Could this be a PR stunt?

[SuperShouden]

Another weird thing is how quiet the "leak" is. Normally, in a true leak, the big sites like Gamespot, IGN and others would be all over it. However, with this one, the big sites are strangely mum on it. It's almost as if Sony spoke with them before hand. Another weird thing is that ALL the videos have been removed by SCEA. Not SCEI or SCEJ, but SCEA. It seems a little weird that they'd be the ones to erase videos that are from a European country. Granted, both youtube and GTP are America based, but it's still a little weird that SCEI didn't do anything.

It's also a little weird that the videos were up so long. It's usually taken an entire day for SCEA to step in and have the videos removed. If it were a true leak, they'd be removed within an hour or two.

This all seems a little fishy, as Tenacious mentioned. Either way, though, it's pretty awesome.

 

[terminator363]

Warning: What follows is my personal opinion. Unsubstantiated allegations galore!

I don't think Sony marketing department is that well organized. From everything that happened since early Oct, this is a classic case of how NOT to handle your most prized title launch. 👎

Between Mr. Yamauch's autocratic style of managing GT5 development and Sony's irrational behavior in managing the product launch, this has been one disaster after another.

I personally would have been quite happy with an expanded GT5p with few hundred cars, 20-30 tracks and fixing some of the obvious shortcomings of multi-player and releasing it in 2009. From comments by Mr Yamauchi, I got the feeling that this was indeed what their original plan was. Then with Forza and PSP, things suddenly changed and features kept creeping in.

If they released GT5 in 2009 and released updated GT5 (call it GT6 or GT5 epilog) in 2010, I think they would have sold much more PS3 units as well as GT5 copies than this fiasco.

Sam
PS: There, I feel better now.

Yep, it's all a huge mess.

 

[Maximum Hoonage]

This is certainly not a PR stunt.

Sony, like most big Japanese companies, can't think outside the box to save its life. It's tolerated KY's perfectionist attitude towards completing his work at the cost of increased sales. The PS3 was originally an overpriced answer to a question nobody asked. Sony botched a global launch for the PS3 and angered millions of Europeans. Its PSP is outsold by the cheaper, less sophisticated Nintedo DS. It's been outmaneuvered by Microsoft at every turn this generation. It took more than 3 years to get itself from also-ran back to serious contender. Sony totally frakked up the GT5 launch and wears nothing but a poker face when pressed for more, desperately-wanted info. Sony won't budge, which fuels baseless, rampant speculation and feeds into the anger of those who want the game. Whoever's running SCE is obviously asleep behind the wheel.

This is certainly not a PR stunt.

It's also a little weird that the videos were up so long. It's usually taken an entire day for SCEA to step in and have the videos removed. If it were a true leak, they'd be removed within an hour or two.

This all seems a little fishy, as Tenacious mentioned. Either way, though, it's pretty awesome.

Likely because SCEA and GTP share the same jurisdiction. If any of this were to (god forbid) go to court, it would be under U.S. federal rules of civil procedure, unless both are in the same state or don't press a federal issue or don't sue over a certain amount.

 

[SonicVolcano]

Change the topic title to "Could this be epic fail by Sony?" and we have something to agree on

 

[SigmaViper11]

Dodgy presentation and all could be a ploy too. If you expose a small feature or something they aren't prepared for, the crappy quality can hide it. Idk.

 

[Spagetti69]

Well said Max, wholeheartedly agree.

 

[cb1021]

uhhhh

you guys need to understand some basics of finance and accounting. There's a lot of comments like the PS3 would have sold more, release the game now everybody has been waiting for it, etc.

You have to realize in terms of making money, it's not always about sales. There are a lot of other factors which are expenses. Also there are no quantitative information such as statistics and financial information to say things basically claiming "Sony is a performs poorly comparing to Nintendo and Microsoft"...

you are not the center of the universe. A business is run by the accounting books, all the other things like marketing and retailing just contribute to those numbers. It's not just about making the product then selling it. Also what is an example of a company that catered to the dedicated and not to the masses. Why would they care about loyal fans if they will buy the game no matter the timing of release. Are you going to petition against Mcdonalds for whatever reason and expect them to care??

 

[BORDER323]

Saying things like that is going to scare the BE'JESUS out of some people... lol

grabs head with both hands and rocks back and forth in chair saying, " no no no it can't no I hope no this no no no please god please no no no"

See look at what you have done..

