I wanted to see how well the highest-rated games on each console sold here in the US. I thought "Madden Week" right before all the big 2007 games started coming out would be a good time to look at the numbers.

This is only for games that have been out for 10+ weeks. Other ineligible games are in italics. The Top 20 for each console are in bold: the numbers are Metascore, US sales in thousands, and weeks released.

Top 20 Eligible 360 Games: (6,690k 360s in America)

1 BioShock 98 -1w

2 Gears of War 94 2,859k 40w

3 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The 94 1,229k 73w

4 Guitar Hero II 92 1,089k 19w

5 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 90 1,321k 75w

6 Forza Motorsport 2 90 480k 11w

7 Call of Duty 2 90 1,390k 91w

8 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 90

9 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 89 1,063k 38w

10 Burnout Revenge 89 380k 75w

11 Project Gotham Racing 3 88 530k 91w

12 Madden NFL 08 87 1w

13 Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles, The 86

14 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 86

15 Fight Night Round 3 86 1,050k 77w

16 Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine, The 86

17 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 86 614k 23w

18 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent 85 640k 45w

19 Dead or Alive 4 85 330k 85w

20 Dead Rising 85 790k 54w

21 F.E.A.R. 85 310k 42w

22 Bomberman Live 85

23 Viva Pinata 84 250k 41w

24 NBA 2K7 84 540k 49w

25 DiRT: Colin McRae Off-Road 83 148k 8w

26 Need for Speed Most Wanted 83 590k 92w

27 Crackdown 83 820k 26w

28 Pac-Man Championship Edition 83

29 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 82 450k 43w

29 Call of Duty 3 82 1,100k 41w

Average = 869k

17,375k / 6,690 = 2.60 top games per console

Top 20 Eligible PS3 Games: (1,820k PS3s in America)

1 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The 93 200k 22w

2 Ninja Gaiden Sigma 88 110k 7w

3 Resistance: Fall of Man 86 796k 40w

4 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 86 128k 7w

5 Virtua Fighter 5 85 170k 26w

6 MotorStorm (JPN Import Version) 84

7 Super Stardust HD 83

8 Fight Night Round 3 83 280k 37w

9 MotorStorm 82 360k 24w

10 Gran Turismo HD Concept 82

11 Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection 82

12 Madden NFL 08 81 1w

13 College Hoops 2K7 81 50k 23w

14 NBA Street Homecourt 81 70k 24w

15 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 81 180k 40w

16 NBA 2K7 80 190k 40w

17 Virtua Tennis 3 80 70k 22w

18 Call of Duty 3 80 280k 40w

19 Darkness, The 80 110k 8w

20 NHL 2K7 79 60k 40w

21 NCAA Football 08 78 118k 5w

22 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 78 200k 40w

23 BIGS, The 2007 78 81k 8w

24 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent 78 80k 15w

25 Ridge Racer 7 78 130k 40w

26 Calling All Cars! 77

27 Madden NFL 07 76 410k 40w

28 MLB 07: The Show 76 170k 14w

29 Tony Hawk's Project 8 76 130k 40w

30 All-Pro Football 2K8 74 33k 5w

31 Need for Speed Carbon 74 260k 39w

Average = 208k

4,167 / 1,820 = 2.29 top games per console

Top 20 Eligible Wii Games: (4,150k Wiis in America)

1 Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, The 95 1,860k 39w

2 Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition 91 283k 8w

3 Super Paper Mario 85 702k 18w

4 WarioWare: Smooth Moves 83 639k 30w

5 Madden NFL 07 81 390k 40w

6 Mercury Meltdown Revolution 80 -1w

7 Trauma Center: Second Opinion 80 ??k 40w

8 Mario Strikers Charged 79 189k 2w

9 Madden NFL 08 78 1w

10 Godfather: Blackhand Edition, The 77 50k 22w

11 Rayman Raving Rabbids 76 580k 39w

12 Wii Sports 76

13 Elebits 75 140k 36w

14 Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz 74 ??k 40w

15 SSX Blur 74 120k 25w

16 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 73 250k 40w

17 Metal Slug Anthology 73 80k 36w

18 Excite Truck 72 300k 39w

19 Chicken Little: Ace in Action 72 20k 36w

20 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 72 170k 40w

21 Scarface: The World is Yours 72 50k 10w

22 Super Swing Golf 72 90k 36w

23 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 71 350k 23w

24 Mortal Kombat: Armageddon 71 80k 12w

25 Prince of Persia: Rival Swords 71 90k 20w

26 Call of Duty 3 69 330k 40w

27 Sonic and the Secret Rings 69 290k 26w

Average = 329k

6,580 / 4,150 = 1.59 top games per console

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Observations:

-Obviously the 360 has the advantage on this list because it has the most games right now (and the most quality games), and those games have been out the longest.

-The PS3 has decent software sales given the number of consoles, but an average of 200k sales for top 20 games seems dangerously low.

-11 of the 20 highest rated PS3 games came out between 37-40 weeks ago.

-14 of the top 20 PS3 games are sports or driving games.

-One problem for Sony is that a large number of those top 20 PS3 games are also available on the 360, even though some don't make the 360 list because the 360 has more highly-rated games. This is more a problem for Sony than Microsoft because a lot of those games get better reviews on the 360 than on the PS3 (see my comment below). Also, a surprising number of those games were released earlier on the 360 than on the PS3, even some of the sports games that we assume come out at the same time on all systems (for example, NBA 2k7). For both of those reasons, people who own both a PS3 and a 360 may choose to buy the 360 version of those games.

-44.8% of Wii owners have Zelda. 43.7% of PS3 owners have Resistance. 42.7% of 360 owners have Gears of War.

-Games that will eventually make the top 20:

360 = 3 (BioShock, Madden, DiRT)

PS3 = 5 (Ninja Gaiden, Rainbow Six, Madden, The Darkness, NCAA Football)

Wii = 4 (Resident Evil, Mercury Meltdown, Mario Strikers, Madden)

Also, vgchartz doesn't seem to have US sales figures for Trauma Center or Super Monkey Ball.

DiRT you are talking in sales I hope... because if that game passes the 80+ average point... I hang myself... that game is really nice but Micromachine has a better more realistic handling than that stuff....

I think it would be even more interesting to do the reverse -- take the top 20 selling games for each system and provide their metascore.

Thanks for putting this together! With all the links and research, it probably took you a couple of hours to create this post.

No I'm not talking sales I'm talking Metascore. Don't ask me how because I haven't played it, but DiRT has a Metascore of 83.  Actually it wouldn't make the top 20 because Crackdown and NFS have the same score and when there were multiple games at the bottom with the same Metascore I chose the game with the highest US sales, so in this case #20 would be Crackdown.

DiRT: Colin McRae Off-Road 83 148k 8w

Need for Speed Most Wanted 83 590k 92w

Crackdown 83 820k 26w

The links didn't take any time, they carried over when I copied and pasted from Metacritic rankings.

I was hoping to look at it from the other direction also, maybe I'll get around to that eventually.

Also here's a link to some other information on the relationship between scores and sales.

Trauma Center and Super Monkey Ball sales are 200k and 300k. It`s funny that some of Wiis best selling games ( MP8, 950K, Wii Play, 1.5m and Red Steel 400k, are below 69% average ^^).

Also we will want to keep in mind that Wii Sports is not included in this calculation.  Perhaps you should do an alternate calculation with it included so we can compare the two.  Some will want it included and some not.

What are the figures for Wii Sports software sold in the US separately from the free copy that comes prepackaged with the Wii?

Can you please provide a link for that information?

Is that US sales only? 

12 of the top rated 360 games are also available on the PS3, but none were rated higher on the PS3.
23 of the top rated PS3 games are also available on the 350, and 18 were rated higher on the 360.

Top Rated 360 Games (PS3 score)
3 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The 94 (93)
9 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 89 (86)
12 Madden NFL 08 87 (81)
15 Fight Night Round 3 86 (83)
17 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 86 (not released)
18 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent 85 (78)
21 F.E.A.R. 85 (72)
24 NBA 2K7 84 (80)
25 DiRT: Colin McRae Off-Road 83 (not released)
30 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 82 (78)
34 Darkness, The 82 (80)
35 Call of Duty 3 82 (80)

Top Rated PS3 Games (360 score)
1 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The 93 (94)
4 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 86 (89)
5 Virtua Fighter 5 85 (not released)
8 Fight Night Round 3 83 (86)
12 Madden NFL 08 81 (87)
13 College Hoops 2K7 81 (82)
14 NBA Street Homecourt 81 (80)
15 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 81 (80)
16 NBA 2K7 80 (84)
17 Virtua Tennis 3 80 (80)
18 Call of Duty 3 80 (82)
19 Darkness, The 80 (82)
20 NHL 2K7 79 (78)
21 NCAA Football 08 78 (81)
22 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 78 (82)
23 BIGS, The 78 (79)
24 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent 78 (85)
27 Madden NFL 07 76 (80)
29 Tony Hawk's Project 8 76 (81)
30 All-Pro Football 2K8 74 (75)
32 Major League Baseball 2K7 74 (79)
33 Need for Speed Carbon 74 (77)
34 F.E.A.R. 72 (85)