The Six Axis - Opinion: Gran Turismo 5 Release

[TokyoDrift]

You obviously misunderstood what i was trying to say... Of coure it is NOT given PURELY by the first week of sales but its a very important factor

Well, you did say that the success of a game is based on the first week sales, so...

This time, I misunderstood. I didn't notice that "everybody" word

That's fair enough.

1)I am only comparing the sales and not the quality
2) Wikipedia numbers are wrong
3)I never said that Halo is a better game

1. Not sure why you are focusing on quality when I only mentioned it as passing rhetorical question. As you can see, I was referring to sales too.
2. Who cares if they are wrong? It's a source I used and I quoted it. If you have the actual numbers, by all means share them, but I'm sure that Xbox 360 is still ahead of PS3 in cumulative sales. If not, the difference is not going to be so huge as to make my assumption any less valid regarding FPS being more popular and hence resulting in potentially higher first week sales for Halo Reach.
3. Again, referring back to my first point, I never said you did. You just latched onto the rhetorical question around "being a better" game and made out that was the focus of my post.

It matters when they are launched... Otherwise, the game wouldn't have postponed. Sony has searched it, they believe that a fall 2010 release date fits gt5. Nothing can change that because its not that simple.

You have absolutely no clue as to why the game was delayed, and have no official evidence to suggest that it will launch this fall. Nothing can change what? Since nothing has been announced, the only part that makes sense is, "it's not that simple". Sure it's not, but then it's not rocket science either. PD are not some underground developer making a game that nobody has ever heard of. You know as well as I do that the game will sell well regardless of when it launches, and what it launches alongside.

 

[cobraagent90]

Well, you did say that the success of a game is based on the first week sales, so...

Well, i now correct myself saying that a successful game is not based ONLY on the first week sales

Not sure why you are focusing on quality when I only mentioned it as passing rhetorical question. As you can see, I was referring to sales too.
Yes, but you said that sales don't make a good game, and thats true, i never said otherwise

I see

Who cares if they are wrong? It's a source I used and I quoted it. If you have the actual numbers, by all means share them, but I'm sure that Xbox 360 is still ahead of PS3 in cumulative sales. If not, the difference is not going to be so huge as to make my assumption any less valid regarding FPS being more popular and hence resulting in potentially higher first week sales for Halo Reach.

By wrong i don't mean entirely wrong(1-2 million difference)

Again, referring back to my first point, I never said you did. You just latched onto the rhetorical question around "being a better" game and made out that was the focus of my post.

Very true. I focused on your rhetorical question

You have absolutely no clue as to why the game was delayed, and have no official evidence to suggest that it will launch this fall. Nothing can change what? Since nothing has been announced, the only part that makes sense is, "it's not that simple". Sure it's not, but then it's not rocket science either. PD are not some underground developer making a game that nobody has ever heard of. You know as well as I do that the game will sell well regardless of when it launches, and what it launches alongside.

Look, its up to Sony to decide the release date and as most companies Sony cares about sales. Thus, the most propable reason for this "delay" is because they think the game will be more beneficial if it is released in fall 2010

 

[Imari]

I think the main point here is that PD *could* have sold a GT5 that was the PS3 equivalent of GT3. And it would have sold like hotcakes. Then with the money they raked in from that and us all with our greedy mitts on something, they could have taken their sweet time with GT6 as a GT4 equivalent, deep and engaging.

But no, they decided that it would be better to skip GT3 entirely (to continue the PS2 analogy) and go straight to GT4. Someone explain how that is any sort of marketing sense at all. GT5 could sell through the roof, but they'll still make less money than if they'd had a smaller early release and a large later one.

Prologue largely reinforces this point, even though it's not a full game. People will buy anything with GT on the cover, even if it's a near full price game with only 5 tracks and 40-some cars (at release).

 

[TokyoDrift]

Look, its up to Sony to decide the release date and as most companies Sony cares about sales. Thus, the most propable reason for this "delay" is because they think the game will be more beneficial if it is released in fall 2010

Of course it is, but you seem so sure of yourself regarding the reasons around the delay.

Why are you assuming that the delay is the primary factor here? Do you not think that they would have released it in March 2010 as planned if they could have done, given all of the hype that preceded it (cover art etc.)? Clearly the plans were to launch in March 2010, but something happened. Whatever that was exactly, we may never know. However, what I am sure of (playing the guessing game too), is that the new fall release (if that is what it turns out to be) will be a side-effect of whatever happened. I doubt it was some people in the boardroom simply changing their minds because they feel it will be more beneficial. After all, they had enough egg on their face already regarding the stupidly long development time without having to go public with a delay.

