Skyrim awareness week

Market research company Ipsos has named The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim the number one unreleased game for what it calls New Franchise Engagement Analysis.

Using its GamePlan Insights tracking it ranked the top 25 franchises after tracking the ratio of awareness to purchase intent over an entire year. Skyrim had an FER (Franchise Engagement Ratio) of 0.536, from a awareness score of 19.2 per cent and a purchase intent score of 10.8 per cent.

While the sales ceiling for Elder Scrolls may be lower than powerhouse franchises such as Call of Duty and Madden, it has an avid and growing fanbase and a bright future," explained the report.

"Assuming Skyrim receives the critical acclaim that many in the industry are predicting, loyal fans will continue to evangelize the franchise to friends and family. This bottom up approach takes time to develop (the first Elder Scrolls launched in 1994), but clearly Bethesda has developed a rock solid foundation and has identified a winning formula for a successful and healthy video game franchise."

The Halo series was in second place, with a FER score of 0.541 and Uncharted just behind that at 0.526.

Call Of Duty, perhaps the title most would expect to grab the top spot was actually ranked sixth with an FER of 0.498 from an awareness of 62.1 per cent but a purchase intent of 30.9 per cent.

The rankings change depending on demographic, a look at males under the age of 18 shows that, despite the game's Mature rating, Call Of Duty has the highest FER for that group.

"Uncharted tops the male 35+ demo target, edging out Elder Scrolls, Halo and Madden. As the third ranked overall title, Uncharted performed well across all age groups. That said, older gamers aware of the franchise are more likely to pull the trigger on buying the game."

According to Ipsis, the games with the worst FER tend to be movie based franchises, with an average FER of 0.30. It blames the tendency for publishers to rush these games to market to fit in with film deadlines.