Why Don’t Some Big Xbox 360 Exclusives Sell More?

Before you flame me as a fanboy, hear me out. Games like Halo and Gears sell like hot cakes, and to a lesser extent Fable and Forza. But why is it, quality titles like Alan Wake, Mass Effect, Left 4 Dead and PGR do not? According to VG charts Alan Wake hasn't even broken the 500,000 copies sold mark, why is this? The game is a phenominal piece of software, intense and even graphically brilliant at times. But then why is it Xbox owners are not buying such a great game?

[NYC_Gamer]

i hope alot more 360 owners go out and support mass effect 1&2

[sid4gamerfreak]

because those exclusives are on pc which eat up the sales...

[StanLee]

Great point but also, many of these titles like Alan Wake and Project Gotham Racing are niche titles and not as accessible or as marketed shooter franchises are.

[Al Bundy]

Alan Wake only sold 499k and it isn't on PC and Mass Effect 2 only sold 1.79 million on Xbox and PC combined so I wouldn't say PC ate up Mass Effect 2 sales.

@StanLee

Heavy Rain is niche and had no marketing and it sold 1.5 million in a few weeks so why couldn't Alan Wake do the same?

[Inside_out]

I think there are alot of factors as to why a game doesn't sell as well as it should. Piracy is a big issue on 360...Competition, RDR moved up and released on the same day as Alan Wake...Lack of Multi-player component for a game is HUGE on 360. Why pay for on line and then buy a single player game at full price with no multi-player...Mass Effect will have Multi-player for part 3. Majority of 360 gamers prefer shooters and competition ( multi-player )...MW2 has been huge on 360, the dlc has sold more than AW and ME combined.

M$ knows this, that's why they are making sure that all future COD DLC releases on 360 first, the hardcore FPS guy's appreciate it. Crackdown 2, Sniper: ghost warrior, Halo Reach come out in 12 weeks...MOH & Fable in October, Crysis and COD Black ops in November. 360 looking good..

At the same time, M$ has begun to court the casuals with Kinect, hoping to tap in on the Wii casual culture that has put Nintendo on top this gen in terms of console sales...They are well on there way with Ubisoft and Your Shape ( Wii Fit 10++ million sold ), Kinectanimals, adventures and sports ( Wii sports 70+ million ), and what many people are calling the killer app ( not me BTW ) MTV dance game. Kinect launches in November. M$ strategy is sound. If Kinect moves alot of 360's, expect the casuals to give games other than FPS's a shot...hence, sales will improve.

[n4gno]

"MW2 has been huge on 360"

on ps3 also (despite of all the best exclusives xbox don't have)

[TotalPS3Fanboy]

360 gamers loved to hype up 360 exclusives on N4G, but when it comes time to buy it, no one wants to.

A converstation with a 360 friend went like this...

360 Friend: Yeah, Alan Wake is the best game this generation!

TotalPS3Fanboy: You gonna buy it?

360 Friend: No. I rather buy Red Dead Redemption. But Alan Wake is still the best game this generation though, just that I am gonna buy Red Dead Redemption instead.

TotalPS3Fanboy: I buy both Heavy Rain and Red Dead Redemption.

[Why o why]

just to support something different...sounds stupid i know but i purchased alan wake knowing i wouldnt have the time to play it. Ill do the same with uk demon souls. They'll just sit there in their rappers until im ready. These games probably need my support more than the cods etc if even just to let the devs know they can be different and creative. Tired of the same ol sh!t

[Christopher]

Exactly.

The problem is that only the most generic and big titled games really get the support. The other great titles are lucky to get a fraction of the support and for that reason alone I make sure that those games are day one buys for me, even if I won't be playing them for a while. Still have Alan Wake LE box sitting on my shelf waiting to be played.

ME2, Heavy Rain, Alan Wake, Demon's Souls, Batman AA, Darksiders and tons of other games have been bought in the same manner. Any game that is good and at least tries to do something outside of the mainstream market of shooters is golden in my book and deserves my day one support.

Unfortunately, those games listed are also the ones that tend to suffer the most from second-hand sales, meaning less money for the developers.

[Snakefist30]

The Only Xbox 360 Exclusives sell more is HALO,Gears of wars and COD.Those Three games are the best games and 3 are my favs too especially gears.

