All those numbers are being compared to systems that have a lot more consoles sold than the PS3. Its sitting at #3, and while its not an excuse the user base for the 360 and the Wii is much bigger than Sony. So naturally exclusive titles will move less units on the PS3 when compared to the 360 or Wii with twice or more its user base. Unless those numbers are adjusted for something like that, but it doesn't seem like it.

I'm willing to bet that the PS3's install base(The number of people who actually own the console) is much much smaller than the 360 and Wii's.

Could this be a factor? If only so many people own the console then only a percentage of those people can buy those A++ games.

I mean, I work in a Play N Trade and for every PS3 I sell I've sold 3 360s. Especially after the 360s price drop. The system is cheaper and still affords the prestige of "I've got a NEXT GEN console." Plus there are some ridiculously popular exclusives on it.

I don't think the problem is the games themselves, but perhaps its the install base? A lot of people bought PSTRIPLES for the blu-ray and don't play games.

Jim, you have a MS fetish. Admit it.

Those NPD numbers are US only, that probably explains the super low numbers. If VGChartz is to be believed, a few of the games sold three times as much worldwide.

WHY MUST YOU STRIKE THE HORNET'S NEST? WHY JIM? WHY?!

@ChaosTeaCup

Completely agree, nearly everyone I know personally who has a PS3 is hardly a 'core' gamer. We will probably get ripped to shreds but it's the truth. And to the people that say that a 'true' gamer should have all consoles; well that's nice if your minted but the PS3 has hardly had enough to make it a must-have, especially considering the price. That will of course change going into 2010 but as of now, meh.
Oh and as for the, it's cheap for a blu-ray player argument, well whoopy doo, I'm a Total Film subscriber - a bit of a film geek - and I still don't see the need to upgrade yet. My cheap DVD's will do me fine for now.

Part of it is the marketing. They need better marketing to outline what they've got, but the PS3 does so much that without Sony being totally unified, it's tough for them to establish an identity.

Another part (bigger) is just that the 360 came out first, reeled in a shit-ton of the hardcore gamers that buy a shit-ton of games, and therefore has a larger install base of people willing to buy more games.

Yet another reason is the way the gaming media absolutely acted like fucking dicks when the PS3 first launched, completely crucifying it instead of offering the same leeway the 360 got and giving it a reputation as a machine that is too expensive with too few games, and that reputation has been burned into the mind of the consumer. My friends with 360s still think the PS3 is $600 with no good games. Again, that's the fault of Sony for shit marketing, but once the consumer has an idea of what a product is in their mind, they don't abandon it easily. My 360 friends are really surprised when they find out just how much the PS3 offers in kickass games.

The PS3 still gets unfair treatment in the press most of the time since most game journalists jumped on the 360 bandwagon like everybody else did in 2005 and therefore, it's just natural for them to favor the console they own, like all of us do. The problem is that most game journalists are unwilling to admit that they themselves are susceptible to bias. Garnett Lee on 1UP.com has stated a couple times on the 1UP Yours/ListenUP podcast about how the media does treat the PS3 unfairly.

Another reason is the scattershot nature of the exclusives. I'm not talking about their release schedule, because yeah, some of them get delayed, but good games come out on a pretty consistent schedule. There's seems to always be some game for my PS3 that I want to drop the cash on coming up in a few months. I'm talking about the identity of those exclusives. The 360 pidgeonholed itself into Halo, Gears of War, and all sorts of other extreme manliness for its exclusives. The stuff like Viva Pinata that tries to veer away from the norm of grunts and desaturation doesn't do nearly as well. The PS3's exclusives are not like the 360's for the most part. We've got stuff like The Last Guardian that is a hell of a lot more artsy that ANYTHING the 360 will EVER offer you. We've got quirky stuff like flOw, Flower, The Last Guy, Noby Noby Boy, etc.

So it's difficult to then ask a game like Killzone 2 that would probably do a hell of a lot better on the 360 to come out and perform like a 360 game.

Basically what I'm trying to get at is that it's a more complicated situation than what's being outlined in the post. The PS3 has a ton of great exclusives, and I'd argue that the 360 just can't match in terms of game quality, but the 360's user base is just more willing to buy more games.

It's not just Sony's fault.

Jim gets paid to troll fanboys.


I want his job.

Bring on the price drop and with it will come sales.

That's it?! Not even Metal Gear Solid 4? Wow.

