New game study results show M-rated games earn most money and review scores effect sales

11 September 2007

Posted by:Josh

Some surprising results have surfaced from a recent video game study. The study was conducted by the Electronic Entertainment Design and Research firm titled “Console Intelligence Brief 2007” and it focused on the performance of games by genre, rating and features.

The study showed that M for “Mature” rated games garnered the highest review scores from video game publications and also had the highest average gross sales in the United States! This is surprising because it was thought that an M-rating, much like an R-rating on a movie, would effect sales negatively due to the more restricted audience. But according to the study they showed the highest sales despite not being sold at “some major retailers”. And only 10% of all games released that the study looked at were actually rated M, which is still a surprisingly low number.

Games that scored above 90 on Metacritic (a site that averages review scores given to a particular product by combining scores from various publications) also received much higher sales in comparison to games that were rated poorly; By up to 531 percent more sales! This is despite such great games accounting for less than 2% of all titles released! The study shows that games that scored highly in video game publications sell up to 5 times better than games that received lower scores, proving that review scores do in fact effect sales. Very interesting! It also means that people do pay attention to the critical acclaim, or lack thereof, that a game receives.

Lastly, EEDAR found that action games were the most prevalent type of game released during their sample period, accounting for 24% of all titles released. The “shooter” genre however received the most sales.

The study also had some surprising results in the online department. It found that only 45% of all retails games made use of online connectivity. Wii games in particular were strikingly low when compared to the rest of the industry (as everyone knows), since only 98% of Wii games had online connectivity (a sad fact in my opinion, although it also proves that gamers will buy a game, if it’s good, whether it supports online or not).

Off-setting the low Wii online connectivity though, the Wii actually received more than twice the number of retail games as the PS3 and Xbox 360 in the seven months following each console’s respective launch.

In collecting its data, EEDAR examined 219 retail and 187 downloadable games released on the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 since each consoles release through June 1. The company used Metacritic in measuring a game’s average review score, and pulled its statistical data from a variety of sources, including “authoritative sources” and first-hand observation.

Categories: News

SM2099

WOW! Whats next E.E.R.D.? Oh I know… People breathe air to live and humans are carbon based life forms. (If you didn´t get it, I´m being sarcastic.)

I mean really, should this even be news? Wait, I´m greatful to Astrotriforce for bringing it to the atention of the site´s traffic… BUT! this is just sad. Every single research or more like 90% of them, done on games are nothing but stating the obvious.

Yes, Mature or “M” rated games will get more sales because many M games are exactly as its said MATURE. Many games will explore swept under the rug concepts in society (GTA), others will indulge in concepts and tales as old as human civilization itself that deal with human character flaws (God of War), etc. Basically if you can identify on some level and really understand the concept you will like it.

Take MGS, can you in any way identify with the game? Okay better yet, let me ask: are their ongoing wars on the planet right now? Are cyborgs or mechs being design considered? Will they be used for warfare? Would you like to leave something positive for the future? Could you get fed up of tasting war for so long? Etc. I could go on for hours on those questions… but I won´t. Just ask yourself or try to put yourself in a characters shoe´s or the situation around them… if they fit on your persona then you will have found an aspect to identify with, ergo you will most likely appreciate and like the game.

Do some if not many have blood and/or gore in it? YEAH! Is their not blood or gore in this world… YEAH! So! What is the suprise? If you shoot a person, won´t he most likely bleed red and many internal organs and tissue rupture. Thats why its mature becuase you have strong enough MATURITY to understand that is a consequence to a specific action. Its universal law. I didn´t invent this.

Now am I´m saying all games should be mature or filled with gore… HELL NO! Again finding MGS as a solution to everything, if you see to much of gore… will you not get tired of it soon enough? Like eating to much chocolate, their comes a point where you say enough. Of course you want to explore more creative and light forms of expression. I personally like to play soccer, basketball and almost any sport I can get my hands on… so if I get a chance to play soccer games, I will. I don´t how to drive (cause its kinda boring) but I do like speed, so I play some NFS. When I want to sit done and give some really one on one time to a game I´ll go to an RPG or adenture game, but if I just wanna have a good time or play against someone I pick a lighter game for the job. Well fighting games and squad based games are that middle line in this topic. Still I won´t play MGS next to someone to hangout or have a good time… cause thats not how it works with those games.

I know I ramble too much but these “researches” just try to condesendly play with peoples ideas and minds. Like the guy who made the research most likely took one of the most debated topics in the world as “violence in game” and used it as research so suponsors won´t take away the cash flow from their institution. Most likely.

Last… not to go any further. About the reviews… I´ll ask two questions and you awnsers to and for yourselves. If you ask someone for advice, will you not most likely follow it? If former advice was very useful, will you not most likely ask for more and keep following their advice?

P.S. I just noticed I could have just commented: DUH! and some would have agreed and understood me.
http://www.videogamesblogger.com astrotriforce

I appreciate the really long comments on some of these!

Well, I totally see your point, and yes most video gamers would see the results of this study as pretty obvious, but the point I think is that no matter what you think, it had never been proven, and for me it’s very interesting to see these studies that come to these type of results.

So I’ll definitely be posting more studies when I come across.

And your point about gore is spot-on.