520°

Sony Is Only Hurting The Playstation Brand By Suing Kevin Butler's Actor

GP writer Jared discusses why he Sony could be hurting the Playstation brand by suing the actor behind one of their most famous mascots.

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gamepodunk.com
CalvinKlein4208d ago

I never liked him anyways so I dont care, but thats rough hes just the working man and they are looking for money trying to keep him down because he played with his wii.

jujubee884208d ago

He gained his popularity among the gaming audience through a long line of PS3 commercials.

Without those commercials, he would have just been known by a few people in the gaming sphere through the sitcoms he has appeared in.

Kevin ButIer4208d ago

Note title should said: Sony Is Only Hurting My wallet By Suing Kevin Butler's Actor

jujubee884208d ago

@Kevin ButIer

Duly noted.

knowyourstuff4208d ago

The actor isn't being sued, Bridgestone is being sued, for having some strange affiliation with the Nintendo Wii... lol really strange if you ask me.

Sony will have destroyed their relationship with Kevin Butler the actor, which only goes to show this decision to sue was done solely by Sony's lawyers looking to make money in court. Now Kevin Butler won't be in ANY future commercials, and Sony went along with the short term cash of suing rather using the character in future marketing campaigns. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Lawyers ruin everything!

And what is this Kevin Butler doing anyway working for directo competitors? Doesn't anyone have any loyalty anymore? Is Sony not paying him enough? He should know Sony would be pissed at him for promoting a directo competitor, I mean what is that! If he runs a marketing campaign and has made his own image a central part of each advertisement, then you can't expect to use your likeness to go and promote a direct competitor!

DarthJay4208d ago (Edited 4208d ago )

What exactly is your point? People only knew Mark Hamill for a while because he was Luke Skywalker. Is Luke Skywalker the only character he should have ever been allowed to be?

I could literally go on and on and on. Yeah, the guy got a break of sorts because the Kevin Butler character was popular with gamers, but how much do you people think he actually made on those commercials? MAYBE 5K per? Probably a whole lot less.

The lawsuit is a joke. I don't see anything alleging he had a no compete clause, and he didn't use the Kevin Butler name. No leg to stand on.

jujubee884208d ago (Edited 4208d ago )

Why are people arguing at me?

I just stated a fact, I never said I would make an argument or counter the arguments thrown at me.

I AINT GOT NO TIME FOR THAT!

Haha

MAJ0R4208d ago

You are so wrong. Sure the Kevin Butler character give him recognition in the gaming world, but he is popular for doing hotel ads for Holiday Inn, as well as other commercials.

darthv724207d ago

just stupid. you gamers know nothing about the advertising business. I wont pretend to know either so it is what it is.

I can say this though. Sony can really only sue for the use of KB outside their marketing division if that is the character he was portraying.

An example. the person who plays the voice of bart simpson was doing a promo for something completely unrelated to the simpsons. That did not go against her contract (yes the voice of BS is played by a woman) however she inadvertantly went into bart voice mode during the promo and that was a violation.

she got sued or they settled but ultimately her using the character voice without authorization was the wrong doing. Not just simply doing something else.

So for whatever legalities, sony thinks they can sue these guys for him doing his job as an actor (an unrelated actor) by way of simple association of him in a tire commercial that included a wii.

For shame sony...for shame.

Information Minister4207d ago (Edited 4207d ago )

If he had a non-compete clause in his contract that prevented him from advertising anything related to gaming products not manufactured by Sony, than he absolutely had to see this one coming!

The commercials Jerry Lambert did for Sony are probably the reason why Bridgestone noticed him in the first place. The conflict of interests is obvious!

We don't have all the details of how the different companies involved in this matter interacted with each other (intentionality, foul play, etc...), but it's safe to say that Sony is hurting the Playstation brand as much as Lambert is hurting his own company.

t0mmyb0y4207d ago

jujubee

YOU AINT GOT NO BUBBLES TO ARGUE BACK!!

lol that is all

nukeitall4207d ago

Kevin Butler Vice President of the making Nintendo awesome?

+ Show (8) more repliesLast reply 4207d ago
fei-hung4208d ago

No. The only person this article is hurting is the idiot who wrote it.

