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[TLZ]

OP. You're looking at it the wrong way. In fact, the numbers you posted show proof quality exclusives are vital. Now look at it this way:

A popular 3rd party game runs on both PS4 and Xbox. I need one console. Which should I buy? Here's what happens:

Sony tells you, "Buy our console. We provide good quality first party AAA games".

MS tells you, "Buy our console. We have the X, which is pricey, but it's the best place to play 3rd party games".

That's their messaging. And people make choices based on their messaging. This is of course excluding people buying consoles because their friends have them too. But also if you think of it, why'd their friends buy that console instead of the other? Because of the company's messaging. That one person bought it, which caused a chain reaction.

So based on the numbers you posted, Sony's messaging worked better. People chose their system because it has that fortnite they want to play, plus Spiderman, or God of War, or Killzone, or Horizon, or Days Gone, or LittleBigPlanet, or Ratchet, or Knack (heh), and so on.

Their games are the bait. Not the console. All they need you to do is to like one of their exclusives, and they get you there. And now you buy all these many other 3rd party games on it. And they make their share of money from them.

Edit: Sheesh. I rarely type this much.

 

[Kumomeme]

lets look back during last gen era
lets compare the differences of sale between xbox 360 and xbox one

last gen, both ps3 and xbox 360 managed to sell over 80 million unit
why? last gen ms managed to sell xbox 360 to 84million unit while this gen xbox one seems to be only around 50 million (the OP mention 51 million while as i recall switch should be over 52 million unit)
what ms did 'right' last gen compared to this gen? over 30 million sales difference between xbox one and xbox 360. There lot of factor, but the most obvious is 'EXCLUSIVES'

just try to compare with xbox one....those exclusives xbox 360 had..tons of amazing title, that definitely will justify gamer's choice of buying...but this gen is lacking...other than gears and halo, even 'promising' scalebound end up just a dream.
whats more, their decision to make their game also available on window 10 also 'hurt' the sales. This gen lot of people end up owning more than one gaming system...a combo pc with ps4 is quite popular so they wont 'miss' any great game.

 

[Esppiral]

I get your point, but what made me buy a Ps4 and Nintendo Switch was it's exclusives.

 

[Zannegan]

I think it matters a lot at launch, when people are deciding which console ecosystem to buy into. After that, they have a dwindling importance because nowadays mega-franchises do tend to be cross-platform, so they'll just buy the biggest games on whatever console they happen to own. If they see an exclusive that they're into, they'll pick it up, but they're unlikely to switch over mid-generation, though it will inspire some to pick up a second console. For most though, they pick their box and play on that barring something radically awesome.

I do wonder how those numbers would look on the Switch if it got (or was capable of getting) more mainline ports. How would a CoD fare on Switch, for example? Not making a point, I do genuinely wonder.

 

[Wandering Leopard]

Exclusives are system sellers.

The more varied exclusives a consoles has, the easier it is to sell/market the console.

 

[darkinstinct]

Ok, GAF, I know this is going to be a heated issue, but well... numbers don't lie.

I called this thread "The fallacy of exclusives" because people here seem to think that what defines the success of a console are its games and specially the exclusive ones; that most people that buy consoles are gamers (they're not) and that those gamers actually care about exclusives (they don't).

So... I want to start with some facts about the current situation in the console market:

• Xbox One sales up to february 2020: 51.51 million units sold.
• PS4 sales up to february 2020: 107.5 million units sold.
• Nintendo Switch sales up to february 2020: 51 million units sold.

Now, let's look at the top sold games for each of the 3 main console platforms up to february 2020:

Xbox One:



As you can see, only ONE of the top-10 best-seller games on Xbox One platform is an exclusive game (Halo 5: Guardians), which sold 4.92 million copies worldwide. That means that about 9.55% of Xbox One owners (best case scenario) actually bought at least one exclusive game.


