Playstation 3 Lacks Exclusives. Xbox 360 Lacks Franchises.

An exclusive title doesn't necessarily define a console brand. The biggest disaster this generation is having an exclusive title and then seeing its sequels end up on multiplatform consoles. We have been seeing too many titles jump ship. Both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 have been victims to it. How many perceived exclusives were lost on these consoles by going multiplatform?

The Playstation 3 suffered their losses most notably in the beginning of its lifecycle. Big names like Final Fantasy and Grand Theft Auto were looked at as a Playstation brand. In recent times, however, the Xbox 360 has been suffering a similar fate. 2 years ago titles such as Bioshock and Lost Planet were considered Microsoft’s bread and butter. Bioshock jumped ship completely while Lost Planet jumped over as a sequel onto the Playstation 3.

In the aftermath of it all, we look at what's left.

The Playstation brand still excels at franchises. They have God of War, Ratchet and Clank, Gran Turismo, Wipeout, Socom, Twisted Metal, Warhawk, Siren, and Killzone. These are complete franchises that have made it to the Playstation 3. They have yet to release others such as ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Dark Cloud, The Getaway, and Legend of Dragoon. These titles define what the Playstation was and still is today. Sony has created new franchises on the PS3 to further solidify the Playstation brand. They have LittleBigPlanet, Resistance, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, Motorstorm, Folklore, Infamous, and White Knight Chronicles. These are titles that will never see the light of day on another console. Why? Sony owns them.

Microsoft has carried their past franchises to represent the Xbox brand. They still have franchises like Halo, Forza, Fable, Fuzion Frenzy and Project Gotham Racing. On the 360 they have franchises like Gears of War, Too Human, Lost Odyssey, Viva Piñata, and Banjo Kazooie. Like Sony, the 360 has their own, yet smaller, foundation of games that will never jump ship.

In addition, the 360 has a lot of single exclusive titles. One of their '09 exclusives is Ninja Gaiden II. We've seen Ninja Gaiden on other consoles in prequels and sequels. The same can be said of their other exclusives like Ridge Racer 6, Quake 4, Saints Row, and Star Ocean: The Last Hope. While these titles are exclusive they can be found on other consoles through sequels or prequels.

The 360 has more exclusive titles while the PS3 has more exclusive franchises. The Playstation as a brand remains strong due to Sony’s well established game library both past and present. They’ve had more time and more in-house studios to accomplish that task. The same can’t be said for Microsoft though. It seems they have taken another route to focus on their Xbox Live service and securing downloadable content instead of building up their own library.

As you can see the Playstation 3 excels at exclusive franchises. On the flipside the Xbox 360 excels at obtaining exclusive titles and downloadable content. These are the two main differences that define these console brands.