Pitchford: Easy Achievements boost sales by up to 40,000 units

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 7th 2009 at 6:00PM }

We knew that there was contingency of Xbox 360 owners who place a remarkable amount of importance on their largely unimportant Gamerscore -- however, a recent Official Xbox Magazine interview with Gearbox president Randy Pitchford has got us worried about our fellow man. According to Pitchford, developers who tweak their game's Achievements to make them a tad easier to obtain can boost sales of said game "by something like 10 and 40 thousand units."

Yes, Pitchford claims that there are 10 to 40 thousand people out there who purchase games based on their capacity to bolster their e-peen. That represents around $2.4 million being spent on making an inconsequential number slightly larger. Our faith in humanity wasn't just shaken by Pitchford's report -- it was absolutely obliterated. We're gonna go watch Rudy a few times until that faith is restored.

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Tags: achievements, gamerscore, gearbox, randy-pitchford, xbox-360

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Tomsta666 @ Oct 7th 2009 6:03PM

I'd love to see the sales and rental figures of Avatar.

I enjoy going for achievements, I won't deny it. But it's most definately only a way of getting a little bit more out of a game i've just beat. It's not a priority.

WiredKnight: Keeper of Threads @ Oct 7th 2009 6:29PM

Yes. Thank you!

It's already satisfying to complete a game, but achievements help make it even more gratifying. Helps add a little more play value to a game, and with games costing what they do, anything to extend a game's life is welcome.

Archon (PSN: Archonik, XBL: DarkARHN) @ Oct 7th 2009 6:33PM

Guilty as charged. Rented Avatar just to get the Achievements. Had to queue for it for a couple months though, lol.

David @ Oct 7th 2009 6:43PM

AGREED on the cheap aspect. a game (that i enjoy regardless of achievements) that i'd beat in a week can now last me up to a month depending on the achievements. definitely helps you out when you're unemployed.

Scott @ Oct 7th 2009 8:53PM

Totally disagree. I will play a game for three reasons, above and beyond the pleasure of playing:
- to beat it
- to unlock things
- extra heapings of fun

This is to say, I'll play a moderately fun game to beat it/unlock things...but probably won't play it for sheer fun. However, if I do come into ownership of a game I really adore, I will continue to play it--even after beating it and/or unlocking everything.

Lots of multiplayer games fall into this category...but I just put in the first Uncharted recently as well..

Ridgecity @ Oct 7th 2009 9:18PM

Achievements are to Microsoft what Pokemen are to Nintendo:

Gotta Catch'em All!

sleepydumbdude @ Oct 8th 2009 8:37AM

Yes I'd love to see how many times that is bought and returned to gamestop. I just watched the series and decided to pick up the game for the easy achievements and was going to play through it anyways since I liked the series. Game was ass.. in the cut scenes the characters mouths didn't even move so I took it back to gamestop with their 7 day return policy.

Chibi Chaingun - blackhivemedia.com @ Oct 8th 2009 6:23PM

I am still waiting for Avatar to come out. :\ You guys are from the future! James Cameron sent you guys back to get all the achievements.

hector88 @ Oct 7th 2009 6:03PM

I believe this is true, look at all the people who bought Wanted: Weapons of Fate, Terminator: Salvation, and Hannah Montana just for easy achievements/trophies.

philmcphail @ Oct 7th 2009 6:20PM

You think that's bad? I know a guy and my friends list that has about 50,000g on his gamerscore. And these aren't easy achievements like Avatar or Terminator Salvation game. He has 1000g on games like the Orange Box, Gears, and 90% of his other games. I don't know if I should commend him for his skills or just feel bad for him.

mywhitenoise @ Oct 7th 2009 6:21PM

Its no joke either, everyone on those leaderboards have those games on their lists. They're trying to look cool by having an inflated gamerscore/trophy level...but it has the total opposite effect. Imagining someone spending a day just to 100% Hannah Montana is pathetic and ridiculous.

I wont lie, I enjoy platinuming the games I love (I plan on doing that for the Uncharted and Ratchet sequels, and eventually Warhawk)...but I have way too much pride to play some crappy game just to get an easy trophy.

