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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

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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).

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  • You mean unique to the DISC or unique to the GAME?
    – Ender
    Commented Jan 18, 2013 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.
    – user98085
    Commented Jan 18, 2013 at 15:45
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    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
    Commented Jan 18, 2013 at 15:48
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    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.
    – user2640
    Commented Jan 18, 2013 at 17:30

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