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One of Sony's biggest problems is the lack of an big IP with merchandising. Will it change with the PS5?

plow

plow

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,640
So i stumbled upon this Wikipedia article:

List of highest-grossing media franchises

And while of course not all of them are gaming franchises, the lack of a really big Sony IP ( apart from GT being last ) is apparent. And while of course Nintendo is the non plus ultra on, there are also the likes of Activision, Square Enix and even Microsoft doing a better Job at developing their IPs.

Now i know Sony has this thing of basically changing IPs every generation. This is clear when you look at Naughty Dog games.
But hasn't this basically prevented Sony from developing a really big IP?

It's not only games. It's Movies, Merch etc. Minecraft made more Money with Merchandise than with their Games

Will Sony be able to develop a long lasting IP? And which IP could it be? Uncharted? The Last Of Us? Horizon?


Just to be clear. TLOU, Horizon and God Of war are all amazing games, TLOU is probably one of my GOATs. Sony of course is doing fine without having a juggernaut IP. I just think it's an important part of a brand identity to have one.

EDIT:

I'm n ot arguing Sales! I'm not saying Sony hasn't developed any IPs that are selling well.
Perhaps i'm not able to express myself well (with my poor english). But i'm talking about more than games sold.

Pokemon is the biggest brand not because they sold so many games, but because of Licensed merchandise.
 
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Elephant

Elephant

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Nov 2, 2017
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They've got Spider-Man. Even the movies are Sony/Marvel.

I dunno, I feel like Mascot type games like Mario and Pokemon are more kid friendly and more likely to drive sales away from just video games. Perhaps the biggest chance they had was with LittleBigPlanet.

Their IP's are massive, but you're comparing them to cultural phenomenons. They don't have a problem.
 
Dinjooh

Dinjooh

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
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OG_Thrills said:
All due respect OP but this thread is really hard to decipher.
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I think it's quite simple. They don't have a brand that they're nurturing for a long time, akin to Minecraft, Halo or Mario. The longest running one as per OP is Gran Turismo, and that feels a bit left behind nowadays.

You could argue for God of War I suppose, but turning that into a 'mega-franchise' would require what.. TV-series spin-offs, merchandise, more frequent games? All sounds kinda mjeh tbh.

With that being said, I couldn't disagree more. I love that worldwide studios feels more like experimental projects, instead of these mega franchises.
 
The King beyond the wall

The King beyond the wall

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
977
I was under the impression that The Last of Us was sitting at over 17 million copies sold. A new IP with these numbers, as well as the fact of its incredible review scores, surely makes it a 'big' IP?
 
Jaxar

Jaxar

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Oct 25, 2017
2,048
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OP it might help if you define what you personally feel to be a "big IP", because you're going to get a ton of people disagreeing straight off the bat.
 
Jimnymebob

Jimnymebob

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Oct 26, 2017
19,575
You have to keep in mind that those are actual franchises.
TLoU was probably one of the best games of last gen, but that's all it was. The majority of those on that list have breakfast cereal, pencil cases, toys, movies etc.

The only two Sony things to ever get that sort of push were Crash and LBP. Maybe Ape Escape in Japan, too.
 
skeezx

skeezx

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Oct 27, 2017
20,120
well entertaining the notion they have "no big IP"....

i think they put selling consoles first and foremost over selling Kratos plushies or whatever. beyond that i don't think they're particularly seeking an "identity" with 1st party stuff
 
Omeganex9999

Omeganex9999

Member
Oct 25, 2017
765
London
As a gamer, I'm happy with modern Sony and I don't think things will change.

Activision, SE and so on need to have those massive franchises they can use to make money, whereas Sony just needs to attract people to their ecosystem to profit. I think in this situation we all win. We all buy PlayStation to play exclusive games because they are fresh (LBP) or experimental (concrete genie, Dreams) or just amazing cinematic single-player games (not even gonna bother) and why should that change?

Sony doesn't need their own Destiny or their own Call of Duty, they already have those.

I want them to release more experimental, double A stuff between those triple A games that take 5 - 7 years to make.
 

Deleted member 426

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Oct 25, 2017
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"With merchandising"

And OP is right. I think it's due to PlayStation's mainly mainstream appeal. Whereas Nintendo, Square Enix etc also have a massive 30s+ hardcore audience who are into tacky gamer tat.
 
OP
OP
plow

plow

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Oct 28, 2017
4,640
ActWan

ActWan

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Oct 27, 2017
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The PS4's success in 2016 was based on the fact that the hardware was good, and the software was good on top of that. But it doesn't really matter how good they are if there's no big IP. They can be a good platform for one game, but not for another. That's what it's about right now, with a lot of hardware that's coming in from Sony. Because they have the right to make a game.

We're still months off, yet Sony's games are becoming ever more complex.

I don't think they've really changed their position at all on that issue, really. I don't quite buy the argument that they were going to make this new game to be the standard for their next console and not get excited about that.
 
natestellar

natestellar

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Sep 16, 2018
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OG_Thrills said:
All due respect OP but this thread is really hard to decipher.
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First post is on the money again.

