My Guitar Hero conspiracy theory!

breadmonkey

Right, this is something I noticed while doing my Christmas shopping last year and in all honesty I have no evidence whatsoever to back it up. I'm only going on my own intuition and just thought I'd throw it out to see if people thought there might be the possibility that something's going on.

So I went downstairs in a-store-that-shall-not-be-named and notice that 'Guitar Hero' game is the No. 1 game for the PS2 according to the in-store top 10. This threw me as I would have expected titles like FIFA to be in pole position (this game was actually something like 5th or 6th). So there we have a game which requires the player to purchase an extra guitar controller thingy in order to play the game. I would have thought that this would make the game less popular as all kids get the money for games from their parents and it would make sense that most parents would not be willing to shell out the cost of another game on the unique controllers required.

The store know they have loads of parents coming in to buy their kids games for Christmas. They know that some of these will be under instruction to buy game X and others will simply be looking for some sort of popular game. Of the latter group, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that they won't really have much of an idea of which games are popular among kids. So they look around and see

"Ah, this Guitar Hero game is the most popular; it must be good!"
"Oh wait, I'll have to buy these extra controllers... ah well, I want to make sure they're happy"....etc. etc. blah blah blah....

I said earlier that most parents would be reluctant to shell out for the new controllers. In the case where they are on the spot in the shop with limited time to buy many Christmas items, I believe they are more likely to fork out the cash.

So in summary I think that they might have been falsely claiming that Guitar Hero was the top selling in order to boost sales of this game (which effectively sells for a higher price because of the extra merchandise that must be purchased in accompaniment).

let me have it....

Ciaran500

Those charts are made up by who ever is setting up shelves some time with instruction from the manager to put X game in no 1, my friend has to do it every week.

humanji

It's simple marketing really. You give the consumer the impression that they want to buy the item. And besides, Guitar Hero is remarkably popular, so it wouldn't be far off the top of the list anyway.

minidazzler

I dont think it says anywhere in any store that it is the most bought Game.

I have never seen a sign that stated that.

But human nature dictates that No. 1 is the Best and therefore lets get it.

Its not so much a conspiracy as it is a Marketing Tactic where the ethics are questionable.(if it does not state that it is the highest selling game)

On the flip side while it may not sell most copies it could be the one that earns most money and therefore there No. 1 game???

Ciaran500

minidazzler wrote: »

Its not so much a conspiracy as it is a Marketing Tactic where the ethics are questionable.(if it does not state that it is the highest selling game)

Heh, ethics in marketing.

minidazzler

Ciaran500 wrote: »

Heh, ethics in marketing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

Yes I agree with Bill on most things.

Especially Marketing after I had a job interview today with a "marketing firm" its really just a door to door sales thing!!! I bailed when I found out!!!!

breadmonkey

Ciaran500 wrote: »

Those charts are made up by who ever is setting up shelves some time with instruction from the manager to put X game in no 1, my friend has to do it every week.

Well then I suppose it isn't really a conspiracy theory but I'm still pleased that I spotted it!