Ah, mid-November. That time of the year when the holidays are just around the corner, people can’t decide between hot apple cider and hot chocolate, and video game stores are shelving the year’s most anticipated titles…
Video game and console sales peak in Q4 because of the holidays, so game developers intentionally wait until late in the year to release the most hyped games. The late 2011 title spread has been impressive so far, as multiple releases have broken sales records already. The Chitika Insights team, consisting of many serious gamers, wondered which holiday season video game generated the most online interest.
If you’re a gamer, you probably noticed the recent string of huge releases starting from late October until now; Battlefield 3, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Assassins Creed: Revelations all have come out in less than a month’s span (Call of Duty, Skyrim, and Assassins Creed were released within one week of each other). Chitika Insights’ newest report investigates which new release got the highest score online.
*To avoid confusion, I’m referring to online search, not live multiplayer. Our team did a broadmatching search using queries from our videogame list to see which titles had the highest overall search volume.*
Before any of the releases, here’s how the games ranked: (1) Battlefield 3, (2) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, (3) Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, and (4) Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It made logical sense that Battlefield 3 would be the most searched for at the beginning of our study, considering that it was only four days away from opening in the U.S. Below is a visual representation of our data in the index format, marking the highest level of interest with an index value of 100.
Battlefield 3 query impressions doubled on its October 25th release date. Curiously, Battlefield’s search volume did not fall as sharply as the other three newcomers. While its peak wasn’t as momentous, interest remained relatively high until November 8th, the day of rival, Modern Warfare 3’s opening.
Modern Warfare 3 easily had the most hype out of any other game in our study due to the franchise’s widespread popularity. Modern Warfare 3’s traffic peaked to over 5000 daily impressions on November 8th. There was a noticeable build up in search volume starting on November 3rd, and then impressions took off 500% between the 7th and the 8th. Modern Warfare’s search volume took a shot as search traffic fell another 200% in the same day. This was probably because people we’re more invested in the actual gameplay, and less interested with the online intel.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim generated the most buzz of all the games in our study. On its November 11th release, traffic increased by 550%, narrowly eclipsing Call of Duty’s overall search volume. However, the real story is what happens in the days following. Unlike the Call of Duty, Skyrim’s search volume remained high from the 11th onward. We feel this has to do with the nature of Skyrim’s gameplay. Skyrim is an open-world role playing game with limitless objectives and elements. It’s not the type of game where you go through a standard campaign, or just hop online. People were most likely looking up character/item traits, mission walk-throughs, and information on different weapons or spells.
The last game in our study, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, really never got a grip. Even on its release date, search volume remained low, despite it being part of an extremely successful franchise. The game itself has seen generally positive reviews and solid sales numbers, so we were surprised with the low volume. You never know, though, it might just be blending in.
While search volume doesn’t dictate actual success or failure of a game, we are able to see patterns in public interest. When and for how long are people researching these games online, and how quickly the interest fades. We can also see how differences in gameplay affect search volume (like in the case of Skyrim versus Modern Warfare).
That about wraps it up for the holiday video game report, happy gaming from all of us at Chitika Insights! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some dragons to kill.
rana
waqas
rana