Jawmuncher (PSN & XBL:Jawmuncher) @ Oct 7th 2009 7:18PM

I'll admit i'll play games with easy achievements but only if they interest me.
You won't see me playing ratatouille, but I will play something like Terminator or Wanted. I like both of these movies and the games were fun rentals. Hell I actually want to buy Wanted when I find it for cheap enough even though I already have everything completed in it. I just dislike how some people see a easy game on a gamercard or something and assume. Oh man he played that just for the achievements nothing else.

I have played numerous games on my 360 such as avatar, king kong, and fuzion frenzy. These are all games that fall into the oh he played that only for the easy points. But simple fact is I enjoyed most of them Fuzion Frenzy was a fun game especially with friends (Not as good as the first on xbox though) King Kong on 360 was much better than the OG Xbox version i own, I love that game mainly for the dinosaurs. Now i'll admit avatar.....not that good I got the 1000 and really tried to play the whole game even after that but about halfway it really wasn't going to work out. Shame since I enjoy the show.

Simple fact is just because you see easy achievement games on a gamercard doesn't mean they played them just for the achievements.

Noodles In Soup @ Oct 7th 2009 6:04PM

I don't think I'm allowed to comment, seeing as I have played Avatar, Fusion Frenzy 2, Open Season and a few other games only for the achievements. Am I a bad person, Griffin?

mywhitenoise @ Oct 7th 2009 6:23PM

Not a bad person, just lame.

Eric B @ Oct 7th 2009 6:49PM

Hey Fusion Frenzy is a good game to fuck around with when drinking with friends. haha

Jawmuncher (PSN & XBL:Jawmuncher) @ Oct 7th 2009 7:23PM

Like other people in the comments were saying, if that's what he wants to play for let him. I never have a problem with how someone wants to get there trophies or achievement score higher. If they want to play X Disney games all day let them.
Not like there ruining you gamercard. Hell it should just make you feel better.
Something like I love trophies but you don't see me sinking to such depths for playing games just for the trophies and nothing else.

Silencio @ Oct 8th 2009 3:50PM

@assmuncher
You're defending this waaaay too much. I'm sorry, I just don't believe you actually like that many crappy games with an easy 1k gp. I smell a cheevo whore.

tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 7th 2009 6:04PM

Who the hell's stupid enough to buy games JUST because of easy achievements? That's why Gamefly exists.

Platinum_Skeet @ Oct 7th 2009 6:15PM

There are a lot of spoiled fat kids on XBL...

nriveraexpress @ Oct 7th 2009 6:16PM

indeed

Platinum_Skeet @ Oct 7th 2009 6:20PM

Here's proof...

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

nriveraexpress @ Oct 7th 2009 6:28PM

lol thank god for the mute button

Bobby Kotick 2: Echoes @ Oct 7th 2009 6:39PM

I actually don't like the easy acheivements/trrophies. They're so common and so simple that there might as well be one for just putting the disc into the console.

Traceur_Ryuk [All Digital until December] (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Oct 7th 2009 6:56PM

LOL, if that was my kid I would beat the fuck out of him.

Cody @ Oct 7th 2009 8:47PM

"LOL, if that was my kid I would beat the fuck out of him."

That's 99% of anyone on Xbox Live.

[ArchiGamer] [80% ENTERTAINMENT BY VOLUME] @ Oct 7th 2009 8:53PM

If that was my kid, I would break his 360 to teach him a lesson. Seriously.

Brodo @ Oct 8th 2009 12:11AM

I dont even wanna know what would have happened if she had brought him a glass of white milk...

CheeziePotato (PSN: talic10 | XBL: InfiniteMovie) @ Oct 8th 2009 8:34AM

If I had ever talked to my mom like that, she'd break my SNES and make me sleep in the garage. Thank god she kicked me out of the house years ago.

Warlock @ Oct 7th 2009 6:05PM

What I can't believe is how stupid these people are. Even if you have the need to stroke your e-peen, what ever happened to *renting*?

Noodles In Soup @ Oct 7th 2009 6:07PM

If the game is frequently out of stock, the rental stores (and more importantly, Gamefly) are going to pick up more copies.

Roger @ Oct 7th 2009 6:07PM

oh who cares. Can't we care about SOMETHING in games. Can't we have something to show off, to reach for, to increase the length of gameplay in crap that isn't even worth playing or winning awards?

