Xbox 360 only 17% shooter games (22% of 'good games')

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 12th 2007 at 12:20PM }

The Xbox 360 has a reputation for being a shooting man's console. If it runs and guns, it must be Xbox 360. Turns out that's not so true, but it took until now for site to lay it all out. FPS Source gave us the numbers and X3F came along with an easy to understand pie chart. Originally taking what FPS Source believed is the console's current 137 title library, they discovered the FPS genre makes up 11% and the Third Person Shooter genre is 6%, with the most common genres being sports and action/adventure titles.

Over the last couple days since FPS Source wrote the original piece, some people have become quite passionate on the subject. There's been a few updates, a little give and take, and someone even made a new chart, using scores from Metatcritic, showing that 22% of the good games are shooters. There is also criticism because sports games, like Madden, are just the same thing with a different number every year, so they shouldn't count multiple times. The point is that even with the back and forth, shooters are merely a facet of the Xbox 360's identity. With any luck, games like Blue Dragon, Mass Effect and the beautiful Eternal Sonata (try the demo) will help round out those hard shooter edges that the Xbox still gets pegged with.

[Via X3F]

Tags: fps, fpssource, genre, shooters, xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

plyx @ Aug 12th 2007 12:26PM

That only adds up to 100 games.

corey @ Aug 12th 2007 12:29PM

XD ^^^^^

rdj75 @ Aug 12th 2007 1:43PM

@plyx

Its not a 100 games its 100 percentage points. The symbol between each set of number is just showing that they rounded to the nearest percentage poing. So in the first part when it says 11 its probably 11.342344 and then they just rounded to 11%. The study was done on the current library of xbox 360 games which may be around 160 or something like that.

ssuk @ Aug 12th 2007 1:47PM

... gb2/school/

Kaemon @ Aug 12th 2007 7:19PM

Sheesh, I may be late in saying this, but wow, did you even take a math class ever?

NintendoFanbot @ Aug 12th 2007 12:28PM

Yeah having the highest selling shooters really help the reputation. Not that it's a bad thing, though. But one thing I will say that most of the games I hear of on Xbox Live Arcade are games where you shoot.

And Street Fighter.

polly @ Aug 13th 2007 10:02AM

Oh, but in Street Fighter, Ryu "shoots" fireballs, so this game also must be classified as a "shooter", right?

Seriously...Doom and Marathon: Durandal are the only FPS games on Arcade right now.

mr nimblewick @ Aug 12th 2007 12:30PM

Interesting. Did they compile a list of which games went into which categories?

Kouse @ Aug 12th 2007 12:35PM

Let me teach you a little something about Marketing:

Perception is reality.

That's why Microsoft cannot be market leader - ironically the position as a hardcore gamers console that they needed to adopt to enter the market in the first place is now holding them back from broadening their market. When people think 'Xbox', they think hardcore action games. They think teenagers. They think messy bedrooms and rock bands.

Above anything else, I think the most critical thing Microsoft needs to do going into the next gen is dump the Xbox branding. I know it sounds crazy given the billions they've invested into it, but it's a terrible name for the way they want to position their product, and I honestly do think it alone is doing them a lot of harm.

Alex K. @ Aug 12th 2007 12:46PM

But...in the US, the Xbox is the market leader (at least for a week or two before the Wii passes it).

I think Microsoft's only problem is Japan. They are selling a good amount of consoles everywhere else. Besides Japan, it doesn't look like Sony will ever catch up.

So that leaves Nintendo, which proves your point. Xbox as a brand will never be as ubiquitous as Nintendo's Wii brand among normal people. If Microsoft wants the casual market, they can't do it with Xbox.

I would venture a guess that Xbox doesn't want the casual market. Again, excluding Japan, they've already pretty much eliminated Sony as competition. While the hardcore market is small, they basically have it all to themselves. And the hardcore market spends and spends.

Alex K. @ Aug 12th 2007 12:47PM

actually, i was wrong. worldwide, wii will pass xbox in about 2 weeks. in the US, Xbox is still 2 million ahead of the Wii

Kouse @ Aug 12th 2007 12:50PM

Let's not forget why the Xbox exists to begin with - it's a stepping stone into the living room. Once that goal is accomplished, much like Sony, 'games' will just be #43 on the list of features on the back of the box.

Let's face it, that's the grand strategy for them 5 to 10 years from now.

So it's flat out wrong to say that Microsoft isn't interested in the broader market - it's THE only market they ever set out to go after to begin with.

Besides, what interest does Microsoft have in the teenage male demographic? It's relatively irrelevant in the grand scheme of things...

J-Guy @ Aug 12th 2007 12:54PM

Yeah, let's face it. The people most connected with Xbox are teenage males and college frat boys. Really, it isn't the best demographic.

äsdf @ Aug 12th 2007 1:33PM

You don't know what your talking about sir.

Brad Lee @ Aug 12th 2007 2:37PM

I agree that XBox360 is just a terrible, terrible name.

I thought XBox was really bad too. I mean, Playstation, that sounds like a video game console, and it has a certain catchy ring to it. And Gamecube makes me think games + quirkiness, which is exactly what that system was all about. But XBox? Judging by the name alone I don't think of anything but... 'what?'

