How 20.2 Million PS4 Units Sold May Mean Fewer Third Party Exclusives And A Win For Gamers

With 20.2 million units sold, Sony continues to enjoy huge support from the gaming community. As such, Skewed and Reviewed have posted an opinion piece which states how their huge sales may lead to fewer third party exclusives which is a win for gamers as a whole.

[Mankey]

Fewer third party exclusives? Doubtful, particularly in the face of Street Fighter V and Rise of the Tomb Raider (timed), no doubt both executives from both Sony and Microsoft will be attempting to get as many of them as they can.

[Garethvk]

Good point, I edited as such, that is what happen when you write early in the morning. Since 20 million is seen as a landmark number and as such, I can see if companies opt for an exclusive they may look at Sony now more than Microsoft simply due to the overall numbers which has not always been the case prior.

[DarkOcelet]

My friend, its not about the numbers. Its about how well known the brand is.

Xbox is still not half as famous as the Playstation worldwide. Thats the truth.

[Mankey]

Right,

so Wouldn't Microsoft fight as hard as they could to get more pieces of content which make their platform stand out and then catch up, Microsoft has a huge pile of money they can throw around and which they often do.

Wouldn't Sony have more leverage to say, develop on our console exclusively, or first, because we have such a large install base? Sony no doubt has the means to show developers 20 million+ people who will likely be interested in playing their games.

[chrismichaels04]

Congrats to Sony on the PS4s continued and impressive worldwide success. I can see 2015 being an even stronger year for the PlayStation brand with all of the great looking new exclusive games and massive 3rd party support coming out this year.

[Ripsta7th]

"I can see if companies opt for an exclusive they may look at Sony now more than Microsoft simply due to the overall numbers which has not always been the case prior."
False! MS will just offer large amounts of cash
Eg. Minecraft

[Thatguy-310]

This is actually a good set up to point out that a lot of third party exclusives will be happening from both camps if you ask me. Sony has the wide user base while Microsoft will just throw any type of money to help them not fall behind and to stay competitive.

[hkgamer]

they both have great numbers and both growing so thats a good sign for publishers. its also easy to port between the two because of similar architect so i guess we may get plenty timed exclusives

[miyamoto]

Fewer 3rd party exclusives?
Are you kidding?

As far as Japanese games are concerned PlayStation is doing a great job with supporting them.

This year my wallet will be supporting

J Stars Victory Vs Plus
Godzilla
Persona 5
Toukiden Kiwami
Assault Suit Leynos
Bloodborne
Street Fighter V
Dragon Quest Heroes
Gravity Rush 2
Disgaea 5
Dragon's Dogma Online
Deep Down
Sword Art Online Lost Song
Astebreed

to name a few.

Japanese exclusives still sell very well in the west.
PS4 has Japan developers on its shoulders so the symbiotic relationship is not gonna stop until prosperity is achieved.

also you you forgot the difference between how PlayStation and Xbox do 3rd party exclusives.

Xbox buys 3rd party exclusivity
PlayStation collaborates with in making them

I think the 2:1 ratio between PS4 and Xbox is just right to keep the balance in the industry. as Sony is a $20B company vs MS is a $300B.
PS4 will keep the balance right and keep MS evil DRM policies in check.

[DarkOcelet]

I hate that idea so much. They should invest that money on making more AAA 1st party exclusives rather than just buying third party exclusives.

[die_fiend]

There isn't a huge difference really, doesn't it depend on the developer as to how good the game will be?

[hkgamer]

so you would rather these companies buy talented employees and steal them away from these top teams rather than just paying the dev to make the game instead?

its easier to invest in projects rather than full time teams. what happens after the game is finished? sack them? anyway my point is that there are plenty of talented devs that prefer to be independant, it gives them flexibility and they are more in control of the finances. cliffy b went indie, platinum games or the then called clover studios went indie, ready at dawn has chosen to stay indie, theres just way too many studios/devs that dont want to be owned by someone else.

