Any comparison of games for several platforms starts discussions, which titles should be included and which titles should be excluded. Only retail games? Only exclusives? Which kind of exclusives? What about DLCs, stand-alone expansions, free-to-play games, imports, ...?
Obviously a (good) exclusive is more important for a platform than a multi-platform game. And most indies or smaller games are not as important ad a full size retail game of the same quality. On the other hand, many multi-platform games are way better than a mediocre exclusive and some indies are way better than some mediocre retail games.
So instead of ditching these games completely, I'm trying to add a bit of context to the game lists and multiply the MetaScore of these games with an "exclusivity factor" and a "scope factor"... the product are "points" for each game, which can lead to a bit fairer comparisons (I hope).
My actual "exclusivity factor" is 4x for "true exclusive" (NO other platform, not even PCs, smartphones or tablets), 3x for Playstation/Xbox/Nintendo exclusives (f.e. XBO + 360), 2.5x for Microsoft exclusives (Xbox + PC) and 2x for time exclusives (f.e. Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty, Toki Tori 2 and PvZ: Garden Warfare but not the PS4 version of Outlast, because it was already available for PC). Exceptional versions (f.e. the WiiU versions of NfS Most Wanted and Rayman Legends) also get a 2x factor.
My actual "scope factor" is 3x for "full size" retail games, 1.5x for retail versions of small/short games (f.e. Child of Light), 2x for bigger games without retail release (f.e. Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty) and 1x for the usual eShop/PSN/XBL-only games and DLCs with less content. Why the different factor between retail games and digital only games if the scope and quality are the same? Because the impact of a retail release is still higher than of a digital release... many gamers insist on retail versions, it's a matter of perception. But "big" console games wihout retail versions are still rare, it's more a problem for handheld games (f.e. Ace Attorney 5 and many Vita games).
I included all games down to a MetaScore of 70, but everyone has his own quality preference. So here are the stacked up "points" of games with a MetaScore of 75 and above, 80 and above, etc.:
No matter where you draw your "quality line"... the Wii U has still a better game library than PS4 and XBO, but PS4 catches up fast when you look at the 2014 numbers.
