Why Do PS3 Exclusives Struggle?

StickSkills.com writes, "Don’t get us wrong, we love our Playstation 3 just as much as the next person, but it’s frustrating to see the exclusive titles on the system struggle. After numerous debates, rants, and hours filled with video games, we’ve come down to the main reason: marketing."

[MaximusPrime]

struggle? urm this is 2011 not 2007.

but anyway that's your "opinion"

[blaaah]

Gran Turismo, Uncharted and God of War are the biggest franchises that always have good numbers. Littlebig, Resistance, Killzone etc are also multi million sellers..

Compared to microsoft, I think the sales of Sony are more or less the same. Nintendo completely dwarfs everything, but that's because their systems are mainly purchased for Nintendo offerings..

[Abash]

Why is Kratos used for the article pic? God of War III sold over 4 million copies and is still selling well.

The only PS3 exclusives that have struggled in recent years are SOCOM 4 and MotorStorm: Apocalypse (Which were both released in the middle of the PSN hack which could have affected it's sales). Maybe Resistance 3 but even that game is about to hit the 1 million copies sold mark. Everything else has sold well.

[gaffyh]

It's misconception that all 360 exclusives sell amazingly well, and people assume that all PS3 exclusives should sell as well as the top selling 360 exclusives. Thre are only two 360 franchises that sell much more than expected, and those are Gears and Halo. Everything else is pretty average selling.

[ApplEaglElephant]

MS spent 200 million on halo reach ads ALONE

and another 500 million on Kinect.

I dont think Sony ever spent 50 million on marketing for any single game.

Sony just likes investing those money on more games. good for us gamers.

[slayorofgods]

Exclusives actually sell very well on the PS3. It's multi-platform games that sell better on the 360. There's a lot of Sony owners that refuse to buy anything that isn't a PS3 exclusive.

[DasBunker]

yep they expect everything to make the gears and halo numbers... (which have a lot of marketing and pretty much the only "games to get" on the console)... therefore theyre "Struggling" what a joke.. 400 degrees in an hour, good job clicking on on flamebait shitty articles as always N4"G"..

[Thatguy-310]

@ slay
Lol that's me dude ....I mean I eventually get the big multiplatform releases but I usually focus more on the exclusives that Sony has to offer. They are my main priority then comes the multiplatform games. I've only own bioshock, bf and COD games, Batman games, dead space games, and the rest of my games are exclusives lol

[kaveti6616]

Microsoft did not spend 200 million dollars on marketing Halo Reach.

They also only spent 6.5 million on marketing for Halo 3.

Reach did make 200 million dollars in revenue on the first day, though.

[Dee_91]

Because if you dont sell 1 million the first week your a flop
According to the people who are certified to consider a game a success or a flop on this here site.

[da_2pacalypse]

oh here we go again.. another exclusive fanboy war... -_- This is not "news"... therefore it shouldn't be in the site "news4gamers" -_-

[Muffins1223]

acully killzone and resistance just failed these last 2 years,not even a million i think :/

[AngryTypingGuy]

I would agree with those who say "marketing". When Halo and Gears titles launch, it's a pop culture event largely do to marketing. Sony doesn't have that with any of their titles even though titles like God of War and Uncharted are just as good.

[ChrisW]

Why do the fanboys say there're no problems with exclusive sales, but there're articles like these?

[MaxXAttaxX]

LBP, God Of War, KZ, Uncharted, Gran Turismo, etc etc. These games sell quite well.

There's only a couple of Xbox 360 games that sell above average. Every other 360 exclusive game sells pretty average.
Yet every PS3 game is compared to the very top selling games.

How do these people even come to the conclusion of these games "struggling"?

[Boody-Bandit]

In 2 days it's going to be 2012 yet this article appears to be stuck in 2007.

[Elimin8]

Why? Because of articles like this!?

[RedDevils]

Just another fanboy article

[dedicatedtogamers]

This article needs to define "struggle". Last I checked, most PS3 exclusives sell several million a pop.

BTW, a lot of franchises are "strugglin" if you use this guy's definition. Halo ODST and Halo Reach sold less than half what Halo 3 sold. I guess Halo is "struggling" too, right?

[DiRtY]

Halo: Reach is selling at a faster rate than Halo 3. ODST is an add on to Halo 3.

[problemchild84]

I agree, i also think sony's plan is more long term by creating and establishing new franchises that will sell more with each new installment. It's not all about this gen but the ps4 and beyond as well.

[Kleptic]

@dirty

haha exactly...ODST was a $59.99 'add on' to halo 3...

[Marceles]

Because we're spoiled lol...so many exclusives to choose from and most people can buy only so much. If Sony threw out bread crumb exclusives and held out like their competition, I'm sure they would sell above-average

[Crystallis]

You get that and I get that, but apparently a lot of these so called journalist don't get that, which I find funny because its pretty simple.

[Marceles]

Pretty much lol...most people who's been at N4G since the start even understand it

[farhad2k8]

The same reason Lupe Fiasco sells less in a year compared to Justin Bieber.

Sales does not = Quality.
If that was the case, CoD would receive 0% hate.

[Bzone24]

That's a bad example, because neither Lupe Fiasco or Justin Bieber = quality. When making that argument, you should pick a quality artist that sells less than Beiber.

[farhad2k8]

@Bzone24
Lupe is not your typical 'black rap artist'..
He doesn't rap about his 'bitches', his oversized wallet, or his cars.
He raps about the truth. And what matters.
But I guess it's personal preference. You're opinion is your opinion, and my opinion is my opinion.

[banner]

@bzone

Lupe isnt a quality artist!?

Who is "quality" to you?

I dont think any comparison is fair... Who are you to say something isnt quality simply because you dont like it. Who you think you are telling ppl in the millions what they like to listen to or play isnt quality..

Im no beiber fan, but considering the age he started singing and the lable he is signed to along with being around artists like usher the problem isnt quality, its just not my kind of songs, and you shouldnt mistake that with quality.

[SSultan]

Bzone pmed me saying Lil Wayne is quality.

[Tose]

@kleptic'

odst was an add on, ms's greed pushed the full price tag but none the less that does not change the fact that bungies intention was to make a 4-5 hour dlc game.

[Hicken]

If you don't think Lupe is quality, then you obviously don't know what quality is. As such, please refrain from further discussions on musical integrity.

On topic: Sales don't ALWAYS equal quality. Sometimes they do; sometimes it's just too obvious how good something is, or it's been around long enough that word has gotten out. But often, quality is an understated thing: not a lot of advertising or noise made about it. People discover it, enjoy it, and pass a good thing on.

[DonaldBeck]

what a fail article, haha.

[JoGam]

Its a "Opinion Piece" Keep it moving people, nothing to see here.

[ZippyZapper]

"but anyway that's your "opinion"

No it's a fact. GT5 is the only one.

Compare PS3 games to any Halo or Gears.

[FFXI101]

That's ture, Halo and Gears sold well and let say they sold about 8 million each where as Sony's might sold around 3 or 4 million, it might look good individually. But Sony has more exclusuves and 3, 4 million times 10 that's 30, 40 million compare to 16 million. I think is pretty obvious Which systems sold more game and which has more exclusives titles.

[DigitalRaptor]

Oh..... Whoa.... 2... games....

Do you really want to play into the Xbox stereotype? Besides them and some shovelware, I wonder if any others are in the same league of success? Nope.

Sony just has more games that sell respectable numbers, and doesn't give them enough room in the year to breathe, so there's just no chance they ever will all be HUGE successes.

and @ ZippyZapper (below)

I think you misunderstand... which doesn't surprise me, as the troll you are. Yes, if Sony doesn't outsell Microsoft each year, it's going to be damn close.

Wanna know why? Multiplatform games - aside from the hugely popular shooters category (i.e. Call of Duty), the PS3 version outsells the 360 versions. That was never the case in 2006-2008, but now it's a completely different story.

What else? For every huge success story on the 360 (i.e. Halo, Gears, Halo, Gears, Halo, Gears etc.) PS3 has so many more exclusives per year that sell more or less between 1 & 5 million. So take Sony's 8-10 or more exclusives each year and you do the maths.

Didn't think about all that did you?

[MaximusPrime]

oops.. Zippy got owned

[tickticktick]

@MaximusPrime do you understand the concept of being owned?

You need to have the upper hand, which Zippy clearly has.

PS3 exclusives in the top 20
Gran Turismo 5 7 million
Metal Gear Solid 4 5.5
Uncharted 2 5.3
LBP 4.75
GOW3 4.29
GT5P 4.06
Uncharted 4.02
Total 30,170,000
http://www.vgchartz.com/wor...

360 exclusives in the top 20
Kinect Adventures! 13.94 million
Halo 3 11.4
Halo Reach 8.9
Gears of War 2 6.12
Gears 5.89
Forza 3 4.99
Gears 3 4.89
Fable 3 4.28
Total 60,410,000
http://www.vgchartz.com/wor...

30 million vs 60 million

That ^^^ is what it means to get owned.

[cjflora]

Tickticktick, are you seriously using vgchartz as a source?

[MrBeatdown]

"No it's a fact. GT5 is the only one.

Compare PS3 games to any Halo or Gears."

