Sony: 15 PS3 exclusives in 7 months, 15 internal studios working on PS games (more than Microsoft and Nintendo combined) @ Gaming Target

Written by Matt Swider on November 29, 2007

News: Sony's lucky number may be 15.

There will be 15 exclusive PlayStation 3 games between September 2007 and April 2008, according to SCEA's Peter Dille.

Sony's senior VP of marketing also said that Sony has У15 internal studios working on PlayStation titles, more than Microsoft and Nintendo combined.Ф Today's Reuters story examines the decline in PlayStation brand exclusives and rise in multiplatform games.

Dille's simple answer for the decline is that third-party publishers need to recoup their investment. The real question that he doesn't answer is, which exclusives span the seven months he's talking about?

September through December exclusives include:
ааааа 1. Heavenly Sword 9/12
ааааа 2. Folklore 10/9
ааааа 3. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction 10/23
ааааа 4. Eye of Judgment 10/24
ааааа 5. NBA 08 11/2
ааааа 6. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune 11/20
ааааа 7. Time Crisis 4 11/20
ааааа 8. Unreal Tournament III 12/10

Exclusives still to come during early 2008Е
ааааа 9. Haze
ааааа10. LittleBigPlanet
ааааа11. Killzone 2
ааааа12. SOCOM: Confrontation
ааааа13. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots
ааааа14. SingStar
ааааа15. MLB 08

Dille's definition of УexclusivesФ is unknown (do NBA 08 and MLB 08 count as count as PS3 exclusives in his mind even though they'll also release for PSP?), but that looks like the 15 promised exclusives. Hopefully he's not counting Warhawk and Lair, which released on August 28 and August 30 respectively, and hopefully games 9 through 15 all make it out before the end of April 2008.

Next year's exclusives lineup for the first four months is made up of quality games, which is just as important for PS3 at this point as the quantity:

Developer Free Radical has a good track record with its TimeSplitters series and Haze seems like a worthy next-gen FPS successor.

My time with LittleBigPlanet at E3 2007 was little, but my enjoyment with it was, say, big. In fact, it was one of the most enjoyable games I checked out in Santa Monica.

Sony knows that Killzone 2 has to be a triple-A FPS of Halo-sized proportions, and we'll know soon enough with the promised public beta (source on the impending public beta: CVG).

The best part about previous SOCOM games has always been the online multiplayer, and that's what Confrontation focuses on. Yes, I know what you're thinking; Slant Six Games is handling SOCOM: Confrontation instead of Zipper Interactive. But, did you know that Slant Six also made the recent PSP release SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike?

It's not a question of whether or not Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots will be good. That's pretty much a given. But, will Hideo Kojima's final MGS masterpiece come out in time to be counted as one of the 15? It's currently down as a Q2 2008 release. If it's not an April release, then could Peter Dille be talking about another PS3 game to fill the 15th spot?

SingStar and MLB 08, the last two games listed, are console exclusives and one's we've seen before. SingStar Pop, Rocks, 80s and Amped have already entered the U.S. market via the PS2 and last year's MLB 07: The Show already demonstrated PS3's next-gen baseball capabilities.

Hopefully there's still more to come from these two exclusives and hopefully there's more to come from Sony in 2008. The У15 internal studios working on PlayStation titlesФ may be the most interesting part of the company's effort to catch up to Xbox 360 and the ever-popular Wii, something I'm eager to hear more about very soon.

Gaming Target has a complete list of console exclusives for all systems.