Why PlayStation mascots always fall from grace?

[ThunderBoy]

I mean... Sega has Sonic.
Nintendo has Mario.
Microsoft has Master Chief (or Phil Spencer XD)

Why has PlayStation never been able to maintain a mascot as its brand image across generations?

 

[Jayonnaise6105]

No idea. Growing up, Sony had all my favourite mascot characters too. Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot. They even had the Yakuza franchise for ages until that became multi-platform

 

[CaptainToad]

You also had Toro Inoue, although he's mostly just in Japan.

 

[Segadude113]

I mean... Sega has Sonic.
Nintendo has Mario.
Microsoft has Master Chief (or Phil Spencer XD)

Why has PlayStation never been able to maintain a mascot as its brand image across generations?

Because 7th generation onward, Sony thought they needed to be more "mature" and replaced all the animal mascots with gruff dudes with guns.

 

[MasterEn]

the only common factor that i see with all of these characters besides knack, is that sony doesn't own those characters specifically.

 

[moonbits]

they move on, at least try to.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Probably because they don't own many of their true flagship characters: Crash, Cloud, Spyro... they all belong to someone else, despite being system sellers and widely associated with their consoles.

 

[Miles]

Probably because they don't own many of their true flagship characters: Crash, Cloud, Spyro... they all belong to someone else, despite being system sellers and widely associated with their consoles.

That seems to be the main reason why.

 

[Frickinfrik]

Well, ratchet and clank are still a thing.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

You also had Toro Inoue, although he's mostly just in Japan.

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I'll be a weeb and say that to me he's the one true PlayStation mascot as a whole.

 

[Scotty]

I grew up with Nintendo, so none of these characters have a huge impact on my life. Heck, I STILL haven't played any of these series to this day.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I mean... Sega has Sonic.
Nintendo has Mario.
Microsoft has Master Chief (or Phil Spencer XD)

Why has PlayStation never been able to maintain a mascot as its brand image across generations?

I forgot about Knacks.

But I'm a bit mad that Astro replaced Sackboy when the later could've had a new game...

 

[Gingers]

I remember being super stoked for All-Star Rumble until I realized what it was. I think that memory holds the answer. Sony always pushes their characters too far, with too little care. All-Stars could have been as legendary as smash at this juncture, but because they keep fumbling their mascot's IPs and burying them for years Sony ends up with nothing. More importantly, PS fans end up with nothing. Obligatory ps3/4/5 has no gaems XD

 

[Jayonnaise6105]

I forgot about Knacks.

But I'm a bit mad that Astro replaced Sackboy when the later could've had a new game...

Yeah, surely there's room for BOTH AstroBot & Sackboy

 

[Pinballbuzzbro]

Cause the AAA industry sucks and is rightfully floundering on it's face next question

 

[Bakuma1997]

They are too focused on trying to amp on Mario or Master Chief that they ignore the people that actually play the games