[maddhatter123]

if it isn't halo then 360 fanboys don't care they are pretty much the new nintendo fanboys(they only care about mario). i'm glad the ps3 has a wide variety of games and don't have to cling to one franchise.

[blazBlue]

Um...Soda? MGS4 is more of a stealth/gameplay. Uncharted 2 is more of an action/adventure.

But um...continue!

[Theodore87]

Look at MS E3 this year. All shooters!

[Derekvinyard13]

mass effect 1 and 2 are not exclusives

[Shadow Flare]

Alan wake hasn't even passed 500,000? Is that true? Why do 360 fans say ps3 games don't sell again? Are they only basing that on halo and gears? Cos gran turismo outsells both of them and most ps3 exclusives always sell very well actually. Alot better than 500,000 anyway

[basicsameh514]

@shadow flare
alan wake came out same day as RDR

[SCThor]

are you making an excuse? Because you know, RDR was a NEW IP (multiplatform) with low marketing budget, in other hand, Alan Wake was promoted by MS itself as the second jesus coming.

[HighTreason]

lol, stop using RDR to defend this games horrible sales.

Heavy Rain came out between Mass Effect 2 and GOW3 and it's on its way sell 1.5 million in a few weeks.

So what if it came out the same day ? Why aren't people buying it NOW ? I'm sure they have recovered financialy from purchasing RDR by now don't you think ?

[NYC_Gamer]

alan wake was just overhyped....

[siyrobbo]

red dead redemption had a low marketing budget? are you nuts, that games been marketed to £hit! tv adverts, web adverts, it must have cost a pretty penny but seems to have paid off

[Fanb0y]

Alan Wake had almost no marketing support from Microsoft aimed at the general gaming audience.
On the other hand, Red Dead Redemption busted its balls on television ads the week before it went on store shelves. Even my casual gaming friends noticed it and went out to buy it.

[lelo2play]

Just take a look at the last 2 PS3 exclusives. How much have ModNation Racers or 3D Dot Game Heroes sold? Not much buy my guess. Alan Wake has sold 500k buy the latest numbers announced. ModNation Racers or 3D Dot Game Heroes are no way close to those numbers.

There are consoles exclusives that simply do not sell much.

EDIT:
@Parapraxis... Alan Wake still reached nº1 in some charts when it was released. ModNation Racers or 3D Dot Game Heroes were no way close the nº1 in any chart i saw. So i say again... ModNation Racers or 3D Dot Game Heroes did not sell much buy my guess.

[Parapraxis]

"Not much buy my guess. " How about knowing how much they have actually sold if you are going to use them as examples of bad sales? Pretty fail there on your part bubs.

"Dot Game Heroes were no way close the nº1 in any chart i saw. "
3D Dot Game Heroes Leads U.S. PS3 Charts:
http://www.gamasutra.com/vi...

There's no good solid numbers currently for both those games BTW.
My point still stands, using examples that are untestable is pretty weak man.

[lelo2play]

"3D Dot Game Heroes Leads U.S. PS3 Charts"

It's a PS3 Charts for Amazon. I was referring to total sales charts to compare it to other games sales of other consoles. I guess we better wait for NPD charts to have some idea of sales in the USA.

[ElementX]

I bought Mass Effect 2 and Alan Wake. I also picked up a used copy of Conviction, preordered Crackdown 2 and Halo: Reach. I also bought Fable 2 all within 3 days of buying my 360S. I thought Alan Wake would've sold more.

[lelo2play]

Good for you. You have good games in that list. Alan Wake is a pretty good game... in spite of not being a great game. I would give a solid 8,5.

[El-Fenemeno1213]

Because Most only care about halo and gears. That's all my friends care about -_-.

[Downtown boogey]

And some just buy one Call of Duty game a year and fall back to oblivion about any other games.

[El-Fenemeno1213]

Yet they don't see that the call of duty series is practically the same every year, with a different skin

[R2D2]

was a tough pick for me but in the end I ended up getting the one that had most replay value. I will pick up Alan Wake soon, maybe when the 360s bundle with AW comes out.

[chidori666]

360 owners buy only shotazzz :P

[Why o why]

they probably sell fine. The problem is the fanboys talking about sales making a game better than a better game that sells less. It was a dangerous precedent and now it bites fools in the bum.

