GameDaily BIZ Achievements seem very much like a hardcore gamer phenomenon. How much impact on sales do you think this has on the bigger (mainstream) scale?

Geoffrey Zatkin We disagree that Achievements are a hardcore gamer phenomenon. While it may only be the hardcore gamers who go after the full 1000 Achievement points on every game they play, casual gamers still try to get some Achievements, and are happy when they do so. Getting small incremental rewards has worked well in gaming and beyond for the past 20+ years; in fact, we believe that the Achievement system has a bigger influence on the casual gamer than it ever will on the hardcore gamer.

[Note: EEDAR uses the platform agnostic term Accomplishments when we talk about the Xbox 360 Achievements – this way, we can also talk about PlayStation 3 Trophies, Steam Achievements, etc.]

Accomplishments also have the possibility of influencing retail game title sales when a game title is released for multiple consoles. Consumers that own multiple consoles are faced with the choice of purchasing a game title on console X or purchasing the Xbox 360 version, with additional functionality, for little or no additional cost. Over 25% of retail game titles released for the Xbox 360 are also released on the Wii or the PlayStation 3. Of these game titles, 85% generate greater U.S. revenue on the Xbox360 than the other consoles. A game title that is released for the Xbox 360 is, essentially, identical to its counterpart on another console, with one major difference: the Xbox 360 version has Accomplishments.

The Xbox 360 Accomplishment System is a very social experience. You can see what games your friends are playing and how they are doing in them. This can not only influence purchasing decisions, as you might purchase a specific game title to play or compete with friends, but also increases user investment in the entire platform.

BIZ: Can you provide some examples of games that you saw specifically get a bump in sales by including more achievements or utilizing them in better ways?

GZ: We've found a strikingly strong correlation between both quantity and diversity of Accomplishments and increased sales in a great majority of the games we studied.

Development studios that think about Accomplishments earlier in the development cycle, and take the time to put in a wider breadth and larger quantity – these are the studios that are paying attention to their customers. There are a lot of ways integrate Accomplishments into a game that give the consumers a better experience. People like rewards. Games that incorporate a wider diversity of Accomplishments have the potential to enhance the mainstream appeal of their title; more people have a chance to get rewarded for doing things that they enjoy. These games sell better and get reviewed better.

BIZ: What is your classification system for Accomplishments about? How does this help game makers?

GZ: We looked at all of the Accomplishments used by the Xbox 360 and some other non game related systems and constructed a classification system that could encompass them all. We ended up with sixteen distinct, well defined categories of Accomplishment types. This was the bedrock of our entire study, allowing us to group thousands of different Achievements on the Xbox 360 for analysis by genre, ESRB, Metacritic, etc.

Additionally, we track other associated data such as name, description, quantity of points earned, if the Accomplishment is earned online, if the Accomplishment is earned at a specific difficulty level, et cetera.

Our research is specifically geared towards helping developers and publishers maximize their use of the Accomplishment system to increase players' enjoyment of the game, which in turn improves sales. We spent a lot of time analyzing Accomplishments by game genre and ESRB rating. We can tell you the exact information you need to maximize your revenue for the specific game you're making.

Development studios that start thinking about Accomplishments earlier have an easier time incorporating them into their game. Studios that just throw them in at the end of their development cycle often, by necessity, just implement easy to program Accomplishments which just aren't as fun.

BIZ: With the results of your study in mind, do you think Sony's trophy system on the PS3 will have a similar effect on sales once it launches? And do you think Nintendo should implement a similar system, if only for the sales implications alone?

GZ: If properly implemented, this should be a huge boost for Sony. Currently, when compared to Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network is underused. The Trophy system has the potential to increase both the use of the PlayStation Network and of Home, and possibly to increase PlayStation 3 hardware and game sales. It will be interesting to see if, like the Xbox 360 Achievements, the Trophy system takes a while to catch on or if it immediately takes off due to greater consumer familiarity with Accomplishments.

The Wii has a different core market than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. That being said, Accomplishment systems work because they are fun. The Wii is all about fun – it's hard to see why an Accomplishment system wouldn't increase its sales as well.