Devs may start CANCELLING PS3 titles? OH SNAP.

And we both know the sales need to pick up, pronto--especially if Sony wants to keep third party interest. Already third party executives are telling me that if PS3 sales stay below 100k for 3 consecutive months, PS3 SKUs may start disappearing from release lists and in turn create a wealth of de-facto exclusives for the Xbox 360. Sony could stem the tide by supporting third parties financially with co-marketing for exclusivity (or even buying an exclusive window on a game), but I continue to hear tales of Sony expressing a lack of interest in securing third party exclusives.

Link.

"Woah" if true. Seems a bit premature, but not totally suprising. Devs are pouring hella money into developing nextGen games...and if Namco's statement of "we need to sell 500,000 copies to turn a profit" is a litmus for the number of copies of games that devs need to sell in order to break even on their PS3 investment, then it makes sense that devs would begin to cut their losses before they lose anymore money. A scary possibility...but is the PS3 venturing into the dangerous ground of becoming too risky for some (and maybe many) devs to dare to venture into?

Discuss.

Edit: and before the Cows start freaking out about this guy, a couple notes:

1. This guy always came off as a PlayStation fanboy. Back in November, I distinctly remember him writing about how Resistance put Gears of War to shame and how Genji looked graphically better than Gears. He's not an anti-Playstation guy.
2. He's citing industry types.
3. Geoff Keighly and N'Gai Croal > the vast majority of forum posters, analysts, and blog journalists.

UbiSoft already said the delays of Rainbow Six and GRAW2 on the PS3 were due to a lack of an install base. This is definitely something that worries me about Sony and a big reason why I picked up a 360. The PS3 is in trouble and Lair, R&C, Uncharted and Killzone 2, not too mention MGS4 and FFXIII better change this NOW!

I do remember Sony talking about FFXIII's exclusivity. They lose that, it's over.

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

Winning consoles benefit from the virtuous cycle.

Losing consoles suffer from the vicious cycle.

Sony needs to snap out of it and compete.  But I fear their options are too limited. 

Well if they'd release some good games maybe it would sell, just throwing that out there.DementedDragon

It really is up to Sony now. Hopefully, Lair gets the job done, but that game has some question marks and I don't know if it's a system seller. R&C, Heavenly Sword and Killzone 2 better live up to their hype or Sony's in a lot of trouble...

This is to be expected.

When a company plans for the long term, they lose sight of the short term.  Things may pick up, but clearly Sony has already lost quite a bit of potential market share, so they won't see nearly as many exclusives as in the past. 

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

-DarthVader-

not totally true.  Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw).  PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them.  One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games. 

UbiSoft already said the delays of Rainbow Six and GRAW2 on the PS3 were due to a lack of an install base. This is definitely something that worries me about Sony and a big reason why I picked up a 360. The PS3 is in trouble and Lair, R&C, Uncharted and Killzone 2, not too mention MGS4 and FFXIII better change this NOW!

I do remember Sony talking about FFXIII's exclusivity. They lose that, it's over.

SkyCastleDan

by the time FF13 and MGS4 come out, there will be enough userbase installed to make back what they put in.  But not right now.   

[QUOTE="DementedDragon"]Well if they'd release some good games maybe it would sell, just throwing that out there.SkyCastleDan

It really is up to Sony now. Hopefully, Lair gets the job done, but that game has some question marks and I don't know if it's a system seller. R&C, Heavenly Sword and Killzone 2 better live up to their hype or Sony's in a lot of trouble...

Sony can't control the 3rd party games.  they can only cross their fingers at this point and hope for the best.

[QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

Dreams-Visions

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

Ouch, well I am keeping faith in the PS3, but once I see it start to tank, I am ebaying. :D

Btw, Ngai was always very pro-Sony, so to see this article come from him is quite surprising and sad at the same time. :(

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

-DarthVader-

Nevertheless, I don't think we'll see many third party games that are currently being developed for both PS3 and Xbox 360 drop their PS3 SKUs, even if Sony has multiple months under 100,000 units sold. The reason is threefold: Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot estimates the cost of a port adds just 10 percent to the cost of development; marketing budgets don't increase significantly with the addition of another SKU;:

That pretty much sums up everyone after this guy.

wow. ouch that had to hurt sony. to everyone saying that devs need to release good games to sell more ps3's, they can't. think about it. for devs to release good games (exclusives) there needs to be a large install base. in order for there to be a large install base, there needs to be good exculsive games out for the console. what really hurt sony was the consoles' price. everyone in this forum knows this but few don't admit it (read: cows). sony played with a double edged sword and injured themselves, possibly fatally.

edit:

their arrogance and ridiculous statements didn't help much either.

[QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

SergeantSnitch

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

not sure about that, so I can't debate that point.  All I know is by October, 2006, the 360 had the following games at 1 million+:

CoD2
DoA4
GRAW
Saint's Row
Dead Rising
Madden '07
PD0

maybe one or 2 I'm forgetting.  but I can't debate your point on dates, because I have no idea. 

[QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

[QUOTE="SergeantSnitch"][QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

Dreams-Visions

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

To dreamsvisions, there are 10 games that sold 1million, and to Sgt. Snitch, Perfect Dark sold 1 miilion copies as did DOA 4.

[QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

SergeantSnitch

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

Yes it was, sadly none of the xbox 360 exclusive launch titles didnt hit a million until after a year or so, and motorstorm and resistance are still selling well. Kind of sad to see a third party launch game outsell your launch exclusives. Im not even sure or kameo or PDZ did even sell a million, lol. If they did plz show me a link. :)

[QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

Dreams-Visions

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

Of the 30 theres maybe be a handful worth owning, plus most Ps3 owners have a 360 so ports we've been playing for months don't cut it.

[QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

SergeantSnitch

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

Devs are gonna continue to support the PS3, its the only HD console that sells well in Japan.  The Wii is too difficult to port games to and from the 360/PS3 so as long as devs wanna make money off of Japan from their HD games they will make games for the PS3.  As for the PS3s sales, its selling fine and I hardly doubt that one month of NPDs sales focusing on part of one region will make devs not make games as the PS3 as it sells fine worldwide. 

but once I see it start to tank, I am ebaying. :DBioShockOwnz

Good luck with that. Sellers are practically giving PS3s away on eBay. :D 

Here's my plan to save Sony:

1. Immediately swap development of Killzone 2 and Resistance 2 (we all know its coming), so that Insomniac is developing Killzone 2 and Guerilla is developing Resistance 2 regardless of any delays this causes. Killzone is a more valuable franchise and Insomniac has proven they can pull off a good FPS, Guerilla hasn't.
2. Delay Lair until 2008. Unless they know something I haven't seen so far in the previews and videos, Lair looks like at best a low AA game, and thats being generous. The gameplay looks like all you do is fly around spamming fireballs. As one GS poster put it "It looks like 3D galaga with dragons". Plus that way they could a) time the release with MGS4 and FFXIII and b) add in some multiplayer, which Lair is screaming for.
3. Start charging for PSN. Make it cheap like 10 or 20 bucks a year, but its an easy source of money and after losing 2 billion they need it. Or keep PSN free but charge for Home, again they need the money.
4. Create Xbox like standards making it mandatory for all games to have an online component.
5. Start offering incentives for companies to make good ports/multiplats for the PS3. They have the advantage of Blu Ray, make sure they use it!
6. Find a good way to tie together the PS3 and PSP. A great way to do this would be to make a portable version of GT5 where you can play one career on both games, and just sync the two platforms whenever necessary.
7. Get GTA 5, FFXIII and beyond and MGS 4 and beyond locked up as PS3 exclusives, those 4 franchises alone can keep a company running.

[QUOTE="BioShockOwnz"]but once I see it start to tank, I am ebaying. :DTrueReligion_

Good luck with that. Sellers are practically giving PS3s away on eBay. :D 

I see them selling for $400 all the time, so that's good enough. :D

To dreamsvisions, there are 10 games that sold 1million, and to Sgt. Snitch, Perfect Dark sold 1 miilion copies as did DOA 4.

El_Fanboy

I could have sworn there were more than 10. let's see...

