While console sales are infinitely important to publishers, it’s the software sales that help drive those console sales. And one of the best ways to not just get sales, but build up your brand, is to have numerous first-party titles. This is one of the reasons that Nintendo does so well in many generations, because they have many first-party titles to fall back on. Of the three main publishers, Sony has the 2nd-best first-party lineup, and they have quite the philosophy when it comes to making those titles.
Simply put, they put it all into three words, “First. Best. Must.” But that might be confusing to those who don’t know what it means. So, Shawn Layden, the Sony Worldwide Studio boss, talked with VentureBeat about it, starting with “First”
“The game you’re working on has to fulfill at least one of the criteria, preferably two. First means creating a first of its kind game — a genre that doesn’t exist, a market that hasn’t been actualized yet. Will your game do that? That’s an obligation for us as first-party development. We’re not here to create games that steal market share from other publishers.”
As for what “Best” means:
“Best is probably the easiest one to explain. If you’re best, it means if you’re making an action-adventure, you’re making Uncharted or God of War. If you’re making a racing game, you’re making Gran Turismo. Or a golf game, Everybody’s Golf, my favorite golf game. You must be the best in class.
Finally, “Must:”
“There are some games we must do, even if initially the profitability might be hard to make.”
Sony took a very first-party approach at E3 2018 this year, focusing on first-party exclusives and key third-party gets. It’d be interesting to look at all of their first-party titles and see which game fits which requirement.
