Sony and Microsoft first party strategy

[Recop]

You want to make a list about 2017. Then just compare what was released in 2017 to what was released in 2017. Those are final numbers.

This might help you (2017 only) :

- https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/ps4-console-exclusives-confirmed-for-2017/2900-1048/ : more than 50 games.

- https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/xbox-one-console-exclusives-confirmed-for-2017/2900-1049/ : less than 20 games.

It's probably not completely accurate, but it gives you a broad picture.

And there is no reason to believe that the trend will change in 2018, especially with all the announcements made by Sony.

Do you want a list of games that were revealed at E3 2017/2017 and released in 2017?

Yes please, if you mean exclusive AAA.

 

[iroboto]

This might help you (2017 only) :

- https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/ps4-console-exclusives-confirmed-for-2017/2900-1048/ : more than 50 games.

- https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/xbox-one-console-exclusives-confirmed-for-2017/2900-1049/ : less than 20 games.

It's probably not completely accurate, but it gives you a broad picture.

And there is no reason to believe that the trend will change in 2018, especially with all the announcements made by Sony.



Yes please, if you mean exclusive AAA.

Oh I’m well aware that Sony has way more exclusives out than MS. I didn’t need the list but thanks. 50 - 20 is a large gap.

If the trend is the same. Then there should be much more than 3 titles that you know of releasing in 2018.

Games officially revealed st e3 2017 or teased/leaked in year:
Assassins creed Origins
Shadow of War
Forza 7
Mario oddessey
Mario x rabbids
Wolf 2 TNC
Battlefront 2
The evil within 2
PUBG

Pretty sure there are more that I can’t think of.

 

[Recop]

Forza 7

Ok, so only one game that mainly uses the same assets and with already 2 previous iterations...

Other games are not exclusive titles. Third party developers don't sell consoles and don't need to attract consumers the same way than Sony or MS.

Nintendo is not in a comparable situation than MS and their games tend to be less ambitious (not from a gameplay perspective) because they are limited by the Switch hardware.

One constructor had more interest than any other ones to show new games and it's MS. Yet, they didn't show anything...

If the trend is the same. Then there should be much more than 3 titles that you know of releasing in 2018.

https://www.vg247.com/2017/06/19/al...8-will-release-in-the-first-half-of-the-year/

It's already 4 AAA exclusives. And you can expect more release from less ambitious games such as Shadow of the Colossus, japanese games, etc.

 

[iroboto]

Ok, so only one game that mainly uses the same assets and with already 2 previous iterations...

Other games are not exclusive titles. Third party developers don't sell consoles and don't need to attract consumers the same way than Sony or MS.

Nintendo is not in a comparable situation than MS and their games tend to be less ambitious (not from a gameplay perspective) because they are limited by the Switch hardware.

One constructor had more interest than any other ones to show new games and it's MS. Yet, they didn't show anything...



https://www.vg247.com/2017/06/19/al...8-will-release-in-the-first-half-of-the-year/

It's already 4 AAA exclusives. And you can expect more release from less ambitious games such as Shadow of the Colossus, japanese games, etc.

What does exclusivity have to do with announcement and release in the same year ?

I’m just telling you it’s possible. You haven’t given me a reason it’s not.

 

[Recop]

What does exclusivity have to do with announcement and release in the same year ?

Because it's a powerful argument when your job is to sell consoles... when you're a console seller, if you have a big game in preparation, you just want to show it.

MS has no reasons to hide big weapons, especially in their situation. Obviously, now they will probably wait for the next E3, but they probably had nothing interesting to show at the E3 2017.

I’m just telling you it’s possible.

I don't say it's impossible, but it's unlikely. And when they will release the next Halo, most of Sony games already announced will likely be already out.

 

[chris1515]

Because it's a powerful argument when your job is to sell consoles... when you're a console seller, if you have a big game in preparation, you just want to show it.

MS has no reasons to hide big weapons, especially in their situation. Obviously, now they will probably wait for the next E3, but they probably had nothing interesting to show at the E3 2017.



I don't say it's impossible, but it's unlikely. And when they will release the next Halo, most of Sony games already announced will likely be already out.

I think Halo will be at E3 2018 and it will release end of 2018, same for Forza Horizon 4...

They choose to do things differently this time.

MS has less event to present games...

