Battle of the Exclusives – What Really Matters to the Playstation 4

Uncharted, inFamous, & Gran Turismo are beloved franchises, but let's not go thinking that they can do more for the PlayStation 4 than they have for the PS3

[corvusmd]

Decent look into exclusives for last gen, however, I would suggest removing GT5 and Kinect Adventures for a more realistic look as the majority of sales for both of those titles were due to the fact that they came with the console than people actually going out and buying them.

[OrangePowerz]

Not really the case for GT. Here in Europe GT is huge. Always has been this way especially in countries like Germany where road racing is very popular. People go out an buy a PS console for GT here in Europe, it's not a case of they go out and buy one and it happens that GT comes with it.

It's what CoD/Halo is to the Americans or FF/Monster Hunter is to the Japanese.

[alexkoepp]

For me SOCOM is the only exclusive worth a damn on playstation, but they managed to ruin it on the ps3. I've got my fingers crossed they can redeem the franchise but I'm not gonna hold my breath. Best franchises easily are on PC/xbox hardware.

[Kingthrash360]

self centered opinion based commet^^^

so alex, just for the sake of asking...what is your fav exclusive on xbox or pc?
...grabs popcorn*

OT though
i think its a variety of games and gamers thats the missed point in this case.
its relevant to say all games mentioned are great...and sold great..but the best seller were fps and casual games.
the real winner is the 3rd party games. but if we are only talking exclusives and the sales numbers of these exclusives then xbox wins. but i do notice more variety on sony's side though. fps games were the hot ticket a hot ticket started by halo. but looking at this list these franchises have began to sink. halo3 out sold halo 4, mw3 sold more than all cod games after it..ghosts was a bustas far as gamplay is concerned.
halo 5 will sell wonders but these number will differ now that its sony with the most install base. games infamous sold its best because of the install base of the ps4 and the overwhelming amount of fps in the market right now. i love me some fps games but dear got its getting played out more and more. tf is a true testament to this fact. fps are now same ol same ol and when tf was announced it was over hyped and over rated due to its new approach on the fps genre. even though it had glaring problems like stuttering frame rate, dated graphics, at 792p low customizations, little modes and unbalanced guns, worst ai ever, 6 v 6, etc. things that would get other fps games ripped apart were ignored do to the freshness of the game.
>>IMO<< ms needs to try new things and not pull a nintendo and hold on to the same old franchises, over and over and over.
bring variety. ND has done it with ps1= crash, ps2= jak and dax ps3= uncharted/tlou ps4=??
i'm not saying anything is wrong that the success xbox 360 has had..i just want to see more variety from them. the sells dont matter to me, i'm a gamer bring me awsome new experiences, along with the older franchises. i'd rather have more new ip's than the same old franchises a decade old. loves me some halo though bring that and bring uncharted, but also bring fresh new gaming experiences.

[rainslacker]

GT is pretty huge everywhere. Every time they release a new one we see sales spike on the system. Been that way for 3 generations of PlayStation, and I'd expect this gen to have similar results.

All the uncharted releases had a decent spike in sales on their releases, but nothing like a GT game.

I really believe that the strength of Sony's exclusive is in their numbers, diversity, and quality. Heck, people brought PS3's for Singstar, which is one of their highest selling exclusives, and certainly one of their most profitable with the DLC attached to it.

[Hicken]

Err, no. The majority of GT's sales were individual. Hell, the game had been delayed so long most people already had a PS3. 5 million sales that first week or so, but PS3 sales didn't jump by nearly that much.

Nice try, though.

[PS3and4_HAS_GAMES]

How can you compare kinect adventures to gt5? GT is a very popular franchise. Now kinect adventures is pure shovel ware

[EZMickey]

The article doesn't discuss the quality of first party games but rather how much they sell and benefit the console.

Gran Turismo 5 sold 10.9 million units I think and Kinect Adventures (which was bundled with every Kinect device) sold 20 million. The comparison is purely numbers and the author notes that, for those who don't think its fair to compare a bundled game, the next title on the list of top sellers for Microsoft would be Halo 4 at 8.9 million.

Few PS3 games sell that well. You should read the article, its actually really good at putting things into perspective.

[Thehyph]

I'd rather not see a pack-in like Kinect Adventures on a top selling list.

Just like I won't like it to see Playroom on lists like this. (At the rate ps4 is selling, it probably won't be that far off, either.)