[Magicite]

That would happen in the perfect world.

[bicfitness]

Off the top of my head, and only the ones I'm interested in/ remember: Deep Down, Dragon's Dogma Online, Persona 5, Dragon Quest Heroes, Kingdom Under Fire, YS, SF V, PS exclusive Indies (which are really just AA, mid-tier studios these days)...

I doubt we'll see less 3rd party exclusives, when we're already seeing more for Sony's platform. It'll be a return to the PS2 days, where the console with the largest marketshare gets the most games. That's been historically true this gen, I think the game ratio is like 2:1 PS4: X1. I don't see why that trend would change, other than snowballing.

[SoapShoes]

Level 5 has an exclusive Sony title to be announced at E3. FFX is exclusive to PS4. There have been and still are a lot of 3rd party exclusives for PlayStation.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I'm not sure those are exclusive because of deals as much as they are based on the Japanese appeal. Remember....FFXIII never released for 360 in Japan.

Sooooo I'm not sure I can classify that as a 3rd party exclusive as many small Japanese publishers don't just make games for all systems. Even in the old Sega/Nintendo days....it didn't happen as much.

It was less about being exclusive as much as they couldn't afford to just bring it to all systems that might not even have the title sell well.

The entire Persona series is only on PS, but they still have other titles on GBA, DS, 3DS etc. I would seriously chalk that up to them being a small team as suppose to being paid by Sony...thats just very doubtful.

Add in Sega's titles as well, Yakuza, and its clear its more to do with PS being more Japanese friendly.

I think they mean more like 3rd party exclusive that where deliberately paid to be just that, ie Rise, Dead Rising 3, Tomb Raider etc.

I never really count a studio that can't afford to make it on many systems as "exclusive" as its not based on the publisher of the console as much as the game's publisher no having the funding to make games at that level.

ie Persona.

Even Deep Down is likely only on PS4 based on MS's own attitude towards Free To Play games, to my understanding....Fable's Free To Play STILL needs Gold to play it.

Might be one of the reasons why Deep Down isn't on XONE...

So long as Sony has success in Japan, keeps an open mind to indies and being open source to free to plays, cross play etc, it will always have games that come to the PS that likely won't come to XB.

There is a difference between a game that was bought off and a game that is on a system based on other sets of economical reasons.

[hkgamer]

the games you mentioned are mostly japanese and i guess in todays term there is hardly ever any aaa japanese games.
the last true aaa game from japan and that was resident evil 6. had a massive budget, massive team and had almost 300(?) people working on it at one point, had the marketing budget. japanese devs have usually been small teams with small budget because they aim for a stable domestic market first which is generally small compared to the world(western) market. im guessing polyphony and geam ico are tiny despite the expecttions from those 2.

[RocketScienceLvlStuf]

Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix where foolish for taking that deal.

They will have to suffer the consequences now though. It's no less than they deserve for essentially taking a bribe from Microsoft.

[SoapShoes]

At the very least a PC version so they could do well but if they were disappointed in the originals sells they will be for this. They still have the money though

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed, but the deal likely happened pretty early on when they had no clue PS would dominate like its doing.

I think it was a bad deal not only for Square but for MS.

Consider they could have used that money on a new IP....

But hey, from MS stand point, its easier to buy timed vs really make games.

For XBONE fans its the worst, your merely just delaying another version....your not getting an exclusive, just a paid beta lol

It makes it much, much easier to just wait for the PS4 version, all while actually having Uncharted 4 too..

At the end of the day....what is MS really give XONE fans?

Sounds to me like MS is just getting sales that fall while XONE gamers get nothing.

Sooo...they are giving you a game that you where always going to get?

That those who don't even own an XONE will get anyway?

Why would I get an XONE for that? ...I'll keep my PC and PS4.

[GribbleGrunger]

This is lopsided logic. It relies entirely on the premise that only the XB1 has third party exclusives and that the number of PS4s sold will make it harder for MS to barter for exclusivity.

You cannot factor in just one side of a coin to come to a conclusion, you have to also consider the flip side. As the PS4 sells more and the gap gets bigger then it's ALSO likely the PS4 will get MORE third party exclusives.

This puts any prediction on a knife's edge. It could play out in two different ways: They cancel each argument out and we have the same amount now or slightly less OR Sony manage to attract more AAA third party exclusives and so we get MORE AAA exclusives.

It's too early to call just yet.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"You cannot factor in just one side of a coin to come to a conclusion"

errrr you sorta can when MS for both gens has been known for paying for timed games..

Sony's focused on in house exclusives since the start of last gen, evident by the teams they bought during that time vs the teams MS let go and the games they started doing timed deals with.

Bioshock, Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Ninja Gaiden II,Tales of Vesperia, Star Ocean: TLH,Eternal Sonata, Enchanted Arms etc

I state those titles because they got PS3, PC, Wii etc versions a year or 6 months later.

Then at this gen we get Titanfall, Dead Rising 3, Ryse, Tomb Raider (and who likely Sunset Overdrive as MS doesn't own the IP to this title)

soooooo sounds like they are on the same track as last gen to doing their good ole timed games.

In fact...they are doing more timed games sooner, then when the did last gen.

It will be harder for MS to actually do this as they have to give more incentive to not have teams create PS4 versions for a year to 6 months.

Sony...rarely actually does timed game, this won't effect them much, if anything they will have more leverage to do timed games if they felt just.

SFV rings a bell, as regardless of Capcom's situation, they've been known to do timed games, as I doubt SFV is ONLY going to be on PS4, that is legit a joke...

Its one of the few obvious timed games that Sony is actually doing.

( i mean....does anyone really trust something Capcom says?)

Either way, Sony still has lots of teams invested and I don't see them neglecting those teams in favor of timed games.

[GribbleGrunger]

@_-EDMIX-_

You really can't fella. You have to realise that any money MS pay for exclusivity is going to ramp up according to how much that particular dev is going to lose because of skipping the bigger install base. It's going to cost MS much more when the PS4 has a 20m lead than it does now with an 8m lead ... and so on.

And with the gap constantly growing, the devs also have to factor in potential losses from trying to release an IP on a platform that hasn't already been exposed to it. If they accept money in the short term and the gap grows much bigger, then in the long term they risk very low sales even on a much bigger install base. They have to think much more carefully than that.

And to add just one other point: It's not just sales of the game they're losing, it's sales of any DLC too.

[NuggetsOfGod]

When will fanboys get through their heads that it's better when sony and Microsoft are in a neck and neck heated battle?

I even see fanboys strongly feel sony shouldn't lower the price lol

As if they are share holders.

If sony keeps outselling their might be a huge imbalance.

Kinda like intel vs amd of this generation.

Both consoles are amd though lolz

[GribbleGrunger]

That's always been false. The only competition that needs to exist is the competition between developers, even if those developers are on the same console. As a gamer, two 'companies' selling 'hardware' do very little to give us anything of worth other than a number to brandish in sales threads. Naughty Dog and Insomniac drove quality up because they directly competed against each other. We got great games because of that. Isn't that what we (as gamers) want?

[Spotie]

Generations 5 and 6 (PS1 and PS2, respectively) beg to differ. Sony dominating didn't hurt the industry in the slightest.

[freshslicepizza]

@Spotie,
"Generations 5 and 6 (PS1 and PS2, respectively) beg to differ. Sony dominating didn't hurt the industry in the slightest."

sure it did, the ps3 was expensive and was not a great platform for developers. sony try to leverage its way to force developers to adapt to their hardware and forced gamers to pay upwards of $600 to play games on. do you honestly think the ps4's design is not accounted to competition?

we don't need neck to neck competition, the consumer will decide that. you don't have competition just for the sake of having competition, you have it to benefit the consumer and to push companies that much harder to compete. it is why microsoft has been forced to change tactics with kinect. the consumer decided for them they did not want to spend $500 for a weaker console because of their commitment to kinect. the wii u is a more alarming example, consumers have decided they are growing tired of how nintendo handles its console, the competitive nature is showing them they have to change their ideologies.

what we don't want is no competition at all and basically a monopoly. that is never good for anyone. without competition the ps3 would never have had to drop its price as rapidly as it did.

[SilentNegotiator]

Forget commissioned third party exclusives; even Wii U has those...look at the indie games. There are several indie games that are exclusive to PSN or on PC and PSN because the high install base makes it too tempting to ignore and start with if your resources are too limited to launch the game on a lot of platforms.

That alone shows that Ps4's high install base means MORE third party exclusives, not less.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

Third Party exclusives need to die. I understand projects that need partnership and funding like Bloodborne and Scalebound, but Third party exclusives coming from big publishers is a slap in the face to gamers. I will be really pissed if The Division turns out to be Xbone exclusive. That's a game I'm very much looking forward to play with my friends.

Fund your 1st party developers instead!

[avengers1978]

The Divison will not be exclusive to Xbox, I'm pretty sure it's already been confirmed as multiplat

[greenlantern2814]

It has been multiplatform since the beginning

[ShaunCameron]

Um. No. I think the industry needs some more third-party exclusives because last generation was a little too homogeneous for my liking.

[Fro_xoxo]

Starting Gen 7, a lot of former third-party exclusives went multi-plat. That isn't going to change. The likes of DMC, Final-Fantasy, kingdom hearts & co.

Yes, we'll get the occasional Third-party exclusive like SF5/ROTTR.
how often do you think MS/Sony will be coughing up the moolah for those type of deals?

So long as PS4 & XO are both capable of running the same games. 90% of third-party games will continue to appear on both.

20 mill or not. 2:1 or not. Those of you craving the "PS2 days" will be disappointed. The market isn't the same anymore, different circumstances.

[Garethvk]

Well said. The cost of what you get paid for an exclusive would have to be so great exclude 20.2 million units it is simply not worth it in most cases.

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

@theFro & Garethvk

What the hell are you two talking about? The PS2 days? The PlayStation 4 is already on pace to surpass the PS2's lifetime sales in half the time. The PS4's library and line up of games is double that of the competition and that margin is only going to get worse in 2016. I'm sure both of you already know that the PS4 will have more games released this year than both of it's main competitors (NEARLY COMBINED) but you readily dismiss these facts because of what exactly?

[Fro_xoxo]

You're missing the point. Take those sales goggles off for a second.

Being market leader doesn't mean squat anymore.

There were benefits to being market-leader during the PS2 era. Not in gen-8. The times aren't the same.

PS4 can sell 1 billion, it will still share 90% of its library with XO. Arkham Knight? MGS V? Witcher 3?

The point of this article is, 20 mill is not enough of a reason to make your game exlusive to PS4. 20 mill PS4s does not translate to 20 million arkham knight sales.

Third-Parties release on multiple platforms for a reason.

The only party mostly benefiting from the healthy sales of PS4 is Sony.

The same CODs and FIFAs will continue to be the best sellers on it.

Would you ignore an XO fanbase of ~10 mill, and PC fanbase.. just cause one platform is selling well? are you prepared to lose a large sum of money that went into game development?

[rainslacker]

So long as the publisher/dev can make money off a platform, they'll make it for that platform. Smaller devs may focus on one platform, but publishers look to maximize revenue, and since it's cheaper to port a game than it is to make a new one(even if for one platform), they generally will make a game on any platform that it will run on.

[SmokingMonkey]

Happy Birthday PS2!

Your great grandchild is hot on your heels!

[Major_Bogart]

Ps4 has the numbers yes. But when you look at the 3rd party games sales on each console something is missing. The millions more ps4s do not translate to be much games. example Evolve The game sold the best on the PlayStation 4 with sales of 337,420 units at retail. The Xbox One version sold 217,719 unit .7 million more ps4 equals 120,000 more in sales.

