Business Approach Comparison Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox

[Tchock]

It's call making an early investment. There are new revenue models and independent developers being brought to mobile and PC because of less restrictive policies for game submissions. That means catering to indies who can or will be future AAA developers, that means having a larger variety of games that are big and small, and having a larger audience who can learn to appreciate all different kinds of games.

This part of the story isn't exactly new. MS has always partnered with indies that they've deemed talented enough to provide a publishing agreement (and extra dosh, of course). It was restrictive, but considering how Sony sidelined a few devs who would eventually win big at IDF and other events, and considering how it was MS' Summer of Arcades that brought "indies" to critical mass, I think the latter company has had a good rational for its marketplace curation MO up till now.

By any indication of Gamescom, Sony's courting the b-listers (sans a few exceptions) instead of the indie devs that are actually AAA potential.

Everyone else just jumped on because, hey, more freedom!

 

[Xbat]

i detect from gamscom sony's indie focus is beginning to backfire. on console we want triple aaa. i'm not too interested in indies just like i'm not interested in f2p, mobile, or facebook games.

i dont buy a powerful console for octodad. games like that are incredibly boring to me.

Might be backfiring for you but ps4 sold out status on amazon tells a different story.

 

[-tkf-]

Well you tailed off with a sentiment along the lines of: anybody who can afford both but doesn't buy both is a rabid fanboy, which is a bit strong, mate! I can afford both but I'd have trouble squeezing another console under the TV because I can't imagine retiring the PS3 for at least a year - still too many games not completed - or started! I already have a PS3, MacMini (media centre), and the surround sound system plus a charging station (DS, 3DS, Vita, PS3 controllers etc).

I'm blaming the laws of physics - plus I don't have too because I have friends who are getting Ones!

Well then, my point is that rapid fanboys that doesn't buy both consoles even though they can afford it, and has the space under TV is missing out. Just like angry people in general is btw..

 

[Rangers]

Might be backfiring for you but ps4 sold out status on amazon tells a different story.

overall the momentum story since the drm fiasco/e3 seems the other direction though.

anyways i was just basing my opinion off forums, like the dreaded neogaf, vgchartz, and core gamers on youtube, etc, seemingly after gamescom.

anyways both consoles are/will be sold out through January most likely.

 

[-tkf-]

Sony is playing the indie card to mask their launch software weakness. Playstation "gaming" is more about what is trendy and 'cool' than actually fun gameplay-wise, so it fits with the audience.

Playstation is about cool games, very few cool games that aren't fun to play is considered cool. Sony lost the cool with their fumbled PS3 introduction, lucky for them they regained it after some hard work and the Playstation is without any doubt cool again.

I don't get the need for hate towards indies, flow, flower and journey is pure indy gaming style eventhough they are "big games". Do you want games like that to go away, or are you just trying to hit on Sony through indy games..

And just pretend this console war is about the launch games if that helps you, my first game will be Lego Marvell Heroes, the rest i am waiting for reviews on, and that goes for both consoles.

Playstation "gaming" is more about what is trendy and 'cool' than actually fun gameplay-wise, so it fits with the audience..

And drop the attitude if you wonna hang out here.

 

[Rangers]

I don't get the need for hate towards indies, flow, flower and journey is pure indy gaming style eventhough they are "big games". Do you want games like that to go away, or are you just trying to hit on Sony through indy games..

for me i make a distinction between the games you mention and what i really consider indies. take brothers:two sons on xbla, or the upcoming strider remake, or any of those high production value games...

those are like mini console experiences, and no matter who makes them i like them in general, they bring a lot to the console ecosystem. a true indy game has poor gfx i guess. i guess in writing this i realized i cant make an accurate distinction there, since some indy games like dust Elysian tale have high production values.

for the most part indy games have poor gfx though as one defining feature i think.

some of them are great no doubt, but i dont think they are what will drive a console to sell.

 

[Xalion]

I think the indie focus serves three purposes for Sony right now.

1) It brings new IP to the console. Lets face it - AAA are expensive to make. So you tend to get a lot of sequels. While companies do go out on the limb, it can be very difficult for even a good new IP to break into the market because of lack of name recognition. This focus gives Sony a huge amount of new IP for a rather minimal investment.
2) It dramatically increases the number of launch titles. If you define "launch title" as before the end of the year, right now Sony has 33, 15 of those being exclusives. But a large number of those are indie. By comparison, Microsoft has 23. Playing the numbers game like this may or may not matter to most people who buy the system though.
3) It is good press. Everyone roots for the little guy. Sony championing the little guy helps erase the "too big, too cocky, and too out of touch" that seemed prevalent after the last generation.

