I often see it mentioned in these forums that Xbox 360 exclusives sell so much better than Playstation 3 exclusives; however, when looking at the bestselling games for each console in this website's database I uncovered evidence that that could be no more than a myth or at least that if it's true it's not in the staggering amount that forum poster comments would seem to suggest.

Now it is true that "Kinect Adventures" which is a bundled game with Kinect has sold over 18 million copies; however, I think that one can be thrown out since it's a bundled game and due to the fact that I'm pretty sure that most 360 Diehards don't really want the 360 to be remembered primarily as the home of "Kinect Adventures".

And its true that "Halo" is one of the bestselling game series of all time.  That's an undeniable fact and no PS3 exclusive shooter comes anywhere near equaling its sales.  However, its also true that "Gran Turismo" is one of the bestselling game series of all time and "Forza" may have its fanboys, but no "Forza" racer has come anywhere near equalling the sales of the latest "Gran Turismo" game for PS3.  So, I really think those two can be considered a wash.

Now, when you dig a bit deeper, you find that the 360s second most popular hardcore series "Gears of War" has sales in the 5 to 6 million unit range.  And, I would have to admit that that number looks pretty impressive.  It's definitely not in the "Halo" games level of success range, but 5 to 6 million still looks impressive.  However, it turns out there's a problem with that because when you look at the sales for the "Uncharted" games and "Metal Gear Solid 4" on Playstation 3, guess what you find?  The "Uncharted" games and "Metal Gear Solid 4" on Playstation 3 both have Sales in the 5 to 6 million range.  They may not have sold quite as many games as the games in the "Gears" series, but I think the sales for the games are actually quite comparable and certainly nothing that would lead one to think that the sales of the "Gears" games totally crush the sales of the "Uncharted" games as forum rhetoric would have it.

So, I think it becomes pretty apparent that the oft times repeated mantra that 360 exclusives sell so much better than PS3 exclusives turns out to be nothing more than a myth.  What do you think?

This calls for charts!

It's not that big of a deal, really, and I don't think it's something sensible people fight over. If anyone does try to turn it into something meaningful then they're probably a fanboy with a poor grasp of logic and thus not really worth paying attention to.

Microsoft develops only a few franchises, most of which are "blockbuster" status. Sony has a much wider range of titles at different budget levels. It's just a difference in philosophy. I think pretty much anyone with common sense can see that, so I'm not much worried about those who can't.

I did some calculations myself. I added up all the exclusives that have sold over 1 million and this is what it looks like:

Ps3: 90.08

360:89.56

Very very close, less than 1 million difference. I didn't include Kinect Adventures for obvious reasons or any 360/PC titles so that means no Gears 1, Fable 3, L4D1&2, Alan Wake, etc. Of course these numbers will change, but this is what it stands at right now.

So they are equal after you disqualify a few entries and give or take a million? I get your point but your reasoning is slightly disingenuous and ignores certain facts that many of the games listed were also popular pack-ins.

The PS3 exclusives combined will outsell the 360 exclusives combined at the end of this gen by a good margin...

its not a myth. both 3rd party and exclusives were selling more on 360 because of its earlier release it always had a bigger userbase to start with. on top of that sony didnt help themselves with the launch of ps3 and slow sales for the first 2 years. fast forward to now and its very different. sony have a good amount of high selling exclusives and alot of 3rd party games have started to sell more on ps3 from the first week. so it was more of an early generation thing. some people still keep saying it though.

If we include games like gears 1, fable 3, etc. (which we should imo) it would be too close to call.  

I don't understand why kinect adventures is being removed from the equation. For every kinect adventures bundle sold with a 360, some random ps3 exclusive is being bundled with a ps3.

What difference does it make if its Uncharted 2, Infamous, Forza 4, or Kinect Adventures in the bundle. None of those games are an actual sale.

And when you add them all up, total bundled games sold for each system each year will be around the same, especially considering how poorly kinect 360s sell on none holiday months.

Basically every single ps3 and 360 sold during the holiday months is bundled with at least 1 game, usually more. So it either makes sense to keep all bundled sales or remove them all. Since we can't remove them all because we don't know the exact amounts for each game, they should all be kept for comparisions.

Here are the 360's Top 25 Best Selling Exclusives:

1 Kinect Adventures 18.27M
2 Halo 3 11.67M
3 Halo Reach 9.29M
4 Gears of War 2 6.56M
5 Halo 3: ODST 6.11M
6 Gears of War 5.98M
7 Gears of War 3 5.67M
8 Halo 4 5.52M
9 Forza Motorsport 3 5.22M
10 Kinect Sports 4.91M
11 Fable III 4.88M
12 Fable II 4.09M
13 Left 4 Dead 2 3.57M
14 Left 4 Dead 3.18M
15 Forza Motorsport 4 3.08M
16 Dance Central 2.01M
17 Mass Effect 2.72M
18 Halo Wars 2.23M
19 Saint's Row 2.13M
20 Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary 2.06M
21 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction 1.99M
21 Dead Rising 1.99M
23 PGR 4 -- Project Gotham Racing 4 1.97M
24 Crackdown 1.68M
25 Viva Pinata 1.53M

These would have made the 360s list but they were later ported to Playstation 3
Mass Effect 2 2.94M
Saint's Row 2 2.71M
Mass Effect 3 2.60M
Bioshock 2.54M
Saint's Row The Third 2.33M
Bioshock 2 1.99M

And these are the Playstation 3s Top 25 Best Selling Exclusives

1 Gran Turismo 5 8.32M
2 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 5.97M
3 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 5.71M
4 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception 5.25M
5 Little Big Planet 5.05M
6 God of War III 4.49M
7 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune 4.44M
8 Gran Turismo 5 Prologue 4.11M
9 Resistance: Fall of Man 4.09M
10 Motorstorm 3.76M
11 Sports Champions 3.42M
12 Killzone 2 2.88M
13 Little Big Planet 2 2.77M
14 God of War Collection 2.52M
15 InFamous 2.46M
16 Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction 2.40M
17 Killzone 3 2.38M
18 Resistance 2 2.34M
19 Heavy Rain 2.24M
20 Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time 1.67M
21 Demon's Souls 1.66M
22 Heavenly Sword 1.57M
23 Infamous 2 1.44M
24 MAG: Massive Action Game 1.26M
25 Motorstorm: Pacific Rift 1.24M
25 Resistance 3 1.24M

With the exception of the "Halo" series and "Kinect Adventures", it seems like the PS3 hold its own to me and the statement that it doesn't sell any games in comparison to the 360 is unfounded.