The Action-Packed Сompany

Obviously this is not a GMAT type question. But, I think it is a pretty interesting question because in order to solve it you must get into the mind of the author.

Here is the information from the passage:

FACT 1: Last season, The Action-Packed Gaming Company had success with a video game featuring the character Sam Li, of the popular Fist of Awe series of martial arts movies.
FACT 2: For the current season, The Action-Packed Gaming Company developed new martial arts game featuring a new character who is also a martial arts master.
FACT 3: The new game has improved 3-D graphics, enhanced multiplayer capability, and dozens of new martial arts moves developed by real-life masters.
FACT 4: However, marketing surveys showed that teenagers were uninterested in this new game, and the game sold very poorly.

QUESTION STEM: "The passage implies that an explanation for the failure of the new game is based on doubt regarding which of the following assumptions?"

First off, notice this passage does not have a conclusion. It is a set of facts regarding the new game released by the Action-Packed Gaming Company. Since there is no argument (conclusion), there cannot be any assumptions. The assumption that is referred to in the question stem is an assumption of the game maker, Action-Packed Gaming Company. The question wants to know what assumption did Action-Packed Gaming Company make that could explain the failure of this game. In other words, when Action-Packed Gaming Company made this game what did they mistakenly assume about the market.

From the passage we know that last year Action-Packed Gaming Company developed a successful game featuring a famous movie character named Sam Li. This year the company developed a new game with a different character. In order to make the new game more appealing, they added improved 3-D graphics, enhanced multiplayer capability, and dozens of new martial arts moves developed by real-life masters. The company believed that this would be enough to attract people to the game even though the game no longer had the popular character Sam Li. In other words they assumed that people would buy the game because of all the new features.

The author of this passage writes the following: "The new game had improved 3-D graphics, enhanced multiplayer capability, and dozens of new martial arts moves developed by real-life masters. However, marketing surveys showed that teenagers were uninterested in this new game, and the game sold very poorly".

Notice the word "however". With this word, the author is linking the two sentences. We can even combine the two sentences together: "The new game had improved 3-D graphics, enhanced multiplayer capability, and dozens of new martial arts moves, however, teenagers were uninterested and the game sold very poorly".

This implies that the author believes that all the new features were not enough to overcome change in characters. In other words, the author believes that Action-Packed Gaming Company's assumption that new features will be enough to attract people to the game is incorrect.

We need an answer that states the game maker's assumption:

a) "Teenagers make purchasing decisions based on the technological merits of video games, not the name recognition of the game's main characters." Correct. This answer states exactly the assumption that the game maker made. They assumed that people would buy the game because of the new features and they wouldn't mind that the main character is different.

b) "Buyers of video games prefer to purchase games based on popular movies." Incorrect. Last year's game was based on a movie with Sam Li. The new game is not based on a movie. If the game maker assumed what this answer choice states, they would have made another game based on a movie.

c) "The Fist of Awe series of movies was extremely popular with teenagers who regularly purchase video games." Incorrect. This is not an assumption used in creating the new game. This is a fact that the game maker already knows. They already made a game based on the Fist of Awe series and it was very successful.

d) "Technological improvement from one video game to the next does not guarantee a corresponding increase in sales." Incorrect. This is the opposite of what the game maker assumed. If the game maker assumed this they would not have made the new game the way they did. If they assumed that technological improvement would not be sufficient to guarantee sales they would have added some other attractions to the new game.

e) "The successful video game may have benefited from advertising associated with the Fist of Awe movies, a benefit the failed video game did not have." Incorrect. This is not even an assumption. This is a possible reason why the game failed. This is not an assumption the game maker had when creating the game.

amazing solution rkanthilal
thank you!!

rkanthilal wrote:Obviously this is not a GMAT type question. But, I think it is a pretty interesting question because in order to solve it you must get into the mind of the author.

Here is the information from the passage:

FACT 1: Last season, The Action-Packed Gaming Company had success with a video game featuring the character Sam Li, of the popular Fist of Awe series of martial arts movies.
FACT 2: For the current season, The Action-Packed Gaming Company developed new martial arts game featuring a new character who is also a martial arts master.
FACT 3: The new game has improved 3-D graphics, enhanced multiplayer capability, and dozens of new martial arts moves developed by real-life masters.
FACT 4: However, marketing surveys showed that teenagers were uninterested in this new game, and the game sold very poorly.

QUESTION STEM: "The passage implies that an explanation for the failure of the new game is based on doubt regarding which of the following assumptions?"

First off, notice this passage does not have a conclusion. It is a set of facts regarding the new game released by the Action-Packed Gaming Company. Since there is no argument (conclusion), there cannot be any assumptions. The assumption that is referred to in the question stem is an assumption of the game maker, Action-Packed Gaming Company. The question wants to know what assumption did Action-Packed Gaming Company make that could explain the failure of this game. In other words, when Action-Packed Gaming Company made this game what did they mistakenly assume about the market.

From the passage we know that last year Action-Packed Gaming Company developed a successful game featuring a famous movie character named Sam Li. This year the company developed a new game with a different character. In order to make the new game more appealing, they added improved 3-D graphics, enhanced multiplayer capability, and dozens of new martial arts moves developed by real-life masters. The company believed that this would be enough to attract people to the game even though the game no longer had the popular character Sam Li. In other words they assumed that people would buy the game because of all the new features.

The author of this passage writes the following: "The new game had improved 3-D graphics, enhanced multiplayer capability, and dozens of new martial arts moves developed by real-life masters. However, marketing surveys showed that teenagers were uninterested in this new game, and the game sold very poorly".

Notice the word "however". With this word, the author is linking the two sentences. We can even combine the two sentences together: "The new game had improved 3-D graphics, enhanced multiplayer capability, and dozens of new martial arts moves, however, teenagers were uninterested and the game sold very poorly".

This implies that the author believes that all the new features were not enough to overcome change in characters. In other words, the author believes that Action-Packed Gaming Company's assumption that new features will be enough to attract people to the game is incorrect.

We need an answer that states the game maker's assumption:

a) "Teenagers make purchasing decisions based on the technological merits of video games, not the name recognition of the game's main characters." Correct. This answer states exactly the assumption that the game maker made. They assumed that people would buy the game because of the new features and they wouldn't mind that the main character is different.

b) "Buyers of video games prefer to purchase games based on popular movies." Incorrect. Last year's game was based on a movie with Sam Li. The new game is not based on a movie. If the game maker assumed what this answer choice states, they would have made another game based on a movie.

c) "The Fist of Awe series of movies was extremely popular with teenagers who regularly purchase video games." Incorrect. This is not an assumption used in creating the new game. This is a fact that the game maker already knows. They already made a game based on the Fist of Awe series and it was very successful.

d) "Technological improvement from one video game to the next does not guarantee a corresponding increase in sales." Incorrect. This is the opposite of what the game maker assumed. If the game maker assumed this they would not have made the new game the way they did. If they assumed that technological improvement would not be sufficient to guarantee sales they would have added some other attractions to the new game.

e) "The successful video game may have benefited from advertising associated with the Fist of Awe movies, a benefit the failed video game did not have." Incorrect. This is not even an assumption. This is a possible reason why the game failed. This is not an assumption the game maker had when creating the game.

Great explanation! Thanks!