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2011: The year of the PS3 exclusives. That’s what Sony would like you to believe and although I never trust what a massive cooperation has to say, the proof, this time, is in the pudding.
I’ve noticed a trend this year that I believe is also weighing on the minds of third-party publishers. Looking at different sources, from amazon to VGChartz and other online retailers, and even Chart Track from UK, I’ve noticed that the latest multiplatoform games like Crysis 2 and Homefront have almost double the amount of sales on Xbox 360 compared PS3. And while some would like to rage the “PS3 owners don’t buy games” argument, I don’t think that’s the case at all.
The console’s home to some of bestselling titles this generation, and it’s not an exclusive, but a multiplatform game that’s sold the most: Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops, selling past 10 million units. That knowledge also kills the notion that shooters don’t sell on PS3.
So with the truths we’ve already established, I do think the occurrence is happening because this year is a unique and momentous one for Sony and its first-party developers. We’ve already had LittleBigPlanet 2, MLB11: The Show, PlayStation Move Heroes, and the biggest yet: Killzone 3.
Bulletstorm was supposed to sell a decent amount of copies, but the game’s essentially flopped in that department because Epic Games and People Can Fly saw it fit to release the stray away shooter the same day as Killzone 3. Now if I’m a PS3 owner who’s known the Killzone franchise for some time, which game do you think I’d purchase? Yeah. Well that happened and the new IP barely sold anything on Sony’s console.
But that happened because of bad marketing, so what about Homefront and Crysis 2? Here’s the trouble – both titles are shooters, and Killzone 3 came out late February. PS3 owners who purchased the game are most likely the same ones who’d support Homefront and Crysis 2, but most of them are still enthralled in Killzone 3 and coming soon will be games like inFamous 2, another PS3 exclusive, Resistance 3, Uncharted 3, The Last Guardian and many more. Gamers have only so much cash to spend, and I’d like to think they’re a pretty frugal bunch also.
So bar the very popular, well known and established franchises that’s supposed to be release this year, many others will see their sales disrupted on PS3 because of first-party offerings. Even blockbusters are threatened on Sony’s console this year; and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