Then XBox360 just sounds stupid. You're just taking three things that I wouldn't ever associate with one another. An X, a Box, and 360 degrees.

That's why I just call it the 360. I mean, there isn't even an 'X' on the 'box' anymore right?

Then again, I thought iPod was a nightmare of a name, and we all know what happened there...

Kouse @ Aug 12th 2007 2:44PM

I think for teenagers, it's a fantastic branding.

But for the mass market? ...I mean the first image it strikes in my head is some college kid with a bad teenage mustache bashing a beer can against his head screaming XTREME DUDE! or some kid on a skateboard yelling "that was a sick 360 bro"

Like I said - a necessary evil to break into the market, but now that they have...it's suddenly created a ceiling for them.

It's like Nintendo with the Gamecube - they had to ditch the name simply because of the public perception attached to it.

horngreen @ Aug 12th 2007 5:08PM

54 stupid comments.

Gman @ Aug 12th 2007 12:42PM

Yeah, but what percentage of games sold are FPS? I'm guessing it's much higher than 11%. In fact doing a quick tally from the top 20 360 games, FPS makes up 67% of the sales...

Kouse @ Aug 12th 2007 12:46PM

Ah that's a really good point.

vidGuy @ Aug 12th 2007 12:48PM

Add Madden to the mix and I think you'd hit about 90% of sales.

Dave @ Aug 12th 2007 5:16PM

Right. So the complaint isn't that the only games for the 360 are FPS'--but that people who own 360s buy mostly FPS'? Is that the problem now?

Alex K. @ Aug 12th 2007 12:41PM

Even if 17% of games are shooters, that doesn't say anything about the quality of the non-shooting games.

Redo this pie chart including only games with high ratings and then we'll talk.

Schoon @ Aug 12th 2007 1:15PM

Indeed. Even more so, I want to see the pie chart redone with game SALES as the metric. You can't tell me that sport and action/adventure games provide 52% of the 360's game-based revenue...

Jnas @ Aug 12th 2007 12:52PM

Hah, the whole point of the whole "360 is a shooter mans console" arguement is that the majority of Xbox EXCLUSIVES were shooters...but the chart includes multiplatform games which hides that fact.

I ain't buying this pie. I wanna refund.

SDG @ Aug 12th 2007 6:36PM

Never had any plan to just focus on exclusives, but now that you mention it, pretty good darn idea.

Capt. Castellanos @ Aug 12th 2007 12:57PM

lets see what the wii pie chart looks like:
90% minigames/ 10% other

sigh,
give it time, give it time...

with hope,
that pie chart will look tasty soon.

phattie @ Aug 12th 2007 1:01PM

If you count the mini-games within actual games.. it would be more like 95%.

Kael @ Aug 12th 2007 1:04PM

*WHOA, why does this pie chart think first-person shooters and third-person shooters are different GENRES? That's as stupid as saying a top-down RPG is a whole other genre from an isometric RPG. It's just the freakin' camera placement! Press a button in Oblivion, PGR, Ghost Recon, or a hundred others, and the games transform into entirely new and different games!

(*anger and excitement added for entertainment purposes only. Hyperbole used with consent. Do not consume if you are prone to flames. Side effects may include boredom and apathy. Ask your doctor if flippancy is right for you.)

Kouse @ Aug 12th 2007 1:08PM

I really disagree with you there, there IS a lot of overlap (e.g. they're all shooters, action games etc), but generally I don't think there's anything wrong separating First Person Shooters from Third Person Shooters.

Kael @ Aug 12th 2007 1:13PM

Well, how do you justify that, Kouse?

SoulBlade @ Aug 12th 2007 1:26PM

third person shooters are totally different - your gameplay is definitely effected by the camera angle - take GoW with its cover system - there's no way you could do that so effectively in first person mode

if anybody played hybrid, that's another example - you're ducking behind a crate, hodling your gun over the crate facing behind you and firing away - no chance that's going to happen nicely in first person.

josh @ Aug 13th 2007 1:11AM

Would RE4 count as a third-person shooter? If so, i think that genre deserves to be seperate from FPSes, because it plays very differently from Unreal or Quake or whatnot. Or would that be more action/adventure?

blooh @ Aug 12th 2007 1:07PM

when are some platformers gonna come out for the 360

there aren't any on that pie chart

Qitsyoj @ Aug 12th 2007 1:12PM

Where's the pie chart showing how many of the games are good and aren't Shooters, Fighting, Sports or Racing?

blooh @ Aug 12th 2007 1:15PM

follow the links in the article

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/08/10/22-of-360s-good-titles-are-shooters/

ZippyDSMlee @ Aug 12th 2007 1:17PM

In order for MS to fight equally in a full scale console war they will need to drop 5-20 billion in order to build its base in asia and japan,they should build a publishing house that halves or removes publishing costs for asiain devs have the games ready for international launch(basic translation) and then further localized for the US if anyone could do this MS could and by setting up shop to offer devs a platform to thrive on they will reap the benefits of having tons of asain 3rd party games and finally taking them out of the hardcore US/UK niche.

phattie @ Aug 12th 2007 1:22PM

For that money, they might as well buy Square-Enix, Konami, Namco, Sega, and Capcom.

