We understand that, More Hardware sales = More games get developed for that Hardware
We like more games to choose from, as this equates to having a higher chance to play games we like. (Well… as long as discoverability and curation are still high enough)
So, I was curious how each console’s library has faired, compared to its install base. (In a way, how efficient each platform was at garnering developer support per console sold.)
So, basically, Total games in a platform’s library divided by Millions of consoles sold. (ex. A total game library of 500 games on a platform that sold 40 million consoles = 12.5 Games released per million consoles sold)
Now, looking at Gen 3,4,5,6, and 7 consoles as those have all pretty much completed releasing games.
Nintendo Consoles
NES - 11.5 Games Per Million
SNES - 15.9 Games Per Million
N64 - 11.8 Games Per Million
NGC - 30.4 Games Per Million
Wii - 15.1 Games Per Million
Sega Consoles
SMS - 30.7 Games Per Million
GEN - 30.4 Games Per Million
SAT - 67.7 Games Per Million
DC - 77.6 Games Per Million
Sony Consoles
PS1 - 23.5 Games Per Million
PS2 - 15.9 Games Per Million
PS3 - 16.5 Games Per Million
Microsoft Consoles
XB - 42.4 Games Per Million
X360 - 14.2 Games Per Million
Some interesting observations here.
Looking at this, we see that consoles with low hardware sales are (by proportion) usually well supported relative to their install base.
Interestingly, a console with high hardware sales seem to consistantly have between 11-16 games released per million consoles sold. (Perhaps a slightly useful metric for forecasting game library sizes.)
Also, I imagine digital games will have a different trend as it is more accessible to developers.
And, on that note, does a console’s digital library effect its size of its retail library?
Observing the PS3’s and Xbox360’s libraries, this indicates that it does not. (obviously more data would be needed to see that more conclusively)
Any other interesting observations anyone can perhaps gleen from this???
