NEWS - Tuesday, August 27, 2002
Xbox Does The Largest Survey
San Francisco, CA – 8/27/02 – The results of the largest survey of gamers this year revealed that Microsoft’s Xbox would be the game console of choice this holiday season. Over 12,000 gamers were queried, "What console gaming system do you plan to buy in the coming year?” and 39% answered they plan to buy a Microsoft Xbox, 27% will buy a SONY Playstation 2, and 17% plan to purchase Nintendo’s GameCube. The study also showed that game demos have the most influence over game purchase decisions. When asked “Which of these items highly influence your game purchase decisions?” nearly 8 out of 10 respondents (78%) ranked game demos the number 1 factor, far ahead of the number 2 response: game reviews (47%). Both television commercials (35%) and magazine ads (31%) trailed furthest behind as drivers of retail purchase behavior. The survey was commissioned by Gigex, Inc., the leading online distributor of video game trailers and demos, was conducted online between July 15th and August 15th, 2002 and is the result of 12,288 responses. “The growing popularity of Gigex’s service puts us in the unique position of having our finger on the pulse of our 26 million monthly visitors,” said Mark Friedler, CEO of Gigex, Inc. “The power of the demo and trailer experience shows in the strong influence on gamers’ purchase decisions. Our own data shows that 66% of users who view an online demo or trailer visit a retail website. With strong competition from many quality titles, effective use of game previews is a cost effective method to attract customers to a new title, differentiate it and highlight the product’s quality. The survey results clearly show the power of a positive demo/preview experience and its power to drive traffic and purchase activity across the channel.” The survey shows that gamers will be ringing the cash registers at retail stores across the country this year, with 59% of gamers purchasing game products from Electronic Stores, 43% from Computer Superstores, 35% from Department Stores, and 19% Online. The study also revealed that the majority of Gigex visitors are avid gamers who have been playing video games for 6 years or more (73%), play 20 hours or more a week (24%), and consider themselves to be advanced (44%) gamers. Complete results of this research are available by contacting Gigex, Inc at survey@Gigex.com.Source: http://www.xbox.com/
