What Influences Your Game Buying Decision?

Electronic Gaming Business, Sept 8, 2004

If you blend into these percentages those who also found these criteria "somewhat important," the order of influence changes only a little, with recommendations from friends vaulting beyond price in most groups, suggesting that this is really the sweetspot of the buy decision mix. Self-reporting of media preferences and use is a notoriously unreliable metric, but these figures do suggest how consumers subjectively value these platforms relative to one another.

TV ads are probably more impactful than the poll suggests simply because few people like to admit they are influenced by ads, and the branding effect intended by TV advertising of games is not intended to cause a buy decision anyway. Still, the stunning unimportance of all media to women is very clear. If game companies want to address this segment, and it is not clear from the marketing we have seen that they are in earnest about this market, they will have to explore viral campaigns that generate word of mouth. The low rating for both magazine print ads and online ads is also notable and worth further study.

One of the things this industry desperately needs is real media mix analysis of the sort mature packaged goods industries and other entertainment have been doing for years. Understanding how brand lift and purchase intent are altered by exposure to different media is critical to making sensible decisions about media spend, but there is precious little understanding of the nature of the "purchase funnel" in gaming.

Respondents in the GameDaily/e-poll online survey found the following game buying influencers "very important"

Influencer                Total  Male  Female  Novice  Casual  Hardcore
Price                     43%    41%   48%     44%     45%     40%
Friends' Recommendations  38%    39%   34%     24%     37%     41%
System Requirements       37%    39%   29%     31%     36%     39%
Web Editorial             33%    38%   13%     16%     27%     44%
Magazine Editorial        26%    30%   10%     24%     16%     21%
Official Game Sites       24%    28%   10%     16%     19%     33%
TV Ads                    15%    16%   10%     16%     11%     19%
Package                   14%    15%   8%      11%     11%     18%
TV Editorial              14%    16%   7%      13%     11%     18%
Online Advertising        12%    13%   5%      11%     9%      16%
Salesperson Advice        11%    12%   7%      20%     8%      14%
Product promotions
(from non-game goods)     10%    11%   6%      9%      8%      13%
Print ads                 9%     10%   8%      9%      7%      13%
Source: e-poll/GameDaily

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