Sony neglecting their franchises.

[BrawlMan]

I never liked Ape Escape personally and saw it as niche genre, even as a kid. As much as I enjoyed Parappa the Rapper back in the 90s, there are so many rhythm games that have out shined it as soon as the early life of the PS2 began. A reboot would be almost pointless. It's pretty much a meme game now. Now a new game could work, but Sony would have to temper and have reasonable expectations. They have to know they're not gonna make super awesome, gangbusters type money. Syphon Filter, I definitely would not mind, but it would have to be a reboot of the series. Like @Casual Shinji said, stealth has been integrated to like 90% of shooters at this point, so there would be nothing to stand out from the crowd. The last Twisted Metal game was in 2012 on PS3. Too bad the story mode was garbage. They would have to just reset the continuity again in order to justify making another one. Regardless, I would not mind another TW to fill in the vehicle combat genre. I hated Gravity Rush 2, and don't see much point in making 3, unless they get the original director back.

Look at the last four years. Pathetic. They brought us Demon's Souls, Ico, Ape Escape, Shadow of the Colossus, Gravity Rush, Bloodborne. And now Sony has just forsaken them for more and more of the same western crap.

You can turn down the melodrama. You have your points, but I am not falling in to despair so easily. Like I said to you before, at some point, fatigue and over saturation is going to set in. And then Sony will have to realize to rely not only on their Western stuff. Until then, they got plenty of Japanese third party support to keep me company.

 

[Hawki]

Stealth has become engrained in pretty much every third-person action game in the last 10 years. So it's competition is, like, 80% of current games where you wield a gun or a sword.

Such as? Because action adventure seems imnical to stealth. That's not to say such a game can't have stealth sections in it, or taking a stealthy approach isn't a valid strategy, but that's different from a stealth game.

 

[Yoshi]

Because games are expensive to make. Games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and God of War '18 already cost between 40 to 50 million, and if you want a substantial Ape Escape with the same level of shine as a Mario Odyssey you're looking at a budget of 10 million at least.

Sunshine's better than Mario Odyssey.

and Platinum Games only needed $50,000.00 USD on their Kickstarter for them to be able to justify bringing back a Switch Port of the Wonderful 101. Platinum didn't only reach that kickstarter goal, they blew it out of the park and raised like $2.25million USD on that kickstarter so now we're not only getting a remaster, but 2 story DLC, a remixed soundtrack made in conjunction with the Tekken and Kingdom Hearts composers and we're even getting orchestrated re-recordings of a couple of the most iconic songs from the game, plus all the backer rewards.


Sony could do a kickstarter for stuff like Ape Escape and see how the kickstarter performs. who knows? they might even blow away their own expectations like Platinum did.

 

[Dreiko]

I never liked Ape Escape personally and saw it as niche genre, even as a kid. As much as I enjoyed Parappa the Rapper back in the 90s, there are so many rhythm games that have out shined it as soon as the early life of the PS2 began. A reboot would be almost pointless. It's pretty much a meme game now. Now a new game could work, but Sony would have to temper and have reasonable expectations. They have to know they're not gonna make super awesome, gangbusters type money. Syphon Filter, I definitely would not mind, but it would have to be a reboot of the series. Like @Casual Shinji said, stealth has been integrated to like 90% of shooters at this point, so there would be nothing to stand out from the crowd. The last Twisted Metal game was in 2012 on PS3. Too bad the story mode was garbage. They would have to just reset the continuity again in order to justify making another one. Regardless, I would not mind another TW to fill in the vehicle combat genre. I hated Gravity Rush 2, and don't see much point in making 3, unless they get the original director back.

Yeah I never cared much about Ape Escape either, I remember seeing it in gaming magazines a bunch (remember those? XD) but it never did my thing. It looked like a bad take on Crash.


There's better franchises to reboot lol. (like my aforementioned Legend of Dragoon!!!!)

