Business Approach Comparison Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox

[London Geezer]

Just to show how times have changed... You might not see a software line up, let alone an exclusive lineup like this again.

Memory fails me, but surely those didn't come out in the first 6-month to a year of the ps2 life? I played all of them - scary!

 

[Phil]

Dito. Although I do remember GTA3 being the first major release I think.

I got my PS2 at launch with SSX, TimeSplitters and Tekken TAG. All of them were a blast. Though I guess one of the good things about a late launch in Europe (and the US) I think was that they were able to get rid of the shimmering in namely Tekken Tag. The graphics were so crisp and beautiful. SSX was also a blast - one of the best launch games. GTA3 came out soon after, and GT3 and MGS2 were around the corner not too long after. Great times.

 

[Prophecy2k]

Well, eastman derailed this thread pretty quick.

Fundamentally, I'm a little shocked by how short some people's memories seem to be. First year game drought has alwasy been a thing, and is no different this generation.

Sure there will be overall less AAA games produced this gen, due to higher development costs and there being less devs and publishers around in totality than there was at the beginning of last gen. Still, the mid to end periods of previous gens have always been a pain in the ass for gamers like me that like to pick up all the best titles; since there are always so many games being released each month, and particularly in the fall.

This gen will mean less AAA games, but I doubt it's gonna particularly feel that way once all the big pubs start cranking out their sequels and generating a steady income from a stable and fairly good-sized installed base.

Watch-dog sales alone are already proving that, even with maybe total 11 - 15 million new-gen console already sold, a game can still come out and sell a metric crap load on new gen consoles.

 

[Phil]

IMO what exaggerates the issue is that in the old days, going from an old PSone to a PS2 ment such a huge step in graphics, that as a owner of a shiney new console, you never really looked back because the step was so large. So large in fact, that the newer console offered quite a lot better gameplay too - not possible on older hardware. Like the transition from 2d to 3d games or going from PS1 to PS2, a lot more immersive games.

Going from PS3 to PS4 the step isn't that large. Graphics are better of course, a lot better IQ for sure, but the games offer viewer enhancements over the previous generation. For a gamer like me, it's nice to have a BF4 and countless of other shooters at launch - but there's not all that much veriety. It's a bit telling that the most exciting games about to come out for the PS4 are remastered ports of games I already played on the PS3 (TLoU & GTA5)...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

We could really do with comprehensive lists of all the first-year games for every console going back a few gens for reference.

 

[steveOrino]

Well, eastman derailed this thread pretty quick.

Fundamentally, I'm a little shocked by how short some people's memories seem to be. First year game drought has alwasy been a thing, and is no different this generation.

Sure there will be overall less AAA games produced this gen, due to higher development costs and there being less devs and publishers around in totality than there was at the beginning of last gen. Still, the mid to end periods of previous gens have always been a pain in the ass for gamers like me that like to pick up all the best titles; since there are always so many games being released each month, and particularly in the fall.

This gen will mean less AAA games, but I doubt it's gonna particularly feel that way once all the big pubs start cranking out their sequels and generating a steady income from a stable and fairly good-sized installed base.

Watch-dog sales alone are already proving that, even with maybe total 11 - 15 million new-gen console already sold, a game can still come out and sell a metric crap load on new gen consoles.

Yes, less AAA, but only in cost IMO. This generation I think the Middle class (decent sized independent studios) will rise with an ability to take game design chances, and a affordable buffet of middle-ware and game engines (UE4/CryEngine/Unity in a price war for developers). It will be interesting.

 

[Cjail]

We could really do with comprehensive lists of all the first-year games for every console going back a few gens for reference.

Well there's this list of console launch games.
It's not a comprehensive year one list but still it can be helpful.
EG has a release dates list but it goes back only to 2002.

Maybe Neogaf or GianBomb has a list but I can't check now, sorry.

 

[Nesh]

There isnt just a drought in games releases for 2014. I see a drought in game announcements generally.
With the PS2 there were floods of new game reveals. And not just reveals. Reveals of AAA games

 

[Rangers]

Yes, less AAA, but only in cost IMO. This generation I think the Middle class (decent sized independent studios) will rise with an ability to take game design chances, and a affordable buffet of middle-ware and game engines (UE4/CryEngine/Unity in a price war for developers). It will be interesting.

The middle class seems the most endangered. It seems to be moving towards ever larger triple A and indies. Although as usual, there are exceptions

 

[dobwal]

What drought?

I don't see how this year is that much different than any other year, never mind initial launches. Maybe the perception is different for people outside of Japan and the US, given that most consoles' non US/Japan launches usually happen anywhere from 4 months to 2 years of the initial launch.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Given that the PC is a continuum in terms of the platform, look at the release cycle there - its pretty much the same right now; not too much big is happening until the October Gamefest.

