Good old Shuhei Yoshida, eh? The Sony executive has no doubt gained a few new followers on Twitter today after news emerged that he isn't a massive fan of annualised franchises.
Speaking at a DICE 2015 panel, Yoshida commented on the marketing and development of games, and how the process has changed over the years. Fortunately, IGN was in attendance to jot down some quotes.
Properties like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed now release at least one new instalment each year, and while these titles still tend to make a nice big profit, it's not something that the PlayStation bigwig likes to see.
Of course, meaning no disrespect to the publishers or developers of annualised games, Yoshida stated that he "hates" the trend nonetheless, and wishes that it wouldn't happen. We suppose that when you've been in the industry as long as he has, you get used to doing things in certain ways, and we can definitely see where he's coming from. After all, even we're getting a bit sick of slogging through the same predictable adventures year after year, despite the fact that, y'know, it's our job to do so.
Do you agree with Yoshida, or do you think annualised franchises still have something to give? Vent your rage in the comments section below.
[source uk.ign.com]
Comments 33
I agree with him, but...
@get2sammyb
Except... 1. It's a sports franchise and 2. It's great every year.
Three words: MLB The Show.
More words: They will all milk themselves to death eventually, it will just take a very long time. You can see signs of decline in sales already.
Goddamn it, Ninja'd by @get2sammyb
I agree. Games shoudln't be annualised. Maybe an extra game every so often, but annualised is a bad idea, and I'm glad to know he probably won't have it happen (outside of MLB) on his watch. I know with NFS, when I got one, there was a few years seperating it from the last one I got. Not being yearly allows for stronger entries, and doens't lead to declining sales for series. Eventually of the big ones has got to take a break. And an even better question, when will the market throw up from all the lego games released?
Is he a fan of reliable networks?
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi
you know an yearly release wouldn't be so bad if they actually inovated with each game instead of just doing a basic copy-paste of the previous game (looking at you call of duty and fifa)
@Punished_Boss_84 Except its a sports franchise its supposed to be yearly.
I noticed M$ is starting to annulise Forza and Halo to death now. And I guarantee they will follow suit with Gears of War. They just don't like to make their own new IP. They prefer to buy and bribe it from other studios. I'm glad Sony doesn't annulise anything and they know how to end a franchise. Shoot a lot of us beg Sony to bring franchises back, but each gen they always bring the most new IP out of the big 3.
PS- MLB The Show doesn't count as its a sports game, its supposed to be annual. And its the highest rated sports franchise at that.
@Gamer83 @Dohv I'm playing devil's advocate a little, but there are plenty of people that would describe Call of Duty as a sports series. I think they're wrong, but just putting it out there.
@get2sammyb
I actually don't have a problem with CoD being annual. AC was more of a singleplayer, story focused franchise when it initially hit the market though and I don't think that kind of series should go annual. Doesn't give the devs a lot of time to perfect the gameplay and we've seen what it did to the story. May be more convoluted than Resident Evil at this point.
@Dohv I don't think it really counts as annualised with what we're talking about if it's becuase they're releasing HD collections/A remaster on the odd years. It doesn't really have any of the normal issues associated with it, and the HD games pretty easy to skip.
@Jaz007 what?! HD remasters (at least in the Sony world) are damn near impossible for me to skip!
@Dohv @get2sammyb @Gamer83 A lot of these Sports games could get major updates every 2-3 years and just receive patches every season given they barely change from year to year (not sure about MLB The Show though) even if said patch was DLC for like a tenner. There really isn't a justified reason that we nee a new iteration released each year except money.
@thedevilsjester Well, I mean from a story perspective. It's not like you'll be confused or anything. I'm also a sucker for them too.
I dont even pick up annualized titles, if I do it's usually at a big discount.
It's good that Call of Duty is annualized because it keeps the CoDs in there place
Yeah I agree. Like GTA is a super successful IP. And Rock star doesn't shove it down our throats every year.
@GraveLordXD True , but we want new and shiny graphics and attention to details.
@FullbringIchigo what you said! It's an insult to have a sequel with the same damn glitches and bug, let alone the same crappy textures year after year. I mean, since they aren't doing any engine development year on year, you'd think they'd spend time just polishing the new installment.
And sports games aren't excluded. FIFA has pretty much looked the same since 11 now. They could've patched in new rosters and even some of the gameplay enhancements as paid DLC year on year rather than a full release, then simply release a major update every couple of years as a full game.
It's a bad practice and it makes games I used to love and respect feel milked and cheap. I honestly have 0 interest in AC and CoD anymore, even though MW1/2 and AC2/2.5/2.75 were some of my favourite games.
Please watch the languae -Tasuki-
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi Hahahahahaha. Bazinga
It's so simple. If a franchise is disliked it'll eventually fail eg. guitar hero or Tony Hawks series. Just choose with your wallet ... buy or not to buy. Personally I love all the genres and if a popular franchise gets good reviews I'll give it a go. If it sucks I sell by trading it or selling it on eBay or gumtree.
It depends i suppose. A new cod every year isn't horrible, not exciting, but not horrible. I personally love assassins creed. I've loved every one they've released, including unity And I'm stoked they release every year. Just my opinion.
nope shouldn't happen they could put out a small content patch as DLC and it would be the same! I think its a very lazy thing to do. So I just dont buy them. The games still hit high sales numbers SO the players on for the most part do want them.In that I see no problem. But they are going to get to a point the they just rotate features of a new release Give you something take it away and it returns a few years later.When people get so tired of it and leave it could really hurt the gaming Industry.
@Dohv those have been separate games for a 5 and horizon 2 are different games. While MCC is anniversary collection and then halo 5 are not annual releases.
I can't buy any annualised franchise anymore, it's sad but it's the truth.
As long as these franchises like COD keep getting ratings like 8.5 to 9.5 they'll keep making them. It reinforces their mindset that they HAVE to release one every year. Sports games are a bit different though. Every offseason comes with huge changes like players changing teams and rookies. Yes, EA could just release roster updates every year but they wouldn't make any money that way. And it costs a lot to make those games
I share Shuhei Yoshida's view here too I am pretty sick of annual releases especially when some clearly aren't ready to be released
@get2sammyb i have to disagree. as a former college ball player and a fan of the show, it surely is running out of new features and the online has been broken since like 5 releases ago. This show is coming to an end soon at this rate.
@Cowboysfan-22 you're right, people like this "garbage" junk that gets minor tweaks and updates each year, they but they're expansions and do it because of their friends and even some do it because other games are too hard 'cough Last Of Us'
said it once and I'll say it again, the younger Call Of Duty generation is ruining gaming!
@wittypixel that's true but I don't blame people who buy them because of friends. The reason I bought Battlefield 4 is because people I worked with played it. I ended up enjoying it but I probably wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't for them. Another group I blame is the group of "gamers" that play COD on YouTube just to get a few views. Ridiculous
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