Platinum Going For More Mass Market Appeal With Vanquish
VanquishSadly, some games that can be considered creative triumphs simply don't fare well on the sales charts.
God Hand, the cult classic from 2006 that received decent review scores and really resonated with a certain group of gamers, was one such title. Now, Resident Evil creator and current Platinum Games boss Shinji Mikami explains why his "obscure" title failed when it released: he was actually granted too much in the way of creative freedom. Speaking to Edge magazine, Mikami said that the abundance of freedom to make the game "just as he liked" just didn't translate to financial success. This is one of the reasons why Platinum is now pursuing Vanquish, a slick, sci-fi shooter that Mikami describes as "more mass-market." Said Mikami:
"We're definitely going for something a little more mass-market that will appeal to a wide audience. Certainly a bigger one than God Hand had. We [Platinum and Sega] knew that these were points we had to address from the very beginning, and Vanquish is a result of that."
Platinum's last game was the critically acclaimed Bayonetta, which sold very well and although the ignorant will claim it sold based on the main character's sexuality, the realists know that the combat mechanic in the game was one of the most impressive ever seen. That, and nobody actually spends $60 to watch an ass all day long (at least, we hope nobody does). Anyway, Vanquish is most certainly more appealing to a wide audience when compared to God Hand but the question is, would the hardcore gamers have preferred something more "obscure?"
Related Game(s): Vanquish
4/6/2010 10:35:06 AM Ben Dutka
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Comments (37 posts)
sonic1899
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 12:16:55 PM
6 up, 0 down
ChimeranPho
Sunday, April 11, 2010 @ 7:32:57 PM
0 up, 0 down
JackC8
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 11:19:45 AM
Reply
2 up, 6 down
sonic1899
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 12:22:27 PM
Last edited by sonic1899 on 4/6/2010 12:22:54 PM
5 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 12:40:59 PM
5 up, 1 down
sunspider13
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 11:34:39 AM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
Mavfan321
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 12:02:00 PM
Reply
5 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 1:13:31 PM
4 up, 1 down
tlpn99
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 1:25:28 PM
Last edited by tlpn99 on 4/6/2010 1:25:39 PM
2 up, 0 down
ace_boon_coon
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 2:11:48 PM
3 up, 3 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 2:18:56 PM
God of War > all other actions games.
2 up, 3 down
ace_boon_coon
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 3:27:55 PM
don't worry you didn't miss much. that game was over hyped. the demo pretty much sums it up
1 up, 2 down
sonic1899
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 3:47:05 PM
"Sub-par and generic"
How is it subpar or generic? I've yet to play any other game that let you play as a witch that kills angels (how many games lets you kill angels anyway?), summon boss-sized monsters to kill enemies, slow-down time by dodging, torture your enemies AND the bosses, have bosses as big as a fricken building with an epic chorus in the background (except GOW of course), and have so much sh*t that goes on on-screen. You can even make your own combos; but I wonder how many people knew that. :P
Bayonetta may have similaries to DMC in terms of control, but the differences far outweigh anything that's similar. And besides, they have the same creator anyway. He can make Bayonetta EXACTLY like DMC, male protagonist and all, if he wanted.
"Sex appeal"
What's wrong with sex appeal? Flaunting your sexuality doesn't make you explotiable. In fact she's hardly explotiable at all with the design she has. There IS nudity in the game, but it only lasts for less than a second. It's not like she's running around butt-naked the entire time. Its interesting to note that the God of War series also has nudity and you even engage in sex with topless women (compared to the harmless half-second nudity in Bayonetta). I've yet to hear anyone complain about that.
"I don't like the style"
Different strokes for different folks. It's okay if you don't like the 'feminine' style. I know it won't appeal to everyone. But honestly how can you say a game that has a large amount of depth sucks just because you don't like the style? Do people only notice the style on anything and overlook everything else? I was too bothered getting into the gameplay to even care if she was nude or not. :P
I'm guessing this hate is stemmed from the fact the PS3 had a bad port. Like I stated before, Platnium is a new company that didn't have a lot of experience with PS3 hardware. Not only was Bayonetta their first multiplat, it was also their first PS3 game. At least they're the type of company that admitted they made a mistake and tried to make up for it; they improved the game with an install option and made the PS3 as the primary platform for their next title. Give them a break, guys. You can't expect every new company to meet the same criteria older ones have.
