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Post-Sony's PS Conference, Does Microsoft Lack An IP/Char With Enough Mass-Market/Mainstream Appeal?

Does Microsoft need to focus more on big-brand character-driven content (single-player or not)?

  • Yes

    Votes: 152 42.3%
  • No

    Votes: 121 33.7%
  • Unsure

    Votes: 21 5.8%
  • Doesn't Really Matter

    Votes: 65 18.1%

  • Total voters
    359
  • Poll closed .
I would get Xbox if they had some nice property character.
I got my first Xbox for dead rising and the exclusive ace combat, sadly dead rising is shit now and ace is back to play.

Xbox had many nice ips. The games just turned bad . I was hoping more from rare.
 
Hey OP it seems most tv and movie related IP's tend to not make that big of an impact when they are used for videogames because most of them suck and are quick moneygrabs. And on the other side of the coin. Multimedia franchises that start as videogames and branch into movies or TV tend to fail or not make that big of an impact either.

1) I kind of get what you are saying quality games + recognizable IP is a recipe for success.

2) I dont understand you naming Sony IP's. Aside from Spiderman what Sony first party character is a household name? Like one that anyone can recognize. That even my uncle can recognize. There is only a few Mario, Sonic, Lara Croft, Pikachu. Most people think Link's name is Zelda.

Sega does have 2 very recognizable trans media IP's that are being mistreated or not used at all that MS could grab. Would love to see Double Fine take a crack at Sonic or atleast make the stages for Sonic's friends. Daytona co-developed by Playground games and AM2 with Nagoshi as a producer would be a big name transmedia brand that would make a cultural impact if it had an AAA budget. A Sonic game made by Insomniac with the same production value they put into ratchet and clank and Spiderman would be the highest selling console Sonic game ever. Sega would be a great buy for Sony too.
 
Halo (just the mainline games) have sold more games than any PlayStation franchise in history.

Exceeding Gran Turismo’s 80m units, and clearing Uncharted and God of War’s 50m units by quite a considerable margin.

It’s hard to take for some.
Let's bring in some more total nonsense, I watched a Halo movie and there was no Master Doom guy in it.

I'm just saying most people wouldn't be able to distinguish those two characters apart.
 
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Tmac

Member
IMO if Microsoft ever wants to become a cultural phenomenum worldwide, they first need to become more aware of the world that surrounds them.

They need to be more subtle and focus more on a broad selection to a worldwide appeal. Some of their recent moves seemed to be in that diretion, but how they handleded it seems that they got everything wrong... crazy.

Some sub 1 million PS games are as important to brand awareness than big blockbusters.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
I think new future iconic characters basically means really good games. I think Microsoft needs really good games and if getting another mascot or two comes out of it...I mean that would be cool.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Let's bring in some more total nonsense, I watched a Halo movie and there was no Master Doom guy in it.

I'm just saying most people wouldn't be able to distinguish those two characters apart.
Oh right, I thought what you said is that Chief is a ‘cheap copy of Doomguy’, not that most people can’t tell them apart. What you actually said implies that Chief is an inferior brand.

If you want to talk about brand recognition for the everyday person (mums, dads, grandmas, little kids) Sony are probably dead last. Spider-Man isn’t their video game IP. Microsoft own Minecraft Steve. Nintendo shit on them both from a great height because they own Mario and Pikachu.

Incoming shocked fanboys who genuinely try to convince themselves that your average brick layer who plays a bit of FIFA knows who Nathan Drake, Aloy or Kratos are.
 

Yoboman

Member
I would say Playstation lacks a mass culture icon as well

Like there is a world of difference between Mario, Pikachu and Kratos or Master Chief. An astronomical difference.

You can put a picture of Pikachu in front of a grandma and they could probably name it or at least have seen it. Do the same for Kratos or Master Chief and they will have no idea what they are looking at. Even Minecraft as successful as it is, most people would have no idea outside the under 20 market

There's just a big difference in what true mass culture appeal is compared to having a big fan base. And there's probably only a dozen or so IPs in the world that can fulfill that criteria in any medium

Spiderman is a hard one because its not Sony's IP and Marvel can change direction any time they feel like it but that's the only one from Sony that could be in that conversation
 
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Maxwell Jacob Friedman

leads to fear. Fear leads to xbox.
Sony will do well with it's big name games. They'll sell a few more million copies than typical but...

