Survey: Individual Titles Don't Drive PS3 Sales

Individual exclusives play a surprisingly small role in driving PlayStation 3 sales -- in fact, it's the lowest factor on a long list of considerations, finds a new study from media research firm Nielsen. To gather its data, Nielsen talked to 700 gamers ages 7-54 over three weeks surrounding the launch of PlayStation 3-exclusive blockbuster God of War III -- before, during and after release. The gamers surveyed weren't PS3 owners but expressed interest in getting one in the next six months. But for 65 percent of respondents, the primary reason for wanting the system was actually the PS3's Blu-ray drive, and the price reduction that came with the Slim launch was the second most commonly-cited answer, motivating 63 percent of the respondents. Almost half of gamers said they wanted a PS3 for its multimedia capabilities -- data likely seen as a positive for Sony, which recently launched the "it only does everything" campaign to position the PS3 as an all-purpose media device. While God of War III was the most popularly-chosen software title among gamers planning to buy a PS3 for a specific title, only 12 percent of those surveyed said a game was the driving reason behind their planned PS3 purchase. 33 percent of gamers who wanted to buy the PS3 for a particular title chose God of War. As the survey was conducted during the popular title's launch period, other titles were a good ways behind, with 13 percent choosing Final Fantasy XIII as the distant runner-up and most other titles from a list of 20 falling at 3 percent or below. However, the broader software library available on the PS3 was the third most popular factor, with 63 percent of those surveyed calling it primary.