Gears and Halo are the standard by which you determine all other games are struggling? If vgchartz numbers are even remotely accurate, lots of games struggle, according to your standards of success.

http://gamrreview.vgchartz....

Let's see what other games are "struggling"... Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Battlefield, Fable, Skyrim, Fallout, Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil, Madden, Borderlands, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Rock Band, Batman, Dragon Age, LA Noire, Splinter Cell, Need For Speed, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, and Saints Row.

Someone should tell Rockstar, DICE, and Bethesda to close up shop. They're not doing too well.

[MrBeatdown]

@tickticktick

"That ^^^ is what it means to get owned."

Try again. Comparing the total sales of eight 360 exclusives to the total sales of seven PS3 exclusives just because they are in the top 20 doesn't prove much of anything, outside of your inability to determine what kind of information accurately reflects all exclusives. For every game like Kinect Adventures which sells millions because it's packed in with every Kinect inflating those numbers, there's a flop like Shadowrun. Halo-like sales are in the minority on both platforms. You try to make it look like 360 exclusives outsell PS3 exclusives 2 to 1, but the more exclusives you factor in, the lower that ratio goes.

Get the average sales figures for exclusives on each platform, then you might have a piece of information worth paying attention to.

[byrnezy]

@ tick tick tick
An I guess your one of those 13.94 million idiot who bought Kinect Adventures... If thats the quality of exclusive you are worthy to settle with then fine.
I'll just settle with my 5 million sold copies of uncharted...

[aPerson]

" Kinect Adventures! 13.94 million "

Please excuse me while I throw up a little...

[xXxSeTTriPxXx]

this article should be named if sony is struggling, why does it out sale the 360 in software sells almost every year.

and the main reason is to many games on top of great 3rd party titles.there's to much choice on ps3.

nintendo sells monster numbers because anything that resembles a triple A offering is going to sell because they software starve their fanbase, to the point when nintendo drops one of their exclusive their fanbase is going *damn it's about time*.

and M$ only has three franchises that sell great (halo,gears and fable).yet sony always sell the most software of the 2.

[ZippyZapper]

"why does it out sale the 360 in software sells almost every year."

Maybe in never never land. Don't do drugs.

Wake me when the PS3 gets a game up to 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13 million. The 360 has one for each of those numbers.

BTW the two consoles with the most software sales are the Wii and 360, the PS3 comes in 3rd.

[Rainstorm81]

Unfortunately Zippy its the same two games over and over.....wouldnt it be nice if it was a wide variety doing each of those numbers

[fuzion17c]

zippy's mad lol

[Prophet-Gamer]

@Zippy

and once that happens will it make you feel better or worse or what? Cause at the moment I don't see how a game selling 12, 13, 14 million copies is good for us gamers in any way, especially when one of those games is something like Kinect Adventures.

Seriously, going by you're standards, you might as well call the 360 dead compared to the Wii. I could say the same thing, wake me up when the 360 has something that's sold 20, 25, 30 million copies. Not that it'd make a difference. Sales =/= quality.

[Tose]

@tickticktick;

fuck sake man, dont you know vgcharts wont be accurate until sony sells more? gawwwwd

[BattleTorn]

PS3 Global software sale total (in millions)

http://www.vgchartz.com/wor...
(Highest is BlackOps at 11million)

Compared to Xbox global software sales (in millions)
http://www.vgchartz.com/wor...
(Top 4 have sold more than PS3's #1. and HALO3 beats PS3 highest selling game)

A XBOX EXCLUSIVE HAS SOLD MORE THAN ANY PS3 GAME!!!

How can you disagree global-sale-numbers?
Please tell..

[Old McGroin]

Hey BattleTorn, don't ya love how people will still disagree with you even though you've provided links to solid facts?

[Dante112]

@ Battle

Halo 3 has been out for ****four years**** with 11 million units sold. GT5 has been out *****a year**** with 7.3 million sold. Nice spin.

Edit: Lol, you edited your comment again now with the Kinect push. Keep on spinning. Answer me this, if all Xbox360 exclusive sales are so much better than ps3 exclusives, why did these games fail to reach Halo or Gears numbers or even ps3 exclusives for that matter?

Alan Wake, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Crackdown 1 & 2, Lost Odyssey Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Splinter Cell Conviction, Forza 4, Metro 2033.

[dedicatedtogamers]

Other than Halo, Gears, and a few Kinect games, all the 360 exclusives sell around the 1-4 million mark, just like PS3 exclusives. That's why there is no sequel to Banjo Kazooie, the Alan Wake sequel is a downloadable game, why there's no more Viva Pinata, and why Mass Effect and Bioshock went multiplatform.

Sure, trump up the sales of Gears and Halo, and then show up in the next article and say "Hey, the 360 isn't all about teh shooters! Stereotyping!!!"

[cjflora]

Do people really think vgchartz is a reliable source?? I don't get it, that douche has been a known liar for how long?

[xXxSeTTriPxXx]

i think you miss the point, bias blinds you lol.i said that in general the ps3 outsells the 360 in software sells over all not franchise against franchise.

and ps3 franchises sell great numbers anyway so this whole article is pure fail.

[The_Devil_Hunter]

I do not understand the definition of that word.

[mcstorm]

The problem with games sales now I everyone looks like the sales of halo COD, GT and Mario games and if they do not sell as many as those games they are a flop. The way I look at it any game that reaches over 1 million sales is a success any more than than then it's extra money for the developer. If we look at the best selling gaes this general information bet only gt cod and halo games are in the top 10 of this gen.

[50Terabytespersec]

struggle?? you mean don't hit numbers that the Multi-platform games do or what the PC360 gets in sales.
Well your right marketing!!!
MS doesn't spend money on games or breakthrough titles etc. They spend it on marketing , Selling crap to gullable players who buy 360's even when they break down ??
On top of that the majority of so called hit games are repetitive shovel ware PC engine games that are all lower setting graphics!!
What gives???

[hotrider12]

oh here we go again.. another exclusive fanboy war... -_- This is not "news"... therefore it shouldn't be in the site "news4gamers

WHAT'D!!!! N4G i thought it meant "nick-picking4gamers" ; no ARTICLE talk about the latest news

[Prophet-Gamer]

It's really simple, PS3 has more exclusives, most of them get sequels which means they're selling at or above expectations. Most of them are quality. In no way are any of them, (of course with some exceptions) struggling. And other than Halo, no other 360 sells as much as the GT games (if I recall correctly, GT5 is currently ahead of all the Gears games).

[YodaCracker]

The PS3 does NOT have more exclusives! In fact, it has the least exclusives of any current gen console.

Observe:

Wii - 366 exclusive titles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Xbox 360 - 237 exclusive titles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

PS3 - 194 exclusive titles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[PsycheMax]

@YodaCracker:

I think he was talking about QUALITY and SELLING exclusives. XD

[NYC_Gamer]

they don't struggle the titles sold enough or there wouldn't be sequels.not every game needs to do halo numbers to be successful....

[stickskills]

The article states that they do sell "well", but not "great". It's referring more to why Sony hasn't produced that "must have" or "it" title with huge sales numbers.

Their games have the gameplay, story, etc., but they aren't pushing them enough.

[SoapShoes]

Well I'd say they aren't a one-trick pony and never have been. There will never be a "must have" title since they aren't focusing on making one great game. If you have a bunch of great games, you simply can't have one that stands out.

[Nitrowolf2]

They all are Must have titles. The thing with Playstation is that it didn't establish itself based off one title alone. Xbox/Microsoft did great with Gears and Halo, but can you really think of any xbox exclusive that sells that great every release after?

360 is mainly for shooters like gears and halo, and Kinect is slowly making it's way there.

If you look at Playstation though it really doesn't have that dominant genre other then FPS (like all platforms), but typically all their other genre get a lot of attention to.More then that they would have gotten on the 360.

IDK why Playstation lacks the sales, but what exactly are we comparing? Gears and Halo are the only two 360 title that i can name that do amazing in sales, otherwise their other games do far less.

also if God of war, MGS4, GT5, Uncharted aren't "Must Have" titles then IDK what they are.

Each of those title have already sold over 4 Million I believe.

[Jobesy]

I would like a definition of the difference between "good" and "great" sales. What's great sales? 2,3,4,5 million?

And what is "must have"? Halo? Cause I've played that and it's not a must have. Uncharted, GT and MGS are must haves.

[Sevir]

Because they are the only ones that really put up impressive first week or month numbers.. most every ps3 exclusive released has sold a million units easily and 70% has gotten sequels which have sold 2-3 million units in its second and 3rd iteration. Uncharted God of war infamous lbp motorstorm and the killzone franchise are big blockbuster franchises that have quickly and easily crossed 2 million ms's paltry first party offerings barely have gotten to that point with the bulk racking up that kind of numbers being halo gears forza and kinect games from ms and harmonics..... Just stop.

It's frightening to think that people are still under the illusion thatps3 exclusives don't sell. If they didn't we wouldn't be getting more, especially hardcore ones for that matter. They have done well to get sequels and sequels. And that trend isn't stopping

[bobrea]

I hate when people say that Sony doesn't have the "must have" titles. There are so many of them:

God of War
Gran Turismo
Uncharted
Metal Gear Solid
Infamous
Killzone
Little BigPlanet
Ratchet and Clank series
Resistance
Warhawk/Starhawk
And more I can't be bothered to think of.