PD0
DoA4
Gears of War
Saint's Row
GRAW
GRAW 2
Rainbow 6: Vegas
Crackdown
Oblivion
Call of Duty 2
Lost Planet
Madden '07
Dead Rising

[QUOTE="SergeantSnitch"][QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

Javy03

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

Devs are gonna continue to support the PS3, its the only HD console that sells well in Japan. The Wii is too difficult to port games to and from the 360/PS3 so as long as devs wanna make money off of Japan from their HD games they will make games for the PS3. As for the PS3s sales, its selling fine and I hardly doubt that one month of NPDs sales focusing on part of one region will make devs not make games as the PS3 as it sells fine worldwide.

Well the main problem it it's not just doing bad in NA. It's also doing bad if not worse in Japan. Europe we have no idea how it's doing since there is no tracking of the entire region, but if it is selling well there it won't be enough to offset it's poor preformance in Japan and NA if Sony can't fix things in those regions.

[QUOTE="SergeantSnitch"][QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

Javy03

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

Devs are gonna continue to support the PS3, its the only HD console that sells well in Japan.  The Wii is too difficult to port games to and from the 360/PS3 so as long as devs wanna make money off of Japan from their HD games they will make games for the PS3.  As for the PS3s sales, its selling fine and I hardly doubt that one month of NPDs sales focusing on part of one region will make devs not make games as the PS3 as it sells fine worldwide. 

[QUOTE="DementedDragon"]Well if they'd release some good games maybe it would sell, just throwing that out there.SkyCastleDan

It really is up to Sony now. Hopefully, Lair gets the job done, but that game has some question marks and I don't know if it's a system seller. R&C, Heavenly Sword and Killzone 2 better live up to their hype or Sony's in a lot of trouble...

 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamen.... 

[QUOTE="El_Fanboy"]

To dreamsvisions, there are 10 games that sold 1million, and to Sgt. Snitch, Perfect Dark sold 1 miilion copies as did DOA 4.

Dreams-Visions

I could have sworn there were more than 10. let's see...

PD0
DoA4
Gears of War
Saint's Row
GRAW
GRAW 2
Rainbow 6: Vegas
Crackdown
Oblivion
Call of Duty 2
Lost Planet
Madden '07

...and maybe a couple others? PGR3? Call of Duty 3? Ultimate Alliance? Double Agent?

Dead Rising was another one. 

Devs are gonna continue to support the PS3, its the only HD console that sells well in Japan. The Wii is too difficult to port games to and from the 360/PS3 so as long as devs wanna make money off of Japan from their HD games they will make games for the PS3. As for the PS3s sales, its selling fine and I hardly doubt that one month of NPDs sales focusing on part of one region will make devs not make games as the PS3 as it sells fine worldwide.

Javy03

Javy, PS3 is an also-ran in Japan.  It's been decided.  Japanese publishers that want to make money on HD games will have to do so by publishing them in North America and Europe, and then they may as well go with Xbox 360.

Hell, Xbox 360 software has been selling better than PS3 software in Japan of late.

PS3 is not selling 'fine' or even close to it worldwide. 

i wont believe it until i see it. ps3 is getting exclusives announced daily. like now haze is coming exclusively to ps3 and ubisoft has announced they have another exclusive ps3 title in the works. ps3 simply is not selling right now because developers are not releasing enough games on the system. release the games and the gamers will come.InfamousC

fair, of course.  It's certainly easier to talk about pulling support than it is to take the step to actually do it.  but if the bottom-line is talking to them and the PS3 can't hit 100,000 units this month (which it won't...no games!), we might hear some interesting buzz going into E3.  buzz that won't excite PS3 fans. 

[QUOTE="SergeantSnitch"]
If I recall correctly, Call of Duty was the 360's first million seller game and it wasn't until August 2006 that it achieved this. Developers still made games for the 360 inspite of this.
Dreams-Visions

not sure about that, so I can't debate that point.  All I know is by October, 2006, the 360 had the following games at 1 million+:

CoD2
DoA4
GRAW
Saint's Row
Dead Rising
Madden '07
PD0

maybe one or 2 I'm forgetting.  but I can't debate your point on dates, because I have no idea. 

its the truth. it took 360 nine months to have a million seller game. ps3 did it in 4 months with resistance.

here is a list of 360s million sellers. it actually has 16..

 http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=&console=X360&publisher=&sort=Total

how is this premature? anyone in the know knows that the PS3 is bleeding like a stuck pig. check my post history, i've been saying this for months: if the PS3 doesn't start selling better 3rd party games will start to drop ;)

i've generally been pretty good at predicting console demise, i did with the sega saturn & dreamcast months before analysts came down on them.. trust me, PS3 = doom-ed. it may last up to 3-4 years max, but there is no way in hell -- and please quote me on this -- that PS3 will endure it's intended life cycle.

[QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="El_Fanboy"]

To dreamsvisions, there are 10 games that sold 1million, and to Sgt. Snitch, Perfect Dark sold 1 miilion copies as did DOA 4.

hellsing321

I could have sworn there were more than 10. let's see...

PD0
DoA4
Gears of War
Saint's Row
GRAW
GRAW 2
Rainbow 6: Vegas
Crackdown
Oblivion
Call of Duty 2
Lost Planet
Madden '07

...and maybe a couple others? PGR3? Call of Duty 3? Ultimate Alliance? Double Agent?

Dead Rising was another one.

...and soon enough:

Forza 2
Madden '08
Blue Dragon
Mass Effect

[QUOTE="Javy03"][QUOTE="SergeantSnitch"][QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

Eltroz

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

Devs are gonna continue to support the PS3, its the only HD console that sells well in Japan. The Wii is too difficult to port games to and from the 360/PS3 so as long as devs wanna make money off of Japan from their HD games they will make games for the PS3. As for the PS3s sales, its selling fine and I hardly doubt that one month of NPDs sales focusing on part of one region will make devs not make games as the PS3 as it sells fine worldwide.

Sales fluctuate, the week before this one they went up to 13K.  Also when Gundam Musou dropped the sales went up 108%.  Sales will go up and down and as games drop it will only help. 

[QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="SergeantSnitch"][QUOTE="Dreams-Visions"][QUOTE="-DarthVader-"]

Developers need to start releasing games and PS3's will sell.... i bought one there are no games other then resistance that i really wanna play.

 

 

InfamousC

not totally true. Of the 30 or so PS3 games out on the market today, only ONE GAME (Resistance) has eclipsed 1 million in copies sold worldwide (1.02 million last I saw). PS3 owners simply aren't buying games enough to make devs feel comfortable, and I don't blame them. One flop game this generation will put many dev houses out of business.

meanwhile, the 360 has like 15 million+ selling games.

not sure about that, so I can't debate that point. All I know is by October, 2006, the 360 had the following games at 1 million+:

CoD2
DoA4
GRAW
Saint's Row
Dead Rising
Madden '07
PD0

maybe one or 2 I'm forgetting. but I can't debate your point on dates, because I have no idea.

its the truth. it took 360 nine months to have a million seller game. ps3 did it in 4 months with resistance.

here is a list of 360s million sellers. it actually has 16..

http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=&console=X360&publisher=&sort=Total

thanks for the help. I knew it was more than 10. and are we sure it took 9 months for the 360? do we have a link to that as well? I just like clarity.

Now isn't later, I don't really see a trend, the only thing I see is that nothing worthwhile has been released on the playstation console for the past month or two. It's in a 'mini-drought'; what bothers me about these 'trumpets of doom' is that they completely ignore the future and what's to come for the system. Some of the games that defined the playstation franchise have yet to be released (DMC, GTA, GT, MGS, FF, etc.) in addition to an impressive line-up on Sony's part with their first party teams. If analysts are counting out the PS3 now, they're in for a treat.DementedDragon

Unfortunately, almost half of the games that you point to as "francise defining" games have made the multiplat jump...undoubtedly because of sales question marks. 

.joeblak

you win interwebz.  :lol: 

Sales fluctuate, the week before this one they went up to 13K. Also when Gundam Musou dropped the sales went up 108%. Sales will go up and down and as games drop it will only help.

Javy03

Even with the flucuations they are still much lower than anyone expected. The Wii is decimating the competition in Japan, and Sony has no big games to combat it for months in Japan.

i wont believe it until i see it. ps3 is getting exclusives announced daily. like now haze is coming exclusively to ps3 and ubisoft has announced they have another exclusive ps3 title in the works. ps3 simply is not selling right now because developers are not releasing enough games on the system. release the games and the gamers will come.InfamousC

wait a minute. weren't you and the rest of the cows saying that ubisoft were crap developers about a week ago? and now you're praising them for announcing one game exclusive to the ps3? are you cows schizophrenic or just brain-dead?