Shitty Games and Viral Marketing Overhead Sinking Sony

[Tabasco]

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=332165

tough times ahead for drohne

[Great Rumbler]

what a shitty thread

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[Eric P]

what a shitty thread

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i haven't seen this many simultaneous periods since i was at that riot grrrl concert

[littlemathletics]

i haven't seen this many simultaneous periods since i was at that riot grrrl concert

 

[demi]

QA is the first to go. Sorry Kosma  :'(

[dammitmattt]

Am I the only one that finds it amazing that people see Sony canning 16,000 people as a good thing? If it was anyone else, it would be a shitstorm all over the internet.

One clarification - it's really 8000 jobs lost since the other 8000 are only part-time or seasonal.

It's always terrible when people lose their jobs.  Especially in the current economy.  However, it can be a good thing in the long road if it keeps the company afloat and saves the other tens of thousands of people that they directly and indirectly employ.

[Don Flamenco]

Stringer has to be looking at the Japanese internal teams and asking "and what do we pay you for exactly? Where is GTPSP/GT5/etc? Trico? ANYTHING of note?"

Stringer Bell had to off Ken Kutaragi to save the business.

[maxy]

So gaming division is going under review,uh oh

[dammitmattt]

One clarification - it's really 8000 jobs lost since the other 8000 are only part-time or seasonal.

It's always terrible when people lose their jobs.  Especially in the current economy.  However, it can be a good thing in the long road if it keeps the company afloat and saves the other tens of thousands of people that they directly and indirectly employ.

Yeah cause when I get fired from my 6 month temp contract it's not bad right cause it's not I lost like the only thing that's feeding me atm 

There's a huge difference between laying off full-time people and ending temporary contracts.  You don't see it coming as a full-time employee, but as a part-time or contractor, you know that your gig can be up at any moment.  It doesn't suck any less, but it shouldn't be completely unexpected.  It's the nature of the work.

And this is coming from a guy who's been a consultant for the past 4 1/2 years.

[Tabasco]

It's a horrible thing.  Anyone who is genuinely excited at the prospect of thousands of people losing their jobs because of their videogame console biases seriously need to rethink their priorities.

Why you grandstanding so much?  Why does everyone have to turn these type of threads into mournful, "my condolences" type of threads?  Lots of people getting laid off across the country.  No one is happy about anyone getting fired.  Why spend your time looking for reasons to be butthurt?  Why not just roll with a VERY obvious joke, and laugh or don't?

edit:  I didn't know you worked for Sony.  Sorry Kosma

[demi]

edit:  I didn't know you worked for Sony.  Sorry Kosma

[dammitmattt]

Maybe 1 mil sold = sold to retailers?

It HAS to be "sold to retailers."

I'm torn on what to think about Evolution Studios.  On one hand, Motorstorm 2 is excellent.  On the other hand, they asked everyone to pay $60 for the unfinished beta that was Motorstorm.  And I was part of that group that got ripped off.

[hyp]

good jon sony!

jobs are overrated anyway.  we should all live like dirty poors and value life again.

[CurseoftheGods]

1 million worldwide doesn't seem like too much of a stretch for MS2.

People losing jobs is never funny, btw.

[pilonv1]

there's pretty heavy first party bundling from sony in europe so it's not a stretch that MS2 has passed a million.

and losing jobs isn't funny ever. unless the people losing them did something stupid

[WrikaWrek]

What a shitty thread

[drohne]

am i still the token evilbore sfag? i thought i'd ceded that position to duckman

[duckman2000]

am i still the token evilbore sfag? i thought i'd ceded that position to duckman

Meh, I'm too shifty to be dedicated to anything, really.

[drohne]

maybe we're just holding the position in joint stewardship until the triumphant return of abrader

[WrikaWrek]

Dhrone is the Van Damme to Duckman's Dennis Rodman.

[duckman2000]

maybe we're just holding the position in joint stewardship until the triumphant return of abrader

What, the hair guy? I just like some Sony-associated developers and Sony games, but it really has a lot more to do with being more disappointed in Microsoft this generation. Sony had nowhere to go but up.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yet, remarkably, still hasn't, really.

