Comments on: SCEA Top Ten Home Items (By Units Sold) For January, With Consumer Trend Analysis

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:55:16 +0000

Maybe it is because less females are coming onto Home..maybe the word is out..Home can be a not so friendly environment if your a girl..When you have to deal with guys sniffing your “patuty” or harassing you verbally, what the appeal..You end up spending your time either defending yourself or to keep running from place to place..many times I have had to stop dominating the race track at Sodium2 because some guy decided to see up close and personal my standards of grooming…

By: NorseGamer

NorseGamer — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:32:37 +0000

What’s interesting, though, is that if we look back at 2011’s lists, female-specific clothing was much more prominent. It slowly tapered off as the year progressed, until we’re now at the point where it’s conspicuous by its absence.

My hunch is that 2012, particularly the latter half of the year, is going to be dominated by chips/tokens/etc. as gaming is pushed to the forefront.

By: keara22hi

keara22hi — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:15:15 +0000

So,,,Digital Leisure is in 3 of the top 10 slots. Do I get to say “I told you so!” In the article that appeared in HSM last year http://www.hsmagazine.net/2011/06/lightning-in-a-bottle-recapturing-the-magic-of-the-poker-rooms/
I quoted the research we had done, interviewing 96 of the hard-core poker players who had been in the EA poker rooms on a daily basis. Only 2 out of the 96 said they would never buy chips to play. Now I stand and wait for a table with the fistful of chips I bought to play. It’s because poker is just too damned popular!

By: ElSkutto

ElSkutto — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:42:40 +0000

Let’s not forget that things like clothing are specific to a gender, so they’ll always sell in lesser quantities than, say a personal space, or the generic token/chip packs. It actually makes sense that the majority of top sellers are non-gender specific items.

Personally, I find that I rarely buy individual articles of clothing, unless it’s a costume. I find I get more than enough individual clothing items for free as rewards and whatnot, that spending actual money on them feels like a bit of a waste.

By: Kassadee Marie

Kassadee Marie — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:15:25 +0000

Well, I like Creek Falls and I find it unique. I’ll probably pick it up this month. It doesn’t surprise me that the Gothic Manor and Nebula Airship didn’t sell as well. Didn’t the Cutteridge Estate and the Loot Space Apartment just “do it better”?

By: NorseGamer

NorseGamer — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:29:47 +0000

That’s an interesting point, Liza; it’s possible that too much choice is “splitting the vote,” so to speak. Same might also hold true for the gemstone suits.

One of the things I didn’t point out in the article is that, like you, I don’t fall into the January top-ten sales demographic either. I don’t own anything on that list. I don’t get a sense of SCEA marketing trying to aggressively push any of that stuff on me, though; it’s just clear that my purchasing habits follow more of a social trend than a gaming trend (with the exception of Novus Prime and Sodium2).

By: MsLiZa

MsLiZa — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:15:54 +0000

I took a moment to think about what I purchased on Home in the past month. Actually, it only took half a moment. I didn’t buy anything from SCEA. A couple of items caught my fancy in EU.

The Mahjong personal space…because I love the design. Way more charming than mansions of the gaudy, gold or dark, gloomy variety! I was totally unfamiliar with the game of Mahjong but it’s entertaining as well.

I also had to have the silver-buckled, gothic boots in EU because I love the ones I have in NA. I need a pair of those in real life.

That’s about it. I’m more than satisfied that I don’t fall into the Top 10 sales demographic on Home. My purchases on Home or in real life are always based upon what I want and not what some marketing department tries to convince me that I need. I think I bought a Green Ticket about a year ago because I wanted the golf cart. The popularity of the Falls Creek line is baffling to me as well.

Don’t you feel that the lack of clothing items on the list is due to the wide variety of each option released each week? It’s not unusual for a new top to be released in 5 different colours. Or 5 new hairstyles released at once. These items are popular but no single version may be dominant enough to reach the top 10 list.

By: deuce_for2

deuce_for2 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:27:42 +0000

This is definitely an interesting time in Home. The tickets/tokens/coins are starting to dominate the list. I have been saying that Home sells experiences. The question is whether it is more enticing to spend money on a game experience than a virtual item? The game is more temporary, but also more experience than say a couch. As long as people see spending their money in Home similar to spending it on a movie, it will go well. Home is entertainment and needs to be compared in value to other types of entertainment. When it is, Home does extremely well on the dollar per hour scale.

I loved the comment about sheltering the children. That is how I feel and I love to see it in print. Excellent observations.