Microsoft is still going to make up a lot of ground with GamePass until PlayStation implements its counter.
They dont need a gamepass counter when most of their new ips and games were selling close to or ten plus million and games on xbox werent selling at all.....
If gamepass was that much of a paradigm shift, MS would be a much tighter race with sony right now. This is why series s's can usually be found and not selling out, their no demand. Sony does what MS cant, and thats bring quality.
 

Naked Lunch

Member
I find it funny that suddenly people are going apeshit over licensed games.
All licensed games in gaming history not named Goldeneye are just kinda there - and just like the movies they are based on - even the best of them only amount to fun time passes. Nothing earth shattering.

To the op, the Master Chief is still more recognizable to the general public than any Sony mascot/character without question.
No need for a Halo killar. MS already killed Halo.
How would you know? As a Halo fan there is nothing even remotely close to offering the gameplay of Halo on any Playstation console. MP especially.
 
Oh right, I thought what you said is that Chief is a ‘cheap copy of Doomguy’, not that most people can’t tell them apart. What you actually said implies that Chief is an inferior brand.

If you want to talk about brand recognition for the everyday person (mums, dads, grandmas, little kids) Sony are probably dead last. Spider-Man isn’t their video game IP. Microsoft own Minecraft Steve. Nintendo shit on them both from a great height because they own Mario and Pikachu.

Incoming shocked fanboys who genuinely try to convince themselves that your average brick layer who plays a bit of FIFA knows who Nathan Drake, Aloy or Kratos are.
Two uninteresting dudebros in green helmet and one of them wore it first.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
They dont need a gamepass counter when most of their new ips and games were selling close to or ten plus million and games on xbox werent selling at all.....
If gamepass was that much of a paradigm shift, MS would be a much tighter race with sony right now. This is why series s's can usually be found and not selling out, their no demand. Sony does what MS cant, and thats bring quality.

Nonsense.

For the first time in PlayStation history, Sony has a smaller first party stable and a smaller user base than their competition. Combine that with the fact that Microsoft is willing to burn millions growing its player base...and you have a recipe for disaster if Sony isn't capable of countering.

If Sony maintains course, they're going to concede much of the market to Microsoft.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
They dont need a gamepass counter when most of their new ips and games were selling close to or ten plus million and games on xbox werent selling at all.....
If gamepass was that much of a paradigm shift, MS would be a much tighter race with sony right now. This is why series s's can usually be found and not selling out, their no demand. Sony does what MS cant, and thats bring quality.
Only 4 of Sony developed PS4 games got close to or exceeded 10 million copies sold; Uncharted 4, God of War, Horizon and Spider-Man. No others (apart from TLoU Remastered) have even exceeded 7 million. None of their games have exceeded 20 million sales, something that Nintendo is currently doing for fun.

Not what is up with the rampant mis-information on here at the moment. When you say ‘most’ are you actually trying to convince people that games like Knack, DriveClub, Day’s Gone, Astro Bot, The Order, The Last Guardian etc are all sales behemoths?
 
Oh right, I thought what you said is that Chief is a ‘cheap copy of Doomguy’, not that most people can’t tell them apart. What you actually said implies that Chief is an inferior brand.

If you want to talk about brand recognition for the everyday person (mums, dads, grandmas, little kids) Sony are probably dead last. Spider-Man isn’t their video game IP. Microsoft own Minecraft Steve. Nintendo shit on them both from a great height because they own Mario and Pikachu.

Incoming shocked fanboys who genuinely try to convince themselves that your average brick layer who plays a bit of FIFA knows who Nathan Drake, Aloy or Kratos are.
I'd say Spiderman was synonymous with the PlayStation brand now though I mean you can't get a new Spiderman game on ms consoles, could marvel turn around and out spider man anywhere else without implications and would they want to ?
 

Flutta

Banned
How would you know? As a Halo fan there is nothing even remotely close to offering the gameplay of Halo on any Playstation console. MP especially.


How i would know? Because the masses dont give a shit about Halo to be frank. Halo as a franchise had its peak in the 360 era and it’s been a downhill from there.

Now its COD, BF, Seige, Fortnite etc etc. There is no space for Halo or Halo like games to even compete in that space.

Also 343 isnt helping its case either.
 

Kurimao

Member
Xbox-Briefing-Photo-Cyberpunk-Keanu-630x420.jpg

Microsoft should just buy Keanu along with all his movies (Matrix, John Wick, etc).
 

Naked Lunch

Member
How i would know? Because the masses dont give a shit about Halo to be frank. Halo as a franchise had its peak in the 360 era and it’s been a downhill from there.

