Console Game Diversity by Generation

[brunoafh]

Did you include games from multiple regions for some generations/consoles, but not for others?

VGChartz seems to include JP games, in general. I can't say it includes every JP-only release for every single console, but it does take that stuff into account. It lists a pretty full library of "TG16" and Saturn JP-only games (two very JP-centric consoles), as well as PC-FX games. So yeah, I'd say it's a fair representation of that side of things.

[isiolia]

Those graphs dont really tell anything about diversity though. There are tiny subgenres (cinematic platformers for example) and games that are just unique and hard to classify. You'll get a much better view on things when you ignore all the shovelware games and focus on succesful and defining games (both games that sell well and respected, well made games, even if they sold poorly). In that regard Deadly Premonition is just as vital part of the 360 game library as Halo Reach and Gears of War are and so on.

Some of that would get subjective.

A quick scan through the list of best selling games on Wikipedia would tend to indicate that a fairly strong variety of games hit the million+ mark in any generation, but the truly high sales numbers are from dominant genres of the time and/or bundled titles.

Given the nature of the business, I'd expect a lot of the sales numbers and number of titles produced in a given genre to line up fairly well. Publishers like to fund what sells, after all.

[Violent By Design]

awesome stats.

btw, did the Sega CD/32X and PC Engine CD etc all count?

[brunoafh]

btw, did the Sega CD/32X and PC Engine CD etc all count?

32X and PC Engine CD were counted, but not SCD. I didn't notice SCD was it's own category.

[Pulsar_t]

[AppleQueso]

Those charts are confusing, wow.

[Menegrothx]

What's that lower chart? What % of games different platforms recieve by each year? I never knew Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum had more games than the NES. I assume that Turbografx-16 and MSX don't include games that were released only in Japan? There were web browser games in the mid 1990s? How can they even track the amount of web browser games, and why should they include web browser games in the same chart with legit console and PC games? How in the hell is iPhone so huge? PS2 has a ridicolous amount of games and it's not that much bigger than iPhone.
It would be cool if they had included more obscure and less popular consoles and handhelds on that chart too.

[Michi]

Wow. Never before have I seen video game charts mimic such colorful mountain ranges.

[Erik_Twice]

I don't know how to interpret those charts. At all.