PlayStation Network's Welcome Back program did well in bringing consumers back to the PS3, according to the latest EEDAR research, and digging a bit deeper into the report, we see that Sony may have inadvertently discovered a new release sequence that other publishers could also benefit from.
EEDAR suggests one of two possibilities: offering free, for a limited time, an older iteration of the product prior to the launch of the title’s next iteration - OR - release an older iteration, for free for a limited time, two to four months after a new iteration has been launched.
"While the Welcome Back program was designed to rekindle the activity and consumer trust of PlayStation Network users, the data suggests it may have highlighted a new profitable sequence for video games," said EEDAR's Jesse Divnich.
"ESRB president Patricia Vance once discussed the lack of 'release sequences' in the video game industry compared to other forms of entertainment. For instance, a movie is first released in theatres where it generates the most revenue, then moves to the Pay-Per-View market, followed by the rental market and lastly, broadcast for free on network television. Within the video game industry, however, these sequences typically occursimultaneously with games being available physically, digitally and for rental concurrently and rarely made available for free."
"The data [from the Welcome Back program] would indicate that the free sequence may be incredibly beneficial to the video game industry. For instance, LittleBigPlanet 2 experienced a 66% gain in IGN Page Views and a 23% increase in Unique Interest (an IGN viewer indicating interest or purchase in a title) in June compared to the month of May. A strong possible explanation for this would be that after consumers played LittleBigPlanet for free through the PlayStation Network, many actively looked for the sequel and in some cases purchased the game."
He continued, "Using a separate metric, GameTrailers.com Media Views, LittleBigPlanet 2 trailer views increased 69% over the comparable time period, independently reinforcing IGN’s results. Lastly, using Google Insights, a third independent data source and Dead Nation, another game from the Welcome Back program, consumer searches for 'Dead Nation 2' skyrocketed the week of June 11th. Similar to LittleBigPlanet 2, EEDAR believes this data suggests consumers were actively seeking for more information (and possibly would have made a purchase, if a sequel had existed) for Dead Nation 2."