Now its COD, BF, Seige, Fortnite etc etc. There is no space for Halo or Halo like games to even compete in that space.

Also 343 isnt helping its case either.
I play Halo MCC mp almost daily with zero trouble finding matches in ANY mode in mere seconds. The player base has nearly tripled since PC is now crossplay with console.
Seems pretty alive and well to me.
Not too shabby for a 7 year old game and games on the collection which are now 20 years old.
But like I said - how would you know?

With Halo Infinite mp being, first off, fun to play with good gameplay (as Ive played it and many others agree), and free to play - chances are high its going to be pretty popular as well.

If Sony had any competition for Halo - I would love to play it, but they dont.
 
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Plantoid

Member
Doesn't matter when you own the biggest franchises in the world.

Elder scrolls is the biggest and best in class wrpg, yet it has no "mascot" or anything, YOU are the protagonist

Buying zenimax was the best move Ms did since the 360 launch, they now have literal behemoths under their umbrella, Skyrim sold 30m+ units far beyond anything Sony has put out
 

SEGA_2012

Member
I prefer MS to Sony because of Marcus Fenix and all the Gears characters.
What about Superman ? People have been asking for a great Superman game.
MS could pay for the license and make a deal with Capcom.
Superman game made in the RE Engine. Henry Cavill as the model for Superman.
 

TLZ

Banned
I think so yes.

I think if they manage to do a proper Superman game that's exclusive to Xbox, it'll be huge. I don't know how, but they need a superhero character to counter PS' Spiderman.

Imo they should've kept Psychonauts exclusive but they didn't.

They need something that's not all first person. Something huge. Like Spiderman and Kratos huge. I don't think Halo or Gears cut it anymore.

Now PS went and couped up another Marvel superhero with huge potential in Wolverine. Xbox needs something huge like that.

Did I say enough 'huges' in this post?
 

Hoddi

Member
I definitely think so. Master Chief is probably their closest thing to mascot and he's not exactly brimming with personality.

They own enough IP and talent to make it happen though. It's not like Double Fine and Rare don't have the writing skills to make memorable characters but it somewhat feels like they treat them as B-tier developers.
 
Elder Scrolls, Halo, Fallout are all legendary names in gaming, and they are still super popular. Halo is getting a TV series, so is Fallout, and if both are actually really good, the popularities of the games will sore even more.

Starfield, simply because it's the next big thing from the Fallout and Elder Scrolls team, is also a juggernaut. I feel Forza Horizon franchise is also on the map in a big way now also.

Starfield's teaser from 2 months ago has over 15 million views. Bethesda carries serious weight in gaming circles. So does Halo. People shouldn't for a second thinking Halo isn't still a juggernaut.

Elder Scrolls teaser was 3 years ago, but that's over 14 million, and it received tons of views way back then too. Starfield passed the 14 million views mark on youtube from a single video in only 15 days.

As an example, Miles Morales' gameplay demo 11 months ago has 11.3 million view.

Xbox and Playstation both has heavy hitters. And in the gaming space quality has a way of setting anticipation and expectation, as is the case in anything else out there. If something comes out and proves itself, it'll be up there.

I know he's focusing on characters btw, but some games transcend a simple hero character. The franchise name speaks volume on its own.
 
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Genx3

Member
I voted Yes.

Memorable characters give consoles an identity and personality that certain people can identify with their gaming taste.
It's makes the console more marketable.
 
Damn.. you read all of that in less than two minutes!
He absolutely didn’t. And he doesn’t care, so I don’t know why he replied to this thread or the other person that posted a “didn’t read” gif like they are being clever.

As for the topic at hand, as an only Xbox owner, Microsoft I feel don’t have a true timeless and world know character like Nintendo and Sony do. It used to be Master Chief, bit I believe that boat has long since sailed.

They need to come up with a character that when you see it you automatically think Xbox. Though I don’t know who or what that would be.
 

Captain Hero

The Spoiler Soldier
He absolutely didn’t. And he doesn’t care, so I don’t know why he replied to this thread or the other person that posted a “didn’t read” gif like they are being clever.

As for the topic at hand, as an only Xbox owner, Microsoft I feel don’t have a true timeless and world know character like Nintendo and Sony do. It used to be Master Chief, bit I believe that boat has long since sailed.

They need to come up with a character that when you see it you automatically think Xbox. Though I don’t know who or what that would be.

