Fly in my eyE

Survey Says - Hot Coffee Dust-up Affecting Game Sales

A press release issued today by Phoenix Marketing International indicates that the Hot Coffee scandal surrounding Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas may be having an impact on sales - a negative impact.

Phoenix conducted a qualitative and quantitative study to gauge consumer reaction about the slew of news events concerning video game violence and pornography. Over one-third of both the general population and video game market indicated that "recent news stories about video games will make me reconsider the types of video games I purchase for myself or others."

The study also indicated that "more than three-quarters of households with a video game console agree that the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is doing a good job and that it is ultimately the parents responsibility to control what their children play."

When asked about the phrase "video games are training tools," slightly more than half (54%) of video game consumers agreed with the following statement "video games should be taken for what they are; entertainment, not so-called 'training tools.'"

More than two-thirds of respondents agreed with the statement "video games are not just for kids, adults have the right to play sometimes offensive games." Not surprisingly, gamers were far more likely than non-gamers to agree with this statement.

300 respondents participated. The sample yields a 95% confidence interval with an error margin of 5.7%.

Phoenix Senior Research Manager David Pluchino told GamePolitics that the survey was not conducted on behalf of a client. "We have all of the necessary market research tools available for us to use, so we thought it would be interesting to gauge consumers' reaction to all of the recent press regarding video games."

posted by Agent 1138 @ 4:36 PM