There's a myth that PS3 exclusive games don't sell well. When compared to juggernaut franchises like Gears of War (Gears 3 sold 3 million copies in its first week), it may be easy to believe that PS3 games suffer commercially. While this isn't actually true, it does seem to be the case for Resistance 3, which only sold 180,000 copies during its first month in America.
For comparison's sake, Resistance 2 sold 385,000 copies in its first month, and Resistance: Fall of Man sold an estimated 178,234 copies. No doubt Sony and Insomniac Games are scratching their heads wondering why this has happened, but there are a few possible explanations.
First off, while Resistance 2 was a solid title, it left a bad taste in the mouths of many who were huge fans of Fall of Man. In addition, Resistance 3 only launched a three weeks before Gears of War 3. In 2008, Resistance 2 and Gears of War 2 were separated by a good month, which gave Resistance 2 - the less anticipated title - more room to breathe. Despite Sony's attempts at marketing, it's hard to expect any game, no matter how good, to be able to compete with Gears of War.
As mentioned earlier, some will of course say that Resistance 3's sales can be attributed to the fact that PlayStation exclusives sell poorly when compared to Xbox 360 exclusives. This is of course not true, as many PS3 titles have seen great amounts of success, such as Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain and Gran Turismo 5. Even Xbox exclusives have sold "poorly" in the past; Alan Wake, one of the better games of 2010, sold abysmally.
Luckily for Sony and Insomniac, all is not lost for the franchise. While Resistance 3 may have sold poorly, it did appear at number 7 on the NPD charts, and has remained in the top 10 of the UK charts for some time now. While the title may have faltered in the States, sales from other territories will hopefully make up for it. Insomniac has also released the Survivor DLC pack and will soon release a patch that adds two new maps. With the promise that more DLC will come, and even a couple of hints at co-op DLC, Sony and Insomniac could make up for a weak opening with strong DLC sales.
We at Game Rant thought Resistance 3 was amazing, giving it a glowing review. Here's hoping Resistance 3 is able to fare better in the coming months and becomes a title with strong legs. Insomniac deserves it after all of the hard work they've put into the game.
Resistance 3 is available now for the PS3.
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