Indeed
 

Moonjt9

Member
Right off the bat, OP’s argument shoots itself in the foot by attempting to ignore game quality. Isn’t game quality the whole crux of the issue?

Halo and Master Chief are instantly recognizable and very well known, but why did it lose mindshare? Game quality.

If Sony put out Spider-Man and it was a stinker, then put out Miles Morales and it was a dud, do you think people would be excited for Wolverine?

If Ghost of Tsushima was hokey weeaboo trash you think people would be clamoring for a sequel? Would these be great brand-representing characters? Of course not.

It is 100% about game quality and the support of the publisher behind it.

As it stands, Sony has proven for multiple generations not only to develop new IP, but to ensure the majority of those are of the utmost quality. The same cannot be said of Microsoft at this point. They need to focus on putting out bangers, not mascots. Brand identity will naturally follow from that.
 
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Uncharted 2 literally set the tone for Sony's current success model but if it wasn't greenlit for that sequel, we'd be still calling Nathan Drake "dude raider" (yes that was a thing, back then).
A year after Uncharted 2, Xbox releases the awesome and unique cinematic 3rd person shooter/thriller Alan Wake to very warm reception..but didn't green light a sequel due to not hitting Gears/Halo numbers.

Of course we know now in hindsight it was because they were never fully backed by Microsoft until now.

But seeing the triumphant return of a 15 year old niche character like Raz..being able to see the further adventures of a unique character like Senua..getting a re-introduction to Joanna Dark..getting to re-visit Albion and all of it's charm..having at least 6-7 new IP's already cooking within the first year of this gen..
Thats more important to me right now as a gamer than MS locking down Deadpool or something.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Look at this drawing of many different iconic video game characters. (Not my art of course.)

How many are from Xbox IP? Halo guy, Chief of course. He's iconic. And there's a minecraft pick axe, ok but that's a multiplat game. Then how many from Bethesda IP? Guy from Skyrim, and a girl & dog from fallout. That's it. They need more. Especially now that Sony added Wolverine.

Xw0ZzRE.jpg
 
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ZehDon

Member
... Just gonna remind again this has NOTHING TO DO WITH SOFTWARE QUALITY!!! ...

... Sony are being very strategic in building off 1P momentum with characters and IP that have decades-long histories and rapports with legions of fans around the world, are in very good reputable standing...

Many would argue that Microsoft's most popular character is Master Chief... This is likely true, but it's also true that Master Chief has lost a good deal of his brand power over the years thanks to scattershot quality in multiple post-Bungie Halo releases handled by 343i.
Did you read your own post before you posted it, or, where you too busy formatting it to emphasise PlayStation's success while handwaving away literally everything else? Wanting to discussing characters with mainstream appeal while uttering "it's not about software quality" between and coughing "these Microsoft brands don't count" is a pretty laughable premise for a thread.

"It's not about quality guys! No discussing quality! Now, PlayStation are successful because of they're high quality and Microsoft is unsuccessful because of they're low quality. But it's not about quality! I don't wanna see reviews, metacritic scores, fan videos, convention numbers, anecdotes, or posts that disagree with mine! Oh, and anything that Microsoft has bought doesn't count. Spiderman still counts for PlayStation though, because my post doesn't work without it. Now, tell me how right am I that Sony is high quality and Microsoft is low quality."

doom.jpg

In terms of cultural relevance, DOOM is fucking landmark that outclasses all but the biggest names in gaming; Pong, Pacman, Mario. It's known around the world and for decades. It's characters and content are part of the cultural landscape for an entire generation, and the game itself lives on to this day. If it has circuiting, someone will port DOOM to it.

minecraft-jaquette-52b81df19cb5a.jpg

Minecraft and all of its characters are more relevant to more gamers than anything PlayStation has ever made. This one title alone eclipses even Super Mario in terms of mainstream appeal. Let that sink in for a moment.

475474576.png
For tens of millions, Skyrim is role playing. It's characters, it's world, it's artwork and music. This has been many people's first deep role playing experience, and it continues to re-release and sell because of how magnetic it is.

37754-halo-combat-evolved-xbox-front-cover.jpg

For a generation of folks, Halo is Xbox. While its nowhere near as popular as its hay-day, make no mistake: show non-gaming folks a picture of Master Chief, and they'd name probably call him "Halo guy". Show them a picture of Kratos from God of War, and they'd scratch their heads and ask why is he grey.
 

