Business As Concord flops, Sony exec says company doesn't have enough original IP


As Concord flops, Sony exec says company doesn't have enough original IP​

Ahead of Astro Bot's franchise celebration.

News by Victoria Kennedy News Reporter
Published on Sept. 5, 2024
130 comments
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PlayStation maker Sony doesn't have enough original franchises which it has "fostered from the beginning".
That's according to Sony chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki, who in the same week PlayStation announced it was pulling Concord from sale told the Financial Times: "We're lacking the early phase (of IP) and that's an issue for us."
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Concord - Launch Trailer I PS5 & PC Games. Watch on YouTube

Concord unceremoniously goes offline with an anticlimactic "error" message
Read more on Eurogamer.net
"One thing that you need is IP, that is step one," Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal added in the same article. "And if you don't start creating or buying in those that do, then the risk is someone else will do it. So the risk is not doing anything."
Totoki was referring to Sony generally, with films and anime also a consideration along with the company's gaming sector. The exec went on to say Sony is typically better at finding an audience for content that's already become popular in its home market.
However, his words do draw attention to that aforementioned Concord shut down. The game was available for less than two weeks, before the company decided it needed to reevaluate its new franchise's place on the market.
In a post earlier this week, Sony and developer Firewalk said Concord would be taken offline indefinitely, so the team could "determine the best path ahead" and "explore options, including those that will better reach our players".
At the same time, PlayStation is about to release one of its most anticipated games of the year: Astro Bot.
This game itself is an homage to the company's franchise history, and laced with nostalgia. Bots from Sony's games such as The Last of Us' Ellie and Joel, Uncharted's Nathan Drake, Horizon's Aloy, and Crash Bandicoot are all confirmed to be included in the forthcoming platformer.
 
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George Lucas said:
The problem is that kids don’t care about computers or consoles or even TVs anymore. All they care about are tablets and phones. And they don’t even like playing the games. They just watch spergs like Ninja stream and make funny noises.

It’s been this way for years already and the hardcore gamers are aging out (or just playing old games that actually work). The chickens are coming home to roost.
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They should make a video game where all you do is watch your favorite streamers!
 
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People have been BEGGING for more Bloodborne, a sequel, a remake, a PC port, anything. But instead of listening to the customers they go and make DEI slop no one asked for. You don't need more IPs, you just need to give people what they want. Concord was a new IP that fell hard on its face but I assure you anything to do with Bloodborne would sell like crazy even though it's an old IP.
 
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Xanax and Wine said:
People have been BEGGING for more Bloodborne, a sequel, a remake, a PC port, anything. But instead of listening to the customers they go and make DEI slop no one asked for. You don't need more IPs, you just need to give people what they want. Concord was a new IP that fell hard on its face but I assure you anything to do with Bloodborne would sell like crazy even though it's an old IP.
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At this point, I'm convinced it's like Nomura's obsession with zippers and belts. The more you mention it or complain, the more they do the thing you complain about. In Nomura's case, it's just putting more belts and zippers on characters. In Sony's, it's wasting money on anything but a Bloodborne PC port. One of these results in less wasted money.
 
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PunkinMan said:
I laughed pretty hard at one of the replies to the top comment on the article.
View attachment 6392017

Erm. Acktually 🤓 they don't have any ips that are s-tier omega super rare ultra 😬so uhmmm sweetie he probably means he just needs more money 💅
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He's not entirely wrong. Sony does have a lot of IPs but they most likely aren't about to be the next big thing, especially not the next big e-sports thing.

Hell even if they do stumble backwards into something big they immediately try to kill it for an extra 5% profits for the quarter. Just look at the Helldivers 2 debacle.

Sony really peaked with the PS2, even IP I could think of that I'd like Sony to bring back are all PS2 era stuff the abandoned.
 