PlayStation 4:



From the chart, we can see that only two exclusive games made it to the top-10 list of PS4 best-seller games: Uncharted 4 (10.33 million copies), and Spider-Man (8.76 million copies). If we take the biggest figure here (which is Uncharted) and compare it to the PS4 installed base, it means that only 9.61% of PS4 owners (best case scenario) bought at least one PS4 exclusive.


Nintendo Switch:



From the chart, 9 out of the top-10 best-seller games for the Nintendo Switch are actually exclusive games, and in the best case scenario, the exclusive that sold most is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (13.05 million copies worldwide). If we compare it to the Switch installed base, it means that roughly 25.58% of Switch owners bought at least 1 exclusive game. That's around 2.6 times more than Xbox and PS4 users.

So... numbers show that - except for Nintendo - exclusives and games don't matter much in console sales, considering that in PS4 and Xbox one the leaders are GTA V (a game released in 2013), CoD: Black ops 3 and the yearly Fifa (in case of PS4). I.e. "exclusives matters" is just a fallacy.

Since games (and exclusives moreover) don't matter that much within the great scheme of things, what would be the factors that could induce "the average joe" to buy one console over the other?

I leave that question open to discussion, since I don't have the answers for that (I have some ideas though).

I can give you one more. Sony sold 1.2 billion games on PS4, of which less than 100 million were exclusives. At 105 million consoles sold that means they didn't even sell a single exclusive per console. Consoles are bought for multiplatform titles, the best version at the best price. Nothing else. Exclusives are just the bonus and necessary for the platform holders to be able to sell the console at a loss. The only consoles that are bought almost exclusively because of exclusives are Nintendo consoles.

 

[Woo-Fu]

You can't use software sales to people who already own a console to determine why they bought the console in the first place. You can't use it at all to judge how important exclusives are, regardless of how much the OP wants to. There's no relationships you can prove there.

You also can't use it to say exclusives are more important to one group or the other. Games aren't commodities. Platforms aren't commodities. Anybody who has been paying attention will tell you that Nintendo exclusives do well on Nintendo hardware because of the quality of their output. If they were multiplatform they'd dominate every chart instead of just their own.

tldr; The issue isn't heated, you simply don't have enough of an argument to generate any heat.

 

[Bryank75]

The hardcore / core console users decide the market mostly, these are the early adopters.....

People that pre-order their day 1 console and then show their friends or tell them how awesome it is and how incredible the games on it are.

When I turn on my PS4 and show someone GOW or Uncharted 4 or Horizon, Spider-man, Bloodborne, it is something they have not seen anywhere else, PlayStation have had excellent exclusives every year since at least 2015 and thus have kept their fans mostly very happy and enthusiastic.

That enthusiasm is easily felt and people want to be a part of that.

When the more general population buy the console, they will get Fifa, COD and the casual stuff (Even I buy a COD every now and then), that is what they know to do, that is what they've done every time they bought a console in the past..... IMO.

 

[Birdo]

The top 20 selling games of 2019 only had one PS exclusive in it (Right near the bottom).

The notion that exclusives are the most important thing of a console is just something fanboys tout. The general public don't really give a shit.

 

[01011001]

BRAND RECOGNITION

the answer to OP's question.

brand recognition is the only thing that determines which products are successful and which are not on an even playing field.

the only way for the weaker brand to win is if the stronger brand has massive issues in key areas.

we saw this with the PS3 during its early years.
•Massive price disadvantage
•Terrible multiplatform ports
•No appealing exclusives whatsoever
•One year too late to the market
•Atrocious online experience

if the PS3 released at the same time as the 360, with roughly the same graphics and roughly the same amount of interesting games on it, the PS3 would have dominated the 360 early on. even tho on paper they would be equally as appealing, the stronger PlayStation brand would have destroyed the weaker Xbox brand on an even playing field.

with Nintendo that's different because Nintendo is not a platform, it's basically video game's Disney.
it just happens to also be one of the 3 big platform holders, so in order to play Nintendo games you need a Nintendo system. so Nintendo platforms are almost the Extreme opposite of the other systems.
on a Nintendo platform there are a lot of people that only play Nintendo games on them. while on the others there are a lot of people that play not a single exclusive on them and only play multiplatform ports.
This was not always the case mind you, but over the years it became that way more and more.

