The folks at research firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR), who previously told us about the great impact "achievements" have on game revenue, have found that publishers have the potential to nearly double their profit on any given game through revenue generated by both purchasable and sponsored downloadable content. "...console storefronts represent a major opportunity to offset growing development costs and stabilize revenue momentum between major releases," EEDAR stated.

Publishers of games for the Xbox 360 in particular have done a tremendous job of creating long-tail revenue and extending the shelf life of these titles. After examining 180 downloadable games and 2,100 pieces of downloadable content for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, EEDAR found that Xbox 360 games offering downloadable content sell 129 percent more and PS3 games sell 16 percent more (Wii offers no extra downloadable content currently).

"Our study shows that the marketplace is rapidly evolving into utilizing revenue options beyond retail game sales," said Geoffrey Zatkin, COO, EEDAR. "In an environment with crippling production costs, publishers have new ways to dramatically impact their financial gain, while making gamers happy, if they understand how to utilize the new generation of console storefronts. At EEDAR, we are studying ways game makers can be more successful by offering better products that yield more revenue."

Publishers would be wise to regularly offer demos and trailers leading up to their games' release, as retail games with both a downloadable demo and trailer generate 69 percent more revenue than games without either; games with a downloadable demo generate 62 percent more revenue than games without either a demo or a trailer; and games with a downloadable trailer generate 72 percent more revenue than games without either a demo or a trailer.

EEDAR also took a closer look specifically at the three different console storefronts. The Wii provides the most downloadable games, but the Xbox 360 offers the highest number of original titles. The PS3 comes in last in both categories. Interestingly, the PS3 charges the most for its downloadable content, while Xbox 360 has the largest roster of downloadable content to monetize.

The PS3 was found to have a total of 19.2 Gb of downloadable game titles and game content, while Xbox 360 has 106.5 Gb, "which makes a case for why Microsoft is offering the Xbox 360 Elite with 120Gb of hard drive space," EEDAR said. It's also worth noting that the average size of a PS3 download is almost double that of an Xbox 360 download. EEDAR thinks "PS3 users may run into trouble with storage space."

To dig a little deeper into this GameDaily BIZ briefly caught up with Zatkin.

Check out the Q&A on the next page

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