MCV 812 November 7th 2014 by Biz Media Ltd

“2” and “PlayStation” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “ ” is a trademark of the same company. LittleBigPlanet™ 3 ©2014 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Developed by Sumo Digital. “LittleBigPlanet”, “LittleBigPlanet logo”, “Sackboy” and “Sackgirl” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. All rights reserved.

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

HALO REMASTERED

ISSUE 812 FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7TH 2014

CHIEF IS BACK IN ACTION ON THE XBOX ONE P14

UK GAMES INDUSTRY SPLASHES £107M ON MARKETING THIS CHRISTMAS Spend drops £21m year-on-year with no new hardware to promote z Mobile TV advertising expected to spike by Christopher Dring The UK games industry is spending a huge £107m on marketing this Q4. It’s a drop on last year’s £128m, but that figure was skewed by the launch of three new consoles: Xbox One, PS4 and 2DS. The better comparison will be with 2012’s figure of £99m. The vast majority of this money is being spent on TV ads, which are up almost 50 per cent this year in the games sector. Digital and internet spending is also rising – driven by video and live streaming platforms such as Twitch. Across the board, print, outdoor, radio and cinema advertising has declined this year, according to media planning firm Generation Media. That £107m is mostly made up of spend from the usual suspects of Activision, Ubisoft, GAME, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, but there are also new big-spenders this year in the mobile space. Estimates from MCV and Generation Media suggest that the likes of Supercell, King and Gameloft may be spending upwards of £10m combined on advertising this Q4. “Digital continues to take market share from traditional media avenues such as press, radio and outdoor,” said head of AV investment at Generation Media Jonathan Chambers. “But TV has enjoyed a resurgence in 2014, demonstrating the largest year-onyear gain of all the media channels. “In spite of wide and varied claims that video on demand services such as Netflix will spell the end for TV viewing, the average

adult still consumes three hours and 52 minutes of TV per day and 88 per cent of this is viewed live. This means there are still plenty of viewers to reach in a cost-

Most noticeable this year has been the rise of mobile games. Over 92 per cent of the UK saw a King ad this year. Jonathan Chambers, Generation Media

eﬃcient manner, and many brands have again been making this work to their advantage this year. “Most noticeable has been the rise of mobile games. With over 92 per cent of the UK population seeing an ad from King this year, and Supercell reaching over seven million individuals during one England football game, one would have been hard-pressed to have missed their presence on our screens this year.” The £107m ﬁgure comes from a survey of major games publishers and estimates from marketing agencies.

PLUS THE STORY OF HEARTHSTONE TUNING INTO PLAYSTATION TV

Publishers are spending big money on TV ads for the likes of Call of Duty (top) and FIFA (above)

CHEAT SHEET

THE EDITOR

THE WEEK IN VIDEO GAM BBC: WE’RE BRINGING OUR BIG BRANDS TO XBOX ONE AND PS4

MUTED LAUNCH FOR CALL OF DUTY

k, so as it turns out, even a quiet year for Call of Duty can be quite noisy. The mainstream media all popped up with big news articles about the game. MCV even conducted two radio interviews to mark the game’s arrival. Yet this was a quieter year for Call of Duty. The franchise has been steadily declining over the last three years, and this time there was no lavish blockbuster launch party, and the midnight openings were even muted – possibly due to the duel launch days (gamers could access the title a day early if they pre-ordered. Only this ‘Day Zero’ edition was in plenty supply, so anyone could buy one by walking in off the street). It’s a shame because this year’s Call of Duty is actually very good, according to the critics. ‘The best Call of Duty in years’ appears to be the common consensus. And you can see why, Advanced Warfare took some three years to make, which is longer than any other Call of Duty. It was built by new studio Sledgehammer Games. And Activision likes to tell the press that this was a ‘brave’ decision, but I put that in inverted commas because I’m not convinced giving the game to a studio that has not only helped make a Call of Duty before, but is also staffed my some of the finest game makers in the land, is especially brave. No, what would have been brave is if Sledgehammer

November 7th 2014

This industry loves to chase trends. Why are DICE, Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer effectively making the same game? Games had said: ‘You know what we haven’t made for a while? A WWII shooter.’ This industry loves to chase trends. It was WWII shooters once, and then everyone (and I mean, everyone) abandoned that to make modern shooters, and then everyone gave up on those to build ‘near future’ games. Since the launch of Xbox One and PS4, we’ve had four of these titles. Two Call of Dutys, Battlefield 4 and Titanfall. They’re all great titles. But why are all these talented, brilliant creators making effectively the same games? DICE, Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Respawn and Sledgehammer... the finest triple-A shooters studios in the land have all been spending their time competing with each other over the same sub-set of the same genre. Call of Duty has lead the genre for years now. Where it went, others followed. Maybe, if Activision really wanted to be brave, it’s time it went somewhere else next time. cdring@nbmedia.com

Market Data Eight new releases in the All Format Top 40 helps the games market rise week-on-week £20m

£10m

£0m

£16.6m 493,041 units

Week Ending October 20th

£13.6m 438,666 units

Week Ending October 27th

£16.3m 534,183 units

Week Ending November 3rd

www.mcvuk.com

CHEAT SHEET

MES

he commercial arm of the BBC said it is working on bringing the likes of Doctor Who and Top Gear to Xbox One and PS4. And the business has vowed not to repeat the mistakes from before, where the firm signed poor quality games, including the critically mauled Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock for PS3. “We have plans in place for further releases on consoles for our major brands next year,” said Rikesh Desai, Digital Entertainment and Games director at BBC Worldwide. “Both mobile and console are important for us as each allows for experiences that appeal to different audiences in different situations.” He added: “It is about identifying partners that are passionate and have a track record of delivering quality. We cannot be complacent because we have popular IP and that wouldn’t be fair to our loyal fans.” BBC Worldwide’s recent output includes mobile hit Doctor Who Legacy, and partnerships with Forza 5 (with Top Gear) and Minecraft (for Doctor Who).

DOWN After a great month, Middleearth: Shadow of Mordor falls out of the Top Five

XBOX AND EXERTIS GIVING AWAY £50K WORTH OF PRIZES TO UK RETAIL

www.mcvuk.com

Our biggest stories for the week ending Nov 4th

1 Sony investigating PS4 update complaints as DriveClub PS+ edition is put on hold 2 Nintendo announces Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire bundle Prizes include Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles, accessories, games and more. All customers participating in the promotion will also enter a prize draw, with a top prize of £10,000. The oﬀer starts Thursday, November 6th and ends on Friday, December 12th. For more information call 01279 822 822.

EXERTIS Home is giving away £50,000 worth of Xbox prizes to UK retailers. Throughout November and December, every £50 spent with Exertis on Xbox products (including hardware, games, accessories and points) will give them 2,500 scratch cards, and 600 of them will unveil a prize.

UK RETAIL TOP 10

1 UP FIFA 15 scores its sixth consecutive No.1, the most of any title this year

SPONSORED BY

HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION (XO) MICROSOFT

Microsoft

Grand Theft Auto V (PS4)

Rockstar

Sony

Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox One)

Rockstar

Sunset Overdrive

Minecraft: PlayStation Edition

The Evil Within

Bethesda

Dragon Age Inquisition (PS4)

WWE 2K15

2K Sports

Super Smash Bros + GameCube Adapter (Wii U) Nintendo

Destiny

Activision

Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 (PS4)

Forza Horizon 2

Microsoft

Assassin’s Creed Unity Special Edition (PS4)

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Warner Bros

Far Cry 4 Limited Edition (PS4)

Skylanders: Trap Team

Activision Blizzard

Dragon Age Inquisition (Xbox One)

Minecraft: Xbox Edition

Microsoft

Super Smash Bros (Wii U)

