PS3 exclusive sales... whats the deal?

[Reasonable]

mrstickball said:

I think the 'less diverse' argument for the 360 is laughable at best.

Care to name any genre that the PS3 unanimously sells better at?

The X360 has 64 different million-selling games. The PS3 has 27. 27! Do you realize how bad that is for a supposedly 'more diverse' library?

Lets look at a few genres:

Racing:

• GRID: X360 leads by 140,000 Units
• NFS ProStreet: X360 leads by 370,000 Units
• Pure: X360 leads by 160,000 units

Shooter:

• CoD: Modern Warfare: 360 leads by 3.02 million units
• Blacksite Area 51: 360 leads by 190,000 units
• James Bond - Quantum of Solace: 360 leads by 260,000 units

Family:

• Guitar Hero III: 360 leads by 1.1 million units
• The Simpsons Game: 360 leads by 600,000 units
• Lego Batman: 360 leads by 150,000 units

Action:

• Assassin's Creed: 360 leads by 1.12 million units
• Devil May Cry 4: PS3 leads by 160,000 units
• Tomb Raider Underworld: PS3 leads by 110,000 units (X360 is eating away at the margin, however.)

Sports:

• Madden 09: 360 leads by 690,000 units
• Fifa 09: PS3 leads by 280,000 units
• WWE Smackdown vs. Raw: 360 leads by 110,000 units

RPG:

• Fallout 3: 360 leads by 810,000 units

The argument that the PS3 user base is more diverse is beyond hilarious. Why is it that 90% of all multi-plat games sell better on the 360? To me, that doesn't mean that the PS3 is more diverse: it tells me the 360 beats the PS3 pretty badly when it comes to diversity. When the PS3 has a very low 5.5-6.0) attach ratio vs. the 360 (8.0+), it also shows me further the PS3 userbase lacks diversity, since they aren't buying many games to diversify their library, either. The rare instances the PS3 actually wins are usually skewed with heavy Japanese sales such as a DMC4, PES, and such. But again, that's 10% of titles, which isn't diversity.

The simple reason the PS3 gets it's rear end handed to it in SW sales:

• Bad attach ratios
• Lack of major exclusive IPs

Those are the 2 best reasons I've found so far.

I'd really like a major rebuttal that shows what genre the PS3 flourishes in that the 360 does not. If there's ever an issue, it's always regional (a game selling more in a specific area or culture) rather than an actual full genre across more than 1-2 games.

 

Just to be clear I'm comparing both the PS3 and the 360 to the PS2 as the definition of a broad library (shovelware and all).  I'm not saying the PS3 has a more diverse library but that via brand and customer expectation its owners are expecting a more diverse library than they're getting.  The 360 has done very well to broaden out over more genres, although its truly big sellers remain shooters/online titles.

For multi-platform titles the 360 should outsell the PS3 - it has more owners so unless the title particularly appeals to PS3 owners it simply cannot fail to outsell the PS3 version.

The OP was why are PS3 titles tending to sell less than 360, and the answer is:

1) smaller install base spread over broader demographic owners and without a clear lead in any territory

2) a more difficult install base to secure big sales in due to 1) above

3) 360 does have a specific core genres it excels in and leads in one specific territory (US, which drives the big sales for Gears, COD, etc)

 

If you look at your own figures you'll see that apart from a few big titles (COD4) the 360 lead tends to be around 200,000 to 300,000 units, which is in line with the install base difference - i.e. the 360 skews to certain demographics.

I do agree though that anyone claiming PS3 itself has a more diverse library of titles is nuts.

Just want to be clear in case you're missreading my own statements as arguing the PS3 does indeed have a more diverse library.