Sony decided to present Ghost of Tsushima at PGW 2017, the gameplay trailer will be during E3 2018 and we will probably see a last time the game at PGW 2018 or PSX 2018 for w release during first half 2019...

I think Sony will try to never show a game during two different E3...

Edit: Sony don't have enough game to keep three events of the same quality... Sony can do two events conference... This year the PSX conference was not as good as E3 and PGW conference...

 

[DrJay24]

Microsoft has a bad year for games.
Microsoft really biffed it this year when it came to major Xbox/Windows-only releases. We got Halo Wars 2 and Forza 7 while the beleaguered Crackdown 3 left a void in the standard fall Gears/Halo/big-exclusive slot. And they canceled Scalebound outright. It’s just hard to get excited about a Microsoft gaming system like the new Xbox One X when, a couple exceptions aside, Microsoft seems incapable of supporting it with platform-exclusive games.

https://kotaku.com/the-biggest-video-game-disappointments-of-2017-1821497305

Whether you hate the narrative or not, it certainly is a mainstream thought right now. Hopefully 2018 turns it around.

 

[BRiT]

They did have CupHead which has sold 2 million copies {PC and Console} and also PUBG which is over 1 million on console alone. Granted those are not First Party at all but it seems like MS's approach is to foster up 2nd and 3rd Party Studios to crutch their lower quantity of 1st Party Studios.

 

[iroboto]

https://kotaku.com/the-biggest-video-game-disappointments-of-2017-1821497305

Whether you hate the narrative or not, it certainly is a mainstream thought right now. Hopefully 2018 turns it around.

now this I agree with lol.

They had a terrible year for first party titles. Hopefully 2018 turns it around for them.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

https://kotaku.com/the-biggest-video-game-disappointments-of-2017-1821497305

Whether you hate the narrative or not, it certainly is a mainstream thought right now. Hopefully 2018 turns it around.

This is interesting because it shows that a console that can play 3rd arty games isn't deemed so valuable. Which is silly. When it comes to movie format wars, we hate them, yet in the console space a product that doesn't have format warring loses mindshare. I guess that's simply because the rival does, so the narrative is, "buy the other console because it has all of the other guys games plus some."

Still, the phrasing, "no exclusives so no reason to get excited about the console," does kinda belittle all the 3rd party games as if they were just also-rans.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

They did have CupHead which has sold 2 million copies {PC and Console} and also PUBG which is over 1 million on console alone.

PUBG is very recent and late, and may well be timed exclusive. It's not really in the same ballpark as as a big-ticket game hyped a couple of years before release with lots of expectation. Likewise, Cuphead may have been a stellar title but it's not flag-waving material like 'OMGhowmuchdidtheyspend!?!?!" AAA 'system sellers.' I guess what the gaming community wants are the old jaw-dropping big-ticket titles that can be used for posturing in the playground. 300 of the most fun, small titles wouldn't earn bragging rights against 3 cinematic, quadruple-A, interactive movies even if the former is what everyone actually wants to play.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

https://kotaku.com/the-biggest-video-game-disappointments-of-2017-1821497305. Whether you hate the narrative or not, it certainly is a mainstream thought right now. Hopefully 2018 turns it around.

The narrative can also be, Microsoft aren't afraid to cancel games that aren't working out (just like Sony and EA) nor push games back from release if they are not ready to release (also like Sony, Ubisoft, and pretty much every Rockstar game this get and last). I like my narrative better.

Personally I thought 2017 was a tremendous year for gamers, my highlight being Horizon Zero Dawn by a huge margin. Yup, I preferred it to Zelda Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey but the Switch is overall amazeballs and I like that I can take the console connected to my TV and just shove it in my bag. My PS4 Pro has since become my Sony exclusive gaming machine, I buy everything else on Switch. Portability >> Graphics, even if it means waiting.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The narrative can also be, Microsoft aren't afraid to cancel games that aren't working out (just like Sony and EA) nor push games back from release if they are not ready to release (also like Sony, Ubisoft...

The difference there being these other pubs have plenty of other games. If you only have a few and they all get delayed, you have nothing for that period. That's where quantity matters, providing a little insulation for the negative PR of cancelled and delayed games.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

The difference there being these other pubs have plenty of other games. If you only have a few and they all get delayed, you have nothing for that period. That's where quantity matters, providing a little insulation for the negative PR of cancelled and delayed games.