 

[Roronoa Zoro]

Same can be said about Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, yet the games that drive console sales are Multiplayer multiplats. (except Nintendo Switch, of course).

Someone can buy 10 third party games but that 11th game that was an exclusive maybe influenced which console they went with between Xbox and PS since they could get the third parties on either

As for Nintendo having a higher percentage you're forgetting a HUGE factor in that Nintendo doesn't get many third party games especially at the same time. So of course their exclusive ownership will be higher they simply don't have alternatives for people to buy and many times when they do get those games the person has it for their other console already

 

[Bryank75]

You can say what you want but MGS4 got me to buy a PS3.... Uncharted 2 and GOW3 kept me there!

 

[Relativ9]

Maybe, I’m not looking at it from that perspective, Sony has a lot of solid exclusives, a couple of really great ones but you got to ask yourself and this goes for Xbox as well, take away those FIFA’s, COD’s and then look at consoles sold. Sony May still look ok but nothing impressive and Xbox would be in disarray I think. Casuals dominate the console scene.

"Casuals" don't live in a vacuum though, that's what a lot of people don't realize, most people who have Fifa has their primary game (and I know a lot of them) also have 1-2 other games that they really enjoyed the however brief single player campaign of, sometimes these are games that came with the console (often exclusives) and sometimes they are games they were recommended by their more "in it" gamer friends. If those games hook them they might buy every game in the franchise, I have at least 4 friends who play either exclusively on Xbox or PlayStation because they "need" to play the next Halo or Uncharted, meanwhile 90% of the time they'll play multi-platform games like Fifa, but those games aren't the ones that made them decide on which console to buy.

The other thing of course is if Hardcore gamer dude buys a PS4 and plays 20 games a year, all his more casual friends will also buy a PS4 because he told them to so they can play Fifa with him.

 

[LazyParrot]

One thing people often seem to ignore is that the value exclusives have for these companies probably goes way beyond the money they make directly from selling them, since they get paid for every game sold on the platform, not just the ones they developed or published themselves. I don't have any stats on this, but I'm fairly sure that people who do buy consoles for the exclusives (i.e. core gamers) end up buying significantly more third party titles as well, so winning them over can be hugely profitable in the long run.

 

[Flintty]

Xbox fan trying to downplay exclusives with inaccurate numbers. Doesn't surprise me.

I think you’re being unfair. It’s a valid discussion, whether you agree with the assessment or not, and the OP has used what he though we’re correct figures in good faith. You’re the one bringing console wars BS into the thread.

 

[turtlepowa]

One thing people often seem to ignore is that the value exclusives have for these companies probably goes way beyond the money they make directly from selling them, since they get paid for every game sold on the platform, not just the ones they developed or published themselves. I don't have any stats on this, but I'm fairly sure that people who do buy consoles for the exclusives (i.e. core gamers) end up buying significantly more third party titles as well, so winning them over can be hugely profitable in the long run.

That's the plan behind exclusive games, but not even Sony knows for sure how good it works out. I think that mostly core gamers with gaming PCs buy a PS4 for exclusive games and why should they pay for online gaming or buy 3rd party with worse graphics and weaker performance? The usually don't.
I myself bought a used PS4 and some used exclusive games. Sony doesn't make a single cent with me.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Arguably it's one of those "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" situations, but all of my favorite videogame systems have a strong list of excellent exclusives.

Consumers are fickle and varied in their tastes. It stands to reason that the sum of all multiplatform offerings will still fail to attract all videogame consumers, or even most of them. And sadly, lots of consumers view games like a commodity so merely having more of a genre is enough to attract them.