Truth is the demographics just arent that into some of the games the 360 has to offer EVEN if they are stella games. Only the older gamers (like elementx) seem to jump on games of a more varied genre. The rest do not and the majority of those are younger gamers. Its almost as if they dont wanna try a game without a gun unless its sports or driving. You can almost see why MS doesnt put so much into advertising games like these OR try to acquire/run more studios.....sad

Another factor is that some of these games dont come with multiplayer. There was a trend that games would tack on multiplayer a few years back and thats was just to add longevity to titles OR to make people hold on to games instead of selling them on. Alan wake has no multiplayer and some think twice about getting such games. sad but a little more understandable

[CaptainMarvelQ8]

Xbox 360 Players don't buy games....am i right xbox fanboys?

[militant07]

I myself support 360 exclusive.

i got these exclusive or "half exclusive"

1- Mass Effect
2- Mass Effect 2
3- Halo 3
4- Halo ODST
5- Crackdown
6- L4D2
7- Splincter Cell Conviction
8- Saints Row
9- Viv Pinata
10- Viva Pinata PC
11- Viva Pinata trouble in paradise
12- Banjo Kazooie N&B
13- Forza Motorsport 2
14- Kameo the element of power
15- Alan Wake
16- DEADRISING
17- Fuzion Frenzy 2
18- Lost Odyssey
19- Blue Dragon
20- Gears of War
21- Gears of War 2

I dont know i should classify this as exclusive or not??

1- Ninja Gaiden 2
2- Beautiful Katamari

Used to be exlusive (or some still not available for the west)
1- Bioshock
2- Tales of Vesperia
3- Star Ocean 4

[Why o why]

what a strange game.......la la......lalalala la la la

You seem to be on the hardcore end. You have the means to get whatever game you fancy whereas others do not especially some of the younger gamers

N4realGMRZ

can you prove that garbage down there. Your silly theory gets smashed by heavy rain alone. Ill give you the bit about piracy though. That alone should of made it a no contest but the 360 games still seem to sell well enough. But there's a reason aaron doesnt talk about that attach rate etc any more. Yeah, he will always talk about halo and gears...Other than that the other game sales are fine and by fine i mean normal for nonfanboys which doesn't = gears or halo in the slightest

[NastyLeftHook]

no offense.

but gears 1 is not exclusive.

neither is mass effect 1 or 2.

[militant07]

read the second sentence
I said exclusive or half exclusive...

[Why o why]

he did

wow @ below

did CellularDevision

really make another account called CellularAutomata, a dragonball- 360 fanboy....what a combo

how can anybody disagree with the fact militant put half exclusives there...Dont tell me guys think they're full

[N4realGMRZ]

Even the worst selling Xbox exclusives sell better than the best selling PS3 exclusives in general.......the truth of the matter is that piracy is a huge issue on the xbox...even with such an issue they still outsell PS3 exclusives....its a shame but its the truth.

[UltimateIdiot911]

Where in the world did you get that information? The best selling PS3 exclusives top around 6 million. GT5P and MGS4. Many of PS3 best selling exclusives sell at least 1.5 million.

When GT5 comes out, that thing will beat Halo and Gears of War sales pretty quick.

I know this may be a shock to you but 2007 was 3 years ago.

[Sony Fiend]

So according to you Alan Wake outsold Metal Gear Solid 4 ?

Only gears and Halo have sold 5 million or more, 2 games ! versus 1 on PS3.

Halo is Xboxs biggest games, GT5 is PS3's biggest game and it hasn't been released yet so STFU.

[Crystallis]

WTF kind of logic is that? Are you living under the earths core or something, or are you simply brain dead?

[N4realGMRZ]

Replying to comments above would only make me feel like a fanboy....but honestly look at the software sales every month on the NPD listings its usually occupied by mostly Wii then 360 games the PS3 is usually left out....and before you start saying what kind of Garbbage i am talking about...before u make a comment plz get your Fanboy heads out of your @sses......for example Crystallis is and angry teen with one console...avoid sounding like him if u can.

[Oner]

NPD does not equal the world. Your "argument" is false and misinformed, stop trying to spin it more. Plus you should try yourself to refrain from calling others out while you yourself are CLEARLY making outlandish fanboy riddled baseless unsubstantiated comments.

[Crystallis]

Angry Teen? LOL. I wish I was a teen again, those were the days.

And Like most of you 360 fangirls who mention only NPD, NPD does not equal the world like Oner mention.

