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EEDAR, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, has just released a new study that finds that Achievements may be linked to better review scores. Yes, you read that right. The more achievements a game has, the higher the average score tends to be. …it’s a very slow news day.

According to the study, games with more achievements generate both higher review scores and higher revenue sales, and games with online Achievements generate up to 50% more cold, hard cash than games that do not. Games with hidden achievements, however, do more poorly than games where all achievements are viewable from the start.

This is an interesting find, but slightly flawed: I would make the case that games with more achievemtns are indicitave of developers who have truly taken the Xbox 360 concept to heart. Also, I would argue that a game with unique and intricate achievements is a sign that the developer has spent an equal amount of time fine-tuning the game.

Read the full Press Release after the break.

San Diego, Calif. – Oct. 16, 2007 – Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) has just released a revealing new study based on the Microsoft Xbox 360 Achievement System. The study concluded that, in general, game titles that have a higher volume of Accomplishments correlate with both a higher Metacritic Metascore and higher gross sales in the United States. The data also indicated that not all developers are utilizing these design options. In fact, 29% of all Accomplishments are Completion Accomplishments; one of the easiest to develop and integrate – leaving way for additional opportunities within the Accomplishment categories.

The new study, Accomplishments Unlocked 2007, conducted by EEDAR, the first company to provide a published classification system for Accomplishments, focused on the Xbox 360 Accomplishment system and the impact it has on Metacritic scores, sales and profitability. The results showed a strong connection between a game title’s diversity of Accomplishment types with that game’s profitability – pointing to the idea that the more diverse the Accomplishments available to the user, the more enjoyable the game, higher review scores, more units sold.

“Consumers want their games to include both variety and abundance of Accomplishments,” said Geoffrey Zatkin, COO, EEDAR. “Our research shows that incentives such as Accomplishments impact sales choices such as which game title to buy and which platform to buy it on; they also extend the replayability of a title.”

EEDAR’s study showed game titles that incorporate online elements into their Accomplishments generate 50% more money than those that do not. It also found evidence that consumers are taking the time to review the available Accomplishments for a game before making purchasing decisions; game titles which keep their Accomplishments secret generate less revenue than those who expose them to players upfront.

Also, research indicated that game titles can generate up to 50% more revenue by including Accomplishments with Viral Marketing aspects (User Generated Content, Community or Customization Accomplishments).

About Study Methodology

Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) analyzed the 4,615 achievements incorporated in 124 retail and 63 downloadable game titles available for the Microsoft® Xbox 360™ during the period November 1, 2005 through June 1, 2007.

As part of the report, EEDAR also released the first published classification system for Accomplishments, identifying 16 unique types of accomplishments and examples of how to best implement them. In addition to the Accomplishment classification system, the report referenced many additional factors including genre, ESRB rating, gross sales in the United States, Metacritic® Metascore®, online dependency and multiplayer capability. The report identified highly informative success and revenue correlations between Accomplishment types and the analyzed factors.

EEDAR gathers its information from a variety of sources and goes to great lengths to verify the accuracy of its information, as detailed below. Where information is publicly available from an authoritative source, such as the issuer or the responsible industry agency, that data is used as authoritative – and then double checked by an EEDAR researcher. Where information is not publicly available, EEDAR’s internal staff performs directed studies to gather the appropriate data using custom-built data collection and analysis applications. Each researched fact has an objective observation system which ensures that researcher bias is eliminated. Our data research is performed by multiple researchers simultaneously to ensure that individual facts are cross-checked before being input into the classification system established for that fact. Once information has been entered in the EEDAR Games Database (EGD), quality assurance staff review the data using boundary analysis tools to identify errors and pinpoint difficulties in the classification systems.

About EEDAR

Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., EEDAR is a research firm founded by interactive entertainment veterans in 2007. The company’s mission is to serve the contemporary needs of publishers and developers in understanding and navigating the electronic entertainment and games market. For more information on EEDAR, please visit www.eedar.com.

Contact:
Sibel Sunar
fortyseven communications
323-658-1200
sibel@fortyseven.com