Should Sony develop fewer exclusives?

Coming off of one of their most productive years in recent memory, Sony fans did not suffer from a lack of original content on the PlayStation 3 in 2011.  Month in and month out, Sony launched one first party exclusive after another culminating with Uncharted 3 at the tail end of the year.  But are they releasing too many exclusives for the PlayStation 3?

Sony’s Shu Yoshida thinks so, and elaborated in a recent interview with Game Informer. “It’s easy to say, ‘Yeah, let’s make three games a year.’ But game development is dynamic.  You cannot plan to do that.  You already have to have a certain number of games in the pipeline hoping they hit in a certain year.  We love working on new IPs.  It’s really hard to predict when these games get finished, Yoshida told the magazine.  “It’s a challenge,” he continued.  “But I think we could and probably should be focused on a smaller number of titles so each one gets the best support.”

Sony’s exclusive games have long been synonymous with quality, the Uncharted franchise is a bar setting title this generation.  Though with so many releases, the company seems to have been spreading themselves a little thin in the marketing department.

“When you have ten games coming out in a year compared to two or three, how much focus you get from our business and marketing side is very hard.  From a portfolio side, we were very excited about the games we had last year, but we probably diluted support for each title.”

Sony doesn’t appear to be getting off to quite the raging start on the PlayStation 3 front this year.  Although, PlayStation 3 exclusive Twisted Metal, is set to release tomorrow to mark the first big exclusive of the year.  But Sony’s not getting off the hook that easy.  The PS Vita has a wide assortment of first party titles coming to market, some which are available now in preparation for the U.S. launch of the handheld.