Xboxist

Analysis: Microsoft Still Leads in Multiplatform Quality

Sony Corporation's muscular appearance at E3 in Los Angeles convinced many detractors that the company finally has a strategy to boost hardware sales and win market share from rivals Nintendo and Microsoft. Despite Sony's reluctance to drop the price of its expensive home console, it clearly hopes to attract high-end consumers through a strong lineup of first-party and exclusive game publishing deals. Surprises included a new, as-yet-unseen game from the hitmakers at Rockstar, the same studio responsible for a different series of titles that helped put Sony's PS2 firmly on the map in the last generation. Final Fantasy XIV was also announced as an exclusive to Sony's PS3, although this game is still a long ways out. There are enough exclusive titles coming to Sony's PS3 to convince customers to jump on board and prove that the company still has sufficient clout in the industry to secure major publishing deals. If there is one significant hole in Sony's market strategy, however, it remains the weak performance of third-party multiplatform titles on its system.

In a trend that has to be worrying to Sony executives, every single multi-platform game released in North America this generation has sold in higher numbers on Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. In May of 2009, for example, the NPD analyst group reported that THQ's niche fighting title UFC: Undisputed sold an astonishing 679,000 copies on the Xbox 360 alone, making it the fastest-moving software release on any platform in May. The game managed to sell only 334,000 copies - less than half the number - on Sony's console, where an enthusiastic male teen demographic should have posted better sales numbers for THQ. By contrast, the next highest-selling game on Sony's PS3 console was Infamous, with an impressive but much lower figure of 175,900 copies sold. Clearly, first-party exclusive games are not enough to carry Sony's hardware, and lower multi-platform sales mean that third-party developers are likely to prioritize development on the more lucrative Xbox 360. This was the gist of statements made last week by Activision chief Robert Kotick, who threatened to drop development plans for the Playstation 3 if Sony didn't improve developer relations in 2010.

"I'm getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don't make it easy for me to support the platform," he told the Times of London. "It's expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation."

Weak sales are matched in many cases by weak technical performance. While the average consumer likely does not care about mundane details like frame rate or resolution numbers, there is a strong contingent of hardcore gamers who argue that titles released on Sony's system consistently perform worse than their Xbox 360 counterparts. Recently, for example, online complaints from several sources forced developers Terminal Reality to admit that their multiplatform game, Ghostbusters, runs at 56% lower resolution on the Sony PS3. This is somewhat embarrassing considering that Sony landed an exclusive deal with Atari Europe to distribute its game several weeks before the Xbox 360 version is due to hit shelves. While the overall quality of multiplatform games on the PS3 appears to be acceptable, these voices might be loud enough to convince fence-sitting customers that they will get the best visual experience on Microsoft's slightly less expensive Xbox 360. What if, due to some skilled programming, Metal Gear Solid Rising or Final Fantasy XIII actually perform better on the Xbox 360 than they do on the Playstation 3? This kind of coup would be disasterous to Sony's strategy, and the company should take every step to ensure that releases look technically better on its high-end system.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game performed better on the Xbox 360.

Why are multiplatform titles performing poorly on Sony's console, and what can the hardware maker do about it? Clearly, while exclusive titles remain an important showcase for Sony's home console, much of the market battle is being fought with third-party multiplatform games. Multiplatform game releases have dominated the US software sales charts in recent months, eclipsing even high-profile exclusives like Killzone 2, which was expected to top software sales charts. And Microsoft's dominance as the preferred platform for third-party software sales appears to be widening, at least in North America. At stake is third-party developer support, long the bread and butter of any successful hardware market strategy.

Sony needs to adopt several strategies in order to counter this alarming trend. Firstly, the company needs to imitate Microsoft and seek value-adds for multiplatform releases, including exclusive DLC and early release dates. Secondly, Sony needs to do everything in its power to reverse the trend of low-quality multiplatform game releases, by aggressively distributing software development expertise and lending assistance to third-party companies. Finally, Sony could help level the playing field by paying for advertising to promote third party titles on the Playstation 3 and "getting the fanbase out" for important titles that will solidify Sony's position as an important platform for third-party releases.