EEDAR Offers Stats on Console Data

Props to Ben Kuchera over at Ars Technica for pointing out a research company that offers some profound data on video games. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) offers research reports for industrial consumption. One of their recent reports, Console Intelligence Briefing 2007: PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360, offers some data that can be incorporated into educational papers.

Unfortunately, the complete report is aimed at deep-pocketed gaming corporations, and is consequently expensive (around $10,000). On the bright side, the executive summary is freely available to all, and offers up some interesting data. For instance, the fact that the gaming industry makes more than the movie industry is not a completely accurate comparison. The apples to oranges comparison is usually made with the domestic Hollywood box office take, and ignores the overseas box office take as well as DVD rentals and sales. Meanwhile, the entire gaming industry sales are included in the comparison, from game titles to consoles to joysticks. The Console Intelligence Briefing offers data on retail game titles (for consoles), and offers such nuggets as this: average sales for a retail console title hover at $11.5 million. Also, the console offering the highest quality games according to critics: PlayStation 3. Largest number of console titles released: Nintendo Wii.

And so on. This is good stuff, even if you can’t afford the full report. Kuchera points out the report makes mention of the fact that games with online interactive content do better in the marketplace than strictly stand-alone games:

The study found that by adding online functionality into a game—more specifically the ability to play against or with others—developers can generally double the amount of money your game makes.

Kuchera concludes that delivering a successful game requires more than just knowing what factors contribute to high selling titles. And in this, Kuchera is absolutely correct. Game making remains more art than science.

References:
Kuchera, B. (2007, September 6). Games with strong online components outsell the competition. Ars Technica [Online]. Available: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070906-games-with-strong-
online-components-outsell-the-competition.html

Zatkin, G. (2007). Console intelligence briefing 2007: PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360, executive summary. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. [Online]. Available: http://www.eedar.com/Uploads/Console%20
Intelligence%20Briefing%202007%20Summary.pdf