Worrying news for Microsoft and Sony, as a survey shows that most gamers haven’t heard of their new motion controls.
Do you have an opinion about Natal and Move? Well, it turns out that you’re in the minority, at least according to a survey by research company Nielsen.
Nielsen asked 2,400 active gamers whether they were aware of Natal and Move, and the results showed that less than a quarter of those asked were aware of the motion controls. Move slightly beat Natal in terms of awareness, with 23% of those polled being aware of Move, against 21% that knew about Natal.
“Gamer” is a broad term however, so Nielsen removed those polled who didn’t play on the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3 to see what awareness was like amongst the target audience for each controller. The numbers improved quite significantly, peaking at 42% for Move amongst PS3 owners, with Natal slightly behind at 39% amongst 360 owners.
There was some good news for Microsoft though, as gamers who had heard of Natal were more likely to buy it, although the numbers were still low, only 35% amongst gamers in general, and 42% of Xbox 360 gamers.
As disappointing as these numbers might look, it’s important to remember that there’s been hardly marketing for either controller yet. Gamers who keep up with gaming news are actually the minority, and when commercials start appearing on TV, expect awareness to go up sharply.
Source: Kotaku
