PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii: New Franchises or Old Sequels? Which one wins?

While checking N4G forums I came upon a topic about "who is Sony's mascot?" Nintendo has Mario and Zelda while Xbox has Halo's Master Chief but what about Sony? While having a lot of great games and franchises, Playstation consoles usually lack a single big mascot but is it really a disadvantage? Or could this do more good to then than harm. While reading this great blog post ( http://www.n4g.com/up/13438/BlogPost-60462.aspx ) by Taker_129, it came to me that lack of a single mascot could be Playstation family's key to success. Relying on new IPs / mascots and franchises for each round of conso may be a true blessing.

Nintendo and Sega have always followed the sequel method with their new consoles and have mostly relied on their biggest franchises. With PS2, Sony could follow the Nintendo/Sega trend mentioned and make as many sequels to PSone classics like Medieval, Fear Effet, Crash, Spyro and others as possible BUT they chose to take PSone approach with new IPs and thus masterpieces like Ico, Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Primal and God Of War were born and from 3rd party came superb new franchises like DMC and Onimusha.
Microsoft also followed Sony for it's first console the Xbox but they nothing from a previous gen and had to go for new IPs. They eventually established their own franchises and made an insanely popular series known as Halo.

Now with next-gen, Nintendo went straight for the old and known franchises, releasing new Zelda as their launch title for Wii while MS went with Perfect Dark's sequel, PGR4, DOA4 and Call of Duty 2, all which are sequels. Wii's game list is followed by Mario Party 8, Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy and so far it has had the least amount of good new IPs. Red Steel and few others were abysmal and Rayman Rabbids was good but went multi and is not from Nintendo itself; Microsoft followed the sequel/franchise trend after launch with Halo 3 and Fable 2 but at least they made Gears of War and got the chaotic but amazing Dead Rising from Capcom and Kameo + Viva Pinata from Rare.

Sony In the other hand followed its old approach and started with a big new IP: Resistance followed with MotorStorm. The biggest upcoming games from Sony are all new IPs: Heavenly Sword, Uncharted and Lair. Naughy Dog could have started next gen with a new Jak (& Daxter) game but they went the original way. Same goes for Insomniac and Ratchet & Clank franchise who chose it as their second next-gen title. Games like InFamous are also new and interesting.
There are also true innovative games like Little Big Planet, Echochrome, PAIN and more. Echochrome stunned everyone with its unique and special look & feel and combined with LBP's style and innovations, made Nintendo's WiiFit look more lame than it was. LBP won most of E3 awards along with COD4 and now is among most anticipaded next-gen titles for any system.

Remember the days of PSone? It was good but not that great until two little big games came and changed everything. PSone was selling alright but so was N64 thanks to Mario 64 and later The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time but then Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid entered the ring and face of gaming was changed forever and Playstation crushed the competition. Fast forward to PS2 and the battle with DreamCast. Things were ok with Sega having Sonic Adventure games until MGS2 and images FFX came. Release of MGS2 marked one of the biggest hardware sales jumps in PS2 history followed by other great PS2 games.

Now, Sony has started the next generation with all new titles and while it's not selling as hot as Wii these days, it's selling well enough solely based on new IPs. Nintendo already used the power of Zelda with Wii's launch title The Twilight Princess. MS will release Halo 3 soon and will get a huge momentum. In the mean while Sony uses all new franchises like Heavenly Sword, Lair and Uncharted against Halo 3, Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy plus two new IPs for 360: BioShock and Mass Effect. Both Wii and 360 are expected to do better than PS3 thanks to their old and known franchises but those new Sony games should sell well enought despite the great competition.

The huge war of 2007 will end with the clash of Halo, Mario, Samus and new characters of Sony like Nariko and Drake. 2008 begins and 360/Wii are out of their biggest hitters until Halo 4, Gears 2, Zelda Wii and new Mario are released and none of them can be released before 2010 (Thanks to long developement costs and times which we all saw with original Gears & Zelda TP). 360 and Wii have revealed all their cards and have used their special rage attacks.
In this very year (2008) that these 2 consoles are out of new Halos and Marios, Sony unleashes the true monsters, two games that have seriously helped PS consoles before and have critically damaged rival its consoles: Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII. The bonus is that both of them have a nice spin-off for PS3: Metal Gear Online and Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

In the days of PSone, MGS and FF killed rival N64 and Saturn. Helping PS2, the deadly duo of MGS and FF killed DreamCast and made PS2 absolute winner of last gen. Now PS3 has two great rivals: Xbox 360 and Wii. Can MGS and FF save the day one more time for Sony and kill its competition? No one knows but this time, Sony has another big weapon: Killzone 2.
Final Verdict: The Next-Gen Wars haven't even started properly... yet.

Thanks for reading my blog, this is Red signing out.

[Dr Pepper]

Hmmmm...

First of all, good article Red. However, I don't think the 360 is completely out of its' biggest hitters, as Fable 2 is being released next year. The first one was extremely popular on the first Xbox and with this one looking to fix the problems it had, it could be another big hit (wasn't the first Fable the second or third best selling game on Xbox next to Halo? no matter...).