Companies can fill those gaps and serve the market in a way they think will be successful i.e. "third person cinematic shooters seem to be in style, so let's make even more Uncharted and Gears of War and Last of Us". Maybe this pays off (Uncharted, Gears) and maybe it doesn't (The Order: 1886).

The end-goal would be establishing your game brand in a way that consumers will buy a system just to get at it. See: FROM Software titles and Nintendo titles. Like 01011001 mentioned, it's about building that brand and catering to the fans who bought into your "vision".

 

[theclaw135]

BRAND RECOGNITION

☝the answer to OP's question.

brand recognition is the only thing that determines which products are successful and which are not on an even playing field.

the only way for the weaker brand to win is if the stronger brand has massive issues in key areas.

we saw this with the PS3 during its early years.
•Massive price disadvantage
•Terrible multiplatform ports
•No appealing exclusives whatsoever
•One year too late to the market
•Atrocious online experience

if the PS3 released at the same time as the 360, with roughly the same graphics and roughly the same amount of interesting games on it, the PS3 would have dominated the 360 early on. even tho on paper they would be equally as appealing, the stronger PlayStation brand would have destroyed the weaker Xbox brand on an even playing field.

with Nintendo that's different because Nintendo is not a platform, it's basically video game's Disney.
it just happens to also be one of the 3 big platform holders, so in order to play Nintendo games you need a Nintendo system. so Nintendo platforms are almost the Extreme opposite of the other systems.
on a Nintendo platform there are a lot of people that only play Nintendo games on them. while on the others there are a lot of people that play not a single exclusive on them and only play multiplatform ports.
This was not always the case mind you, but over the years it became that way more and more.

Sony and Microsoft are falling dreadfully behind in Nintendo's brand of mascot appeal. Anything like Halo or God of War is too "violent" to appeal to all walks of life in a comparable fashion.

 

[Kdad]

This is poor analysis.

 

[OneShotThrill]

A big part in the 360s success was...because of the amount of exclusives it had. If Ms got back that kinda power they'd sell more than 45 million. Casuals buy mostly multiplats..but they also get the itch to try the franchise exclusives. I could play FIFA or COD on Xbox. Or I can play it on PlayStation AND buy SpiderMan and Uncharted when it's on sale or free

 

[LazyParrot]

I think that mostly core gamers with gaming PCs buy a PS4 for exclusive games and why should they pay for online gaming or buy 3rd party with worse graphics and weaker performance?

I doubt that's true. This very board is full of people who are definitely on the hardcore end of the spectrum, but most of them don't play on PC at all. Just look at those polls where people vote what consoles they plan on buying next gen. ~60% are planning on only getting a PS5, and exclusives seem to be the most commonly stated reason. I highly doubt many of these people also own tricked out gaming rigs.

 

[DForce]

I think you’re being unfair. It’s a valid discussion, whether you agree with the assessment or not, and the OP has used what he though we’re correct figures in good faith. You’re the one bringing console wars BS into the thread.

I've seen him in PS threads doing the same thing. It's clear that he isn't looking to post accurate information. This attach rate argument started with the Xbox community trying to downplay the impact of PS exclusives.


So he started this with console war bs.

 

[Aion002]

Sony and Microsoft are falling dreadfully behind in Nintendo's brand of mascot appeal. Anything like Halo or God of War is too "violent" to appeal to all walks of life in a comparable fashion.

That's why Sony has stuff like Little Big Planet, Gravity Rush, Bloodborne, Uncharted, Patapon, Astro Bot, Knack, Gran Turismo and many others.


Sony tactic is to have many different types of game. The person that buys Bloodborne, might not care about Uncharted, and the Uncharted one might not care about Gran Turismo and so on... But in the end all of them needs to buy a Playstation to play those game and that's were Sony shines.


Sony can't copy the Nintendo approach, no one can. Mario, Zelda and other Nintendo IP's are part of the video game community, people grown up playing those games, long before Sony entered the market.