 

[Ezekiel]

You can turn down the melodrama. You have your points, but I am not falling in to despair so easily. Like I said to you before, at some point, fatigue and over saturation is going to set in. And then Sony will have to realize to rely only on their Western stuff. Until then, they got plenty of Japanese third party support to keep me company.

They don't, though. I mean, if you have no other platforms, sure. But third party Japanese exclusives? Not many. I don't see fatigue setting in anytime soon. The new God of War, Last of Them, Horizon, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima are continually the types of games PlayStation gamers gravitate to and talk about. No, I see Sony doubling down even more before they would even consider making simpler, purer games at the same frequency again. Personally, I thought Resident Evil 2 smoked The Last of Us. It has level design and exploration you would never see in a western Sony game.

 

[BrawlMan]

They don't, though. I mean, if you have no other platforms, sure. But third party Japanese exclusives? Not many.

They do. You just have to keep looking. And I mean for the PS4 and Switch. Eventually the PS5 will have those Japanese 3rd party exclusives too.

Personally, I thought Resident Evil 2 smoked The Last of Us. It has level design and exploration you would never see in a western Sony game.

Most RE games are better than TLofUs. That's a fact of life.

The new God of War, Last of Them, Horizon, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima are continually the types of games PlayStation gamers gravitate to and talk about. No, I see Sony doubling down even more before they would even consider making simpler, purer games at the same frequency again.

Once again, sooner or later, burn out and oversaturation will occur whether Sony wants it or not. People will start recognizing the problem at some point. Let's say if I hated everyone one of the games you listed, I would still take them over the majority of Microsoft (lack of) first party titles.All they bother with is Halo, Gears, and some oddball title every now and then. They own Ninja Theory, but their gonna screw them over eventually.

 

[Yoshi]

Yeah I never cared much about Ape Escape either, I remember seeing it in gaming magazines a bunch (remember those? XD) but it never did my thing. It looked like a bad take on Crash.


There's better franchises to reboot lol. (like my aforementioned Legend of Dragoon!!!!)

literally the only thing i cared about in any of the Legend of Dragoon Remastered trailers was that Samus is in the Switch version of it.

 

[Worgen]

Those have nothing to do with Microsoft tho. Then again, not really sure why Shadowrun is counted as a Microsoft ip to begin with, since the p&p rpg was already around since about a decade before the Xbox was even conceived of. Yeah, Microsoft published one game based on it. But I mean, by that reasoning Spider-Man is now a Sony ip. Someone better tell Disney.

Well, I think Microsoft owns the IP, at least it did before. Microsoft bought out FASA awhile back and so it owned the IP for Battletech and Shadowrun, although I think I heard that the creators bought back the IP for those, but I'm not sure. It kind of sounds like Microsoft still owns the IP and has just licensed them out.

 

[CriticalGaming]

You don't see a new Ape Escape game selling enough to justify the cost of making it?

Not at all.

Many franchises live or die based on sales. But there are other factors, for example IP's are bought and sold to other companies, or the developers get disbanded or closed up, or there simply isn't enough public demand for more games in the IP.

ApeEscape's late game was a Playstation Move game that bombed, probably due to the control scheme, but I'm sure there were other factors. Sometimes the IP's audience grows up and stops caring about that IP anymore.

Additionally you'll notice that gaming in general has grown up in one particular way. Ape escape was about running around catching monkey's with a net, and you simply do not see silly concepts like that getting their own games anymore. When was the last time a AAA-game company made something that was purposefully a childish and silly premise? (that wasn't Nintendo and even that's debatable because Nintendo games are straight forward but rarely outright silly and dumb).

 

[Chimpzy]

Well, I think Microsoft owns the IP, at least it did before. Microsoft bought out FASA awhile back and so it owned the IP for Battletech and Shadowrun, although I think I heard that the creators bought back the IP for those, but I'm not sure. It kind of sounds like Microsoft still owns the IP and has just licensed them out.

