Study suggests reviews are important to game sales

[dz06lt]

Discuss, Personally I use reviews as a guide not the end all decision maker

New Study Suggests Video Game Reviews Actually Important To Success - G4tv.com

New Study Suggests Video Game Reviews Actually Important To Success


4 Comments Posted 33 minutes ago - By Patrick Klepek


Video game reviews are a required pillar of any video gaming website, but it's hard to say what impact the reviews actually have on...well, anything. Does a chorus of praise help sales? Can a series of critical lashings doom an upcoming game? Gaming research firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) recently conducted a study to try and understand the impact of professional game reviews. Don't worry, game reviewers: you still have a job. Here's why.

The study was conducted during the week of March 29 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. 188 individuals participated, though due to various reasons, only 165 of participant data was used to draw conclusions. Participants were required to have no prior experience with the test game.

EEDAR picked one game, PopCap Games' Plants vs. Zombies, as their test product. Plants vs. Zombies was chosen because the group believed it was "regarded by the gaming community and by critics as a high quality title of broad appeal, which should result in minimal variance based on participants personal gaming preferences," according to the report, released to me a few days ahead of publication.
The study, dubbed "The Influence of Professional Critic Reviews," relies on a psychological behavior called "anchoring." Anchoring involves subconsciously influencing an individual's response to something based on previous influence or "anchor." In this case, the anchor becomes mocked up professional game reviews. Divided into three groups -- one exposed to positive reviews of Plants vs. Zombies, one shown negative reviews and another shown none -- participants were then given 20 minutes to play Plants vs. Zombies before being asked to fill out an exit survey, assign their own review score and either receive a free copy of Plants vs. Zombies or $10.

The result? Study participants who read the positive game reviews prior to playing Plants vs. Zombies "were twice as likely to take a copy of Plants vs. Zombies over the $10 cash and 85% more likely to take the game than the control group [who were not expose to game reviews]."
There's no reason for game developers to panic, however. You are not entirely at the whim of notoriously finicky game critics. For one, this particularly study only examined the impact of reviews, not taking into account marketing, pricing, brand awareness, etc. Plus, and perhaps more encouraging, is quality seemed to tip the scales. Good games are, simply, good games.

"The must surprising result is Group B (low review exposure)," reads the report, "where the majority (65%) indicated they would still recommend the game to a friend even though 73% of the group would not purchase it themselves. Group B's review score was higher than the anchored review score of 61 [out of 100], indicating that, while reviews influenced their behavior, they still felt that the game was much better than what the 'experts' suggested."

"[Those] who read positive game reviews prior to playing 'were twice as likely to take a copy over the $10 cash"

EEDAR suggested this information gives companies more informed player data on whether to pursue a playable demo. Some companies love them, others hate them, but EEDAR's study "suggests that if a company releases an inherently good game that receives lower than 'deserved' review scores, the company may be able to increase sales through a widely played demo. People that enjoy the demo might overcome the influence of negative critic reviews or may tell their friends about the game even if they do not purchase the product."

A hole in the study's conclusions (which EEDAR admitted to within the study itself) is its recommendations are limited to some of the industry's best games, given the test game's renowned appeal. What the results mean for what EEDAR cites as "medium quality" or "low quality" games isn't really known. Additionally, the mock reviews handed out to participants used both quantitative (90/100) and qualitative ("game of the year"!) evaluations, meaning in this case, there's no way to distinguish whether one or the other better impacted consumer behavior.
The industry places an enormous importance on game reviews. The success and impact of controversial review aggregation sites like Metacritic, which influence everything from sequel potential to developer royalty payments, underscore that. EEDAR's study simply adds to the pile.
When's the last time you remember a video game review directly influencing you? Then again, based on EEDAR's findings, maybe you weren't even aware that review was influencing you at all.

[lol_pc]

Let me put it this way, if I had listened to reviewers about a game like Alone in the Dark, I would've passed on a very enjoyable game.

I also use reviews as a guide, but a lot of times I feel that reviewers tend to focus too much on the bad things about a game, rather than to focus on some of the things the game does right.

I'll use Alone in the Dark as an example, while the game featured a ton of bugs and some of the gameplay mechanics and controls felt a bit clunky, underneath it all you had an enjoyable game with some unique gameplay elements, a cool gameworld, a few good cinematic moments and a kickass soundtrack.

But some reviewers focused almost solely on the bad things about the game. Same thing with Kane & Lynch

[Shpeshal Ed]

seems logical

[Shpeshal Ed]

If Crackdown 1 was reviewed properly, as in, focusing on the most important thing in games...fun, Crackdown would have received 10s everywhere.

[Fyrus]

I thought Crackdown was boring.... I'd give it a 7 at best.

I just read the reviews, and I see if the things they said were bad are what mattered to me.

For example, everyone says that Crackdown 2 is meh because it's a lot like the first, but I don't care if it's a lot like the first, as long as it's good.

[dz06lt]

in what should suprise no one it has little affect on wii game sales

[downphoenix]

not surprised.

Alone in the Dark as lolpc mentioned, was slammed in sales due to its reviews. It would have fared better sales wise if it had better reviews, I think few would doubt that.

Bionic Commando last year was an even better example, despite having better overall reviews, the bad reviews it got culminated with Capcom's lack of support for the title (likely because it wasn't an in house game, Capcom seems to only bother promoting in house developments) made its sales abysmal.

Alpha Protocol is the latest candidate for a game that is verifyably downed due to sales. There was actually pretty good hype involved with that game, and most of the previews from professional reviewers seemed promising, but like usual, professional reviewers play softball with the game developers until release date, being harmful to both the game players and the publishers themselves.

Why wouldn't Sega release Alpha Protocol if there had been few qualms about it by the mainstream press? Mainstream press didnt have qualms because they wanted Sega's advertising on their websites and magazines. So in an effort to profit from Sega's advertising and to commit the "truth" to the gamers at the same time, they play softball on the previews, hit it hard on the reviews. Its despicable I think, as this type of tactic is one reason why overall game quality is lower than it could be.

[tr1p1ea]

Reviews are important to those who refer to them regularly vs word of mouth for others.

[Olorin]

I also use reviews as a guide, along with gameplay videos and opinions of others. One of my problems with reviews is that the reviewers often rush through games to get the review out on time, which is bad for games that are easy to beat but hard to master. (Like Wario Land: Shake it!, which is a fun game to beat, but only truely shines when you go for all the treasures and bonus levels)

[rounds1]

Missed this thread - good article.

I usually know what games I'm going to buy, but for some others I'm on the fence about I'll use reviews as a guide.

When you've played as many games as a lot of us probably have, it's easy to tell whether you'll like a game; whether it's a quality product; and whether it's enjoyable. Plus, with 99% of games being sequels these days, we've probably already played it!