Even for Sony and Nintendo, who have a lot of first party studios, their games compromise less than 1% of the total number of games released on their platform each year. Some years are better than others both in terms of quantity and quality but I can't remember a time when any Sony or Microsoft console ran out of a decent selection of games.

I'm not sure there is much insulation for negative PR either, Sony Santa Monica's cancelled game caused upset, Sony shutting down Evolution Studios and Studio Liverpool caused upset, Microsoft cancelling Scalebound caused upset. It's a natural response to disappointment. It's not objectively measurable but I don't perceive there being more upset for Microsoft cancelling games than Sony relative to the number of announced exclusives. Good studios not being able to deliver anticipated games suck equally. Even Santa can't fix that.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I'm not sure there is much insulation for negative PR either, Sony Santa Monica's cancelled game caused upset, Sony shutting down Evolution Studios and Studio Liverpool caused upset, Microsoft cancelling Scalebound caused upset.

These events cause upset, but in Sony's case people look to upcoming titles. In MS's case people keep repeating about the losses because there's nothing in their place.

It's not objectively measurable but I don't perceive there being more upset for Microsoft cancelling games than Sony relative to the number of announced exclusives.

Look at the conversations about the games. On PS4 it's this and that upcoming game. On XB1 it's MS terminated this game and that game. With nothing upcoming to talk about, the only conversation about exclusives is MS cancelling them, prolonging the negative PR. So it seems to me anyhow with things like the linked article.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

These events cause upset, but in Sony's case people look to upcoming titles. In MS's case people keep repeating about the losses because there's nothing in their place.

In round, sure. But show me where in B3D's thread on Sony closing Evolution Studios people are in any way giving Sony perceived PR credit by looking forward to other exclusives (hint: don't bother looking).

Look at the conversations about the games. On PS4 it's this and that upcoming game. On XB1 it's MS terminated this game and that game. With nothing upcoming to talk about, the only conversation about exclusives is MS cancelling them, prolonging the negative PR. So it seems to me anyhow with things like the linked article.

You're assuming the people talking about other imminent games are any less upset by the cancellations or studios being closed. I doubt that's the case unless those were gaming crocodile tears to begin with.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

In round, sure. But show me where in B3D's thread on Sony closing Evolution Studios people are in any way giving Sony perceived PR credit by looking forward to other exclusives (hint: don't bother looking).

You're assuming the people talking about other imminent games are any less upset by the cancellations or studios being closed. I doubt that's the case unless those were gaming crocodile tears to begin with.

You're talking about something completely different to me when I say about insulating against negative PR. Closures/cancellations are just as painful for Sony as MS. I'm not saying they're immune. I'm saying Sony fans and the gaming community get over it quicker because they've something else to look forwards to.

If you have a fire in your garage that burns three Christmas presents, you'll be upset. You'll be more upset if those were your only Christmas presents versus if there are another 20 already under the tree. Those with more presents under the tree will move on and enjoy Christmas. Those without will feel wretched for longer, will spend Christmas dinner complaining how they have no presents, and will look enviously through the window at the neighbours all opening lots of presents where before they'd have been content with their three.

 

[iroboto]

Well I’m must say, thank you guys for bringing some decency back to this thread. A good discussion and both points of view are very valid imo.

On the topic of cancellations for MS, my concern isn’t that scalebound was bad or couldn’t have been great etc. that the biggest concern I would have is that Xbox players wouldn’t buy it even if it were great.

I haven’t had the chance to do analysis on game sales and such for any player base, but I’m willing I to bet Xbox players pass up JPN games for Sports titles etc. It’s not that MS doesn’t like working with JPN developers or can’t. If JPN games sold gang busters on Xbox we would see a lot of titles of JPN origin show up on Xbox. No one says no to massive amounts of money.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

You're talking about something completely different to me when I say about insulating against negative PR. Closures/cancellations are just as painful for Sony as MS. I'm not saying they're immune. I'm saying Sony fans and the gaming community get over it quicker because they've something else to look forwards to.

So do Xbox owners, because third party games outnumber, out-sell and out-revenue console exclusives by insane margins. I get the appeal the exclusives, it's why when deciding Sony or Microsoft for three generations it's been an easy choice for me, but I'm not mainstream and I don't think the mainstream market playing COD, BF and AC care anywhere near as much as some would think.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

If that's true, why does the subject of the lack of exclusives keep coming up? Gaming website roll with that narrative, talking about it as a problem. This thread wouldn't even exist if people didn't care about it.