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The Xbox 360 released in late 2005 while the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii released in late 2006.
The 360 stayed in the lead for almost two years until the Wii pulled ahead and hasn't looked back.
The PS3 has been in last place since their console released and Sony was dealing with a lot of problems for quite some time.
The marketing wasn't on point, the games were lackluster, and the PS3 was lacking features people who owned the 360 had grown accustomed to.
Many people called foul when a slew of titles that were exclusive to Sony consoles for the last two generations moved over to the 360 as either multi platform titles or timed exclusives.
The two biggest announcements that shook gamers were the Grand Theft Auto series going multi platform and the Final Fantasy series also going multi platform.
These were two games that could have potentially been console sellers for the PS3 had they stayed exclusive and not gone multi platform.
This stirred mixed feeling for Sony fan boys and some fans of both franchises because they were accustomed to these games being exclusive to Sony consoles.
Sony and the PlayStation brand seemed to be losing momentum after the first year the PS3 was on the market and it put Sony between a rock and a hard place, but it actually turned out to be just the position Sony needed to be in.
Sony's strategy had been copied by Microsoft this generation to perfection, I even think that Microsoft initially made better moves than Sony ever had, but then something happened that no one saw coming, and some still don't see today.
Sony decided that instead of trying to buy exclusivity from third party developers or depending on third party developers to create new exclusive franchises for them, Sony invested in their own intellectual properties instead of padding other people's pockets.
It took some time, but the fruits of that labor are starting to show, whether we all see it or not.
Obviously, the Wii has had tremendous sales numbers on its first party games, but I am going to only talk about the PS3 and the 360 since they are in direct competition.
Sony has released several first party exclusive titles in the past two and a half years, and there are many more on the horizon (announced and unannounced).
Almost all of Sony's first party games have sold well.
I will use VGChartz as a reference even though people do not agree with the accuracy of their reports (but let's assume that if there are errors, they are across the board and will balance out).
The first exclusive release was Resistance: Fall Man which has gone on to sell over 3.
5 million copies, Motorstorm has sold almost 3.
5 million, Ratchet and Clank: Future tools of destruction has sold almost 1.
5 million, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune has sold almost 2.
5 million, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has sold over 3 million, Little Big Planet is on its way to selling 2.
5 million, Heavenly Sword sold almost 1.
5 million, and both Killzone 2 and Resistance 2 have sold just over 1.
5 million copies.
Even games like SingStar, Socom: Confrontation, Hot Shots Golf, Warhawk, Buzz Quiz TV, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, MLB 2008 (MLB 2009 is almost on this list) have all sold between 500,000 and 1 million copies.
Undoubtedly there are some Sony first party games that have had less than stellar sales such as Folklore, Genji: Days of the Blade, Formula One: Championship addition, NBA 07, 08, &09.
These games have all sold less than 250,000 copies.
Lair only sold close to 350,000 copies (mostly due to control issues that initially plagued the game at its launch), and The Eye of Judgment sold just above 250,000 copies (this game was/is bundled with the PSEye camera).
All of the games that had the lower sales came out early in the PS3's life and most of them just didn't garner attention or where poorly executed.
Since those titles were released, in the first year of the PS3's life, all the other first party games have sold very well.
Anyone who says 1 million+ sales is not good needs to think about it.
All of the games listed above, other than Killzone 2, are brand new IP's with no history or lineage with gamers.
Any developer who created a new IP and sold more than 1 million copies on one console would be very happy.
Even with development cost increasing this generation, 1 million is still a solid sales figure for a video game.
Now the 360 has had some exclusives, some that sold extremely well, even better than any PS3 exclusive released thus far.
Since we are focusing on new IP's, then I will not include Halo in this argument but I will include them from a sales perspective.
Halo 3 sold almost 10 million, Gears of War sold almost 6 million, Gears of War 2 sold almost 5 million, Forza 2 sold almost 4 million, Fable 2 sold almost 3 million, Mass Effect sold just over 2 million, Project Gotham Racing 4 sold just over 1.
5 million, Crackdown sold 1.
5 million, Viva Piñata sold almost 1.
5 million, Project Gotham Racing 3 sold almost 1.
5 million, Perfect Dark Zero sold almost 1.
5 million and Halo Wars has sold just over 1 million copies.
Ninja Gaiden 2, Lost Odyssey, and Rockstar Games: Table Tennis, Test Drive Unlimited, Too Human, Blue Dragon, Scene It: Lights, Camera, Action and Banjo and Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts have all sold between 500,000 and 1 million.
Microsoft also has a few games that sold very poorly as did Sony.
Remember I said that only new IP's would be included and that cuts down the 360's list in almost half since games like Halo, PGR and Ninja Gaiden were all on other consoles prior to this generation and they had a fan base already.
The point that I am trying to make is that both consoles have some exclusive titles that have sold well, some better than other especially the 360, but in my opinion Sony has the more compelling exclusive titles.
With all new IP's such as inFamous, Heavy Rain, Demon Soul's, The Agency, DC Universe Online and MAG on the calendar for release within the next year, Sony seems to be building up a very good lineup of exclusive first party title without depending on third party developers too much.
The point that I am trying to make is that even if a game does not sell 10 million copies like Call of Duty or GTA, it doesn't mean the game didn't sell well or that the game is bad.
Most games that sell those types of numbers have already created a brand, such as Halo, and if the past is any indication then these types of franchises will continue to sell very well.
What Sony has done is created a catalogue of games that they can potentially continue to use for years as long as the sales support each franchise enough to give reason for sequels, and it is the best decision Sony has made this generation.
Sony was forced to change their strategy since they were already losing money and could not afford to pay third party developers like Microsoft could at the time.
Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony all have great games and features to offer gamers so it is important to remember that we the people decide what games will succeed or fail based on sales.
As far as I know Microsoft has not announced too many new IP's yet (although E3 would be the perfect time) and that could be the difference in the end between the PS3 and the 360, first party exclusives.
If Microsoft does not come up with any new IP's in the next year, Sony may eventually have a much better lineup of exclusive titles than Microsoft.
You can only depend on third party developers for so long, just ask Sony.
P.
S.
- At the end of the day people should stop focusing so much on numbers and look at the actual games, no matter what system they are on, and play these games so they can determine their quality and execution themselves.
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