While on the other hand, Microsoft has:
Gears
Halo
Forza

My Xbox has been sitting dormant and collecting dust for basically the last 6 months. The only time I use it is if I want to stream things to my big TV downstairs, but with my new TV, I don't even need to use it for that anymore. The EXCLUSIVE xbox library is so boring, I can't stand it, especially now that they're all about Kinect. Almost every single xbox game is available either on PC or PS3.

[solidboss]

i agree with what you're saying with sony hasnt produced that "must have" or "it" title. then again i think that's what sony is all about. there isnt really one thing that defines their exclusives. they are all over the place which is actually a good thing because it offers more variety. they have exclusives for action lovers, fps lovers, racing etc etc.. but unlike microsoft they dont have that "halo" title. on the flip side you can look at it like halo is the only thing that microsoft really has to define itself which is disappointing even though the sales number says other wise. it shows that sony goes out on the limb for new games and genres while microsoft plays it safe with its halo, forza, gears and fable series. reminds me of what nintendo does every generation (mario metroid zelda rinse and repeat)

[baodeus]

Sell can't really be used to determine quality. They are different. How about this:

Sales = popularity
Rating = quality (still opinion based, but majority can be consider fact).

Now compare each game based on both of those factors, top rating of the franchise only (70 and up) and see how MS and Sony are actually doing?

Example:

Halo 3: 94, ~12 mil > KZ2: 92, ~3 mil
Forza 3: 92, ~4-5 mil < GT5: 8.4, ~7mil
Gears 1: 94, ~6-7 mil > UC2: 96, ~5mil
Fable 2: 89, ~4-5 mil > VC: 89, ?

etc...

@Bobrea

hahaha....must have titles are totally based on preference/opinion then? How are they "fact"?

Out of those listed, i only like MGS4, GT, and UC. The rest are pretty boring, so who is right?

If i say i prefer these MS exclusives more:

Lost odyssey
Tales of Vesperia
Blue Dragon
Fable
ME
Infinite Undiscovery
PGR series
Halo Wars
Viva Pinata
Crack Down
Alan Wake
EDF

I'm wrong then?

see....people don't think alike do they? U guys express your opinion as if they are fact.

Do u guys know the difference between facts and opinion? Which one do u think make a stronger argument?

[aquamala]

Infamous 2 hasn't sold 2 million, has resistance 3 even sold 1 million? At this rate there won't be sequels.

[P_Bomb]

inFamous2 came out just 6 months ago and has already passed 1 million. It's selling better than inFamous1 so there's no issue. They even said inFamous Festival of Blood is the fastest selling PSN game ever http://www.eurogamer.net/ar... . You picked some bad examples.

Typical stereotypes though that dated articles like this continue to perpetuate. I really don't think people understand how "little" most games sell. Games like COD and GTA are the exception to the rule. Articles should look up sales in the Mass Effect, BioShock and Arkham series for a reality check before martyring GodofWar3 which according to vgchartz, outsold all of those per platform.

[Emilio_Estevez]

Because there are sooo many to choose from?

[remanutd55]

this !!!!
Little Big Planet 2
Killzone 3
MLB 11 The Show
Socom 4
Ar Tonelico 3
Hyperdimension Neptunia
Yakuza 4
Motorstorm Apocalypse
inFAMOUS 2
Resistance 3
Disgaea 4
Uncharted 3
not counting PC/ PS3 ,PSN , HD remakes or PS move games , just blu ray disc PS3 exclusive 2011 games , is like 1 per month oh my god talking about being spoiled lol

[Tose]

ugh this silly little argument again- i love when Ps3 fanbois list the exclusive list 3/4 of them are shite games, yes exclusives are nice, but they have to be stellar games as well.

p.s; seriously; if you're going to mention uncharted, at least dont mention the flop

[remanutd55]

at Tose , well read the comment , comprehend it and then come back , it seems to me that you dont get my point , i didnt wanted to list just stellar games i listed a very good variety of blu ray exclusives that came out this year , given the fans choices .

Those games go from Play , Create , share to Brutal off road racing to sports to JRPGs to Hero open world game to FPSs to Action/Adeventure , learn to comprehend sentences, paragraphs , thats a very good amount of exclusives in one year and that means they give us choices what to get and what not , not all people can afford all those games plus multiplatforms , psn , hd remakes , ps move games and not all people like those games , some do , some dont , but theres no doubt we are being spoiled by the amount of exclusive content on the system and coming to it .

[Indigon]

I think that that says it all really. Well put.

[remanutd55]

and i forgot to list White Knight Chronicles 2 lol

[Redempteur]

LTTP but i agree ... too much to choose from .. a healty and diverse library .

[Jio]

They don't "struggle" but sony doesn't market them as well as it should.

[negroguy]

Little big planet 2 I can agree with stating that the sells were not that great but I believe god of war 3 has sold 4+ million so i'm not really sure if that would also fall under the same category.

[yadoneson]

Because sony still sucks at Advertising. Im amazed that Sony hasnt had a Halo level exclusive this Gen and there have been plenty of franchises that have deserved it.

[WhiteLightning]

MS spent 500 million of Kinect ads and I think they spent 200 million on Halo 3.

Now be honest, as a gamer would you want Sony to spend that kind of money of adverts OR just keep on what their doing by giving us exclusives, opening new studios and making some first party studios

I know which one I would want

[Half-Mafia]

500m on Kinect, i wouldnt have thought they have made a profit from all that marketing. 500m for 15m Kinects, seems like a very bad return. They also spent 500m on Windows phone 7 and that was just money down the drain

[DigitalRaptor]

I know right? Microsoft spends more on advertising than they do on game development, which is pretty damn sad for a company in their second generation of this industry.

Everyone with common sense knows that most PS3 exclusives sell enough for SONY to be satisfied with, and so they can add them to their platinum range. It's been the same case since the PS2 days. PS3 exclusives don't struggle - just not all of them have room to be phenomenally successful. I mean would anyone expect them to with there being so many of them?

Sony's exclusives vary in of levels success, just like Microsoft's and just like Nintendo's. But let's focus on PS3 and talk double standards.. YAY!! /s

I'm tired of seeing these misinformed BS articles full of lies and hypocrisy. And people wonder why Sony fans get so pissed off...

[insomnium2]

Agreed and great comment digital raptor!

-"The 360's BC is around 75%. I know because I actually play the games."-Made in DK286K-

[kaveti6616]

"and I think they spent 200 million on Halo 3"

Wrong.

http://articles.latimes.com...

This article says that at most Microsoft spent a total of 60 million dollars on Halo 3, with 30 million going to marketing and 30 million for development.

Other sources say the marketing was as little as 6.5 million dollars.

Guess who invented that outrageous 200 million dollar figure.

[BitbyDeath]

@kaveeti6616

"Halo 3 pales into insignificance compared to the $200 million Microsoft reportedly spent on marketing the game."

http://gamer.blorge.com/201...

Cost $ 55 million does not include the cost of Microsoft to promote the game worth $ 200 million.

http://costliest.net/costli...

Google it, there are tons of links how MS had spent $200 million to market Halo 3.

[GarandShooter]

@ kaveti6616

That's not what they said. From your link:

"The total cost to Microsoft for "Halo 3": a little more than $60 million. Development costs will probably be just above $30 million, given an elite team of 300 full-time artists and programmers working for three years on the game at Bungie, the internal Microsoft studio that created the games, said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. Bonuses to key developers and artists will probably add $25 million to the tab, Pachter said. Though about $15 million to $20 million in television marketing will be spent promoting the game, the majority will be footed by marketing partners such as Pepsi, Burger King and Pontiac that want to ride the "Halo 3" hype."

So lets add this up:

Development > $30 million
Bonuses $25 million
Advertising $15 to 20 million
Total: > $70 to $75 million

"$30 million, given an elite team of 300 full-time artists and programmers working for three years on the game at Bungie"

That's 10 milliom per year for 300 people equaling an average salary of $33333.33 per person per year. Yeah, I got a hard time buying that one too.

Not to mention that this weak article was published before the release of the game, making it a prediction, not an account of expenses.

Losing your touch?

[kaveti6616]

More links that prove my point

http://www.pcworld.com/arti...

Read down, it says Halo 3's marketing budget was 6.5 million dollars.

So let me get this straight. I put up a link of an LA Times article to prove my point, and you guys counter with a top ten article from some non-credible website that probably caters to N4G and sites like N4G? And I'm losing my touch.

Here's another link that talks about Reach seeing a 60 percent increase in marketing budget compared to Halo 3.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/r...

If you guys are to be believed (that Halo 3 had a marketing budget of 200 million dollars), does that mean Halo Reach had a marketing budget of over 300 million dollars?

Do you understand how incredibly wrong you guys are?

Here's a joystiq article that once again highlights Halo 3's 6.5 million dollar budget.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010...

There is no way that Microsoft spent 200 million dollars marketing a game. They wouldn't even have to. Halo 2 was a major success as it was. The large audience was already there to buy the sequel.

You guys are so warped in the head, it's not even humorous anymore.