As far as I can tell, Microsoft only owned the rights to any video game adaptations of Shadowrun/Battletech, probably obtained through the buyout of FASA Interactive, the game dev subsidiary of FASA, who still owned the actual IPs (tho later sold those to Wizkids, where they remain to this dau). So kind of a Spider-Man situation, where Disney owns the IP, but Sony has the movie adaptation rights. Afaik the only FASA-related IP Microsoft wholly owns is Crimson Skies, because that was created by FASA Interactive after the buyout, so wonership defaulted to Microsoft.

You are partially right tho. Microsoft still retains the video game rights to those IPs, which they have indeed licensed out to Harebrained Schemes, which was founded by one of the founders of FASA


Ugh, all this rights and properties stuff is so needlessly convoluted. But I guess that's intentional.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Such as? Because action adventure seems imnical to stealth. That's not to say such a game can't have stealth sections in it, or taking a stealthy approach isn't a valid strategy, but that's different from a stealth game.

Assassin's Creed
Far Cry
Wolfenstein
The Last of Us
Batman: Arkham
Ghost of Tsushima
Sekiro
Skyrim
Fallout 4
Days Gone
Dishonored

And there's probably a lot more. Stealth has ceased to be a genre and has become more a feature in most action games, like a jump button. A Syphon Filter game would have to bring something different to the table, because it wouldn't be able to sell itself on just stealth, that shit's everywhere.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Personally, I thought Resident Evil 2 smoked The Last of Us. It has level design and exploration you would never see in a western Sony game.

Or in any japanese Sony game, or any Capcom game. RE2 Remake isn't exactly indicative of Japanse game design, since Capcom hasn't made a Resident Evil game like that in the last 15 years or so. If you're kind you could count RE7, but that's only if. Ironically there have probably been more western first-person indie horror games about exploring a spooky mansion or something-or-other than there have been Japanese.

And The Last of Us and RE2 Remake aren't really that comparable, since they're pretty different types of games. One's a straight-up stealth action game, the other is more about effecient item and threat management.

 

[sXeth]

Assassin's Creed
Far Cry
Wolfenstein
The Last of Us
Batman: Arkham
Ghost of Tsushima
Sekiro
Skyrim
Fallout 4
Days Gone
Dishonored

And there's probably a lot more. Stealth has ceased to be a genre and has become more a feature in most action games, like a jump button. A Syphon Filter game would have to bring something different to the table, because it wouldn't be able to sell itself on just stealth, that shit's everywhere.

Out of that whole set (and with the obvious who knoiws on Sushi Ghost), only Dishonored and Arkham tended to have full fledged stealth gameplay (very hit and miss in the ACs for argument sake)


Yes, you can "sneak" in most of those games, but the design and mechanics you'd expect to find in a game based on stealth are generally non-present.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Out of that whole set (and with the obvious who knoiws on Sushi Ghost), only Dishonored and Arkham tended to have full fledged stealth gameplay (very hit and miss in the ACs for argument sake)


Yes, you can "sneak" in most of those games, but the design and mechanics you'd expect to find in a game based on stealth are generally non-present.

Like what? Vision cones? Alert meters?

 

[CastletonSnob]

Not at all.

Many franchises live or die based on sales. But there are other factors, for example IP's are bought and sold to other companies, or the developers get disbanded or closed up, or there simply isn't enough public demand for more games in the IP.

ApeEscape's late game was a Playstation Move game that bombed, probably due to the control scheme, but I'm sure there were other factors. Sometimes the IP's audience grows up and stops caring about that IP anymore.

Additionally you'll notice that gaming in general has grown up in one particular way. Ape escape was about running around catching monkey's with a net, and you simply do not see silly concepts like that getting their own games anymore. When was the last time a AAA-game company made something that was purposefully a childish and silly premise? (that wasn't Nintendo and even that's debatable because Nintendo games are straight forward but rarely outright silly and dumb).

Video games have grown up and become more serious and mature. Quirky or silly games like Ape Escape or Parappa just don't sell anymore on the AAA market.

