NEWS - Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Achievements Boost Game Sales, Ratings
The study, Accomplishments Unlocked 2007, was carried out by San Diego, Calif.-based research group Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR). It focused on the Xbox 360 Achievements system which rewards gamers with points for completing various goals in a given game. The results showed a strong correlation between a game’s diversity of Achievements and its profitability, and suggested that the more diverse the Achievements offered to the user the more enjoyable the game proves, hence the greater review scores and increased number of units sold. The study also showed that games that incorporate online elements into their Achievements gross 50 percent more money than those that don’t, and suggested that gamers research available Achievements before deciding whether to purchase a title or not. “Consumers want their games to include both variety and abundance of Accomplishments,” said EEDAR boss Geoffrey Zatkin. “Our research shows that incentives such as Achievements impact sales choices such as which game title to buy and which platform to buy it on; they also extend the replayability of a title.” All Xbox 360 titles incorporate Achievements. Sony is said to be planning to adopt a similar system when it launches its PlayStation 3 Home initiative next year, while Nintendo Wii title Metroid Prime 3 has its own in-game ‘Accomplishment’ system.Source: http://www.next-gen.biz/
