Club Nintendo

[Runa216]

I have an odd obsession with numbers, so sometimes I just like to compare and contrast things while doing all I can to see, for my personal references, how well games and movies are doing overall. Today I got bored and updated my "Console Exclusives" Charts that I started in 2017 to see how well Switch, PS4, and Xbox One were doing compared to one another in terms of what I feel is the best representation of what an 'exclusive' is. Very few games are TRUE exclusives anymore, as many games are on PC or mobile, so I've only been comparing and contrasting between the consoles of this generation. If a game came out on Switch but not PS4/Xbox One, then it's a Switch Console exclusive even if it's on PC or 3DS. Same with PS4 games being on PS3/Vita or what-have-you.

So I did a thing where I used Metacritic to see how many good or great games came out on each system, regardless of whether they were on PC or whatever. I had to make a few rules, though:

1 - Console Exclusives only (PC/Mobile/Past gens don't matter, it's a 3-way console fight)
2 - Must have 20 reviews (I can't do every little indie game that nobody's heard of or cares about)
3 - Numbers are for this year only (If they come out on other consoles later, it still counts for this year)
4 - Reviews are limited to 75+ scores (Anything lower is considered mediocre on Metacritic)

Pretty simple rules, but I had to narrow it down to games that were well-known and well-reviewed. You know, the sorts of games that have an impact on the industry. I did it this way because I don't have all week to sift through every indie game that has 3 reviews or the games that most outlets didn't like or resonate with. 20 reviews, 75 or higher on Metacritic. Other consoles don't matter, the future has yet to matter. For the sake of this data, it's up to this year only.

Witht that said, I have 3 stages of what I consider 'good or great' games. Anything 90 or above, 80 or above, and 75 or above. The 90 or above games are the movers and shakers, the games that really resonated with players and/or critics. The cream of the Crop. 80 or higher is consiered to be a great game. A game that can help define a console or have significant impact on gaming. 80 seems to be the threshold for quality in modern times and the number I used to adhere to when I was on GameRankings (That site is now sadly defunct and I have to move on). However, now that I use Metacritic, I extended the numbers to be anything 75 and higher, because that's what Metacritic uses as its green, positive scores. Not mixed or decent, but positive.

Also, these numbers are subject to change. The year is not over, so not only can existing games get new reviews that can alter their scores, but there will be more games coming out that may or may not fall within this threshold. And with the PS5 and Xbox Series X coming out within a month or so, I imagine there will be some movers and shakers in the industry to come.

So without further ado, here are some interesting numbers:

For the 90 and above category, we currently have 4 games. 2 on PS4, and 2 on Nintendo Switch. None on Xbox One. I thought Microsoft Flight Simulator was going to be on my list, but it's PC exclusive so it doesn't count for a console discussion.

PS4 - 2 games
NS - 2 games
XBO - 0 games

For the 80 and above category (Which includes the 90 and above category), we have a similar story. I counted 9 more PS4 games, giving it a total of 11, and 8 more Switch games, giving it a total of 10. Again, no Xbox games in there, as even the ones that I thought were exclusive like Ori and the Will of the Wisps as well as Wasteland 3 are on other consoles, Switch and PS4, respectively.

PS4 - 11 Games
NS - 10 games
XBO - 0 games

Going further down the list to include all games with a 75 or higher, Nintendo got a bit of a boost - as a lot of their indie games are good but not great and Paper Mario was a bit of a mixed bag. Nintendo got 7 more titles added to the list, while Sony got 4 more. This brought up our totals to 17 on Switch and 15 on PS4. This is also where the only game for Xbox on this entire list is added, Tell me Why with a respectable if unremarkable 78 score.

NS - 17 Games
PS4 - 15 games
XBO - 1 Game

So yeah! There ya have it! This is why I think that both Nintendo and Sony can do such a good job coexisting. They both have a large number of games (And a surprising number of games - mostly Japanese - that are on both consoles but not Xbox), and both have pretty good-looking futures ahead of them. I'm eagerly anticipating Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Demon's Souls Remake, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, myself. Bravely Default II as well, but I don't think it's coming out this year.

So if anyone needs some hard data when discussing, comparing, and contrasting between the three consoles, this is a pretty thorough breakdown and as good an indicator as any that you're on the right path with a PS4/5 and a Switch!

Here's my actual data, with caveats and notes (Such as the 'also on PC' tag) included as well as their metascores.