You maybe be wondering what all this hoopla is about. Playstation 4 launch titles, what the heck is this guy talking about? Well what I’m talking about is numbers and when I get bored I crunch them. I stacked up every Sony home console to see how each fared at launch and from these stats I can formulate a hypothesis about how the Playstation 4 or “Orbis” will perform with its respective launch titles.
I will have to take into account a few things. First I have to guess what kind of leap the PS4 will take in regards to the number of launch titles and I can tell you that it won’t be like the PS1 to PS2, but more so like a PS1 to PS3 jump or perhaps less. With development costs at an all-time high you won’t see the PS4 dropping with 29 launch titles like the PS2 did back in 2000. Secondly based on that speculated number of launch titles I will have to use the power of junk science to create a formula to generate an average score for a PS4 launch title.
The leap in number of launch titles from the PS1 to PS2 was huge (163% more huge). I am thinking for the PS4 we will see a decrease in launch titles from the PS3. I am basing that solely off of the decrease from PS2 to PS3 which came in at a 55% decrease. If we stick with that percentage we can expect approximately 6 launch titles for the PS4.
The launch scores for the PS1 were pretty abysmal, but recovered fairly well on the PS2 then tapered off a little for the PS3 launch. The PS4 is due for an upswing, so I think the PS4 will continue the trend and have a spike in launch title review scores. Not quite the 39% increase we saw from PS1 to PS2, but I’d say probably in the ballpark of a 25-30% increase. So using the base average for the PS3 we can expect PS4 launch titles to score anywhere form an 88 to 92 which will be paramount in moving units during its initial release.
Those score predictions are pretty high and I know a stinker might slip in there and ruin the average, but let’s hope the PS4 or “next gen” systems mark the end of shovelware. The quality over quantity mantra will be more evident come PS4 especially with my expert predictions in place.
I am just spitballing, but more often than not numbers don’t lie. The PS4/Orbis is still a ways away, but let’s not forget history of the Playstation brand, just as number don’t lie, history has a good trend of repeating itself and for the PS4’s sake let’s hope so. The only thing I know for sure is that there will be a Ridge Racer game at launch.
Do you think the PS4 will have a strong launch? Do you think these statistics have any legs to stand on? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section and stay tuned for more ridiculousness.
The figures calculated are based on North American launch titles (sorry rest of the world). The sources I used for the ratings came from Metacritic, Gamestats, and IGN. Numbers derived from junk science are my own.
Playstation 1
- Air Combat – 7.0
- Battle Arena Toshinden – 69
- ESPN Extreme Games – 5.0
- Kileak – The DNA Imperative – 3.0
- NBA Jam Tournament Edition – 6.5
- Power Serve 3D Tennis – 2.0
- Rayman – 7.0
- Ridge Racer – 7.5
- Street Fighter: The Movie – 2.9
- The Raiden Project – 6.0
- Total Eclipse Turbo – 4.0
- Number of launch titles – 11
- Average rating – 52.5/100
Playstation 2
- Armored Core 2 – 78
- DOA2: Hardcore – 87
- Dynasty Warriors 2 – 75
- ESPN International Track and Field – 72
- ESPN X-Games Snowboarding – 73
- Eternal Ring – 62
- Evergrace – 59
- FantaVision – 72
- Gun Griffon Blaze – 73
- Kessen – 75
- Madden NFL 2001 – 91
- Midnight Club – 78
- Moto GP – 73
- NHL 2001 – 85
- Orphen – 54
- Q-Ball Billiards Master – 65
- Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 – 62
- Ridge Racer V – 78
- Silent Scope – 63
- Smuggler’s Run – 79
- SSX – 93
- Street Fighter EX3 – 64
- Summoner – 74
- Swing Away – 78
- Tekken Tag Tournament – 85
- TimeSplitters – 81
- Unreal Tournament – 77
- Wild Wild Racing – 64
- X-Squad – 64
- Number of launch titles – 29
- Percentage increase of titles released at launch – 163%
- Average rating – 73/100
- Percentage increase in review score – 39%
Playstation 3
- Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII – 63
- Call of Duty 3 – 80
- Genji: Days of the Blade – 55
- Madden NFL 07 – 76
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance – 78
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire – 33
- NBA 2K7 – 80
- NHL 2K7 – 79
- Resistance: Fall of Man – 86
- Ridge Racer 7 – 78
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 – 81
- Tony Hawk’s Project 8 – 76
- Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom – 58
- Number of launch titles – 13
- Percentage decrease in titles released at launch – 55%
- Average rating – 71/100
- Percentage decrease in review score – 2.7%
Playstation 4
- Number of launch titles – 6
- Average rating – between 88-92/100
- Ridge Racer guaranteed