[OmarJA-N4G]

I thought every 360 exclusive sells millions like Halo, what happened?

Can somebody spin this one for me?

[gtsentry]

halo and gears and cod are the heavy hitters on the xbox

[Wrathman]

you have no room to talk when a ps3 game hasnt hit 4 million since MGS4.and people only picked that up because frankly there wasnt a decent ps3 exclusive for months before or after it.

gow3 and uc2 rated 10/10 goty games but sold like 5/10 games.

shame on you for not supporting your system

[ShiNe-Box-]

Umm... get ur facts straight.

Gran Turismo: Prologue was the last PS3 game that was announced to have sold 4 million copies.

[ShiNe-Box-]

You can't compare Halo and Gears to other 360 exclusives. Halo and Gears are like god. So comparing 360 exclusives to Halo/Gears would be like trying to compare regular people to god , it can't be done.

I tried :/ (and I'm really bored, obviously)

[Nike]

Does it matter? You wouldn't be able to say much else with all your bubbles gone. Stupid troll.

[insomnium]

No need whatsoever to ask him "does it matter". We all know who started this BS and why.

[kingme71]

Alan Wake is a niche game. I predicted it would have the same impact as Dead Space, a quality game that just doesn't get the numbers you would think. No multiplayer, plus it is in the horror genre which isn't the most popular genre.

My neighbor is a semi hardcore gamer. He doesn't keep up with the gaming news, but he plays the hardcore titles. He likes Gears, Halo and CoD games and that's about it. Everything else he's not interested. Although I did let him borrow Mass Effect and he wound up loving it, he never would have come across it on his own. I imagine there are alot of 360 owners just like him.

[BillOreilly]

the ones that care about these have modded 360's sad but true
need to support developers even if you wait for a price drop ff13 wouldve sold double same with alan wake splinter cell

[Optical_Matrix]

Because some of these "exclusives" are actually multiplatform games. Although fanboys try to deny it, this is the case, and as such, a large majority of the potential sales for the 360 are taken up by PC gamers downloading the game off of steam or buying the PC version at retail. If the game was exclusive to the 360, it would be a different case however.

[Colonel-Killzone]

Really so your telling me the worst Xbox Exclusives sell over 3mil each then lol ? No offense but your logic is flawed in a lot of different ways. Heavy Rain Sold over 1 million copies its first month. Alan wake failed to sell 500k copies its first month. Also please send me a link to back your stupid post please. For you to be right every Xbox 360 game would have to sell over 5 million copies. Since MGS4 is the best selling PS3 exclusive as of right now with over 5 million copies sold. Stop being a blind fanboy please.

[whatis]

I have wondered this myself. It's not as if there is a lot to choose from.

[WrAiTh Sp3cTr3]

Because there not as good as they're hyped to be? Seriously, if a game is good it will sell. If a game doesn't have replay value though....well compare it to the heavy hitters and the question won't have to be asked.

[peeps]

Perhaps with Alan Wake but ME2 is an excellent game, it's just better and cheaper on pc though

[peeps]

Well i have a top end pc, 360 and ps3 so when i picked up ME2 it was on pc in a steam offer the other week.

ME2 just plays better on pc imo, looks slightly better and costs less. So given the choice the only reason you would pick the 360 version over the pc version (and you have a pc capable of running it) would surely be for achievements?

[MorganX]

You hit the nail on the head. Niche and genre games. Alan Wake is a flashlight flick game. Mass Effect is story drive and lots of text.

The other aspect is how long games take. With the average gamer being in their 30s, most have jobs, families, significant others. Game that you can sit down, master, and enjoy in a short amount of time have an edge. I think this is the same on all platforms.

All racing games are niche. I hate simulators myself. But I will go for a good F1 simulator. Other than that, I'll stick with Burnout Paradise.

I hate FPS' but that seems to be what everything is. I prefer 3rd person ala Gears of War, Resident Evil.

It's hard to create a game with pervasive mass appeal. That's why Halo and Gears continue to rule the roost.

[kingme71]

Good points.

So many FPS's at E3... the FPS train is definitely not slowing down.

Halo and Gears now have that magical brand recognition going for them. Halo Wars wouldn't have had 1/5 of the sales it had if it wasn't for the name.

[HighTreason]

I loved every minute of Mass Effect 2 and was forced to buy a used 360 to play it.

