LiquidJ, Sony themselves said, ¨A demo of LittleBigPlanet for PS3 is slated for the PLAYSTATION Network this fall. The full version will follow in early 2008.¨ http://www.us.playstation.com/News/PressReleases/383
Can we get some clarification on whether this is going to be "Retail Only" or not, please?
I doubt very highly that Sony will ever release numbers on the network games. When they release numbers it will probably come out as something a lot broader like number of active PS3 online accounts and/or number of unique purchases per account.
This game is called LittleBigPlanet on their website and the logo says the same name, so I think it was a good idea to change the name from LittleBigWorld to LittleBigPlanet in the summary portion of the stock page.
Honestly, this is THE GAME that will probably get me to finally WANT a PS3. I think that's going to be the case for a lot of people. I would watch this stock along with the PS3 stock around the time that this game releases. You may see some rather surprising jumps
From what I have heard this game will be available on PSN first. Then after a set period of time a set number of top rated user created levels will be put onto a Blu-ray disc and sold. If this is how its done, I can see way more then 500,000 copies sold. I know I will buy it ASAP from the PSN and if I could get lucky enough to have my level put onto the Blu-ray version I would also buy that for bragging/showing off to friends and family.
If they market this properly it could be one of the biggest smash hits ever. My wife is not into games at all but she wants to create levels even if I'm the only one who plays them. I could see alot of nongamers also thinking like this too. I have to admit I'm more interested in creating levels than playing them too. Undervalued at this price!!!
While it may be one of those rare games that has appeal across several demographics, will that be expressed in sales on the PS3? Has the PS3 sold to the kinda of people that would buy this type of game? It'll be interesting to see.
This game, to me, is going to be a hit for several reasons. First, the premise of the game is something everyone can pick up on, it is fun and can be a sort of mario party like affair if you want it to be (create levels and play them with friends). I'm not sure if they have announced this already, but if you could create a level with a friend over the internet, that would greatly increase the community aspect and draw more people in.
Second, this game will be released on both the PSN and at retail, which caters to both types of consumers and will more likely increase sales rather than if it was just retail or just downloadable (as some people, like me, like to have the case and hard copy of a game).
Third, while this game isn't revolutionary premise wise, we have been creating levels and sharing them with people for decades, this could possible open up the door wider to the inclusion of level editors more and more in console games, a la Far Cry for the Xbox. This creation feature, especially if friends get other friends to buy it so that they can share what they have created with them, could further increase sales in a word of mouth sort of way.
Fourth, since this game will be downloadable, it will not be competing for retail space and Sony, if it wants to, can helps its sales by keeping it near the top of the downloadable games list. It competes with other downloadable games, but it is not as harsh an environment as the retail space is.
I have other reasons why I think this game will do much more than the predicted price of 500,000 copies sold over lifetime, but the post is getting long and I will express them later. I really hope we get a lot more information and videos on this game as the months roll along, possibly at E3. I see this game selling around 1.4 million copies over its lifetime if it is not a major hit and around 2 million over its lifetime if it does become a hit.
I agree with you for flash games and old ports but when you have the PS3 where it is in console sales I would gather that any positive buzz they can grab from this game, since it is an exclusive, would be to their benefit to trumpet.
So yes..I don't see SONY going out in 3 months and declaring 'Yeah! We sold x copies of RAMPART on PSN' I do see them going out and saying 'Sony EXCLUSIVE Little Big Planet..redefines co operative play in next gen gaming ... sales of over x'...that kind of thing. This is a halo (not halo the game, halo the marketing term) product.
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http://www.us.playstation.com/News/PressReleases/383
So the retail version should ship in Q1 2008.