I am surprised how many think that exclusives are that much of a factor to buy a console, really. Of course it is one part of the equation but look at which games sold the most last gen: it was multiplatform games.
If we take VGC's numbers and assume that exclusives are one of the main reasons, if not the main reason and that every exclusive game is a reason to buy a console and that there is no overlap, meaning that people don't buy multiple exclusives on one console and take playstation3:
HW total: 86.29
Best selling exclusives:
Gran Turismo 5 (the only exclusive being in the top 10) : 10.73
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception : 6.79
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves : 6.68
The Last of Us : 5.88
LittleBigPlanet : 5.88
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune : 4.92
God of War III : 4.82
Resistance: Fall of Man : 4.33
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue : 4.20
MotorStorm : 3.87
Sports Champions : 3.84
Gran Turismo 6 : 3.47
LittleBigPlanet 2 : 3.39
Heavy Rain : 3.07
Killzone 2 : 3.01
inFAMOUS : 2.92
Killzone 3 : 2.76
God of War Collection : 2.60
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction : 2.56
Resistance 2 : 2.47
==============================================================
Total : 88.19
So it takes 20 exclusives to overcome the total amount of consoles sold, with Resistance being at number 71 in the overall list. The tie ratio for PS3 is 11.02.
I think it is clear that people only use exclusives as an argument on enthusiast forums, the majority buys games, no matter if it is exclusive or not. There are way more reasons to go for a console than just exclusives, as indicated by several points in this post.
