With Bloodborne launching today in the US and on Friday in the rest of the world, the reviews have already been rolling in and it’s fair to say that they are extremely encouraging for the PS4-exclusive title and spiritual successor to the Dark Souls games. After the disappointment of The Order 1886, SONY must be rubbing its hands together at the hype that is building up around From Software’s latest product. So the big question is this – is Bloodborne the first system seller of this generation?
For the uninitiated, a system seller in regard to video game consoles is a game (exclusive to one console) that is of such a high standard and is so fresh and unique that gamers will go out in the masses to purchase the console that it is on, if only for that one experience. The benefit that this has on SONY is priceless, for not only will they see huge increases in their sales revenue, but also demand will increase for more products from the franchise, not to mention the fact that arch-rival Microsoft is yet to boast such an impressive new IP and/or exclusive title.
Don’t get me wrong, the Xbox One does have some great exclusives and fresh ideas such as Sunset Overdrive and potentially the upcoming Quantum Break, but it seems that the PS4 now has a stellar one. Given the pedigree of the Dark Souls games and developers From Software, it’s no surprise to see how well Bloodborne is doing and it has recently been reported that Bloodborne is the highest rated current-gen exclusive title on Metacritic, sitting at an average of 93 out of 100 at the time of writing; a remarkable achievement.
So will Xbox One loyalists be converted to switching their console? It remains to be seen, and arguably one top-draw game is not enough and some will likely wait for a catalogue of high quality games before they make up their mind. Nevertheless, gamers such as myself who are without an Xbox One or PS4 at the time of writing are likely to veer more toward the PS4 at present, largely due to this one exclusive title that you can’t find anywhere else. In that sense, it is fair to say that Bloodborne is indeed the first system seller of this generation, and boy am I glad that it has finally arrived because if there was one thing that the hardware of the current consoles needed, it was the software to set them apart.
Personally, this feels like the first major win in this console generation, thus putting the PS4 1-0 up on the Xbox One, because at the end of the day you can have all the cool and innovative indie games that you like, but it’s the huge and well put together triple-A titles that – even to this day – really get gamers interested. Your move, Microsoft.