Sony and MS first party match up

[radgamer420]

As always when a new generation of consoles is upon us, there is a lot of excitement surrounding every aspect of the next-gen platforms. Everything from hardware specs and controller, to online service and apps, factor into our decision of which console to support. However, being gamers, what will always matter most are the games. System exclusives are one of the biggest selling points for any new console, so let’s take a look at how Sony and Microsoft measure up in regards to first party development studios. Sony is hot off their big PlayStation meeting last week where the first details of the upcoming PlayStation 4 were officially revealed. Some of the Sony exclusive franchises like Killzone and InFamous made an appearance, and we caught a glimpse of some new IP’s such as Knack, and DriveClub. Aside from first party studios, developers from second and third party studios shared their excitement for the possibilities that the PlayStation 4 offers. With high quality developers Naughty Dog, Guerilla Games, Media Molecule, Sucker Punch and the various SCE houses, Sony are looking strong heading into the next generation. It’s fair to say that Sony definitively had a stronger line up of exclusives this generation, with games like Killzone 2/3, the Uncharted trilogy, Heavy Rain, and the God of War series delivering on the PS3, with titles like The Last of Us, and The Last Guardian (if it ever gets released) still ahead. Microsoft on the other hand has been lagging behind when it comes to exclusive core titles, rather focusing on XBLA and Kinect games. Popular franchises such as Halo and Gears of War have done well on the 360, but need to reinvent themselves for the next generation. Multiplatform games have also performed well on the Xbox 360, and Microsoft have been doing a good job at moving units with effective ad campaigns and exclusive dlc deals. However, Microsoft needs to turn some heads and bring out fresh big guns when they reveal their next console.

When it comes to Microsoft’s first party studios, they are not looking as strong as Sony for the time being. Many of them are focusing on Kinect titles and XBLA games, which is certainly not a bad thing, but they clearly need to step up their game when it comes to exclusive core titles in order to keep the Xbox fanbase from migrating. 343 industries did a formidable job with Halo 4, and Lionhead and Turn 10 studios are fine assets, but that’s not going to cut it for the next generation. Some promise may lie in the next-gen projects that are in development by the various Microsoft game studios, and games being co-developed in conjunction with third party studios, time will tell if their next-gen exploits will cut it, and I surely hope so for Microsoft’s sake. As details about Microsoft’s next console effort are still either scarce, or purely speculative at this point, it’s hard to predict how things will look a few months down the road. One thing is for sure though; Sony is already looking good and building high hopes, and has firmly secured a leading position in the race for next-gen supremacy. Microsoft is going to have to work hard to achieve the same kind of success as they’ve had this generation. The race is on, it’s going to be a good one!

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[claud3]

so the party for two, with either one being carried out. Because they are sick of the sight of the other

[admartian]

If MS doesn't come out with fresh new IPs (unlikely, but they should at least do 1 new exclusive) then the key for them is easy; just market the heck out of their existing exclusives (easy, check) and their third party titles (GTA etc) and go with the Kinect/Media Centre crowd (pretty much done).

Not something I personally would be into; but MS' aims lately, seems to be to try and out-Apple, Apple! As Jay Cutler would say;'Gooood luuuuck!'). But they are building a respectable eco-system; which to be fair has alienated a lot of people, it seems.

But they gotta do what's best for them. Good thing is they know what they want to do, and for Sony, it seems like hey know what their focus is this time too.

"Worst" case scenario for anyone; there's core-gamer marker, quasi-gamer/family/media market, and the Nintendo-diehards.

[AaronSOLDIER]

New IPs from MS (in OTHER genres) would be a smart move.

[claud3]

MS needs a real promotion and strong presentation when this comes out the 720

[radgamer420]

If MS doesn't come out with fresh new IPs (unlikely, but they should at least do 1 new exclusive) then the key for them is easy; just market the heck out of their existing exclusives (easy, check) and their third party titles (GTA etc) and go with the Kinect/Media Centre crowd (pretty much done). Not something I personally would be into; but MS' aims lately, seems to be to try and out-Apple, Apple! As Jay Cutler would say;'Gooood luuuuck!'). But they are building a respectable eco-system; which to be fair has alienated a lot of people, it seems. But they gotta do what's best for them. Good thing is they know what they want to do, and for Sony, it seems like hey know what their focus is this time too. "Worst" case scenario for anyone; there's core-gamer marker, quasi-gamer/family/media market, and the Nintendo-diehards.