[Convas]

WhiteLightning, did you just seriously put down that blatantly WRONG marketing figure for Halo 3 with a straight face?

How about doing some actual research like some of the more levelheaded gamers on this site and not going of what you "think". You end up sounding like a blind tool less often. :)

[TheBlackMask]

It's a shame to see how much is wasted on marketing instead of games.

Edit:

@yadoneson

Typical 360 fanboy comment, I and the other 27 people who agree with him aren't all fanboys. Most of us are just gamers who aren't blind and have some common sense.

@Clizzz

Wow a second 360 fanboy in a row. But you want to know what makes you special...your also a total dick aswell.

Could I just point out two things. Numer 1, WL said "I think" before he said something about Halo 3 and Number 2, he has more agrees then disagrees. Awwwwww, whats the matter did the baby troll spit out his bottle over someones opinion since it dosen't match theirs.

Clizz go troll somewhere else, you always like to stir up shit on this site.

EDIT 2:

@yadoneson

Right first of all 500 million is correct go look it up

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

and as I said before he said "I thinl" which clearly he was just guessing. It's not like he put "Halo 3 advertising was 200 million, thats a fact you know". Guess who's the idiot now.

Trolls love to start arguments, I guess you and Clizzz have something in common. Funny how he comments right after what you said and you only joined 10 days ago......

[yadoneson]

@TheBlackMask

Dude.. you and the 27 people that agreed with this guy are idiots if you belief this..

=> "MS spent 500 million of Kinect ads and I think they spent 200 million on Halo 3."

WhiteLightning clearly COMPLETELY pulled those numbers out of his ass and you mindless lemmings pressed Agree in unison.

[kreate]

So anyone know exactly how much halo 3's marketing budget was?

Wikipedia saids 40 million. And cnet saids 12 million.
And few others have different numbers.

EDIT: by the way i didnt agree or disagree with anyone here but it was a interesting read

[Tose]

40 million on halo3, don't kid yourself. i'm not even going to bother looking up the kinect one because its sorely ridiculous.

[Sizzon]

Gran Turismo 5?

7.3 million WW copies sold.

[Infernostew]

GT Prologue had great numbers as well.

[Redempteur]

Still strong a year after thanks to the 2.0 update ( and more is coming )

[DFresh]

Gran Turismo 5 says hello.
Almost 8M plus.
We'll be over 14M by the end of this gen.
Guaranteed.
:P

[frelyler]

Well they don't sell stupid number like COD, but then again only COD sells like COD. Why are we comparing quality original IP's to the yearly whore that is COD. Mainstream does not mean good.

[Darrius Cole]

Halo sells like that.

[Half-Mafia]

And Halo is a yearly title like it on not. 360 has been out for 6 years and Halo 4 will be the 5th Halo game on the 360.

[frelyler]

yeah, but not every Halo does COD numbers.

[GameTavern]

Well that's not true, Mario Kart and Mario actually sell better than CoD, but seems to be an HD thing.

Also think mixing up facts with Halo, yeah Xbox is 6, but will be 7 years when Halo 4 comes out, if it is a 2012 title.

[Tose]

you should probably wake up, halo has been around for ten years, and it has five titles, wanna explain to me how that is yearly? I'll wait...

[Hicken]

Halo has five titles?

Halo 1-3
Halo 3 ODST
Halo Wars
Halo Reach
Halo CE Anniversary
Halo 4

That's eight titles in ten years, and six of them are on the 360, which may or may not be 7 years old when Halo 4 releases.

Is that not explanation enough? Should I pull up release dates for you?

Halo 3: 2007
Halo Wars: 2009
ODST: 2009
Reach: 2010
CE Anni: 2011
Halo 4: 2012

Questions?

[WhiteLightning]

Heres a good question

Why do articles like this still exsist.

We all know why they "struggle", more of them are released over the course of the year.

Lets say Microsoft released a ton of exclusives over the course of the year, Gears, Fable, Alan Wake, another Banjo game, new IP, new IP 2, Forza AND THEN a new Halo game which is released near the end of the year I bet that wouldn't get as many sales as it normaly does. Plus you have to include MP games aswell

Not everyone is rich, you have to plan a head. Like this year for me I had to decided whether or not I should buy Resistance 3, Uncharted 3 or evem a MP like Batman AC.

[Godmars290]

A lack of half billion dollar ad campaigns?

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

The only spot I see where PS3 exclusives struggle is because their are SO MANY constantly being released in such a tight window that it makes getting them all, so hard to do.

Other than that I can't think of 1. I mean if they did the MS approach of 1 awesome exclusive every 6 months, they'd achieve gangbuster sales numbers.

But this gen as far as the exclusives go, including graphics and gameplay. PS3 has taken the crown for me... the presentation of God of War 3, Uncharted 1/2/3, Resistance 1/2/3 and Killzone 2/3... there's just NOTHING like them at all on 360... NOTHING!

[Darrius Cole]

I don't think the 360 has 1 awesome exclusive every 6 months. It's more like 1 every 9 months. One year it will have 1, then the next year it will have 2.

[kma2k]

100 times agree witht this. I didnt realise it until i got my 360 at the begginig of this year, but it is 100% true. I was in amazement at the shear ammount of advertisement for gears 3 from a long time sony only guy it was almost to the point of overwelment. I said it to a buddy of mine that was a long time xbox guy & he said its "normal" for microsoft, i thought then & there exactly what this article was saying, if sony advertised like this they would sell a shit ton more games!

[ZombieAssassin]

Yea but you gotta think, you put 100m into advertising then you have to sell a lot more units to make a profit so it even itself out...guess they figure they'd rather put that money into games instead.

As a gamer that's all I care about, If I was a share-holder maybe I'd think differently but even then I'd be like "WTF why are you spending so much on advertising for your biggest franchise when it doesn't need it."

[kevnb]

if by struggling you mean most dont sell 5 million+, then ya sure.

[Commodore]

Numerous theories exist...One FACT is that the only dominate game on the 360 is Halo, that's their hit game. MS has to figure, why go out and take risks (like they did with Alan Wake-Fail) when we can make HALO repeatedly and have it sell millions of copies. Yes, they have Forza and Gears. 3 primary franchises. The PS3 on the other hand has new franchises and fantastic ones every year(Uncharted, GT5, Infamous, Resistance (I used to like it, it sucks now) Killzone (not interesting anymore), Last of Us, God of War....the list goes on, for a while.

One theory I have is that the average age of PS3 is higher when compared to 360 owners. Exhibit A: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

PS3 owners have to spend their money wisely as opposed to 360 owners who go to mommy or daddy.

[Nathaniel_Drake]

Simple logic, you have more exclusives you spread the sales among them. You have less exclusives you have concentrated sales among them. You have less exclusives you can pour in more money for advertising for each game....see the pattern here, it's not that hard but we still get articles like these. And I will reiterate many on here in saying why multimillion sellers are considered struggling and the fact that we have many sequels to these "struggling" franchises.

[ipe]

LMAO

go year by year ps3 exclusives sold more in total than 360 one(official numbers and vgcharts). 2008,09,10,11.

[lifesanrpg]

I hate how easy it is to start a website these days.

Troll articles like this are reasons why we have so many amateur gaming sites.

[Half-Mafia]

its pretty simple really MS has 2 big games Halo and Gears in which they spend $/£100m+ marketing the games to get 5m+ million in sales. Sony has to spread there marketing budget out over alot more titles. And its not like these games dont sell.
GoW3-4.3m,
Uncharted-4m,
U2-5.3M,
U3-2.8,
Killzone2-2.8,
K3-2.11,
MGS4-5.5M,
GT5-7M

These games are not struggling in anyway. Its these kind of sale numbers that make Sony invest in new ip's cause they no 1 of there many other games will sell to make up for maybe a failed project.

[Zechs34]

Does it shock anyone else how phenomenal MGS4 did years ago when the PS3 was still finding its identity and struggling to sell?

What a game.

[remanutd55]

no it didnt shock me at all but i thought it was good for new IPs like Resistance and Motorstorm to do very good at that time

[JellyJelly]

Because they are overrated.

[mendicant]

My ps3 got turned on by accident earlier this week because my dog walked on my remote.I haven't played a game on it since I traded in UC3.

Those ps3 blu- ray remotes are really sensitive.

[DFresh]

FAIL.
>.<

[yesmynameissumo]

Someone truly is JellyJelly.

[Pyscho_Mantis]

Hmm what exclusives do Microsoft have that sell:

Gears
Halo

Ps3:
MGS4
Uncharted
Gran Turismo (7.3 million in one year biggest exclusive of sony)
God of War

if you want to play the which has the biggest exclusives game Nintendo trumps all:
Mario
Pokemon
theres more but I cant be bothered.

[PirateThom]

They're spending money on games rather than advertising...

I don't think I would change this set up.

Even their biggest ad campaign was modest in comparison to Halo, Gears and CoD.

Again, I wouldn't change this.

The games sell well enough to warrant sequels in most cases and the developers aren't being closed down due to game sales.

Sony, from a gamer perspective, are getting it right. Other companies may be impressive shareholders, but that's another matter.

