Now I am like most PS3 gamers. We want to get more money out of our machine before the next cycle arrives. But looking at the line up this year, I just can't help thinking that a large majority of the big developers have released a game this year which has got to hint at something
The PS3 has enjoyed some wonderful exclusives this year. From Killzone and LBP2 all the way to Resistance and Uncharted 3. It is not really the amount that, to me, hints at a PS4's announcement on the horizon but it is the high quality studios themselves who have released/releasing a game this year. So Media Molecule, Guerrilla Games, Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, Zipper Interactive, Evolution Studios and more have released/going to release a game this year. That is a lot of major Sony studios
Sony exclusives do sell well. But to release a game pretty much every month or two seems, to me, a bad business plan. Everyone has preference over which exclusive to like but with the situation this year the amount means that not all of us can afford to get every exclusive. I have found it more difficult this year than I have in the past. But you may ask what has this go to do with the PS4
Well it feels that this year is the last hurrah for the PS3. The biggest studios have come/about to come out with big games. These developers usually spend around two to three years developing a game. It may seem plausible to you that in two to three years they will come out with more games for the PS3 but I am not getting that feeling. Media Molecule have already stated they are now looking beyond LittleBigPlanet. The studio director told Edge that they are "stepping away from LittleBigPlanet to focus on some new ideas." A tweet was shortly followed on the media molecule twitter feed which read "Loyal sackfolk - please be reassured that we will always be involved with LBP, at least a bit, and there's lots more fun yet to come! <3".The words "at least a bit" caught my eye. At the moment Media molecule are basically following up some ideas.
A lot may be thinking this might have something to do with narrowing the PS3 and 360 gap. I believe that is true but there could be another motive for this. The amount of games and the price cut shows it has been a busy year for the PS3. I am getting the impression this is the last chance to entice more people to buy a PS3 to increase sales before the PS4 is announced.
I conclude with this open thought to you. Why would Sony release all its major games and unveil a price drop this year? We have had some games announced for 2012 but not many major ones. Could we see a PS4 announcement at E3 2012. I kind of hope not as it means buying a new console but Sony are defiantly indirectly hinting at a new console. Why bunch up all the exclusives into one year if this wasn't so? I would love to know your (N4G users) opinion.
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I am certain that it is, actually. If people are using the reason that "because Sony said 10 years" then that's very old PR claims that have no bearing today. PS4 will likely release 2-3 years before the 10 year cycle ends and I doubt PS3 will be supported much after PS4 releases like the PS2.
There likely isn't going to be a KZ4, R4, UC4 on the PS3 as they would be much better suited for PS4 launch titles (though I assume we will see new IPs). We know Wii U is coming next year, I'm certain that we will see MS release Xbox the year after and I doubt that Sony will want to wait a whole year to release last. I remember reading that PS3 was supposed to come the same time as Xbox 360 released but a hardware issue put them back a year. I wish I could find it, but regardless, I doubt that Sony would want to wait 2 years after the Wii U to release a next gen console.
I think the fact that they're releasing so many exclusives this year means they're gonna start working on PS4 launch titles next. And if all these companies release games at the launch of the next system, you can imagine that it'll be a pretty successful launch.
You could say the same about microsoft. Notice how halo and gears (their 2 flagship franchises) are both releasing this year.
They must be planning the same thing.
I think the announcement is coming next year. It's pretty much guaranteed.
Actually, it'd be funny if sony finished the PS4 in time for the xbox720 being announced. Then once they announce it, announce the PS4 for like a month before the xbox's release date. Make people choose.
good point. it'll be a while before any of these studios has another major release, and more than likely it'll be on the next gen console rather than PS3.
Good blog with good points, and I completely agree. The price drop is likely to be one of the last (if not the last) before the existance of a Playstation 4 is known or before it is formally announced to us. Like you say a lot of developers have come out / are coming out with big titles this year and seem like they will be moving on after them onto something (or some things) different. Media Molecule look like they'll be trying something fairly different from LBP, Naughty Dog spoke a while ago about how they tend to stick to one series each console generation which perhaps hints at the end of their reign with Uncharted (unless they continue it on with the PSVita), and we've heard rumours about things such as Timesplitters 4 by Crytek, but those rumours are only about it being on the next generation of consoles. All these companies have put out big titles this year and the way they're talking it sounds like they're not just moving on to a basic new title. The PSVita looks like it will have a lot of compatibility with the PS3 already, so who knows what plans Sony have for it with the PS4 and what they could do with that too.
I think games like FF Versus XIII and The Last Guardian, and other titles that are still to be finished but that look like some fairly decent exclusives for Sony, will be the last hurrah before the next wave of consoles is ushered in. I'm not really sure if I believe the PS4 (or whatever the next console is called although that obviously seems most likely) will be announced as early as E3 2012 as the Vita will likely still be going through it's launch period in the EU, NA and most other areas around the world. But I think it is likely to be released fairly soon after E3 2013.
I'd say the pile of exclusives was more of a coincidence than anything. Delays from fall 2010 and Insomniac's shift to a longer dev cycle on top of the games that were just ready to go in 2011.
But I do think having all these devs now deciding on their next project will encourage Sony to give them the go-ahead to start working on PS4 launch games. That gives Sony a good shot at a great launch line-up in 2013. Having Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, and other studios work on another round of PS3 games will mean Sony has packed line-up right through 2013, but it will force Sony to decide between a slim launch line-up in 2013, or holding off launch until 2014, and I don't think they want to do either of those if it means giving Microsoft an advantage out of the gate.