EA Konami Sony Ubisoft EA Nintendo

November 7th 2014

PLAYSTATION TV

SONY’S ‘SWISS ARMY KNIFE’ The PlayStation TV micro-console launched in Japan last year and has been a slow seller. But now Sony is readying the hardware for the West with a new message for a different audience. Alex Calvin reports

ony is riding a wave of success at the moment. Its latest hardware, the PlayStation 4, has surpassed one million units sold in its first nine months on sale in the UK, and has sold over 13m consoles worldwide. It’s comfortably outselling rivals Xbox One and Wii U. And next week the platform holder is bringing a new console to market. But this one is just a little bit different. It’s a micro-console called PlayStation TV. The hardware originally launched in Japan as the PlayStation Vita TV last November and sold 42,172 units in its first week, according to Media Create data. “PlayStation TV is a brand new micro-console. I’d describe it as a bit of a Swiss Army Knife of a product, but predominantly its main feature is to stream your PlayStation 4 games to another room in the house,” PlayStation UK senior product manager Ben Law explains. “Placing your PlayStation TV in a study or bedroom and letting you stream PlayStation 4 games via Remote Play is pretty cool.“ This functionality has informed the PlayStation TV’s branding. Gone is the ‘Vita’ present in the hardware’s name as it was in Japan. “Sony announced this product originally just before Tokyo Game Show 2013, and it was released in Japan a few months prior to the launch of the PlayStation 4. Because

November 7th 2014

they don’t have PlayStation Now or a similar streaming service they called it PS Vita TV,” PlayStation UK PR boss David Wilson explains. “But we have a different take at this point in time because the PlayStation 4 is very well established and has done very well. So we see the device as more of an extension of the PlayStation 4. You can play Vita games, not every single Vita title because PlayStation TV doesn’t have the touch screen and back panel, but compatible games can play on it. “It still has the functionality that was outlined in Japan, but the PlayStation Vita TV title was to reflect what the product meant in Japan when it launched. That’s the distinction.”

PlayStation TV has been developed by the biggest game company. We’re the first major gaming brand to make a micro-console.

DEEP POCKETS The ability to stream games from your PS4 to another screen is all well and good. But a PlayStation 4 is still setting consumers back £350, and the accompanying

Ben Law, PlayStation UK

PlayStation TV costs £84.99. But Law is confident that core gamers will buy this. “PlayStation TV is the perfect accompaniment for current PS4 owners, who have potentially owned the console for nearly 12 months,” he says. “PlayStation TV is the most cost-effective route of getting access to your PS4 games in another room in the house without having to change the set up in the main room. “The device also offers a wider range of features on top of this functionality. We’ve already seen the impact on PS Vita when Remote Play functionality was added and we’ve seen from research consumers want this kind of solution.” ENTRY LEVEL The Remote Play functionality may be a big selling point, but PlayStation TV is actually a console in its own right.

PlayStation TV launches on November 14th with an RRP of £84.99

www.mcvuk.com

PLAYSTATION TV

PlayStation TV uses the exact same user interface as the PS Vita

“It does a lot of other stuff as well. In addition to that main feature, you can play compatible PlayStation Vita games on a television for the first time, which is a nice feature if you’re a big Vita fan as well,” says Law. “And also using the PlayStation Store you have access to old PlayStation One and PSP titles and play those on a TV. It sets itself up as a micro-console as well as a streaming platform for the PlayStation 4. As you also have access to the PlayStation Store, you can use the video services through that. You can also play Vita games from a Memory Card.“ Indeed, it may not play high-end PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 games (yet) but it does play a range of top PlayStation titles. And at the sub-£100 price point of £84.99, it has the potential to speak to a mass and younger market. Maybe even the same audience that picked up the Wii all those years ago. “It definitely stacks up as entry-level hardware. It streams PlayStation 4 games, but you

www.mcvuk.com

can also play games through the PlayStation Store,” Law says. “It could actually be someone’s entry into console gaming. And you also have movies, too.” CONSOLE COMPETITION The PlayStation TV launches at a time when a number of big companies are launching micro-consoles. Amazon recently released its Fire TV – which has game functionality – while Google has plans to bring similar hardware to stores with the Nexus Player. They have similar price points, have the same TV and film streaming capabilities, but Law believes PlayStation TV’s gaming heritage gives it an edge. “PlayStation TV is created by PlayStation, the biggest game company in the world,” Law says. “We’re the first major gaming brand to develop a micro-console, and the ability to play PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, PSP, PlayStation One and indie games makes it a really different proposition to anything else out there.”

PlayStation TV is a bit of a Swiss Army Knife product. But its main feature is to stream to your PS4 games to another screen. Ben Law, PlayStation UK

PlayStation TV has been on a journey. It was originally positioned as a means to play some Vita games on the big screen in Japan. Now it’s coming to the West, it’s about playing PlayStation 4 titles in a different room of your house. And this position will change once again next year when streaming and game rental service PlayStation Now rolls out in the UK, which will include PS3 games. “The nature of the product is that it is going to evolve over time,” Law says. “People will be able to stream or rent PlayStation games from PlayStation Now. Once that service comes to the UK, it’ll open up a lot of opportunities. There’s no firm date on PlayStation Now in the UK yet, but there will be a beta here. “We’re really excited about that proposition. It will change what we can communicate on PlayStation TV. Bur first and foremost it’s about streaming your PlayStation 4 games.”

November 7th 2014

LONDON GAMES CONFERENCE

EIGHT REASONS TO ATTEND LONDON GAMES CONFERENCE 2014 Here’s why you should sign up for this month’s conference on the changing face of video games marketing

Over 250 games industry ﬁgures attend the annual LGC event

he London Games Conference is less than two weeks away. The schedule is already nailed down and the delegate list is filling up. The event, which looks at the rapidly changing face of video games marketing, kicks off on Wednesday November 19th with a new all-day format. An impressive line-up of experts are set to speak to more than 250 delegates. Here are the eight main reasons you should attend:

NEW DAYTIME FORMAT We’ve changed from being an evening event to a daytime one – this gives more time, for more speeches and even better networking opportunities.

LEARN HOW TO SELL MORE GAMES LGC 2014 will reveal how you can get your games in front of the right audiences. With more games fighting for market attention than ever before, we’ll focus on the marketing challenge.

November 7th 2014

FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT NATIVE CONTENT MEANS The hot marketing trend today is around creating commercial messaging that can be integrated into editorial content and promoted. Buzzfeed does that better than anyone else, and Will Hayward, BuzzFeed’s vice president of Europe, will reveal the firm’s unique approach, using real life examples from the games market.

gaming event. Loman will deliver detailed data about the benefits of live engagement with gamers. He’ll also discuss changing trends in UK gamers, mapping direct feedback against Metacritic scores, examining changes year-on-year and detailing console ownership expectations.

FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH YOU SHOULD BE SPENDING ON MARKETING Nick Parker, CEO and founder of Parker Consulting, will share marketing investment levels across mobile, PC and console – and the results they are delivering.

GET BETTER AT SOCIAL MEDIA We’ll have Rick Kelly, Global director of gaming sales at Facebook, on the stage. Sara May Wellock, lead community manager at Sony Xdev Studios Europe will also speak on building thriving communities that play, create and share.

DISCOVER THE VALUE OF LIVE EVENTS Rupert Loman, CEO of Gamer Network, will share the experience the outlet has gained from building EGX into Europe’s premier live

GET A GLOBAL (AND A UK) PLAN Nathan Lindberg, vice president of global sales at Curse Gaming, will reveal the firm’s research on how to speak to global game communities with local sentiment.

AND THAT’S JUST THE START We’ll also have IGN, Ubisoft, Green Man Gaming and others on the

stage; expect a packed room full of games market senior execs, marketers and more, too. We already have delegates confirmed from across the games business, including: Hauppauge Digital SARL, Nordic Games, Rocket, Green Man Gaming, Arvato/Sonopress, Testology, Heaven Media, Twitter, Brand Gulture Sport & Ent, Indigo Pearl, Drum, 101 London, Carbon Digital, Future Games of London, Plan of Attack, Wikia and Team Dignitas. You need to be there. For the full LGC 2014 agenda, speakers list and ticketing details, visit londongamesconference.com. For more information on the event, email smather@nbmedia. com or call on 020 7354 6001. For information on sponsorship opportunities email ctallon@ nbmedia.com or call 01992 535 647. London Games Conference is sponsored by Twitch, IGN, Curse, Respondez, Google and OPM Recruitment.

www.mcvuk.com

MARKETING IN THEIR OWN WORDS

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK

WAYNE GREENWELL Brand Manager, Ubisoft

THIS WEEK: FAR CRY 4

WE saw great success with Far Cry 3 when it launched in November 2012. It went on to be the No.1 rated shooter of 2012 according to Metacritic and continued to sell strongly through into 2013 by which point Far Cry had established itself as a new contender in the FPS market. Building on from its awardwinning predecessor, Far Cry 4 delivers the most expansive and immersive Far Cry experience ever and introduces a host of new features and gameplay mechanics to improve the gameplay and enjoyment in every direction. Far Cry 4 has been received incredibly well amongst press and consumers alike. There is a real eagerness amongst gamers to get their hands on the ﬁnal product and explore the beautiful environments of Kyrat on both new and old consoles alike.

