Topic: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii First/Third Party Game Attach Rate Exposed

[Pugnate]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20988



Basically shows the amount of games on average owned for that console by each system owner.

It is actually quite predictable, though I expected it to be slightly lower for the Wii.

While the attach rate is lowest for the PS3, it did come the latest.

The Wii has a huge first party percentage, meaning that Nintendo is making a lot of money on the software end as well. Unfortunately, the third part developers are just not eating on the Wii table, which is why they have been complaining for so many years. They claim that while the Wii's hardware limitations do hurt, they are further hampered by the lack of support from Nintendo.

[Cobra951]

I am totally confused by that graph.  I do understand the relative amounts of blue and red in each bar.  But I don't understand the scale on the vertical axis or the difference in height between the bars.  The scale can't be sales in millions of units, much less in dollars.  Tens of millions of units?  Not sales at all?  If the graph only depicts relative figures, then all 3 bars should be the same height, and there should be no vertical scale (on the left).

[scottws]

I think each overall bar is the average number of games sold per console.  Like there are about 5.5 games that have been sold per one Wii console that has been sold, on average.  And then the first/third party division is basically a percentage of that number?  That's how I'm interpereting it.

[Cobra951]

Correct.  But that's a ratio.  It says nothing about absolute sales, or any other parameter that would justify a different height for each of the blue/red bars.  See my problem?

[scottws]

Not really.  An average of 5.5 games have been sold for every Wii, with an average of 3.1 of those being third party games and 2.4 being first party games.  It makes perfect sense to me the way it is.

If all the graphs were the same height, how would you figure out the attach rate comparison between the consoles?  All that would be good for is showing the relative percentages of first to third party games sales.  It would say nothing about the average total number of games sold for each one system.

[Pugnate]

Well, the ratio of games per every 360 unit sold is 6.8 in total, while it is 5.5 games per Wii, and 5.3 for the PS3.

[Cobra951]

Got it.  Thanks Pug.  That's what hadn't sunk through my skull.  So the vertical scale is game units sold per console unit sold.  The color breakdown I already understood.

Of course, they really should have spelled that out in the graph itself.  I'd get whacked by a prof in a stat class if I presented that graph with no other specs.

[iPPi]

Third party support sucks for the Wii because its hardware is limited and games made for the Xbox or the PS3 have to be built ground up for the Wii.  I'm still waiting for the 'next big title' for the Wii.  Haven't seen one since Super Mario Galaxy last year.  Even their first party titles have been bad.  I hear Wii Music is a disaster.

It's really not too surprising that the Xbox has a higher attach rate then the competition though.  It's SDK is the simplest to use from what I've heard.  Basically, a game that's been developed for the PC could be ported to the Xbox (and vice versa) with little effort and cost.  The PS3 is definitely getting better though.  I remember when the PS3 was first released most non exclusive games would favor the Xbox version because it was better with less performance issues. 

I would expect PS3 attachment rates to continually increase and probably match Xbox' as developers become more comfortable working with the PS3 SDK.

[Quemaqua]

It amazes me how much people still like the 360 despite all the problems with it.  It sort of boggles the mind.  I understand what keeps people away from the PS3, though.  As time goes on, I suspect the PS3 will really come into its own.  It may be a bit late depending on how fast they try to shove new consoles down our throats (they'd be really fucking wise not to, because nobody has any money in this economy, and even people like me who traditionally waste a shitload on games are often too broke to even buy many new games, let alone any new systems), but if this console cycle lasts a bit longer this time, I can see the PS3 eventually becoming a force to be reckoned with.

[idolminds]

The PS3 needs to come down in price in a bad way. Despite the 360s problems, you can get your "HD graphics" fix with it for a hell of a lot less. For most people thats all they want.

[Pugnate]

Got it.  Thanks Pug.  That's what hadn't sunk through my skull.  So the vertical scale is game units sold per console unit sold.  The color breakdown I already understood.

Of course, they really should have spelled that out in the graph itself.  I'd get whacked by a prof in a stat class if I presented that graph with no other specs.

Yup, it is a bit confusing, especially if you haven't read the article. I can't believe they didn't label it any better.

It amazes me how much people still like the 360 despite all the problems with it.  It sort of boggles the mind.  I understand what keeps people away from the PS3, though.  As time goes on, I suspect the PS3 will really come into its own.  It may be a bit late depending on how fast they try to shove new consoles down our throats (they'd be really fucking wise not to, because nobody has any money in this economy, and even people like me who traditionally waste a shitload on games are often too broke to even buy many new games, let alone any new systems), but if this console cycle lasts a bit longer this time, I can see the PS3 eventually becoming a force to be reckoned with.

I pray my Falcon-chip running 360 continues to work OK.

As for the cross platform games, anyone with both a PS3 and a 360 is likely to go for the 360 version -- unless they really like the PS3 controller. Aside from Xbox Live (which I haven't tried yet, partially because I like online gaming on the PC), the games just seem to function better on the 360 -- better visuals as well as performance.

As we've discussed to the death before, the PS3 is more powerful but just more difficult to program for. What I expect is that it will really shine during its final years. I can imagine a lot of exclusives like God of War, Ico etc popping up. I was very close to picking up one recently, but I couldn't find anything worth buying a second console for. I'll get it eventually.

The PS3 needs to come down in price in a bad way. Despite the 360s problems, you can get your "HD graphics" fix with it for a hell of a lot less. For most people thats all they want.

Ahh shit, I can't remember where I saw this article I want to tell you about. It was either the INQ or Dailytech... Basically it was a chart similar to this, comparing the cost of production of each console. The cost of producing a PS3 was significantly higher than the 360, and in fact, it showed that Sony were selling each PS3 at a pretty big lost. That's not news obviously, but it was still interesting to see.

[Cobra951]

It amazes me how much people still like the 360 despite all the problems with it.  It sort of boggles the mind.

I have some firsthand experience that may help unboggle it.  Very simply, I already have one.  I look over, there it is.  It came before the PS3, and it came into its own before the PS3.  When I bought it, it was the clear choice.  I have a game library and accessories for it.  It's already hooked up.  I can't afford a new console.  And if I could, I'd probably buy my backlog of 4-5 360 games instead with the money.  Your assessment of the bad economy's impact is a bullseye, so I don't have to dwell on that.  This is no time for big purchases.