"Though dismissed in the past, movie games are garnering more attention in the entertainment industry as studios look to leverage the value of their franchises," the researchers at Nielsen have pointed out. Indeed, according to Nielsen’s Video Game Tracking survey, movie-themed games lately have been "driving substantial purchase interest among gamers."
Nielsen found that Activision's X-Men Origins: Wolverine topped the list in terms of total positive purchase interest for the week of its release. Other top franchises included Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Terminator Salvation, and even "Godfather II scored well relative to others to take second place despite the fact that the movie was released in 1974." Batman: Arkham Asylum is tied for fifth place, but it's a couple months away from release, and Nielsen expects purchase interest to possibly eclipse all others on the list by the end of the summer. The critical acclaim and commercial success for The Dark Knight we suspect has helped fuel increased interest in Batman again.
Interestingly, Atari's Ghostbusters: The Video Game based on the classic film (which was released last week) ranked fourth in purchase interest but outpaced all other titles in share of online buzz. In fact, almost a quarter of all movie-related video game buzz over the last 60 days is attributed to Ghostbusters.
Here's a look at Nielsen's charts for purchase interest and online buzz:
Reader Comments (0)