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Recently Announced Video Game Titles Join List of 2012’s Most Anticipated

3 minute read | July 2012

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.

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