Sonic as ps exclusive

[RCBH928]

did any one think of this?
I certainly do

Sonic is one of the most loved characters in the gaming world, and since sega stopped console production, he lost so much of his character being multiplatform.

These characters need to be a mascot of something to have a loyal following(watch mario) , People are still buying nintendo to play mario, zelda, metroid. These mascots need to be loyal to some company.

Then you will say, why ps and not 360.
This is how I see it. The PS has been there longer than xbox, add to that it has a cult following, exactly what sonic needs. Having Sonic as exclusive I think would turn more attention. I think platformers always scored higher sales as exclusives(LBP), and it would focus the spotlight on it.

Add to that, PS is doing bad and it is looking for help and support from any where, ps owners do not have much to play or pay attention to, while 360 fans are paying close attention to block buster titles like gears, fable, and non-stop online gaming.

I bet sonic as ps exclusive would grow his loyal fan base, and there are at leasat 15 million people with ps3's ....I think he can easily sell a million to them if the game is right

[Niode]

I see where you are coming from, but from a business perspective Sega would probably want quite a bit of money to be platform exclusive (bearing in mind that they will lose revenue purely because it won't sell to the widest audience). That is the way platform exclusive content works today. The console manufacturer wants a particular game/feature to be platform exclusive, a killer app if you will. They have to pay big bucks to ensure that that particular game stays on that console for a set amount of time. Take for example the DLC content for GTAIV Microsoft paid big moolah for the rights to that particular nugget.

Now the other side of this problem is the fact that to ensure success a game has to sell well, the recent Sonic games haven't exactly set the charts on fire with their sales performance lately. Therefore Sony are unlikely to even want the mascot as an exclusive, especially the mascot of a completely seperate company. Sony have never been mascot orientated and I don't think they ever will be, they have always been focused on heavy third/second party support, despite Sony's current track record with poor performing third party exclusives *cough*Haze*cough*. Crash Bandicoot was close to becoming Sony's mascot in the early days but since naughty dog sold the rights and Sony's constant chasing of the mythical all encompassing home computer status they so desperately desire, they would rather push the Playstation brand as the monolithic entertainment centre, devoid of cartoony animals with big eyes that run really fast. In essence, marketing, as they have done since the beginning of the PS brand, to the adult male; mascots be-damned.

[Bootaaay]

Sackboy is blatantly Sony's family-friendly mascot from here on out, but as Niode said, I don't think they're actively looking to promote anything as a mascot for the whole company that doesn't speak to their main target demographic (18+ males & video tech-heads with cash to spare).

I don't think that an exclusive Sonic game would have much impact either - the brand has been watered down by terrible sequels & franchise whoring. The only way an exclusive Sonic would work for SEGA & Sony would be if SEGA were actually able to produce a competant and enjoyable 3D Sonic game, not somthing I believe they can do anymore...mainly because Sonic Team is a shadow of itself and the only talent left in SEGA is either too disilusioned to produce anything worthwhile (Yu Suzuki) or acquired from other companies (Creative Assembly & Platinum games).

The only other option would be to create a brand new 2D Sonic game in high-definition and make it available for download over PSN & XBLA - even if it doesn't sell to the general public, the hardcore gamers and Sonic fans would be clamouring to play a brand new classic Sonic game in glorious high-definition. Obviousley SEGA won't be doing that, because SEGA hate my money - they'd prefer to release some more Wii shovelware and whore out Sonic with another gimmicky 3D game (wow, this time you turn into a Werehog and the game switches into a poor Dynasty Warriors clone! AWESOME! THANKS SEGA!)

[lordofduct]

everyone has already brought up business/professional reasons...

so I'm gonna go for the more personal fan base reasons.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Me sonic is me God you twat bucket! Sony evil... grrrr... Sega awesome and Sony beat him up in middle school. Grrr, hate you Sony. Bleh, boooooo.

NOOOOOOO



that was fun.

