How important are first party games to a console?

[Salnax]

Let's look at the Xbox and PlayStation.

The 360 had a bunch of top-selling exclusives, and 6 of its Top 20 selling games are exclusive games. The X1 only has 4 exclusives in its Top 20, and they didn't sell as well in comparison. That, as much as the PlayStation's successes, is why the X1 is doing worse than the 360 did.

The PS3 and PS4 have a similar number of high-selling exclusives, but the PS4 had the advantage of getting these games within the first three years of its life. The PS3's big exclusives besides MGS4 didn't come until 2009 or later, while the PS4 had some solid exclusives by mid-2016 (Uncharted 4, Uncharted Collection, Last of Us Remastered, Killzone: Shadow Fall, and Ratchet & Clank). Lo and behold, the PS4 had better early years than the PS3 (though this clearly wasn't the only factor).