[INFO] UBISOFT is focusing on TV to market Far Cry 4. The publisher has bought spots against sports, ﬁlms and comedy watched by the 18 to 34-year-old male audience. Ads will also appear on video on demand services. And the game also has ads in cinemas alongside new blockbuster ﬁlm Interstellar as well as a radio campaign, aimed

Released: November 18th

at the same 18 to 34-year-old male demographic. Promotion for Far Cry 4 will also be appearing on digital outlets such as Spotify and The Lad Bible. In store Ubisoft has front of store positioning for the game, and is going to be working closely with Sony to ensure a greater presence at retail in the build up to Christmas.

Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 800

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: GAMES TV AD MARKET HEATS UP This week GameTime looks at game advertising going into the Q4 period Individual TVRs

Brand Count

3,000

2,000

25 17

1,500

1,000

500 0

5 Nov ‘13

Dec ‘13

AS we approach the Christmas retail period, games TV market ad pressure has rapidly increased. Between July and September, the number of brands on air has increased by 75 per cent, correlating with an 82 per cent rise in individual TVRs in the market.

Jan ‘14

Feb ‘14

Mar ‘14

Apr ‘14

May ‘14

ad campaigns in September 2014 (individual TVRs), which placed them ﬁrst and third respectively. Sony has ramped up its support with its ﬁrst dedicated PS4 campaign since January, with just short of 200 individual TVRs in three weeks. And Microsoft is supporting

Q4 is a time for the traditional players to build TV presence to capitalise on Christmas spending. This year, the mobile sector is proving that it will battle to maintain a share of voice on TV. King and Supercell occupied 35 per cent of the Top Ten games TV

Jun ‘14

Jul ‘14

their recent exclusives: Forza Horizon 2 and Sunset Overdrive make up 25 per cent of the Top Ten games TV ads in September 2014. If TV market ad pressure continues to rise at the current rate, brands will need to shout even louder to cut through the competition.

MCV GameTime is provided by Generation Media 0207 255 4650 | www.generationmedia.co.uk

www.mcvuk.com

November 7th 2014

Brand Count

Individual TVRs

2,500

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

NEW ROLES FOR FORMER FUTURE WRITERS Hicks takes role at Rezzed O Murphy swaps Gamer Network for IGN O Skrebels departs the publisher REZZED | Former Official Xbox Magazine editor-inchief JON HICKS has taken a position at PC and indie game show Rezzed. Hicks departed Future at the end of September as all of the publisher’s print publications were moved to Bath. “I’ve joined Rezzed to work on some new ways we can support independent developers,” Hicks told MCV. “The huge success of EGX and EGX Rezzed, combined with Gamer Network’s international advertising reach, means we’re uniquely placed to help creators get the exposure they need

Here he will be working as a video producer. Murphy is best known for his work at Future’s gaming website CVG. After leaving the site in July he started working at Gamer Network. “For me, IGN has always been responsible for producing the best videos across games, movies, TV and just about any other media you can consume,” he said. “To be a part of a team that puts its audience first beyond all else is exciting and I can’t wait to start getting my videos out there.” Murphy can now be reached at IGN at gmurphy@ign.com.

to make their games successful, and I’m going to be developing the best ways we can do that. “I’ve long been an admirer of Gamer Network’s work, apart from that regrettable misstep when they hired Mike Channell, and I think we’re in the best place in the UK, if not the world, to help developers find success. It’s a shame to be parted from Master Chief, obviously, but I’m hoping I can persuade 343 to release him for some arcade work.” IGN | Popular video journalist GAV MURPHY has moved to IGN.

FUTURE | JOE SKREBELS has departed the publisher. He has been at Future for two years, starting as a staff writer on Official Nintendo Magazine, before being promoted to news editor. Following the closure of that publication, he went to OXM in the same role. “After two almost sickeningly entertaining years at Future I am, unfortunately, being made redundant,” said Skrebels. “In the coming months, I plan to begin a regime of exercise and freelance games writing. Please hire me for your outlet/ spot me while I bench press this car.”

AROUND THE INDUSTRY NCSOFT | The publisher has cut a number of roles in its US and European divisions. This is due to a restructuring within the organization. The firm said in a statement that it is looking to move into mobile and tablet gaming areas. “Today we announced a restructuring of key operations within NC West,” the company said. “As a result of this restructuring, we are implementing staff reductions across our Western operations with the exclusion of ArenaNet. “While decisions like this are always hard, they are necessary as we begin the implementation of a new strategy designed to strengthen our footing as a leader in global entertainment. “Moving forward, we will continue to focus on our core development capabilities and the IP that have made NCSoft

November 7th 2014

what it is today. However, we are looking to move into new business segments like mobile and tablet games as well as explore emerging technologies. “Again, the decision to reduce staff was not an easy one, and we sincerely wish everyone well in their next endeavours.” BIG HUGE GAMES | Brian Reynolds has bought back the name of the studio he co-founded, and plans to release its first mobile title next year. Big Huge Games was acquired by THQ in 2008, but was sold a year later. The dev was bought by 38 Studios, but that company went bankrupt. Its assets were sold at auction last November. It was here that Reynolds bought the rights to the name. The studio is focusing on mobile development, starting with strategy title DomiNations, which is set for iOS and Android.

www.mcvuk.com

EDITORIAL CONTACTS

2014

Wednesday, November 19th

Full-day conference and networking event featuring expert advice from

WE ARE PLAYING...

Event Partner

I’ve tried to put down Sunset Overdrive in favour of Civilisation and Alien. But I can’t. It’s just the most bonkers fun you can have on Xbox One right now. Christopher Dring, Editor

This week I’ve been playing Freedom Wars, if only because it’s the closest thing we have to an Attack on Titan game in the West. Alex Calvin, Staﬀ Writer

cdring@nbmedia.com

acalvin@nbmedia.com

Still mostly Forza Horizon 2, although I’ve sampled a little Lords of the Fallen and Sunset Overdrive. Still missing Dark Souls 2. Ben Parﬁtt, Associate Editor

I’ve been out of this world this week, enjoying my holiday by conquering planets in Civ: Beyond Earth and hiding in cupboards in Alien Isolation. Matt Jarvis, Staﬀ Writer

bparﬁtt@nbmedia.com

mjarvis@nbmedia.com

Publisher: Michael French mfrench@nbmedia.com

Head of Operations: Stuart Moody smoody@nbmedia.com

Group Sales Manager: Alex.Boucher aboucher@nbmedia.com

Circulation: Lianne Davey ldavey@nbmedia.com

Account Manager: Conor Tallon ctallon@nbmedia.com

Finance Manager: Michael Canham mcanham@nbmedia.com

Production Manager: Alice Sanz asanz@nbmedia.com

Head of Design and Production: Kelly Sambridge ksambridge@nbmedia.com

Designer: Sam Richwood srichwood@nbmedia.com

Event Partner

Livestreaming Partner

BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW Full-day conference Starts 10am Tickets Cost £349 Discounts for UKIE, TIGA and Game Republic members

www.londongamesconference.com/buy-tickets or contact smather@nbmedia.com or call 020 7354 6001

Saxon House, 6a St. Andrew Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire, England SG14 1JA Newbay Media specialises in tradededicated print and digital publishing for entertainment and leisure markets. As well as MCV, Newbay publishes Develop, PCR, ToyNews, Music Week, MI Pro, Audio Pro International and BikeBiz. It also has two onlineonly brands: Mobile Entertainment, dedicated to the growing mass market smartphone sector, and Licensing.biz, for everyone in the global licensing industry. It also runs a number of events including the MCV Industry Excellence Awards, the London Games Conference and the Games Media Awards.

