Ive been saying this for a while. Many of them sold far less, others sold about the same or just a tad more which wouldn't justify breaking strong bridges or the cost of porting in the first place. It also made it necessary for devs later in this gen to go MP as every series fanbase is now spread thin across multiple consoles. That is a big problem.

Next Generation needs a definitive winner, a unfortunate reality that the gaming industry barely survives if they don't have one. This gen was far too un even and disjointed. Exclusives are the lifeblood of this, and more devs should pick a side and stick to it. This would also encourage a much higher quality of game that has seemingly been lost majority of this gen.

Well, it is impossible to predict alternate realities, but we can look at every game here and see how the purchasers declined every time. From that, and looking at how every franchise was growing exclusively, we can suppose that the next game should have grown again. Sure, we only have two data sources for the Souls series, but most other franchises show growth, and then implosion at multiplat release. So we can say with some accuracy that Dark souls had a good chance of selling better on ps3 than demon's souls, but because of things like multiple console owners and people just not buying ps3's to buy an exclusive, they did what was easy and just bought for their own system. Exclusives DO sell consoles. When someone gets a multiplat, that makes the gamers happy of course, but they likely would've bought the competing console to play said exclusive.

Also, one has to then look to why a franchise is going multiplatform. It could be taking a hit on the quality front, or they see a decline in sales, so they go multiplatform to make up sales.

after persona 4 arena, i doubt you will see another pesona game for the xbox

Dark Sous way better? Not really, Demons Souls was better in many aspects, Dark Souls did have better world/level design.

Or quality could have taken a hit because of porting (bayonetta)
Or they could be greedy, thinking that multiplats will sell double.

Which one of is it right?

Most of these comparisons are 6th vs 7th generation, which isn't really fair. The PS3 install base was much smaller than PS2's during the releases, and only the combined PS360 was comparable and in some comparisons smaller. Which is why you see comparable or smaller results on the 7th gen multiplatform vs PS2.

EDIT: fixed the run-on sentence, ooops. But not before being quoted, damn.

There's been a quality drop in most of the titles you're comparing from those franchises, which I presume will have contributed to the decline.

Now WHY there's been a drop in quality might be something to stem from multi-platform development, but I won't get into that right now. And if anything it's on Sony for teh c3ll.

Because region-locking the online was a smart marketing move... ¬¬ What did they expect?!

Okay, exclusives do sell consoles. I agree with that, but the fact that a franchise can grow after going multiplatform is a possibility too.

However, you should take caution in ^ the bolded part ^ up there. Most other franchises show growth? Look at this:

· Tekken 3 sold more than Tekken 4, which sold more than Tekken 5.

· No Final Fantasy has sold more than FFVII

· Metal Gear Solid 2 is still unmatched in sales in the Metal Gear saga. Metal Gear Solid 4 sold actually more than 3, because it was fresh, it was a new take on things and it proved to be awesome. (Which kinda supports my theory).

· The first Devil May Cry is the one with most sales. Devil May Cry 2 sold more than Devil May Cry 3, which sold more than Devil May Cry 4.

It's what I told you. A natural progression of sales, on which marketing, game design and luck play a big role.

At the risk of being harsh, most of what you posted there is garbage. A franchise that declines from one itereation to the next is typical, regardless of gonig multiplatform. Also spinoffs and handhelds are silly comparissions.

Rachet and Clank: 3.33 million. Every game after that declines until we get offerings like A41 selling 1 million on PS3. OMG! Staying exlcussive killed the sales of the franchise!

Can you show any third party exclusive that stayed PS exclusive that had sales that actually increased this gen? No? OK, discussion closed.

That said, there is a seperate argument to be made that "masscote" exclusives are better off as exclusives. I am speaking of Crash Bandicoot. Crash is a weak character and a weak game but it had decent sales because Sony did great marketing of it in order to battle Mario. It probably would have sold like garbage if it wasn't pitched as the next Sonic. To a lesser extent you could say FF7 got a nice boost being pitched as Sony's "Zelda", so to speak. But these are 1st party titles really. As far as 3rd party titles go, there is absolutely no evidence to say that staying exclusive is good for them, or that exclusive/multiplat has any impact on sales.