The original Xbox was always regarded as the console for shooters, and this plagued its sales somewhat, especially in Japan. This stigma was attached to the 360 at launch, but has slowly been fading away, how much of this reputation is fact, and has the 360 really helped get rid of it?

Often, people refer to RPGs as an indicator of the 360's software range expanding. RPGs are seen to be the polar opposite of shooters. Whilst shooters are all about action, multiple player, short storied frag fests with as many polygons that can be pushed onto the screen at anyone time, RPGs have a reputation of being slower paced, with longer stories, deeper characterisation, and they're usually designed for the solo player, and the games are often forgiven for a lower-than-average graphics standard (usually citing "length" as a reason which is absolute bullshit when multiple discs are being used).

So, lets get into this with a view VGChartz fueled statistics:

The Xbox sold 8 million RPGs, and 28 million shooters (shooters value is derived from combining "Shooter" and "FPS" genres defined on the game database).

The X360, to date, has sold 15 million RPGs and 57 million shooters.

The Xbox has 37 million sellers with 16 of them being shooters, and 4 being RPGs. The X360 has 61 million sellers with 22 being shooters, and 5 being RPGs.

Well, the obvious fact here is that the 360 has sold a tonne more software than the original Xbox, despite the fact that it's only half way through it's lifetime, and has only recently got the price of its lowest SKU in the budget market.

However, when we look more closer at this data, we see that growth of million selling RPGs has only grown by one unit, also two of the million selling RPGs on the 360 are sequels of million selling RPGs on the original Xbox (Fable and Elder Scrolls). This means that even if the 360 hadn't had expanded its user base at all, both of these games would still have made the million seller mark (although Oblivion's sales probably would have been considerably less).

Infact, Mass Effect is the only new IP millionseller RPG on the 360, Fallout III has had prequels on other platforms before, and Ultimate Alliance is a Marvel game. It can also be argued though, that the last Fallout games had very little effect on the sales of Fallout III as the older games came out much longer ago, and they work off a different formula, to most people, Fallout was essentially a new IP. Also the Marvel brand name effect would be nowhere near as strong to the sales as the Star Wars name to the two millionseller Knights games on the original Xbox.

Conversely, shooters have seen massive growth on the 360 up from 16 millionsellers to 22. This implies that shooters have seen bigger growth on the 360 than RPGs.

But let's look at this from another angle: both genre types, shooter and RPG are often regarded as core genre, what about growth in other genres? How has the 360 catered for this new fangled "casual" market, are movie tie-ins doing better? Music based games? Before the 360, Guitar Hero was the only music based game worth it's weight in gold, and it was exclusive to the Playstation family. Now, Guitar Hero sells better on the 360 than anywhere else, and so does Rock Band, Guitar Hero's biggest competitor.

Let's look at a couple more statistics courtesy of the VGChartz game database:

Of the 37 millionsellers on the Xbox 20 of them were either a shooter or RPG, that means that 54% of the millionsellers on the 360 were shooters/RPGs. On the 360 that number is 44%.

This means that non shooter/RPG genres have seen a ten percent growth on the 360, and this number has much more weight when you factor in that the 360 sells a shed load more software in total than the original Xbox.

To put this in a graphical way, imagine the game genre spectrum in a graph akin to a political scale, replace communism with shooter and neo-fascism with RPGs (I know what side I'd rather be on ) and centrist being casual. The original Xbox was a far left wing console, whereas the 360 is now a more center-left console.

Trends show that the 360 and future Xbox consoles will continue the shift rightward, with the next Xbox most probably being a centrist console. The latest ad campaign shows that this is where Microsoft is trying to go (anyone up for downloading movies or playing Lips?)

In conclusion, yeah.

Interesting analysis. But one major thing to take into consideration is that the Xbox 360's lifespan still has another 2-3 years left, and many, many, more million sellers will come up.

I think, also, it's important to look at the entire market, and how it's shifted toward more FPS games. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you look at PS2>PS3 sales, there's been a huge paradigm shift to higher FPS sales...The Playstation 2 had 11 shooters hit 1m out of a whopping 201 million sellers - So just above 5%. On the PS3, 4 of 22 million sellers are shooters - 18% of all million sellers (now, having said this, I didn't include GTA or MGS on either console...If I did, it wouldn't skew the data in either direction).

Now, does that mean that the Playstation 3 is an FPS box? No. But I think it shows the trend of higher FPS sales this generation.

mrstickball said: Interesting analysis. But one major thing to take into consideration is that the Xbox 360's lifespan still has another 2-3 years left, and many, many, more million sellers will come up. I think, also, it's important to look at the entire market, and how it's shifted toward more FPS games. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you look at PS2>PS3 sales, there's been a huge paradigm shift to higher FPS sales...The Playstation 2 had 11 shooters hit 1m out of a whopping 201 million sellers - So just above 5%. On the PS3, 4 of 22 million sellers are shooters - 18% of all million sellers (now, having said this, I didn't include GTA or MGS on either console...If I did, it wouldn't skew the data in either direction). Now, does that mean that the Playstation 3 is an FPS box? No. But I think it shows the trend of higher FPS sales this generation.

 

I think that this was mainly Sony's doing. Last generation they had a great mix of genres, it appears that they obviously wanted something to compete with Halo, they grew hungry for a mega IP... hence the birth of Killzone and Resistance, this, in general, sent the Playstation brand left wise.

I think I mentioned that the 360 hadn't finished its life span yet, might have missed it out, though.

The Xbox 360 is trending more towards the centre than the current numbers indicate also. There are a lot of games which are approaching that million or who have just broached that mark which are not shooters in any sense. If you place the name RTS on the right along with RPG you'll see the a few more strategy games coming to balance the books, and overall there has been a lack of quality RPGs produced on any system compared to the past where it was a much stronger genre, though I put that down to Publisher trends rather than any real sales weakness.

