffering RROD is subjective, not factual. Good to know.

So youre comparing a hardware failure to a software title? lol Since when is a hardware failure ever anything but bad? Talk about a straw man argument.

[Bligmerk]

Guess we wait and see what Kaz chooses to do.

Yeah, he is not even officially in his new position as CEO and President until April. He should have some plans firmed up by E3. He has already been finding out a lot of things. Late last year, he found out 4 divisions were working on a Sony tablet, apparently without much communication and they were all taking their sweet time. He consolidated the efforts and that is how the Tablet S and Tablet P became products, although the Tablet S was a little too late with too little for too high of a price by the time it came out to be any major force but it sounds like it is holding its own in the market. Even he must be having his mind blown finding out about the finer details going on at Sony.

[stanyko]

nice interview..

[Dennis Dyack]

Sony has some great first party titles but also some crappy ones as well. It's obvious that they have spread themselves too thin in both the financial and talent aspects of game development.

They definitely need to scale back and concentrate on a smaller number of titles.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[radgamer420]

Sony has some great first party titles but also some crappy ones as well. It's obvious that they have spread themselves too thin in both the financial and talent aspects of game development. They definitely need to scale back and concentrate on a smaller number of titles. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

Agreed. Sony themselves have even admitted that.