Last edited by sonic1899 on 4/6/2010 3:48:22 PM
7 up, 2 down
vicious54
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 12:56:22 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 1:12:05 PM
Reply
0 up, 1 down
FM23
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 1:41:55 PM
Reply
2 up, 0 down
johnld
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 3:04:51 PM
2 up, 0 down
Alienange
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 2:00:53 PM
Reply
So CALL ME IGNORANT.
As for their new game. Let's just say that two epic fails equals not buying their third game.
2 up, 3 down
ace_boon_coon
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 2:09:27 PM
3 up, 3 down
sonic1899
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 2:58:47 PM
Last edited by sonic1899 on 4/6/2010 2:59:14 PM
5 up, 1 down
johnld
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 3:13:54 PM
Let me ask you this, if bayonetta's main character wasnt the sexual "icon" whats her face (yeah, i dont know who she is) and just another guy with weapons. do you think it would sell as much as it did especially when it came out close to dantes inferno and god of war 3?
2 up, 2 down
ace_boon_coon
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 3:24:09 PM
bayonetta is has decent gameplay but nothing we haven't seen before. if it didn't have the sexual presentation or "artistic" is what you call it; it would have just been another darksiders.
1 up, 2 down
sonic1899
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 3:52:26 PM
Well the sex appeal is the obvious reason why DOAX would sell (there's nothing else redeeming about it), but I've yet to see anything that solely relies on sex appeal manage to sell a million copies. Everything Bayonetta offers outweighs the sex appeal; I'm trying to figure out why some people are stuck on the sex appeal of this particular game and criticize it for it, but when other games display it more graphically, it's not a problem.
Last edited by sonic1899 on 4/6/2010 3:54:31 PM
5 up, 1 down
kraygen
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 2:44:56 PM
Reply
Company makes bayonetta then makes shooter.
I pass.
2 up, 1 down
FlyingKickPunch
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 3:36:50 PM
Reply
6 up, 0 down
chedison
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 4:38:22 PM
Reply
and whats with all the jaded attitudes?
3 up, 0 down
just2skillf00l
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 7:11:57 PM
Reply
Basically, Bayonetta's sex appeal is like a fishing lure to the consumers and to the gaming audience. It makes sense to me, the same reason you wouldn't approach a girl you're not attracted to and ask her out on a date. This very principle caused Platinum to alter their approach specifically to the character design (first impression) of Bayonetta to make her more appealing to the eyes.
This is just great marketing and a hint of common sense. Why would a market buy crappy-looking-but-possibly-tasty oranges from one supplier when another supplier offers phenomenal-heavenly-looking oranges at the same price of the crappy-looking oranges? Obviously the consumers who purchase from a market would buy the oranges that appear to be more appealing because well, we only know as much as the surface suggests, so we go with our first impressions. Would anybody have liked Heavenly Sword as much if Nariko was heavily overweight? I...think...NOT!
1 up, 1 down
Snaaaake
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 7:20:53 PM
Reply
I'm interested in Vanquish, we need more 3rd person shooter.
2 up, 1 down
MysteriousMagus
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 9:02:41 PM
1 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 9:02:43 PM
0 up, 1 down
sonic1899
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 9:28:05 PM
The patch fixes Bayonetta's loading screens dramatically. ...and on a side note, Continuum Shift isn't even out yet; in America or Japan. I don't think the console port is even finished :/
Last edited by sonic1899 on 4/6/2010 9:30:02 PM
1 up, 0 down
Snaaaake
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 9:43:54 PM
Whether or not the sexual stuff in it is over the top, that doesn't change the fact that it's one of the most satisfying action games out there.
2 up, 0 down
___________
Wednesday, April 07, 2010 @ 4:03:41 AM
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honestly what do i have to do to get a different game? something were not saturated in!
honestly if i had a cent for every shooter coming out this year i would be the worlds richest man!
i thought the first step to making a game was to look at the market and see where theres going to be a market for your game?
well its going to be hard to reach that market if theres another 550 companies going for the same one!
ill say it again, thats why i enjoyed heavy rain so much because for the first time playing my ps3 i can actually say i have not played this before.
every game is the same as another game, what happened to variety?
god im starting to think im talking about the 360 here!
can some one PLEASE! build me a time machine so i can go back to the 90s with their brilliant side scrolling and 2D platforming games?
ps1 era = best era in video game history!
1 up, 1 down
Scarecrow
Reply
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 @ 10:52:10 AM
As long as it's a quality game the genre doesn't matter to me. That said stuff like lbp, flower, and Heavy Rain are truly more memorable in the long run.