Theres only been 1 GT PS3 game this gen, 1 GOW game so far, one full MGS title. Sony should have exploited these franchises more, especially GT. Sacrificing finite resources on franchises that PS3 fans want as much as they can get to develop hit-or-miss exclusives is questionable. 

Indeed.

That is too bad, Resistance 3 is an impressive game.

Resistance 2 killed the franchise and that's all there is to it. R3 would need to have been beyond good across the board to salvage things.

I still feel the setting was one of the best for an FPS yet, but it was squandered with the see-sawing between gameplay styles and seeming changing of the concept from one game to the next.

Letting it go - at least for a while anyway - seems the best choice.

Where the difference lies is frequency. Both now have their top 4 franchises, but only MS excels because of they like to expand on what their fans like rather then trying ideas that they may not want. They have XBLA for that. 

Below im comparing the top selling franchises. 

1. Halo lifetime 360 sales =  30.5 M,     GT lifetime PS3 sales = 7.66 M

2. Gears of War lifetime 360 sales = 17.8 M,     Uncharted lifetime PS3 sales = 14.25

3. Forza Motorsport lifetime 360 sales = 11.3 M,     LBP lifetime PS3 sales = 7.48 M

4. Fable lifetime 360 sales = 8.8 M,    GOW lifetime PS3 sales = 6.87

As you can see, Sony has 4 top franchises as does MS, but it is frequency that really separates the two. It isn't enough to just make 1 or 2 games for a blockbuster franchise. If your fans want more, you give them more. But thats the 360 fanbase talking. Both groups have their separate tastes. 

2 GOW games, 3 Uncharted games, 1 GT, 1 MGS, 2 LBPs. And TLOU has some great potential. That's 9/10 big sellers spread over 7 years, which is pretty damn good. Infact, it's better than what Microsoft has achieved, and at the same time they managed to get quite a few high quality, though niche titles out there as well. Is it a questionable business decision? Maybe. But it's brilliant for the core gamer.

Just a small thing, but GT's lifetime PS3 sales is 11.75 million.  You're forgetting 5 Prologue.

Anyway, I was literally just typing a reply to you from one of your other quotes, I'd gotten this so far:

"The problem with stuff like that is you get to the inevitable "Where can the series go from here?"  I mean, I'm looking forward to playing God of War: Ascension, but I feel like Kratos' story has played out already, and they had sharpened the gameplay into a fine tip by GoW 3.  Making sequels just for the sake of sequels - no matter how much money it would make you - just doesn't seem like a good idea.  And it doesn't seem like the way Sony do things at the moment, either. 

In the case of God of War, I think it just needs reinventing.  Go with Jaffe's original idea of covering a different area of mythology.  The problem with this would be that Kratos would probably be lost in the process, and I bet Sony aren't willing to do that yet.

As for Gran Turismo, look at the sales of Forza 3 compared to 4.  Obviously Forza 4 would have turned a tidy profit for Microsoft, but the market just wasn't really there.  Anyone who wanted to play a racing sim on the 360 bought Forza 3, or indeed Forza 2 before it.  I like what Sony have done with GT - updating the game constantly with DLC and patches (also, we had Gran Turismo 5 Prologue earlier, so it's safe to say that Sony milked their money's worth out of it).  I mean, Polyphony dragging their feet with the release didn't help, but the way they've handled things since then has been decent."

Anyway, I'll finish this wall of text by echoing what APM just said.  From a business perspective - yes, it does seem a little odd that Sony haven't tried to milk the cash cow of their core franchises absolutely dry.  Which doesn't always have to be the case - Halo is the obvious exception of this.

But from a gamer point of view, which is the main way I would look at it, it's a brilliant decision.  I love God of War, LittleBigPlanet, Uncharted.  But I'm happy with the games they've put out for the PS3 - I don't want any more of them.  LBP2 is all the creation platformer I need for this generation.  God of War 3 was a fantastic ending to a trilogy.  You know, so on and so forth.  Even though I'm not a fan of Gran Turismo, I don't see how releasing Gran Turismo 6 tomorrow would help fans since Polyphony already supporting the current game so well.

And instead getting more of the same from franchises I've already played, I've had loads of different experiences on the PS3 - some of which I've enjoyed more than the big sellers.  It totally depends how you look at it. 

Resistance 3 has sold well though? its at like 1.13mil and it was only released Chrsitmas 2011? it will probs go over 2mil lifetime! i think there is a place for Resistance 4 on the PS3 or PS4 at some point tbh

The series has halved in sales with each game... unfortunately, it's done for. The only way it'll survive is if we get a massive reboot with PS4 and said reboot is critically acclaimed (like meta in the 90s).

but it will prbs sell as much as Resistance 2? plus these games selling a million copys brings in a nice amont of money. its not like the series is loosing money! HOW is Ratchet and Clank getting like a 5th game on the PS3 this Christmas and Resistance is being dropped.