[Analysts] Low review scores equals Low game sales

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Quality matters in video games, especially shooters

With consumers feeling the pinch in their pocketbooks, this holiday season may turn out to be more cutthroat than usual for the hundreds of video games set to hit store shelves.

Analysts predict that only top-tier titles and those that are highly rated by critics will thrive as consumers pare down spending in the fourth quarter, when the game industry typically pulls in 40% of its annual revenue.

This will be particularly true of shooter games. The genre is highly sensitive to quality rankings doled out by reviewers, generally on a scale of 0 to 100.

"It is pretty detrimental to sales for a shooter game to achieve a score below 80%," said Jesse Divnich, director of analytical services at Electronic Entertainment Design and Research in San Diego. "Simply put, if you want to make a first-person shooter, aim to achieve quality scores above 80%. If not, don?t even bother."

This is the conclusion Electronic Arts came to earlier this week when it pulled the plug on Tiberium, a science-fiction shooter game that had been several years in development. The chart below shows just how brutal buyers can be when it comes to low scores. Add the current economic fear factor and the pressure becomes even greater.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology...rankings-m.html

Someone should pay these guys more!:laugh:h:

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Uh, isn't that pretty obvious lol

[lalalawawawa]

So what else is new?

They should probably add that payed reviews (aka GameSpot reviews) equal more sales.

[-T- Member]

Wow I gotta get me a job as an Analyst, get paid to state the obvious. I await the report that people buy food that tastes nice.

To be fair though, the games rated that hightly tend to be big selling games based on the hype, such as GTA4 and Halo3. I'm sure LBP and GoW2 will sell highly too regardless of score

[The Teej]

This doesn't always work the other way though, games that are rated highly sell more (case in point: Psychonauts, Boom Blox)

[madd-hatter]

No sh**?

Never would have thought that. I'm glad "analysts" are making sure the obvious retains it's merit.

[exotoxic]

I dont judge by what reviewers write on sites.

I judge based on demo and what normal people write e.g. in neowin threads. :D

[Konstanov]

O RLY?

[White Cuban]

well... duh? people buy good games, is that suprising? also, guy buy games nobody knows, plays it, its ****, doesn't reccomend, it was kinda predictable i'd say.

but it doesn't stick onto all games, look at spore, except thoose ass licking sites like IGN and gamespot who rate every game by EA 8.5+ just to get that atta'boy, most people i know, and read ton reviews, spore kinda. well, sucks?. also with DRM, no way im going near it.

[zape]

New news:

More sales equal more income for the company.

[sundayx Veteran]

Someone call Captain Obvious.

[soniqstylz]

C'mon, people! The sarcasm in this thread is not thick enough. We can do better.

"In other news: [ANALysts] high costs equals low console sales"

Source

[White Cuban]

C'mon, people! The sarcasm in this thread is not thick enough. We can do better.

"In other news: [ANALysts] high costs equals low console sales"

Source

Sarcasm fail, seriously how did you...

Edited October 6, 2008 by gigapixels

[carmatic]

This will be particularly true of shooter games. The genre is highly sensitive to quality rankings doled out by reviewers, generally on a scale of 0 to 100.

very true (Y)

[Doli]

Whats with using numbers in reviews? Sound: 8/10,Graphics:9/10, .... Total: x/10 (or X/100). What are the scores based off? Some checklist? length < 8 hours = 4 pts, > 8 = 6 pts.

[jerzdawg]

Wow I gotta get me a job as an Analyst, get paid to state the obvious. I await the report that people buy food that tastes nice.

best sarcastic post in this thread... :laugh:

[kazuyette]

since no one posted it ...

[goji]

[Argote]

Joke aside, GOOD games usually get better reviews, and we all buy games that are good, not games that get good reviews