Sony are brimming with big IPs. Just because they are not milking these for annual/biennial release doesn't mean they don't exist.

If you're talking about franchises, then clue is in the Wikipedia article along the lines of 'year of inception'. Majority of them are relatively old compared to Sony IPs.
 
Nightengale

Nightengale

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Oct 26, 2017
5,708
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There's a sizable difference between "an area of weakness" vs "one of the biggest problems"

Could they do better to improve the franchise value of their IPs?
100%.
Should they do it?
Yes.

Is not doing it a big problem for them?
Probably not.
 
IIFloodyII

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
23,951
You don't need merchandise to be a big I.P, TLoU after 1 entry is already at around 20m units, that's more than a lot of big franchise's peak entries.
Sony have a lot of merch too an entire store dedicated to it even.
 
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ReplacementPelican

ReplacementPelican

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Oct 29, 2017
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I'm not sure I agree with the premise, I don't think when Sony are making first party IP they're really considering if they can make some The Last of Us trading cards or a line of Uncharted toys.

Their approach to these things is so completely different to what you're discussing and it's not really a problem when that's not what you're trying to achieve.
 
Wispmetas

Wispmetas

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Oct 27, 2017
6,546
Just because they don't sell tons of merchandising does not mean they don't have big IP's...

The whole premise of this thread is wrong to begin with, most of the IPs on that list have existed for almost 2 centuries or more now, you cant compare that.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

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Apr 16, 2018
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Huh... Spiderman?

Dinjooh said:
I think it's quite simple. They don't have a brand that they're nurturing for a long time, akin to Minecraft, Halo or Mario. The longest running one as per OP is Gran Turismo, and that feels a bit left behind nowadays.
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TLOU sold more than any Halo. They don't have books and other stuff, but I don't think it's that important.
 

Deleted member 10737

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they seem to want to start fresh more or less every generation, and only a handful of their IPs have been able to stay active for more than two generations. that's of course deliberate since the always want to present gamers with the newest thing, but the downside is not having many franchises which they can bank on people's nostalgia to sell merch.
 
monmagman

monmagman

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Dec 6, 2018
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One of the reasons I like Playstation is the fact they bring new IP.I'm already excited about what new stuff will come next gen.I'd rather them bring new games for their Playstation owners than worry about selling t-shirts and mugs.
 
OP
OP
plow

plow

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Oct 28, 2017
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Wispmetas said:
Just because they don't sell tons of merchandising does not mean they don't have big IP's...

The whole premise of this thread is wrong to begin with, most of the IPs on that list have existed for almost 2 centuries or more now, you cant compare that.
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So? Sony is in gaming for 2 centuries as well, how does this counter any of my points? It's not like Sony entered media business 5 years ago.

Gloam said:
Why is selling hats and keyrings important?
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heh

Pokémon : Video games – $17.138 billion
Licensed merchandise – $64.1 billion
 
Biteren

Biteren

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Oct 29, 2017
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i think the op is trying to say is that they want Sony to make a IP where can buy alot of merch from

kinda like how halo has like a billion figures or somthin

EDIT: i mean, i would like a gabe logan figure even tho it just be black ops army guy
 
Aztorian

Aztorian

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Jan 3, 2018
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If one of Sony's biggest problem is the lack of merchandise, they are far away from any real problem I guess.

To answer your question: Sony never had ip's that dragged through multiple gens with full force. Atleast not if you compare it to Nintendo's Super Mario. Ofcourse there are well known mascots like Ratchet, Sackboy and other Playstation characters, but none of them are iconic enough to be recognizable among Pac-Man and Mario. I think it has to do with the times gaming became more mainstream and Mario and Pac-Man becoming the figureheads for gaming.

That and the overal target audience. Fortnite and Minecraft are targeted mainly towards kids and their merchandise is too. Playstation is a very mature platform with a few exceptions of target audience.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

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Btw that wiki list is weird, Street Fighter is bigger than GTA?

Not saying that the list is wrong, but that it doesn't mean much.
 
MrConbon210

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Oct 31, 2017
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Rosebud said:
Huh... Spiderman?



TLOU sold more than any Halo. They don't have books and other stuff, but I don't think it's that important.
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OP isn't talking about actual sales of the games. They're talking about how Sony doesn't really have any franchises that have a large presence in the world outside of the games itself.

You can find Mario themed board games, t-shirts, toys, and things along those lines. Microsoft always has Halo stuff coming out like novels and the upcoming TV show. Sony rarely tries to broaden the brand outside of the games themselves.
 
Richter1887

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Magoo

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They seem to use the PS brand for merchandise rather than rely on characters.

You can find any old crap with that on.

TS-Play-Station-Watch-19-99-Flat-617-662.jpg

TS-Play-Station-Trophy-Glass-12-99-Hand-617-662.jpg

TS-Play-Station-Controller-Mug-12-99-617-662.jpg
 
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