Review scores and sales figures have a stronger connection early in a console’s lifespan, according to EEDAR research provided to GamesIndustry International. The firm used its own review metascore for games with greater than 10,000 units sold through at US retailers within their first year of sales, finding that the number attached to the review had less of a sales impact as the platform matured.
Why do reviews mean less later on? EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich argues that it’s related to the early adopters.
“A title is less likely to succeed [at launch] on brand power alone," Divnich said. "Consumers have just dropped $400 to $500 on a new platform, so those first $60 software purchases are critical and consumers will mitigate their risk of buying a game they may not like by applying more due diligence such as reading more review articles or asking core gamers in their social circles who traditionally keep their finger on the pulse of what's good and what's not.
"I believe that you can tell a lot about the demographics of a user base by seeing the correlation between review scores and sales of a platform. A lower correlation would indicate that the consumer base is judging purchasing decisions off other factors outside of review score."
Launch titles like Knack and Ryse: Son of Rome didn’t exactly impress with the critics, and it looks as if their sales figures support Divnich’s study.