I think the real deciding factor in this console war is the middle ground between casual and hardcore. The people who love FPS, sports and racing titles but consider the Wii too childish. For them, they aren't willing to spend the extra money to get a PS3 when they'll only buy 5 or 6 games a year. Without that mass install-base, Sony's 1st party titles won't sell.

Sony alienated that entire audience with their high price point. When all you want to play is Guitar Hero, a couple of sports franchises, an FPS and a racing game, it makes no sense to buy the more expensive console. Sony got arrogant, they thought that they could beat MS by having top-tier exclusives. Despite their quality, these titles don't win console wars. PS2 wiped the floor with everyone else by becoming the automatic choice for the casually hardcore gamer.

360 took everything that made the PS2 successful and copied it expertly. They learned from their competitor because they had to after the failure of the original Xbox. In the last-gen, 1st party hardcore games didn't save the gamecube and raw power didn't save the Xbox. Sony promptly went and built a powerful system who's pricepoint makes it's hardcore 1st party games the only reason to buy it.

This is why Sony have a smaller install base and why they have such poor sales figures for their first party games.

Does any of that make sense or have i gone on a bit of a ramble?

Jim Sterling is unprofessional and totally not a form of currency.

Seriously though, It is a bloody wonder why the PS3s top games sell so little compared to the 360s. I don't own a PS3, but the fact that Halo sold so much more than any DECENT game is enough to make me angry.

And when I get angry, I get a PS3.

Are PS3 exclusives failing to perform? Nope. There you go :)

five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars five hundred and ninety nine US dollars... etc.

They'd be performing much better if it wasn't for that.

Needs sum install base to sell gems.

So I bought a PS3 after my suffering my third Red Ring in as many years. And I like it. A lot. I used to be one of those people that would happily hammer away at Sony for their crap decisions (which they are certainly still guilty of in some ways), but I can no longer argue with the hardware itself. After years of playing 360 only, I thought I had grasped what "next gen" graphics were, but after playing Killzone 2 and Uncharted, it appears that I was mistaken. I also appreciate the freedom of switching out my hard drive at will, I'm coming around to the controller, and having a web broswer in-console is a nice feature that I had forgotten about from my Dreamcast days.

Sony hasn't made a bad system; they've made bad decisions. Microsoft on the other hand, has made a crap system, but great decisions (particularly in relation to community aspects). It would be great if both sides could come to a happy medium with their products, but that's not going to happen. Hopefully Sony can turn the beast around in the next couple of years (no more shit like Home, more interesting stuff, plz).

Just out of curiousity, how many 360 games have reached 1 million in Japan?


Morne

Simply put, MS had made America it's bitch.

Yeah Japan's economy is where it's AT!

MGS4 sells like Whores and weed in Amsterdam.

Valkyria Chronicles is a prime example of Amazing Game, low advertising.

Is a shame, but it'll be fixed when price drops.

@ Professor Pew - Yeah, America's economy is totally where it's at right now. LoL.

@shadowii;

The pricing argument doesn't hold up. If the dude makes that much bank, and comes from a wealthy family, I'm sure he owns a more expensive car than you do as well. Does that mean that the brand you own is worse, or his is better? Not necessarily. And if he doesn't own a more expensive car.. what the hell is the argument? Because to me it's like you're saying wealth and ownership of a PS3 go hand-in-hand. I'm not going to lie, the price is a sticking point for a lot of people, but it's not totally unreasonable considering you have a blu-ray player installed in the console.

As for the whole 'Gamecube of this generation' remark... bleh. No reason to touch that. Decrying fanboys one minute, than firing off a remark like that in the next sentence makes me deaf to your argument. 'Hardcore, frothing fanboys, some fantastic and unique titles'? You just described the Wii, amigo. If it weren't for the money coming in from the casual market, the system would be dead in the water.

You've got the PS3 which is an A-grade system competing against the B-grade 360 and C-grade Wii. Its kinda like the SNES (A-grade) vs Genesis (B-grade) all over again except this time the A-grade console is double the point of access for normal consumers. Sony might squeek out sales over the long run, but while there is an xbox 360, there will be reduced sales.

I'm still more willing to take a good deal of strong B-games over a few A-games when the price point is so high.

Also, complete lack of Backwards Compatibility still keeps me away from caring about any "price drop" talk. Emulation can't be that hard for the PS3.

Yeah... especially hardware stability...

If I built a console that broke down, causing the owners to buy a new one 2-3-4 times over, of course I'd have a larger install base...

Sony needs to sell more PS3's. They started things off on the wrong foot with that huge price tag.

@Magesx
Did the PS2 had a mascot?