 

[MrFox]

I remember the "drought" discussion during the PS1 launch, the PS2 launch and the PS3 launch. Counting the games and what not. As far as I can tell, the current generation launched with more games than any other consoles in history.

I think we often feel there's a drought when our favorite genre is being neglected. So counting the games doesn't seem to be enough to convince the naysayers, the discussion goes nowhere. It's perfectly reasonable, I don't care how many games exist that I don't like, no matter how good the reviews, or how high the production budget. I only care about the ones I might buy.

 

[Ruiadas]

Wikipedia has full games lists that you can sort by release date. Just looking over the lists it feels like the PS2 had an absurd amount of games come out within a year of launch compared to everything else.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_playstation_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_2_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_3_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_4_games

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_360_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_One_games

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_n64_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_GameCube_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wii_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_U_games

 

[dobwal]

I remember the "drought" discussion during the PS1 launch, the PS2 launch and the PS3 launch. Counting the games and what not. As far as I can tell, the current generation launched with more games than any other consoles in history.

I think we often feel there's a drought when our favorite genre is being neglected. So counting the games doesn't seem to be enough to convince the naysayers, the discussion goes nowhere. It's perfectly reasonable, I don't care how many games exist that I don't like, no matter how good the reviews, or how high the production budget. I only care about the ones I might buy.

I think part of the perception of a drought is driven by an increase in appetite for games when new consoles are launched. We have new toys and want to maximize their usage and legitimize our purchases.

Premier franchises from the previous gen like AC and COD aren't usually initial launch titles. I've been envious of japan getting the PS first in the past but I've never been envious of their launch lineups. But the PS4 launch lineup and the proposed lineup the XB1's japan launch are probably the best ever in terms of global franchises.

 

[upnorthsox]

I don't know, complaining about a game drought in July is a little..............

Here was july 2012, the height of last gen:

http://vgreleases.com/ReleaseDates/all-7-2012.aspx?OrderBy=sortdate

This is the time of yr when you start hitting your backlog of games, obviously with a new gen that backlog is a little lite.

 

[SlimJim]

PS2 was the king of all consoles, it had no competition either, so of course all the companies were releasing games exclusively on the platform

 

[eastmen]

But whatever? You have access to the Internet? You rely on "friends" to tell you what games are out? BTW TLoU in July is going to be very popular, but maybe that is not premium?

Late October? I think I have three games to buy in Aug. Garden Warfare, Diablo and Minecraft. There is also the DLC for Second Son soon. Not every month is going to be Oct/Nov, but stop with the hyperbole.

Didn't know that a year old ps3 game was a big thing. The xbox one has the original killer instinct since launch , must have been game of 2013 then. Minecraft is also what 4 or 5 years old now ? Garden warfare has also been avalible for about 4 months too (although really fun) Diablo is also almost 3 years old now.

I'm glad your happy with games that are years old but many of us want new experiances

 

[Scott_Arm]

I don't know, complaining about a game drought in July is a little..............

Here was july 2012, the height of last gen:

http://vgreleases.com/ReleaseDates/all-7-2012.aspx?OrderBy=sortdate

This is the time of yr when you start hitting your backlog of games, obviously with a new gen that backlog is a little lite.

I think that's the main problem. There wasn't too much at launch and now there's a big drought until the fall. So not much to play if you've already played the good launch window games. Of course, it's what happens with every new launch, so early adopters like me can't really complain. You just have to expect it.

 

[Arwin]

Didn't know that a year old ps3 game was a big thing. The xbox one has the original killer instinct since launch , must have been game of 2013 then. Minecraft is also what 4 or 5 years old now ? Garden warfare has also been avalible for about 4 months too (although really fun) Diablo is also almost 3 years old now.

I'm glad your happy with games that are years old but many of us want new experiences

That's probably part of the main problem though - just about none of the games so far are new experiences. But it's early days. I personally can't really remember having access to this many games at launch, but I do remember SSX fondly as a completely new thing for me back when the PS2 launched. There were may three games back then that I was sort of interested in, but I did love that game.

Anyway, especially if you played everything in the last three years on every platform, and don't care about the smaller titles like Transistor c.s., then yes, it's fairly slim pickings.

 

[DrJay24]

Didn't know that a year old ps3 game was a big thing. The xbox one has the original killer instinct since launch , must have been game of 2013 then. Minecraft is also what 4 or 5 years old now ? Garden warfare has also been avalible for about 4 months too (although really fun) Diablo is also almost 3 years old now.

I'm glad your happy with games that are years old but many of us want new experiances

What about ten year old FPS ports, are those more exciting? I don't own Diablo or Garden Warfare, so what does it matter if someone else can by it? I guess if you narrowly define "games" as new $60 games never before released on any platform, then yes the summer is slow, as it always is.