Also, the Splinter Cell series is pretty popular and well known (but I will admit it is absolutely no where near the popularity of MGS4, which is popular worldwide) so I think that will be a pretty big game for 08, but for SC to accomplish that they really need to promote it to the public and get the word out about the new style of gameplay (or people may just think it's more of the same thing).

But while the two I listed above are popular, MGS and FF (Sony's big hitters) have appeal to many markets, not just the west (so they'll be more recognized and have more of an impact on the system).

Edit: I forgot about Halo Wars, which will no doubt be popular to both Halo fans and RTS fans alike. That is a pretty big hitter for the 360 on 08 as well.

[MK_Red]

360 has only Halo Wars as its biggest hitter with Halo brand but the game got a really cold reaction at E3 and has to face both FFXIII and MGS4. Splinter Cell sales have been declining with every sequel and SC:C didn't have a good show at E3.

Both 360 and PS3 are also getting GTA4 but for 360, biggest overall hitter is only GTA4 while PS3 has MGS4, FFXIII and GTA4.

And in the end, GTA4, MGS4, Halo Wars and FFXIII have to fight WiiFit!

[MK_Red]

Good points but as you said, MGS4 and FFXIII are the biggest hitters. MS has Alan Wake and Fable 2 but their are not Halo for MS. Halo Wars is also big but not Halo 3 big (Like MGOnline/FFXVersus being big but not as huge as MGS4/FFXIII).

360 and Wii have used their mascot games (MC, Zelda, Metroid and Mario) for 2007 and they are going to uese their lesser but still great games for 2008. Sony on the contrary, is using its new ips and great games for 2007 while holding its biggest games and semi mascot ones namely MGS4 and FFXIII for 2008.

This has happened before. N64 had Mario 64 as launch and later got Zelda OoT. Sega had Sonic Adventure for launch. MGS1 and FFVII exploded the market and helped PSone defeat N64 with all Star Fox 64, Mario Kart 64, Zelda and Mario 64.
Then PS2 got MGS2 and FFX and they helped defeat DC with its Sonic A1&2, Shenmue games, DOA, Soul Calibur and more. Sony always releases its biggest hitters after its rivals and so far it has payed.

Future is unknown but both Sony and Nintedo are using their old strategies.
+Thanks for reading my blog and your great comment. :)

[stunt213]

good article, MGS4 and Final Fantasy XIII will make ps3 sales explode no doubt

[Dmack79]

that was a very good read.

[MK_Red]

MS has Halo 3 and with that 360 sales will also explode and the same time Wii sales will explode with Metorid 3 and Mario Galaxy but PS3's new games like Heavenly Sword and Uncharted will put up a good fight for 2007.

And then 2008 comes, both Wii and 360 have used their big guns at the same time/year (Halo 3, Zelda, Mario Galaxy, Metroid... all are out, SC:C, Halo Wars, WiiFit and others will help but they are not Halo 3 or Mario Galaxy) and while both Wii and 360 are wihout true blockbusters, PS3 will have not one but 2! blockbusters: MGS4 and FFXIII.

[Dr Pepper]

I think MS (and the Nintendo, but not as much since people by it anyway) will have to really step it up in the marketing department, since their 08 line-up contains many new franchises (and by step it up I mean really step it up) and less previously existing ones. Sony can easily rely on people's existing knowledge of the MGS series and FF series (what gamer doesn't recognize those titles?), but average gamers will be hard to find that know of a game like...Alan Wake (as an example). It will be an interesting year to say the least.

[Taker_129]

Thanks for the plug.

[MK_Red]

Thanks. I couldn't have done it without reading your great blog post. :)

[Rooftrellen]

Well, PS3 has the best lineup for next year, with really big games comming out, but they will simply be catching up. Years are just reversed for Sony and MS/Nintendo as far as major titles against smaller, but still good-selling games.

At the heart of the topic, though, new and old IPs both have their ups and downs. I don't know how many people I've heard say "I don't want *inset sequal here*, because its the same thing over again." In that way, its not good for the old franchises to stay the face of a company.

However, everyone in the world (ok, everyone not in a 3rd world country) knows who Mario is. If you see the red-clad plumber, you know its Nintendo. That allows for more creative advertising (Sony failed at this with their strange commercials that featured the PS3 floating around) and a way to connect with potential buyers.

New IPs don't give that connection and ability to carry fans as well, but they do give the feeling of something new can always come. For instance, I have no intention of buying MSG4, because I don't think it will really offer anything new, but Lair is something I've never seen before, so I'm more inclined to give it a chance.

There needs to be a mix of new and old. Just as you eat every day, and sometimes you just want some chocolate again, even if its not much, if any, different from the chocolate you had yesterday, but the next day, maybe you want to try paella, which you never had before.

You can understand this a little if you look at the Wii, actually. Many people love Wii Sports, for instance, because it is so different from almost anything else. However, how many people love to get some VC games, as well? New, exciting experiances are very important, but, sometimes, we just need something firmilar.

[bluegoblin]

I own both Wii and PS3 and it's true Nintendo is letting the big dogs out (you forgot smash) which is going to raise their sales even more so by the time Big boss comes around PS3 will just be catching up. nevertheless there are some awesome games coming out by the end of year for all three systems. Man i feel sorry for santa's nomes they are going to be working extra hours to catch up with demand.

[timmyp53]

u got some good points.