Founded in 1983, originally named Babbage’s, inc. B&N launches GameStop chain first in FuncoLand video game stores were acquired by B&N and changed the name to GameStop, inc. Becomes an actual corporation in 2001 B&N invests 67% stake in GameStop The remaining 33% was distributed to GameStop shareholders Making GameStop a fully independent corporation Largest player in the U.S. specializing in video game retail First home console ever was the Atari 2600

Created by Ralph Baer In May 1966 created the “brown box” Played one game with a colleague… and lost! It was a game of tag where two dots chased each other on a screen

We split up and each went to 2 different GameStop locations, 6 total (Willow Grove, Airport Square, 2 in Montgomery Mall, 2 in Doylestown Township(1 by Redners and one by Kohls)) We stayed at each for 2 hours and observed games bought by every 3 rd person who purchased a game We noted the price, age of the buyer, rating, and the game system the game was bought for We collected data from 51 subjects and made 2 Chi-Squared GOF tests – 1 for rating and one for price We also did a 1-SampleT-Test of the mean $’s spent hourly

Age Categories – Kids(0-12), Teens (13-19), Young Adult (20-30), Middle Aged (31-59), Senior Citizen (60+) Price Categories – 0-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61+ Game System Categories – Wii, PS2, PS3, X-box, X-box 360, GameCube, PSP, GameBoy, Nintendo DS Rating Categories – (See next slide)

Data

Out of our sample of 51 people, not very many people seemed to spend $61 or greater on a game A majority of the people are in the middle range of – As well as is close to what the category is expected to be It appears as though people spend on the low end for games – They possibly wait till new games decrease slightly in price, and then purchase them

The purchase of games was most by Teens and Young Adults Teens Young Adult Makes sense because those age groups generally play video games the most Not many senior citizens or kids Games cost money and parents have to drive their kids if they want a game Senior citizens were probably buying games for grandkids, they generally don’t play video games because when they were younger they didn’t have the technology around today

Nearly 50% of the games bought were rated Teen Everyone and Mature were both equal making up about 20% EC and E10+ were equal, they nearly each made up 6% No one purchased any AO games – There were possibly not even any there to purchase % rounded to nearest 1,000 th EC = 5.9% E = 19.6% E10+ = 5.9% T = 49.0% M = 19.6% AO = 0%

The System games were more commonly bought for was the Xbox 360, then Wii Out of the games bought, PC games were the least popular – The PS3 also had a good amount at about 16% The PSP, GB and the Nintendo DS were all relatively close – They are all the only 3 handheld systems so it makes sense % rounded to nearest 1,000 th Wii = 29.4% PS3 = 15.7% PSP = 7.8% GB = 7.8% DS = 5.9% PC = 2% Xbox360 = 31.4% - non-stated are 0

According to our SRS….. The population for people who buy games at GameStop is mostly teens and middle-aged people – The fewest are Senior citizens The genre of games purchased is mostly Teen – Mature and ‘Everyone’ are tied for second – The most uncommon of ones purchased are E10+ and EC The two game systems most games are bought for are the Xbox 360 and the Wii – PS3 is third to them – The least purchased are PC Probably due to the lack of quality, the use of a keyboard, and the graphics The majority of games are between the price range of dollars – A close second is 0-20 People tend not to spend on the highest end of game prices – The least bought were in the 61+ category Most likely because the gap between a game of and the next price is great – Ex: Rock Band ($140)…. Our outlier

Chi-Square GOF Test on Price Ho: The observed frequency distribution of the range of price per videogame sold fits the expected distribution Ha: The observed frequency distribution of the range of price per videogame sold does not fit the expected distribution alpha = 0.05 Assumptions: State – SRS – All expected counts > or = 5 Check – Assumed – X Although all the assumptions have not been met, we will carry on with the Chi-Square Test

Chi-Square = E(observed-expected)squared expected ( )squared + ( )squared Chi-Square = P(Chi-Square > /df=3) = x 10^-4 Conclusion: -We reject Ho b/c p-value < alpha = We have sufficient evidence that the observed frequency of the range of price per videogame sold does not fit the expected distribution

Ho: The observed frequency distribution of game ratings of games bought fits the expected distribution Ha: The observed frequency distribution of game ratings of games bought fits the expected distribution alpha = 0.05 Assumptions: State – SRS – All expected counts > or = 5 Check – Assumed – Check All assumptions have been met

Chi-square = E(observed-expected)squared expected (3-8.5)squared + (10-8.5)squared Chi-square = P(Chi-Square > /df=5) = x 10^-9 Conclusion: -We reject Ho b/c p-value < alpha = We have sufficient evidence that the observed frequency of game ratings of games bought does not fit the expected distribution

Ho: M = Ha: M < alpha = 0.05 Assumptions: State – SRS – Std. Dev. Known – Normal pop. Or n > or = 30 Check – Assumed – Check – n = 51 > or = 30 (check)

t = x – M = s/ n P(t < ) =.0243 Conclusion: -We reject Ho b/c p-value < alpha = We have sufficient evidence that the true mean price spent on video games at GameStop hourly is dollars

Application Ratings lean more toward mature and teen – Older people tended to be at GameStop more often, buying games like shooters More money to do so The observed price per game tends to not fit the expected price per game distribution Average hourly price seems to be around $35.84 compared to the claimed $42.39 – Games bought anywhere for $10-60, with an outlier at $140 We rejected all of our tests

The population for people who buy videogames from GameStop tend not to follow a trend by buying certain games more likely to be in a category such as price, rating, genre, or gender – They tend to buy games according to what is popular, or what is new at the time of purchase The sample also tends to prefer certain locations of GameStop’s – We did not test this, however it was observed upon compiling our data Airport square favored, Mall not so much

The day we went was relatively close to the release of a new game called “Red Dead Redemption”, which was a common seller – This could have falsely increased the numbers in certain categories of data Only observed local GameStop's – More wider ranges could have been observed Another day spent at GameStop at another time could have eliminated some of these lurking variables

Personal Opinions When I was in the kids category, I didn’t keep up with new releases of games, I went into GameStop simply to look around and bought games simply according to what I saw – As I got older, I only go to GameStop’s when I know what I want, usually only when a new game comes out We saw some people who did in fact come knowing what they wanted (a new game) I believe this project was a little difficult to collect data for because of a lack of availability of the group members I also believe it was hard to pick an interesting/do-able topic considering there were not allowed to be any repeats from the past