[SoapShoes]

PlayStation has more games though, that means more choices and it has always had fans of various different genres.

[Ballsack]

The funniest thing about xbox fanboys like major is the numbers they just pluck out of thin air..they just do it like its natural its crazy

When the hell did microsoft reach 13million sold? sony are 9-10 million ahead of xbox one not SEVEN lol

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

@Major_Bogart

You're forgetting this one simple fact:

Total software sales for PS4 81 million

Total software sales for Xbox One 51 million

You're also forgetting to mention that the PS4 has more digital sales than the Xbox One.

http://www.gamespot.com/art...

You see the missing ingredient in your argument is digital sales numbers, but I suspect that you already knew that.

[kstap33]

You have access to downloaded software sales figures? Can you share the link? I think a large portion of Xbox owners do not buy discs, such as myself.

[Chevalier]

That will change over time. Just look at GTA V on PS4 has sold over 6 million and Xbone is just over 2.5 million. Advanced warfare is also over 6 million units on PS4 and has outsold Xbone version by over 2 million units. Overtime you can expect Evolve to be the same. There are pretty much no games where the Xbone version is outselling PS4.

[rainslacker]

Two million units on a single platform is still pretty significant. For games like that, I can't see a publisher passing up the revenue from that, especially since porting between consoles isn't usually that big of an investment compared to building the game in the first place.

[LordMaim]

Assuming you don't look at digital distribution whatsoever. Maybe choose games that don't suck, and you'll see a bigger spread.

[Unlimax]

"May Mean Fewer Third Party Exclusives"
That's depends on publishers perspective , either they choose to pick on gamers side where the majority of gamers are or just desperately accept the moneyhatting from the other company and let them expect some unrealistic possibilities from it ( take Japanese IP's exclusivity on Xbox as an example which may hurts the gaming industry and the gaming community too if they choose to be strict about the exclusivity ) hope things like this wont happen again because Fatal Frame is one of the reasons that shouldn't happen again , it may have been co-owned by Nintendo but that doesn't mean it wont affect gamers in general if its still being co-owned by them for no reason
i think its Tecmo choice after all .. good for them i guess :\

[Macdaddy71]

X1 will sell millions more when 360 gamers move up,. Most PS3 owners was so ready for a new system way more so then 360 owners,.. But not trashing ps4 I have one just like my x1 more,.. It's awesome to see ps4 n x1 break sell records cause every game maker will want a pc of the pie n we will get a lot of games,... It's a win win for gamers this time around...

[Ricegum]

Most 360 owners will move to PS4 actually, as that's what has clearly been happening. I can't see Microsoft maintaining even half of their 360 user base, people are jumping ship.

[SoapShoes]

A lot of those 360 owners bought PS4s.

[MasterCornholio]

Yep despite what some people say most consumers don't stick with one brand. They merely buy what interests them the most at the moment.

Went from a 360 to a PS3 and then a PS4.

Reason? The games mostly.

[S2Killinit]

Considering that MS tends to be the company tgat pays for exclusives, the article makes sense. Not that Sony never paid for exclusivity but Sony dies tend to rely on its first party studios more, fir exclusives. So yeah more AAA for everyone. And on the kast point made, couldnt agree mire, VR Morpheus will be a very welcome innovation to gaming. It wont replace anything, but it sure will add to some gaming experiences. Cant wait for VR.

[ScorpiusX]

I think it's time MS start buying the IP'S or developers if 3rd party exclusive are going to start fading. Beside own gives total control.

[Shinox]

And you think this will solve the problem to gamers . corporate slave much ?
says the person who wrote in his profile "hate Sony , wish for their demise."
GET OUT OF THE GAMING COMMUNITY

[MasterCornholio]

So you want Microsoft to behave as monopoly through the use of mergers and acquisitions?

That isn't very consumer friendly.

[GoodnessGreatness]

It would be idiotic to make a third party game exclusive for Xbox one when you got a whole bigger market on the other side. (tomb raider, titanfall, etc)