James Sawyer Ford
Member
Now that we've seen the near final design and targeted release date, Sony is now faced with a rather difficult task of positioning a side peripheral platform into their Playstation ecosystem. In the past, they haven't had a whole lot of success in doing this -- Eyetoy was probably their best attempt in certain regions, although much of that could be due to the overall success of the PS2 as a whole. Eyetoy and Move on PS3 did not have the traction that they desired.
Looking at last-gen, Wii was phenomenally successful from the get-go due to the Wii Mote being integrated from the system from the start (with a killer app title in Wii Sports). Given how short the supply was relative demand, I think it's safe to say that the price of the system could have been significantly higher ($399) and the system would still have been a success. Microsoft also had some fairly decent success with Kinect for a few years after launch -- it was primarily responsible for the resurgence of demand for Xbox 360 and the greatest sales in the holiday periods of 2010-2012.
So there's at least precedence there that Sony can launch a successful secondary platform, but it will still be difficult. Here's what I firmly believe Sony needs to accomplish in order for the platform to reach success greater than their attempts last gen.
Launch Details:
- Official name: PlayStation Morpheus. The code name would work well for the final product.
- Price: $250 should be a target. Max price considered should be no greater than $299. Maybe introduce a PS4 + Morpheus family bundle for $499 -- a bit pricey, but if the product is revolutionary and desirable enough the market will absorb this, I believe. This price isn't astronomical in comparison to other consumer devices these days (phones, tablets), although yes the utility is somewhat limited, the "wow-factor" is potentially greater.
- Bundle: includes camera and two re-designed Playstation Move's to match the sleek aesthetic of the helmet, and perhaps be optimized for VR controls.
- Pack-in software: This one is pretty important too, I think one reason for the Wii's great success was that it came bundled with a killer app software title (in the US at least). Though arguably the title was so strong it would have sold on its own, I think it may have increased adoption and was a chance to showcase what the platform could do, which lead to people picking up other software titles and development interest perked up as a result.
Zindagi Games hasn't released a game since Sports Champions 2, which by the time Morpheus launches will be nearly 3.5 years. This studio is pretty underrated in my view, out of all the Move games they produced the absolute best showcase for what the hardware could do. I believe they should produce the title that is to be the pack-in for the system. A fairly safe sports title that exploits the VR experience. My only reservation would be that they desperately need to re-hire or re-think their art design process. Sports Champions was beyond generic looking, but it had fantastic mechanics.
Launch Lineup:
Zindagi Games - Sports title [Pack-In] - Explained above.
Media Molecule's PS4 project - their last full retail game was in January 2011. By the time Morpheus launches, that's over five years. Sure, they worked on Tearaway, but that's a rather small project. The rest of the team has to be working on SOMETHING.
While Zindagi Games is working on a sports showcase, Media Molecule's game will probably be the Minecraft-equivalent AAA standout, must-have title for the Morpheus launch, only I suspect that it will also be playable without VR. It will simply be a game that has a better experience with the VR headset and will have design tweaks in place to take advantage of it.
Media Molecule has already hinted at creating in 3D with the Playstation Move. It seems like a no brainer that their title will be ALL about world-building and exploration, which is a perfect fit for VR.
A ton of Indie Content/Support
- No Man's Sky
- The Witness
- Some internal Sony Santa Monica indie sponsored projects
- Some ports of content that would make sense for VR
London Studio Project - this one may not make launch, but after GDC I think it's reasonable to expect that the studio is working on a VR title. Perhaps they are aiming for more of a traditional AAA experience through VR. This one may be reserved for Fall 2016 or beyond.
Overall, if they hit these key milestones, I think they can capture the VR market early. Their hardware is already impressive and introduces key features that their competitors currently lack. One major advantage Sony has is that they're a hardware design company and are used to launching these products. In other words, they have the engineering teams that are able to design a comfortable device (a feature that is underrated when comparing specs of competing devices), and also have the supply-chain management and manufacturing prowess to do a full-scale product launch.
Another advantage is that the PS4 is the console market leader. In the US, platform momentum was a big favor in adoption of Kinect vs. Move, and if Sony can leverage the success of PS4 to Morpheus then they may have a nice case for increasing PS4 demand in the middle/end part of its lifecycle. And finally, their last advantage is that they have an immense pool of first and third party development resources they can pull from to make exclusive VR content, with large budgets, built from the ground up. This last point is a crucial area that their competitors may struggle on. But even with Sony's strength in this area, they could still fall short. They can't launch the device like they did the Playstation Move.
The big unknowns are price and software. Ensuring they have quality content is going to be the biggest driver of the device's success. If Media Molecule can produce a must-have game that launches alongside the device and is something that's played for years, then this will be the greatest shot of Sony having platform that has sustained sales. Unfortunately there will not be a steady stream of VR exclusive content, so I believe it's important to deliver a single game that has immense longevity (like Minecraft). A game that is single handedly worth paying $250+ for. This is a difficult ask, but it's not outside the realm of possibility given the talent at Media Molecule.
