An Electronic Entertainment Design and Research report has found games with achievements tend to sell better than their prize-less counterparts.
Based on sales of Xbox 360 games from the first three months of 2008, EEDAR identified that games with more numerous achievements seemed to sell three times as well as those with fewer than 30 in-game goodies. Developers may be catching onto this trend, as the number of releases with over 40 separate Achievements rose eight percent to comprise more than 60 percent of all 360 games.
“It’s certainly not that the achievements are driving game sales,” said EEDAR director of research Shane Hebard-Massey. “Those dev teams are putting more work in to make a better experience for the gamer and that often carries through [to the rest of the game’s development].”
Although Sony is adding “Trophies” to compete with the 360’s existing Achievements system, EEDAR doesn’t believe they’ll play as significant a role in selling PS3 software.
“Almost every Xbox 360 user, no matter how casual, has earned an Achievement,” wrote Hebard-Massey. “By not exposing users to trophies with every game, Sony is missing out on exposing the more casual user base to this system. Additionally, Sony is also not catering to the hardcore crowd that just love earning accomplishments.”
Source: Gamespot
