Daily Reaction: Sony’s Hunt For The Halo Killer

Earlier today, Insomniac Games’ CEO Ted Price spoke about why he didn’t think Resistance was Sony’s Halo, stirring up the old topic of the ‘Halo Killer’. But why has Sony been so unsuccessful at creating their own massive FPS franchise? Daily Reaction discusses. - PSLS

[knifefight]

Aw come on do we have to fight? How about the Halo FRIEND or the Halo NEIGHBOR or the Halo COWORKER I SOMETIMES HAVE LUNCH WITH WHILE WE TALK ABOUT THE BOSSMAN but please, let's not kill each other, come on. ;_;

[vishant101]

People like you make me happy. :D

[Blankman85]

Lol Halo Neighbour! You sir cracked me up. Thank you.

[Stansolo]

Brilliant!!

[NastyLeftHook0]

there is no halo killer except halo, and there is no killzone killer except for killzone, people buy what they want.

[DA_SHREDDER]

amen ten tons, nothing fucks with Killzone, let alone all their other ip's. Sony are in their own league if you ask me.

[Stansolo]

DA_SHREDDER;
THE gamer has spoken!!
Shut up you silly fanboy.

[Stansolo]

tentonsoftube;
Totally agree, no halo killer needed just make some great games.

[Thatguy-310]

Sony may have not had the halo killer IP that they wanted at the beginning of this gen but the quality in many of its exclusive has exceeded. Yea they don't sell as well but the quality is what matters. Plus from the looks of it they moved on from going after the market Halo caters too. That's why they invest on more unique games.

[srcBFMVBMTH]

Agreed. They don't need a Halo killer. Same way Microsoft doesn't have and need a God of War or Gran Turismo killer.

All they need to do is keep doing what they are doing. Pushing unique games like The Last of Us or Beyond: Two Souls.

Also making Killzone 4 on PS4 like Killzone 2 will keep FPS fans who only own PlayStation satisfied imo.

[WeskerChildReborned]

Nah i would like some different FPS IP from Sony. I mean Sony's devs make some pretty impressive games.

[Thatguy-310]

I actually would like GG to make a Haze sequal. That game wasn't all that bad.

[srcBFMVBMTH]

@WeskerChildReborned

How about both?

That way, everybody wins. :)

http://www.joystiq.com/2011...

[DiRtY]

And how do you measure quality? With 1-2 points on metacritic that gathers data from a broken review system or your personal taste?

Halo is so unique you simply can't find a similar experience anywhere else. The singleplayer, multiplayer, story, support, community features are just unmatched.

You are free to like and buy the games you want, but for me there is no Sony exclusive or any 3rd party game that comes even close to the quality of Halo.

And all I read and saw indicates a bright future for Halo @ 343 industries, so I am really looking forward to it.

[Bathyj]

SIGH

[DivineAssault]

No need for it.. Sony can focus on doing other things.. Let microsoft rule the shooter space

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Halo Killer huh. Sony needs to do they been doing creating AAA experiences. And maybe one of them could possibly be a Halo killer who knows.

[izumo_lee]

I do not think Sony was looking for some sort of Halo killer, that title was i believe something the gaming media made up when Killzone first debut.

Sony has usually just backed developers in making good games, whether they sell a ton or not matters not as much to them or they would have scrapped Resistance or Killzone a long time ago. Delivering great experiences has always been Sony's mantra ever since they came into the game industry. They continue to do so regardless of sales, if a game sells a ton it is a bonus.

So personally i do not care if Sony does not have a so called 'Halo Killer' and fans of Playstation should not too. Look Halo is a great game & all props to Microsoft & Bungie for creating this phenomenon of a series but i am not losing any sleep over not having it on the Playstation.

[Hicken]

Sony's never wanted a Halo killer. They just want good games. Killzone is a great series(particularly number two), but the only thing it has in common with Halo is being a futuristic shooter. Nothing about the story, gameplay, atmosphere, or mechanics is similar, and no one really compares them.

... unless they're trying to start something.

[ALLWRONG]

Yes they do

[BrutallyBlunt]

Sony would love to have a Halo killer, much like how Microsoft would love to have a Gran Turismo killer. You don't invest that much money into a franchise like Killzone and then make such a big ordeal about Killzone 2 and how it will sell hardware when the first one wasn't even all that great or was that commercially successful. They marketed the first Killzone a lot and made a big deal about it's visuals and the reason was obvious. Halo was the new king in town and the PS2 simply could not match the XBOX hardware.

[GribbleGrunger]

If Sony concentrated on one or two games, I wouldn't buy their console.

[ALLWRONG]

You know the PS3 has the least amount of games out of the big 3 don't you?

And that includes exclusives.