EA can no longer turn a blind eye to it's poor sales numbers. I don't know about Alan Wake but ME2 deserves more.

EA should consider brining the franchise to the PS3 where it will be appreciated. It will surely double it's sales, maybe even outsell the 360 version.

It's a fact that PS3 owners are more open to games that try to be a little different.

I'm sure the reason ME2 failed was because most 360 owners went: "Meh screw Mass Effect 2, you have to talk and shit and choose stuff, but I just wanna blow shit up"

[hankmoody]

Considering how much ME2 was getting trashed by PS3 owners upon its release. You sound like a Knicks fan talking about Lebron.

And another thing: can you back up that its a "fact" that PS3 owners are more open to different kinds of games? Are you not old enough to know that generalizing people is a pretty ignorant way to get your point across?

[Parapraxis]

"ME2 was getting trashed by PS3 owners upon its release"
What? what the heck are you talking about?

I think most PS3 owners would like this game and openly say that.
They certainly didn't bash it.

[NYC_Gamer]

Hmm...many ps3 owners have said they would love to have Mass Effect on our console of choice...

[hankmoody]

Then you guys weren't paying attention. It was a lot of talk before and after the games release about "Who needs that crap?" in regards to ME2, simply because the game was an Xbox exclusive. Now all of a sudden, people are talking about how cool that game would be on the PS3.' More or less in the same way people were trashing the GTAIV expansions... until they got to the PS3.

[coldfoot]

Only trashing for ME2 from PS3 owners were against it being counted as a 360 exclusive, when it was also available on the PC. Nobody denies that it's a great game.

[CellularAutomata]

"hey man, theres this site called N4G, they are pro ps3!"
"oh man, thats awesome! ill write anti xbox articles"
"you do that, ill target xbox exclusives!"
"yaaaay hits!"

[OmegaSlayer]

Shame to the developers that release those games as exclusives.
Alan Wake was clearly more suited to the PS3 more mature community, and Mass Effect is a masterpiece that would have sold a lot on every platform.

[UltimateIdiot911]

I don't remind if it comes to PS3 or not, if it's on PC, I'll get it for PC just like Mass Effect 2.

[tudors]

Maybe people just don't have the money.

[PSjesus]

have any....besides HALO milk/Juice/cocktail/reach..
but i heard there is new toy called Kinect can make YOUR WHOLE BODY IS A CONTROLLER
How cool is that?

[MorganX]

As opposed to waving a wand around with a glowing ball on top looking very "sweet"?

I think they're both stupid and hope they both fail. Except for hands free navigation.

[Hellsvacancy]

"Big Xbox 360 Exclusives" rofl

[hankmoody]

Alan Wake was/is the victim of some lackluster marketing. But also, that game isn't exactly an all around crowd pleaser as a lot of people don't really get it or are not into that particular kind of storytelling. That game was always destined to be a cult classic. The game is very similar to the TV show "Twin Peaks" which had a devout following but at the time was considered to be a "niche" show. Remember, not all gamers go to N4G every day to check out gaming news or even bother looking up gaming news of any kind and only know what's coming out for their respective systems due to television ads or any other kind of in your face advertisement. Of course the Halos are going to sell like gangbusters when you have ads running everywhere possible. When you see an ad for a game playing as a trailer before a movie, that's what you call exposure. Usually, the best games are the ones that slip through the cracks. Remember Jet Set Radio for the Dreamcast, a game that sold terribly yet had an undeniable devoted fanbase for it? That game wasn't marketed properly either but also was a niche title with strange controls that took some getting used to and an art style that divided a lot of players into two camps: those that loved it and hated it. In the end, I don't think it has anything to do with the systems and their owners. It's all down to personal tastes and the fact the majority of those that are playing these games are just casual gamers and not hardcore maniacs. Want further proof? Just look at the success of the Wii. A mediocre system with barely any games worth mentioning. Thing sold in ridiculous numbers. Proof that its the casual gamer making up the bulk of the audience.

[ATi_Elite]

Because most Xbox 360 owners are casual gamers who only want to play shooters like gears, halo, COD, or GTA.

anything other than shooters usually gets mediocre sales.
FFVIII 360 1.5 million PS3 4.1 million

Don't be a fool and blame the PC for low sales because Alan Wake is a 360 exclusive with very poor sales way under a million (PS3 Heavy Rain 1.3 million)

Even with all the advertising Mass Effect 2 sold OK on the 360 1.7 million

[MorganX]

Casual gamers also play a lot of XBLA games.

