Plants vs. Zombies

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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.

[image credit: flickr / mastershambler]

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