That pretty well sums up the situation.

[Aquanox]

MS did an awesome job in the first half of this gen... It had a number of great exclusives like Halo, Forza, Fable, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddyssey, Alan Wake, Perfect Dark, Kameo, Halo Wars, Project Gotham Racing...

However... the production and investment in exclusive IPs went to the safe bets like Halo Forza and Gears... Lionhead screwed the Fable franchise (I'm so happy Molyneux quit), EA bought Bioware (Microsoft's best and most loyal independent studio so far) PGR, Blue Dragon and Lost Oddysse dissapared, and RARE dedicated all their efforts to... Kinect while Remedy had a mild success with Alan Wake...

A lot of bad decisions were made for the hardcores... they probably "won" the consoles war in terms of gross sales and consoles sold (Even if Sony outsales MS by the end of 2013... going from 25M to 75Million is a big success looking at the cold numbers) and I really, really hope to see Microsoft taking risks again and not always playing the "safe bet" because in this market the only safe bet is feeding the hardcores with stuff they want... the casuals and non-gamers are unpredictable. Take a look at Nintendo.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Considering I don't like Halo or Gears of War it is pretty obvious what my answer is.

[LfCpS3]

Considering I don't like Halo or Gears of War it is pretty obvious what my answer is.

Pretty much this.

When ever i hear the exclusives debate, HALO/GEARS are always brought up. They have been successful no doubt, but also been heavily relied on and this is a problem for people like me who have no interest in these games. I tried to like them as they are a big part of the XBOX but couldn't.

Alan wake was my best 360 game by a a VERY VERY large margin. Then it was L4D2 ( no games were good enough to consider 3rd, crackdown felt very poor, nothing else popped up that interested me in the slightest)

Both of these are not only on the PC but are lot better on the PC. ( L4D2 is just a whole new game on the PC)

To me MS failed in terms of exclusives. Hopefully next gen is better.

[Cyn]

MS did an awesome job in the first half of this gen... It had a number of great exclusives like Halo, Forza, Fable, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddyssey, Alan Wake, Perfect Dark, Kameo, Halo Wars, Project Gotham Racing...

Great exclusives ?

[Fenix]

MS did an awesome job in the first half of this gen... It had a number of great exclusives like Halo, Forza, Fable, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddyssey, Alan Wake, Perfect Dark, Kameo, Halo Wars, Project Gotham Racing...

However... the production and investment in exclusive IPs went to the safe bets like Halo Forza and Gears... Lionhead screwed the Fable franchise (I'm so happy Molyneux quit), EA bought Bioware (Microsoft's best and most loyal independent studio so far) PGR, Blue Dragon and Lost Oddysse dissapared, and RARE dedicated all their efforts to... Kinect while Remedy had a mild success with Alan Wake...

A lot of bad decisions were made for the hardcores... they probably "won" the consoles war in terms of gross sales and consoles sold (Even if Sony outsales MS by the end of 2013... going from 25M to 75Million is a big success looking at the cold numbers) and I really, really hope to see Microsoft taking risks again and not always playing the "safe bet" because in this market the only safe bet is feeding the hardcores with stuff they want... the casuals and non-gamers are unpredictable. Take a look at Nintendo.

Cant agree more, the first half of this gen made me WANT my 360 - There was so many various RPGs I couldnt help but be interested. Last half made me disinterested, and I have no faith MS will do anything differently and they have lost me.

[Two4DaMoney]

MS did an awesome job in the first half of this gen... It had a number of great exclusives like Halo, Forza, Fable, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddyssey, Alan Wake, Perfect Dark, Kameo, Halo Wars, Project Gotham Racing...

However... the production and investment in exclusive IPs went to the safe bets like Halo Forza and Gears... Lionhead screwed the Fable franchise (I'm so happy Molyneux quit), EA bought Bioware (Microsoft's best and most loyal independent studio so far) PGR, Blue Dragon and Lost Oddysse dissapared, and RARE dedicated all their efforts to... Kinect while Remedy had a mild success with Alan Wake...

