Numbers of Games Released For Every Major Console

[bigsilly]

Hi!

I remember that back when I was a kid and had an NES and a Sega Genesis, it seemed like there could be perhaps dozens of great games "out there somewhere" that I had never heard about - it seemed like there were thousands and thousands of games released, surpassing any number that I could expect to acquaint myself with.

Now I kind of get the impression that the more recent consoles are being succeeded so quickly that no individual system has enough "time" to build-up a significant library of titles. Maybe the PSX1 and PSX2 came kind of close to the same numbers that we got in earlier generations of consoles - but I certainly don't feel that the X-Box1 did, or the Gamecube, or that games are being released fast enough for the new consoles for them to acquire huge libraries of games too. It seems like for each console you can expect the following every year of its lifespan:

A dozen or so AAA titles (Gears of War, Final Fantasy, etc.)
A dozen Sports sequels (Madden ad infinitum, etc.)
Perhaps 50-80 "rent only" titles, low production values
A half-dozen or less "unhyped" yet quality games, such as Psychonauts

I don't really get how people feel that their investments in console systems are being fulfilled by the relatively low number of games they can expect to collect before the system is succeeded by the next generation...?

So anyway, the point of my post:

I was just curious if anyone know of any list anywhere on the internet where I could find out how many games in total have been released for the major systems. Then I could compare the numbers and see if I'm right or wrong. Know of any list like that?


Thanks!!!!

 

[archangelmorph]

Hi!

I remember that back when I was a kid and had an NES and a Sega Genesis, it seemed like there could be perhaps dozens of great games "out there somewhere" that I had never heard about - it seemed like there were thousands and thousands of games released, surpassing any number that I could expect to acquaint myself with.

Now I kind of get the impression that the more recent consoles are being succeeded so quickly that no individual system has enough "time" to build-up a significant library of titles. Maybe the PSX1 and PSX2 came kind of close to the same numbers that we got in earlier generations of consoles - but I certainly don't feel that the X-Box1 did, or the Gamecube, or that games are being released fast enough for the new consoles for them to acquire huge libraries of games too. It seems like for each console you can expect the following every year of its lifespan:

A dozen or so AAA titles (Gears of War, Final Fantasy, etc.)
A dozen Sports sequels (Madden ad infinitum, etc.)
Perhaps 50-80 "rent only" titles, low production values
A half-dozen or less "unhyped" yet quality games, such as Psychonauts

I don't really get how people feel that their investments in console systems are being fulfilled by the relatively low number of games they can expect to collect before the system is succeeded by the next generation...?

So anyway, the point of my post:

I was just curious if anyone know of any list anywhere on the internet where I could find out how many games in total have been released for the major systems. Then I could compare the numbers and see if I'm right or wrong. Know of any list like that?


Thanks!!!!

Not sure how accurate your deductions are..

I have previously only ever purchased generally high rated games (with the exceptions of a few bought in desperation during a dry spell..) and my game libraries per platforms came out looking like this:-

- Snes - 20+ titles, ranging from bad to awesome
- N64 - 4 titles, all AAA
- PSX - 32 games, averaging no lss than 70% score
- PS2 - 112 games, averaging no less than 70%, ave. score 85%
- Xbox - 68 games, ave. score 87% (only one game below 75%)
- Xbox360 - 12 games, all scoring above 80% ave.

Now although my tastes are rather ecclectic, I know for a fact that their were PLENTY of AAA titles I missed through either overlooking them or because they sat in genres I didn't care about..

The Snes, PSX & N64 numbers were so low due to the fact that I was so young (i.e. too young to work..) and so had all my games bought for me..

 

[StefanS]

Hey big,

acquiring a list of released titles is more easy for the new consoles, the fiscal reports at the end of the fiscal year include a list of released titles per region. However, these number contain multiple region releases, i.e. Madden 08 in US and Madden 08 EU (there's no Madden 08 JP I believe) are counted a separate titles. So the numbers are bit fuzzy, but they'll give you a general idea of what has been released overall.

 

[archangelmorph]

Hey big,

acquiring a list of released titles is more easy for the new consoles, the fiscal reports at the end of the fiscal year include a list of released titles per region. However, these number contain multiple region releases, i.e. Madden 08 in US and Madden 08 EU (there's no Madden 08 JP I believe) are counted a separate titles. So the numbers are bit fuzzy, but they'll give you a general idea of what has been released overall.

