GamerMetrics: Smash Bros Leading Anticipation, Assassin's Creed SKUs Compared

Author: by Leigh Alexander, Staff

Even after the release of many major holiday games, IGN's GamerMetrics service has been looking once more at most-awaited game titles, revealing 2008's Super Smash Bros. Melee atop its charts, but also taking an in-depth look at relative demand for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Assassin's Creed. Among anticipated titles based on IGN's web traffic and purchase intent data, Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii is firmly in the lead, with 5 percent of the total mindshare. In second place is WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 for PS3, with 3.11 percent, and the Xbox 360 SKU of Assassin's Creed comes in third overall with 2.63 percent. Slightly further down the chart, Mario makes an appearance again in the fourth spot, garnering 2.54 percent of mindshare with Super Mario Galaxy, and Mass Effect takes the fifth spot with 2.33 percent. The complete top ten breakdown of most-anticipated titles is as follows: 1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) 5.00 % 2. WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 (PS3) 3.11% 3. Assassin's Creed (X360) 2.63% 4. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) 2.54% 5. Mass Effect (X360) 2.33% 6. WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 (X360) 1.99% 7 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) 1.91% 8. Assassin's Creed (PS3) 1.86% 9. Rock Band (X360) 1.70% 10. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) 1.29% 11. Crysis (PC) 1.24% 12. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) 1.13% Says GamerMetrics, "While gamers will always look forward to the Super Marios and the Halos of this world, a whole new set of franchises are beginning to make their mark on the industry." One such title that appears to be garnering mindshare among IGN's audience is Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, scheduled for launch on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on November 13th. The GamerMetrics data released in its latest report indicates that Assassin's Creed is set for big sales, with high anticipation data in the above countdown. In fact, both SKUs have combined for over 18 million page views on IGN's sites since the beginning of 2007 -- over 10,000 IGN users have added the title to their Club IGN wish lists - with the following graph being provided: Adds GamerMetrics, "Based on our internal forecasting models, we expect the Xbox 360 version will sell approximately 1 million units in the U.S. by the end of the year, and the PlayStation 3 version should reach the 350,000 unit mark." [NOTE: For the purposes of compiling GamerMetrics' 'mindshare' number, two factors are combined: awareness data, based on the traffic patterns of the millions of monthly visitors to IGN.com (Avg. Daily Gamers), and purchase intent data - based on the activity of over 600,000 IGN.com registered users who regularly update their Wishlists.]