14 DAY TRIAL // A study from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research has managed to link increased numbers of Achievements or Trophies with increased video games sales. The correlation is strong enough that developers should consider packing all their titles with them in order to make sure their games sell.
The study took into account all Xbox 360 games that were released from the beginning of the year until March in the United States. It found that games which had more Achievements tended to move more copies than those with less. The games that had 30 or more Achievements managed to sell three times as many copies as the games which had fewer in game rewards.
In the three months surveyed by Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, when most of the games launched, more than 60% had 40 goals which you could target. In 2007, only 52% and in 2006, only 42% of games featured this number of Achievements.
Shane Hebard-Massey, who led the study, says that it's not the rewards themselves that sell the games, but that the teams are surely working harder on a game if they choose to implement more Achievements and players take that as a sign of quality.
Sony tried to introduce its own system for those who like to hoard by implementing Trophies in a PlayStation firmware update. But the reports mentions that “Almost every Xbox 360 user, no matter how casual, has earned an Achievement. 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”.
So, you can chalk up Achievements as a good reason to get an Xbox 360 rather than a PlayStation 3 this holiday season. You see, it's science...