A lot of bad decisions were made for the hardcores... they probably "won" the consoles war in terms of gross sales and consoles sold (Even if Sony outsales MS by the end of 2013... going from 25M to 75Million is a big success looking at the cold numbers) and I really, really hope to see Microsoft taking risks again and not always playing the "safe bet" because in this market the only safe bet is feeding the hardcores with stuff they want... the casuals and non-gamers are unpredictable. Take a look at Nintendo.

Why make new i.ps when 4 exclusives is bringing in the $$$? 2 each year along with kinect and xbox live titles is enough, don't you think?

[Yungstar 2006]

720 with new IP and new updates of those games that the core like (but not so big in the selling dept) along with added smartglass...

[Updator]

Pretty much this.

When ever i hear the exclusives debate, HALO/GEARS are always brought up. They have been successful no doubt, but also been heavily relied on and this is a problem for people like me who have no interest in these games. I tried to like them as they are a big part of the XBOX but couldn't.

Alan wake was my best 360 game by a a VERY VERY large margin. Then it was L4D2 ( no games were good enough to consider 3rd, crackdown felt very poor, nothing else popped up that interested me in the slightest)

Both of these are not only on the PC but are lot better on the PC. ( L4D2 is just a whole new game on the PC)

To me MS failed in terms of exclusives. Hopefully next gen is better.

I don't think I could have said it any better. I thought Alan Wake was brilliant but it ended up being the only exclusive I enjoyed on the 360.

[Aquanox]

Why make new i.ps when 4 exclusives is bringing in the $$$? 2 each year along with kinect and xbox live titles is enough, don't you think?

Because there's a large fanbase out there that like games in the likes of Uncharted and God of War... JRPGs and is basically getting tired of more of the same. There's a point where the overexposure of games makes them less attractive to the public.

Sony took a big and brave risk developing games that ended up selling not that good but in the long shot they added to the console's value, encouraging people to buy new consoles. Saying differently, if it wasn't because of their exclusives, I don't think Sony could've kept up with Microsoft in terms of sales and it's what makes their fanbase happy and loyal, MS needs to learn from this.

Seeing how they have abandoned the big efforts on the Xbox 360 makes me think they have been working in a hell of a launch for the 720. I'm not happy with this decision but now that the 360 is about to be gone, so Ok... it better be worth it.

[Yungstar 2006]

Because there's a large fanbase out there that like games in the likes of Uncharted and God of War...

don't they own PS3's though? and isn't the fanbase of Gears and Halo somewhat bigger?

[Ixion]

MS did an awesome job in the first half of this gen... It had a number of great exclusives like Halo, Forza, Fable, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddyssey, Alan Wake, Perfect Dark, Kameo, Halo Wars, Project Gotham Racing...

However... the production and investment in exclusive IPs went to the safe bets like Halo Forza and Gears... Lionhead screwed the Fable franchise (I'm so happy Molyneux quit), EA bought Bioware (Microsoft's best and most loyal independent studio so far) PGR, Blue Dragon and Lost Oddysse dissapared, and RARE dedicated all their efforts to... Kinect while Remedy had a mild success with Alan Wake...

This is a good summary of the 360. Its exclusive content shit all over the PS3 in 2006-2008. It had the shooters, it had the RPGs, it had the racers, etc.

Now it's a different story and it seems Microsoft will simply have to pay for third-party exclusive partnerships and what-not for the 720. I'm sure they have some deals up their sleeve, so it will be interesting to see what they've secured.

[Yungstar 2006]

This is a good summary of the 360. Its exclusive content shit all over the PS3 in 2006-2008. It had the shooters, it had the RPGs, it had the racers, etc.

Now it's a different story and it seems Microsoft will simply have to pay for third-party exclusive partnerships and what-not for the 720. I'm sure they have some deals up their sleeve, so it will be interesting to see what they've secured.

its exclusive content also shit all over PS3 in 2012.

[Two4DaMoney]

E3 13' is going to be the best one yet.

[Aquanox]

don't they own PS3's though? and isn't the fanbase of Gears and Halo somewhat bigger?

