Do Zero Punctuation Reviews Affect Game Sales?

[Dectilon]

I wouldn't think so to be honest. He would have a bit of an effect on the audience that watch his videos, like he raves on about Portal, so I played it and loved it. But because he slates nearly every other game, you have to take some of it with a pinch of salt and buy the game if you think you'll enjoy it anyway.

I'd say the trick is to listen to the words he actually say and not the tone of voice with which he says them

You need more salt for your average game review because almost every game out there is scored too high. Take for example 1up's review of Eternal Poison. The reviewer rates it B- (7/10 I guess?), going on to explain the various flaws in gameplay which makes the game sound like utter crap. Then he bumps the score up a bunch on account of the art style and story that he calls "unique", yet after closer consideration it turns out to be nothing new under the sun. A crappy game with a run-of-the-mill story gets 7/10? That's insane! No, I'd rather have an angry nerd nitpicking than a "proffesional" reviewer forgiving.

Sands of Time was crap!

Most of everyone don't agree, so in that case you're the Yathzee

 

[Elurindel]

I was incredibly tempted to buy Painkiller, but I haven't. I DID buy Assassin's Creed based on his review, though. And I did almost fire it into the sun. Also bought Bioshock, only partially because of him.

 

[Greyhawk]

Jesus! Since when did Yahtzee all of a sudden become the gaming equivalent of Oprah?

The moment Steam quoted his line about a gun that shoots shurikens and lightning.

 

[gains]

I bought Painkiller at release. I even won a second copy from the little registration-card-send-in lottery. I hadn't played it for years and never finished the expansion. A day after his review, I loaded it back up and blasted my way up to the bridge full o' ninja level before stopping.

He didn't sell it to me, but I haven't bought any new PC games while I'm replaying it, for what that's worth.

 

[ccesarano]

This is under the assumption that indie/underground/unpopular games are always good.

Personally, I've lost my interest in Yahtzee. He doesn't amuse me much, and if he truly effected game sales I'd be incredibly disappointed. He wrote a bad review of Too Human (which, judging by a lot of his complaints, he sucked at playing anyway), and everyone was like "well I played the demo once and didn't like it, so I guess I was right!". No, you were wrong, and Yahtzee has such a level of standards that if they aren't all fulfilled the game is no good.

So Dead Space isn't Silent Hill 2. I say fuck him, because it is still one of the best games I've played this year, let alone this generation. Just because the SURVIVAL horror elements are ass doesn't make the game shitty, as it actually is a very well designed piece of awesome as far as games go.

So if Yahtzee's over bloated pretentious-coffee-house-asshole attitude on games doesn't effect their sales, I say thank fucking Christ.

Note: I'm not necessarily bitter because he overly trashes games I like. A lot of what he says is spot on. However, I've found that having to pump out a new ZP every week has caused him to lose a lot of funny and gain a lot more pretentious. I prefer his blog over ZP any day.

 

[Weavin]

If Yahtzee tells me a game is bad then I won't buy it.. so I guess that means yes even if it is just me!

 

[I Stomp on Kittens]

I dont think it does but thats just me

 

[Jharry5]

He'll definately help smaller, less known titles (if he reviews them positively). I mean, a 7,400% jump in sales can't really be ignored and, wishing no offence to the developers, it just wouldn't have been noticed without Yahtzee's review on it.
But major titles such as Halo, Bioshock, SSBB etc won't be affected by what he says (as the man himself said in one of his videos - I forget which).

 

[Naterstein]

If I am on the fence and it seems like there is validity to his review. I wont buy it.

But sometimes, I could care less what HE thinks and will buy the game anyway. Case in point: Fable 2.

Also while his review of EvE Online was pretty spot on. I played the game for about 2 years before quitting due to some logistics problems and I had some fun up to that point.

 

[Supernovajake]

I was very doubtful after looking at the title of the thread. However, the stats speak for themselves. 7400%!!?? With Yahtzee having this much influence, it's a wonder we don't all own a tiny game collection consisting of Pshyconauts, The Orange Box, PoP and Painkiller!

 

[LuisEz]

i dont know about the world, but in my house we toke very seriously Yahtzee's advises. and i bought painkiller after the review

 

[CRAVE CASE 55]

I think they do a little bit but not much

 

[Ace of Spades]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJzdDFGw88c
Yahtzee himself discussed this particular topic with regards to his Painkiller review.

 

[mike1921]

This is under the assumption that indie/underground/unpopular games are always good.

Personally, I've lost my interest in Yahtzee. He doesn't amuse me much, and if he truly effected game sales I'd be incredibly disappointed. He wrote a bad review of Too Human (which, judging by a lot of his complaints, he sucked at playing anyway)

No, the game just sucks. I can't believe it's not seen as that by everyone. It's absolutely impossible to have something hated all throughout the internet I guess. I can't even imagine it being a popular game that is average.

So Dead Space isn't Silent Hill 2. I say fuck him, because it is still one of the best games I've played this year, let alone this generation. Just because the SURVIVAL horror elements are ass doesn't make the game shitty, as it actually is a very well designed piece of awesome as far as games go.

I'm pretty sure they advertised the game as a survival horror game. If they sold it as a survival horror game and not an FPS it should be judged as such. If you sell me oblivion and act like it's mainly a swordfighting game, the box gives me the same impression on the front and back, and if I listened to the hype they were talking about how awesome the swordfighting is 90% of the time than I'm gonna say the game is shit regardless of how good the RPG aspects are.

 

[Spektre41]

This is a sales spike so huge that if it were given a physical form, Lovecraftian horrors would see it and say "damn, that thing is big."

 

[starcomusa30273]

I guess it can to some degree, but I highly doubt it. Because most gamers don?t know about ZP, so NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[Sewblon]

Yahtzee convinced me to buy Painkiller so I believe that he does affect the lesser know titles dramatically.

 

[Irridium]

I do remember a day or two after Yahtzee's Painkiller review that a banner was on the front page of the Steam store for the game that said in quotes "All you need to know is that there's a gun that shoots shurikens and lightning". After that, I think Painkiller was a top seller on Steam for about two weeks.

So, "Yahtzee Effect"? The evidence says so...

true but he did get invited to the Valve studioes, the main people on Steam, so they know him and probably put painkiller up because of him.

So I guess he does have an effect, I never even heard of the game before I watched his review.

 

[kommando367]

of course they spike up and heres the reason why.
anyone with half a brain on this site, knows croshaw's standards are through the roof and over the damn rainbow compared to those of other, more reasonable, reviewers, therefore if he thinks its good then it must be great. (games in need of quick thought on the players part being exeption)