Words Of Wisdom said: JGarret said: Because of the more diversified userbase? We'd be seeing high numbers across the board if that were the case and we're not.

 You maybe don't see it in High sellers but in the amount of million sellers..

If I am right PS2 haves more than 200 Million sellers.


Maybe the 200 best sellers on PS2 have 5 times more software sales than GC and Xbox 200 best sellers;

MANUELF said: OMG Wii sell a lot of software :)

 i think i should repeat that for everybody:

OMG Wii sell a lot of software :)

Words Of Wisdom said: Kasz216 said: Words Of Wisdom said: JGarret said: Because of the more diversified userbase? We'd be seeing high numbers across the board if that were the case and we're not. Hasn't the PS2 sold much more total software then the Cube and the Xbox? Probably not 5X but i'd guess... a lot more. I don't think that matters. I think the only number a game developer cares about is the projected sales of their game rather than all games on the platform put together.

Why not? For every developer not effected by this there are like 5 or 6 that are at least? So you would want to put all your midranged and lower games on the most popular console for sure... as well as anything expiermental that leaves large chance of failure.  Or even any New IP you want to get started up.

Leaving only your tried and true can't miss games on the systems that sell less.

Because it's going to be a lot easier to get that first mil or two on the console with the biggest userbase.

It took me a time but:


GC top 100 sellers

Total software:

102.49 million


PS2 top 100 sellers

Total software:

384.94 million


But how lower you go on the top software sellers how bigger the marge in fact it is no hard to believe that PS2 sold for sure 6 times more software than the GC.

Endimion, the second hand games market is only big in the US. It's growing in Europe but nowhere near the size it is in the US...BUT, it's completely outlawed in Japan. Granted this doesn't suggest it had no impact on software sales but it should be taken into consideration.

Also, why is it that the second hand PS2 games can be factored into this equation but not GC or Xbox? Did no one trade those games in? Wouldn't the same % of console owners trade in games and buy second hand regardless of console? That being the case, the ratio still doesn't bode well for PS2's best selling games. I'll grant it has likely a proper ratio for total million sellers (5 or 6 to 1) but as a ratio of best sellers, they really missed a lot of gamers by total install base.

Words Of Wisdom said: Leave it to leo-j to completely miss the point. Okay let's take this slowly. According VGC, the PS2 hasn't hit 130m yet. In fact VGC has it just under 118m. Already you're exaggerating. And my point is quite honestly this: If you have an install base is anywhere between 5 and 6 times that of your competitors, why are the game sales not reflecting those multipliers. According to VGC, the highest selling game on the PS2 had 15.44m sales with nothing over 10m if you cut out the top 4 which then drops to 8.89m. The highest selling game on the GC and XB were 7.08m and 8.45m respectively. The PS2 has about 5~6 times as much hardware out there as the Gamecube so why is it that its titles don't reflect that? If the highest selling GC game is 7.08m, why don't we see PS2 games selling in quantities greater than 40m?

Now, you do raise a very interesting point that is more than worth discussion, so I think it's really important that you not make misleading arguments.  Cut out the top 4 on Xbox and GC like you did to the PS2, and you get about 2.2m and 3.5m, respectively.  So the PS2 #5 seller sold 2.5-3.5 times as much as the other systems' #5 sellers.  That's still not the 5x+ advantage the console numbers have but it's a much bigger difference than your post seems to be painting.

Final-Fan said: Words Of Wisdom said: Leave it to leo-j to completely miss the point. Okay let's take this slowly. According VGC, the PS2 hasn't hit 130m yet. In fact VGC has it just under 118m. Already you're exaggerating. And my point is quite honestly this: If you have an install base is anywhere between 5 and 6 times that of your competitors, why are the game sales not reflecting those multipliers. According to VGC, the highest selling game on the PS2 had 15.44m sales with nothing over 10m if you cut out the top 4 which then drops to 8.89m. The highest selling game on the GC and XB were 7.08m and 8.45m respectively. The PS2 has about 5~6 times as much hardware out there as the Gamecube so why is it that its titles don't reflect that? If the highest selling GC game is 7.08m, why don't we see PS2 games selling in quantities greater than 40m? Now, you do raise a very interesting point that is more than worth discussion, so I think it's really important that you not make misleading arguments. Cut out the top 4 on Xbox and GC like you did to the PS2, and you get about 2.2m and 3.5m, respectively. So the PS2 #5 seller sold 2.5-3.5 times as much as the other systems' #5 sellers. That's still not the 5x+ advantage the console numbers have but it's a much bigger difference than your post seems to be painting.

Fair enough.  I didn't check the curve for the other systems when I posted that.

Chart up to date.

Chart up to date.

The source wrote a great piece that touches upon some of this data and more.

http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=1281

nice thread. Nintendo and Microsoft have improved!