[MaximusPrime]

Bubble up for "well-said"

[Oner]

Exactly PirateThom. +Agree & +Well Said

Certain types of "gamers" will talk all this $#@!, but when it boils down to it ~ they never seem to attempt to dispute/discuss (more like argue) those little facts of which you just said.

[Redempteur]

well said indeed ..give me games not ad campaings

[Why o why]

Why...you can actually play those ad compaigns silly..just like npd and vg chartz. I win if i play more games than they do... They still havent figured it out...Some people still drink cows milk...go figure

[Quagland]

Yay, this old myth. Happy new year and have a good 2008.

"Take titles such as God of War III and LittleBigPlanet 1 & 2. Each title received television marketing, but the response for sales didn’t seem to be that great."

Haha, what fucking idiots. GoW 3 has outsold 1 & 2.

[Clarence]

another one of these articles.

There are 360 exclusives that struggle

Alan Wake
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Crackdown 1 & 2
Lost Odyssey
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
Splinter Cell Conviction
Forza 4
Metro 2033

None of these titles have sold Halo numbers so I guess that means they struggled.

[Half-Mafia]

That list needs to be a bit shorter cause i played Conviction and Metro 2033 on the PC.

[ginsunuva]

Alan Wake incoming too.

[Clarence]

So now these games aren't exclusives? I remember not to long ago people complained that just because some of these games are on PC does not mean that they aren't exclusives to the 360.

Now that the sells are low for some of these games they need to be taken off the exclusive list.

Whats bad is that these games are on the PC and the sells for them are still below par. According to this article.

[Half-Mafia]

@Clarence these games were never 360 exclusives, you can go back and check any of my comments. Ive always said if i can play a game on a PC that is on either PS3 or 360 then its not a PS3 or 360 exclusive. Thats goes for DC Universe and many so called 360 exclusives. Even The Witcher 2 is being called a 360 exclusive even though its been out for PC for 6+ months.

I said that them 2 games shouldnt be on the so called 360 exclusive list. I really dont care if a game sells less then 100k, if its a good game ill play it. Ive played alot of games this gen that has got bad reviews and bad sales and have enjoyed them alot.

[LNDCalling]

I wouldn't say they struggle but rather the volume and variety of exclusives on PS3 means the sales are spread more evenly!...

Though the sales of the 'worthy' PS3 exclusives, are in my mind, still more than respectable!..

[soundslike]

even with the massive success of gran turismo and the like

how many people still play Killzone 3 or Socom 4?

in that sense a few have struggled but most have done just fine...

[remanutd55]

people still play Kilzone 3 multiplayer online , i have noticed a lot of new players on Resistance 3 and Motorstorm Apocalypse lately

[ZombieAssassin]

I think more people play Kz2/Socom Confrontation more than those, mainly because they took everything away that made them great and tried to Casual them up more.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

.
Killzone and Socom fans both feel that KZ3 and Socom 4 have been causualized and that their previous iterations are hundreds of times better!

[mendicant]

It' because they aren't that great compared to everything else. A wide selection of average games. Third party titles alone this year prove that.

[SephirothX21]

Two words against this argument. Alan Wake.

[Zechs34]

Banjo Kazooie
Perfect Dark

F'ing Rare...

[ZombieAssassin]

Funnily enough it's pretty much the best 360 exclusive and the most original.

[krautgamer]

i love me some alan wake

[nik666uk]

PS3 didn't seem to start advertising or sponsoring anything on tv until about a year ago!! Crazy!!

[Oschino1907]

Did you just get/see a tv for the first time about a year ago?

[ZombieAssassin]

Uhhh besides Halo 3/Reach and Gears 1/2/3 what exclusives really sells on the xbox better than Ps3. Fable 2 and 3 did good(around 4m each), Forza 3 did decent but then again it was bundled constantly. Alan Wake barely passed 1m (which is a huge shame), Crackdown 2 barely 1m and honestly I can't think of any other exclusives that are worth mentioning. What's funny about Halo3/Reach and Gears games is none of them were even made by first party studio's.

Uc 1 is at over 4m, Uc2 is at over 5, GT5 is over 7m, GT5p is almost 5m, GoW3 is over 4m, LBP is almost 5m, Kz2 is 2.8m....and all of them were most likely made with the budget of Halo3/Reach's advertising...also with a much smaller install base in the supposed biggest market.

[jetlian]

well all those ps3 games have been bundled cept maybe GT5P. Halo as a whole series marketing is at 200 million but 1 game no!

Halo so far this gen is over 30 million total!!! gears is at close to 17 million. Forza is at least 11 million this gen. Fable is at 7 - 8 million.

Best sony is UC or GT with both sitting at 12 million mark.

And more to the point name any sony game even close to making a record day one or month one for that matter! Sony doesnt back its games because they know they don't sell enough

[Hatmantc]

wouldn't putting money into sequels of games that "don't sell well" be backing them? they just don't go all out on the marketing blitz like some companies do.

[Noticeably_FAT]

Simple answer, all those people claiming to purchase Sony exclusives "day one" are liars.

I didn't even have to read any of the responses here but I can guess that they are going to go on and on about how Microsoft spends a ton on advertising and poor Sony cant compete with that.

Also, they will point quickly to VGChartz and say "see!"....even though they troll VGChartz every chance they get, especially when they publish Microsoft's numbers.

I'd personally say the Sony games sell pretty good, but they don't have that 8-10 million seller that is Halo. Technically, both Microsoft and Sony should have their exclusives sell over 10 million, I mean when you have 60+ and 50+ million consoles sold respectively and can only manage to sell between 2-5 million copies of a game, that's pretty bad actually.

[Hatmantc]

a few years ago i was listening to a podcast(it was either podcast beyond or PSnation) and they were speaking to a developer about sales. the dev said that their goal is to have as close to 10% attach rate as possible. anything more is just icing on the cake. so right now 5 million units would be the idle sales figure and anything over that is outstanding. i think people have over realistic ideas on how much a game should sell

[Oner]

Noticeably_FAT said ~
"all those people claiming to purchase Sony exclusives day one are liars."

Oh Really? Hold that thought for one sec while I type this next bit out ~

Noticeably_FAT said ~
"I'd personally say the Sony games sell pretty good, but they don't have that 8-10 million seller that is Halo."

Bzzzt wrong try again DA! GT5 has sold over 8 Million and STILL selling. So I ask this ~ Now who are the "liars"? But wait there's more!

Noticeably_FAT said ~
"I didn't even have to read any of the responses here but I can guess that they are going to go on and on about how Microsoft spends a ton on advertising and poor Sony cant compete with that."

Funny how just a few comments up there is a very concise comment about just that made by PirateThom (comment #21 ~ http://n4g.com/comments/red... ) of which I guess makes too much sense for some to truly understand/contemplate. No one ever said "Sony can't compete with that"...that's not it. Sony would rather put out a broader selection of ACTUAL GAMES INTO PS3 OWNERS HANDS and let the adage of "put up or shut up" speak more volumes (you know because it IS a GAME console).

[LNDCalling]

Here is a better Article title:

"Why is the PS3 the only (HD) console to define itself with Exclusives?"

[NeXXXuS]

I didn't even bother to click.

[TheDareDevil]

Yet you bothered to comment.

[NeXXXuS]

trololol

[BrianC6234]

This topic is old and boring. The 360 doesn't have many exclusives so the ones it has sell well. The PS3 has a lot of exclusives and all kinds of games. None sells as big as the 360 exclusives because there are so many. Most people who buy a 360 mostly only like shooters like Gears of War and Halo. PS3 exclusives mostly sell great though. Just not Halo numbers. Does an exclusive have to sell that much to be successful? No.

[yesmynameissumo]

I think some of their exclusives do pull Halo numbers (GT5, Uncharted), they simply hit those numbers over time and not at launch. Good, rational comment. +1

[skyblue14213]

People that buy games just because of advertising are lame, and a sheepesh tool for corporations. Which would you rather have a company do: put more money towards the game or the commercial? I rather a company put most of the money towards the game imo.
I will put it another way that anyone can understand:
what are you buying? the game itself or the commercial for the game?

[2v1]

try tell that to a 5 y old

[ShaunCameron]

Better yet try telling that to someone who'd otherwise wouldn't have paid attention.

[ShaunCameron]

The latter. What good is spending money on the game if the people you trying to sell it to don't know that it exists? Like any other product, a game's success is largely determined by how well it's promoted and how many people it could get interested enough to buy it.

[skyblue14213]

Apparently you did not take my whole comment into consideration when posting your reply.

[PersonMan]

There are so many great exclusives to choose from. Not everyone can buy every game that comes out by Sony, so when an exclusive comes out for XBox, people only have to buy one game every couple of years.

If you're a playstation owner, you've probably got so many games to play (counting multiplatforms and exclusives) that you don't have the time and or money to buy and play everything on launch day.

That's my opinion.

[thawind]

bubble.

[jc48573]

not a fan of Kratos.

[TBONEJF]

I choose quality over sales

[TheDareDevil]

And I choose quality over quantity

[jetlian]

Sony hasnt made anything that stands out. Thats all there is to it. All the games lack that special something.