Where are all these troll journalists coming from?!

barb_wire4208d ago

Well, I guess it depends on what kind of contract HE signed with Sony.. for all we know the contract could've stipulated that he can't appear in any ad's (print or TV) showing him with another console other than Sony PS line.

Legion4208d ago (Edited 4208d ago )

Again they are not suing the actor they are suing the companies for using the Kevin Butler character. Which they DID NOT. No mention of the character name or any resemblance to the Kevin Butler other then the fact he looks the same (duh) and he is playing a video game.

So Sony is basically saying they patented his likeness? Not possible...

Why didn't they sue David Hayter for voicing another character in a video game other then Medal Gear? His voice is just as identifiable.

And Michael Ironside doing anything outside of Sam Fisher will mean what? He can't use his voice anymore?

Thatguy-3104208d ago

People are making it seem that the ps3 fan base is going to rally behind the Butler persona. The majority of the ps3 install base have no idea or even bother to pay attention to this character. The only ppl who know him are folks that go to blogs and gaming websites on the daily bases which isn't a lot of the install base. Don't see how this can hurt sony.

StraightPath4208d ago

sony just seem like a jealous envious butthurt money grabbing organisation.

Anon19744208d ago

Ridiculous. If some random company came out and started advertising with the Master Chief, you'd better believe they'd have to answer for it. Would that ensuing lawsuit hurt the Xbox brand? Of course not.

Sony pr created the character. Obviously the actor needs to work but you don't see Daniel Craig going around using Bond to sell items and cash a paycheck.

And obviously Bridgestone knew they stepped in it because they edited Kevin Butler out of the commercial.

Finally, Sony isn't suing the actor. They're suing Bridgestone and the actor's company (which he just happens to be ceo of, I understand). Everyone involved should have known better and I'm sure this will settle out of court quickly enough.

JellyJelly4208d ago

"If some random company came out and started advertising with the Master Chief, you'd better believe they'd have to answer for it."

That's a bad example and strays from the truth. A correct example would be:

"If some random company used the guy who played Master Chief but in a different role, with no name, advertising tires for Bridgestone."

I think the thing is Sony's lawyers didn't write a proper contract with Lambert, and now they're getting greedy. Only hurting themselves. Seriously, where is the win for Sony in sueing Lambert?

JD_Shadow4208d ago

So Jerry isn't allowed to ever take another acting role again just because his face is owned by Sony by some backwards logic?

joeorc4208d ago (Edited 4208d ago )

"Finally, Sony isn't suing the actor. They're suing Bridgestone and the actor's company (which he just happens to be ceo of, I understand). Everyone involved should have known better and I'm sure this will settle out of court quickly enough."

agreed, and when this news was put on here in Sunday, the person who posted it failed to read the reference legal doc's. Or maybe they did and decided the bad PR damage was worth it anyway to show Sony in a bad light, when in the reference doc's part 14 the Sony's Legal Team already moved the case to be moved An ex parte decision is one decided by a judge without requiring all of the parties to the controversy to be present.

in other words like you stated it was being moved to outside of the court case, and the Hint of that was Bridge Stone pull jerry out of the TV Ad. does that tell you what happened. it was a Breach of contract , and its being settled already.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4207d ago
NYC_Gamer4208d ago

We can't speak on who is right or wrong.None of us have a copy of the contract that was signed by both parties..Its all business for these companies at the end of day and sometimes things get ugly.

MHenderson4208d ago

Damn right, the people love him. Sony's most disappointing move with All-Stars is not having him as a playable character.

Cyb3r4208d ago

Kevin Butler wasnt even funny on either side so I dont see the difference or what the fuss is about

PopRocks3594208d ago

Legally it may or may not be an appropriate move. It's just unfortunate, given that the chance of more Kevin Butler ads is now pretty slim. I really liked those ads too.

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280°

Sony Taps Bungie's Head of Revenue to Lead Live-Service Games

Sony has recruited Bungie's head of revenue Jaremy Rich to head up its live-service gaming division, Rich has announced on social media.

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techraptor.net
ChasterMies11d ago

Please do not put Destiny’s monetization into Sony’s first party games. The monetization is what’s driving players away from Destiny.

just_looken11d ago

The new temp boss is the sony cfo bean counter so i can see this being a thing get every penny.

