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A study conducted by EEDAR and the Southern Methodist University (SMU) has discovered a link between review scores and consumer opinion on the reviewed games.
165 SMU students took part in the study, all of whom had never played PopCap’s Plants vs. Zombies and split them into three groups: group one was exposed to high review scores for the game (90 per cent), group two was shown low review scores (61 per cent mean) and a third group was exposed to no review scores.
Each participant then played Plants vs. Zombies for 20 minutes and then asked to review the game by awarding it a score between 0 and 100. Each participant was also given the option to take $10 for their time or a copy of the game.
The results indicate that the group exposed to high review scores rated the game 14 points higher than the group shown low review scores and six points higher than the control group.
“Clearly, this initial review exposure influenced their opinion, even after they played the game themselves,” said EEDAR. “Data from the… study suggests that high critic reviews have a strong positive impact on the likelihood of positive word-of-mouth recommendations.”
The findings didn’t end there, though. Those who read the high review scores were more than twice as likely to take a copy of the game instead of $10 than the group exposed to low review scores.
So there you have it: proof that our words influence you.
Via Edge
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