Exclusive Rules

Not too long ago, platform exclusives seemed to go the way of the dodo. Metal Gear Solid 2 on the Xbox? Resident Evil on the GameCube? Splinter Cell on the PlayStation 2? The age of crossplatform availability seemed within our grasp.

Now platform exclusives are back with a vengeance, and stoking the fiery pits of fanboy message boards the world over. Fortunately, we're not above tossing a can of petrol in amongst the combatants.

So who is winning the war for exclusivity? Answer: Nintendo, and how.

In its first year on the market, the Wii claimed a whopping 12 exclusive games. Several of these, of course, are Nintendo franchises that won't ever appear on another system: Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Metroid Prime 3, Mario Party 8, and Mario Strikers. The same is true on the Nintendo DS, which comes in second with 11 exclusives.

moscalloutSo who is winning the war for exclusivity? Answer: Nintendo, and how./moscallout

Each of the other platforms received fewer than half the exclusives found on either the Wii or NDS. On the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (with three and five exclusives each), first- and second-party sales again lead the way. Sony enriched its PlayStation 3 software library with Heavenly Sword, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Motorstorm, and Ratchet & Clank Future. Microsoft's three exclusives were Mass Effect, Forza Motorsport 2, and Halo 3. With only one Sony-published exclusive (God of War II), the PlayStation 2 is unique for having the majority of its exclusives from third-party publishers. It is worth noting, of course, that many PlayStation 3 systems are capable of playing both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 software – so those 60Gb system owners have access to both systems' exclusives.

While all the games in the top 100 sold well, some sold better than others. So, how did those exclusive titles sell? The answer shows the power of the huge installed base of Nintendo DS customers and the buying power of the dedicated Xbox 360 crowd.

Microsoft has clearly maximized the effectiveness of its three exclusive titles. To put it in perspective, the three games exclusive to the Xbox 360 earned more than the nine combined games exclusive to Sony's PlayStation consoles. (For the record, Sony's PSP had no exclusives which sold well enough to rank in the top 100 this year.)

One more look before we move on: which of the big three hardware companies is attracting the most exclusive software? For this purpose we consider Nintendo's Wii and DS together and Sony's PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 together. Amazingly, Nintendo manages to extend its lead even further:

Here's what's going on: Nintendo not only lays claim to the 12 Wii exclusives and the 11 Nintendo DS exclusives, but also four additional games like Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – which appears on both platforms (and therefore is not a platform exclusive) but not on any competitor's system!