Not necessarily... Most of my Xbox Live friends only own one console and yes, Halo and Gears fanbase is much bigger than those IPs on the PS3 and that's probably ok for their loyal fanbase, but for new owners, having a wider collection of genres in their exclusives will always be more attractive, and for those not that enthusiasts on shooters (like me) it was the RPGs, Racers, RTS and other stuff that kept me proud of my 360... oh the good days =)

I still keep some hope that MS hasn't abandoned the hardcores to Masterchief and Marcus Fenix fate and have a crapload of serious stuff for the next box.

If it was this simple, I'd buy Ninja Theory and Remedy right f**ing now... before EA does.

E3 13' is going to be the best one yet.

If I had to chose one Microsoft show.. I'd go with X06. What a bomb it was! Halo RTS announced, PGR4 announced + Gameplay, Splinter Cell 5 announced as exclusive to the Xbox 360, Mass Effect exclusive, Alan Wake awesome tech demo, Gears of War in action, Banjo Kazooie was back (though the game sucked lol) and exclusive GTA4 episodes for the Xbox 360. It wasn't only the best MS show but the best show of the whole generation to me... and by quite a long shot.

It was a pitty that some promises didn't deliver like that Peter Jackson's Game... whatever the hell happened to it! But as a whole it really made a crapload of people want an Xbox 360, and it showed in sales number.

PS. This gave me an idea of a new thread.

[Two4DaMoney]

^That's the MS era people want to see return. The guys that prefer the 360 nowadays like to pretend that era didn't exist and that people who prefer that era are "bashers" and "haters" without a cause.

Going into next gen, MS will have to gain my trust after how they switched their gaming focus with the 360. Their gaming focus changed after a few years so it's going to take a few years for me to trust them. I don't want titles to get neglected just because they don't sell 4-5+m copies(the 4 exclusives in the 360's rotation). Sony puts sequels out on games that sell 2+million copies and the ps3 is harder to work with than the 360. With that said, there's no excuses for the shit MS pulled these last few years. MS need to balance their budgets on their other exclusives better. Seeing all the money they rake in with their qt reports only piss me off as a gamer(I completely understand it from a business perspective). Some of that money could be used for a new i.p here and there but they seem to not care. That type of business stopped me from getting a 360. And though I don't own one, I still got to play most of the titles I was interested in.

[unicron7]

^That's the MS era people want to see return. The guys that prefer the 360 nowadays like to pretend that era didn't exist and that people who prefer that era are "bashers" and "haters" without a cause.

Going into next gen, MS will have to gain my trust after how they switched their gaming focus with the 360. Their gaming focus changed after a few years so it's going to take a few years for me to trust them. I don't want titles to get neglected just because they don't sell 4-5+m copies(the 4 exclusives in the 360's rotation). Sony puts sequels out on games that sell 2+million copies and the ps3 is harder to work with than the 360. With that said, there's no excuses for the shit MS pulled these last few years. MS need to balance their budgets on their other exclusives better. Seeing all the money they rake in with their qt reports only piss me off as a gamer(I completely understand it from a business perspective). Some of that money could be used for a new i.p here and there but they seem to not care. That type of business stopped me from getting a 360. And though I don't own one, I still got to play most of the titles I was interested in.

Well said friend. After this generation I'm gonna hold off on an xbox purchase for a couple years. They tricked me last gen. I thought i was buying a hardcore console and then was promptly disappointed. The focus on Kinect has beyond pissed me off over the years. The ol' switcharoo. Hook em and then forget about em. The only time I played my 360 in 2012/This year is due to Halo 4. You should not hinge your console on one major franchise...it just makes bad business sense. Once it tanks, you're fucked. Waiting for Halo to lose it's shimmer.

[radgamer420]

I was a hardcore Xbox supporter but MS really switched focus over the last 3 years so now theyre going to have to earn my trust all over again. That means watching their strategy for at least a few years or more. I'm sure they will start out strong but will they stay the course or do the same thing that they did with the 360? Time will tell. PS4 is a day one purchase because Sony has continued to earn my trust with every generation by making AAA core games their focal point right up to the end.

[Soldier 95B]

Both are day one for me, as both have a history of pumping out fucking awesome games and awesome exclusives throughout the gen this past time. Looking forward to more of the same from both. FUCK YEAH!

[radgamer420]

Both are day one for me, as both have a history of pumping out fucking awesome games and awesome exclusives throughout the gen this past time. Looking forward to more of the same from both. FUCK YEAH!

lol