What about sites like Metacritic & game rankings?

I'd assume these would be pretty thorough in trying to cover most, if not all, titles released on the more recent platforms?

 

[StefanS]

What about sites like Metacritic & game rankings?

I'd assume these would be pretty thorough in trying to cover most, if not all, titles released on the more recent platforms?

Good idea
There should be an Ostepop thread somewhere which collected the titles released / to be released on X360 and PS3. Such a list would be more US centric obviously.

 

[pipo]

Slightly related: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/28489/Report-PS3-faltering-as-publishers-back-Wii

The analyst’s latest report states that for the final quarter of 2007, publishers have backed the Wii with the greatest number of titles – 86 in total.

This puts the Nintendo console some distance ahead of Xbox 360 and PS3, which have 47 and 38 titles lined up respectively. A quarter of Wii releases are exclusive to the platform, compared with eight for 360 and five for PS3.

Those guys... They really know what they're talking about aren't they?

Given present publishing activity levels and hardware sales rates, we expect 256 bit gaming to have moved out of transition and squarely into the mass adoption phase by year end.

 

[Cryect]

Publishers Moving to the Wii

Seems its probably mostly games none of us have heard (and probably most do not want) but the numbers are surprisingly in favor of the Wii for Q4 this year.

Publisher commitment is shifting significantly to Nintendo's Wii with 86 titles scheduled for release in Q4, compared with 47 for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and 38 for Sony's PlayStation 3. A quarter of Wii releases are exclusive to the platform – compared with eight for the Xbox 360 and five for Playstation 3.

Wii is proving attractive to publishers not only because of its rapidly growing installed base, but also thanks to lower development costs and the relative ease of transferring development resources to the platform compared with its 256 bit counterparts. As a result Screen Digest expects that the number of games available for Wii will surpass Xbox 360's library in early 2008 at current release rates.

http://www.screendigest.com/press/releases/press_releases_09_10_2007/view.html

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Quality > quantity. Especially since the average gamer is only going to buy 10-12 games this generation.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Quantity = choice though. If the only 'quality' titles are FPSes and racers, some folk will prefer less quality for more originality.

The article itself is gibberish. 256 bit consoles? Specifically, what the hell is 256 bit about Wii?! Also why does the research ignore PS2? Out of 86 titles due for Wii, 25% are supposed to be exclusive. That means some 60 games aren't exclusive to Wii - is that really flocking to Wii? The remark on a PS3 price drop just to counteract a supposedly weak software line-up is comical- would the Ed Barton expect Sony to keep the high price with a bigger library? Does he think they'd be better of?

The actual content needs clarification. Sure, simple games that can be made for half the price in half the time than PS360 titles are going to be more plentiful and contribute to Wii's lineup, but without title names, we don't know if these 86 titles are cheap productions or serious investments.

Overall I give this story 2/10.

Edit - Imported Wii game discussion from other thread

 

[Rangers]

I think the 256-bit thing is just the way a few archaic financial type places refer to console generation, even though after 64-bit most people stopped using that terminology.

AKA, PS2 was the 128-bit generation, 360/PS3/Wii the 256 bit, and next time will be 512 bit.

Yeah it doesn't make any technical sense, it's just an odd way to keep score.

 

[pipo]

Good point: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=29639

As more developers and publishers back the Nintendo format, there are also concerns that too many titles could lower the quality threshold for the system, flooding the market with poor products and swamping quality releases.

"It could be a massive problem. Nintendo has to be fairly strict on what comes through to stop this," said Phillips.

Can you say Atari?

 

[Rangers]

Anyways on topic to the post, I dont have hard numbers, but I'd suspect by far more PS2 games were released than NES, let alone Genesis.

It was probably just a matter of your perceptions being much different as a child.

Games were more fun back in the NES era, btw. Games stopped being as much fun with Genesis/SNES. Or maybe that was my perception, as well. But I dont think so, since my age didn't change from one to the next.

I just know, the NES was so fun to play..

 

[dlm]

Good point: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=29639

Can you say Atari?

EGM recently did an article about this.

Apparently Nintendo doesn't red-light anything that isn't basically actively offensive. They have essentially zero quality control.

A look at some of the stuff that manages to get released on the Wii and DS is pretty solid proof of this. Elf Bowling, anyone?