Also keep in mind MS has virtually no Japan presence which plays a lot of games like FF and others that don't necessarily appeal to the US Market.

I still don't know who plays Flower? I only care about US. I know MS and Sony care about the rest of the world, but I don't.

[hankmoody]

I still feel the only reason that game sold well was because of the lack of titles for the system at the time. I remember that game being pushed very heavily at Best Buy and being very prominent when you walked in there. I'm sure anyone looking for a new game for their PS3 would've picked that up on a whim.

[Sony Fiend]

Whatever man, people don't pick up niche titles like heavy Rain 'on a whim'
A shooter, you pick up on a whim.
A racing game you pick up on a whim.
A game thats been so heavily advertised theres no going around it you pick up on a whim.

Stop making excuses for yourself and just accept that PS3 owners like to enjoy more diversity. Mass Effect 2 and Alan Wake would have sold a lot more on the PS3 and you know it.

[Crystallis]

"Heavy Rain
I still feel the only reason that game sold well was because of the lack of titles for the system at the time"

That is the most BS comment if I ever read one. Did you really resort to that. HR sold well b/c nothing else was release at that time ...REALLY?

[MorganX]

As for L4D, how many times can you kill hordes of Zombies. Hell, the zombie game I looking forward to now is Dead Nation, a PSN game. That's why Resident Evil went virus. You can only take kill all zombies so far.

I loved Dead Rising but am not really looking forward to DR2. First off, I prefer Frank West to this motorcycle guy in the tired yellow racing jacket, and second, because they had no story-line other than kill all zombies, the story now is not one I can really get into.

Many reasons games that are good sometimes don't sell multi-millions. Look at Heavenly Sword.

Fact is only a couple games truly dominate and influence the console industry as a whole. I'll let you guys fight over what those are but they have been mentioned in this thread.

[UltimateIdiot911]

But that's the thing, on PS3, the sales are more diverse. While there isn't a clear dominate selling game, the sales break downs to about 2 million on each big exclusive and a lot of PS3 owners are more open to new ideas or different gameplay.

It's a shame on what happen with Heavenly Sword. Had it release later in PS3 life, it would have done better.

[Samus HD]

Cuz they Suck

[StitchJones]

This is a rather easy question to answer. Because more and more people rent games instead of buying them. Also, alot of gamers wait and buy used copies of the game. The current main economic footprint for game purchases lean heavy towards re-sale and rental markets.

[Double2Seven]

Uncharted 2 sold around 3.4 milion, just a litlle over the original, it sold twice the ME2, and its one of the star exclusives of the PS3.

Gears sold 5.6 milion.

Some game types sell more than others, MW2 sold more than G.o.War and Uncharted on the PS3...And its a mulitplat.

I dont see the point of the article.

[spektical]

ps3 exclusives sell more over time. Expect U2 to hit 4.5 - 5 million copies.

[gtsentry]

mass effect 2 sales is going to push it to be multiplatform...even alan wake since remedy is going to realize how much heavy rain sold onda ps3 so there guna want that as well

[Dorwrath]

Really.

So by your logic Heavy Rain will be forced to go Multi-platform as it sold less than Mass Effect 2.

Anyone who expected Alan Wake to sell like Halo or GOW are clearly delusional. It;s a niche game, which I thourally enjoyed, bit short, but enjoyable.

[gtsentry]

ummm no becuz heavy rain sold well for a new ip that is pretty much the first of its genre.everyone sed it wudnt sell well but it did.wile on the other hand mass effect 2(a well known game) didnt sell up to microsoft n ubisofts expectations.the first 1 sold more than it by a bit.

[BeaArthur]

The trolling on this site is out of control. Good job N4G, way to run a quality site.

[polarbear]

It's because of the younger kids that own 360s
They buy only the incredibly huge franchises because they think that those are the only good ones

[labwarrior]

because of the name alone

Same goes for buyers themselves, they go for the well known stuff

So, it is expected that actual good games get low sales, when reviewers do not do their job right and consumers are so shallow

[Demonsdown]

Sigh the guy used VG Charts for his research......
Games that are not shooters don't sell as well on the xbox because Microsoft primarily markets the console at the shooter crowd. Most of those people don't even pay any attention to the story in the games so any games that are heavy on the story they are not really all that interested in.