With hindsight, this probably benefits both PD and SONY, as it gives PD more time to polish, and yes, fall releases approaching the holiday season are traditionally better in terms of sales.

 

[evilfoxhound]

I still think that releasing during the summer drought would be the best idea.

Do they really wan't to be up against Call of Duty: Black Ops at christmas?

 

[cobraagent90]

Of course it is, but you seem so sure of yourself regarding the reasons around the delay.

Why are you assuming that the delay is the primary factor here? Do you not think that they would have released it in March 2010 as planned if they could have done, given all of the hype that preceded it (cover art etc.)? Clearly the plans were to launch in March 2010, but something happened. Whatever that was exactly, we may never know. However, what I am sure of (playing the guessing game too), is that the new fall release (if that is what it turns out to be) will be a side-effect of whatever happened. I doubt it was some people in the boardroom simply changing their minds because they feel it will be more beneficial. After all, they had enough egg on their face already regarding the stupidly long development time without having to go public with a delay.

With hindsight, this probably benefits both PD and SONY, as it gives PD more time to polish, and yes, fall releases approaching the holiday season are traditionally better in terms of sales.

Just to make it clear everything written, from now on in this comment is my sole opinion.

I don't think they planned to release it on March in the first place. The cover art etc. was a "diversion" created by SCE and PD in order not to let the players down(imagine if they had announced in TGS 2009 that gt5 would come out in one year). A March release date seems very unlikely to me since a lot of AAA titles came out this March. Summer? It could be but tell me some AAA titles that came out in summer(MGS4 is one but i can't think of many others). As I have stated before, I believe the most likely release date to be fall 2010(lots of AAA titles came during that period, seems to be the best for sales)

Again, all mentioned above is MY opinion based on.... about 0 facts

 

[DaveS1138]

Just to make it clear everything written, from now on in this comment is my sole opinion.

I don't think they planned to release it on March in the first place. The cover art etc. was a "diversion" created by SCE and PD in order not to let the players down(imagine if they had announced in TGS 2009 that gt5 would come out in one year). A March release date seems very unlikely to me since a lot of AAA titles came out this March. Summer? It could be but tell me some AAA titles that came out in summer(MGS4 is one but i can't think of many others). As I have stated before, I believe the most likely release date to be fall 2010(lots of AAA titles came during that period, seems to be the best for sales)

Again, all mentioned above is MY opinion based on.... about 0 facts

Gran Turismo May 1998
Gran Turismo 3 April/May 2001

are two that spring to mind

 

[cobraagent90]

Gran Turismo May 1998
Gran Turismo 3 April/May 2001

are two that spring to mind

That was a decade ago

 

[TokyoDrift]

That was a decade ago

It's Wednesday tomorrow (at the time of writing). What does that have to do with anything in terms of the release date?!

 

[cobraagent90]

It's Wednesday tomorrow (at the time of writing). What does that have to do with anything in terms of the release date?!

Precisely nothing. Thats why the older release dates don't prove anything

 

[TokyoDrift]

Precisely nothing. Thats why the older release dates don't prove anything

Haha, that's OK then!

 

[DaveS1138]

That was a decade ago

Sorry you didn't specify we were only talking about this year.

Just pointing out that there have been some pretty big titles released in the summer.

 

[cobraagent90]

Sorry you didn't specify we were only talking about this year.

Just pointing out that there have been some pretty big titles released in the summer.

Oh, sorry. I thought you meant that since gt1 and gt3 were released in summer gt5 would be released in summer too

 

[DaveS1138]

Oh, sorry. I thought you meant that since gt1 and gt3 were released in summer gt5 would be released in summer too

No Although there would be a nice symetery there

One thing nobody mentions when talking about a delay in GT5 is the shortage of PS3's that Sony is suffering through at the moment. Everybody seems to think that Sony asked PD to delay the game so that they could use it to drive 3DTV sales......or add Move as a feature.....or maybe PD wanted more time to implement the damage model.

Is it possible that Sony just saw this shortage comming and didn't want to release one of the consoles biggest titles when they wouldn't be able to keep PS3's on shelves as it was.

(Not sure if it's the same everywhere but certainly in the US at the moment PS3's are hard to find in stores.)