US Correspondent Erik Johnson ejohnson@nbmedia.com

Special Projects: Lisa Carter lcarter@nbmedia.com

One Wimpole Street, London

© Newbay Media 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher. The contents of MCV are subject to reproduction in information storage and retrieval systems.

Please address all enquiries to: Newbay Media, MCV, Saxon House, 6a St. Andrew Street, Hertford, SG14 1JA. Printed By: Pensord, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood, NP12 2YA

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MCV is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association. For the 12 months ending December 2009, MCV had an average weekly net circulation of 8,045. MCV’s circulation is 100 per cent named and zero per cent duplicated.

THE RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD MCV takes soundings from its Retail Advisory Board on the biggest issues in the industry. The current members are...

Charlotte Knight GAME

Steve Moore Simply Games

Jon Hayes Tesco

Ketu Patel Amazon

Sarah Jasper The Hut

Phil Moore Grainger Games

David Firth Shop Direct

Don McCabe CHIPS

Gurdeep Hunjan Sainsbury’s

Steve Thomas Xbite

Simon Urquhart Microsoft

Robert Lindsay Games Centre

Igor Cipolletta ShopTo

Dermot Stapleton Get Games

Niall Lawlor GameStop

Phil Browes HMV

Stephen Staley Robert Hennessy Gameseek John Lewis

Paul Sulyok Green Man

James Cooke Argos

Craig Watson Dixons Retail

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November 7th 2014

DATA OCTOBER

MONTHLY CHARTS October was not a kind month for UK video games retail as game sales are tracking behind when compared to the same period last year. Alex Calvin looks at the charts for the month

THIS MONTHS UPS AND DOWNS REVENUE generated from software sales fell by one per cent yearon-year

on the PS4 and Xbox One is well below that of the PS3 and Xbox 360. And sales of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games have fallen sharply. FIFA 15 is No.1 for the second month running. Not only was it the single bestselling game, it also takes the top four spaces in the individual charts. And Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor takes second place, and makes Warner Bros No.2 in the publisher rankings.

INDIVIDUAL FORMATS TOP 40: OCTOBER (SEPT 28TH - OCT 25TH)

HORROR games Alien Isolation and The Evil Within push Sega and Bethesda up the publisher rankings FEWER games were sold this month than last – but FIFA 15 did launch in September

THE PS4 SKU of Minecraft helps the construction title rise up the charts November 7th 2014

THE video games market for October is looking remarkably disappointing. 2.23m units were sold, a reduction of seven per cent year-on-year. Month-onmonth, the number of units sold is down 21.5 per cent. What’s even more disappointing about these numbers is the fact that last October the market was in something of a lull before the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One. There are a few reasons for this. The install base

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

TITLE FIFA 15 FIFA 15 FIFA 15 FIFA 15 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Forza Horizon 2 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Super Smash Bros DriveClub Minecraft: PlayStation Edition The Evil Within Forza Horizon 2 Alien Isolation Destiny Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Minecraft: Xbox Edition Destiny Alien Isolation Minecraft: PlayStation Edition The Evil Within Destiny Skylanders Trap Team The Sims 4 Alien Isolation Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Disney Inﬁnity 2.0 Bayonetta 2 Destiny NBA 2K15 Tomodachi Life The Last of Us Remastered The Evil Within The Evil Within Alien Isolation F1 2014 Grand Theft Auto V Skylanders Trap Team Mario Kart 8 Watch Dogs F1 2014

FORMAT 360 PS4 PS3 XO PS4 XO XO 3DS PS4 PS4 PS4 360 PS4 PS4 360 360 XO XO PS3 XO 360 360 PC 360 PS3 360 Wii U PS3 PS4 3DS PS4 360 PS3 PS3 360 360 Wii Wii U PS4 PS3

PUBLISHER EA EA EA EA Warner Bros Microsoft Warner Bros Nintendo Sony Sony Bethesda Microsoft Sega Activision Blizzard 2K Games Microsoft Activision Blizzard Sega Sony Bethesda Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard EA Sega 2K Games Disney Nintendo Activision Blizzard 2K Games Nintendo Sony Bethesda Bethesda Sega Codemasters/Bandai Namco Rockstar Activision Blizzard Nintendo Ubisoft Codemasters/Bandai Namco

www.mcvuk.com

OCTOBER DATA 01

SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE BY PUBLISHER [UNITS] LM 01 06 02 03 07 04 10 13 14 05

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

TITLE EA Warner Bros Activision Blizzard Nintendo Microsoft Sony Take-Two Sega Bethesda Ubisoft

MARKET SHARE 31.4% 10.0% 8.3% 7.8% 7.6% 7.1% 5.1% 4.8% 4.7% 2.7%

SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE BY PUBLISHER [VALUE] LM 01 06 02 07 07 05 14 15 10 04

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

TITLE EA Warner Bros Activision Blizzard Microsoft Nintendo Sony Bethesda Sega Take-Two Ubisoft

MARKET SHARE 36.5% 11.3% 8.6% 7.6% 7.0% 5.8% 5.4% 5.1% 4.4% 1.9%

SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE BY FORMAT [UNITS] LM 01 02 03 04 06 05 07 08 09 10

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

TITLE PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 Xbox One PlayStation 3 Nintendo 3DS PC Wii U Wii Nintendo DS PlayStation Vita

MARKET SHARE 25.9% 24.5% 18.1% 15.0% 6.4% 3.7% 2.7% 1.6% 1.2% 0.8%

SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE BY FORMAT [VALUE] LM 01 02 03 04 06 07 05 08 09 10

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

TITLE PlayStation 4 Xbox One Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 Nintendo 3DS Wii U PC Wii PlayStation Vita Nintendo DS

PRESENTS

13.5m

MARKET SHARE 30.4% 22.4% 22.3% 13.1% 5.5% 2.4% 2.2% 0.8% 0.5% 0.4%

ALL FORMATS TOP 50: OCTOBER (SEPT 28TH – OCT 25TH) 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

TITLE FIFA 15 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Forza Horizon 2 Destiny The Evil Within Alien Isolation Super Smash Bros Minecraft: PlayStation Edition DriveClub Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Skylanders: Trap Team Minecraft: Xbox Edition Disney Infinity 2.0 NBA 2K15 F1 2014 Call of Duty: Ghosts Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare The Sims 4 Watch Dogs The LEGO Movie Videogame Grand Theft Auto V Bayonetta 2 Frozen: Olaf’s Quest LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Wolfenstein: The New Order Tomodachi Life The Last of Us Remastered Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition Terraria Battlefield 4 Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Mario Kart 8 The Borderlands Collection 1+ 2 Diablo III Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edn Sniper Elite III Fantasy Life Titanfall Skate 3 Disney Infinity Hyrule Warriors

5 SECOND FACTS 6m

FORMAT PUBLISHER PS4, XO, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, Vita, PC EA PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Sega 3DS Nintendo PS4, PS3 Sony PS4 Sony PS3, 360 2K Games PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii Activision Blizzard 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games PS3, 360, PC Codemasters/Bandai Namco PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, DS, PC Warner Bros PS3, 360 Rockstar Wii U Nintendo 3DS, DS GPS/Avanquest PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bethesda 3DS Nintendo PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PC Square Enix PS3, 360, PC 505 Games/Merge PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft Wii U Nintendo PS3, 360 2K Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 505 Games 3DS Nintendo XO, 360, PC EA PS3, 360 EA Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS Disney Wii U Nintendo

Read and remember these stats so you can sound clever at the next Monday morning meeting...