In the end of day both are successful and MS wants to join that group with their own approach, services. And that's fine.

 

[turtlepowa]

I doubt that's true. This very board is full of people who are definitely on the hardcore end of the spectrum, but most of them don't play on PC at all. Just look at those polls where people vote what consoles they plan on buying next gen. ~60% are planning on only getting a PS5, and exclusives seem to be the most commonly stated reason. I highly doubt many of these people also own tricked out gaming rigs.

This very board is full of die hard Playstation fans, but that is not very representative. Here, have a poll with 50.000 normal people:

Affordability more important than games or graphics for future PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X owners

An interesting survey carried out by one of the creators of Mortal Kombat has offered up a surprising result in regard to what the key factor is for gamers when considering the purchase of a next-gen console. It seems the majority of voters are concerned about how much the PlayStation 5 and Xbox...

www.notebookcheck.net

Most people i talk to on boards like here have a gaming pc. I read all the time "who needs a Xbox? Everthing comes for Pc".

 

[Bryank75]

Sony and Microsoft are falling dreadfully behind in Nintendo's brand of mascot appeal. Anything like Halo or God of War is too "violent" to appeal to all walks of life in a comparable fashion.

Don't think Sony are going for that, they know they have a more mature audience...

 

[deriks]

Because gamers who buy a console only for GTA, CoD and Fifa are reaaaally into gaming

 

[DaMonsta]

Yeah the exclusives thing is overblown. Most people don’t buy or care about them.

Also consider lots of exclusive games “sales” come from bundles. Without those no exclusive game would be anywhere near top 10.

They are great for fanboy list wars but they don’t push the needle that far in terms of which console will sell more.

 

[brian0057]

PC + Nintendo.
Still the best combination.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

I bought PS4 because it's a tradition, natural. Xbox is extremely rare here, although you can buy it if you want to. Outside the US and probably UK, xbox is just an OUYA on steroids. You just don't see it, or hear about it among normal people. Every human in the country knows what a Playstation is, no matter how old he/she is.

 

[sircaw]

I can only speak for myself, out of those top multiplats i have only played 2, red dead redemption and gta5.

On the exclusive games side for Sony, i own all the usual suspects, Bloodborne, uncharted, horizon, god of war, ratchet, etc.

On deciding which console i wanted to buy it came down to exclusive games, going with xbox would of limited me to a much smaller, mostly inferior games library.

Its all about choice, Sony just gives you more, better games.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Yeah the exclusives thing is overblown. Most people don’t buy or care about them.

Also consider lots of exclusive games “sales” come from bundles. Without those no exclusive game would be anywhere near top 10.

They are great for fanboy list wars but they don’t push the needle that far in terms of which console will sell more.

Lol yeah sure. It's just coincidental that Spiderman and God of War released in the same months that PS4 broke sales records. Clearly they only sold so many consoles because people wanted the console. Not the games.

 

[DForce]

Yeah the exclusives thing is overblown. Most people don’t buy or care about them.

Also consider lots of exclusive games “sales” come from bundles. Without those no exclusive game would be anywhere near top 10.

They are great for fanboy list wars but they don’t push the needle that far in terms of which console will sell more.

God of War and Spider-Man made the top 10 NPD list on the PS4 without bundles, so this is a lie.

 

[LazyParrot]

This very board is full of die hard Playstation fans, but that is not very representative.

Yes, this board is full of Playstation fans, but so is any other console gaming related board or site that's not explicitly affiliated with Xbox or Nintendo. Playstation outsold Xbox 2:1 this gen, and in many parts of the world it was closer to 3:1 or even 4:1. It's the more popular console by far, so of course it will have more fans.

Here, have a poll with 50.000 normal people:

We were talking about hardcore gamers though, not "normal people".

Most people i talk to on boards like here have a gaming pc. I read all the time "who needs a Xbox? Everthing comes for Pc".