If I gotta play a shitty game then I want something for it wither it be a score or a "Thanks for playing".

uncle jesse @ Oct 7th 2009 6:08PM

You're proud to "show off" your 1000 points in Avatar?

(01) @ Oct 7th 2009 6:20PM

"If I gotta play a shitty game" Explain to me why you ever "gotta" play a game you know will be bad. I try not to waste my time/money on entertainment that will be sub-par, I don't see why video games are any different.

Marty @ Oct 7th 2009 6:37PM

HEe doesn't "gotta" play anything. But if he wants to play a game, it's his business if he's playing it because he's genuinely interested in it, or if he just wants the achievement points.

Sure, it's a pointless number. But if that's why some people like to play games, who am I to stop them?

uncle jesse @ Oct 7th 2009 6:07PM

So people will buy a game, knowing that it's horrible, as long as the achievements are easy to get?

Have mercy.

deathxrebirth (PSN: deathxrebirth) @ Oct 7th 2009 6:07PM

While I don't buy games for trophies, nor am I trophy whore, I do like to 100% my games. So while I wouldn't NOT buy a game based on easy trophies or not, I definitely shake my fists when there are insanely hard trophies. *looks at you Killzone Elite/1% online trophy >_

Warlock @ Oct 7th 2009 6:13PM

I can agree with this. Though on the other hand, while a lot of the achievements in Dead Rising were hard, they were also a blast to do and they added a lot of replay value to the game (minus the survival mode bullcrap... I'm not going to play the game for freaking 15 hours strait with no saves!)

David @ Oct 7th 2009 6:17PM

i'm pretty much the same. i'm a self-described achievement whore, but you'll never see a game on my list that i bought just to get achievements. every game i own is because i like the game, and if there are tough achievements that come with them, so be it.

Kodros @ Oct 7th 2009 7:43PM

That KZ2 trophy isn't hard, just somewhat time consuming. I put in 3 hours a day for a week to get it. Now, WipeoutHD trophies...those are insanely hard. Zone 75?!? GTFO.

deathxrebirth (PSN: deathxrebirth) @ Oct 7th 2009 9:24PM

Oh I got the 1% trophy early on, still was kind of a bitch (especially worrying about it when I wasn't playing "ahhhh, my rank is dropping by the second!" :p).

Elite is another story entirely ;_;

Drew -- PS360: uphillbothways @ Oct 7th 2009 6:08PM

I don't play a game for the achievements, though occasionally I'll glance at the list when I get curious after the "Achievement Unlocked" flashes on the bottom. Then I might try for some, but only if it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the game as a game.

That's for the 360 though. I don't care about PS3 trophies at all.

uncle jesse @ Oct 7th 2009 6:16PM

The achievements I like are the ones that are fun and/or require skill to get, like beating every campaign on expert in L4D. Then it's rewarding to finally unlock that one. I don't even bother going for achievements that want you to collect junk hidden in every corner of the world, for example. Pulling up a map and spending hours walking around looking for stuff isn't exactly my idea of a good time.

I don't know why, but I don't really care about trophies either, haha. I can't explain it any further than that.

Prox @ Oct 8th 2009 9:29AM

I'm with uncle jesse. I find harder, rarer achievements much more rewarding. Things like beating games on the highest difficulty or pulling off feats that very few people can do/have done. There's nothing special about beating an easy game on the easiest difficulty and getting the "Spam the B Button" achievement.

Tom Kalinske, CEO. (tomkalinske.blogspot.com) @ Oct 7th 2009 6:10PM

I just don't care as far as achievements go. Unless there is incentive to unlock them (Firefight characters, Recon), I just play the game.

The Dark Wayne [Planeteer: Power of the Batusi] @ Oct 7th 2009 6:11PM

that's true for me to a point, while I do love collecting achievements, I'm not the kind that'll play Avatar the last airbender or WALL E for some easy points, i may occasionally play movie games if they're from something I already enjoy i.e. Iron Man. The one exception, is that if a game is barely worth buying on its own, and then it has achievements like "Play 250 matches" when no one will play then i probably wont play it

SEVENim @ Oct 7th 2009 8:58PM

I agree with you. I watched my friend play Avatar for the points and that was enough to get me interested in watching the episode - which got me interested in watch the other 60; so i guess i have the playing-kids-games-for-achievements phenomenon to thank for getting me to watch the most brilliant kids show ive seen in years.