Following the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), new video game titles were announced, and more release dates were solidified. With the new titles and dates, Nielsen revisited which console video game titles have the greatest consumer anticipation for 2012. Halo 4 continues to be the most coveted title for Xbox 360 gamers, though Call of Duty: Black Ops II has now inserted itself at the top of the list for PS3 gamers (ranking a close second on Xbox 360 as well). For Wii, Just Dance 4 debuted in the top spot.
Madden NFL 13 still ranks in the top 5 for all three consoles, with three other titles making the top 15 across the consoles as well; Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012), FIFA Soccer 13, and NBA 2K13. In addition to Call of Duty: Black Ops II, other titles that are not releasing on the Wii but have high marks on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 are Assassin’s Creed III, Resident Evil 6 and Borderlands 2.
The anticipation level among gaming consumers was derived from leveraging several key consumer metrics, including Awareness and Purchase Interest, into one overall score. That score was then compared to scores from all previous games released on the same platform at the same point in their release cycles, to determine the percentile ranking of the upcoming title (aka the Nielsen Game Rank™).
Consumer data was derived from online interviews of 4,823 male and female active gamers (those who own at least one current generation console and actively play on and purchase games for that console), between the ages of 7 to 54. The timeframe for the data collection was June 3 to June 30, so consumer measures may shift further as marketing efforts heat up over the rest of the year.
| 2012 Title for Xbox 360 | Release Date | Game Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Halo 4 | 11/6/2012 | 99% |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops II | 11/13/2012 | 97% |
| Assassin’s Creed III | 10/30/2012 | 94% |
| Madden NFL 13 | 8/28/2012 | 94% |
| Resident Evil 6 | 10/2/2012 | 93% |
| Borderlands 2 | 9/18/2012 | 88% |
| NCAA Football 13 | 7/10/2012 | 83% |
| NBA 2K13 | 10/2/2012 | 82% |
| FIFA Soccer 13 | 9/25/2012 | 79% |
| Fable: The Journey | 10/9/2012 | 77% |
| Darksiders II | 8/14/2012 | 76% |
| Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012) | 10/30/2012 | 74% |
| Far Cry 3 | 12/4/2012 | 74% |
| Medal of Honor: Warfighter | 10/23/2012 | 74% |
| NHL 13 | 9/11/2012 | 69% |
| 2012 Title for PS3 | Release Date | Game Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty: Black Ops II | 11/13/2012 | 99% |
| Madden NFL 13 | 8/28/2012 | 97% |
| Assassin’s Creed III | 10/30/2012 | 97% |
| Resident Evil 6 | 10/2/2012 | 96% |
| NCAA Football 13 | 7/10/2012 | 93% |
| Borderlands 2 | 9/18/2012 | 88% |
| NBA 2K13 | 10/2/2012 | 85% |
| Darksiders II | 8/14/2012 | 81% |
| NHL 13 | 9/11/2012 | 80% |
| FIFA Soccer 13 | 9/25/2012 | 79% |
| Far Cry 3 | 12/4/2012 | 79% |
| Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012) | 10/30/2012 | 78% |
| Hitman: Absolution | 11/20/2012 | 77% |
| Transformers: Fall of Cybertron | 8/28/2012 | 77% |
| WWE ’13 | 11/1/2012 | 75% |
| 2012 Title for Wii | Release Date | Game Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Just Dance 4 | 10/9/2012 | 97% |
| Madden NFL 13 | 8/28/2012 | 94% |
| Just Dance: Disney Party | 10/23/2012 | 94% |
| Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two | 11/20/2012 | 86% |
| Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure | 9/18/2012 | 79% |
| WWE ’13 | 11/1/2012 | 74% |
| Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012) | 10/30/2012 | 71% |
| NBA 2K13 | 10/2/2012 | 69% |
| FIFA Soccer 13 | 9/25/2012 | 64% |
| The Last Story | 7/31/2012 | 63% |
| Everyone Sing | 9/4/2012 | 61% |
| Ice Age: Continental Drift: Arctic Games | 7/10/2012 | 37% |
| Skylanders Giants | 10/1/2012 | 33% |
| Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 | 9/25/2012 | 11% |
| Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game | 11/20/2012 | 7% |
Notes:
Titles included in the analysis are those expected to release on at least one current generation console (360, PS3, Wii) between July and December 2012.
An example of how to read Nielsen Game Rank™ data – a title at three months pre-release with a Nielsen Game Rank™ of 80% on Xbox 360 is performing better in overall consumer anticipation measures than 80% of all previous Xbox 360 titles when those titles were three months from release.