Marketing cant change most of these series now. Most people have a preconceived notion by now. Sony is too slow to realize it. Motorstorm 1 was 3.5 million then 2 came out and sold less than 2 million and 3 hasn't broken 1 (well last time checked) 1 million

Dont think the psp game did well either. Same with RE, KZ, and a few others. Some people like well atleast they didn't stop! Well if they not selling whats the point? Buy a game thats worthless 2 months later because the community is gone.

[ZombieAssassin]

"Buy a game thats worthless 2 months later because the community is gone."

Ok for starters not everyone buys games just to play online, it's mainly CoD players who do that. Besides I've always been able to find a match in the lowest selling games exclusive or multiplatform.

As far as standing out I think LBP and Uncharted do that and they're both new IP's this gen. Besides Halo hasn't stood out from a game play stance since the first 1 and even then it only stood out on consoles as PC had already been there.

[yesmynameissumo]

The ignorance in your comment is bookmark worthy.

[SpecialK]

Stop just sticking disagrees on jetlian's comment and actually think about what he is saying

hes not saying the games are not any good, the exclusives made by sony are all good, but none of them really have that special something like halo or gears do.

I played Killzone 2, the title that was meant to be just that, but it didnt have the captivating story or characters to do it.

The closest thing is uncharted. I know people who bought ps3s for that game, its a system seller. the 360 has 2 system sellers though, gears of war and the juggernaut that is halo.

[smashcrashbash]

That is BS. Sony's games do stand out. Are you kidding? That is the one of the main problems. People resist things that are not mainstream. If people would stop repeating the same crap over and over again and think they would realize that that there are many games on both the Wii and 360 that 'struggle'.

People believe that because they run out and buy every Halo and Mario game that means that they support their system more. But if you look at both systems you see the long list of games that are practically ignored by their gamers. And these games don't do that badly in reviews at all and they still 'struggled' to sell many units.

Look at Forza 4 for example. It barely managed to crawl past a million units. Why? According to people its a great games and got excellent scores. If that is the case why did GT5 blow past it? Because people didn't care about the GT5/Forza rivalry. They just didn't want Forza 4 as much as people wanted GT5. Also look at games like Heavy Rain or GOW3. Do you think games like that would have done as well as they did on the 360? Nope.

The fact is there are many exclusives that people ignore and struggle on other systems. What about Conduit, Zack and Wiki, Alan Wake, Viva Pinata, Banjo Nuts and Bolts, Madworld, Crackdown 2, Splinter Cell Conviction etc. Didn't see them break the bank or have record sales.Its a lie that PS3 owners are the only ones that don't buy all of their exclusives or that if any of our games were on any other system they would have sold better. Do you think if they made an Alan Wake 2 and released it along side Gears 3 or Halo 4 that anyone would buy it? It would have died a slow painful death.

[P_Bomb]

@Jet
Why pick an offroad arcade racer like Motorstorm as an example? It's just a racer. I guess then one has to ask what the 360 equivalent to Motorstorm is, or ModNation, and what are *its* sales? Is there even an equivalent? That's the thing. A few million sales is still better than zero. It's not a one horse race anymore.

I don't think most people play just one or two games all year. Not everything will sell the same as a result. Personally I enjoyed Alan Wake more than some of the better sellers. Didn't think it was a lesser game.

[GraveLord]

They DON'T struggle. They just have long sexy legs.
Uncharted 2 is the perfect example of a game that sold less than a million on launch week and ended up selling 5million+ lifetime(and counting)

[MizTv]

because they dont!

[Sikct9a]

Sony's focus is on multiple type of games. Can't say the same about the competition. In the end its all about the games. Looking foward 2012!

[OllieBoy]

I've seen some misinformed articles in my time, but this one takes the cake. My god the ignorance...

[Silly gameAr]

These sites have really been trying to hard recently. It's pretty sad.

[NeloAnjelo]

Sorry but am I missing something?

Unless you're rich, or have very generous parents who can afford to buy all the exclusives day one, and also the multi-platforms day one? Think about it and maybe this headline will make more sense.

Are PS3 gamers less inclined to buy BF3 or MW3 because they got Killzone? Or will they most likely hold out and get game that most are playing? Will they get Infamous 2 and not Arkham City? Or UC3 and not Deus Ex? ... Of course not. They have to wait and time their purchases.

I'm lucky as I do get most exclusives and multi-plats that I want day one. A lot of people cannot.

The reason MS exclusives sell is because they are hardly any to buy. This means they are also spaced out nicely over the year. Sony had what? An exclusive in almost ever month this year? Sometimes multiple titles in the same month, not counting the HD collections?

[Woodrow]

Is all because everybody wants more of Call of Duty S??t

[Kran]

Ummm they don't?

Although I suppose a few do. I hear InFamous 2 and Resistance 3 didnt do so well.

If they were struggling, i'd say because theres so many out there ;P Thats a good and bad thing I suppose.

[guitar_nerd_23]

No idea, I buy plenty- not my fault!

[animalia85]

You guys uderstand that microsoft more than anything wants the biggest piece of gaming pie, and they don't care how much they spend. next gen they better have way more exclusive NEW ip's.

[theeg]

here's my theroy, the ps3 has a way larger library of exclusives than almost every current home platform (wii would win here but lets count out shovelware), the only platform with more is the pc.

the ps3 is more popul;ar throughout the world, with a majority of the xbox360 install base being in north america, canada and uk. PS3 is more evenly spread the world over, therefore brazillian, japanesse, korean ect. gamers have different tastes whereas american/britts like many similar things (shooters).

just a theroy, i could really care less, i own all consoels, handheld and a nice pc, i love em all.

cannot wait to but the next gen offerings from sony and ms too!

[audiojet]

I'm not even sure why this article was even written. Halo, Gears of War and Forza sell really well. People are really into online multiplayer games these days and lets face it, the Xbox 360 has a better online experience. That's why Call of duty sells better on that system. But most Sony exclusives don't struggle for sales, they actually sell well.....not Call of duty well... but well. Sony also has a lot more exclusives so the spotlight isn't just on two games. (Halo, Gears/Mario, Zelda) At any rate there is no struggling.

[SpecialK]

On average ps3 exclusives sell well, the reason people think that 360 exclusives do better is becuase the 360 has a few exclusives which are big hitters.

Halo, gears of war and Forza are all huge games. One of the best shooters, another great shooter and arguably the most fun racing sim out there right now.

And they're all marketed well, Sony has a lot of great games but there's no one big hitter which defines the console like halo for the 360.

There should be though. Personally I think uncharted could be that big hitter but its just not marketed on the same level as halo or gears.

[Kluv]

no it's not opinion, ps3 exclusives struggle. breaking a million is a triumph on the ps3 and simply par on the 360. Advertising is definitely the biggest part of it. Every 360 exclusive that comes out is pretty much announced to the world via every media outlet possible. Another thing though is that ps3 exclusives don't fit the best selling genre. military shooters and zombie survival. With gears, halo, and left 4 dead keeping online gamers playing, that also means they flock to the 360 for call of duty and battlefield etc. most ps3 exclusives are innovative, for sure, but because of that, they lack the strong sales. It takes a smart man to buy a smart game. That statement alone should solve everything.

[rocky047586]

What on Earth are you talking about Kluv? PS3 games do not struggle to break a million sold. There are plenty of people here that named Xbox 360 exclusives that do not sell well compared to the top selling games too. There are PLENTY of PS3 exclusives that break the million record.

God Of War 3
Gran Turismo 5
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Uncharted
Uncharted 2
Uncharted 3
Metal Gear Solid 4
Infamous
Infamous 2
Little Big Planet
Little Big Planet 2
Heavy Rain
Motorstorm
Motorstorm 2

Would you like for me to name more for you? Gears and Halo are the ONLY two franchises that stand a chance against EVERYTHING the PS3 has to offer. Otherwise the exclusives on 360 are on par, and many times worse, than anything the PS3 has to offer exclusively. L4D 1 and 2 sold poorly on Xbox 360 compared to other better exclusives like...Gears and Halo? That's pretty much it. Please get your facts straight before you babble about things you know nothing about.

[BattleTorn]

I know everyone hates VGChartz, but N4G needs to look at the numbers sometimes.

PS3 Global software sale total (in millions)

http://www.vgchartz.com/wor...
(Highest is BlackOps at 11million)

Compared to Xbox global software sales (in millions)
http://www.vgchartz.com/wor...
(Top 4 have sold more than PS3's #1. and HALO3 beats PS3 highest selling game)

(Note: if the links don't work, just re-search with PS3/X360 as platform, and sort my global-totals)

[Hatmantc]

no one is denying that the 360 has a few heavy hitters, but the likes of a GTA, Mario, Halos are more of exceptions than the rule. very few games get to the level those franchises get. so to compare them to every other game is some what unfair(but i guess you can't look at things in a vacuum either). the point everyone that's pro-PS3 is trying to make is that if you look at the sales they aren't as horrible as everyone makes them out to be, they are on par with the industry standard and sometimes even better than that

[thawind]

What is this Author on? lol Guess he's still living in 2007

[Sarcasmology]

So sad when people start touting their unreasonable opinions as facts.

If PS3 title sales were the definition of struggling, the poorest of the poor would be driving to work on hover jets while getting blown by dozens of virgins.

What a delusional article.

