Muted sales of PS3 exclusives in US
NPD data shows low sales for LBP, Resistance 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4
While sales figures of single platform titles for Nintendo and Microsoft prove there's room for exclusive games on their respective home consoles, three of the biggest single format releases for Sony's PS3 show poor sales in the US.
NPD data reported by Gamasutra shows that Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet only sold 611,000 copies in 2008, since it was first released in late October.
By contrast, Microsoft's Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War 2, released almost two weeks after LittleBigPlanet in the region, sold 2.31 million copies by year end.
North American sales of Insomniac's Resistance 2 reached 385,000 units in November, but dropped off 45 per cent during December to 213,000 copies, to bring full-year sales to 598,000.
Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots sold 775,000 copies in its first month of sale in the US, but after the June launch has managed to sell an average of 50,000 units per month to bring full year sales to 1.076 million units, although this figure does not include software included with the official console bundle.
The numbers also make grim reading for third party publishers, even with properties attached to more than one console.
Eidos' recent admission that the latest Tomb Raider game had not met expectations resulted in lay-offs and a drop in share value. NPD data shows that Tomb Raider: Underworld sold only 246,000 copies in the US in 2008, across all three home consoles.
Ubisoft's Prince of Persia has fared better. The game was only released in December in a bid to avoid the new release crunch that so often affects sales in October and November, and NPD numbers reveal the game sold 483,000 copies in 2008. However, last year's Assassin's Creed managed to sell 1.87 million units in 2007 although it was released earlier in the year on November 14.