reviews
November 17th, 2009 at 09:15pm
Under DS
Pictured: A successful commercial
Speaking during a presentation at the recent Montreal International Game Summit (as covered by Edge), EEDAR Director of Analyst Services Jesse Divnich highlighted a tenuous connection between game review scores and commercial success. In the case of Nintendo’s DS, Divnich is quoted as saying “scores don’t matter.” But do they matter among a more dedicated gaming audience?
“When we did compare Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 only games, we did, to no surprise, find that review scores highly correlated to sales,” Divnich told Joystiq. “However, marketing correlation was still just a tad bit more.” According to EEDAR’s research, marketing has played the “more crucial role” with DS games and, to some degree, Wii games (a point Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime seems to agree on).
While emphasizing that his aim was not to dismiss the value of critical evaluation, Divnich suggested that marketing plays a more persuasive role in what has become a burgeoning industry. “Video games are now a mass marketed product, it is a product that targets all major demographics, very similar to television or movies or any other sector within the entertainment division.” While Joystiq readers may lock out the din of marketing as they tap the F5 key and anxiously wait for review embargoes to lift, the industry has grown to encompass people who aren’t as exposed to the likes of Metacritic.
It seems that being informed takes precedence over being entertained — at least until you start playing the game. “Quality does matter,” concluded Divnich, “but marketing matters just a little bit more.”
Commercial success dependent on ‘more than just quality,’ Divnich suggests originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: advertising, eedar, jesse-divnich, marketing, reviews, sales
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Commercial success dependent on ‘more than just quality,’ Divnich suggests
October 6th, 2009 at 04:30pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
In his latest “debriefing” on IndustryGamers, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich suggets that the average score for Wii games may be improving because a significant portion of titles aren’t being reviewed. Strictly comparing January to June, in both 2008 and 2009, the analyst group graphed the total number of titles released for the three major platforms and the percentages of those titles that were not reviewed (see above). The number at the bottom of each bar represents the number of titles released for the platform in the stated time period; while the percentage at the top corresponds to the quantity of those titles that was not reviewed.
Divnich recognizes that “while the Wii has experienced a rise in average review scores (from 60 to 66 in one year), this has come at the benefit of critics ignoring some titles that could have possibly dragged down the Wii’s average.” However, it’s possible that such reviews could have also raised the average score — we know, that’s unlikey, but still. Additionally, the report notes that the unreviewed Wii games weren’t “core-targeted titles,” which also holds true for unreviewed games on Xbox 360 and PS3.
Divnich maintains that Wii games are getting better, but he concludes, “It is just coming at the cost of not reviewing the increase in casual and low-budget titles.” He believes that a similar issue could appear occur with respect to PS3 and Xbox 360 as the consoles’ casual demographics increase in conjunction with the continued growth of their install bases.
EEDAR: 37% of Wii games went unreviewed in early 2009 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: eedar, metacritic, nintendo, reviews, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading EEDAR: 37% of Wii games went unreviewed in early 2009
June 24th, 2009 at 02:31pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
While you’re patiently waiting for the end of the week so you can cash that paycheck and pick up High Voltage Software’s The Conduit for your Nintendo Wii, why not take a gander at what the rest of the interweb had to say about the game? Considering the lack of correlation between Metacritic scores and the sales numbers of Wii games, though — at least according to Peter Moore — you probably shouldn’t let these numbers get to you too much.
- GamePro (70): “The Conduit is the closest you will get to recapturing the magic of Goldeneye … To be blunt, The Conduit is a by the numbers shooter that offers a couple of thrills but ultimately doesn’t make much of an impact … anyone who loved Goldeneye will want to give a look as well if only to get a nice dose of nostalgia, but the rest of you shouldn’t feel a need to abandon your favorite next-gen shooter for this one.”
- GamesRadar (80): “The Conduit is fun, controls well, and is, at times, quite beautiful … Both humans and alien drones are animated with competent physics and personality that puts High Voltage Software’s Quantum3 engine outside the realm of the “GameCube 1.5″ criticisms … The truth is you probably wouldn’t bat an eye at The Conduit had it appeared on PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 … The solid, yet unremarkable single-player won’t win any awards, but The Conduit still features the most finely honed online outings available on Wii.”
- IGN (86): “The Conduit is not a revolutionary first-person shooter, but it’s a damned good one … the title features the tightest, most comfortable control scheme of any console-based first-person shooter to date … The Conduit features a robust list of modes and maps to play online and nearly 20 weapons to use as you rip through arenas blasting foes … it’s not revolutionary, but The Conduit is a great first-person shooter designed just for Wii owners.”
Metareview: The Conduit (Wii) originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: first-person-shooter, fps, gamepro, gamesradar, high-voltage, high-voltage-software, ign, metacritic, metareview, peter-moore, reviews, sega, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Metareview: The Conduit (Wii)
June 19th, 2009 at 05:30pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
Apparently, for the Nintendo Wii (according to Lost Winds developer David Braben), the folks reviewing Wii games are the wrong people for the job. Responding to comments made by EA Sports’ Peter Moore earlier this month regarding low metacritic scores for Wii games and its less than serious effect on sales numbers of said games, Frontier Developments head David Braben told Eurogamer that, “Most reviewers are what are often called ‘core gamers’ – and these family-focused games tend to appeal less to them.”
And he makes a good point. If Joystiq’s readership is primarily “core gamers,” what’s the point in covering casual fare meant for more mainstream crowds? Braben continues, “It throws up a difficult dilemma for those reviewers … are they reviewing the game for those people likely to play it, or for those people who form the bulk of their readership?” We put it to you, Joystiq loyalists: Continue to cover games intended for a “casual,” more mainstream audience (as well as more “hardcore” titles), or focus on “core” games coverage exclusively?
Lost Winds dev: Reviewers are a problem with low Wii metacritic scores originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: business, david-braben, ea, ea-sports, eurogamer, frontier, frontier-developments, lost-winds, peter-moore, reviews, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Lost Winds dev: Reviewers are a problem with low Wii metacritic scores
June 18th, 2009 at 10:35am
Under Wii / Nintendo
Various industry figures have come out in support of Peter Moore’s claims that review scores don’t impact the success of Wii games. One developer told Eurogamer that how a Wii game does is contingent entirely upon marketing, calling Wii games “pure risk.” “A lot of these games that you think are the perfect game for Wii don’t sell because companies don’t have the money to market them,” the developer said. “Whereas Nintendo is spending gazillions of dollars marketing their games.”
Michael Pachter suggested that review scores aren’t important because many Wii owners don’t read reviews. “”I think that Metacritic scores are irrelevant for people who don’t look at them – how’s that for obvious?” Pachter said. “While there are many Wii owners who are hardcore and who care very much about scores, there are many – perhaps half – who are quite casual, and wouldn’t know Metacritic if it fell on them.” He offered games like Carnival Games and Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum as examples of successful titles with little critical acclaim.
However, 2D Boy’s Kyle Gabler offers an instance in which Metacritic scores and reviews do make a difference: indie games, like his own World of Goo, which happens to be the third highest-rated game on Wii. He compares mainstream games to Will Smith movies, which draw audiences without reviews.
“But for indie guys like us, Metacritic and review scores matter a lot,” Gabler said. “In fact we link directly to them from our web site. So does Steam. It makes a lot of sense – potential players don’t feel comfortable dishing out cash for some random unknown indie game without an aggregate thumbs-up from solid reviewers.”
The industry chimes in on the importance of reviews for Wii games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: 2d-boy, metacritic, michael-pachter, peter-moore, reviews, Wii / Nintendo, world-of-goo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading The industry chimes in on the importance of reviews for Wii games
