OTX unveils GamePlan consumer tracking tool

Consumer research and consulting firm OTX will officially announce the launch of its videogame marketing tool, GamePlan Insights, at the MI6 conference in San Francisco later today.

GamePlan is an online service which collects data on consumer opinions for games six months prior to and six months after launch. It does this through conducting around 1000 lengthy consumer surveys a week, incentivised with prizes.

"The goal with GamePlan is to present scientific primary research," OTX gaming director Nick Williams told Gamasutra."There aren't too many companies putting out syndicated data with actual research data reflective of the actual purchase population. It's a credible research source for an industry that's growing up."

OTX has partnered with GameFly and AERS, the e-commerce researcher, to form the GamePlan Consumer Tracker, which will provide information on what current and future games are most desirable to rent or own.

The company's founder and CEO Shelley Zalis added: "The ongoing feedback we get from consumers is the way to make research relevant today. GamePlan was built to plug into and listen to our gamer."

The Consumer Tracker has been gathering information since October 2008 and has already processed data on 600 games from 25,000 players.