Analysts: Sony Made Money on Welcome Back Program

[boag]

The other problem is that physical retailers - as opposed to digital marketplaces - will likely frown on offering product for free that they can typically charge rental or used prices.

Good, Gamestop can go Fuck itself.

 

[viranimus]

Awww.. really? You mean the publicity stunt duped people into generating money for their benevolent benefactors? /eyeroll


Oh the hypocrisy.

Having your network breached is hardly the kind of publicity stunt you'd want if you are looking towards marketing your future products as superior.


Although I agree that their "free games" (which were in all likelihood not generating sales) was clearly a ploy to get people to purchase the more expensive sequels.

Actually, I was talking about the welcome back program being the publicity stunt. However there is the argument out there that claims Sony manufactured the whole Hack as a way to generate public support against piracy as it related to their retreat at the battle of Geohotz, but that is another story for another thread.

 

[Wolfram23]

I'm surprised that worked for Infamous. That game sucks.

 

[Sartan0]

Accidental? I highly doubt there was anything accidental about the two main welcome back titles being games with new sequels.

Exactly. That is why some were more then a bit upset with Sony constantly trying to wheedle people after it left their data swinging in the wind until November. (Points if you get the reference at the end of my previous sentence.)

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Me and a lot of other people here called it: it was mainly a marketing stunt to promote these upcoming titles. I guess it really paid off better than could be expected.

Good for you, Sony.

 

[dashiz94]

Come on Greg, you can't be THAT naive. It was an obvious marketing ploy. Give gamers two celebrated games while their sequels are just a month or so away so that when they finish it in time for the release they'll want more. It's a brilliant tactic.

And underhanded.

That's why I didn't buy either inFamous 2 or LBP 2, because such business practices tick me off (and general lack of interest as well.)

 

[Mad1Cow]

Analysts...the only people that will point out the sky is blue and expect others to be shocked [rolls eyes]

 

[SoopaSte123]

I enjoyed getting LittleBigPlanet for free. I also enjoyed the free 1-hour full-game demos I get for free through Playstation+ (I bought Red Faction: Guerrilla because I enjoyed my hour so much, even though the RF:G demo didn't persuade me enough).

That said, it felt a little sleazy of them to only give away games that had sequels (and give away such a limited selection). It was obvious they were going to use their apology games to try to rake in more profits, but I guess a free game is a free game. I certainly wasn't going to pay money for LittleBigPlanet or Wipeout.

 

[Greg Tito]

Come on Greg, you can't be THAT naive. It was an obvious marketing ploy. Give gamers two celebrated games while their sequels are just a month or so away so that when they finish it in time for the release they'll want more. It's a brilliant tactic.

And underhanded.

That's why I didn't buy either inFamous 2 or LBP 2, because such business practices tick me off (and general lack of interest as well.)

I think the significant thing here is that it worked for a large enough number of people that it's something that other publishers should consider. With the data available, the reward outweighs the risk.

Offering free games is certainly a shrewd business move then, but I'd hardly call it underhanded.

Greg

 

[Beautiful End]

I'm gonna go ahead and say it too: We saw it coming.

In my case, I was debating between getting LBP, InFamous and Dead Nation. I decided to skip Dead Nation but I'm still tempted to buy it anyway. Also, I was just anxious for the store to open up so I could buy more DLC for my other games.
What I figured would happen is that people were gonna start buying DLC, especially for LBP. So either way, Sony would see a great profit.

Edit: Oh, and the truth is that those of us who love games like LBP and InFamous will keep their PS3 despite the hack. Therefore, we will continue buying stuff from the PSN store.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

Captain Obious... AWAY!!!
(i do that too much)
I found the'r money-making scheme particullary obvious with that of inFamous, with a sequel literally round the corner, i say that they did well on that.
And people who got inFamous 2 for that very reason shouldn't feel cheated.
Both are bloody good games.
Although i feel cheated for downloading two games i didn't really want because i had already bought the good ones...
They could have given out Resistance 2 at least...

Oh and inFamous 2 is frikin' awsome.

 

[AbstractStream]

Oh plese, this was obviously their plan from the beginning.

I found the'r money-making scheme particullary obvious with that of inFamous, with a sequel literally round the corner, i say that they did well on that.

Exactly.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

Not all marketing is evil people. Yes it was marketing, you'd have to be an idiot not to see that, but if you got a free game and decided that you liked it enough to buy it's sequel where exactly did things go wrong? We had a choice of games, and no one forced us to buy anything we didn't want. The only other alternative was them giving us NOTHING. I'm sure the gaming community would have loved that.

Shame on Sony for giving people free things and introducing them to new and likable products.

 

[BrotherRool]

The one thing about digital distribution is that it encourages price flexibility, I'm hoping it will really begin to strengthen the trend now. Especially since every major game is a sequel, it wouldn't be the best way to combat used games but it would offer a nice alternative for people who don't spend much money but want to pay the developer.

And yes I thought everyone was aware that the games were chosen carefully. Sony felt they needed to give us free games, I'm fine if they selected the games so that it didn't cost them so much. Sony going bust is of no profit to me and it's not like they were forcing people to buy InFamous 2 (which was a great game, and as Yahtzee has said, deserves more publicity)

 

[dashiz94]

Come on Greg, you can't be THAT naive. It was an obvious marketing ploy. Give gamers two celebrated games while their sequels are just a month or so away so that when they finish it in time for the release they'll want more. It's a brilliant tactic.

And underhanded.

That's why I didn't buy either inFamous 2 or LBP 2, because such business practices tick me off (and general lack of interest as well.)

I think the significant thing here is that it worked for a large enough number of people that it's something that other publishers should consider. With the data available, the reward outweighs the risk.

Offering free games is certainly a shrewd business move then, but I'd hardly call it underhanded.

Greg

All of that is quite tru, regarding how other publishers can do this to up their sales. MY problem is the way Sony went about it. The episode on the PSN hack by Extra Credits does an excellent job of explaining my point.

Sincerely,
Ian

 

[dimensional]

Result! I like their way of thinking, offer me free older games in the hope I buy their newer one hahahaha I mean yes of course I will now hand over the free games please.