And I constantly see people complaining about how they don't want to game on a PC after using one at work all day, and about how gaming PCs are overly expensive, a pain in the ass to build and configure, and inconvenient if you just wanna lie on your couch and game on your big-ass TV. See how that goes both ways?

 

[mejin]

if playstation and xbox is the same shit...why ps4 is more than 2x xbox install base?

 

[FrozenFlame]

I leave that question open to discussion, since I don't have the answers for that (I have some ideas though).

Then share them.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Even if you extend it out to the top 100 it’s only like sixteen to fifteen in PS4’s favor. Exclusives matter, but their importance is dramatically inflated by console warriors. They mostly matter to hardcore gamers and even then the importance is entirely subjective.

 

[BlackTron]

it means that 9.61% bought this exclusive, with the actual percentage of consumers buying at least one exclusive being most probably several fold higher.

Thanks for pointing this out. This oversight slapped me in the face when I read the OP but I wanted to see how far the thread got before someone bought it up. Wow, pretty damn far lol.

If a system has sold 100 units and an exclusive game has sold 10 units, that doesn't mean 10% best-case-scenario. That means a 10% bare minimum, there are lots of other exclusive games that could have been purchased, both by some same 10 people and the other 90 remaining people.

It makes sense to analyze OP's theory but the method used is flawed and doesn't prove a thing.

 

[Keihart]

I think that the interpretation of the numbers by OP it's wrong.
Every exclusive can be moving a different niche of players to the ecosystem, then those players can also buy games that are maybe multiplats.
This is why PS has always been the leading console ecosystem worldwide, they have games for everyone and a lot of them end up being exclusive even if not first parties.
Obviously, the bigger the niche that a game brings to the console the better, like winning exclusivity in a popular sports game or something like Monster Hunter.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Exclusives are important because they drive brand loyalty and early sales among the hardcore. The casuals don’t care as much but they buy the same system that their friends already own.

 

[OneShotThrill]

The PS3 launch was a mess. It came out late. It came out more expensive. It came out disadvantaged towards multiplats. You know why it still sold about 80million consoles. Cause Sony started pumping out those exclusives as Microsoft started chasing Kinect success. Now the Xbox one didn't sell that well because of a botched launch? MS has done everything they can to reverse that launch except for quality software. They won't get anywhere near Nintendo or Sony as long as they are dropping shit like Crackdown 3 or Bleeding Edge. They can exist but let's not act like exclusive software dosent get people chatting and help move units.

 

[Keihart]

The OP conclusions it's maybe why people believe things like 5G it's causing sarscov2.
There is a difference between correlation and causation, an even then, this doesn't even stand as correlation.

 

[Sander Cohen]

VGChartz is totally unreliable source. Where is Modern Warfare on that list, that thing sold 25M by now.

Also, exclusives are VERY important. 10M sales are no joke. What would NN be without exclusives? I’ll tell you, nothing.

And it’s clear Microsoft’s consistently abysmal sales throughout this gen can be traced to total lack of worthy exclusives. See what bump PS4 got during GoW, Spiderman release windows.

 

[ZywyPL]

The exclusives take way too damn long to make and there's to few of them nowadays, while launch titles are usually mediocre at best. PS4 launched in 2013 but didn't get it's first major exclusive until mid 2016 (UC4), then HZD, GTS, and so on. XB1 got its major games in late 2015 (FM6 and H5), then Gears 4 etc. Basically the first half of current gen was empty as far as exclusives go, without 3rd party titles/cross-gens/remasters/indie ports both consoles wouldn't have any games to play. Switch on the other hand due to it's laughable processing power has nothing to offer but Nintendo's own exclusives (let's be honest, no one buys NSW for those crippled Witcher 3 or Doom ports). This gen might look different tho, with MS postponing their main franchises (H6 and FM8) to be launch titles for XBX, Sony as well with most likely getting GT7 and HZD2 on launch day, so we will most likely get a high quality AAA games from day 1, that also have a ton of longevity.

