I've been thinking about this lately, and it's pretty clear we are at a point where all 3 console makers need to create some new franchises, with various degrees of "need" between them. Of the 3, Nintendo is easily the worst offender, and Sony the one that has at least been trying new things the most, with Microsoft in a middle ground of sometimes trying, most times not succeeding. Let's take a look at all 3 and what franchises they currently have:
NINTENDO
Mario, Metroid, Zelda... that's nintendo in a nutshell. You could argue that Kirby, Pikmin or Starfox are big franchises, but all are old as well. Like I said, Nintendo is by far the biggest offender on this. And the problem is, I don't see them either giving a shit, or trying to come up with new things (I don't care how much Wii sports or Wii fit sell, I don't include them with my Nintendo games).
MICROSOFT
Halo and Gears mainly, with Halo reaching saturation point very soon (if it didn't already) and Gears finishing up the trilogy next year. Bottom tier you would have Fable, which I love, but is on it's way to it's third game. Alan Wake is a solid first title in what I hope becomes a franchise, but there has been no indications of that (hopefully it sells nicely). Crackdown is not a franchise. Splinter Cell is not only old (both the character and the series), but its exclusivity is a bit sketchy to be fair. Also, its amazing how much MS drops the ball on exclusives all the time... how the hell isn't Epic just a MS studio? Bulletstorm could have been the next big thing for Microsoft, but published by EA, it's "just" another FPS.
SONY
Final Fantasy, at least for now, isn't a sony franchise anymore. Same for GTA. God Of War just wrapped up it's trilogy, and whatever comes next won't be the same. Gran Turismo is huge (even if I don't care for simulation racing) but it's on its way to it's 5th game. But like I said in the beginning, Sony is by far the one trying to get new stuff out there. Resistance probably has a third game announced soon, ditto for Killzone, Little Big Planet was a franchise from the first game, Infamous (yay) hopefully becomes a franchise. And of course, Uncharted has become huge for Sony, and will get a third game for sure. Ratchet is DONE (no matter how much I love them). But even with this new stuff, we know nothing of any NEW game coming to the PS3, but hopefully that's what E3 is for.
So what do you think? Will companies try to create more new franchises, or leave that to third parties, and continue to milk what they know sells.
Do Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo need new franchises?
" Microsoft does. Nintendo has already too many franchises, and too many new ones this generation. What they need to do is go back and use those franchises. "too many new ones this generation? what?...
...I'm sorry, but its AMAZING how red-tagged people on these forums live up to expectations. How the fuck can you say that Nintendo has a lot of new franchises this generation?
Console exclusive franchises sell consoles and i guess they are needed but multiplatform is where the real money is and thus what i support personally.
I'd love to see a cool new Nintendo franchise that lives in the mario universe. A fun game on his own, sure, but if the character was able to transfer over to Mario Party and Super Smash Bros, it could mix up those games a decent amount, too I think.Of course, let's focus on it's main franchise first and foremost :b
" @Willy105 said:" Microsoft does. Nintendo has already too many franchises, and too many new ones this generation. What they need to do is go back and use those franchises. "too many new ones this generation? what?... ...I'm sorry, but its AMAZING how red-tagged people on these forums live up to expectations. How the fuck can you say that Nintendo has a lot of new franchises this generation? "
Just because they are not on the Wii doesn't mean they exist. There is another console made by Nintendo out there called the DS. Did you ever hear about it?
I would say that the Nintendo needs it the most with the 360 behind it. Nintendo does have some pretty neat and interesting games however they never sell nearly enough to be considered for a sequel especially when Nintendo won't invest the money to market them. Through all of their systems Nintendo has a wide variety of games the only problem is that the only ones to stand out are Zelda, Mario, and Metroid. They play it safe and constantly invest in those games and it pays off for them, but the majority of the people playing the newer Mario games and what not are not the same kids who were playing Super Mario Bros or Super Mario 64. So they don't know how old Mario actually is.
XBOX 360 really does not have that many franchises. HALO and Gears and that's about it. They are doing the same thing as Nintendo. They create a few good games such as Alan Wake, and they don't spend enough money marketing it and then it doesn't exceed sales expectations so they go back to HALO and Gears. I love HALO and Gears, but it's getting old. HALO 2 was the pinnacle of HALO, after that they just tried to do too many things and it kind of ruined the experience. The same thing is happening with Gears. Gears is a fairly new franchise however it feels like it's so old because it's been out since launch and the settings and what not are always the same.
PS3 is set. They have Final Fantasy, which is a very old franchise, but every iteration is refreshing since it's always a new cast of characters. They have Uncharted, Killzone, LBP, and many others. PS3 constantly has inventive games made for it. Nintendo and XBOX for the most part just took their old franchises with them and geared them for next gen while PS3 for the most part created new ones or they seemed new like KZ2.
Well, when Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games stop selling, maybe Nintendo will come up with something new.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii is still the top selling game right now and New Super Mario Bros. for the DS is routinely among the top selling games for the DS...and it's 4 years old!
It's like saying McDonalds should stop selling the Big Mac because it's old and tired and they need to move on and be "innovative". Why? They're interested in making money. Mario makes money.
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