[Dannycr]

It's not about marketing. PS3 games just sells slower, but they do sell. People think that the only sells that matter are the ones in the first week or month, but PS3 sales tend to catch up as time goes by. There are many games to be played and people choose ones over others but in the end they do get those games eventually. I couldn't care less about ads cause I have the internet and sites likes this to know about them.

[ATi_Elite]

1. PS1 and PS2 were dominate in their era so lets give Microsoft some credit for coming in and taking half of Sony's market share! Also the way that MS did it also made gaming better by having such a large focus on 3rd party content which gave gamers better 3rd party games.

2. Microsoft's Company business model is totally different from Sony's. MS makes money through license Fees and all their products/services pushes people towards Windows which is the License Godzilla of the world.

So there is no need for MS to have a bunch of Game Studios when they are making a Mega Ton of money from License fees on the 360. It would be nice if MS had more in house game studios but it just goes against MS business model.

Sony on the other hand has a business model that incorporates having things done in house to take full advantage of the HARDWARE that they sell. For Example: All Sony Pictures movies are shot on Sony Film using Sony Cinema and Sony 3D Cameras!

3. now as far as exclusives......
MS has only a few exclusives and those few sell huge numbers.....Halo Numbers is the phrase that comes to mind.

PS3 has a ton of exclusives but only a few do Halo Numbers or in Sony's case Uncharted Numbers.

So if you look at the 360 and PS3 Exclusives and only count the number of Exclusives that have sold over 4 million.....then you will see who does better with Exclusives. You can lower the number to 3 million if you want to. I chose 4 cause that's $80 to $100 million in profit for the Pub.

4. Both platforms have great exclusives but we are moving to an era of multi-platform console gaming as Devs/pubs only care about $$$$$$ and they see the easy cash of multi-plat games.

We will continue to see Exclusives but every exclusive that fails to reach 2.5 or 3 million is an exclusive that is closer to just ending depending on production and advertisement budget.

5. My favorite point.....
Why are fanboys still arguing over Exclusives when the top selling games on both systems are Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto? These games do 8+ million a piece EASY and fanboys are arguing over games that do 1.4 or 2.5 million.

"Well the exclusives sales figures are low because we have so many exclusives" that is REALLY STUPID!!............... Why?
Because Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim all sold crazy numbers after all the exclusives were released and there are many many multi-plats with higher sales figures than some Exclusives.

"Well they didn't advertise a lot" That's stupid too!!!.......Why?....because it's the second or third game in a series so you knew it was being made and you knew the release date.

and that my friend is FACT...numbers DO NOT LIE!!

so unless you own stock in these companies, screw the dam sales figures and just enjoy your games.

[MaverickStar7]

The first thing people need to realize is the general customer base is not the hardcore gamer who follows the gaming news daily, contributes to forums regularly, and treats every game as if its a major release. The broad library of PS3 exclusives might not appeal to all consumers. Especially in this day when consoles sales are around 50 million, Call of Duty games sell 10+ million on a console yet other games that sell that are hits sell maybe 1-2 million. The crowd out there that are COD-only gamers is probably easily a 1-2 million alone. Hardcore gamers don't want to admit that they are the not majority. And maybe people can stop pretending that a lot of the PS3 consoles sold were "buying this for the blu-ray" purchases before blu-ray player became so cheap.

[rataranian]

And yet I still buy them, play them, love them, and don't care about anything else in the gd world when I'm doing it.

[NotSoSilentBob]

Because Sony spends their money on the Games NOT on Advertising for a partial game and then messing with consumers by having DLC ready and waiting on the disc.

[GamerPS360]

simple answer, there just too many compared to 360.

[SSKILLZ]

struggle ? say wut?

[ATi_Elite]

1. PS1 and PS2 were dominate in their era so lets give Microsoft some credit for coming in and taking half of Sony's market share! Also the way that MS did it also made gaming better by having such a large focus on 3rd party content which gave gamers better 3rd party games.

2. Microsoft's Company business model is totally different from Sony's. MS makes money through license Fees and all their products/services pushes people towards Windows which is the License Godzilla of the world.

So there is no need for MS to have a bunch of Game Studios when they are making a Mega Ton of money from License fees on the 360. It would be nice if MS had more in house game studios but it just goes against MS business model.

Sony on the other hand has a business model that incorporates having things done in house to take full advantage of the HARDWARE that they sell. For Example: All Sony Pictures movies are shot on Sony Film using Sony Cinema and Sony 3D Cameras!

3. now as far as exclusives......
MS has only a few exclusives and those few sell huge numbers.....Halo Numbers is the phrase that comes to mind.

PS3 has a ton of exclusives but only a few do Halo Numbers or in Sony's case Uncharted Numbers.

So if you look at the 360 and PS3 Exclusives and only count the number of Exclusives that have sold over 4 million.....then you will see who does better with Exclusives. You can lower the number to 3 million if you want to. I chose 4 cause that's $80 to $100 million in profit for the Pub.

4. Both platforms have great exclusives but we are moving to an era of multi-platform console gaming as Devs/pubs only care about $$$$$$ and they see the easy cash of multi-plat games.

We will continue to see Exclusives but every exclusive that fails to reach 2.5 or 3 million is an exclusive that is closer to just ending depending on production and advertisement budget.

5. My favorite point.....
Why are fanboys still arguing over Exclusives when the top selling games on both systems are Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto? These games do 8+ million a piece EASY and fanboys are arguing over games that do 1.4 or 2.5 million.

"Well the exclusives sales figures are low because we have so many exclusives" that is REALLY STUPID!!............... Why?
Because Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim all sold crazy numbers after all the exclusives were released and there are many many multi-plats with higher sales figures than some Exclusives.

"Well they didn't advertise a lot" That's stupid too!!!.......Why?....because it's the second or third game in a series so you knew it was being made and you knew the release date.

and that my friend is FACT...numbers DO NOT LIE!!

so unless you own stock in these companies, screw the dam sales figures and just enjoy your games.

[GroundsKeeperJimbo]

Man... if only this comment could be moved to page one. +bubs

[wingman32x]

This generation has really distorted what commercial success is. Halo, Gears, and CoD aren't the norm. Each one of those is an exception and at least two of them can be defined as a phenomena.

4-6 million is good no matter the platform. I guarantee you that not much outside of those three series are going to come close to what these 3 can do week one. It's an unfair standard if there ever was one.

[snowman2149]

Playstation's marketing department needs a HUGE revamp, those guys dont know what they fuck they're doing.

[GusBricker]

If Sony has all these amazing exclusives, then why isn't it destroying the 360?

[BoneMagnus]

The answer is simple - a significant number of people purchased the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player first and a gaming console second. These people simply do not buy as many games - see any study of the attach rate per console.

I love the PS3, but this is my opinion why the exclusives do not do as well when the installed base is taken into account.

[urwifeminder]

They just arnt as important these days i think its great at the start of a generation to have fresh ips but towards the end not so much let multiplats do the heavy lifting focus on the next console.

[isarai]

Oh you gullible oafs and your sticky theory. PS3 exclusives do great, games don't need to sell as much as CoD to be successful.

[unicron7]

This article is not true at all. The majority sell well. Granted, they would sell a lot more if people would stop being stubborn and buy a PS3. They are definitely worth the purchase. More N4G garbage. Rated down for stupidity.

[lionelglitchy]

just another troll article to start the fanboys up again because there hasn't been a troll article on n4g for oh about 10 mins so someone had to post one

[FrigidDARKNESS]

The reason why they struggle to sell is that their are superior third party titles that cuts into there sales. It's only going to be worse in 2012 when the top triple a third party titles compete with the first party for sales. On the other hand it is bad business for Sony to launch so many exclusives per quarter because each titles have to compete with each other in sales.

[CoryHG]

is Flamebait

[ufo8mycat]

Since when is selling 2m - 3m a "struggle" ? If thats the case, then besides Halo and Gears, 360 exclusives struggle also.

Seems to be people put Sony exclusives on a higher pedestal due to them being of higher quality and expect them to sell more because of this. Sadly this isn't always the case - look at COD - an average FPS that sells 10m.

But back to the question, I think the reason why it looks like PS3 exclusives struggle, to some people, is because

1) They are put on a higher pedastal, so people expect them to sell more and if they don't, some people see that as a flop, even if they sell 2m - 3m.

2) There are way more PS3 exclusives, which means a higher chance that there will be some that sell less 1.5m, which gives the impression that, as a whole, they don't sell as well, yet completely ignore the high sales of games like Uncharted, God of War, GT5.

[GTRrocker]

PS3 has a diverse fan base. Not everyone plays the same games.

360 caters to mostly shooter fans.

[Coach_McGuirk]

want to get a lot of hits on this site? added the word exclusive to the title. Want to take it to a ridiculous level? add the word struggle

[tiffac008]

Well according to this head to head match up (VGchart numbers) PS3 exclusives are actually selling in the millions even.

http://n4g.com/news/912826/...

:/

[bunfighterii]

It's a mixed bag really. The woefully under appreciated Infamous 2 sold poorly, as well as Resistance 3. Infamous 2 in particular deserved much better sales, I think that was clearly one of the best games of the year. Killzone 3 also failed to sell as well as its predecessor.

