The Xbox 360 was the first next-generation console to appear on the market. It introduced new things to game developers and it is currently a favorite for a lot of people, due to its low price and wide variety of games that you can pick up for it.

However, if an adequate gamer with some knowledge picks up an Xbox 360 game, then there is a big chance that he will choose something very good, like Gears of War or Halo; but what happens when someone completely game illiterate wants to choose something for one of his or her friends or family. What are the odds that he or she will pick something actually good, or get stuck with something that has barely managed to sell a few units.

Fortunately, market research firm EEDAR have joined forces with Edge magazine in order to answer this questions and have gathered all of the Metacritic rankings of Xbox 360 games, compiling an accurate estimate of the share that they occupy in the game library of the Microsoft-made console.

It turns out that only 13 percent of games made for the North American console are actually very good, and every gamer would be happy to have or receive them, as that is the number of titles that have gained a Metacritic rating of over 85. The share of games gaining a rating between 84 and 66 however is much, much bigger, being estimated at 49 percent. What is even more worrying is that 38 percent of Xbox 360 games have had the “honor” to attain a Metacritic rating of 65 or lower.

These results mean that, while Xbox 360 users pray to receive good games for their birthdays or holidays, the odds are definitely against them, and they might not receive something that they will actually enjoy playing. Before you start a flame war in the comment section, the results for the PlayStation 3 game library will be posted next week, so you might want to wait until then.