Cacabunga11d ago

PlayStation officially losing it.. fans will never support gaas games

just_looken11d ago

@car

The new boss did a interview in japan he wants to tap into the mobile market like nintendio so he give 0 fucks about gamers/fans

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

Redemption-6411d ago

@Cacabunga
You only speak for you and those who think like you, but most fans will support what they want. Playstation and PC fans are literally supporting Helldivers 2 and that is a gaas. Maybe you wouldn't, but many more would if they like it.

Huey_My_D_Long11d ago

@Redemption-64
Look, Im not making any judgement calls about this guy, but I will say that Helldivers 2 GaaS model is unique to Helldivers, and legit the only other game I can think of thats similiar was the Avengers game except HD2 pass is still better.
The fact that you can earn in game currency in a way that doesnt make you feel like you have to grind forever, as well you being able work on that pass that you bought...on your own time without a time limit...that right there is fucking huge to me, and I can't name any game other than avengers that avoided trapping players with FOMO logic...I think GaaS on HD2 shouldn't be compared to the rest of the industry...it should be copied.

Einhander197211d ago

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

In Europe it's a 60 40 split favoring PC.
In the US its a 60 40 split favoring PS5.

So PlayStation owners supported the game just fine, it's not getting carried by PC or anything like that.

FinalFantasyFanatic11d ago

@just_looken,
I'm perfectly fine with the way Nintendo entered the mobile market, I never touched their mobile games, meanwhile, the console/handheld stayed the way it is. As for being a bean counter, he's probably going to reel in these massive budgets that Sony's studios have had lately, I haven't played Spiderman 2, but I cannot see how they almost tripled the budget for that game.

@Redemption-64,
That's an exception to the rule, I'm expecting a lot of these GAAS games from Sony to fail, to be fair, they only need a few to succeed, but I would have preferred that they put more of their resources into other types of games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 11d ago
DivineHand12511d ago

True their monetization is driving players away and at the same time, their decision to chop out content and convoluted systems is keeping new players away from the game.

Joe91311d ago

I don't think that will happen based on how things worked out at Naughty Dog now that we know what we do, seems they had the option to fully commit to live service games or stay making single player experences so they gave up on their live service game. We are not sure how things came about with Bend making a live service game but I hope that was not a forced situation. Sony doesnt seem like they are forcing studios to switch up but we will see, Sony's bread and butter is single player games it is how they dominated the console market.

Obscure_Observer11d ago

Yeah, I though Sony learned something from all their failures in the LS segment under Bungie´s disastrous leadership and supervision which led to games been cancelled, studios closed and all the people laid off.

Looks like Bungie still plays a major role in Sony´s LS initiative and Sony is not backtracking on their GaaS plans.

S2Killinit11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

Are we forgetting that Destiny is also a highly successful franchise? I feel like that definitely deserves mention here.

Besides, there is no reason why a person cant learn from past experiences.

Joe91310d ago

I agree, people act as if Destiny flopped when it came out lol it took 9 to 10 years for the numbers to fall yet people are still playing it add the success of Helldivers 2 no wonder Sony is going forward down this path.

S2Killinit10d ago

Personally, I see no problem with Sony also having service games as long as they make good ones, and more importantly they deliver the AAA story driven games that they are known for. So yeah, I agree 100% with you.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 10d ago
Christopher11d ago

I mean, this person made some pretty bad decisions at Bungie. I hope they've learned from them because I definitely don't see those type of ideas as good for PlaySation in general.

CrimsonWing6910d ago (Edited 10d ago )

Honestly, what’s to learn from? How to make people happily continuously dump money into a single game over its life-time? Buy season passes continuously for several years with a smile on our faces?

GaaS is a design decision that is everything wrong with this industry. The fact that Helldivers 2 did so well and people defend the monetization because it was $40 and is a fun game, scares the sh*t out of me to see that the door is open and all shift will probably be to replicate that in future games. We already know the ROI for traditional game dev cost isn’t doing it for them.

I thought with Jimbo leaving we’d see a change for the better… I’m not so sure now.

S2Killinit10d ago

Service games are being offered by everyone. Sony cannot afford to only create single player AAA games. No one can. They already said they will be doing both.

