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Scoobes on 26 July 2015
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NightDragon83 said:
Scoobes said:

As I said before, it made sense for Sony to buy out developers in the PS1 era because they pretty much didn't have any of their own. Less so in the PS2 days when Sony were still reliant on third parties, but by the PS3, Sony had allowed these purchased developers to fluorish.

MS have been in the console business for a long time now; plenty of time for them to have a diverse and large enough portfolio of first party games that these third party deals should not be that important. If we look at the studios they have built up at the start of the gen, their first party output should be massive.

Oh, but they are important, because despite Sony having a much stronger stable of 1st party studios and IPs over the past gen with the PS3 and now the PS4 (of which Sony fans are always quick to remind everyone, of course), the fact remains that generation after generation it's the 3rd party titles that are the driving force behind console sales for Sony, not their own IPS.  Here's the current top 10 best selling PS4 games... notice how many are developed or published by Sony or Sony's developers are present here:

Pos Game Year Genre Publisher North America Europe Japan Rest of World Global
1. Grand Theft Auto V 2014 Action Take-Two Interactive 2.43 3.11 0.18 1.47 7.19
2. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 2014 Shooter Activision 2.53 2.77 0.12 1.33 6.76
3. FIFA 15 2014 Sports Electronic Arts 0.65 3.85 0.04 1.69 6.21
4. Destiny 2014 Action Activision 2.17 1.75 0.14 0.87 4.94
5. Watch Dogs 2014 Action Ubisoft 1.29 1.57 0.10 0.75 3.70
6. Assassin's Creed: Unity 2014 Action Ubisoft 0.89 1.61 0.07 0.74 3.32
7. Far Cry 4 2014 Shooter Ubisoft 0.83 1.63 0.07 0.74 3.28
8. The Last of Us 2014 Adventure Sony Computer Entertainment 1.36 1.14 0.07 0.57 3.14
9. Call of Duty: Ghosts 2013 Shooter Activision 1.56 1.22 0.05 0.27 3.10
10. FIFA Soccer 14 2013 Sports Electronic Arts 0.56 1.79 0.11 0.30 2.76

http://www.vgchartz.com/platform/69/playstation-4/

Only one 1st party title is in the top 10... and it's a "remastered" version of a last gen game.  And all the rest of the top 10 games are multiplatform  / cross gen titles as well.  You have to go all the way down to #14 on the list to find the first 1st party title in the sales charts that's also exclusive to PS4.  3rd party titles and the perception that the PS4 is the lead platform for said games are the reason the PS4 is leading in sales... not because of the supposed strength of Sony's stable of 1st party exclusives.

All those titles shipped day and date with the X1 versions, so where is the exclusive "deal"? Maybe you mean the DLC specific deals, but some of those titles have X1 specific DLC so obviously those deals are pointless considering the sales on PS4 are still so strong.

First party is supposed to be there to supplement the library with exclusive titles you can't get anywhere else. Franchises like Last of Us, Uncharted, Gran Turismo, God of War on Sony's side and Halo, Forza and Gears of War on Microsoft's help to push the consoles (look at the sales of those franchises on last gen hardware). The promise of exclusive content from established franchises in the future help to push consoles. The promise of new exclusive, exciting games help to push consoles. Having third party games is essential to a successful console (didn't really suggest otherwise), but you also need unique selling points which is what first party exclusives give.




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