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Ravana said:
Gravity Rush was a good original IP
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And that was entirely thanks to Keiichiro Toyama creator of Silent Hill, SIREN, and that IP, whoever at Japan Studio worked with him which was on an abandoned system called the PS Vita. Needless to say I think Sony should come back to the East and work with Nips like they used to, Western developers are stagnant. Fuck the Koreans and Chinks too tho, Stellar Blade was boring as Hell. All the Jap exclusives have been pretty dogshit too since most of them are only just collab timed exclusives, literally the one mostly Jap game published by Sony that I note as being unique or interesting was Death Stranding, and that didn't even maintain Sony's grasp and is on Xbox and pc now.


How many children do niggas have to sacrifice so we get another inFAMOUS entry?
 
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Xanax and Wine said:
People have been BEGGING for more Bloodborne, a sequel, a remake, a PC port, anything. But instead of listening to the customers they go and make DEI slop no one asked for. You don't need more IPs, you just need to give people what they want. Concord was a new IP that fell hard on its face but I assure you anything to do with Bloodborne would sell like crazy even though it's an old IP.
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It seems pretty likely they're working on it. They'll probably do a PS5 remaster of Bloodborne by the same studio that did Demon Souls, then release Bloodborne 2 a year or two after that. I suspect there's a reason they never released a 60 FPS patch.

On the other hand, it's equally likely they didn't want to negotiate with FromSoftware and instead came up with their "own IP" and invested a shitton of money in it. Hence Concord.
 
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PunkinMan said:
I laughed pretty hard at one of the replies to the top comment on the article.
View attachment 6392017

Erm. Acktually 🤓 they don't have any ips that are s-tier omega super rare ultra 😬so uhmmm sweetie he probably means he just needs more money 💅
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Sheikah. Nintendrone. It figures.

The fact that they barely gave Concord a chance says a lot. I wonder if they knew they had a turkey on their hands and were just hoping enough bored people would play long enough to score some of the money back.
 
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Daily Happenings said:
It seems pretty likely they're working on it. They'll probably do a PS5 remaster of Bloodborne by the same studio that did Demon Souls, then release Bloodborne 2 a year or two after that. I suspect there's a reason they never released a 60 FPS patch.

On the other hand, it's equally likely they didn't want to negotiate with FromSoftware and instead came up with their "own IP" and invested a shitton of money in it. Hence Concord.
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I think the biggest issue has to do with how small the customer base of 'PS5 owners' is.

A promise of a legit BB sequel developed by FromSoft and at least overseen/produced by Miyazaki is one way to get me to bite the bullet and purchase a console I'll never play (the meme of the PS4 years ago just being a "Bloodborne machine").

A 60fps port of the original to PS5 coinciding with a teaser trailer promising a sequel could definitely help build that user base up ahead of time. Elden Ring certainly gave FromSoft a mass market appeal they didnt have prior.

That said, I hope they don't. I'd rather save ~$1000 for a new guitar than an already DOA electronic paperweight, plus 3 games (BB remaster, BB2 and Demon Souls remaster, since I never got to play that one)
 
It's about Sony in general rather than just gaming. Their movie studio is heavily depend on ips created by other such as Spider-Man, and ips that are long in the tooth such as Ghostbusters and Bad Boys.

Gaming wise Sony does need more new ips, but also need to better mange many of their old classics ip, maybe not in giving them new games, but to make sure they are on modern platforms PC/PS5.
 
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YouGuysAren'tThatSmart said:
They should make a video game where all you do is watch your favorite streamers!
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Surprised none of the big studios and publishers have tried to take the budget of one Triple-A game and use it to make a number of streamer bait games. Among Us and Lethal Company should show the idea has merit.
 
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They got fooled by free money and promises of "the modern audience" but a loss of >200M on a single game will get them in trouble with the shareholders and investment banks that want a return on their money as actual profit and not just twitter-likes.
Sony is soul-less and have no commitment to any cause, other than making money.
Sony did not do this because of ideology. They were simply told that "you will make more money by pandering to the modern audience" and they believed it. That is all why they did this. They thought this would make them more money. But now they have proof that that promise was false.

Be sure that sony will turn hard away from esg and "all gamers are nazis" and instead make games that gamers want.
If not this board of directors, then the board of directors that the major investors will put in place to stop the bleeding and start making money, a.k.a. create a product that market wants.
 
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