Eurgamer: God of War 2 and GT4 Online (Leaked documents)

Yep, pulling development from the still profitable Megadrive/Genesis to throw it all into the "toilet diving" Saturn was a SoJ masterstroke. Bless them, they really seemed to like forcing bad decisions (and peripherals) on America and Europe back then.

 

I guess it'll be sold at a price at which it'll sell well enough.

Personally, I think it'll be full-price, or what the new games sell today at their lower scale of pricing. For example here you can pay €49-€64 for a new game, funny enough the 1st party games tend to be more on the lower end of the pricing scale. I think GT4 rrp was at the lower end when it released, so GT4 Online Edition will be too if "full-price".

The GT Prologues were sold at a (slightly) reduced price, and they sold well even though they were very very reduced from the full title, admittedly it was because they were a taster of a highly anticipated game, whereas GT4 Online Edition will be basically an old title with some new features added, thus it might be hardfer to justify a full price.

The fans will buy it anyway, even with long teeth. And I guess with just some new cars maybe some new tracks and hopefully somewhat improved graphics (though this I doubt) will be just enough for fans who've waited for the online feature.

If it's sold at full price, it'll surely be labeled a dhameful ripoff in the forums, but if it sells at that price it must be good enough value.

 

PS3 is backward comp.. people complained about PS2 drought..next gen engines are not easy to make..

 

But it isn't really the same thing. The PS2 is highly profitable with a huge installbase, so no reason for Sony to "ditch" it, instead, now it is time to milk it as much as possible since during the launch most likely the new hardware will be sold at a loss and if the rumour are true maybe at a really high loss, so they might as well earn some money on their PS2 instead.

For MS it is not the same thing. The xbox is a money sucking black hole. No reason really to support it, instead concentrate on the new hardware and let their first parties "pave" the way on the new hardware. Selling xboxes now would just make the losses associated with the launch even bigger...

 

Now now, it's not nearly that bad. Xbox hardware has not been making a loss for a few months as far as i know, so they could still support it very well. It's just different approaches. One is good and the other one is bad.

 

The thing I don't understand is how can Sony afford to make PS2 and PS3 games? For example how can Sony fund God of War 2 and Grand Turismo 4: Online for the PS2, while making God of War 2 for the PS3?

If next-gen games cost so much to make, how can Sony afford to make top grade/AAA games for two different systems? How can Sony give Polyphony enough resources to make GT5 and GT4:O and GT:Moblie?

 

I'd be surprised if GoW2 and GT4:Online realy cost all that much (comparatively speaking, of course) -- the engine should be more or less the same as the previous games, so they'd just need some content creation (it seems in GoW2s case some of that content was worked on for GoW1 but never made it) and for GT4:O, some sort of online infrastructure... not that those aren't going to be a lot of work, but I can't imagine they'll be nearly the work (time/money) that their respective originals took.

I imagine SCEI(A/J/E/WW/whatever) has a rather large budget also.

 

If xbox had more support, it could have a negative effect on xbox360 sales. I think it's important for microsoft that gamers run to the next-gen wagon as fast as possible.

I don't expect sony to release lot's of quality PS2 titles when PS3 arrives but there will be a market for low budget gamers (especially children who can't afford a PS3 anyway) and kiddy games.

 

Because the success of the entire company rides on the success of the PS3 more than any other product. Whatever Sony could do to make the PS3 more attractive, they should do. It's not like the PS2 where it was okay if the platform's library was overshadowed for the first several months. It's not like the PS2 where the platform was just an SCE product.

 

for me ,nextgen won't start before i'll have played and finished Okami.

 

Sell PS2 games to make money, and use that money to make a massive PS3 game. Simple as this.

 

Every day that goes by where the 360 has the better game library hurts both Playstation and Blu-Ray. That the PS2 makes a bit more money is not worth it in the long run.

 

But the PS3 is not ready now, so it isn't like Sony can release PS3 games today.

And like 'one' said the profits coming from the PS2 will allow more money for Sony. Sony's Playstation division made a profit last quarter even though they had to launch the PSP in Europe. As you know launching a system cost money, but the money the PS2 (and PSP games and UMDs) were bringing in didn't send them into a loss.

 

Well, how can 360 hurt something that's not yet released? Meanwhile 360 is hurting Xbox 1 sales...

 

That's pretty much my point: the PS3 does not seem to be ready.

And I agree it would get them money in the short term. Assuming the PS3 would be launched soon, would that extra cash be worth the long term effect on the PS3? The success of Blu-Ray and the domination of PS3 are quite likely to produce more money long term than whatever GT4 Online and GoW2 would net.

I want to be cordial, but that's simply a thoughtless thing to say. Completely thoughtless. If this was February 2001, you might have asked how the PS2 can hurt the Xbox which hasn't even been released. That question, in retrospect, is not bright.

Yep. The success of the 360 is more important to MS than the continued success of the Xbox, so that makes sense.

 

Your right of course, but my point is 100 million people want games to play. As a Playstation owner since 1998 I feel great that my games and hardware will be supported longer than a few years.

Making games for the PS2 now and through 2007 builds customer's convidence that buying a PS3 is like "investing" in a console instead of just buying one. You see what I trying to say?

 

I can see how you could think that, but I don't personally see it. No offense meant, of course.

 

Perhaps I should have clarified the context. Monthly PS2 software sales are far bigger than that of Xbox 360 right now IIRC. Dreamcast games sales didn't hurt PS2 games sales though DC might hurt PS1 software sales.

This is not only applicable to Sony but also to other publishers. You seem to mention overall share incl. hardware and developer support and such, but what I wrote was strictly about the software business as this topic is about SCE as a publisher and new PS2 games, which are important for other publishers. So in terms of software business, your comment

is right about the agenda of rich Microsoft that seem not vulnerable to the losses in the both hw/sw business, but for the likes of EA and Activision, sudden drop of Xbox 1 software sales matter.

 

PS2 games still make money.Lots of it.Stopping game development for PS2 is simply irrational.From every point of view.Especially the financial point of view.Companies always try to maximize profits and minimize costs
Its irrational even if someone follows the logic that they are losing focus off the PS3 puting more on PS2.Which again is wrong.Focus on PS3 isnt affected almost at all by still supporting the PS2.Actually the PS3 is benefited more by it.
If Sony stops supporting the PS2 they will harm theirselves financially and this wont help at all the PS3 either.Also if they stop supporting the PS2 so soon, they will dissappoint millions of PS2 owners that are still demanding games for their console.Again this will harm PS3's future.Pissing off consumers is always a bad idea.

Edit:Oh and just as one pointed out.Developers/Publishers need to squeeze as much money as possible out of this generation.Making games for the next gen is more costy.They need financial security if they want to continue strong in the next gen and they need revenues all the time if they want to make huge and healthy investments in new next gen titles with as less risk as possible

 

Well I don't mind some support, but by the end of this year it should slow down. I mean the PS2 will have been out for 6 years and it's still at the price of $149, by 2007 it will be out for 7 years, how much is enough? How long do you wait for next gen software? Companies are not using the PS2 100 percent anyway and they probably never will as it will take longer times for development, that is why they use pre-existing engines and API's.

They should really start focusing on Next generation at the end of this year and keep some software still on the table otherwise there isn't going to be much for the PS3 to play and they will have wasted the sequels on unimpressive games. I mean why does Sony have all these resources if they are going to waste most of them?