[BrutallyBlunt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

PS3 - There are currently 760 games (multiplatform: 615; exclusive: 137; console exclusive: 8) and 15 cancelled games on this list as of July 25, 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

XBOX 360 - There are currently 929 (multiplatform: 720; exclusive: 127; console exclusive: 82) games on this list as of August 5, 2012

Just because Microsoft markets the hell out of Halo and Call Of Duty doesn't mean that's all it has. Besides, it's only in game forums do you see such rampant fanboyism, most people don't argue about which has more exclusives or which has the more exclusives suited to the hardcore crowd. Most people also don't argue because i have a PC and a PS3 i don't need a XBOX 360. Or the PS3 has no games. That's just the immature kids who seem to get more kicks saying this stuff than actually enjoying videogames.

If people want to consume themselves with arguing going back and forth that's fine, but there's a difffernece between fact and fiction.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

Wait a minute....

If the PS3 has 760 and the 360 has 929, a difference of 169...how is it that there are only 127 exclusives on the 360? If there is a difference of 169 titles, wouldn't that mean that those are exclusive to the 360 since they are not on the PS3?

Unless they have already subtracted PC/360 games from that 169 difference...but then that would be a difference of 42 titles....and I am pretty sure there are not 42 games out there that are PC/360 and NOT on the PS3. If so I would love to see that list.

So basically how can the 360 have 127 exclusives if the total difference of titles between the consoles is 169 in favor for the 360?

Shouldn't the amount of exclusives on the 360 then be 169?

This is not an attack on you LevelHead, just how the data is categorized from Wiki and how they are determining what is exclusive and what isn't.

[GribbleGrunger]

I think perhaps you should read the headline of this thread one last time. I don't want Sony to concentrate on one or two games. In this case Halo.

[BrutallyBlunt]

Wiki can be edited at any time. You can count the games listed. My guess is maybe some games aren't released yet or got cancelled. Not sure but the point is the XBOX360 has a lot of games and people don't just buy the console for one or two games. Overall software sales for both the Playstation 3 and XBOX 360 are very close. Meaning all this arguing about exclusives and which games are better is a bunch of nonsense. But people seem to enjoy the bantering that goes on back and forth. At this point in time you'd think it would be all but gone this late in each consoles lifecycle.

I enjoy both platforms, own both platforms and wish both companies well. We want competition but that doesn't mean we need to pick sides. Sony didn't do a very good job at distinguishing itself from the XBOX 360, the differences in each system is very minimanl. The Wii was marketed at being different and it was. So i could understand people talking about the Wii in contrast to the PS3 and XBOX 360. I think this is why there is so much conflict among the hardcore fans that either have sided with the PS3 or XBOX 360. Because they are so similar they try that much harder to differenciate themselves. Almost to the point of being a totally different type of gamer.

@GribbleGrunger

Who cares if they concentrate on Halo. That just means you read way too much into all of this stuff. Consumers know there is a lot more to the system than just Halo. Perhaps if Sony advertised more their exclusives would sell more. Uncharted has also become their big marketing IP this generation. That could explain why Insomniac went to a larger market. Activision also treats Call Of Duty different than all their other games. Why wouldn't they when it's been such a big seller. Same with Halo, Microsoft knows they have a very marketable and very valuable IP. They don't have the same luxury as Nintendo who has Zelda, Mario and Metroid and Pokeman. Sony has Gran Turismo as their big IP but many others that are big sellers like God Of War. They too will market the bigger sellers more. Microsoft also managed to get big IP's from 3rd party sources like Sony used to have with games like GTA and Final Fantasy. They got Gears of War, Dance Central, Fable and Forza.

Your issue is you have picked a side and once you do things look awfully different and limited from that point of view. If you read my comment up above i explained that yes, Sony has tried to market Killzone as a Halo killer. So if you want to stay on topic this isn't about Microsoft only having one IP, it's about Sony's quest for having a killer FPS like Halo. A genre that has exploded over the last decade or so.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

@ LevelHead

I agree with you.

@ GribbleGrunger

Look at it this way, if Sony only concentrated on their TOP selling IP's, they would have more resources to put towards marketing and other gaming related products/features and not lose money on IP's that don't sell.

New IP's are important I agree with you, but more "care" into what the IP's are I think are needed on Sony's part to ensure they are not just wasting valuable resources on DUD IP's.

A great example is Sony releasing LPB go-karting...yet Mod Nation Racers was just released last year...absolutely pointless.

[smashcrashbash]

Oh yeah I am sure that Wikipedia is so accurate seeing that anyone can write anything at anytime they want on it. If you are depending on Wikipedia for accuracy then you are most likely wrong.I can bet my head those figures are inaccurate.

[SilentNegotiator]

The only people looking for a "halo killer" are xbox fanboys. No one else cares. Look at Reach....Halo has already started trying to be more like COD; It let itself be "killed" by another shooter when it decided being more like it would be better.

[jfx316]

The "Halo Killer" was Call of Duty....