[Lord_Ranos]

The only games worth having a 360 for is Mass Effect 1 and 2. Which I love very much.

[ATi_Elite]

The PS3 has a far larger variety of games in it's library than the 360 does. the 360 is mostly shooters then sports then racing and a few RPG's. Good games never the less.

The PS3 has everything and a lot of it and don't forget they have games that sell well in Japan that never see the United States or Europe. the 360 has like one alternative game Alan Wake while the PS3 has Flower, Heavy Rain, and The Last Guardian plus a few others. This shows you Sony's commitment to a variety of gamers

So when you see a PS3 exclusive only doing 2, 3, or 4 million that's OK because Sony doesn't advertise, no timed exclusives and they got another exclusive coming out next week. So their business model is solid as releasing 3 exclusives that do 10 million in sales a month keeps the money flowing.

With the 360 business model their games gotta do 5 or 10 million every time out or it's not financially good because they advertise like crazy and spend a lot of money on timed exclusives. Although anything over 3 million for Microsoft is great some games like Mass Effect 2 needed to do 7 million (Super Bowl Commercial + Exclusive rights)

Mass effect 2 and Alan Wake not selling well hurts Microsoft and developers are thinking maybe I should just release across 2 or 3 platforms because if your game isn't Halo or COD your not gonna do 10 million on the 360.

[gypsygib]

From my experience 360 users are mostly potheads or children and lack the attention span for masterpieces like ME2. But all joking aside, I'm baffled that ME2 didn't sell more, it's one of the best games of the year. Alan wake came went up against Red Dead and was clearly the lesser of the two in terms of quality.

[Funky Town_TX]

I don't like RPG's. Most NA gamers don't like RPG's. Look at the movies that do well most of them are action based with an okay story line. I use to think that if someone did not like what I lked then it was something wrong with them. People have personal preferences, so don't be upset. ME and AW have very small marketing when compared to Halo and MW. So most only know about it from word of mouth or from the internet, and that makes up a very small percentage of gamers.

[M4ndat0ry_1nstall]

"Big" games not selling well is a good thing when they don't sell well on the PS3, it's a sign of quality apparently.

Besides, PS3 fans don't just flock to one genre (Yeah, MW2 is the best selling PS3 game. But I will choose to ignore that FACT, oh and it's multiplat I will choose to ignore that FACT too, and it's a FPS I will choose to ignore that FACT also).

[Funky Town_TX]

I buy games that give me more bang for my buck. With multiplayer FPS games I can play them none stop for years. Alan Wake is a great game but after you finish the story there is nothing left to do. It's sad but it's true. I may get single player only games but not for $60. I like FPS games the most, and I get tons of replay value from them.

[Raoh]

mass effect was bought by most 360 owners..

mass effect 2 was bought by actual fans of the game and genre..

its really no surprise when you think about how many brilliant games on the ps2 sold modestly.. after a few years you dont buy every game out only the ones of interest..

for instance i have yet to buy a ratchet and clank game for the ps3, its just not for me..

[Funky Town_TX]

But you are not allowed to say that something is not for you. Some people just don't like certain game types or series.

[edhe]

You can rent single player games, and that's what i do.

No sale, but it gets played. What will matter is DLC uptake - if 400k people buy 2-3 pieces of DLC that's a much better revenue than the packaged game.

[spektical]

360 fanboys are mesmerized by shooters.. duh.

[Jack Klugman]

OH look Mass Effect is now back to being 360 exclusive again to fit this argument.

With an attach rate of 8 the 360 is in no way hurting. Yes, SOME don't sell more but MOST do.

And not one PS3 troller here should be opening their trap about game sales when the PS3 has had a pitiful existence for much of this generation.

Wow, look at some of these moronic responses from 360 owners are pot heads to all they want to play are shooters. Nothing like the ignorance from a POS3 idiots mouth.

[Odion]

Mass Effect 1 did 3 million
Mass Effect 2 has done over 2 million already
Left 4 Dead 1 did something like 4 million

[PXSausage]

Why doesn't every big PS3 exclusive sell more? I know that they usually sell well over time, but some of the bigger PS3 exclusives should sell more (at least in the States).