Yes Sony does have a few 1st party hits but not enough to carry the system to reach PS2 success and beyond. Every major exclusive they lose hurts them no matter what. Yes they are getting new IPs manly from their 1st partys but not every new IP has a chance at becoming a success. There is the need for proven hits. They most likely will only be one more God of War what are they going to do after that franchise has run its course. You see this with the Halo franchise. Microsoft is already planning beyond the release of Halo 3 with two games set in the Halo universe.

books83

Much of what you say is true, but there is also the reality that new franchises come along in every console generation. There surely must be some equivalent to God of War for Sony during the Playstation 3 life cycle. In any case, both Sony and Microsoft will have to rely mostly on their own development teams for exclusive titles since it is more than likely that the age of third-party exclusives has passed. Strangely, Nintendo might benefit most of all from this state of matters, since the very nature of their system dictate exclusives because of its inability to handle Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 games. So it is probable that the Wii will have the most unique gaming line-up of all three systems.

I think there is something to be said for exclusive content. While I can appreciate how this benefits Xbox 360 users in that they get access to a previously only-Sony franchise, I would prefer the route taken by game developers like Square Enix, who releases unique games for each system. Not only does this diversify the market place, it also insures that games will be specifically tailored to the systems they are developed for, so that they take advantage of the hardware. That said, given the escalating costs of producing a videogame like Devil May Cry 4, this might no longer be feasible, with a few notable exceptions perhaps (i.e. God of War 3, Halo 3, etc.).

One last note: I find it hard to believe that Devil May Cry 4 will have a large-scale effect on console sales or in determining whether someone purchases an Xbox 360 or a Sony Playstation 3. It seems to me that only a few, select franchises would have that type of impact, maybe the Grand Theft Auto series, or Halo, or maybe even Final Fantasy, but then only in Japan.