Inside the IGN Platform Index
For the past several months we have been including video game platform indices (seen above) as a means of gauging consumer interest in each. So, we wanted to take some time here to discuss in more detail what makes up these indices and how to read them.
Each index uses page view and purchase intent data from ign.com as its core and is then smoothed with a weighted rolling average. Purchase intent data is comprised of users who declare any given title as part of their wishlist (“I want to buy this game”), email alerts (“I am interested in more information on this game”) and collections (“I own this game”). The aim of these indices is to show macro industry trends, so we safeguarded each index from the short, 1-time spikes that can often skew the data. A great example of this is the recent release of Halo 3. As expected, traffic and interest in Halo 3 was phenomenal on the day of its launch, so using our methodology we were able to account for the overall rise in the Xbox 360 platform interest as a result of Halo 3’s popularity without over-estimating.
It is important to note that these indices do not represent platform hardware sales, but rather interest in the games associated with each platform. This is why, despite the well- publicized sales success of the Nintendo Wii, the Sony PS3 and Xbox 360 index values remain higher. Demand and interest for the games on the X360 and PS3 platforms, as a whole, is high. Whereas the highly segmented Nintendo Wii audience (new to gaming casuals vs. core Nintendo loyalists) tends to have less interest in keeping abreast of the latest gaming news when taken as a whole.
Finally, we also engineered each index to have an emphasis on forward looking data rather than titles that are already out in the market. This is to give our customers a better sense for what is coming rather than what just happened. This is another reason why the PS3 index might seem unusually high when compared with historical platform sales: the pipeline of titles for the PS3 remains strong well into 2008 and thus gamers’ interest remains correspondingly high. In general these indices offer a 1-3 month view ahead into where the gaming buzz will be from a title perspective.
If you have any further questions regarding the index, feel free to send us an email at [email protected].
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About IGN GamerMetrics
A part of Fox Interactive Media, IGN GamerMetrics is an industry leading interactive tool designed to report the real-time behavior and interests of visitors to IGN Entertainment’s network of gaming enthusiast web sites. Using data collected from the largest audience of video gamers online, IGN GamerMetrics shows the levels of consumer awareness, interest, and engagement in every video game title released in the U.S. market. IGN GamerMetrics can be used to perform a range of analysis, such as determining competitive mindshare, monitoring marketing and PR campaign effectiveness, developing audience profiles, and predicting sales.
What are the Sources of IGN GamerMetrics Data?
1. Audience Awareness through Page Views and Unique Users: Understand which titles are generating the most buzz through the 30+ million gamers who visit IGN.com, GameSpy.com, TeamXbox.com, and FilePlanet.com each month. As the Internet continues to thrive as the central hub for gaming information, this valuable sample of gamers has become an indispensable resource for anyone looking to understand macro and micro industry trends.
2. Gamer Panel Interest: Analyze the behavior of over 500,000 gamers who tell us what games they want and own on their very own custom user page. With thousands of relevant, up-to-date gamer profiles, the Gamer Panel provides unparalleled insight into the psyche of the young male gamer.
If you have any questions regarding this report, or IGN GamerMetrics in general, please contact Nick Williams, Marketing Manager / Analyst, IGN GamerMetrics ([email protected]).
About IGN Entertainment
IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, Inc., is a leading Internet media and services provider focused on the videogame and entertainment enthusiast markets. Collectively, IGN’s properties reached more than 30 million unique users worldwide in the month of May 2007, according to Internet audience measurement firm comScore Media Metrix. IGN’s network of videogame-related properties (IGN.com, GameSpy, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, Direct2Drive and others), is the Web’s number one videogame information destination and attracts one of the largest concentrated audiences of young males on the Internet. IGN also owns and operates the popular movie-related website, Rotten Tomatoes and one of the leading male lifestyle Websites, AskMen.com. In addition, IGN provides technology for online game play in videogames. IGN is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices throughout the U.S. and in Montreal.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this report is based on sources believed to be reliable, but is neither a complete statement nor summary of all available data nor guaranteed by our firm. Opinions reflect our judgment at this time and are subject to change without notice.
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