I don't see why we can't have serious games AND silly games.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Video games have grown up and become more serious and mature. Quirky or silly games like Ape Escape or Parappa just don't sell anymore on the AAA market.

I don't see why we can't have serious games AND silly games.

Because they don't sell like they used too, and they are too expensive to make. So why waste the effort for stuff nobody is going to buy?

People used to buy games for their kids like Ape escape and whatever. Now kids are playing fortnite and minecraft. The world viewpoint has shifted and those goofy games just don't work in the market anymore. If anything a lot of that stuff has moved to mobile and added the extra bonus of predatory monetization.

 

[Houseman]

Quirky or silly games like Ape Escape or Parappa just don't sell anymore on the AAA market.

We need a dark and gritty M-rated Ape Escape filled with sex and violence. Spike grows up and becomes an alcoholic with a troubled past and has PTSD attacks whenever he hears a siren or sees a red flashing light. He hunts monkeys... with a gun.

 

[votemarvel]

Sunshine's better than Mario Odyssey.

and Platinum Games only needed $50,000.00 USD on their Kickstarter for them to be able to justify bringing back a Switch Port of the Wonderful 101. Platinum didn't only reach that kickstarter goal, they blew it out of the park and raised like $2.25million USD on that kickstarter so now we're not only getting a remaster, but 2 story DLC, a remixed soundtrack made in conjunction with the Tekken and Kingdom Hearts composers and we're even getting orchestrated re-recordings of a couple of the most iconic songs from the game, plus all the backer rewards.


Sony could do a kickstarter for stuff like Ape Escape and see how the kickstarter performs. who knows? they might even blow away their own expectations like Platinum did.

Quite often they are not there for the actual cash but to gauge interest in the project, that way they can show that to outside investors who will put up the money to actually complete the project.

$50,000 wouldn't even have been enough for Platinum Games to pay their employees for a month, let alone other development costs.

 

[BrawlMan]

Because they don't sell like they used too, and they are too expensive to make. So why waste the effort for stuff nobody is going to buy?

They could possibly do it, but they would have to temper expectations. You can have serious and silly in the AAA space, it's just nearly everyone in the industry is up their own ass to not bother doing it. That partially goes for the consumer side as well. Just because your "serious", does not net instant success. Look at all the games that tried to be "serious", "dark", "mature", and "edgy" during the era of 360/PS3. You have all of these games that tried copying Gears or COD, with most of them stuck in the era they began, only to die there. Thankfully, you have developers/publishers in the AA (whosoever is left in that field), the smaller, and indie studios picking up the slack. Nintedo is one of the few AAA people that even try anymore. They usually know how to strike that good balance of good silly/goofy and serious. Capcom too for that matter. It can be done; people are just pussies about it.

Now kids are playing fortnite and minecraft.

1. Minecraft has many silly moments depending on what the end user creates. It was game meant for anyone to be creative. Kids just happen latch on to it when it got to 2012/13.
2. Fortnite was never meant for kids. The only reason they play it because of the color and art style, their friends are playing it, or some YTber who has his/her channel dedicated to playing nothing, but this one game. Because most of these kids sure as hell ain't playing tit for the gameplay. It's just another fad game. At some point, some other game will take Fortnite's place.
3. Fortnite has plenty of silly moments in the multiplayer. Have you seen all of those emotes and the way Epic advertises their game? If those kids or adults play the game, and take it that seriously, then they are definitely oblivious, majorly insecure, and lack little to no self awareness.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Japan Studio - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Look at the last four years. Pathetic. They brought us Demon's Souls, Ico, Ape Escape, Shadow of the Colossus, Gravity Rush, Bloodborne. And now Sony has just forsaken them for more and more of the same western crap.

The Puppeteer was also excellent. But yeah, there really hasn’t been much of substance lately. The irony being that as flashy as these Western games are, most don’t have much lasting appeal. Most often the games are one play through and people are already wondering where a sequel is. That’s the nature of story-driven design taking precedence over gameplay.