£19.99

Sony has sold 13.5m Ubisoft expects Far Cry 4 to The first round of DLC for PlayStation 4s as of sell six million units in Destiny – The Dark Below September 30th, according its first year on sale, – is to launch in December, to the firm’s Q2 2015 according to the publisher’s and will set consumers financial report financial reports back £19.99

6 years Bethesda’s VP Pete Hines has conﬁrmed that Prey 2 has been cancelled six years after it was ﬁrst unveiled

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November 7th 2014

THE BIG GAME HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION

HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION

REMASTER CHIEF Xbox’s biggest icon is back, and looking better than ever. Matthew Jarvis talks to Dan Ayoub and Kiki Wolfkill, executive producers at developer 343 Industries, about Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Release Date: November 18th Formats: XO Publisher: Microsoft Developer: 343 Industries

he Halo universe is expanding. With new Ridley Scottproduced digital feature Halo: Nightfall, a Steven Spielbergproduced Halo TV series, the Halo Channel digital programming network and a brand new entry in the core franchise – Halo 5: Guardians – all on the way, it’s an exciting time for fans of Microsoft’s massive sci-fi IP. It’s an impressive state of health for Xbox’s flagship franchise, too. Of the games to debut on the original Xbox, only Fable and Halo spring to mind as series that have gone on to span all three generations of Xbox hardware. In fact, the success of 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved is arguably responsible for the existence of the Xbox 360 and Xbox One to begin with. This year Halo returns to the platform it helped to build, with

November 7th 2014

remastered versions of Xbox titles Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 and Xbox 360 staples Halo 3 and Halo 4 compiled together in one package – Halo: The Master Chief Collection. PRESERVE THE PAST Taking a franchise with a 13-year legacy and millions of fans is an obviously delicate task; change too much and you lose what made the games popular, change not enough and you fail to justify the need for a re-release. “With any of these anniversary titles our goal is to make the game look better, to make it sound better and play as much better as we can,” says Dan Ayoub, executive producer at 343 Industries, which has handled Halo duties since the departure of Bungie after Halo Reach. “However, we want to make sure that that gameplay

If you’ve never played Halo before this is a really easy way to catch up before Halo 5 comes out. Dan Ayoub, 343 Industries

is exactly the same as people remember, because people have very powerful memories of these games.” Ayoub adds that creating a carbon copy of the gameplay even required ignoring the temptation to fix issues found in the original games. “In the first anniversary [2011’s Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary] we maintained two bug lists, to make sure that we didn’t accidentally fix a bug that shipped in the original game,” he explains. “Those are the lengths we went to in order to ensure that the game played the same as people remember. It’s a fine line to walk.” While many will be hankering after a completely revamped edition of the games they loved a decade ago, many will just be looking for a way to play the same game but on a new platform.

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HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION THE BIG GAME

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November 7th 2014

THE BIG GAME HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION

Fans can switch between the original and updated graphics in the Master Chief Collection

343 hopes to cater to both; 2011’s Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, released on Xbox 360 exactly a decade after the original game hit the Xbox, saw the addition of a button dedicated to instantly swapping between the original game’s visual and audio style and the remastered version. The button makes its return in The Master Chief Collection. “We focus on areas where we can make very material changes without changing the game,” explains Ayoub. “One of the reasons we had that switch button – the ability to swap the graphics back and forth – is so that you could have the game look exactly as it did when you originally played it, and then swap back and see the new graphics, the new audio; all of those things.” It’s not just the single-player elements of the original Halo games that are being resurrected for life on a new platform; Halo 2’s multiplayer, which defined the early years of Xbox Live, is returning.

November 7th 2014

However, while Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary merely supplemented Halo: Reach’s multiplayer framework with seven redesigned maps, Halo 2’s online modes are being included just as players remember them. “With Halo 2 the challenge for us is really around the multiplayer, because that’s what people really associate when they think of Halo 2,” Ayoub recalls. “That fantastic multiplayer was really the genesis of all of these multiplayer games that exist for us today. “That’s the reason we’ve actually shipped the multiplayer exactly as it was ten years ago. Beyond that, we’ve added six new maps so we have a bit more fun, while still maintaining that classic experience that everyone remembers.”

Halo 2’s multiplayer was really the genesis of all multiplayer games that exist for us today. Dan Ayoub, 343 Industries

THE ROAD AHEAD 343 may be reviving Halo’s history in The Master Chief

Collection, but it’s also crafting the future of the series in Halo 5: Guardians. Ayoub says that returning to the past work of Bungie and 343 itself has helped the team to retain the franchise’s legacy in the upcoming game. “What’s interesting when you look at Halo: The Master Chief Collection is that you can really see the evolution of the multiplayer gameplay from Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo 4,” he explains. “And that leads into Halo 5: Guardians with the beta that we’re going to have at the end of December. “What’s been interesting for us while doing this, is that you do see our own genesis at the same time; you can see where our own multiplayer began with the work that we’ve been doing with Halo 2. “As for how it’s going to inform what we do with Halo 5, what’s going to be fascinating for

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HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION THE BIG GAME

Halo 2’s entire multiplayer component is included in this Halo collection

us is that, really for the first time, people are going to be voting with their gameplay. We have a lot of internal bets as to where we think people are going to spend most of their time in The Master Chief Collection, but it’s going to be very informative for us to be able to see the gameplay styles people are using, what game types people are really playing, and that’s obviously going to be huge for us down the line.” OLD AND NEW So with existing fans to excite and refresh before the release of Halo 5, and newcomers to the series yet to enter the expanding universe, who is the Master Chief Collection primarily for? “The answer is really both,” replies Ayoub. “What we saw with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was that we had those people who can remember Halo as their first gameplay experience. What was interesting to me when meeting fans and talking to them

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was talking to someone that was like 18 or 19 and realising: ‘Wow, this guy was nine when the first game came out, and never actually got to play it.’ So what we see is that there’s both, and we customise and make the game appealing to both types of people. “For the people that have played it before, that’s where we go heavy on the nostalgia and make it so they can relive their experiences and remember what it was like the first time they played that game. Whereas for the person that’s never played before, that’s why we’ve taken these games and made them feel and look and play like next-gen games. “It’s a way for people who’ve never played these games before to experience them for the first time, while still feeling like a next-gen game. As a whole, that was one of the core goals of this collection – if you’ve never played Halo before, here’s a really easy way to get in and catch up before Halo 5.”

CHANNEL CHIEF

HALO 5 may be the IP’s next game, but with a new TV series, digital feature and hours of live gameplay and eSports footage, fans aren’t lacking Halo content. In steps the Halo Channel, a digital network for Xbox One and Windows 8 devices that aims to tie all of these into a single portal. “We look at the Channel as a single destination for Halo,” says Kiki Wolfkill, executive producer at 343 Industries.

“The idea is: How do we take programming and make it more than just about narrative content, but also add in all the Twitch programming and the games, and have people explore through those organically? It’s not so much ‘I’m going to go do this over here, then I’ll do that over here’, it’s more like players enter the universe and choose what they feel like doing at any given moment.”

November 7th 2014

THE BIRTH OF HEARTHSTONE

THE STORY OF HEARTHSTONE Forget Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft, the most talked about title from Blizzard right now is a free-to-play card game. Christopher Dring speaks to the sensation’s senior producer Yong Woo about the birth of Hearthstone

lizzard is a developer famed for the epic. World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft... the studio’s biggest IP are giants in their genres, with triple-A production values. Hearthstone, the firm’s first freeto-play foray, is different. It’s a collectible card game that doesn’t require any high-end processor or graphics card. It even plays perfectly well on tablets. Yet Hearthstone, in many ways, is the quintessential Blizzard game. “I look at this one picture to remind myself of why we are making Hearthstone,” says Yong Woo, the senior producer on the game, which launched in March to much critical acclaim. “It’s a picture from 15 years ago of our CEO Mike Morhaime and Bob Fitch, Heartstone’s lead engineer. They’re sitting on the carpet playing a collectible card game on the floor. “When we created the Hearthstone team, our vision was to prove that a small team could still make epic Blizzard-quality games. Maybe not in terms of scale, but in terms of fun. When we thought about what game we wanted to make, we asked ourselves: “What games do we enjoy?” and as that picture suggests, that genre is collectible card games.” Collectible Card Games, or CCGs, are mostly associated with the über-nerdy. They are deep, complex, strategic and not for the casual player. But Blizzard has a reputation of creating games in complex genres and redeveloping them for a broader audience. “CCG is a misunderstood genre,” he adds. “A lot of people think

November 7th 2014

got picked up so well and really exploded into a streaming and eSports phenomenon.”