[Lvl_up_gamer]

I agree.

Even on the 360 alone, CoD is outselling Halo.

Halo can only be named as the best selling "exclusive" this gen. Other than that, it is no longer the king of sales....which if you think about it, never was. Last gen GT games outsold Halo. This gen CoD games outsell Halo. It's never been the "king" of sales, just the highest selling "exclusive" this gen.

[XabiDaChosenOne]

I knew this was going to happen, insomaniac should have never reffered to the Halo series in their statement.

[Man-E-Faces]

Considering Halo only sells about 8-10 million of 360's 65 million install base I would say the majority of Xbox owners don't give a damn for Halo either so why would Sony. Heck I would rather replay my copy of Timeshift than any Halo game but that's me and I am sure the millions of PS3,Wii,PC owners feel the same.

[SDF Repellent]

"Considering God of War only sells about 3-4 million of PS3's 62 million install base I would say the majority of PS3 owners don't give a damn for GOW either so why would Microsoft. Heck I would rather replay my copy of Dante Inferno than any God of War game but that's me and I am sure the millions of X360,Wii,PC owners feel the same.

See what I did there?

[ALLWRONG]

-NosTalgia- I bet you feel a little like this right now.

[Blankman85]

Actually, main series Halo games sell 9 - 12 million on 360. No PS3 exclusive has ever seen those kinda numbers. Heck only one game on PS3 has sold over 10 million.

[Acquiesc3]

Sony's ps3 shooters are quality (R1-3, KZ2-3) so I'll assume having a "Halo killer" is just talking about sales/numbers in this regard.

In which case, I'm pretty sure Sony would rather have a "Call of Duty killer" than a "Halo killer."

[3-4-5]

They could make the best game in the world..it won't matter for a couple reasons:

1.) PS controllers aren't as good for FPS as Xbox 360's.
- The analog sticks BOTH being at the bottom is akward and less controlling. Along with the rounded analog knobs it's just not fit for FPS.

2.) PS online isn't as good as Xbox live.

Because of that, online gaming and COD and Halo will always be popular on the Xbox 360/720 and into the future.

I love games though and I can't hate on any on company so I do hope they create some game that rivals it in some weird way. They can't make it muddy and dark though. that = fail

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

That's your opinion not facts.

PSN has improved ten folds since 2006 especially with PS+ to say Live is better just comes down to what you prefer to play on, the only thing Live has over PSN is party chat.

I've never understood the 360 controller argument, people talk about it as though the 360 controller is better and it's a fact.I hate how the analogue sticks aren't symmetrical and the D-pad is poor.Plus the damn thing takes batterys lol. I prefer my Dual Shock. I admit that the 360s triggers are better though.

[StrongMan]

They never tried to kill Halo. Sony is focused on unique new IP experiences that are unmatched like LittleBigPlanet, Heavy Rain, Demon's Souls, Starhawk, and more.

Besides, if we're going to talk about "killers" Sony has many top selling games in their respective genres. Where's the GT5 killer?(highest selling racing SIM) Where's the MGS4 killer?(highest selling stealth game) Where's the MLB: The Show killer?(highest selling baseball game) Where's the God of War 3 killer?(highest selling hack n slash game)

[GTRrocker666]

I had a 360 and i prefer killzone and resistance over halo. But that is why i sold my 360 and bought a ps3. Just like i am sure there are 360 players that prefer halo. It is all subjective really.

[phantomexe]

I like all 3 of them myself.... you guys remember sonys zelda killer? dark cloud

[Khynerius]

What halo-killer? I've played Reach and found it really awkward to be honest, overrated.

[Minato-Namikaze]

Sony has always said they don't need a killer app because they have a killer lineup

[Khynerius]

@phantomexe, sonys zelda killers were games like Shadow of the Colossus and Okami back in the day, whit their more mature artsyle and deeper atmosphere ...

[sdplisken]

no game franchise has ever killed another game franchise lol

thats websites trolling for hits

sony needs to make less shooters IMO
shooters are a dime a dozen these days

[mochachino]

I love Halo but it will probably just die of old age. Long term fans don't want much gameplay change and newer gamers think it's old school.

[Nexgensensation]

if i were an game designer, i would make a game that everyone dream about playing. games these days are damn near identical to one another, and as a gamer i haven't seen much innovating from either of the 3 console games.

I believe its the publishers... I don't believe they're taking any risk whatsoever.

[smashcrashbash]

I wish someone would kill Halo so I wouldn't have to listen to another word about it. In every fanboy's mind EVERY single shooter that has guns or aliens and/or monsters is a Halo clone or an attempt to kill Halo.

[ZBlacktt]

This is like asking why has there never been a XBox Game of the Year exclusive overall winner? Sony doesn't have that problem. So most sells is just one side of it.

[ritsuka666]

Killzone 2 already is a "halo killer" , just deal with it haters...