Is Sony better with franchises than Microsoft?

[Keyofx]

Is Sony better with franchises than Microsoft?

by Ravi Sinha

 

LittleBigPlanet 2 is already on the production belt, joining both a cartoon show and a comic book, aimed at fully expanding the LBP franchise. With PSM3 awarding it a 97%, their highest rating ever (yes, even more than MGS4) and the whole world just plain spell-bound over the new Sackboy on the block, it would appear that Sony is now on a roll. Or are they? Has LBP’s critical and commercial success, the culture hysteria it’s generated, only underscored how much fun it actually is? Did Sony just get lucky with this wild, little cloth covered, diamond - or have they simply been playing their cards better and longer than most? Review the sheer number of quality franchises Sony created over the past 7 years. Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, God of War, Gran Turismo, Wipeout, Killzone, Resistance; the products of Team ICO, White Knight Chronicles (and products of Level-5 before they turned self-publisher), Uncharted - be it timely series or new efforts, Sony Computer Entertainment has always stayed one step ahead of its competition. And several steps ahead of Microsoft Game Studios.

 

Not convinced? Halo, even when it was a trilogy, disappointed gamers when the 2nd and 3rd games muddled up the single-player. The franchise has since been born but aside from the Recon expansion, Halo Wars‘ roots are embroiled in Ensemble’s closure and the Halo movie is still in zero-G limbo. Viva Pinata? The game was commercially disastrous, and it’s planned Saturday morning show quietly died. No other Rare titles have currently received updates. Nuts & Bolts aside, Forza Motorsport 3 and the recently released Fable II are the firm’s only promising games thus far.

 

Now most, if not all, fanboys would at this point argue that we’re biased. “What about Gears of War 2 and the Ninja Gaiden series?” “What about XBox Live?” “What about Train Simulator 2, boyzzz?” How can we just toss out exclusive efforts like those?

 

Ask yourselves this: How many 360 “exclusive” titles eventually found their way onto a PS3 near you? Even the vaunted Grand Theft Auto IV and Final Fantasy XIII jumped ship. At this point, does any one honestly think that no 360 “exclusive” could possibly make it’s way to the PS3? Hell, Ninja Gaiden already crossed that Rubicon when Sigma was crafted for Sony’s console.

 

Yes, I agree that Microsoft had better network play than Sony (even if it should be free). I use the past tense because only the multi-player craze of Halo 2, when Live was first launched, compares to LBP’s frenzy. And the latter started with the beta. The leaked beta.

 

This isn’t intended to be a scathing indictment of Microsoft’s efforts. Sony simply did things better: They collected each studio in their infant stages. They published titles, even if gamers didn’t initially take to some (Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted). They nurtured some developers, enabling them to take more risks and gave carte blanche to others, to run wild with their ideas (God of War). In spite of the arguments above, it would be arrogant to state that Microsoft lost the console war. And it’d be downright stupid to consider it Sony’s loss either, as long as they continue to break new ground and support (and create) respectable titles.

 

Comments edited.. :|

[vinitwins]

But one thing is certain, Microsoft is not going to lose this generation. Second place or third, they have done enough not to be known as losers. But Sony has lost regardless of the position it is going to end up on.

 

sounds a lot like a PES vs EA-FIFA discussion

 

 

V

[HundredProofSam]

i've always felt that microsoft is taking a big risk by not focussing on its first-party titles.....right now, franchises like gears of war and mass effect are exclusive to their console because sony isnt actively trying to get them on to the PS3, not the way microsoft went behind final fantasy at least.....if sony suddenly decides that they have money to throw around (which i doubt they'll ever do) and decide to go behind gears and mass effect, who's to say both games won't come to the playstation platform?.....besides gears, sony has a close working relationship with epic and with bioware now part of EA, i'm sure EA can "pursuade" them to bring mass effect to playstation....instead of spening money for short-term gains, they need to focus on their first party line-up and become less reliant on third party exclusives and exclusive DLC, because its a risky game theyre playing

 

and i dont think we'll be seeing forza 3 for a while....with bizzare moving to activision, i think turn 10 will shift focus to PGR5....dan greenwalt, the head of turn 10, created PGR and im sure he's eager to put PGR5 out first

 

 

 

peace

[KnackChap]

Is Sony better with franchises than Microsoft?

 

 

is-sony-better-with-franchises-than-microsoft: NO.

what they are better at is giving their developers resources(time, money, etc) and willing to fund games from smaller developers.

what sony also does that unlike microsft if they publish a game it means that they own the ip(they learnt their lessons from the crash/spyro/FF7 days).