Sony should port Killzone 2 to the PC
posted:
4/17/2009 7:21:00 AM
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Sony, your killer game for the PlayStation 3 isn't selling as well as it should. The game should have a higher attach rate and should be in many more households with PlayStation 3s. It's not and that's unfortunate. It's not selling systems and it's not getting into the hands of as many people as it deserves to. So, I propose a bold new option for you. Port the game to a system with a crowd that loves first person shooters. Port it to a system where it can look even better than on the PlayStation 3. How about you guys port the game to the PC?
The March NPD numbers just came out and you sold 296,000 units in the US last month. Combined with 323,000 in February you have in the US 619,000 units. You've said you've sold a little over 1 million world wide and while it may be the fastest SCEA title to reach 500,000 that really doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. It should be doing gangbusters in the likes of Halo or Gears of War because of the effort put in as well as the hype you tried to generate before the release of the game. It's not and it probably won't be getting any better when the game is released in Japan as well. You have over 21 million consoles in the hands of consumers and only 5% of those that own it own the game. Don't you think that the game you advertised as the premier title of your console and one you say can only be experienced on the PlayStation 3 because of the power of the console should be in a lot more hands? This is where the PC side comes into things.
The PC gaming crowed absolutely love first person shooters. And, the genre succeeds immensely when a good quality product is produced. Valve Software has a FPS lineup that kills on the PC. iD Software's bread and butter is still the PC shooter crowd. The folks at Crytek are selling better with Crysis Warhead and plenty of people talk about the visuals of Crysis. Since Killzone 2 is not doing as well as you thought on the PlayStation 3, there's a nice market to tap where I think gamers would eat it up.
You brag about the visuals of Killzone 2 and how it's just a step ahead of every game out there. The PC can do it as well and in some aspects even better since the system can be expanded with more powerful hardware. The multi-core architecture is there as well so you can do some parallel processing that the Cell CPU handles with your game. With the ability to SLI some very powerful video cards, imagine Killzone 2 running at resolutions up to 2560x1600. You could even market it as a competitor to the visuals of Crysis, arguably the graphical standard for the PC. Physics is starting to be pushed by companies such as NVIDIA but you already have a great physics engine with Killzone 2. The way the enemies fall in different ways is such a beautiful sight and you could market that as well for the PC gaming crowd.
There's also a huge group of online gamers on the PC that would love to take your shooter for a spin against others. Games such as Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Quake Live, and Battlefield 2 have a huge following still and Killzone 2 has the potential be one of those games that get played for a long time with a large group of online people.
While Killzone 2 might have sold OK at over a million units worldwide , you need some more revenue. Porting Killzone 2 will need some work but it can open up a whole new revenue stream for you. It's your killer game and not only can you garner some income by selling it on the PC but you could also take an approach to license the engine to others as well. Yes, your game might be pirated and heavily at that since it's such a high profile game but set it at a reasonable price ad I think consumers would flock to it. Take some of the profits you have earned by selling the PS3 version and use it to produce a good quality PC version and reap the benefits.
In the end, you'd generate a bigger audience that can experience the game as well as produce some more revenue with PC sales. With that, you can start hyping up Killzone 3 and expect a lot more people interested in the game. You can see what a good name brand can do with sales like Halo Wars selling 693,000 units in a few weeks just because of how popular the name is. The first Killzone wasn't a killer title but the second one is and to help further that you can draw in more of a following with a PC port. Take it to the computer crowd, advertise it a lot better than what you do now with the PlayStation 3 version and I think you'd have a huge hit on your hands in that arena.
Let's face it, Killzone 2 is too good of a game to not sell better and be in the hands of more gamers. There's no way you'd let the game be on a competing console and you have a division that does produce PC games, albeit MMORPGs. But, there's nothing to preclude you from offering one of the best games you have on the table on a platform that is exponentially in more households than your console. Sure, there's some pride you have to swallow and some PlayStation 3 owners might be upset that their baby's going to be on another platform but we're talking about business here and business I think you would do well to see Killzone 2 on the PC. [MORE]
The March NPD numbers just came out and you sold 296,000 units in the US last month. Combined with 323,000 in February you have in the US 619,000 units. You've said you've sold a little over 1 million world wide and while it may be the fastest SCEA title to reach 500,000 that really doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. It should be doing gangbusters in the likes of Halo or Gears of War because of the effort put in as well as the hype you tried to generate before the release of the game. It's not and it probably won't be getting any better when the game is released in Japan as well. You have over 21 million consoles in the hands of consumers and only 5% of those that own it own the game. Don't you think that the game you advertised as the premier title of your console and one you say can only be experienced on the PlayStation 3 because of the power of the console should be in a lot more hands? This is where the PC side comes into things.
The PC gaming crowed absolutely love first person shooters. And, the genre succeeds immensely when a good quality product is produced. Valve Software has a FPS lineup that kills on the PC. iD Software's bread and butter is still the PC shooter crowd. The folks at Crytek are selling better with Crysis Warhead and plenty of people talk about the visuals of Crysis. Since Killzone 2 is not doing as well as you thought on the PlayStation 3, there's a nice market to tap where I think gamers would eat it up.
You brag about the visuals of Killzone 2 and how it's just a step ahead of every game out there. The PC can do it as well and in some aspects even better since the system can be expanded with more powerful hardware. The multi-core architecture is there as well so you can do some parallel processing that the Cell CPU handles with your game. With the ability to SLI some very powerful video cards, imagine Killzone 2 running at resolutions up to 2560x1600. You could even market it as a competitor to the visuals of Crysis, arguably the graphical standard for the PC. Physics is starting to be pushed by companies such as NVIDIA but you already have a great physics engine with Killzone 2. The way the enemies fall in different ways is such a beautiful sight and you could market that as well for the PC gaming crowd.
There's also a huge group of online gamers on the PC that would love to take your shooter for a spin against others. Games such as Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Quake Live, and Battlefield 2 have a huge following still and Killzone 2 has the potential be one of those games that get played for a long time with a large group of online people.
While Killzone 2 might have sold OK at over a million units worldwide , you need some more revenue. Porting Killzone 2 will need some work but it can open up a whole new revenue stream for you. It's your killer game and not only can you garner some income by selling it on the PC but you could also take an approach to license the engine to others as well. Yes, your game might be pirated and heavily at that since it's such a high profile game but set it at a reasonable price ad I think consumers would flock to it. Take some of the profits you have earned by selling the PS3 version and use it to produce a good quality PC version and reap the benefits.
In the end, you'd generate a bigger audience that can experience the game as well as produce some more revenue with PC sales. With that, you can start hyping up Killzone 3 and expect a lot more people interested in the game. You can see what a good name brand can do with sales like Halo Wars selling 693,000 units in a few weeks just because of how popular the name is. The first Killzone wasn't a killer title but the second one is and to help further that you can draw in more of a following with a PC port. Take it to the computer crowd, advertise it a lot better than what you do now with the PlayStation 3 version and I think you'd have a huge hit on your hands in that arena.
Let's face it, Killzone 2 is too good of a game to not sell better and be in the hands of more gamers. There's no way you'd let the game be on a competing console and you have a division that does produce PC games, albeit MMORPGs. But, there's nothing to preclude you from offering one of the best games you have on the table on a platform that is exponentially in more households than your console. Sure, there's some pride you have to swallow and some PlayStation 3 owners might be upset that their baby's going to be on another platform but we're talking about business here and business I think you would do well to see Killzone 2 on the PC. [MORE]