In all seriousness though, the idea of Sonic on the Playstation as an exclusive makes me very upset as a hardcore Sega fan, and doubly a hardcore Sonic fan. Sonic was a member of the underdog system, not a member of the failing mainstream giant. He was created at the time when Sega was really getting creative and being everything about Sega I love. I'm not going to say Sega is like that anymore, far from and really I have completely ignored Sega's work in recent years except for the sub-licensing they've done on XBOX Live Marketplace. And I bet if you did a large enough poll of the Sega fan base, a large majority of them tend to be the anti-Sony crowd as well!

[GagaMan]

How would being on just one console grow Sonic's fanbase, rather than being on everything like he is now? O_o

[arion]

But what if Sega makes another console sometime in the future. Now that may not be very likely but even less likely if sega doesn't have exclusive rights to Sonic.

[RemyC]

Im going to paraphrase what, lordofduct said...not the "personal" section...the more formal section.
All of Sonic and Sega's original fanbase have been absorbed into Sony, Xbox, and Nintendos followings. If Sega were to go exclusive with anything...itd just upset a bunch of people at this time. We want Sega to be in charge of what Sega does. The last 10 years or so have been a rough patch, but who knows? They might strike up a proper development team, or make some proper publishes...then they can take care of some of the financial problems and start again from ground zero.

Obviousley SEGA won't be doing that, because SEGA hate my money - they'd prefer to release some more Wii shovelware and whore out Sonic with another gimmicky 3D game (wow, this time you turn into a Werehog and the game switches into a poor Dynasty Warriors clone! AWESOME! THANKS SEGA!)

As ridiculous as i thought the werehog was when i first saw it....i really believe they got it right with this game. The speedey-platforming sequences seem so very proper. Im a man thats had my heartbroken by sonic many times...but then i go back to the genesis days...and i gotta love him.

[RCBH928]

A lot of you are asking how can it make more money when its more exclusive than when it is multiplatform.
Reason is this

He is already multiplatform, and he is not making much success. When he was exclusive to sega, he was making huge success. I come from a point of view where an exclusive makes more sales because exclusives has a lot of spotlight on them and attracts people's attention.

Look at LBP, Gears, Halo , Metroid, and all others. Yes all these are good games too thats why they sell a lot, but what helps them be good games? Its because a lot of hope is built on them, because they are exclusive.

When Sega makes Sonic exclusive to Sony , it will have all this extra blu-ray , extra special "features" and more. In no way I am saying current sonic games should be exclusives to sony. Thats wrong. What I am saying is that Sega should release exclusive to ps3, and that game should be great game of Sonic. Why? Because its an exclusive and every one is watching it. When its multiplatform , people care less about it.

Sonic was great last when it was exclusive, so is crash bandicoot.

Sure, maybe sega fans don't like sony, but is there a sega system? Maybe sega should star attracting new fans, and for the old ones...do as all fans do, go for your choice of games. People buy 360 because they want to play halo and gear and fable. Nintendo owners want to play mario, zelda , and metroid. Sega fans will have to get playstaion to play Sonic. thats how things are

[RemyC]

I believe the 3RD dimension is what hindered (not killed) sonic.
Sonic Unleashed boasts the new, "sonic engine" which was apparently in development for the last several years. This promises to make controlling sonic at top speed a dream.

Look at LBP, Gears, Halo , Metroid, and all others. Yes all these are good games too thats why they sell a lot, but what helps them be good games? Its because a lot of hope is built on them, because they are exclusive.

You could also argue that putting a bigger marketing budget on the game would increase sales.

Really all that sonic needs is what racketboy pointed out in his article about reviving sonic....and a team that wont rush it, but give it some TLC...regardless of what platform its on.

[Tercoil]

He is already multiplatform, and he is not making much success. When he was exclusive to sega, he was making huge success. I come from a point of view where an exclusive makes more sales because exclusives has a lot of spotlight on them and attracts people's attention.

to be honest it sounds like your accrediting sonics failure purely to multiplatorming... personally i think it had something to do with the TERRIBLE games.
sure mario takes the cake when it comes to spotlight, and sure some of it is because he is nintendo's mascot, but the majority of it comes from the consistantly good games (of course there are exceptions)
The thing i've noticed is that good games sell well, no matter whether they're on one platform or three and i don't think the extra spotlight of being exclusive can make up for the HUGE audience loss when you place it on only one system.