This poor guy is on the verge of a breakdown...

Please be a little more sensitive to other people's feelings when you post..

Andrez.. it's ok really it was just a figure of speech, no need to go slitting your wrist's just yet... ( muhahahaha )

 

[djkmac]

Theory is nice and all except for I don't think you want to start your pr campaign by flipping off your potential customers. See first video -.-

 

[grbmrdj]

I don't think so. If they wanted to increase it's fan-base, why release useless videos that only make GT5 look bad, and would only be viewed by (I assume everyone here's getting a copy) people who were going to buy it anyway.

 

[Puzyaka]

I don't think sony/PD have any credibility left, how many of you will take their word on the first announced GT6 release date?

 

[Spacegoat]

Change the topic title to "Could this be epic fail by Sony?" and we have something to agree on

Yeah I'd agree with that.👍

 

[atiger]

I second the epic fail statement, and they're already talking about GT6. Unprofessional isn't the word for PD/Sony. My excitement has dwindled for this game, there's no way I'm rushing out to buy it whenever they decide to release it. Red dead and Black Ops keeping me busy.

 

[Falango]

I would say that the vast majority of people visiting this site are people who are interested in finding out about the game because they are buying it anyway. These are not necessarily the people that SONY are interested in targeting, so I don't think this is any form of PR stunt at all.

I agree 100%. 99% of the people that visit this site will buy the game. It's the casual gamers and people that don't search for news that they would target with advertising and the likes. I don't think it's a PR stunt at all. It's a leaked game, leaked earlier than most do.

 

[brensta76]

I'm not sure I believe it's a PR stunt, I think there's more chance that it just so happens to be a genuine leak. Remember when Half Life 2 was leaked and it was then delayed a year. These things do sometimes happen.

Thoughts and comments are always welcome folks.[/QUOTE]

On this topic. I can't stress this enough, but I HOPE this doesn't happen. My main reason for getting a PS3 was in anticipation of GT5. We have waited far to long now as it is. If this apparent leak stuffs up the chance of a release for another year I WILL GO CRAZY ON ANYONE THAT I FIND HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE LEAK.....

And to show I'm serious....

 

[Falango]

There's your example of a paranoid freak.........

 

[CWR]

Okay, think about the type of personality Kaz has; a bit of a perfectionist? Now think about the look and feel of all the GT titles - slick? Professional? Even over-produced? About the furthest thing ever from underground guerilla-style marketing?

The only way this could be an approved PR ploy was if Sony marketing was trying to make Kaz die of shame...can you honestly think of a crueler thing to do to someone like Kaz than to release the product of 5 years of blood, sweat and tears in this manner?!

I call botch, no conspiracy.

 

[j8mie]

Some very interesting thoughts on the subject, please keep them coming.

Personally I don't think it is a PR stunt/viral ad campaign simply because the video quality is so bad. It's always nice to try and find a conspiracy but in this case I think it's just a case that a couple of light fingered people have helped themselves to a free copy of GT5. In some ways I do think posting all these grainy videos is kind of stealing Sony/PD's thunder but I kind of think they only have themselves to blame.

The second these copies were found to be genuine they needed to announce a release date and a wave of new official HD videos/photos. Maybe tell us about a new feature to try keep the limelight focused on the official content. I understand not wishing to tell us everything, but some new info would have been a nice gesture.

I do think Sony's handling of the whole issue and the release of GT5 has been farcical. Sure it missed it's stamping day by three days, but there's no reason you can't announce a release date. Keeping us all on the edge of our seats is just cruel and seems to be something Sony are very good at. I have always felt that Sony look upon their customers as nothing more than an annoyance.

Regarding my reference to Half Life 2 I wasn't saying for a second there would be any kind of serious delay to GT5's release, and the HL2 thief was of the source code by a hacker and not a stamped game disc lifted from a warehouse. If the games have been stamped, it means they are ready for sale. Even Sony aren't that stupid as to hold off releasing a AAA title because a couple of copies got nicked.

 

[CaliBoy1990]

I know that companies have been creating viral ads for many years now to promote their latest products on the internet, but has anyone stopped to consider if Sony are trying a sneaky and slighty underhand PR stunt?

