It hasn't been too long since Sony implemented Trophies, the Playstation 3 reward system. Seeing how successful Achievements are on the Xbox 360, naturally it was only a matter of time before Sony would follow suit and develop Trophies. Beforehand, completing games was rewarding in itself, but with the implementation of Achievements, gamers generally seem to spend more time on a game than they would otherwise, which in turn would lead them to buy sequels. However, now that the PS3 has Trophies, does that necessarily guarantee the success of the system?

So after much rumour, months of waiting, and one false start Sony have finally launched Trophies. Trophies are the PlayStation 3 gaming reward system which is clearly inspired by the success of Achievements on the Xbox 360. As Sony only implemented the Trophy system in July games that support it have been sparse. But this holiday will see the trickle of PS3 games that support Trophies slowly turn into a flood. But just how important are they to making a purchasing decision?

Once upon a time completing a game was reward in itself, but now you can receive Achievement Points or Trophies for accomplishing extra objectives. They don’t change the game for a player, and not everybody responds to them, but the effect is the player will play a game for longer. Traditionally you go from A through to Z in a straightforward playthrough of a game. However the allure of Trophies means that once you have completed a game you might play a game again on a harder lever, or with different weapons, or go in search of special items. The overall effect is that a player spends much more time with a game then they might otherwise, they will see greater value in the franchise and are more likely to buy a sequel. In fact technology research firm EEDAR found that a diversity of Achievements in Xbox 360 games led to higher review scores and stronger sales.

Although the Trophy system has only recently gone live, developers have had ample time to prepare as Sony announced them early last year during the big HOME reveal. Naughty Dog took the time to implement Medals, a reward system, into their game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune allowing them to easily patch the game with full Trophy support. Criterion Games took the decision to ‘lock’ game saves for Burnout Paradise to an individual PS3 user account, so that when they Trophy patch the game, it will retroactively reward players with Trophies. So for gamers who like to brag about their gaming successes, and developers who can expect increased sales this should be a win win situation right? Maybe.

Supernouva via playthree.net »