[MysticStrummer]

My two favorite online games last gen were Sony exclusives, Warhawk and MAG. I'd love to see PS4 versions of those. I guess Planetside 2 will probably take MAG's place, but I think they are different enough that both could do well.

Gran Turismo is a given, and I know several people who wait to buy a new PS until GT shows up on it so I think it can be described as a system seller. Uncharted is a given also, though I hope at least a few things about it are changed a bit. More challenging puzzles leaps to mind. I just hope they don't keep pushing out Uncharteds until we get something like Nathan Drake and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

As for inFamous, I want to design my own conduit, looks and powers both, and be able to co-op with at least one friend in a GTA sized city, one that's not half destroyed right away but is destructible. There should still be the good/evil thing, but instead of simple choices make it about that destructible environment and the citizens who are put in danger when buildings or other structures are brought down. The local police would obviously be on your side if you kill bad guys without killing innocents, but imagine the cool car/heli chases if you were a little more indiscriminate about the use of your powers.

Come to think of it, they could do the same with the DC license, just take out the MMO aspect. There could be more variation to the available powers that way too.

[theDivision]

Would have loved to be able to play infamous with my bro and design my own conduit.

[TitanUp]

not sure if its a vocal minority or what but sonys first party titles seem to get hyped to hell and back but when sales data shows up it doesn't look that great for Sony.

[Bathyj]

The world would rather play generic shooter #243 than something like Heavy Rain or Journey. What can you do?

Looking at that top 10 for both consoles is kind of sad. I for one am still happy I get a choice of different titles even if they are not hugely popular.

[OrangePowerz]

Might be because of a more diverse userbase and game offerings? Who knows why, the Xbox is definitely more shooter centric. There are certainly more higher ranked Sony 1st Party games then MS ones score wise from reviews. Quality wise I would say they deliver more and better games.

A game like Heavy Rain would have had it very difficult to sell the numbers they did on the Xbox because of the audience of the console. I think it is very telling that MS invests most of the money into shooters. They bought timed exclusive content for CoD and BF4, the license for Gears of War and the exclusivity for Titanfall, they focus most of their efforts on shooters.

[DigitalRaptor]

The ironic thing there is, the PS3 definitely had a wider range of exclusive shooters than the 360 did. So there you go, even within a genre, Sony provides unparalleled diversity.

Outside of that the rest of their lineup is more diverse.

MS will always focus more on the dudebro shooters more than anything, cause it's proven to be more popular to that audience.

[MeLoveRamen]

you have to realize Farsendor1 that every person on gaming websites that hype up games are the MINORITY of gamers. Case and point look at everybody's opinion on Call of Duty on gaming websites, everybody says COD sucks and it's rehashed garbaged which i do agree but then you see COD sell 20 million copies total, its because most gamers aren't commenting on gaming websites.

[TitanUp]

really good points things i didnt really think about.

just checked the playstation store final fantasy 14 is available for purchase.

[colonel179]

I want another exclusive from Sony that we can call "beloved" franchise. Uncharted was a new IP last generation and now it has become part of Sony's DNA. The same with The Last of Us. There were amazing new IPs last generation for everybody and some of them were very underrated like Heavenly Sword.

Every generation of PlayStation have had the beginning of great franchises, and I expect this generation is not the exception.

While I will definitely enjoy Uncharted 4, I would love more new ideas and more games that we can't even imagine right now. Who could have predicted inFamous back then?

I also want returning classic franchises like Crash, Parappa, Syphon Filter, etc. Sony has everything to make great games, so I hope they focus on that instead of just sequels.

[Bird_Jesus]

Sony doesnt own the rights to Crash anymore Activision does

[colonel179]

I know that, but with al the rumors and speculation, i can only dream right?
It might be a collaborate between Sony and Activision. You never know right?

[MysticStrummer]

Exactly. Every generation Sony brings out multiple new IPs. Of the big 3 they seem the best at that in my opinion.

PS4 Syphon Filter… yesss.

[EZMickey]

Yeah but that's the point the article is making; All these exclusives Sony brings don't actually bring in the numbers.

From a consumer perspective, we love the PS3 for its wide variety of exclusives and the quality that goes into making them. However, from a business perspective they don't do well commercially.

Its sad that Sony does this for the consumers yet not enough consumers open their wallets and say thank you.

[MeLoveRamen]

FreddyAintDead, you have to think that most of the ps3 exclusives don't have to sell millions to be profitable. Every single exclusive that turned into a franchise sold more than a million. Killzone, uncharted, infamous, and LittleBigPlanet all sold millions of copies and since they keep making sequels shows that Sony manages well because if they can make a profit off a game that only sold 1.2 million(infamous2) and make a sequel shows they don't need to sell 10 million to be successful.

[rainslacker]

One thing I've noticed that became a trend last gen is that if a game didn't sell 10 million copies like COD then it seems that people feel it doesn't sell well, or worse that it flopped. Most of Sony's big exclusives sell close to or more than 5 million copies. Many of their smaller ones, which are also loved by many, sell around a million. I'd imagine most of their games are profitable.

What it comes down to, is that if a game sells 2-5 million, it's likely profitable. Most publishers would love for their games to sell like that, because many don't.

I think the fact that Sony has so many franchises that sell 4-5 million or more is quite the accomplishment. One they share with Nintendo.

[staticdash22]

This is a bad article lol.

[Anon1974]

Yeah. I feel rather bad for them. Obviously, this is just a fan run site and I'm sure they mean well...but when VGChartz is your go-to for data...just stop. They obviously haven't done their research because if they had, they'd realize that it's just like they are, just another fan site. VGChartz sales for software specifically have come under scrutiny with figures being out more than 100% at times, and VGChartz themselves admitted at one point a few years ago they had no sales sources for Europe at all and were just completely making it up.

It's simply not a credible source for any discussion regarding the gaming industry.

[jjonez18]

I think it is well written but poorly thought out. I came away with the impression that Sony should stop focusing on first party games and invest in third party. I agree that they should not allow major third party games such as Titanfall to go exclusive but other than that, I don't see how they would benefit from pushing third parties as hard as Microsoft. Sony's first party games' diversity is what sets them apart from other companies. They rarely milk a franchise but instead opt to reinvent. That ideal is imbedded in every single Sony worldwide studio and that's why we get new ip like knack, the order(second party), resogun and Driveclub all within a single year.

[staticdash22]

You should NEVER go full out on third parties. They will come to your console anyway, because financially developing those exclusives, makes little business sense.

In the end, the exclusive games drive console adoption, especially since we live in the market where consumers own about 2.5 consoles in their home. When you have that kind of market, most of those potential customers are going to get the third party games on any device. It is VERY important to court these people with lots of games only available to that system. The more games you pump out, the more you force that person to invest in your ecosystem.

Look at the last 3 years of the Xbox 360's lifetime. Gears Judgement and Halo 4 are pretty much the only notable, high profile first party games. That's it? What is everyone playing? It's one reason, ps3 sales caught up to 360's with games like TLOU, God of War, Beyond, Uncharted 3, etc

[Geekman]

IMO, the only thing I've heard about the Order is "OMG, IT LOOKS AMAZING!" since its reveal. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I couldn't care less about it right now.

(WAIT! Before you disagree and/or flame, think! I s it worth it? Does someone having a different opinion than yours enrage you that much? Proceed.)

[OrangePowerz]

I wouldn't necessarily say for myself that I couldn't care less about it, but I certainly want to see more gameplay before I make up my mind about it.

[Stunmonk]

No different opinions matter not to me. However they must matter to you as you felt the need to inform everyone of yours.

[rainslacker]

For me, it's more the setting of the game that has me excited. I feel the same way about Quantum break. Haven't seen any game play for that either, but I'm really interested in it. The premise of the games is intriguing and new. They may both end up being terrible on release, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

[iceman06]

This is pretty much what hooks me into MOST games. The premise. It's something that you either WANT to play or you DON'T want to play. Then, once you get to see it in motion (if you do), that's when you start to really get excited. That's kind of the point of trade shows like E3! They put the motion behind the words that we have been reading. It's like marketing before the game releases. When done well...it's practically undeniable.

[LightDiego]

If you want to play the best exclusive games, you should buy a PS4.
Just look at the PS3 line-up: Uncharted trilogy, The Last of Us, Journey, Metal Gear Solid 4, Demon's Souls, Ni no Kuni, Puppeteer, The Unfinished Swan, God of War 3, Heavy Rain, Beyond, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, Killzone, Resistance, Warhawk, Gran Turismo and Little Big Planet.
PS4 is the future and the future is PS4.

[MelvinTheGreat]

Purely subjective to opinion

[MeLoveRamen]

Not when you are comparing the ps3 and xbox360 exclusives because the 360 doesn't have any exclusives to compare to:/

[rainslacker]

It's hard to say of all the games listed(many were not listed) that there aren't plenty there that would be appealing to someone. On an individual game, sure it's subjective, but with the sheer number of exclusives you'd be hard pressed to be able to argue against him.

The only thing I could see that one may disagree with is if you only cared about shooters, in which case, I do believe that MS has the better selection of those. Sony has some decent ones for sure, but GeOW and Halo are certainly considered to be top-tier.

[Kiwi66]

that is your opinion about exclusives as i'm sure other people would say that the xbox 1 is better for exclusives

[zerog]

Boy, this guys not a real deep thinker. First of all 6 of those top 10 ps3 games and 7 of the 360s are fps which always sell higher numbers then other types of games due to mass appeal. I mean face it there are a lot of hard core fps gamers and outside of them a great percentage of the rest of gamers also buy a fps from time to time. Xbox has been known to put a huge emphasis on pushing fps games on their platform and that's mostly what they're known for. Playstation on the other hand has continuously released a vastly various 1st person library to appeal to gamers of all types. So what if they don't sell better individually? There are far more of them and not every gamer wants to play halo, cod type games. The gt series out sells forza and halo out sells killzone and I say big deal. Last gen ps3 gave us little big planet, uncharted, the last of us, infamous, god of war, heavenly sword, twisted metal, genji, rachet and clank, heavy rain,puppeteer, beyond 2 souls, I could go on and I've not listed the 1st fps or racing game in that list. The point is that while ms has a few games that sell better then sony games they're all targeting the same kind of gamer while sony releases games that while they may not turn as many numbers they do very well and are great games to their respective gamer types.

[Skankinruby]

EXACTLY, I just chuckle to myself when I see Xbox fanboys try to use arguments like halo sells more than any PlayStation exclusives. Because in the end that doesn't really mean anything other than success for the developer. Sony has so many different types of exclusives and they all rate very good and all sell pretty decent and that's exactly what they want for the PlayStation brand, something that appeals to the entire world of gamers. Without a doubt if online shooters started controlling most of the market I would probably just give up gaming entirely

[Tru_Ray]

Agreed. The author is completely missing the point of having a diverse portfolio games. The diversity of their portfolio is a great differentiator from their most direct competitor, as many core Playstation gamers can attest.

Also, if the 3rd party games sell well on the PS platform already, then why does Sony need to devote more resources to them?

Further, the past success that Microsoft has had with the 360 will not necessarily translate to future success with the Bone (as reflected in the current worldwide sales figures for the next-gen consoles).

I hate to say it, but the thesis of this article is poorly conceived. The author needs to provide more context to support his arguments.

Tru_

[Jeff257]

Exactly. Sony brings great exclusives across a wide variety of genres and for gamers of all types. With the big push on Kinect over the last few years on 360 MS relied heavily on a rotating schedule of Gears, Halo, and Forza. All the while they were losing 3rd party exclusives and were trying to tout timed exclusive DLC. Now we don't even know what MS will push for 1st party exclusives except Forza Horizon 2, Halo 5, and another Gears game after they bought the IP and pushed one of their own studios off a new IP and onto Gears. 3rd party exclusives are fast dwindling to nothing now with Sony gaining a huge part of the market again with the PS4. And Microsoft really needs to do more than just rely on a few shooters and a racer to push the XBOX One.

[The_devils_chum]

Microsofts still enjoying the fruits of the last generation. Things clearly have changed and soon the you will see the better exclusives will head toward the console with the greater install base, thats when the better exclusives start knocking on sonys door.

[Fullmetalevolust]

What matters is that this month, all thanks to N4G, I could win a PS4 by commenting on this article!! lol , such a suck up.
No but the words Ps4 and exclusivity jumped at my eyes, so I had to look.

[iceman06]

LOL!!! Good luck!!!

[Fullmetalevolust]

To you as well bud :)

[Provolone24]

lol what's this guy talking about? Sony's top-notch first-party studios are the reason to own a Playstation. The Last of Us, Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, Infamous, Resistance, Motorstorm, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and many more were all new IPs released last gen by their studios (although Quantic Dream and Insomniac are technically second-party studios).

