Do exclusives sell consoles?

In the extremely competitive industry that is the world of video games, the platform with the best titles always comes out on top. Or does it?

Sony gives you Uncharted, inFamous, and Killzone on the PlayStation; Microsoft dishes out Forza, Halo, and Gears of War on the Xbox; and Nintendo fans get Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda.

But with all the hype around these “exclusive” titles, do they actually help sell consoles? And what about games which get extra or timed-exclusive content, such as Destiny on the PlayStation 4 – does that help Sony sell consoles?

Let’s take a look.

Games – platform and content exclusivity

Destiny

According to reports, PS4 sales jumped when Destiny – which had exclusive content for PS4 players – was released on 9 September 2014. Units sales for the launch week increased from 7,299 to 23,623. Xbox One sales, on the other hand, dropped from 25,674 to 3,015 between 8 and 14 of September.

This can be attributed to the way Sony handled the launch of the game – Activision signed strict advertising contracts with Sony which restricted Microsoft from advertising the game at all. Destiny looked and felt like a first-party launch.

Titanfall

Titanfall was released on 11 March 2014, and during the first week of this game being on sale Microsoft saw a 95% increase in Xbox One sales.

Mario Kart 8

During the launch week of Nintendo’s kart racer Mario Kart 8, Nintendo hardware sales rose 666% in the UK. 82% of the game’s sales were made up of the Nintendo Wii U + Mario Kart 8 bundle.

inFamous: Second Son

inFamous: Second Son was 2014’s first PS4 exclusive – released on 21 March 2014. During the game’s launch week Sony reported a 106% increase in hardware sales.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

CoD: Advanced Warfare is almost Microsoft’s version of Destiny. Microsoft tries its best to make this feel like an exclusive title, with Advanced Warfare branded Xbox Ones, timed-exclusive content, and tons of CoD/Xbox hybrid advertising.

Although the stats are not out yet, I will bet on Xbox One sales going up.