Streaming is one reason for Hearthstone’s success, says Woo

about CCGs and go: ‘Oh, that’s too complicated.’ We wanted to have a shot at changing that, whilst maintaining the strategic core, and apply very intuitive and visceral art and effects to make the game easy to understand and fun to watch.” STREAMING SUCCESS The ‘fun to watch’ aspect turned out to be crucial. The firm felt the title was going to be successful, but they were shocked at how fast it spread. This, says Woo, was largely down to livestreamers. “Whenever any of us would play Hearthstone, the entire team would gather around to watch,” says Woo. “It had this social element to it. But we didn’t know what would happen once this game made contact with the internet. When streaming exploded with Twitch, we were surprised. Streaming is really just you playing in the office, with all your mates behind you watching, multiplied by the internet. In retrospect, we shouldn’t have been so surprised that it

Collectible Card Games are misunderstood. A lot of people think they are too complicated. We wanted to have a shot of changing that. Yong Woo, Blizzard

GOING BEYOND THE CORE Blizzard is actively supporting its dedicated card battlers. It is giving away $250,000 in an eSports event at this weekend’s Blizzcon. It has also released an expansion called Curse of Naxxramas to offer new ways for existing fans to play. Yet Hearthstone wasn’t a game built purely for hardcore card enthusiasts. The company wanted to make a card game for everyone. That’s part of the reason why it’s free-to-play. Woo says the game didn’t start off as a free title, Blizzard, he says, only thinks about business models after a game is finished. But free-to-play was the most sensible option when trying to attract non-seasoned CCG fans. And it’s worked. Hearthstone received widespread coverage. Woo and his team appear to have done the impossible thing that Blizzard has built its reputation on: making a nerdy genre more accessible, whilst not alienating the hardcore. “There is a false notion that a game needs to be really complicated to be strategically interesting,” he concludes. “We often bring up the example of chess. Chess is an elegantly simple game, but its strategic depth is enduring centuries of mastery. That’s been our approach with Hearthstone, take away unnecessary complexity so it is easy to understand, but retain the depth. I think that is what makes Hearthstone different from the other CCGs that are out there.”

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ÂŁ49.99

Call our specialist sales team 01279 822 822 store.exertisgem.co.uk www.exertisgem.co.uk

INTERVIEW CONTACT SALES

SIMULATION SUCCESS As its Excalibur label celebrates its tenth anniversary, Alex Calvin catches up with Contact Sales’ MD Robert Stallibrass and marketing boss Richard Barclay about the sim market, owning its own IP and virtual reality

Excalibur is celebrating its tenth birthday. How has the simulation market changed in that time? Robert Stallibrass, MD, Contact Sales: To start it was largely an uncharted territory, mostly left to Microsoft with Flight and Train Simulator. Then someone came up with Farming Simulator, we released it, then suddenly there was this massive market of people who want to play real simulation products. We backed lots of horses like everyone does, but we picked a lucky one. On the back of that, that market has expanded. The trouble is there is a hell of a lot of products now. Loads of people have jumped in and done ‘me too’ type products and that has watered the market down. You’ve invested in a number of new IPs such as European Ship Simulator. Why decide to do this? Richard Barclay, head of marketing, Contact Sales: We want to invest in new IP because you just have to be working on your own IP. There are fewer licensing deals to be had. We originally weren’t developing any titles ourselves, we were just doing licensing deals. Developers – particularly with digital distribution now – can just get a Steam account and start delivering products themselves. So we haven’t had a choice but to invest in new IP. And we want to turn European Ship Simulator into an IP the size of Euro Truck Simulator. What’s the break down of physical and digital like for Contact Sales? Stallibrass: In August it was 25 per cent digital, 75 per cent boxed.

November 7th 2014

Master, we had 100 Let’s Plays on YouTube and that product went on to sell really well. Very often that’ll include a link to the Steam page as well.

Contact Sales wants European Ship Simulator to become an IP the size of Euro Truck Simulator

That makes sense. The simulation market has an older audience. In the past you have told us that 65 per cent of your customers are over 50. Stallibrass: Funny you should say that – our YouTube stats now show that 70 per cent of our viewers are between 18 and 35. A year ago, most of our viewers were over 35. Now we’ve moved into the mass market with our views. Why’s that? Is it because simulation is becoming more mainstream? Is it because the old people don’t want to play our simulation games now? We honestly don’t know. How has YouTube changed the way you market your games? Barclay: Social media has completely turned the importance of the press on its head. As with any social media campaign it’s all about what people say to each other about relevant products. We don’t get any interest from IGN or GamesRadar, but we get a lot of the smaller guys and YouTubers interested. On a product like Post

Contact Sales marketing boss Barclay (top) and MD Strallibrass (above)

What impact do you see VR having on the simulation genre? Stallibrass: I was lucky enough to try the Oculus Rift back in one of its earlier machinations. I was staggered how realistic it was. Whether it will become mass market, I don’t know. If they sell 1m units at $200 then they have their cost of manufacturing down, which means the next version will be cheaper and they’ll sell more. Eventually it’ll become a mass market product. The team behind Euro Truck Simulator think it’s fantastic as it’s very immersive. I’m sure if it becomes a large enough proportion of the market, then our simulations will follow it. What’s next for Contact Sales? Stallibrass: We’re very lucky with our distribution partnerships at Dovetail and Merge, and we hope to continue working with them. We’re not looking for more distribution work, but what we are looking for is to increase our own IP. That is the way forward, you have to own your own IP. Look at some of the businesses that have gone bust recently. They haven’t owned their own IP, and a lot of people have moved into the console market. In that sector, if you don’t sell every single unit that you make you are likely to lose money. The cost of goods is so high. Console isn’t here for the long term. PC is so much more flexible. Everyone has a PC.

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INDIE INTERVIEW TOM HEGARTY, ROLL7

ROLLING WITH THE TIMES Roll7 director Tom Hegarty tells Alex Calvin how the studio went from developing educational games to making one of the most popular indie hits of the year

oll7 is one of the hottest indie studios in the UK right now. It was behind the popular and infuriately addictive skating title OllIOlli, which launched on PlayStation Vita in January of this year. It was a smash hit, and garnered a cult following. But the studio wasn’t always producing indie smash hits. “Roll7 has been going since 2008, when we started out making educational games,” the studio’s director Tom Hegarty says. “We did client-based games. There was a title for kids with ADHD, another about knife crime for Channel Four. As we developed as a studio we wanted to work on our own IP. The idea was to save up enough money that we could make our own games. “We then made Gets to the Exit, which released on various app stores. It wasn’t financially successful, but it received some great reviews.” ROUGH AND SMOOTH Indeed, mobile development was a mixed bag for the firm. “There is no gatekeeper on mobile, so you can put something out there, you can test it, you can work on it,” Hegarty explains. “But it’s very hard to get traction in the mobile space and you need to be good at marketing to get your name out there. It is a great place to put ideas out and get people playing your game and see what works. “After we released Gets to the Exit we realised that we needed to move to console or Steam. The kind of games we make are hardcore, twitchy score attack games. We were limited by the touch screen with our mobile games.”

November 7th 2014

then. We wanted to move towards consoles and they were looking to get some exclusive Vita content. It was a no brainer for us.” DIFFICULT SECOND GAME And now, around one year after the first OlliOlli was completed, the team is hard at work on OlliOlli 2, which Hegarty refers to as the ‘difficult second album’. “We started working on OlliOlli 2 before the first game came out,” Hegarty says. “We finished the game in October. Because of various QA issues with Sony, and then the Christmas period, we decided to hold off until January, so it was three months before the game came out. We deconstructed it in that time. “By the time the first OlliOlli game came out we thought the game was terrible. OlliOlli 2 was a completely different game then OlliOlli came out and it was really well received much to our surprise and delight. We went back to the drawing board. We looked at what people liked about the first game and decided not to tear it all apart. “Everything comes under so much more scrutiny the second time around. And you do worry so much more about every minor decision. We get lost in so much tiny detail, but it’s very hard to know what to focus on and what to put aside.” He concludes: “Overall it’s a really nice problem to have, that there are fans and expectation out there, but that’s countered by the worry that we did something really well received last time. We’re trying not to mess it up.”

