Yves MakhoulDoes a game's BOX ART help it sell well?
December 21st 2008 00:23
Another quick one:
A game's box art is not its game. In fact, it practically has nothing to do with the gaming experience. However, some believe it has everything to do with blind buys and casual sales at the store. Therefore a significant portion of overall sales.
Prince of Persia, the latest iteration of the long running series, didn't sell so well. In the US it sold 189,200 on the Xbox 360 and 141,834 on the PS3 in its first week. At 330 thousand copies in the US alone in its first week, it's definitely not a flop by any means.
However, for a title of its calibre, it should have garnered more sales.
I think we've reached a point in games where an actual screenshot from the game itself could be used as the final box art. For example, take a look at this screen shot I found at IGN. Tell me that doesn't look better than the above box art.
Now one could argue that box art means nothing. I disagree. Many people still don't know the Prince and they would be much more inclined to delve into an adventure that looks like the second picture rather than what was chosen as the final box art. Screen shots, rather than concept art, should now replace all promotional material -- it's clear we've reached that point.
Kinda lame Prince box art
A game's box art is not its game. In fact, it practically has nothing to do with the gaming experience. However, some believe it has everything to do with blind buys and casual sales at the store. Therefore a significant portion of overall sales.
Prince of Persia, the latest iteration of the long running series, didn't sell so well. In the US it sold 189,200 on the Xbox 360 and 141,834 on the PS3 in its first week. At 330 thousand copies in the US alone in its first week, it's definitely not a flop by any means.
However, for a title of its calibre, it should have garnered more sales.
I think we've reached a point in games where an actual screenshot from the game itself could be used as the final box art. For example, take a look at this screen shot I found at IGN. Tell me that doesn't look better than the above box art.
The in-game beauty
Now one could argue that box art means nothing. I disagree. Many people still don't know the Prince and they would be much more inclined to delve into an adventure that looks like the second picture rather than what was chosen as the final box art. Screen shots, rather than concept art, should now replace all promotional material -- it's clear we've reached that point.
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