Tell me more ×
Arqade is a question and answer site for passionate videogamers on all platforms. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 7 down vote favorite

I'm organizing a large number of console video games and I was wondering what these codes on game covers stand for and what is the purpose to have them?

Codes on Package

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 7 down vote accepted

In essence, those are unique IDs for each game - at least the PS3 ones. I can't currently find any sources about the X360 ones.

PlayStation 3

Various communities, single users and random sites try to collect these (I couldn't find an actual comprehensive list, though).

One in particular also largely explains the naming scheme:

  • ES stands for the European sales region
  • US for the NA region
  • JM, JS, AS and probably a bunch of others stand for various Asian regions

As per @TML's comment:

  • The BC prefix is used for first-party content by Sony and subsidaries.
  • The BL prefix, on the other hand, for third-party content.

So, a BCES is a first-party game released to the European market.

It's a unique ID for each released retail version of a game.

And, as pointed out in the comments, it is mostly referred to as a "title ID". "catalogue number" or similar. On consoles, these are usually used to identify game data on the hard disk (savegames and the such).

share|improve this answer
You mean unique to the DISC or unique to the GAME? – Ender Jan 18 at 15:40
Unique to the game. Well, not even that. As far as my research showed, apparently re-releases (f.e. updated versions) sometimes get a different ID. And, obviously, different regions get different IDs. But it is not a disc-unique ID. – FEichinger Jan 18 at 15:45
3  
A bit more info about the PS3 catalog numbers: BCES: Sony first-party product released to European markets BLES: Third-party product, European markets BCUS: Sony first-party product released to American markets ...and so on. I don't know anything about the XBOX 360 cataloging system, though. – TML Jan 18 at 15:48
@TML - Updated, thanks for that! – FEichinger Jan 18 at 16:00
2  
The term usually used in the industry for this number is the title ID and sometimes retailers call it a catalog number/ID; you can find them on all platforms, not just the Xbox 360 and PS3 and not just on retail boxes. Digital-only games also have them because they are usually what identifies save files, achievement lists, etc. – Joe Wreschnig Jan 18 at 17:30

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.