Exclusives are a very important in defining a console. These exclusive experiences that are locked to one console may sway you to buy one console instead of another. So  it’s important that the likes of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft keep a regular stream of top notch exclusives to not fall behind. It’s fair to say that all three companies have taken a different route in what type of exclusive they’ve given us and in this article we will put Sony’s PS3 exclusives under the spotlight.

PS3 began its life in November 2006 with 13 exclusives. The most notable exclusives were MotorStorm, Resistance and Ridge Racer 7 which were well received and went on to sell 3.7M, 4M and 1.3M respectively. Other exclusives included F1: Championship Edition and Genji: Days of the Blade which was made famous over the internet because of the “giant enemy crab” remark. The F1 rights were later bought by Codemasters who now make F1 games for multiple platforms.

2007 saw the beginning of the Uncharted franchise. Early on it was labelled as “Dude Raider” but quickly got rid of the Tomb Raider wannabe title shortly after its release. Uncharted sequels were released in 2009 and 2011 with all 3 games selling over 13M copies and Uncharted 2 becoming the best PS3 game of all time with a 96% average critic score. The ill-fated Lair and Heavenly Sword were also released to a slating from critics, receiving and average critic score of 53% and 79% respectively. Other notable games released in this year were: Warhark; Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction; Folklore; Gran Turismo 5: Prologue.

The first year and a half of the PS3’s life didn’t produce any 90% plus critically rated exclusive games but 2008 it had two. LittleBigPlanet created a whole new genre of its own. The message at the heart of LittleBigPlanet was – Create, Play, Share – which allowed players to create their own levels and share them online. It became the best critically rated game on PS3 after Uncharted 2 with 95% average critic score. Metal Gear Solid 4 was also released and promised to tie up any loose ends from previous games. MGS4 went on to sell 5.6M and received a respectable 94% average critic score. Two massive disappoints this year were Socom: U.S. Navy Seals Confrontation and Haze. Both had poor receptions receiving an average critic scores of 63% and 55% respectively but both still sold around the 1 million mark.  Other notable exclusive games: MotorStorm: Pacific Rift; Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty; Resistance 2; Valkyrie Chronicles.

Can you remember that famous pre-rendered Killzone 2 footage we saw at E3 2005? 2009 is finally when Guerrilla Games proved the critics wrong and that they could indeed match the quality shown in the pre-rendered footage. Killzone 2 went on sell 2.8M and received an average critic score of 91%. Its 2011 sequel, Killzone 3, sold 2.2M and received an average critic score of 84%. New IPs Infamous, Demon’s Souls, 3D Dot Heroes and EyePet were also released in this year. Other notable exclusive games: God of War Collection; Pain!; Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time; Uncharted 2; Yakuza 3.

In 2010 there was an onslaught of big exclusives. MAG, promised huge 254 player online battles and Modnation Racers continued the – Play, Create, Share – theme and took it to the karting scene. The long awaited God of War III and the even longer awaited Gran Turismo 5 finally got released. Both went on to sell extremely well with 4.39M and 7.64M respectively. Gran Turismo 5 had a mixture of reviews but ended up with a respectable 84%. Gran Turismo 5 also became the bestselling exclusive PS3 game. Heavy Rain was released in which the critics applauded the movie-like story which kept people gripped to the end. Other notable exclusives: The Sly Collection; Yakuza 4; Sports Champions.

2011 is the year of the sequel. Uncharted 3, Resistance 3, MotorStorm: Apocalypse, LittleBigPlanet 2, Killzone 3, Socom 4: U.S. Navy SEALs and Infamous 2 rounded of an impressive year of exclusive games. Most of the big sequels did well except MotorStorm: Apocalypse (77% average critic score and 0.3M sold) and Socom 4 (67% average critic and 0.7M sold). Other notable games: God of War Origins Collection; Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection; Ratchet & Clank All 4 One.

Overall the PS3 had 33 exclusives that sold over the million mark and 12 exclusives scoring 90% or more. The top selling games and highest rated games are shown below.

Best selling PS3 exclusives in millions.

PS3 exclusives that scored an average critic score of 90% or more

Sources: VGCharts, Metacritic, Wikipedia and Games Ranking.