The fact of the matter is that the 360 still appeals almost exclusively to core and hardcore gamers. It may have a lot of RPG's, but how many of them have actually sold well? When it comes to RPG's, the DS is by far at the forefront for this generation. After three years, only three action games have broken one million copies(I guess you could stretch this to four with Mass Effect), no offstyle/car racers have broken one million, and no platformers have broken one million.

The vast majority of its top-selling games are indeed FPS, TPS, sports games, and racing/driving sims.

Lord N said: The fact of the matter is that the 360 still appeals almost exclusively to core and hardcore gamers. It may have a lot of RPG's, but how many of them have actually sold well? When it comes to RPG's, the DS is by far at the forefront for this generation. After three years, only three action games have broken one million copies(I guess you could stretch this to four with Mass Effect), no offstyle/car racers have broken one million, and no platformers have broken one million. The vast majority of its top-selling games are indeed FPS, TPS, sports games, and racing/driving sims.

Uno broke a million pretty quick. With revised numbers, it's close to cracking 2 million pretty soon.

The better question (imo) is: What games does the X360 have that should of broke a million, but didn't?

 

^The Darkness.

I still need to buy that game.

Bumping out of pity. :'(

makingmusic476 said: Bumping out of pity. :'(

Thanks, I never noticed this thread. It is interesting how the numbers show the demographic hasn't changed much but like Squil said RPGs have't been as good as last gen.

 

SamuelRSmith said: The original Xbox was always regarded as the console for shooters, and this plagued its sales somewhat, especially in Japan. This stigma was attached to the 360 at launch, but has slowly been fading away, how much of this reputation is fact, and has the 360 really helped get rid of it? Often, people refer to RPGs as an indicator of the 360's software range expanding. RPGs are seen to be the polar opposite of shooters. Whilst shooters are all about action, multiple player, short storied frag fests with as many polygons that can be pushed onto the screen at anyone time, RPGs have a reputation of being slower paced, with longer stories, deeper characterisation, and they're usually designed for the solo player, and the games are often forgiven for a lower-than-average graphics standard (usually citing "length" as a reason which is absolute bullshit when multiple discs are being used). So, lets get into this with a view VGChartz fueled statistics: The Xbox sold 8 million RPGs, and 28 million shooters (shooters value is derived from combining "Shooter" and "FPS" genres defined on the game database). The X360, to date, has sold 15 million RPGs and 57 million shooters. The Xbox has 37 million sellers with 16 of them being shooters, and 4 being RPGs. The X360 has 61 million sellers with 22 being shooters, and 5 being RPGs. Well, the obvious fact here is that the 360 has sold a tonne more software than the original Xbox, despite the fact that it's only half way through it's lifetime, and has only recently got the price of its lowest SKU in the budget market. However, when we look more closer at this data, we see that growth of million selling RPGs has only grown by one unit, also two of the million selling RPGs on the 360 are sequels of million selling RPGs on the original Xbox (Fable and Elder Scrolls). This means that even if the 360 hadn't had expanded its user base at all, both of these games would still have made the million seller mark (although Oblivion's sales probably would have been considerably less). Infact, Mass Effect is the only new IP millionseller RPG on the 360, Fallout III has had prequels on other platforms before, and Ultimate Alliance is a Marvel game. It can also be argued though, that the last Fallout games had very little effect on the sales of Fallout III as the older games came out much longer ago, and they work off a different formula, to most people, Fallout was essentially a new IP. Also the Marvel brand name effect would be nowhere near as strong to the sales as the Star Wars name to the two millionseller Knights games on the original Xbox. Conversely, shooters have seen massive growth on the 360 up from 16 millionsellers to 22. This implies that shooters have seen bigger growth on the 360 than RPGs. But let's look at this from another angle: both genre types, shooter and RPG are often regarded as core genre, what about growth in other genres? How has the 360 catered for this new fangled "casual" market, are movie tie-ins doing better? Music based games? Before the 360, Guitar Hero was the only music based game worth it's weight in gold, and it was exclusive to the Playstation family. Now, Guitar Hero sells better on the 360 than anywhere else, and so does Rock Band, Guitar Hero's biggest competitor. Let's look at a couple more statistics courtesy of the VGChartz game database: Of the 37 millionsellers on the Xbox 20 of them were either a shooter or RPG, that means that 54% of the millionsellers on the 360 were shooters/RPGs. On the 360 that number is 44%. This means that non shooter/RPG genres have seen a ten percent growth on the 360, and this number has much more weight when you factor in that the 360 sells a shed load more software in total than the original Xbox. To put this in a graphical way, imagine the game genre spectrum in a graph akin to a political scale, replace communism with shooter and neo-fascism with RPGs (I know what side I'd rather be on ) and centrist being casual. The original Xbox was a far left wing console, whereas the 360 is now a more center-left console. Trends show that the 360 and future Xbox consoles will continue the shift rightward, with the next Xbox most probably being a centrist console. The latest ad campaign shows that this is where Microsoft is trying to go (anyone up for downloading movies or playing Lips?) In conclusion, yeah.

That's a very telling stat but you never really get into why. If you extrapolate those Xbox numbers, the 360 should have over 26 million-selling shooters, a nearly 20% increase over its current numbers.

What's we're seeing is the competition move up in shooter sales (the PS3, mainly) and the 360 decrease from its predecessor, a shooter-heavy system. That's a good sign of how the Xbox broke ground and how the 360 is expanding its base. The competition rises, the 360 falls, but it's still gaining marketshare compared to the Xbox.

Overall, good analysis.