[close]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Insomniac 

[close]

Where in the hell did this discussion come from, anyway? The resident Sony fan one, I mean.

[duckman2000]

check the op

Oh.

Dhrone is the Van Damme to Duckman's Dennis Rodman.

Can it, twiggy.

[pilonv1]

EA fucked as well

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Video game maker Electronic Arts (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) warned on Tuesday it expects fiscal 2009 net revenue and earnings per share to be below its previous financial outlook due to slower than expected holiday sales across North America and Europe.

The company said in a statement it does not expect to provide updated financial guidance for fiscal 2009 before it reports third-quarter results in early February.

Shares of EA dropped more than 6 percent to $18.12 in after-hours trading after the company's announcement.

EA, which makes popular games like "Madden NFL" and "FIFA Soccer," said it is continuing to pursue cost saving measures such as reducing its product portfolio for fiscal 2010 with associated job cuts and facility consolidations.

"We are disappointed that our holiday slate is not meeting our sales expectations," EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello said in a statement.

"Given this performance and the uncertain economic environment, we are taking steps to reduce our cost structure and improve the profitability of our business."

Other video game makers including Take Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) games unit have said they expect sales to hold up this holiday season despite the economic downturn.

The stock fell $2.52, or 11.52 percent, to close at $19.35 in regular Nasdaq trading.

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4B87B420081209

[Bebpo]

Of course EA is fucked this winter.  They put tons of money into two original franchises with Dead Space & Mirrors Edge and both bombed.

Then again Rockband 2 and its DLC should be doing nice for them.

[pilonv1]

Their Wii & Family games aren't moving either. No one is paying full price for fucking monopoly or Hasbro board games.

Right ideas, wrong execution.

[ToxicAdam]

What's scary is that this is just the beginning. There's going to be waves and waves of this shit all across the board in every industry. Even companies that are doing well will use it as an excuse to trim up payrolls.

[littlemathletics]

The EA guy said that first installments usually get low sales (unless youre Gears or Halo) but they will build upon it.

Or Sonic or Mario or Doom or Half-Life or...

[dammitmattt]

Of course EA is fucked this winter.  They put tons of money into two original franchises with Dead Space & Mirrors Edge and both bombed.

Then again Rockband 2 and its DLC should be doing nice for them.

Dead Space didn't bomb.  It sold over 300k in the US during its first month across both platforms.  That's not spectacular, but it's not a bomb.  I would guess that Mirror's Edge did a little bit worse, but that it wasn't an outright bomb, either.

[Draft]

EA is definitely going to say fuck it and go back to being a shitty developer.

Clearly no money in being a good developer.

[Eel O'Brian]

i wonder what EA games are getting the axe

i think you'll still see them try new things, particularly on the pc side, but i bet they won't try to cram all their games into the last three months of the year in 09

[dammitmattt]

really? 300K in one month across two platforms for a EA game is a bomb to me, and them since they were expecting more out it.

I'm sure that they wanted it to sell more, but that doesn't mean it's a bomb.  Everything can't be classified as a huge hit or a huge failure.  There are plenty of games that sell about what was expected of them, and I'm sure Dead Space was within an acceptable range.

[Eel O'Brian]

i think we'll be seeing a lot more $39.95 games next year

[Eel O'Brian]

i think a lot of the reason for that is the fact that it's almost impossible to explain what the fuck it is to the group it was targeted at

i mean, i play a lot of games, and read a decent amount of websites, and i still don't really know what the fuck it is

[Don Flamenco]

EA tried and put out some innovative games, but I can't care when they drop huge budgets into risky projects, then release them in the most overcrowded season of the year.  If these games failed in the spring or summer, that would matter.  what was the biggest release over the summer...soul calibur IV?  I think gamers would've been more appreciative of these games May, June, or July.  They aren't Madden, they aren't going to kick the shit out of everything no matter what.