This is a shallow analysis of VGChartz data on hardware/software tie-ratio. This is the ratio of the AVERAGE number of games bought per console.
Digitial downloads are (probably) not accounted for.
The "Rest of the World" column is as often in VGChartz data unreliable (Saturn has the largest attach ratio with 15 games per console).
We start with home-consoles in Japan.
Here we see that since the NES,SNES,PS1 and PS2 the attach ratio has gone down.
PS3 and X360 may have good numbers thanks to the long generation but it is still 40% less than the first Playstation.
Wii has a very bad attach ratio and Wii U even worse. PS4 also has a very low attach ratio but it is still possible to improve.
| PlayStation (PS) | 12.61 |
| Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) | 11.67 |
| Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) | 11.35 |
| PlayStation 2 (PS2) | 9.60 |
| Sega Genesis (GEN) | 7.94 |
| PlayStation 3 (PS3) | 7.83 |
| Xbox 360 (X360) | 7.77 |
| Xbox (XB) | 7.32 |
| Nintendo 64 (N64) | 7.18 |
| Dreamcast (DC) | 6.82 |
| GameCube (GC) | 6.82 |
| Sega Saturn (SAT) | 6.15 |
| Wii (Wii) | 5.45 |
| Xbox One (XOne) | 4.86 |
| PlayStation 4 (PS4) | 4.65 |
| Wii U (WiiU) | 3.96 |
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Tie-Ratio/JP/
Europe
Xbox have had a good fight with Playstation in Europe and despite PS selling more consoles the Xbox faithful seems to buy more games.
Wii was not very successful in selling games.
Europe did not begin to buy many games until the PS2, XB, GC generation.
PS4 and XB1 are on track to have good attach ratios.
| Xbox 360 (X360) | 10.92 |
| PlayStation 2 (PS2) | 10.20 |
| PlayStation 3 (PS3) | 10.06 |
| Xbox (XB) | 9.20 |
| GameCube (GC) | 9.01 |
| Wii (Wii) | 7.99 |
| Xbox One (XOne) | 7.65 |
| PlayStation (PS) | 7.61 |
| Wii U (WiiU) | 7.49 |
| Dreamcast (DC) | 7.36 |
| PlayStation 4 (PS4) | 7.11 |
| Nintendo 64 (N64) | 6.46 |
| Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) | 5.80 |
| Sega Genesis (GEN) | 5.78 |
| Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) | 5.09 |
| Sega Saturn (SAT) | 3.30 |
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Tie-Ratio/EU/
North America
It seems it is the opposite of Europe and Sony fans buy more games than MS fans.
Dreamcast sold a lot of games in US despite its short life.
For some reason the attach ratio for the current generation is lower in NA than in EU. Could this be a digital download phenomenon?
| PlayStation 3 (PS3) | 13.49 |
| Xbox 360 (X360) | 12.34 |
| PlayStation 2 (PS2) | 12.27 |
| Xbox (XB) | 12.16 |
| Wii (Wii) | 11.24 |
| GameCube (GC) | 10.76 |
| PlayStation (PS) | 9.19 |
| Dreamcast (DC) | 8.89 |
| Nintendo 64 (N64) | 6.93 |
| Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) | 6.81 |
| Wii U (WiiU) | 6.44 |
| PlayStation 4 (PS4) | 6.16 |
| Xbox One (XOne) | 6.08 |
| Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) | 5.81 |
| Sega Genesis (GEN) | 5.62 |
| Sega Saturn (SAT) | 3.78 |
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Tie-Ratio/NA/
Handheld consoles
Handheld attach ratio is consistently lower than home consoles and the ratio is between three and six games per console.
Handhelds are least popular in EU.
| Platform | North America | Europe | Japan | Global |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo DS (DS) | 6.82 | 3.76 | 5.41 | 5.45 |
| Game Boy Advance (GBA) | 5.24 | 3.84 | 4.31 | 4.63 |
| PlayStation Vita (PSV) | 6.50 | 3.53 | 4.24 | 4.38 |
| Game Boy (GB) | 4.35 | 3.68 | 4.84 | 4.22 |
| Nintendo 3DS (3DS) | 4.23 | 3.60 | 4.76 | 4.19 |
| PlayStation Portable (PSP) | 5.12 | 2.90 | 3.92 | 3.76 |
| GameGear (GG) | 3.97 | 3.11 | 3.39 | 3.60 |
