Sony's Most Iconic Game Franchises?

[Droid party]

To me it seems that Sony doesn't so much make any games as much as they cultivate talented design groups from other companies and have them sign exclusivity to sony consoles, such as the agreement Rockstar had with Sony for the GTA games for a time there where Rockstar couldn't release them on competeing consoles untill a minium period had ended.

So I don't really think we'll see any iconic Sony games as much as we'll see iconic games that are only released on Sony hardware.

[the7k]

In Japan, Toro is the mascot of Sony Computer Entertainment, and has been since the PS1 era.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toro_(cartoon_character)

I guess they never brought the character stateside because Sony of America always tried to aim at the older demographics.

Aside from that, I'd argue that Parappa the Rapper should have become the Sony mascot, but his almost complete disappearance after the PS1 era prevented that.

[ZeroAX]

there are not sony iconic game granchises, because sony pushes a franchise for 1 generation tops.

all of it's developers, instead of making sequels to their old francises, are making new games (iinstead of jax and daxter, uncharted, instead of sly cooper infamous and so on)

but imo that ain't so bad. don't forget many people complain about nintendo not having any new franchises in like a decade (and no pikmin ain't that great to redeem them)

[Weekend_Warrior]

Gran Turismo and Wipeout

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

I can't forget to mention Wild Arms.

[IcKy99]

well Sony had Crash from 1996 till 2001 when Crash went multiplatform. I always wondered why? I mean that was their mascot how the hell does he just leave??? Since then they've had Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper but neither of those guys took over.

but they had plenty of franchises
Twisted Metal
Crash bandicoot
Jak and Daxter
Sly Cooper
Spyro
Gran Turismo
Tekken (untill now)
Ape Escape
Rachet and Clank
uncharted
Killzone

[J T]

Most iconic game franchises have a mascot. Gaming mascots have kind of died out a bit since games have more successfully pushed towards graphical realism because mascots are almost always cartoonish characters, Solid Snake being one of the few exceptions. Most iconic games are also series games that have developed over time with the gaming technology. Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Metroid, Metal Gear, and others all started in the 80s and grew up into the modern day consoles. They are iconic because they have had good games every generation (except for Sonic, who has been coasting on the fumes of his Genesis success for a looong time).

Sony tried to have a mascot with Crash Bandicoot, but he never was quite as likeable as other mascots. They tried to get a fighting game franchise with Battle Arena Toshinden, but once people stopped being excited about there being a 3D fighter on a home console, that game turned out to be kind of weak. Killzone is ok, but definitely not iconic. Sony has their ATV Offroad Fury series, Gran Turismo series, and Twisted Metal series, but it's hard to think of a racing game as being iconic. If any of them are though, it's probably Gran Turismo.

God of War, maybe.
Jak and Daxter, maybe.
Ratchet and Clank, maybe.
They aren't quite the household names that Mario and Sonic are though.

[GSZX1337]

well Sony had Crash from 1996 till 2001 when Crash went multiplatform. I always wondered why? I mean that was their mascot how the hell does he just leave???

Naughty Dog was an independent developer when the first four Crash games were developed, those games were published by Universal Interactive. Sony became Naughty Dog's parent company in 2001. Universal having the rights to Crash, contracted new (shitty) developers and went multi-platform.

[IcKy99]

well Sony had Crash from 1996 till 2001 when Crash went multiplatform. I always wondered why? I mean that was their mascot how the hell does he just leave???

Naughty Dog was an independent developer when the first four Crash games were developed, those games were published by Universal Interactive. Sony became Naughty Dog's parent company in 2001. Universal having the rights to Crash, contracted new (shitty) developers and went multi-platform.

Oh that make sense now.

But JT has a very good point. There really isnt a need or even a reason to have a toonish mascot these days.

[J T]

But JT has a very good point. There really isnt a need or even a reason to have a toonish mascot these days.

Well, from a business perspective, having a mascot for a game can be a great thing. You create your own virtual celebrity. Since they are a fictional celebrity, you can slap their face on whatever merchandise you want and never have to pay them a dime or worry about them refusing to have their likeness turned into a Happy Meal toy. Plus, they will always star in your latest videogame and never grow old and lose their looks (again, Solid Snake is the exception).

Realistic characters don't easily lend themselves to the creation of merchendise either. The only game with graphical realism that has ever created a piece of merchendise that I would want to own is Portal:
http://store.valvesoftware.com/products ... Plush.html