EDMIX

Member
2) I dont understand you naming Sony IP's. Aside from Spiderman what Sony first party character is a household name? Like one that anyone can recognize. That even my uncle can recognize. There is only a few Mario, Sonic, Lara Croft, Pikachu. Most people think Link's name is Zelda.


They not ready to hear this lol I've said this for years now, Sony simply doesn't really have those characters as iconic house hold names and believe its literally one of the reasons why they move monster units every single generation.

You go into a Playstation generation with no notion of 100% of what Sony will put out, we know not of what will move 20 million units, as its not like we knew of God Of War, Jak and Daxter or Sly during the PS1 days, we didn't know of Uncharted or The Last Of Us during the PS2 days, we didn't know of Days Gone, Horizon, Ghost Of Tsushima etc during the PS3 days etc. Yet they moved monster units, at this point...THAT is the appeal, that is the thing many PS gamers buy PS systems for, this idea that out of nowhere some brand new AAA IP can come out and be the new big series Sony makes. So because of this, they don't really rely or live for 1 or 2 IP, 1 or 2 fucking IP can't really break PS because they don't fucking live off of JUST 1 or 2.

You ask someone if they like Mario or Zelda or Animal Crossing or Pokemon and they tell you no, they not buying a Nintendo 95% lol
You ask someone if they like Halo or Gears and they say no....guess what?

Thats why i think its best to focus on the quality teams vs JUST trying to force evergreen IP to be icons or mascots or house hold names etc. It forces this notion that you need to even give a fuck about those IP to own the system or that IP doing well or not will make or break them etc. Nintendo can do that, MS imho can't, they failed so many times its like....give that shit a rest. Its why I'm happy Sony just let Killzone, Resistance. We got 3 to 4 great games, move the fuck on. Return with a remake, reboot etc and I'm hype, but I'm also hype to let to fucking team move the fuck on to something brand new, thus we got Horizon breaking records, we get Spiderman breaking records....

If thats MS, those IP never get made, they just keep force fucking Halo and Gears and questioning why they keep selling less software and hardware every generation compared to Sony and Nintendo. That is an idea Nintendo can get away with, not MS, not Sony.

They think that "well LOTS of people KNOW Master Chief doe" and shit, how is that working for MS right now? They moved more units then their revivals? They break record sales with that idea or? People assume that is all the do, thus avoid them based on not liking 1 Halo game. We do that all the time here btw "oh just another AssCreed" so if they fucking made a system and thats all the put out, why would anyone think KNOWING the AC brand is a house hold name magically mean your mind would change on the IP if you hate it currently? yea.....many didn't fucking think about that lol You can't hate an IP you never heard of though.
Sega would be a great buy for Sony too.

Agreed. That would be a solid buy.

ZehDon ZehDon The lolz. I agree with you that quality needs to be factored, that being said..... Pac Man and Doom are not moving more units then Call Of Duty, despite being iconic house hold names that my parents know, same with Halo.

The fact that PS moves more units every generation, Sony moves more software every generation should literally show people that this idea of "iconic" can only go so far, that image might also start to work against you. As in...someone not liking Halo and continuing to fucking see the same image used might just that all MS now cares about is an IP they now hate, thus they no longer buy an XB.

That is hard to do with PS as they cycle thru major IPs a lot.

As in..you can hate Infamous and like Ghost.
Hate The Last Of Us and like Uncharted or hate the new IP ND is working on now
Hate Killzone and like Horizon
Hate Syphon Filter and Like Days Gone, or even like the new IP Bend is working on right now

Because they don't live and die on just marketing a few IP to death, it means they can get new fans in all the time.

I agree with you 100% about how iconic those figures are, but hear me out.....what the fuck has that done for MS lately? How many generations did that help MS move more units and more software? MS literally has moved less software and less hardware then their previous generation, as in....as the IPs got OLDER, they moved LESS UNITS both software and hardware. So what ever those gamers disliked about Halo on 360, is what likely led to them not buying a XONE, but when you just give the biggest budgets to Halo and Gears wtf do you expect when that same base RECOGNIZES the things they hate is now all you want to put money behind?

So I don't disagree with what you are saying with the brand, iconic figures etc. We all know most won't get Kratos vs Halo Guy lol I'd never put my life on that bet (deep lolz) yet that is the point I'm making friend.

Yet God Of War 2018 moved MORE units.
 
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fermcr

Member
This year Microsoft have Halo and Forza. Next year they have Starfield (suspect this is going to be huge) and other unannounced games.
They have enough firepower to go to war...
 
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