Abnor_Mal11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

Ps5 gamers in 2023 seemed to play more live service types of games, so regardless to how people feel about them, numbers don’t lie and Sony is going where the money is. I mean look at the excitement around Helldivers2, people are showing that they want live service games.

Christopher11d ago

They play long-time existing live service games like CoD, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and the like. Mass majority of new live service games are considered failures and aren't moving gamers away from older games.

just_looken11d ago

Yep the huge issue with live service is they need paid players along with a reason to play them.

You forgot mobile market that also taps into that player base as well as the eve online style games there is only a certain amount of krakens/whales blind supporters compared to the amount of live service games we have its not sustainable math wise.

700 restaurants making food for every seat for 1000-3000 eaters just does not work out

Einhander197211d ago (Edited 11d ago )

Christopher

I am not a big live service fan and literally own zero of the games you listed, but that is not true, unless you call games that aren't the top games to be failures.

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

Games don't have to be the biggest game ever they just need to make more than they cost.

I challenge you to show professionally prepared data that shows that more live service games fail than make enough to keep going.

Because all the data that I have seen shows that live service is less of a gamble than making a big AAA budget game which needs to survive off retail sales.

FinalFantasyFanatic11d ago

I sometimes wonder if we're at saturation point, where it's hard for a new game to join those ranks unless it's particularly exceptional, people only have so much time and money to devote to these types of games.

romulus2311d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218311d ago

Lol it's not even a quarter of the ps5s sold. Helldivers may have been a hit but let's not say most are enjoying it because truth is most(the real most ) don't care about it.

S2Killinit10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

I play what is fun. If a live service game is good I’ll play it as long as its not a money scheme which Helldivers is not.

And Im a single player gamer.

mastershredder11d ago

How do you kill a franchise that already been killed?
Destiny’s grind, cash-in-on-playbass-cha-Ching, and pop-culture-insertion mainstream-me-too bs totally killed any rep Bungie had. Sony/Bungie, if you are doing this to ward-off players, it’s already working.

crazyCoconuts11d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

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80°

Sony May Soon Let You Decide How Much NPCs Talk In Games

Sony has patented to add multiple dialogue modes to let players switch between how many conversations with NPCs they want in the game.

blackblades17d ago

Sony is like the only ones outta the 3 that has atuff like like this pop up changing thing in ways.

just_looken17d ago

Sony in the past has always been first at bat with new ideas/tech but in the end never fully use it or just toss it away.

blackblades17d ago

I think they did use some but yeah most usually never happened but at least they thought about it. Sony seeks things like this and other, Nintendo seek different ways of playing going by there different controler designs and console designs.

just_looken17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

some of the other stuff sony want's/owns never used
https://gamerant.com/sony-p...
https://gamerant.com/sony-p...
https://www.eurogamer.net/s...
https://metro.co.uk/2023/03...
https://decrypt.co/114754/s...

monitor/adjust game difficultly as you play
https://www.techradar.com/g...

Sony nfts
https://www.theblock.co/pos...

Pay ai to play the game for you
https://thebusinessofesport...

Oh all the above last 12 months

I just imagine a evil scientist with test subjects when it comes down to sony recent patent reports.

Kaii17d ago

Will we get dialogue options that won't spoil puzzles in a matter of seconds? :p

280°

Judge rules in PlayStation's favour in $500m patent infringement lawsuit

Genuine Enabling Technology was seeking damages, claiming the tech allowing PlayStation consoles and controllers to communicate infringes its rights.

Read Full Story >>
gamesindustry.biz
S2Killinit19d ago

Big victory for Sony. And a long time coming.

DarXyde19d ago (Edited 19d ago )

Crazy to think the savings from this lawsuit allows them to develop one AAA game.

Make it Bloodborne 2, please and thank you.

19d ago
Profchaos19d ago

Sounds like patent trolling they tried the same thing against Nintendo with the same pattern.

Motion and control input traversing over higher and lower frequencies seperate from each other allowing the controller to do both

Pyrofire9519d ago

Patents suck. Most of them are complete garbage.

Knightofelemia19d ago

So to recoup the money Genuine is going to take on Nintendo or Microsoft next. I hate patent lawyers they are some of the worst bottom feeders out there.

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