Network now...NEWS
Sony: LittleBigPlanet Has Legs
Sony Computer Entertainment America is confident that LittleBigPlanet will be able to charm mainstream consumers for some time to come.
Asked by GamePro if Media Molecules' debut will "rack up big sales over time," Sony senior marketing manager John Kohler replied, "Yes, absolutely. LittleBigPlanet will be an 'evergreen' game for the PS3, so to speak. It's also the start of a nice franchise, and maybe down the line we'll look at new iterations."
The critically-lauded LittleBigPlanet debuted in North America as a PS3 exclusive on October 27, selling 215K for the remainder of the retail month. It was outperformed by other high-profile October releases, but Kohler insisted sales of the game are on track.
"...We're certainly seeing explosive sales [of LittleBigPlanet]. LittleBigPlanet also opens up the PS3 to other portions of the demographic--not just 20-something males, but younger gamers, females, and maybe even some older gamers. I think we'll see a great holiday season for the game."
The PS3 hardware itself has been under pressure to drop its $399 price tag, and with the economic downturn, pricing is even more of an issue for the average consumer. Kohler said Sony, which announced Tuesday that it would be cutting 8,000 jobs, is monitoring the economic situation "hourly to make sure our sales analysis is on point."
Despite the hardships, he remains bullish on PS3 sales. "Everything we're seeing points to a really good holiday season for Sony. I think we're going to have a good run of it [this holiday]."
Contact Us / About Us / Advertise With Us / BeltwayBlips / TechBlips / MassiveBlips / GamerBlips / FAQ
Subscribe To Edge Magazine / Corrections / Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Subscribe To Edge Magazine / Corrections / Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Hmm. I guess I would be more inclined to believe that LBP has legs if it were shipping on a system whose RRP didn't price out most of its target demographic. While we're on it, what other bits of Sony's lineup are really catering for the casual gamer? Home, maybe?
I have to admit that I'm far too lazy when it comes to enjoying games for this one to appeal to me, but I do hope it does well - it certainly seems groundbreaking in a polished, creative sort of way.
It's a shame that this game is not selling that well.
I don't think this game is just for casuals, kids and women. I' m over 30, I like the so called "harcore games" and I just love this game.
My copy is already in the mail and I can't wait for it to arrive.
if the PS3 had the user base of the wii, ( lots of non hardcore, gamers ) this game would be selling like hot cakes.
perhaps when the non hardcore gamers start buying PS3s to see bluray movies, this game will find a greater audience.
LBP is excellent. For me personally, it has more charm, creativity, dignity and overall elegance than any other game out there at the moment.
It puts a lot of these meatheaded shooters like Gears, Halo, Resistance, etc to shame.
What's up with the recent hate toward shooters? They're not new by any stretch of the imagination, but the hate is...is it because they do so well commercially when other games that apparently put them to shame pale in comparison (commercially)? Or is there this belief that people that buy those games aren’t interested in anything that doesn’t involve killing things? I love shooters, but that is hardly the only genre I play.
I’m sure LBP is great, not knocking it at all. But you don’t need to call shooters “meatheaded” that’s just unnecessary.
@RIder,
Good point (in regards to old-school Shadowrun's sales).
I loved Shadowrun on the SNES, it's a great game, a cult classic. That game didn't exactly shift millions, hence that told me everything i need to know about sales...
I think LBP has a good chance of being a steady seller. But it's waaaay too early to know if the game will have significant legs.
Operational definition of "legs":
Mario Kart Wii = legs
Wii Fit = super, ultra, mega-legs
WII PLAY = 'The-reason-Nintendo-was-the-first-to-use-the-term-"evergreen"-to-refer-to-games-with-monster-legs' legs.
Flame on!
Wii Play isn't a game, it's a controller with a game packed in it. That doesn't count.
How'd I do?
Funny you mention that, I think it’s debatable weather or not that game would have sold on its own merits at 49.99 with no controller. Although, with some of the crap that sells well, I wouldn't be surprised. I do think at the end of the day, the controller pack in is almost too easy to grab (I did) when you buy a Wii. You already need at least one more controller, might as well buy the controller that comes with a ten dollar game right? Genius if you ask me. As its quality is definitely questionable (especially when compared to the Wii pack-in Wii Sports). As a mild distraction from the rest of the Wii offerings, it’s worth ten bucks.
I mention it, because next to the Wii collecting dust and 2 gamecubes taped together comments, I see and hear it all the time and it always erupts into a flame war. Since that's what Ken asked for, figured i'd oblige.
I totally agree that the game isn't worth $40 on it's own. And i'm positive they would never try and sell it on it's own for that price. If they did, that would be a foolish move in my estimation.
@Kenology - you don't have to worry about getting flamed as the examples you cited are perfect examples of games with "legs". Halo and Gears of Wars games can be added as they each sold several million units long after the launch month while maintaining a decent price point and GoW2 will probably do likewise.
Those legs seem to be having some trouble in little Britian, dropped out of the top 20 a couple of weeks ago after plummeting from it's high debut position a week after release.
Funny, kind of reminds me of the chart performances of the N64's big releases...
Mind you according to vgchartz the last time I looked a couple of weeks or so ago it was well on it's way to selling a million copies worldwide
Well, I feel that some people are quick to write off LittleBigPlanet when comparing its sales to those of October "hardcore" releases. In gaming, everyone loves to talk about the big hits that burst out of the gates in the first couple weeks, and if it doesn't hit 1 million in a month, it's a "failure." But I think that some Wii products and other mainstream-focused games like (potentially) LittleBigPlanet have shown a game can be successful over a longer period of time.
As for qualifying Kohler's remarks about sales, we don't have that information yet, but with sales data coming soon, it will be possible to hold him to his comments when that data becomes available.
LittleBigPlanet is a concept brand new to consoles. It may take more time to gain traction than your average triple-A shooter.
@Kris - Actually, I take issue with the gaming media's groupthink regarding LBP being revolutionary or a brand new concept. There have been MANY console games released in the past two generations which allowed user created content and level sharing (Timesplitters, Far Cry, Pariah, and even several DS dungeon creating games, etc.). The only difference is that this was the first platformer to do so - and platformers have been dying a slow painful death. Don't let the games charming aesthetics get in the way of rational perspective.
The difference between Nintendo First Party games with long legs is drastically different given the divergent demographics. The type of people who are buying PS3's and are willing to devote hours to learn the tools and create levels are hard-core gamers and early adopters. Wii consumers are casual in every sense of the word and don't know or care when the game was actually released - just that it says "Nintendo" on the box.
I have LBP and hope that it does well enough to allow Media Molecule to continue creating other games in the franchise, but I think it has the wrong combination of factors to ensure "system seller" success.
"There have been MANY console games released in the past two generations which allowed user created content and level sharing (Timesplitters, Far Cry, Pariah, and even several DS dungeon creating games, etc.). The only difference is that this was the first platformer to do so - and platformers have been dying a slow painful death."
Sorry to sound like e troll, but you haven't tried LBP, have you?
The difference is enormous, believe me. It's not a glorified level editor, it surpasses everything I know (and I'm that kind of guy who buys games for their editors if they have a good one). I made levels for everything before, from Myth to Sacrifice, from Thief to Quake III, from Bangai-o Spirits to Operation Flashpoint etc.
LBP is a real, physical toybox. With little imagination you can make wonderful things with it without feeling its restrictions and rules. If you're the creative type, of course.
I'm not sure about the "platformers have been dying a slow painful death" thing you mentioned. For me LBP is an interactive animation / virtual theatre room. THEN it's a platformer, a really good one if you learn the ropes. What is it for you?
Grognard: I have to disagree with the notion that any of the games you mention do anything close to what LBP has done in terms of not only level creation, but community, which is the main draw of the game. Just because a game is widely acclaimed for accomplishing what it set out to do doesn't necessarily mean that its admirers have fallen into "groupthink." The praise is warranted.
And it's not just the fact that you're able to create/share content in LBP that has garnered praise. The toolset is simple enough for new creators to understand right off the bat, while still allowing more experienced designers to create sophisticated showpiece levels. Sure, tons of games have done the create/share model, but few, particularly with the older games you mentioned, do it on the same level of elegance.
You do bring up valid points, don't get me wrong. When LBP's premise was first detailed, I was like, "Um, this has been happening on PC for how long now?" But after playing it, many realized that Media Molecule was able to bring accessibility and sophistication together in a truly rare game. The piles of charm it has is just icing on the cake.
We'll just have to agree to disagree, Kris. I do see where you're coming from, but I think LBP should only be praised for offering an elegant approach to user generated content and the issue I have with the gaming media is that it was hyped as revolutionary. Evolutionary, absolutely, but not revolutionary.
Frankly, I find 360's community games/XNA to be far more revolutionary, since users can create games in any genre and actually make money from their creations - now that's something that has NEVER been done in the console space before in any shape or form.
Having said that, I think it would be pretty cool if Media Molecule's next effort took the LBP concept into the RPG/Dungeon Crawler space! :)
I didn't mention it in my previous post, but your comment about LBP being a platformer got me thinking the same thing, which is applying that creation system to different genres. Obviously, it's much easier to talk about how great that would be than actually implementing it. Who knows, Media Molecule's a talented group.
And c'mon man! You can't knock LBP for being in the "dying" platformer genre, then turn around and suggest Media Molecule make a freakin' user-gen dungeon crawler! :)
Touche, Kris - you definitely got me on the dungeon crawler point!
I call myself grognard as a reference to my old pc wargaming roots (SSI/Talonsoft days), so I'll readily admit to my hypocricy regarding dying genres - don't even get me started on flight sims!
Anectdotal evidence of it's sales:
I know 5 people with PS3s. Only 1 person bought it. 1 says they might buy it after Christmas if they don't get a bunch of other games for Christmas. Other 3 aren't interested. That's 20% of PS3 owners I know that bought it. Probably not the sales figures they would consider "on track."Again, this is by no means a reflection of it's overall sales. Just 1 small example. But it hardly seems the "evergreen" based on the peope I know.
Yeah, without qualifying what he means by "explosive sales" this is pretty meaningless. I think the fact that they're not releasing firm numbers is a sign that they're disappointing (not terrible, but not what they hyped it to be). Maybe it would help if Kohler shared what the "on track" numbers are...
On a side note, I wonder if future games in the franchise would spin-off on the community aspect (user generated content) into other genres or if they're thinking of just expanding the platform offerings.
What a pointless news item.
"Asked by GamePro if Media Molecules' debut will "rack up big sales over time," Sony senior marketing manager John Kohler replied, "Yes, absolutely."
What else do you expect him to say?
It'd probably be more news worthy if the marketing people from Sony/MS/Nintendo weren't "bullish" about their company's holiday sales prospects heheh.