Trenchalicious @ Aug 12th 2007 1:22PM

People only think of the system being a FPS machine because they sell millions of copies in comparison to everything else they offer. The FPS games get all the hype. Do a chart by sales and FPS would probably be at 75%.

embassy @ Aug 12th 2007 1:35PM

i think alot of you are underestimating the selling power of the sports genre

madden/live/2k = alot of sales, and they generally get decent scores ( except live which just sucks)

also the racing genre (forza/NFS/PGR) is a big seller

as well as the rythym game genere ( GH2/DDR)

and most of you are overlooking the licensed games genre(happy feet, cars, spiderman, POTC,transformers) which sell craploads of copies for some odd reason regardless of review scores.

i think Cars was a top seller on the 360 last year behind madden and GOW.

so this list makes sense, seeing as how joystiq is pretty much a "hardcore" video game haven ( im sure casual gamers dont even know wat a blog is) i wudnt expect anyone to acknowledge those lucrative genres.

ZippyDSMlee @ Aug 12th 2007 1:38PM

phattie
they spent 20 billion gettign the Xbox up and running and currently have a 5 billion debt on the 360,compared to sonys current 3 billion debt on the PS3.

Square would go for much more than that if it was up for sale and frankly it would not help MS that much if they did buy it.

Dave @ Aug 12th 2007 5:20PM

The only reason Sony has a 3 billion dollar debt on the console, and not more, is because they haven't sold that many. The loss per console is greater on the PS3.

rfom @ Aug 12th 2007 1:42PM

What a joke of an article. The question is not how many Kameos or 99 nights are there on the console - look at the most popular titles.
Ask any 360 owner what games he is playing: the answer will be mostly 3rd person shoters Gears, R6, GRAW or Lost planet.
And what are the most hyped games this fall? Halo 3 and shooter, albeit with strong RPG element Mass effect.
And the reason is that the xbox market is totally geared to this kind of games. When MS used its bulging cash pile to buy Mistwalker or made great non-shooter games like Viva Pinata - nobody buys them.
In comparison, the top exclusives list on the PS2/PS3 in 2007 is likely to be - Ratchet (platformer), Lair, Warhawk (both flight, though some shooter elements in the latter), Drake uncharted (adventure), Ninja Gaiden, Heavenly and GoW2 (hack and slash), Singstar, Hot Shots Golf, maybe White knight story and Folksoul (RPGs), Motorstorm (racing) and just one shooter - Resistance

Vidikron @ Aug 12th 2007 3:06PM

Warhawk is NOT a flight game. It's a 3rd person shooter. It's more like a Battlefield game than anything else. It's a shooter with vehicles... though the Warhawk is the featured vehicle. I was in the beta and spent almost no time at all in the Warhawks. I preferred tanks or fighting on foot.

ExMcloud @ Aug 12th 2007 9:37PM

First of all Drakes Fortune is a third person Shooter like hell, Ninja Gaiden is an XBOX GAME! So dont try to use that crap, Folksoul will maybe sell 1 million units in AMERICA that is, Ratchet is based around using big gigantic guns to shoot stuff hmmm sounds like a shooter, GOW is a platformer just to let you know, who the hell plays singstar? Nobody in the good US of A plays hotshot golf..LMAO, Warhawk is 100% shooter, Resistance already came out in 2006! So how is it an exclusive for 07, Motorstorm was trash and finally the most hyped games for the PS3 next year are Killzone 2 and MGS four and guess what you do? Shoot people.

Yep thats his whole argument.... So anyway the PS3 is a great system but don't think it doesn't have a bunch of shooters too because 5 out the 13 games he named are shooters! Which equals hmm let me tally this....carry the one.... oh 38%

bl13 @ Aug 12th 2007 10:35PM

Ratchet and MGS are not shooters. I'd explain in further detail but really why bother.

Vidikron @ Aug 12th 2007 11:42PM

@ExMcloud

Wait now... Uncharted a 3rd person shooter? See... this is the problem with trying to fit games into specific genres. Uncharted is likely going to be as much of a third person shooter as Tomb Raider is. Same with R&C. Are Uncharted and R&C anything alike? Nope. Are either one anything like Warhawk? Nope. Are any of the games I just mentioned at all like Gears of War? Nope again. Which is exactly why arguing over how many shooter, 3rd or 1st person, a game has is so stupid. People on Joystiq try to act like they are all the same but that is so far from the truth.

IlyaG @ Aug 12th 2007 1:40PM

And now, some of the most popular current and up-coming games for the Sony PlayStation 3:

Resistance: Fall of Men (FPS)
Haze (FPS)
Call of Duty 4 (FPS)
The Darkness (FPS)
F.E.A.R. (FPS)
Rainbow Six: Vegas (FPS)

---

What most of you hypocritical retards fail to realize is that a good game is a GOOD GAME. So what if a console has FPS games? If they consistently get some of the highest praise from both critics and gamers, why should we feel guilty about buying them?