I don't really think there are many negatives to the focus. I would say Sony does need to start playing up a couple of their AAA titles though. Then again, with the way the PS4 appears to be selling maybe not. After all, their standard edition just got listed as sold out on Amazon. There are currently 4 PS4 editions on the Amazon best seller of 2013 video game list (launch edition at #3, standard at #29, watch dog at #69, and battlefield at #70. For reference only, Xbox has 1 SKU at #7). It seems that whatever perceived momentum may exit, Sony is selling a lot of machines.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Sony is playing the indie card to mask their launch software weakness. Playstation "gaming" is more about what is trendy and 'cool' than actually fun gameplay-wise, so it fits with the audience.

I don't think there's any evidence to support your view that PlayStation is the art-house cinema of the gaming world. The best selling titles are the same core games - COD, FIFA, Madden, blah blah. We also have the same media experience with Netflix and iPlayer et al being popular on the platform. Look a the launch line-up; it's pretty much all core games like shooters, racers and sport.

Just spending a moment looking at the reality, your remark comes off as, well, ridiculous quite frankly, founded on nothing whatsoever except a prejudiced outlook. Sony hasn't sacrificed any of the core gaming experience for the indie. They've just embraced a larger diversity which is something Sony have always done and why they have been as popular as they have been. Considering MS are also courting the indie sector at the moment, it's something the industry as a whole seems to be favouring. I honestly don't understand where your perception of PS being for trend followers and not gamers comes from.

 

[BoardBonobo]

Sony is playing the indie card to mask their launch software weakness. Playstation "gaming" is more about what is trendy and 'cool' than actually fun gameplay-wise, so it fits with the audience.

That's like saying the audience for the XBox must be overtly homosexual because of their dependency on bromance games like Gears...

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Sony isn't being any better with indie devs than MS, they're just being more vocal about it because they have less actual games to show IMO.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Sony isn't being any better with indie devs than MS, they're just being more vocal about it because they have less actual games to show IMO.

MS sound like they're changing, but prior to recent changes announced at MS, Sony were being better towards the indies and making changes faster - at least going by what's been publicly made available (and Sony's history of supporting 'indies' from the earliest days of PlayStation Net Yaroze up to investments in supporting fringe indie titles).

 

[Bigduo209]

This part of the story isn't exactly new. MS has always partnered with indies that they've deemed talented enough to provide a publishing agreement (and extra dosh, of course). It was restrictive, but considering how Sony sidelined a few devs who would eventually win big at IDF and other events, and considering how it was MS' Summer of Arcades that brought "indies" to critical mass, I think the latter company has had a good rational for its marketplace curation MO up till now.

By any indication of Gamescom, Sony's courting the b-listers (sans a few exceptions) instead of the indie devs that are actually AAA potential.

Everyone else just jumped on because, hey, more freedom!

If they have to be published by MSG Studios, they're not technically Indie. They're limited to Xbox in a huge exclusive time window, and MS gets a hefty chunk of the profits.

IIRC most of those SoA games were smaller titles done by established publishers who let some of their developers dip into smaller projects on a whim. Even then, quite a few of those games were timed-exclusives that were on PSN after after a given time period.

Sony did sideline them, but they've approved of other projects similar to what Microsoft did (PixelJunk and thatgamecompany). Sony has always had unique and interesting titles that don't fit the norm as well, or else no one would no know of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

Mobile and PC is the biggest reason for this change, looking at some of those amazing/unique concepts being done on those platforms without similar "marketplace curation" and succeeding is the game changer. It's why Sony started changing its tune, and Microsoft slowly followed in behind to make sure Sony does not have a notable upper-hand in that area.

 

[temesgen]

overall the momentum story since the drm fiasco/e3 seems the other direction though.

anyways i was just basing my opinion off forums, like the dreaded neogaf, vgchartz, and core gamers on youtube, etc, seemingly after gamescom.

anyways both consoles are/will be sold out through January most likely.

Whats happened since E3 mostly has been a slow drip of info and corrections by MS. Additionally we had the DF article which caused quite a bit of concern/anger towards Sony. Its early days for both camps - plenty of time for MS to redeem itself and for Sony to screw up.

 

[brasnial]

I watched Sony's gamecom presser live .
My take on there Indie push was this ......they had nothing new or ready to show from there big studios so they went with what they had Indie support .

The thing is no one is going to fork out £350 pound to play Indie games there just icing on the cake nothing more nothing less .

One million pre orders is not big news if there's not a million Sony fans out there willing to buy day one then Sony are finished in my opinion .
Sony Microsoft Nintendo can all sell a million machines launch week if they release world wide in enough markets .

I feel for Sony because I have a feeling that having nothing that like kinect will haunt them in the long run .....PS eye has been turned into a bit part player by not being bundled in the box .