One of the only big new IPs Microsoft introduced last gen was Gears, as Halo, Forza, and Fable all originated on the first Xbox. Now, I'm not trashing Xbox. I'm simply saying: aren't Sony's games the reason to buy their product? Most Playstation owners would tell you that's why they bought one. Exclusives have always been an advantage for Sony, regardless of the mainstream attention Halo gets. And with Microsoft finally realizing that they need to bring more games to their system, first-party titles are going to be more important to Sony now more than ever.

[PS3and4_HAS_GAMES]

Yea uncharted 2 didn't sale as much as halo but over 150 awards speaks for itself. This article is lame

[CoTton_MoUtH]

1st party games on PS are getting old IMO don't get me wrong there great games but I'm not into single player as much as I was when the original PS or PS2 where relevant. All PS4 needs is that one killer 1st party title like Socom our even Star hawk that will have consumers say that is a must get game or I gotta get a ps4. GOW was one game that made want a 360 for the online multiplayer There aren't any 1st party MP games other then on last gen or this gen PS that make me say I gotta have a PS and yes I do have both.

[Skankinruby]

If you're not into single player you should just stick with Xbox, more multiplayer friendly games will come to ps4 in time but that will never be a primary focus

[CoTton_MoUtH]

Why all the hate for voicing my opinion?
Lol!!!

[CoTton_MoUtH]

You make no sense bro how isn't multiplayer there primary focus? Isn't FF a multiplayer based game only? Drive club to? And wasn't SCE tryna get Titanfall over to PS4?

[aragon]

Interesting

[Stunmonk]

Seems to me that the number of first party titles should be taken into account. Sony has many first party titles, MS has GOW, Halo, Forza, Fable and umm.. maybe some I missed.
So the first party sales for Sony are spread over many titles, but not so with MS that has only a few. From this reasoning less sales per title.

[DualWielding]

The important of exclusives cannot be measure in how much they sell... what matters is whether they attract people to the console..... for example MLB The Show may not be a top seller but for a Baseball fan can be the deciding factor in choosing playstation over Xbox.... A title like little big planet is important for people who are into creating content and also gaming parents who want some child friendly game their kids can sink a lot of time or not...... and in addition to the first party exclusives third party exclusives have also been key for the PS3... the loads of jrpgs from Kingdom hearts 1.5. to something like neptunia may never sell as much as Halo but them being exclusive to playstation makes playstation the preferred platform of jrpgs fans and anime fans in general

[agasicles]

Huh. Attaching image files is not working, looks like. Working on some responses to the feedback. Will try again later. Thanks everybody.

[Hicken]

Since your site ate a rather lengthy response, I'll put the gist here:

Your whole argument is flawed, and you admit as much.

You don't know how much profit each game brings in, and you don't consider there are SO MANY MORE first party exclusives on PS3 than 360. You cut the time frame down to one that's more suitable for one brand than another. You don't consider how many exclusives were bought by Microsoft, like the Gears franchise was all last gen. Or like Bioshock and Mass Effect and Dead Rising; it costs more to buy exclusivity than to develop it.

And you ignore that Sony's method has earned it a far stronger brand than Xbox; why should they look to emulate their less successful competitor, when Playstation has been at the forefront of console gaming since they entered the market.

What reason does Sony have to follow your ill-informed advice?

[agasicles]

I've posted some responses to the feedback over on the site. Feel free to check them out or not. Thanks again for your comments.

http://gamerssphere.com/201...

[RyanNehse]

OK, I’ve read both the articles and the comments over at N4G. From a business stand point I can see where you are coming from and based on the figures you’ve given it does make sense for investors to change it up but as a consumer I don’t think though that Sony really need to change anything besides maybe improving their lack of AAA games for the PS4 but that’s just my opinion because I’m incredibly picky about the games I play.

My opinion though is that they might not need to make a killing within 10-weeks but to me the big picture is being able to sell to a wider audience, as mentioned by the guys here, they’ve got a very diverse portfolio catering to a much wider market. With that said I don’t think you’re just buying 1st party games from Sony. You are buying that experience that Sony offers, IMO an unrivaled ability to make gamers really “connect” with their 1st party games and if it takes a while to get them, then so be it and I know that only applies to me, not everyone will feel that way.

As stated somewhere among the comments or by you MS seems to focus a lot on FPS and multi-player breaking the same rock over and over again where Sony makes money on their quite large yet excellent 1st party quality games. Granted, this is all from my point of view so it doesn’t reflect everyone but even if Sony doesn’t sell as many units, I think they gain that loyalty from Gamers.