Looking at last-gen, Wii was phenomenally successful from the get-go due to the Wii Mote being integrated from the system from the start (with a killer app title in Wii Sports). Given how short the supply was relative demand, I think it's safe to say that the price of the system could have been significantly higher ($399) and the system would still have been a success. Microsoft also had some fairly decent success with Kinect for a few years after launch -- it was primarily responsible for the resurgence of demand for Xbox 360 and the greatest sales in the holiday periods of 2010-2012.
So there's at least precedence there that Sony can launch a successful secondary platform, but it will still be difficult. Here's what I firmly believe Sony needs to accomplish in order for the platform to reach success greater than their attempts last gen.
Launch Details:
- Official name: PlayStation Morpheus. The code name would work well for the final product.
- Price: $250 should be a target. Max price considered should be no greater than $299. Maybe introduce a PS4 + Morpheus family bundle for $499 -- a bit pricey, but if the product is revolutionary and desirable enough the market will absorb this, I believe. This price isn't astronomical in comparison to other consumer devices these days (phones, tablets), although yes the utility is somewhat limited, the "wow-factor" is potentially greater.
- Bundle: includes camera and two re-designed Playstation Move's to match the sleek aesthetic of the helmet, and perhaps be optimized for VR controls.
- Pack-in software: This one is pretty important too, I think one reason for the Wii's great success was that it came bundled with a killer app software title (in the US at least). Though arguably the title was so strong it would have sold on its own, I think it may have increased adoption and was a chance to showcase what the platform could do, which lead to people picking up other software titles and development interest perked up as a result.
Zindagi Games hasn't released a game since Sports Champions 2, which by the time Morpheus launches will be nearly 3.5 years. This studio is pretty underrated in my view, out of all the Move games they produced the absolute best showcase for what the hardware could do. I believe they should produce the title that is to be the pack-in for the system. A fairly safe sports title that exploits the VR experience. My only reservation would be that they desperately need to re-hire or re-think their art design process. Sports Champions was beyond generic looking, but it had fantastic mechanics.
Launch Lineup:
Zindagi Games - Sports title [Pack-In] - Explained above.
Media Molecule's PS4 project - their last full retail game was in January 2011. By the time Morpheus launches, that's over five years. Sure, they worked on Tearaway, but that's a rather small project. The rest of the team has to be working on SOMETHING.
While Zindagi Games is working on a sports showcase, Media Molecule's game will probably be the Minecraft-equivalent AAA standout, must-have title for the Morpheus launch, only I suspect that it will also be playable without VR. It will simply be a game that has a better experience with the VR headset and will have design tweaks in place to take advantage of it.
Media Molecule has already hinted at creating in 3D with the Playstation Move. It seems like a no brainer that their title will be ALL about world-building and exploration, which is a perfect fit for VR.
A ton of Indie Content/Support
- No Man's Sky
- The Witness
- Some internal Sony Santa Monica indie sponsored projects
- Some ports of content that would make sense for VR
London Studio Project - this one may not make launch, but after GDC I think it's reasonable to expect that the studio is working on a VR title. Perhaps they are aiming for more of a traditional AAA experience through VR. This one may be reserved for Fall 2016 or beyond.
Overall, if they hit these key milestones, I think they can capture the VR market early. Their hardware is already impressive and introduces key features that their competitors currently lack. One major advantage Sony has is that they're a hardware design company and are used to launching these products. In other words, they have the engineering teams that are able to design a comfortable device (a feature that is underrated when comparing specs of competing devices), and also have the supply-chain management and manufacturing prowess to do a full-scale product launch.
Another advantage is that the PS4 is the console market leader. In the US, platform momentum was a big favor in adoption of Kinect vs. Move, and if Sony can leverage the success of PS4 to Morpheus then they may have a nice case for increasing PS4 demand in the middle/end part of its lifecycle. And finally, their last advantage is that they have an immense pool of first and third party development resources they can pull from to make exclusive VR content, with large budgets, built from the ground up. This last point is a crucial area that their competitors may struggle on. But even with Sony's strength in this area, they could still fall short. They can't launch the device like they did the Playstation Move.
The big unknowns are price and software. Ensuring they have quality content is going to be the biggest driver of the device's success. If Media Molecule can produce a must-have game that launches alongside the device and is something that's played for years, then this will be the greatest shot of Sony having platform that has sustained sales. Unfortunately there will not be a steady stream of VR exclusive content, so I believe it's important to deliver a single game that has immense longevity (like Minecraft). A game that is single handedly worth paying $250+ for. This is a difficult ask, but it's not outside the realm of possibility given the talent at Media Molecule.