But also GT5 springs to mind as a boundless success. 7.3 million copies sold as of September, and it's a franchise that keeps moving copies. Even past GT titles are selling.

Uncharted 3 sold 3.8 million at launch, and I'm sure it's sold many more since.

I think it's a mix of poor marketing and larger variety. PS3 gamers have a massive library of games to choose from, and combined with multiplat releases, we're spoilt for choice. Also, I think it's pretty recognised that Sony do a poor job pushing their big releases.

[Reborn]

Oh wow. This one sure will cause a storm, as usual.

I won't bother giving a decent response to this. Many have already done so.

[panbit86]

THEY DON'T SELL AS MUCH BECAUSE SONY EXCLUSIVES ARE MORE AND BETTER. How many games can a gamer get?! Sony has the best library of games EVER! Variety, quality, quantity... it has it all! All 360 has is gears and halo. So almost everyone buys them because what else exclusive is there to buy on xbox really?

[dcortz2027]

How many copies does each PS3 exclusive have to sell in order for them to be considered a success? The majority go on to sell millions.

[Ares90]

ok so if Uncharted sells a million first day does that mean other ps3 exclusives will do so? NO!!
There's no struggle, in that case let's put 360 titles this year... Dance central 2 sells good and HOW ABOUT BLACKWATER?

[svoulis]

Why do PS3 exclusive struggle?

Hm, one might agree that when you have SO MANY exclusives it's really hard to pick which ones you are going to get at launch and wait a bit for.

My hardest time with PS3 is when I have to actually pick which exclusives I'd be playing day one or waiting a little to finish some other exclusives I hadn't finished yet.

[unicron7]

Someone needs to look up the definition of struggle.

[trouble_bubble]

By some of the 8 mil or bust logic I've read in this thread -- Crackdown 2, NinetyNineNights, Metro 2033, Deadly Premonition, Perfect Dark Zero, Prey, Forza 4, Project Gotham, Earth Defense Force, 1 vs 100, Alan Wake, Lost Oyssey, Too Human, Viva Pinata must be jealous. Where's their spotlight article pondering why they too as exclusives failed to set the bargain bins on fire? Hey, gotta be fair. Right?

See how ludicrous this whole partisan "struggling" angle is now?

It's like, "Sorry Saints Row, SplinterCellConviction, Halo Wars, but if 4 mil means GOW3 ain't 'special' then 2 mil' must mean you're downright shortbus", lol. It's like the Wizard of Oz. "Pay no attention to Ace Combat 6 and Ridge Racer 6 behind the curtain!" Sorry, but Halo 3 selling 10 mil' doesn't change the fact that Infinite Undiscovery was left on the vine to die. But hey, it happens. Everywhere.

That's reality.

[Raoh]

LOL, I wonder if the Sony Playstation hate will die out in 2012...

[andibandit]

Not as long as Angry Sony Fanboys keep clicking articles.

[Raoh]

(Insert Shocked Face)

You Sank My Battleship.....

[Scribe81]

Um, define struggle.

How many movies have topped $600 million domestically? 2? How many have topped $500 million domestically? 1? How many have topped $400 million domestically? 4 or 5?

Yet who will argue that anything that's made above $200 million but less than $400 million is a flop? If that's the case, then Batman Begins is a flop because it only made somewhere in the mid $200 million range. Who here belives Batman Begins was a flop?

If you take out Halo, and to an extent, Gears of War, the numbers from Microsoft versus Sony exclusives is actually on Sony's side. Add those two and the numbers are on Microsoft's. The problem is Sony can't market one game to where everywhere you look there's an ad for it (Halo), because they've usually got multiple games they've got to market at the same time. Think about Halo and Gears of War. Two different companies are paying for that marketing. They can each pay a lot since that's all they're working on. But Sony has to pay the marketing bills on every single one of their games. Very expensive I must imagine.

So yes, I agree with this article in their saying it's a lack of marketing.

On top of this though, there's just too many games that come out and even though it's what PS3 owners tout like crazy in saying their system is better, I just can't buy every single Sony exclusive game anymore. I'd go broke, especially if I picked them up at full price.

[TheFlashbulb01]

If someone enjoys a game thats "struggling" I think that makes your (the article, and half the comments on this page) point irrelivant. Its up to the gamer to decide. Not the numbers. I don't get these articles.

[dcbronco]

If you have checked Sony's financial reports you'll see that they just didn't have the money to spend on advertising for awhile. They were losing a ton of money each year. That was being turned around and they had started to make a profit again. Then the tsunami hit and they had another terrible year. The reality is they just didn't have the money to advertise. Too many losses and too much debt.

[Rageanitus]

lets look at the other side.... why is MS struggling to create exclusive content......

because they don't feel the need to because many of the xbox only players believe most of the games are xbox only! when they are really multiplatform...

SONY just have to do combo marketing.... as in advertise in the same exact games MS is advertising and at the same time show off their exclusive content.

[dcbronco]

I don't think MS struggles to make exclusive content. They have billions that they do nothing with. They could buy ten companies or form ten companies today to do exclusive content if they wanted to. It's just a different way of looking at the business.

Why buy SuckerPunch when you can buy Gears exclusivity for ten million in advertising. Sony ends up paying millions for the company and millions more to develop the game. MS pays 10 million and receives 40+ million back in royalties.

And the real key is that the exclusives haven't made a real difference in consoles sold. If exclusives really meant that much, the PS3 would be the best selling console. The 360 sold more this year worldwide. Probably will next year. And 2013 will bring new consoles for sure and the 360 and PS3 will both begin to fade.

[blaze22-qwerty]

I can describe this article in One Word.............HITS!

[Bobets]

struggle????

like how

Alan wake
crack down 2
Metro 2033
forza 4

Struggles? ohh wait those are 360 exclusives I listed it only applies if its ps3 exclusive right?

cant believe there are idiots still living in the past.

PS3 exclusive sales:

Uncharted 1 = 4m
Uncharted 2 = 5.3m
Uncharted 3 = 3.8m(1st week shipped)

Little big planet = 4.7m
Little big planet2 = 2.2m

Killzone 2 = 2.8m
Killzone 3 = 2.2m

God of war 3 = 4.3m
God of war collection = 2.6m

Gran turismo 5 = 7.3m

Infamous 1 = 2.2m
Infamous 2 = 1.05m

WAKE THE FAK UP THIS IS NOT 2007 ANY MORE WHEN WILL YOU GET IT THROUGH YOUR EMPTY HEADS.

[cyclindk]

I think it simply comes down to the very nature of exclusives and that is, irrespective of the size of the fanbase for the particular title in question, they are generally (on any platform) tailored to a more specific audience, that is to say, multiplatform games are, by their nature, considerably more appealing to, you guessed it, the larger/majority of gamers. This is not without exception obviously.

So whether there are only a million die-hard fans of a title, they are as happy as ten million to receive another installment in the franchises they cherish so much.

[hazardman]

Both Xbox 360 and PS3 exclusives sell well, IMO.

[StitchJones]

Sony has had the worse marketing for games over the past few years. Microsoft has money to burn to promote and push things. M$ wanted to become number 1 and they did. Sony has been left sitting in the dust due to them thinking they would always be the best.

[blackout]

Can anyone say Blu-Ray that's it. We all no why. Stop asking Questions why. Blu-ray is a main selling piont for those who buy TVs. Most of those millions of ps3 sold are not being used for games.

[dcbronco]

Blu-ray is the reason Sony is in third place. If they hadn't added Blu-ray, things would be different. Sony's Blu-ray marketing push managed to fool a lot of people into believing it was needed. But it failed to convince them to pay more for movies. Blu-ray was less than 17% of the physical market this year in the US. Five years in. There was an almost 9% decline in the number of physical disc sold. Disc are dying fast and Blu-ray will never be what Sony wanted. And spent million for.

If Sony hadn't added Blu-ray, the PS3 would have came into the market price at $399. And Playstation would still most likely be the best selling console. In fact, the PS3 and the 360 would both be even cheaper. Or more likely we would have already moved on to the next generation in order to keep profits up. Without Blu-ray, the PS3 would be a $200 console by now. And MS would have had to answer that. Remember that MS promised annual price cuts. In six years they have had 2 or 3.

Thanks Ken.

http://www.homemediamagazin...

[Shojin1]

Lets beat a dead horse =)

[XboxInnovation]

Lack of a solid American audience is the reason why. Xbox holds most of the American audience, at least the ones that would be interested in the big PS3 exclusives but they are too busy playing Call of duty ;/

[bozebo]

They sell fine :S

Infact, they sell systems too!

[erivera1994]

Dumb article

[blakstarz]

I don't think that PS3 exclusive struggle by no means, however, Sony's lack of marketing and advertisement of the games does cripple things.

[J86blum]

I got a Sony Playstation 3, and a Nintendo 3ds, by fanboy standards im a turn coat, and I feel this "opinion piece/artical." Is a joke, and the numbers for both sides shouldnt matter, and the only time your "WRONG" is when you defende a system.

Numbers shouldnt matter, and if they matter to you then put your controller down because clearly you lost sight of why you got into gaming in the first place.

Is my comment somewhat off topic..yes, yes it is, and that is because this artical is a joke.

[SnotyTheRocket]

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