April 14th, 2023, Kineree Shah
Last month, Ubisoft, the renowned developer behind hit games such as Assassin's Creed and Far Cry, revealed that it is employing an AI "Ghostwriter" tool to write dialogue for some of its games. This innovative approach aims to make NPCs (non-playable characters) more engaging and lifelike while reducing manual work. According to YouGov BrandIndex, which monitors brand perception among consumers daily, this announcement positively impacted the company's image.
In the US, Ubisoft experienced the most significant surge in Word of Mouth (WOM) exposure throughout March, outperforming all other brands tracked by YouGov. WOM asks consumers if they have talked about the brand with family or friends in the prior two weeks. Our data indicates that both the general public and gamers are talking about Ubisoft now more than any other point within the last 12 months, as illustrated in the chart below. For this analysis, we define gamers as consumers who spend over an hour per week playing video games on consoles, PCs, mobile phones, or handheld devices.
So, does this latest announcement impact the purchase funnel? Among the general public, consideration for the brand has reached its highest level since the beginning of the year. On March 25, just three days after the announcement, the score rose to 13.8, compared to a score of 9.2 on January 14. Notably, the most significant increase occurred among adults aged 35-49. While adults aged 50 and above were also impacted, Profiles data reveals that this demographic is the least likely to be in the market for a video game purchase this year.
Perhaps the most significant victory for Ubisoft is the growth of its Consideration score among consumers who are likely to purchase video games within the next 30 days. This score reached its highest level since the start of the year, climbing from 17.9 on January 1, 2023, to 21.8 on March 25.
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Methodology - YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. A brand’s Word of Mouth score is based on the question: “Which of the following brands have you talked about with friends and family in the past two weeks (whether in person, online, or through social media)?” Consideration score is based on the question: “When you are in the market next to make a purchase, which brands would you consider?” Data from surveys of adults aged 18 years and above residing in the US from March 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. Word of Mouth and Consideration scores are based on a four-week moving average. The change in scores for each brand is calculated by taking the difference between the highest and lowest scoring days within the period. Learn more about BrandIndex.
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