OlliOlli was Roll7’s ﬁrst console game

So the team set to work developing test versions of various games, one of which was OlliOlli. “In 2012, in our rush to get towards console and PC development, we produced a load of prototypes,” he says. “OlliOlliOlli – as it was called back then – was one of them. It quickly became mine, creative director] John Ribbins and [director] Simon Bennett’s go-to game. “We took the iOS prototype around to various events. We went to Develop in July 2012 and ended up speaking to [FuturLab boss] James Mardsen who really liked it, and recommended we speak to Sony. “We had an email introduction to Shahid Ahmad [PlayStation Strategic Content], met with them but they weren’t very impressed with the prototypes we showed. Then we decided to show them OlliOlli and Shahid picked it up and couldn’t put it down. He handed the meeting over to the other people there. They signed it right

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2014

Wednesday, November 19th

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MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE Av Kandola of West Drayton’s Games Connection tells MCV about why he’s decided to open a website to sell games, the retailer’s in-store events and customising older game hardware Have the recent blockbuster launches been a boost to business? Yes, FIFA and Destiny were huge for us. And there’s a lot of buzz around Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry 4 and especially Grand Theft Auto V. They should be great for business.

How has business been for you recently? It’s been pretty good. We have launched a website recently, gamesconnection.co.uk, that stocks a lot of retro and pro-gaming items. Business has been booming on the online side of things, as well as the brick and mortar store. The website has been going for about a month and a half and the feedback has been fantastic so far.

Why did you decide to open a retail website? The main reason is it’s just good to be able to sell retro consoles and games, as well as some professional gaming items online. It’s great to do it in store, but there aren’t many places selling that kind of stock online. We do repairs, too, which is quite unique online. We also get a lot of collectors looking for rare items online.

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

PRICE CHECK: GLASGOW

Have you been doing any events or midnight launches for some of the bigger games? Yes, we’ve been doing some

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE Activision, PS4 2. Halo: The Master Chief Collection Microsoft ..................................................................XO 3. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Activision .................................................................XO 4. Football Manager 2015 Sega ...........................................................................PC

ASSASSIN’S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG

7. Xbox One + Assassin’s Creed Unity, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, COD: Advanced Warfare Microsoft ..................................................................XO

9. Grand Theft Auto V Rockstar ...................................................................XO 10. Far Cry 4 Limited Edition Ubisoft ....................................................................PS4

Sega, PC

N/A

£39.99

£49.99

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£39.99

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£39.30

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FREEDOM WARS

STEALTH INC 2: A GAME OF

MGS V: GROUND ZEROES

Sony’s Japanese action RPG has launched onto PlayStation Vita

This Wii U-exclusive platform title is on the eShop now

Kojima’s stealth title is coming to PC in time for Christmas

OUT NOW

November 7th 2014

FIFA 15 EA, PS4

ONLINE

8. Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 Konami ...................................................................PS4

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2014

IN-STORE

6. Dragon Age Inquisition EA .............................................................................PS4

The latest digital releases coming to market

Sony, PS4

Ubisoft, XO

5. Grand Theft Auto V Rockstar ................................................................PS4

UPLOADING

THE LAST OF US REMASTERED

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OUT DECEMBER 18TH

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MARKETPLACE

Games Connection 4 Station Road, West Drayon, UB7 7BY

events for the bigger games. We have a LAN section of the store, so while people are waiting we have the game running on there so consumers can give it a go while they are waiting for midnight to come around. Have you been diversifying what you sell to draw people into the store? We do all the standard gaming stuﬀ, new stock, pre-owned titles, accessories.

Phone: 01895 422 322 Website: gamesconnection.co.uk Email: sales@gamesconnection.co.uk

We also sell a lot of retro stock, as well as digital codes. The PlayStation and Xbox points are really popular. We also sell a lot of pro-gaming items. Apart from that we’re running out of room. We even do custom consoles. We pimp up NES and SNES consoles. There’s a lot of demand for that. People love their hardware dressed up in a Mega Man or Zelda theme.

INCOMING TITLE

WANT TO FEATURE YOUR OUTLET IN MCV? Contact ACalvin@nbmedia.com or call 01992 515 303

We’re just weeks away from new Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry games coming to stores, as well as Grand Theft Auto V for Xbox One and PS4 FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

Management

Sega

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

November 7th Football Manager 2015 Planes: Fire and Rescue

Wii U, Wii, 3DS

Kid

Bandai Namco

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Avantage

The Wolf Among Us

PS4/XO/PS3/360

Adventure

Avanquest

01480 359 403

Open

Tiers to Tiara 2: Heir of The Overlord

PS3

RPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Open

Shooter

Microsoft

01279 822 822

Exertis

Assassin’s Creed: Rogue

PS3/360

Action

Ubisoft

01279 822 822

Exertis

Assassin’e Creed: Unity

PS4/XO/PC

Action

Ubisoft

01279 822 822

Exertis

PES 2015

PS4/XO/PS3/360

Football

Konami

020 8987 5730

Open

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor

MMO

Activision Blizzard

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC

Shooter

Activision

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

November 11th Halo: The Master Chief Collection

November 13th

November 14th LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

PS4/XO/Wii U/PS3/360/3DS Action

Warner Bros

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

Tales of Hearts R

Vita

Bandai Namco

01215 069 590

Avantage

RPG

November 18th Far Cry 4

PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC

Shooter

Ubisoft

01279 822 822

Exertis

Grand Theft Auto V

PS4, XO

Action

Rockstar

020 7751 2565

Open

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

PS3/360

Action

Warner Bros

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

Dragon Age: Inquisiton

PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC

RPG

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

November 21st

Escape Dead Island

PS3/360

Action

Deep Silver

01256 385 200

Koch Media

Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Editon

Vita

Construction

Sony

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

Wii U

Platformer

Sega

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

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November 7th 2014

ASSASSIN’S CREED

ASSASSIN’S CREED Ubisoft’s historical stealth-action series returns with not one, but two, new entries this year. Matthew Jarvis takes a stab at the latest merchandise

ASSASSIN’S CREED is truly Ubisoft’s killer franchise. Since the original game snuck onto the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2007, the Assassin’s Creed series has sold more than 73m units as of April 2014, according to Ubisoft. That’s 25m units more than the publisher’s second-biggest franchise, Just Dance. Having leaped onto handhelds, mobile and browsers since then, this year marks the first time the core series will be split into two

All in all there’s plenty on oﬀer for retailers to make a killing from Assassin’s Creed.

games – Unity and Rogue. The latter lands on PS3 and Xbox 360, while the former is built specifically for the PS4 and Xbox One. “Unity and Rogue are very different games: the storylines, the settings, the key features and mechanics will provide players with two completely different experiences,” says Ubisoft senior brand manager Ombeline Marcus. “Like any game in the franchise, both titles also add to the overall story of the war between

ASSASSIN’S CREED: UNITY FIGURINE – ELISE, THE FIERY TEMPLAR Modelled after the Templar from Unity, this official UBIcollectibles PVC sculpture is the first female figurine in the collection. The model can be assembled with the Arno, The Fearless Assassin figurine to create a diorama. Additional digital content is also included. SRP: £34.99 Manufacturer: Ubisoft Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY: PRIMA OFFICIAL INITIATE EDITION

ASSASSIN’S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG DUVET SET

ASSASSIN’S CREED: ARENA BOARD GAME

This limited-edition collector’s guide includes artifacts and a hardcover strategy guide, encased inside a weathered box embellished with the Assassin crest.

Fans can sleep tight in this duvet and pillow case set printed with Black Flag protagonist Edward Kenway.

For those looking to assassinate with less mess and legal ramiﬁcations, this board game challenges Assassins to ﬁnd the perfect mark.

SRP: £74.99 Manufacturer: Prima Games Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

SRP: £21.99 (Single), £33.99 (Double) Manufacturer: Dreamtex Distributor: Dreamtex Contact: +44 (0) 844 499 8465

SRP: £36.94 Manufacturer: Cryptozoic Entertainment Distributor: Cryptozoic Entertainment Contact: hobby@cryptozoic.com

November 7th 2014

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ASSASSIN’S CREED

DIRECTORY

MCV DIRECTORY KEY CONTACTS Sony DADC ............................................ +44 (0) 207 462 6200

CREATIVE Fink ................................................................. info@ﬁnkcreative.com

GAMING ACCESSORIES DISC REPAIR

L3I............................................................................+ (0)1923 471 020

Total Disc Repair ..................................+44 (0) 1202 489500

Venom ............................................................... +44 (0)1763 284181

DISTRIBUTION Click Entertainment ............................ +44 (0) 203 137 3781 Creative Distribution ......................+44 (0) 20 8664 3456 RATES

Curveball Leisure ................................... +44 (0) 1792 652521

£70 per two column box (100mm x 75mm). To run weekly for a minimum of 1 year. Please phone for other size and/or position requirements.