It's clear there are some finished copies in the wild, which so far has generated a lot of hype and interest with minimal effort from Sony. Think of the number of hits this site is getting, on top of that all the online press coverage on gaming news sites that only help to heighten peoples interest in the game. I but Sony are getting endless e-mails about the titles and no doubt this will snow ball into more sales.

Sony make out they don't want you seeing the latest videos, but for such a large fan site you'd think they'd monitor it more closely. How long is it between a video being posted and Jordan being asked to remove it I wonder?

I'm not saying for a second that this would/is the only ad campaign Sony would employ for such an important title, but it could so easily be the start.

I'm not sure I believe it's a PR stunt, I think there's more chance that it just so happens to be a genuine leak. Remember when Half Life 2 was leaked and it was then delayed a year. These things do sometimes happen.

Thoughts and comments are always welcome folks.

Hah, you never know..........truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

 

[jjaisli]

Hah, you never know..........truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Indeed. But more often than not, the simplest explanation turns out to be true. And according to the main GTP news page, which references Kaz's latest tweet, as well as 'private' information Jordan received, I'm guessing we'll have a release date announced from Sony in the next 24 hours. https://www.gtplanet.net/yamauchi-gt5-release-date-announcement-incoming/

Likewise, it seems like the TV/Print media campaign is about to start rolling. https://www.gtplanet.net/sony-re-starts-gt5-marketing-on-speed-tv-channel/ This isn't something you can do overnight. They had a plan. The plan fell apart in mid October. Since then Sony's handled it very poorly.

None-the-less, I'm sticking by my story. I wrote this below back on November 5th and I believe it to be true:

What I suspect is happening, is Sony, through various regional and national reps, (North America, Europe, Asia, etc) is reaching out to their retail partners as they're trying to figure when they'll be able to produce and ship enough copies for a unified release. As part of this process, they probably need to discuss this with some of the bigger retailers. And as various dates are discussed and debated, we're probably seeing these December 17, November 30th, December 23rd, December 7th, dates and more, all being thrown around. Some places, like Amazon in the UK and France are already sending out emails with the December 17th date. They may be placeholders or they may simply be jumping the gun and announcing a 'possible' date before Sony has really confirmed anything.

Sony, for their part, are probably still in the process. I'm sure we'll get the official date within a week.

If you guys still want to believe this was some viral marketing campaign by Sony, or that they were behind it in any way, well, at this point with a mountain of evidence against it, not to mention basic common sense, there's nothing more I can say to dissuade you. And I hope Santa Claus brings each of you a copy of GT5 in December.

 

[ArcticDC5]

This weekend, NASCAR racer Joey Logano will be brandishing a GT5 schemed paint scheme on his race car.

source: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/113/1132738p1.html

The advertising is starting slowly but steadily

 

[CaliBoy1990]

Indeed. But more often than not, the simplest explanation turns out to be true. And according to the main GTP news page, which references Kaz's latest tweet, as well as 'private' information Jordan received, I'm guessing we'll have a release date announced from Sony in the next 24 hours. https://www.gtplanet.net/yamauchi-gt5-release-date-announcement-incoming/

Likewise, it seems like the TV/Print media campaign is about to start rolling. https://www.gtplanet.net/sony-re-starts-gt5-marketing-on-speed-tv-channel/ This isn't something you can do overnight. They had a plan. The plan fell apart in mid October. Since then Sony's handled it very poorly.

None-the-less, I'm sticking by my story. I wrote this below back on November 5th and I believe it to be true:



If you guys still want to believe this was some viral marketing campaign by Sony, or that they were behind it in any way, well, at this point with a mountain of evidence against it, not to mention basic common sense, there's nothing more I can say to dissuade you. And I hope Santa Claus brings each of you a copy of GT5 in December.

Okay...........still hoping they can release it by the end of this month in the States, though.{IMO, it does make sense........SCEA won't need to translate a dozen different languages or anything}

 

[steve30x]

I still think the leaks were intentionally done by sony in anticipation of the new release date. Notice when somebody said that if it was sony they would have done better quality videos and Tekken uploaded videos that were better quality today. Then the Announcement happened and no more videos have ben put up since.

 

[Maximum Hoonage]

I think the release date announcement and the car and track lists quelled the masses and killed the drive to upload more stuff. Basic psychology; give someone a little of what they want and they'll stop whatever they're doing for a little while. We'll probably see more videos and spoilers next week though.

I've said it before, Sony's too stoopid to make this a publicity stunt.