Two very similar videogames, inFamous from Sucker Punch and Sony and Prototype from Activision, were released in June, with launch dates very close together and with a tendency from videogame press outlets to compare them. inFamous was a PlayStation 3 exclusive and came a few days earlier, while Prototype was multiplatform.
The similarity of the theme and the fact that both games received praise and criticism make them a good case study for those who argue about exclusive versus multiplatform videogame releases.
Jesse Divnich, who is a videogame analyst for EEDAR, has said he projects that the NPD Group numbers for North America will show that
Prototype will outsell inFamous overall in terms of units by about 90%, which is offset somewhat by the fact that the PlayStation 3 exclusive will outsell Prototype on its platform by about 35%.
Divnich said that “The Infamous vs. Prototype case study presents interesting data to publishers when considering the sales bump a title could receive by choosing exclusivity over a multiplatform release.”
At first, it would seem that Sony and Sucker Punch are in a bad position, considering that they will be outsold by Prototype 9 to 1 but a more in depth look at the situation needs to take into account other variables, like the cost of development for a variety of platforms, which can be quite high, especially on the
PlayStation 3 and the impact that publicity can have on sales of a game.
Sony has recently announced that it will be focusing on delivering more exclusives to its platform in an effort to attract gamers and enlarge its install base. Meanwhile, Microsoft is aiming to get more developers interested in bringing games to the Xbox 360, with the most recent coup being Final Fantasy XIII from Square Enix, which was initially announced as being exclusive on the PS3 and was after a while presented as also coming to the Microsoft home console.
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