Yes the hard core will get you to about 30 maybe 50 million but after that its the casuals and families that make up the next 50 million .

Microsoft seem to realize this and in my opinion are better prepared to capture that market in the long run by including kinect in the box and investing big in the tech .

Only time will tell but if I was a betting man i'd bet on Sony coming out of the blocks strong then getting over taken half way through this generation

 

[DrJay24]

What is an actual game and how is it different from non-actual games? Sony has no reason to announce games for late 2014 right now, does that mean they don't exist? They just happen to have a ton of indie games at lunch and why not court more by putting them on a public stage? It is good business.

 

[Jwm]

What is an actual game and how is it different from non-actual games? Sony has no reason to announce games for late 2014 right now, does that mean they don't exist? They just happen to have a ton of indie games at lunch and why not court more by putting them on a public stage? It is good business.

It is really a bit like XBLA even though now even MS won't call it that either. Both systems will have Indie/Arcade level type games, just PS4 might have more at launch. They did show non-launch titles this year as well.

Most of what I want from both consoles is not out for a bit sadly anyway. Darn them both!

 

[brasnial]

What is an actual game and how is it different from non-actual games? Sony has no reason to announce games for late 2014 right now, does that mean they don't exist? They just happen to have a ton of indie games at lunch and why not court more by putting them on a public stage? It is good business.

A games a game DRJay the difference is in precieved value of said game .
Now the halos ......cods .....battlefield .....uncharted .....skyrim.....fall out ...gta .....mario ....the list goes on all have a far more precieved value to your target audience than most if not all Indie games .
Like I said no one would buy a gaming console based on only Indie games unless it was dirt cheep let's say the price of a AAA game or there abouts .
Indies are just icing on the cake just a small part of your over all package there are very few early adopters who is my opinion will base there buying choice soully on who has a Indie game first , where as let's just assume ether Sony or Microsoft got cod exclusive for a year something like that would influence buying choice .

 

[Shifty Geezer]

A games a game DRJay the difference is in precieved value of said game .
Now the halos ......cods .....battlefield .....uncharted .....skyrim.....fall out ...gta .....

All of which are coming out on PS4, and every gamer knows it. So what's the point of running a conference where you say, "here's stuff you already know is coming to our machine"? Makes more sense to me to take that moment to say, "we have the usual suspects, but also this other stuff," so that those undecided about which console based on both of them getting the core games can be swayed by the extras. That is after all what both these machines are about. The core game experience is probably going to be identical between both, save a few differences in online, maybe framerate and IQ, and such. The reason anyone is going to buy one over the other is the unique experience it offers, in exclusives and in UI and services. Sony made a point of of highlighting some of their immediate exclusives.

 

[-tkf-]

for me i make a distinction between the games you mention and what i really consider indies. take brothers:two sons on xbla, or the upcoming strider remake, or any of those high production value games...

those are like mini console experiences, and no matter who makes them i like them in general, they bring a lot to the console ecosystem. a true indy game has poor gfx i guess. i guess in writing this i realized i cant make an accurate distinction there, since some indy games like dust Elysian tale have high production values.

for the most part indy games have poor gfx though as one defining feature i think.

some of them are great no doubt, but i dont think they are what will drive a console to sell.

Isn't indies usually game developers who isn't owned by a publisher or simply not part of the big "guys".

And usually indy games rely more on gameplay, original ideas than version 37 of the FPS genres which depends on flashy graphics over pretty much anything else.

I mean, MOH, i got it from the EA Humble pack.. what a extreme crappy game in terms of gameplay, entertainment value is pretty high, but as a game it's simply extremely crappy, i played that game so many times before under different names.. /tangent

However, beautifull graphics does not always require a big budget or a an expensive 3D engine, we have pixels and they can tell a story just as good. Imho smaller games are not just the icing on the cake, they are the desert, they are the great wine that goes along with the food. They are often linked to the consoles image, flow, flower and journey were imho some of the games that helped the PS3 loose it's "fail" image. Instead of POWA they were elegant and very different.

 

[-tkf-]

Yes the hard core will get you to about 30 maybe 50 million but after that its the casuals and families that make up the next 50 million .

Microsoft seem to realize this and in my opinion are better prepared to capture that market in the long run by including kinect in the box and investing big in the tech .

Only time will tell but if I was a betting man i'd bet on Sony coming out of the blocks strong then getting over taken half way through this generation

So it's 60 million hardcore gamers that make up the PS3 and 30 million hardcore + 30 million families that make up the XBOX 360 now?

Until Microsoft can show a game so compelling, and family oriented that it will move boxes you might have a point. But it would require a new genre imho to make a big difference. And it would have to be a genre that can't be copied with a EYE + PS4.