Sony should focus on ‘quality’ of PS3 exclusives

2011 was a year littered with PlayStation 3 exclusives.  Sony boasted a lineup which featured games like Resistance 3, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and inFAMOUS 2 to name just a few.  But despite, what I consider an impressive exclusive lineup of almost 20 exclusive games for the PlayStation 3, Micorosoft has managed to keep up and in certain areas exceed PS3 sales.

Now, it would be unfair to say that Xbox 360 didn't have their fair share of successful exclusives.  It's not like 2011 was an off year for them in terms of releases.  They had Gears of War 3, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Forza 4.  And although outnumbered in terms of exclusives, Microsoft has managed to keep up with sales – or outsell the PS3. As GameInformer points out, Gears of War 3 outsold several PS3 exclusives combined.  So what can the lack of PS3 3 exclusive sales be attributed to?

According to the president of Sony's Worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida, "It's a combination of many things."

"First, we have to be very honest about our games’ quality as well. We love our games, but we can point out many issues when you look at the titles individually," he explained.

He continued, "Another thing is focus. When you have ten games coming out in a year compared to two or three, how much focus you get from our business and marketing side is very hard. From a portfolio side, we were very excited about the games we had last year, but we probably diluted support for each title."

"It’s easy to say, “Yeah, let’s make three games a year.” But game development is dynamic," Yoshida said. "You cannot plan to do that. You already have to have a certain number of games in the pipeline hoping they hit in a certain year. We love working on new IPs. It’s really hard to predict when these games get finished."

"It’s a challenge, but I think we could and probably should be focused on a smaller number of titles so each one gets the best support."

But what Yoshida says and what Sony is actually doing seems to be two totally different things.  In fact, 2012 is shaping up to be another huge PlayStation 3 exclusive year.  We have Twisted Metal releasing in just a few short days, Starhawk, The Last Guardian, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, and possibly the highly anticipated The Last of Us from Naughty Dog, who also developed the Uncharted series.  Although each of those have the potential to be huge releases, it could come back to hurt Sony.  At the price of what games cost today, many gamers must budget their spending for maybe a few titles a year.  And with so many promising games coming out, this means a few may not get the attention they deserve.