 

[Dane]

"if exclusives doesn't sell, consoles, then what it does"

Marketing since last generation, especially brand force, the PS4 is considered the factual better console, yet the X360 was in the last generation and the PS3 surpassed there in May 2008., that's how the console managed to surpass at the final days

 

[turtlepowa]

Yes, this board is full of Playstation fans, but so is any other console gaming related board or site that's not explicitly affiliated with Xbox or Nintendo. Playstation outsold Xbox 2:1 this gen, and in many parts of the world it was closer to 3:1 or even 4:1. It's the more popular console by far, so of course it will have more fans.

I am using lots of boards and trust me, this is the most extreme one. By far. It's definately not all boards. There is a reason NeoGAF has a special nickname and you get banned for using it.

We were talking about hardcore gamers though, not "normal people".

My fault. Forgot that this was a hardcore gamer poll since it was from the Mortal Kombat Maker on Twitter. I doubt that a single casual voted.

And I constantly see people complaining about how they don't want to game on a PC after using one at work all day, and about how gaming PCs are overly expensive, a pain in the ass to build and configure, and inconvenient if you just wanna lie on your couch and game on your big-ass TV. See how that goes both ways?

You can just buy completely built and configured PCs and use them on your living room tv with a controller of your choice. If you add the PS Plus/Gold costs for lets say 7 years and the fact that Steam games are much cheaper, the Pc is actually cheaper for many peaople. Except of course you don't play online and are dependent on immediately selling your disc games.

I don't say that every core gamer has a Pc, but many do so and it seems that most PS fans do so too since in every discussion they come up with the Xbox is useless argument.

 

[darkinstinct]

"if exclusives doesn't sell, consoles, then what it does"

Marketing since last generation, especially brand force, the PS4 is considered the factual better console, yet the X360 was in the last generation and the PS3 surpassed there in May 2008., that's how the console managed to surpass at the final days

PS3 only managed to surpass 360 because of Japan, where they sold 10 million consoles more. In the US 360 was 10 million ahead of PS3. In Europe it was 50:50. Since then Japan's console business has died. If we see a return to the 360 era, Sony won't be able to pass XSX. It's going to be 90 million XSX vs. 80 million PS5 worldwide.

 

[MiguelItUp]

I get your point, but what made me buy a Ps4 and Nintendo Switch was it's exclusives.

Exactly, and I feel that's the common mindset among the gaming community, and its been for years. Hell, I worked at EB Games for 1-2 years when I was bout 18/19, and majority of the customers then (2001-2002) primarily bought exclusives rather than multiplatform titles.

When it comes to consoles it's all about exclusives, its what moves most. I feel like multiplatform titles are just nice little extras that folks get to enjoy on their preferred platform.

 

[turtlepowa]

The PS3 launch was a mess. It came out late. It came out more expensive. It came out disadvantaged towards multiplats. You know why it still sold about 80million consoles.

Yeah, because after Sony's massive price drops it was the cheapest Blu Ray player on the market and people bought it like crazy just for this. It was the insider tip for every movie fan worldwide.

 

[Woodchipper]

Thread title of this thread is a fallacy, if anything.

Nintendo is all about exclusive games and has cought up with Xbone. 6 of PS4’s exclusives have outsold Xbone’s best selling one. Exclusives do matter a lot, that’s just a fact.

Yeah, because after Sony's massive price drops it was the cheapest Blu Ray player on the market and people bought it like crazy just for this. It was the insider tip for every movie fan worldwide.

If I remember correctly, it was the cheapest Blu-ray player already at launch.

 

[turtlepowa]

Thread title of this thread is a fallacy, if anything.

Nintendo is all about exclusive games and has cought up with Xbone. 6 of PS4’s exclusives have outsold Xbone’s best selling one. Exclusives do matter a lot, that’s just a fact.

If I remember correctly, it was the cheapest Blu-ray player already at launch.

That may be but people have a limit and 600 bucks obviously was a bit too much for many of them.