Enarxis Dynamic Media ............................. +302 1090 11900

DISC REPAIR

TOTAL DISC REPAIR

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 489500

November 7th 2014

Web: www.totaldiscrepair.co.uk

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DIRECTORY

ENQUIRIES CONOR TALLON Tel: 01992 535647 ctallon@nbmedia.com

FINK

CREATIVE

DISTRIBUTION

CLICK ENTERTAINMENT

Artworking Mastertronic Brand Identity Ukie Localisation Rising Star Games Advertising BBFC Website Design Deep Silver Exhibition Bethesda Illustration Appynation Digital Media IntentMedia Charity GamesAid Banners & Takeovers Konami Packaging Design Just Flight Email: info@ﬁnkcreative.com CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION

Tel: +44 (0) 208 6643456 ENARXIS DYNAMIC MEDIA

Tel: +44 (0)203 137 3781

Web: www.ﬁnkcreative.com DISTRIBUTION

email: sales@click-entertainment.com

CURVEBALL LEISURE

Web: www.creativedistribution.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1792 652521

DISTRIBUTION

SONY DADC

DISTRIBUTION

Web: www.curveball-leisure.com DISTRIBUTION

Empowering your creative business

Tel: +44 207 462 6200 games@sonydadc.com

www.sonydadc.com Tel: +302 1090 11900

www.mcvuk.com

Web: www.enarxis.eu

Tel: +44 (0) 207 462 6200

Web: www.sonydadc.com

November 7th 2014

DIRECTORY

GAMING ACCESSORIES

L3I

GAMING ACCESSORIES

VENOM

New officially licensed products

Rechargeable Battery Pack

Fully recharges the DUALSHOCK®4 wireless controller for up to 20 hours of gameplay.

Hurricane Steering Wheel

Tel: + (0)1923 471 020

Web: www.logic3.com

Take racing to the next level

WANT TO ADVERTISE IN OUR DIRECTORY?

Web: www.venomuk.com Phone: +44 (0)1763 284181 Email: darren.scott@venomuk.com sam.phipps@venomuk.com tom.hodge@venomuk.com

CALL CONOR TALLON ON 01992 535647 OR EMAIL HIM AT CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM

Tel: +44 (0)1763 284181 November 7th 2014

Venom UK Gaming @VenomGamingUK

w w w. v e n o m u k . c o m

Web: www.venomuk.com www.mcvuk.com

INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE DIMENSIONAL IMAGING

DIRECTORY

WHO? Specialism: Facial performance capture systems, software and services Location: 1 Ainslie Road, Glasgow, Scotland, G52 4RU

Develop is the only dedicated publication for the UK and European games development community. It reaches over 8,500 subscribers every month.

Colin Urquhart of Dimensional Imaging tells MCV about the ﬁrm’s facial capturing technology

FOR GREAT ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES, CONTACT ALEX BOUCHER ABOUCHER@NBMEDIA.COM

Tell us about your company. We supply high-deﬁnition 3D facial image capture and 4D facial performance capture systems, software and services.

THIS MONTH’S DIRECTORY SPOTLIGHT:

What is your biggest success to date? Our movie and TV projects include the facial performance captures of Vincent Cassel for La Belle et la Bête and Academy Award-winning actor Adrian Brody for Houdini, and capturing facial animation for characters in the BBC’s Atlantis and Merlin. Our biggest success to date is Remedy Entertainment licensing our 4D software for facial performance capture in the highly-anticipated Xbox One title Quantum Break.

Epic Games .................................................. www.epicgames.com/careers

What projects do you currently have in the works? As well as continuing to develop and improve our 4D tracking and processing software, we are also continuing to develop, test and reﬁne our DI4D Head Mounted Camera (HMC) system. What are the biggest challenges you face? The biggest challenge we faced until recently was the growing demand from the industry for full performance capture solutions, which our ‘sit down’ DI4D Pro system was not able to deliver. None of the HMC solutions on the market were able to deliver the resolution and quality of image required by DI4D, which To be included in the Develop Directory (which appears every month in Develop and now every week in MCV) contact aboucher@nbmedia.com

We were the ﬁrst company in the world to use passive stereo photogrammetry commercially. Colin Urquhart, Dimensional Imaging

prompted us to develop our own HMC solution. Now that we have our own HMC solution, and have proven its capability, our biggest challenge is to keep up with the demand that this is creating. Tell us something about your company no one knows. We were the ﬁrst company in the world to use passive stereo photogrammetry technology commercially in our 3D solutions, allowing us to compute dense HD 3D scan data from a single stereo pair of images.

WANT TO FEATURE YOUR COMPANY IN INSIDER’S GUIDE? PLEASE CONTACT MJARVIS@NBMEDIA.COM OR CALL 01992 515 303

WWW.DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET www.mcvuk.com

Contact: T: +44 141 585 6481 W: www.di4d.com E: info@di4d.com

November 7th 2014

FACTFILE THAILAND Sponsored by

Wholesaler and distributor of video games, consoles and accessories

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: THAILAND Population: 66,720,153 Capital CIty: Bangkok Currency: Baht GDP (Per Capita): $5,675 KEY RETAILERS Item Gameshop, Nadz, New Era Interactive Media, MangPong TOP DISTRIBUTORS Active Boeki, CD Gamer, Maxsoft, Nadz, Playinter, Sicom

DESPITE low consumer uptake of console and PC in Thailand, digital and mobile are continuing to boom. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates that the total Thai games market was worth $145 million in 2012. This is almost double the $76 million generated in 2008. PwC adds that the Thai games industry will exceed $226 million in value by 2018. According to the Board of Investment of Thailand, the total value of digital games content produced in Thailand during 2011 was $294 million. The Board adds that of the six dominant subsectors in the Thai games market, online gaming is the most prevalent, with a 48 per cent share of the market. Following this is mobile, with a share of 23 per cent. Console and handheld gaming are less popular, with a combined 14 per cent share.

TOP DEVELOPERS Debuz, Sanuk Games, Novaleaf, Sandbox Global, Games Square, Extend Interactive, Kiragames PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION AsiaSoft, Activision, Ini3 Digital, Microsoft, NC True (NCSoft), Sony

The popularity of mobile gaming is driven by the ability to buy in-app purchases directly through network operators – a necessity given the dearth of credit card ownership in Thailand. PwC estimates that mobile games revenue – produced by initial app costs and microtransactions – reached $73 million in 2012, and is set to increase at an annual rate of 10.5 per cent to hit $120 million by 2017. As a result of the growing market, PwC also believes that mobile companies will promote their presence in the region. The firm states that Thai games advertising revenue will almost double from $4 million in 2012 to $7 million in 2017, at a rate of 14.6 per cent annually. The games industry also provides a number of jobs in Thailand. More than 3,000 Thai workers are employed in the games and animation sector.

The Thai games industry will exceed $226 million in value by 2018.

November 7th 2014

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THAILAND FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... THE WEST Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has said that the New 3DS and 3DS XL will not hit Western shores this year due to a current lack of potential THERE will be no Western release for the New Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL this year, due to slow growth of the original 3DS. That’s the news from Nintendo CEO and president Satoru Iwata, who recently told investors that the firm’s latest handhelds would not expand globally until the original 3DS reaches its full potential in the West. “The overseas markets are different from the Japanese market in their stages of popularisation of Nintendo 3DS and market characteristics,” he explained. “Neither of the cumulative sales figures of Nintendo 3DS in the US nor

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Europe is more than that in Japan despite, based on the historical performance, bigger sales potential. “In short, 3DS is still at an earlier stage of popularisation in these two markets.”

Iwata added that sales of 3DS software also diﬀer in the two regions, with software enjoying a steady sales cycle in America and Europe, while games in Japan quickly peak and fade.

November 7th 2014

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION