MCV 817 December 12th 2014 by Biz Media Ltd

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES ISSUE 817 FRIDAY DECEMBER 12TH 2014

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES ISSUE 817 FRIDAY DECEMBER 12TH /DECEMBER 19TH 2014 DOUBLE ISSUE

REVIEW OF THE YEAR WE ROUND UP THE DEFINING MOMENTS OF 2014

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Retail expects close ﬁght between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2015 ‘WE WERE NOT READY FOR BLACK FRIDAY’

Retailers say they weren’t prepared for Black Friday

UK stores call for more boxed games next year z Black Friday No.1 challenge by Alex Calvin UK games retailers expect the showdown between PS4 and Xbox One in 2015 to go down to the wire. In MCV’s annual retail survey, 55 per cent of respondents tipped PS4 to end next year on-top, while 41 per cent backed Xbox One (the remainder went for other hardware). Yet everyone surveyed anticipated that 2015 will not be anywhere near as one-sided as this year has been. “It’s been all PlayStation for most of 2014,” said one store

manager. “But 2015 it will be neckand-neck. It’s tough to call.” Last year, PS4 took 78 per cent of the vote, versus just 10 per cent for Xbox One. The ﬁgures are part of MCV’s annual survey of UK retail store managers, which you can read more about on page 7. The PlayStation 4 has been outselling the Xbox One for most of 2014, but Microsoft’s hardware saw a surge in momentum during the key Christmas sales period thanks to a number of key releases, bundles and price activity. Additional reporting: Matthew Jarvis.

UK stores said Black Friday was their biggest challenge of 2014. 32 per cent of stores surveyed said that the sales event proved difficult. Retailers felt they were unable to logistically cope with the sheer volume of customers. Physical stores were overwhelmed by footfall, while websites were unable to cope with the high amounts of customers trying to buy the latest deals. Meanwhile, stores suffered security breaches due to huge crowds.

“We did not anticipate the popularity of Black Friday,” one store manager told MCV. “Operationally we could have been more organised as a business, but we have learnt a lot this year which will help next time around.” Black Friday even eclipsed the usual popular High Street complaint surrounding low pricing by the supermarkets. However, that issue remained a popular answer, with 25 per cent of respondents criticising aggressive discounting.

RETAIL DEMANDS MORE GAMES IN 2015

STORES BACK BATMAN FOR 2015

OF all the things that retailers want in 2015, their number one desire is for more games. 28 per cent of the stores MCV spoke to for our retail survey said that the thing it wanted most in 2015 was for some actual software to sell. This comes after a sparse year for game releases. There were just a handful of blockbuster launches, and next to no games came out between May and September. Other top requests from stores included more gamerelated merchandise and ‘software that actually works’.

WARNER’S Batman: Arkham Knight is UK retail’s most anticipated game of 2015. The upcoming title was highlighted by 14 per cent of the stores MCV spoke to for our retail survey. Halo 5 was nominated by 10 per cent of retailers. Meanwhile, Evolve, The Order 1886 and Uncharted 4 were all voted for by eight per cent.

PLUS KING ON THE POWER OF FREE PLAYSTATION’S INDIE MISSION

CHEAT SHEET

THE WEEK IN VIDEO GAM

THE EDITOR

FIFA AND COD FAVOURITES FOR XMAS NO.1

IS 2015 TRULY GOING TO BE ANY BETTER?

y the time Christmas has come and gone, there will be three million-plus PS4s and Xbox Ones in people’s homes. That is a lot of consoles and a significantly larger install base to sell games to. It will be on UK retail to turn those hardware buyers into software consumers. And the prevalent belief is that 2015 will give the High Street a means to do so. All the big games that were delayed from 2014 are scattered throughout the start of next year. Games are more spread out and things are looking better. But, actually, I’m not convinced. Sure, there’s a few promising releases, but according to our release schedule there’s just 26 games set to arrive between now and June. That’s pretty disappointing. And let’s take a closer look at those ‘big’ games. Battlefield and Batman are certainly major launches, but is Evolve really going to be up there with them? Sure, it’s racked up huge acclaim at E3 and Gamescom, but translating that into sales is no sure thing. The Order 1886 looks nice, but it will depend a lot on the critical reaction. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is being made available as an episodic download first, so that may weaken the box release. Bloodborne and The Witcher 3 will certainly be big amongst the RPG audiences, but that’s still a relatively niche genre. Mortal Kombat X and Dead Island 2 should do well...

December 12th 2014

by Alex Calvin FIFA 15 is currently leading the charge to be Christmas number one this year. But bookies William Hill, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes say there could be a surprise late surge from Call of Duty, which is currently battling FIFA for the weekly No.1 spot. Here are the full odds:

Publishers are only just starting to look at planning for next year’s big games. No pressure, guys. The first one is out in eight weeks. It’s an okay first half, but hardly the super blockbuster one we’ve been led to believe. Of course, what doesn’t help is the industry’s belligerent refusal to discuss next year until Christmas has been and gone. I met with a big publisher last week that has three big games out in early 2015, and they told me they had just ‘started to look at planning for them’... No pressure guys. The first one is out in eight weeks. Last weekend’s The Game Awards and PlayStation Experience in the US were interesting because it showed where the big emphasis lies for a lot of publishers... next Christmas with Zelda, Uncharted and Halo. The bits in between? We’ll make it up as we go along. As usual. I would love to have ended this year talking about these upcoming games and the promise 2015 might hold. But many of these publishers have yet to talk to me about them. ‘We’ll have more to say in the New Year.’ I hope you do. cdring@nbmedia.com

PADDY POWER:

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Destiny Grand Theft Auto V Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor LEGO Batman 3 Far Cry 4 Minecraft Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel The Evil Within FIFA 14

12/1 16/1 20/1 25/1 25/1 33/1 33/1 50/1 50/1 50/1

WILLIAM HILL:

FIFA 15 4/7 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 2/1 Assasins Creed Unity 14/1 Destiny 20/1 LEGO Batman 3 25/1 LADBROKES: FIFA 15 4/6 Call Of Duty: Advance Warfare 2/1 Assasin’s Creed Unity 8/1

FIFA 15 8/13 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 5/2 Assassin’s Creed Unity 8/1 Destiny 10/1 Grand Theft Auto 5 10/1 Far Cry 4 12/1 Halo: The Master Chief Collection 12/1 Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel 16/1 Lara Croft: Temple of Osiris 16/1 LEGO Batman 3 20/1 FIFA 14 50/1

Market Data Cyber Monday sales and an impending Christmas keeps retail buoyant post-Black Friday £80m

£40m £57.4m 1,486,145 units

£0m

Week Ending November 24th

£62m 1,960,751 units

Week Ending December 1st

£54m 1,767,947 units

Week Ending December 8th

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CHEAT SHEET

SPONSORED BY

Activision Blizzard

Amiibo Zelda (Wii U)

Nintendo

Rockstar

Amiibo Little Mac (Wii U)

Nintendo

FIFA 15

4 PlayStation Home was a massive success that everyone thinks was a failure

PRE-ORDER TOP 10

DOWN Call of Duty slips from the top spot after its Black Friday triumph

3 GAME launches Christmas Shopper Simulator for PC and Mac

AMIIBO CAPTAIN FALCON (WII U)

NINTENDO

Ubisoft

Amiibo Pit from Kid Icarus (Wii U)

Nintendo

Warner Bros

Amiibo Luigi (Wii U)

Nintendo

The Crew

Ubisoft

Amiibo Diddy Kong (Wii U)

Nintendo

Assassin’s Creed Unity

Ubisoft

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker (Wii U)

Nintendo

Minecraft: Xbox Edition

Microsoft

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (PS4)

Minecraft: PlayStation Edition

Sony

The Legend of Zelda HD (Wii U)

DriveClub

Sony

Final Fantasy Type-0 + FFXV demo (PS4)

Sony Nintendo Square Enix

December 12th 2014

RETAIL SURVEY

THE WORD ON THE STREET MCV speaks to over 100 games retailers from across the UK – both independent stores and the chains – about the highs and lows of their 2014

MCV spoke to over 100 stores for this year’s retail survey

1. WHICH GAMES PUBLISHER BEST SUPPORTED YOUR BUSINESS IN 2014? Q Microsoft Q Ubisoft Q Sony Q EA Q Activision Blizzard Q Take-Two Q None Q Warner Bros

2014 certainly has been a year of change. In December 2013, who would have predicted that Microsoft would be voted the best publisher by UK games retail? Yet Xbox took the top place, with retailers saying that the platform holder’s response to feedback was commendable, including its repeated price cuts and offers to remain competitive in the market. Meanwhile, last year’s No.1, Sony, slips to third place. Retailers praised the firm’s hands-on approach, such as members of staff coming into stores to provide members of staff with extra goods and deals. And in second and fourth places are Ubisoft and EA respectively. These scored highly due to the number of best-selling titles that they had, such as Assassin’s Creed: Unity and FIFA 15.

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26% 22% 18% 12% 11% 5% 4% 3%

26% Microsoft was voted the ﬁrm that best supported retail by 26 per cent of stores 07

December 12th 2014

RETAIL SURVEY

2. WHICH DISTRIBUTOR WOULD YOU CREDIT FOR BEST SUPPORTING YOUR BUSINESS IN 2014? CENTRESOFT is still the favourite distributor of UK games retail, thanks to its stellar deals and the expansion of its DLCSoft range to include Nintendo content. Meanwhile Exertis won the hearts of 12 per cent of UK retailers. Many said that the firm had provided a number of great deals on Xbox bundles. Yet two per cent of retailers said that they had given up on distributors altogether, instead buying all of their titles from GAME.

Q CentreSoft Q Exertis Q GAME Q Shock Q Advantage Q Curveball Q Link

76% 12% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2%

3. IN TERMS OF SUCCESS, WHAT WAS YOUR GAME OF THE YEAR? PERHAPS it shouldn’t come as a surprise that FIFA 15 was voted game of the year by UK retail given the title’s massive popularity and blockbuster first week. The game had the biggest launch of the year. And not only did FIFA 15 top the survey this year, last year’s FIFA 14 was voted for by two per cent of retailers as that game sold well throughout the year. 26 per cent voted for new IPs Destiny, Watch Dogs and Titanfall. Activision Blizzard’s online sci-fi shooter placed in second, with 21 per cent of the vote. And Minecraft – across all platforms – was selected by five per cent. This is unsurprising given that Mojang’s construction title sold highly through the year.

Q FIFA 15 Q Destiny Q Grand Theft Auto V Q Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Q Minecraft Q Watch Dogs Q Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Q Dark Souls II Q FIFA 14 Q Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Q Disney Infinity 2.0 (Marvel Super Heroes) Q Halo: The Master Chief Collection Q LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Q Titanfall Q Wolfenstein: The New Order

December 12th 2014

29% 21% 18% 8% 5% 4% 3% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%

30 25 20 15 10 05 00

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RETAIL SURVEY

4. WHICH PERIPHERALS MANUFACTURER WOULD YOU CREDIT FOR BEST QUALITY THIS YEAR?

5. WHAT WAS YOUR STORE’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS YEAR? THIS year the biggest challenge facing UK games retail was actually blockbuster retail event Black Friday. 32 per cent of games retail complained that they were not able or prepared to deal with the volume of customers coming into stores during this huge retail event. And in second place is a more common problem facing indie retail,

HEADSETS continue to dominate the accessories market. Last year’s number one Turtle Beach once again tops the peripherals category with 27 per cent voting for the company. The firm has continued to produce high-quality headsets, including game-focused designs for the likes of Titanfall and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Meanwhile, official peripherals from PlayStation and Xbox make a combined 28 per

cent, with PlayStation and Xbox each being voted for by 24 per cent each. Retailers said that these products were of a high-quality. The same was also said to be true of both PDP and Orb. The stores MCV spoke to said that the former’s Afterglow range was both popular and longlasting, while other stated that Orb’s products were both great value for money and high quality.

Q Turtle Beach Q PlayStation Q Xbox Q Orb Q MadCatz Q PDP

Q Astro Gaming Q Gioteck Q 4Gamers Q Control Freakz Q Nintendo

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27% 14% 14% 11% 8% 7%

5% 5% 4% 2% 2%

and that is competing on prices with the big chains. 25 per cent of the retailers MCV spoke to said that this was the biggest problem that faced them this year. Low prices on day one titles in supermarkets were commonly cited. Five per cent of retailers were clearly enjoying themselves, telling us they had no challenges this year, which is a first.

Q Black Friday Q Price competition Q Meeting consumer demand Q Games not working Q Big midnight launches and events Q None Q Store space Q Busy release schedule Q Digital shift Q Margins Q Online issues Q Convincing people to move to the next-gen consoles Q Footfall Q Expansion Q Stock availability Q Wii U sales Q Exclusives at other stores Q Game delays

05%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

32% 25% 7% 6% 5% 5% 4% 3% 3% 3% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%

35%

December 12th 2014

40%

RETAIL SURVEY

6. DO YOU SELL DIGITAL CONTENT?

DIGITAL content has become a big part of games retail this year. Of the UK retailers MCV spoke to, 93 per cent sold digital content in some form. But of that 93 per cent, 78 per cent of stores said they were happy with the level of content available to you. Meanwhile, 22 per cent said they were not. But whether they were happy or not, nearly all of the stores we spoke

to said that they were after more digital content from Microsoft, Steam and Nintendo. And of the 7 per cent of retailers who didn’t sell digital content, 66 per cent said they would be interested in selling digital codes, but had not been able to through either DLCSoft or Exertis. A further 33 per cent said they wouldn’t be interested, citing poor margins.

Q Yes Q No

7A. IF YES, ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE LEVEL OF DIGITAL CONTENT AVAILABLE TO YOU?

Q Yes Q No

December 12th 2014

93% 7%

7B. IF NO, WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN SELLING DIGITAL CONTENT?

Q Yes Q No

78% 22%

67% 33%

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Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year From EA SPORTS™ #TheGiftofFIFA15 © 2014 Electronic Arts Inc. EA, EA SPORTS and the EA SPORTS logo are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. Official FIFA licensed product. © The FIFA name and OLP Logo are copyright or trademark protected by FIFA. All rights reserved. Manufactured under license by Electronic Arts Inc. The Premier League Logo © The Football Association Premier League Limited 2006. The Premier League Logo is a trademark of the Football Association Premier League Limited which is registered in the UK and other jurisdictions. The Premier League Club logos are copyright works and registered trademarks of the respective Clubs. All are used with the kind permission of their respective owners. Manufactured under licence from the Football Association Premier League Limited. No association with nor endorsement of this product by any player is intended or implied by the licence granted by the Football Association Premier League Limited to Electronic Arts. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Where Distribution Works For You CentreSoft would like to wish all of our retail and publishing partners a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year

Thank you for voting us for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Outstanding Serviceâ&#x20AC;? with a combined 78% in the MCV Annual Retail Survey

Advantage The Oracle Building, Oracle Drive, Blythe Valley Park, Solihull B90 8AD, Telephone: 0121 506 9585 www.advantagedistribution.co.uk

CentreSoft 6 Pavillion Drive, Holford, Birmingham B6 7BB Telephone: 0121 625 3388 www.centresoft.co.uk

RETAIL SURVEY

9. WHICH GAMES PLATFORM DO YOU FEEL WILL RULE NEXT YEAR? THE PS4 continues to be the platform that UK games retail is most confident in. This is 23 per cent lower than last year’s vote, and reflects the closer race between the PS4 and Xbox One going into 2015. 41 per cent of retailers said they felt the Xbox One would come out on top in 2015. But nearly every retailer MCV spoke to said that it was going to be close,

Q PS4 Q Xbox One Q PS3 Q PC Q VR Q Wii U Q 3DS

55% 41% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%

10. HOW IMPORTANT IS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND/OR PRE-ORDER BONUSES TO YOUR STORE? VERY IMPORTANT/NEITHER IMPORTANT OR UNIMPORTANT/NOT IMPORTANT AT ALL THREE quarters of UK games retail say that pre-order incentives and exclusives are very important to them. The retailers MCV spoke to said that they are an added reason for consumers to buy new games at their stores, with indies saying it helps them compete with the likes of Amazon and GAME.

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Q Very Important Q Indifferent Q Not important

75% 15% 10%

December 12th 2014

BETTER MARGIN HARDWARE 1%

STRATEGY GUIDES 1%

GAMING SOUND SYSTEMS 1%

OFFLINE-ONLY GAMES 1%

SLIM VERSIONS OF PS4 AND XBOX ONE 1%

MORE SUPPORT FROM MICROSOFT 1%

OLD NINTENDO CONTENT 1%

WII U BUDGET LINE 1%

PS4 AND XBOX ONE MODELS WITH HIGHER MEMORY 2%

STAR WARS GAME 2%

STEAM MACHINES 2%

LIMITED EDITION CONSOLES 2%

PS VITA SOFTWARE AND GAMES 3%

MORE GAMES RELEASED OUTSIDE OF PEAK TIME 4%

GAMES FOR A YOUNGER AUDIENCE 4%

WORKING GAMES 5%

NEW IP 5%

VIRTUAL REALITY 6%

MORE HEADSETS FOR NEXT-GEN CONSOLES 6%

DIGITAL CODES 7%

GAMES MERCHANDISE 7%

THIRD PARTY ACCESSORIES FOR NEXT-GEN CONSOLES 9%

AFTER the sparse 2014 the games industry has had, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the thing that UK retailers were after most in 2015 was more games. This was requested by 28 per cent of the retailers MCV spoke to and was 19 per cent ahead of second place – third party accessories for next-gen controllers. Though these products are available, retailers felt there needs to be more on the market. Meanwhile seven per cent of retailers asked for more merchandise, with some complaining that this was hard to get their hands on through their traditional distribution channels. So distributors looking to further their offering to games retailers would do well to take a look at the merchandise market. Retailers are also clearly unhappy with the number of ‘broken’ games launching, with five per cent of stores calling for working software.

MORE GAMES 28%

8. WHAT TYPE OF PRODUCT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE OF IN 2015?

RETAIL SURVEY

11. WHAT GAME ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2015? LOOKING ahead to 2015, UK retail has a lot to be excited about – next year’s release schedule is brimming with content. But the title most anticipated by retailers is Batman: Arkham Knight, a game that was meant to be out already but was pushed back until June 2nd 2015. This was the title chosen by 14 per cent of the retailers MCV spoke to. Store managers said that this title was going to be one of the first big ‘next-gen’ games to be appearing on the PS4 and Xbox One. And in second place is the new entry in the Halo saga, Guardians, with a four per cent gap between the Caped Crusader and Master Chief. Anticipation for Guardians has likely been driven by the success of the recent Master Chief Collection. 30 per cent of the retailers MCV spoke to voted for new IP as their most anticipated game. Topping this list was 2K Games’ blockbuster shooter Evolve, and Sony’s new steampunk-themed cover shooter The Order 1886. Retail is also looking forward to Ubisoft’s technically and graphically stunning Tom Clancy IP The Division. Only one Nintendo titles makes the list, and that is the new The Legend of Zelda title, set to hit Wii U next year. This game was chosen by four per cent of retailers. The usual suspects of Battlefield, The Witcher and Uncharted also rank highly by stores, while the hype around 2015 as ‘the year of Star Wars’ sees Battlefront six per cent of the vote.

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT 14% HALO 5: GUARDIANS 10% EVOLVE 8% THE ORDER: 1886 8% UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END 8% THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT 7% THE DIVISION 6% STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT 6% BATTLEFIELD: HARDLINE 4% THE LEGEND OF ZELDA WII U 4% BLOODBORNE 3% DYING LIGHT 3% RAINBOW 6: SEIGE 3% NONE – 3% DEAD ISLAND 2 1% CALL OF DUTY 1% FORZA 1% PERSONA 5 1% METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN 1% MASS EFFECT 1% FALLOUT 4 1% KINGDOM HEARTS 3 1% UNTIL DAWN 1% NO MAN’S SKY 1% RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER 1% FABLE LEGENDS 1% ORI AND THE BLIND FOREST 1%

WHO DID WE SPEAK TO? THIS year MCV spoke to over 100 stores, including Extreme Gamez, Eclipse Home Entertainment, Player One, Backyard Games, Insane Games, Games-X-Change, Stan’s Game Exchange, Excite Games, Wayne’s Movies and Games, GamesWorld4U, Shotgun Games, Games Machine, Chips, Games Hamster, Games Connection,

December 12th 2014

Gamepad, Game On, Louth Electronics, Game Dojo, Bits N Pieces, Thatz Entertainment, Playtime Video Games, Tech Mobile, MT Games, AI Electronics, Al’s Media, Discover, Ego, Game Park, Barkman Computers, GameSeek, SimplyGames, The Hut Group, Games Centre, HMV and GAME.

www.mcvuk.com

Advanced TV hardware required. Đ&#x2020;nitial set-up, updates, and some games and features require broadband internet (Đ&#x2020;SP fees apply), Kinect for Xbox One and/or additional requirements. Online multiplayer requires Xbox Live Gold (sold separately. Games sold separately. See xbox.com/xboxone

Call our specialist retail team 01279 822 822 exertis.co.uk/home exertis.co.uk/home/store

MARKETING

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: PLAYSTATION

THE ﬁrst part of PlayStation’s Christmas campaign went live in November. Ads pushing the new Share Play functionality of the PlayStation 4, directed by Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, were a particular highlight. The ﬁrm also built awareness of key releases during the November period. This included heavy ad coverage around Black Friday. These ads appeared online, in preroll on video-on-demand services and over social media. The second segment of the platform holder’s marketing has continued into the Christmas period with its ’12 Days of Christmas’ ads. Voiced by

artist and actor Ashley Walters, PlayStation re-wrote the Christmas song to reﬂect gaming moments on the PS4. These ads will be running throughout December, and will feature multiple retail bundles on TV, video-on-demand services, and digital and social media, as well as out-of-house and print activity. Following the announcement of the 20th Anniversary Edition PS4, themed on the original PlayStation, Sony also hosted a pop-up shop in London, which allowed a limited number of gamers to buy the console for £19.94. A similarly limited number could buy the console for £400 on following days.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

RICH KEEN Head of Product Marketing, PlayStation UK

We are focused on reaching both gamers and gifters this Christmas with a series of creative campaigns that demonstrate PS4’s unique features, showcase key software and highlight market leading PS4 bundle deals at retail. All campaigns are crafted to highlight PS4 as the console of choice this Christmas and Britain’s best-selling console. Our ambition was to cut through during this noisy festive period by subverting the conventions of traditional Christmas messaging to deliver a relevant yet irreverent, memorable and engaging ad.

20 YEARS OF PLAYSTATION LAUNCHES – A RETROSPECTIVE This week, GameTime looks back at how Sony’s consoles fared during their ﬁrst three weeks M16-34

Individuals

TVRs (Individuals/M16-34)

300 250 200 150 100 50 00

PSP November 21st - December 11th 2005

AS far back as consolidated TV audience data allows, PSP accrued the most TV viewer ratings at launch, both individual and male 16-34. Although the lower price point would suggest the targeting of a younger audience, Sony adopted a mass-market approach. Over two

PS3 March 12th – April 1st 2007

million UK individuals saw its spot in a Monday night airing of I’m A Celebrity – Get Me Out Of Here. The PS3 was not released in Europe until March 2007, having been out in the US and Japan since November 2006. The awareness generated by launches in other

PS Vita February 13th – March 4th 2012

PS4 November 11th – December 1st 2013

territories could point to the need for a lighter TV ad campaign at launch in comparison to the Vita and PS4. This was potentially damaging, as it allowed Microsoft to dominate. When it came to launching the PS Vita, Sony returned to heavyweight TV advertising, complete with the

likes of UEFA Champions League TV spots. Sony employed heavyweight TV advertising again for the PS4. Though it may not match the eﬀorts of Xbox, which controls 13 per cent of the market year-to-date, this has not been reﬂected in the sales war.

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

December 12th 2014

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Wholesaler and distributor of video games, consoles and accessories

01925 286 900 www.vip-computers.com

VIP

01462 680 060 www.meroncourt.co.uk

MERONCOURT

01274 684 668 www.linkdistribution-uk.com

LINK DISTRIBUTION

01279 822 822 www.exertis.com

EXERTIS

0333 101 1000 www.entatech.com

ENTATECH

0208 664 3456 www.creativedistribution.co.uk

CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION

0203 137 3781 www.click-entertainment.com

CLICK ENTERTAINMENT

0121 625 3399 www.centresoft.co.uk

CENTRESOFT

0121 506 9585 www.advantagedistribution.co.uk

ADVANTAGE

9.30am - 5.45pm

9am - 5pm

8am – 6pm

8.30am – 5.30pm

9am – 5.30pm

8am - 7pm

9am – 5.30pm

9am – 6pm

DEC 22ND

9.30am - 5.45pm

9am - 3pm

8am – 6pm

8.30am - 5.30pm

9am – 5.30pm

8am - 7pm

9am – 5.30pm

DEC 23RD

Closed

8.30am - 6pm

Closed

8am - 1pm

Closed

DEC 24TH

Closed

DEC 25TH

Closed

DEC 26TH

9.30am - 5.15pm

9am - 5pm

Closed

8am - 7pm

Closed

9am – 5.30pm

DEC 29TH

Closed

9am - 5pm

Closed

8am - 1pm

Closed

DEC 31ST

Closed

JAN 1ST

December 12th 2014

Send your Christmas opening times to acalvin@nbmedia.com

IS YOUR COMPANY MISSING?

9.30am - 5.15pm

9am - 5pm

Closed

8am - 7pm

Closed

9am – 5.30pm

DEC 30TH

DISTRIBUTOR CHRISTMAS HOURS

Closed

9am - 5pm

8am – 6pm

8.30am - 5.30pm

9am – 5.30pm

8am - 7pm

Closed

9am – 5.30pm

JAN 2ND

DISTRIBUTOR CHRISTMAS TIMES

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

DOVETAIL HIRES INDUSTRY VETERANS Hood and Rooke join sim company O Churchill promoted at 2K O Two staﬀ leave Green Man Gaming DOVETAIL GAMES | The simulation firm has made some high-profile hires STEPHEN HOOD (top left) has joined the firm as creative director. Hood arrives from Codemasters where he led the re-launch of the F1 IP. Prior to that he held roles at PlayStation and Lionhead. “As well as having extensive experience, Hood brings a unique passion for creating high quality simulation entertainment which will be an invaluable addition to our team,” said VP of development ROB O’FARRELL. Meanwhile, NICK ROOKE (above) has joined as head

Borderlands 2 and BioShock Infinite. He will be working on new IP Evolve. “I’m excited to be joining the International PR team, which I feel is in recognition of years of hard work and my undefeated streak as the monster in Evolve,” Churchill said.

of third party business. Most recently Rooke was third party publishing account manager at Microsoft, where he worked for eight years. Before that he worked in SCEE’s developer relations team for three years. 2K GAMES | The publisher’s export product and PR manager RICHIE CHURCHILL has been promoted to the role of international PR manager. He joins ADAM MERRETT under MARKUS WILDING in the 2K international PR team. Churchill joined 2K Games in 2011 as product and PR manager, working in its export division for the launch of

GREEN MAN GAMING | Head of community BEN BATEMAN (left) and head of partnership management MIKE KEBBY (left) for Green Man Gaming and PlayFire left the retailer.

AROUND THE INDUSTRY

your brand here

UKIE | The trade body has said it was left wanting by the Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement. While UKIE commended Osborne’s plans to improve finances to small and medium businesses, the trade body said that it that it was disappointed that the chancellor made no mention of the Skills Investment Fund being renewed in the Statement.

PROMOTE YOUR JOB EVERY WEEK THROUGH MCV PRINT AND ONLINE

SPACE APE | The Londonbased mobile developer has secured $7m in a series C funding round. Space Ape plans to use this money to hire a further 30 or 40 staff in the next six months. In total, the company has raised £11m.

CONTACT CONOR TALON FOR MORE INFORMATION 01992 535 647 OR EMAIL CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM December 12th 2014

Bateman has worked at Green Man Gaming since June 2013, but before his role at the retailer he was central community manager for Square Enix Europe, where he worked for two years. Kebby joined the online retailer in July 2013, and before had worked at Sega as digital campaigns manager, and PlayStation where he was involved with running the platform holder’s online store. “Ben and Mike came on board in 2013 to help us build Playfire and Green Man Gaming.” said the firm’s CEO PAUL SULYOK. “It has been a pleasure to work with them, and the whole team wish them both great success in the future.”

SINCLAIR | Sir Clive Sinclair has successfully crowdfunded

a new ZX Spectrum computer over IndieGoGo. The Spinclair Spectrum Vega hit its funding target of £100,000 in just two days. The 1,000 First Edition units have also sold out. The computer comes loaded with 1,000 titles, and will run all 14,000 ZX Spectrum games. IGN | The games site is opening localised sites in France and Brazil in early 2015. IGN has teamed up with Wededia to launch the outlets in these regions. MULTIPLAY | The eSports firm has teamed up with games festival Geek. Multiplay will be curating many parts of next year’s Geek, set to take place between February 20th and 22nd.

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EDITORIAL CONTACTS

EDITORIAL CONTACTS OUR GAMES OF THE YEAR... In what has been an indiﬀerent year for games, the title that delighted me more than any other was Sunset Overdrive. It was just a joy to play. Christopher Dring, Editor

In keeping with my niche tastes, my game of the year is the ﬁrst Danganronpa title, And OlliOlli, Velocity 2X and Far Cry 4. Alex Calvin, Staﬀ Writer

cdring@nbmedia.com

acalvin@nbmedia.com

It’s Dark Souls 2. Clearly. By a wide margin. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. But if you MUST choose something else then Hearthstone is allowed. Ben Parﬁtt, Associate Editor

As a Baldur’s Gate fan, the ‘90s-style combat and light humour of Divinity: Original Sin were great. I sunk hours every week. It’s even better in co-op. 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

CALL ALEX BOUCHER ON 01992 535 647 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR EMAIL ABOUCHER@NBMEDIA.COM

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

© 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.

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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

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December 12th 2014

DATA ANALYSIS Source Games and Charts compiled by GfK Chart-Track

DATA & RESEARCH FIFA is top of the boxed charts, while Telltale’s Game of Thrones rules digitally FIFA 15 is back on top of the boxed charts, in spite of a two per cent decline in sales this week. And in doing so, EA’s football title pushes last week’s No.1 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare down to second place. That title saw a 34 per cent sales dip. Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto V and Far Cry 4 maintained their positions at third and fourth places respectively. The biggest change this week in the Top 40 was LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, which thanks to retailer promotions shot from 19th place to ﬁfth with a 99 per cent rise in sales. And Minecraft on both Xbox and PlayStation rose

up the charts with sales boosts of four and one per cent respectively. This is likely the result of people buying Christmas presents for younger family members. Over in the Steam charts, the retailer’s autumn sale helps Skyrim – Legendary Edition, Counter-Strike: Global Oﬀensive and South Park: The Stick of Truth to chart in the Top Five. But it’s TELLTALE’s Game of Thrones title that tops the Steam charts. That game also is No.1 in the Xbox Live charts. Telltale’s other new title, Tales from the Borderlands, also appears in third place in the Xbox Live charts.

TOP 10 STEAM CHARTS

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW RE 01 09 NEW RE 03 RE RE RE

GAME OF THRONES PUBLISHER: TELLTALE GAMES DEVELOPER: TELLTALE GAMES

TITLE PUBLISHER Skyrim – Legendary Edition Bethesda Counter-Strike: Global Oﬀensive Valve South Park: The Stick of Truth Ubisoft The Crew Ubisoft Alien Isolation Sega Far Cry 4 Ubisoft Arma 3 Bohemia Interactive This War of Mine 11 Bit Divinity: Original Sin Larian Studios

TOP 40 UK RETAIL 01 TW 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

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

FIFA 15 EA FORMATS: PS4, XO, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, Vita, PC DEVELOPER: EA CANADA TITLE CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE GRAND THEFT AUTO V FAR CRY 4 LEGO BATMAN 3: BEYOND GOTHAM THE CREW ASSASSIN’S CREED: UNITY MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION DRIVECLUB JUST DANCE 2015 MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR POKÉMON OMEGA RUBY SUPER SMASH BROS DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 DESTINY POKÉMON ALPHA SAPPHIRE HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION WWE 2K15 ASSASSIN’S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG LITTLEBIGPLANET 3 DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION SKYLANDERS TRAP TEAM FORZA HORIZON 2 ASSASSIN’S CREED: ROGUE LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES FOOTBALL MANAGER 2015 THE EVIL WITHIN THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEOGAME SUNSET OVERDRIVE KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.5 REMIX FROZEN: OLAF’S QUEST ALIEN ISOLATION TOMODACHI LIFE MARIO KART 8 WATCH DOGS THE SIMS 4 PLANTS VS ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE THE LAST OF US REMASTERED LEGO THE HOBBIT

Week ending December 6th

December 12th 2014

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

Week ending December 6th

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DATA ANALYSIS Source

TOP 10 IPAD PAID CHARTS

TOP 20 INDIVIDUAL FORMAT

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

GRAND THEFT AUTO V ROCKSTAR NORTH FORMAT: PS4

DEVELOPER: ROCKSTAR

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15

LW 01 08 11 05 07 03 07 06 NEW 15 13 04 11 27

TITLE CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE FIFA 15 CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE GRAND THEFT AUTO V DRIVECLUB FIFA 15 FIFA 15 ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY THE CREW CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE FAR CRY 4 POKÉMON OMEGA RUBY POKÉMON ALPHA SAPPHIRE HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION

FORMAT 360 360 XO XO PS4 XO PS4 XO PS4 PS4 PS4 3DS 3DS XO

16 17 18 19 20

20 16 18 36 12

MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION FIFA 15 FAR CRY 4 LEGO BATMAN 3: BEYOND GOTHAM JUST DANCE 2015

360 PS3 XO 360 Wii

PUBLISHER Activision Blizzard EA Activision Blizzard Rockstar Sony EA EA Ubisoft Ubisoft Activision Blizzard Ubisoft Nintendo Nintendo Microsoft Microsoft EA Ubisoft Warner Bros Ubisoft

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Football Manager Handheld 2015 Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Terraria Flightradar24 – Flight Tracker The Chase Monopoly for iPad Cut the Rope 2 Tipping Point Five Nights at Freddy’s

PUBLISHER Sega Scott Cawthon 505 Games Flightradar24 AB Barnstorm Games EA ZeptoLab UK Barnstorm Games Scott Cawthon

Week ending: December 7th

TOP 10 IPHONE PAID CHARTS

Week ending December 6th

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

FOOTBALL MANAGER HANDHELD 2015 DEVELOPER: SEGA

TITLE Minecraft– Pocket Edition NFL Quarterback 15 Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock A Dark Room The Oﬃcial DSA Theory Test Five Nights at Freddy’s Afterlight Flightradar24 – Flight Tracker The Chase

PUBLISHER Mojang Full Fat Northcube AB Amirali Rajan TSO Scott Cawthorn Afterlight Collective Flightradar24 AB Barnstorm Games

TOP 10 XBOX LIVE (UK) 01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 05 06 08 07 03 09 10 RE RE

Week ending: December 7th

TOP 10 GOOGLE PLAY CHARTS

GAME OF THRONES TELLTALE

DEVELOPER: TELLTALE TITLE CHIVALRY: MEDIEVAL WARFARE TALES FROM THE BORDERLANDS MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION TERRARIA: XBOX 360 EDITION SURVIVAL GAMES SEASON ONE WORMS 2: ARMAGEDDON APOCZ CASTLEMINER Z SLENDER: THE ARRIVAL

PUBLISHER Activision Blizzard Telltale Microsoft 505 Games 2.0 Studios Team 17 Sick Kreation DigitalDNA Midnight City

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Football Manager 2015 Flightradar24 Pro Worms 3 The Chase AllCast Premium Theory Test UK Five Night’s at Freddy’s Plex for Android Tipping Point

PUBLISHER Sega Flightradar24 AB Team 17 Barnstorm Games Clockwork Mod Focus Multimedia Scott Cawthon Plex Barnstorm

Week ending Decemer 8th

PRESENTS

27m

5 SECOND FACTS 110

Riot has revealed that 27m Angry Birds creator unique viewers tuned into Rovio has laid oﬀ the League of Legends approximately 110 staﬀ and 2014 Finals – last year 32m has closed down its studio people tuned in in Tampere, Finland

Correct as of December 9th

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

7.7m

Nintendo’s Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have collectively shipped 7.7m units worldwide

IGN is opening sites in France and Brazil, bringing the total number of IGN international versions to 23 with 17 diﬀerent languages

PDP design & manufacture the Energizer branded charging Doc for PlayStation 4 europesales@pdp.com

www.pdp.com www.mcvuk.com

December 12th 2014

INSIGHT

OPINION AND ANALYSIS FROM THE BRIGHTEST MINDS IN GAMES. THIS WEEK PLAYSTATION’S FERGAL GARA SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON BLACK FRIDAY AND KANTAR’S ANDY SAXTON ON HOW THIS CHRISTMAS MIGHT BE DIFFERENT FOR GAMES RETAIL

ANALYSIS

WAS BLACK FRIDAY A GOOD THING? key December weeks to come. However, there is still much to deliberate on... Is it really a good thing? Many shops had to close with security risks to stores, staff and customers alike. At times, functioning websites seemed a rarity... And now, as an industry, we are trying to work out if December will be bigger or smaller as a result? Have sales been pulled forward or have we ignited a fantastic month to come? Only time can truly answer that question. There’s also the key question of margin to consider. Delivering a high proportion of sales at rock bottom margin may weigh heavy on retail and publisher P&Ls as our respective year ends draw to a close. If Black Friday is indeed named after the day when

PlayStation UK and Ireland boss Fergal Gara discusses the recent pre-Christmas sales bonanza and the 20th anniversary of PlayStation

ell what an amazing couple of weeks for the games industry. It’s almost exactly one year since the launch of two new consoles and perhaps, all across the industry, we were preparing for big year-on-year negatives given the phenomenal day one launch volumes generated 12 months ago. Instead, this year saw a new phenomenon for retail to drive huge business, delivering growth for the software market and massive boost for hardware sales across the board. So another American import, Black Friday, has truly arrived in the UK and has delivered its first major impact on the games market. Followed then by Cyber Monday, both have shown that consumer appetite is strong and that a big call to action can have an amazing stimulus effect. We have Amazon to thank for first introducing Black Friday to the UK in 2010 and then Asda for bringing the phenomenon to physical retail in 2013. By 2014, it’s hard to think of a retail multiple in any category who did not get behind the event. The results were spectacular in many ways – big sales, a huge market boost and a welcome dose of optimism for the

December 12th 2014

Will December be bigger or smaller as a result of Black Friday? Only time can truly answer that question. Fergal Gara, PlayStation UK

Playstation sold limited edition PS4s for £19.94p on Wednesday

retailers should turn a profit for the year, it will be interesting to see just how much ‘Black’ was actually generated. 20 YEARS OF PLAYSTATION So, from one major anniversary to another, I have the honour of writing for MCV this week as PlayStation continues to celebrate its landmark 20th birthday. Although I was not directly involved in the business at the time, I am not alone in thinking that the launch of PlayStation in Japan on December 3rd 1994 was a key moment for this fantastic industry we all work and thrive in. [PlayStation boss] Andy House has just announced an original PlayStation-inspired PS4 (pictured below left), manufactured in limited numbers, but getting an amazing response from PlayStation fans across the globe. A fitting tribute to a formative console and a great 20 years. We decided to follow up Black Friday with Original Grey Wednesday this week where some genuine PlayStation players were able to get hold of this extremely rare PS4 20th Anniversary Edition console for a startling £19.94. Now we start to work with our partners at retail to again offer a small number of these consoles to the cognoscenti. It just remains for me to wish you all a very successful last few weeks of 2014. There should be plenty of scope for all to prosper and, hopefully, Black Friday has proven to be a market boost and not a substitute for a great December.

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INSIGHT

DATA ANALYSIS

CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR UK RETAIL Now that the new consoles have become more mainstream, ANDY SAXTON, consumer retail analyst at Kantar Worldpanel, examines how it will make this Christmas diﬀerent, and how retailers can boost sales

veryone knows that Christmas is a vital time for retailers, particularly for the video games sector as it is the prime purchasing time for nearly half of all games shoppers. In fact, 43 per cent of shoppers who bought a game in the last quarter of 2013 hadn’t purchased a video game at any other point during the year. These shoppers were on one mission: to buy gifts for the gamers in their lives. 60 per cent of games bought as gifts were purchased by women, and over three quarters of spend coming from over 35s in the last quarter of the year.

This year, more people are looking to purchase a PS4 or Xbox One – or already own one – and this provides an opportunity for retailers to sell more new-generation games. BUNDLES OF MERRIMENT In 2013 Q4, the Top Five games accounted for over half of the value in the market. This year it is set to be even higher, with triple-A titles such as FIFA and Call of Duty posting strong launch sales. Offering deals on Xbox One and PS4 bundles this Christmas, which combine a triple-A title game as part of the package, will help convince previousgeneration players to trade-up. FIFA 15 is the current favourite for the number one spot this festive season and Microsoft has pushed an Xbox One bundle including the title. However, Microsoft has a challenge to win customers over. Over 1.5m customers are planning to buy a PS4 in the next year, compared with just 900,000 who want an Xbox One. Console loyalty is much more evident for Sony, with 14.4 per cent of PS3 owners planning to

43 per cent of shoppers who bought a game in the last quarter of 2013 hadn’t purchased a video game at any other point during the year. Andy Saxton, Kantar Worldpanel

FESTIVE GENERATION The launch of the PS4 and Xbox One created a unique market dynamic. For the first time in almost 10 years two generations of consoles were being sold in tandem. Despite this, there was a 23 per cent decline in the volume of games being purchased as gifts at Christmas 2013, as early adopters of the new consoles bought games directly for themselves. As a result, a bigger proportion of previous-generation games were purchased as gifts compared with new-gen. Some 48 per cent of previousgeneration games were bought as gifts, compared with only 34 per cent of next generation games. In 2013, retailers also saw the first uplift in spend for several years thanks to the new consoles. Shoppers loosened the purse strings to spend an average £66.39, up almost £10 from £56.98 in 2012.

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upgrade to a PS4. Microsoft, on the other hand, has a more split customer base, with just 8.6 per cent planning to remain an Xbox player, while some 6.2 per cent are set to defect to Sony. FAMILY FOCUS Females over 35 account for 43 per cent of games gift-givers at Christmas, primarily buying games for their children or partners, which presents an opportunity to target different demographics. Ideally, retailers will look to strike a balance between targeting parents who are buying gifts, as well as the traditional gamer who habitually buys triple-A titles. GAME successfully employed this strategy last Christmas and was the leading games retailer in Q4 2013. Grocery retailers should consider that families typically buy games in supermarkets or online. Some such as Sainsbury’s already have by offering FIFA 15 at a discounted rate when shoppers spend over £30. Retailers need to strike a balance to cater for core gamers as well as seasonal shoppers, and if they are able to get their strategies right, this 2014 is set to bring Britain’s games stores a hefty present.

Christmas means plenty of non-gamers will be heading into games retailers to buy gifts

December 12th 2014

INTERVIEW SEBASTIAN KNUTSSON, KING

KING OF THE FREE Candy Crush Saga creator King is the biggest mobile firm in the world – but the media and core game developers often criticise the business model it champions. Co-founder and CCO Sebastian Knutsson tells Matthew Jarvis why free-to-play is here to stay, and why the console market needs to learn from it, quickly

ing’s reign is only just beginning. In the last 11 years since the casual games firm was founded, its properties have reeled in billions of dollars in revenue. Most notable among its catalogue is the free-to-play browser, tablet and smartphone match-three ‘Bejeweled with sweets’ behemoth Candy Crush Saga, which generated more than $790 million from players in the first six months of 2014 alone. Tommy Palm, the company’s co-founder and appointed ‘Games Guru’, has said in the past that 70 per cent of the game’s players reach Candy Crush Saga’s final level without spending a penny. But despite this, the game’s in-app purchases – which provide players with extra lives, moves and other boosts – have become a flagbearer for the ‘freemium’ business model. In this model, players are enticed with core gameplay for free, before being charged for extra functionality or to skip set countdown timers before they can try again. King co-founder and chief creative officer Sebastian Knutsson suggests that accusations of a ‘bait and switch’ mentality rise from a reluctance among traditional sectors of the market to admit the free-to-play model is here to stay. “That discussion often happens within the games industry itself,” he explains. “It’s still a little bit polarised between the old classic console gamers and this new generation of free-to-play titles. “But I think the move to free-toplay is just something inevitable. You can give the player freedom with

December 12th 2014

regards to trying a game for free without having to pay first and then they can decide, if they like it, to pay. “That’s a new kind of thinking, but it has threatened the console industry, which I get, and therefore it becomes a bit polarised. Most players actually prefer to try games first for free and then decide.”

Free-to-play is a new kind of thinking, but it has threatened the console industry, and therefore it becomes a bit polarised.

KILLER CANDY The threat posed by mobile to the console and PC market has been long discussed in the past, but traditional devs and publishers may raise an eyebrow at Knutsson’s suggestion that a ubiquitous adoption of free-toplay is unavoidable. He comments that a hybrid of the two opposing sectors is taking a foothold in international markets, adding that publishers and platforms holders closer to home should begin to take an interest in free-to-play – or risk losing consumers to attractive ‘try before you buy’ offerings. “The mainstream console market has to shift to that side a little bit,” he states. “And they are learning, but maybe not as fast as they should be. “In some regions like China, all games are free-to-play, even if they are on the PC. It’s the prominent way of playing games – players expect them to be free and then decide. So I think the console market has to learn from that.”

Sebastian Knutsson, King

It’s clear that Knutsson believes there’s room for a company to do for consoles what King has done for mobile. So has the firm considered leading the charge with its own Candy Crush-style console hit? “Not specifically, no,” Knutsson responds. “But at some point, we might have one of our games on those type of platforms. “There are some good companies, like Blizzard with Hearthstone, that have done free-to-play games on PC and console and are learning. If you don’t try it, you’re never going to learn. So if I were them, I’d start learning pretty quickly.” THE PAIN OF PAID As players continue to reap the low barrier to entry free-to-play provides, some developers have been stung by consumer backlash incited by the shifting perspective of pricing. iOS and Android title Monument Valley suffered intense player criticism on the App Store after the £2.49 game had an expansion added, costing £1.49. “Seems quite a few people have gone back and 1 star reviewed Monument Valley upon update because the expansion was paid. This makes us sad,” tweeted developer Ustwogames at the time, before firing a barbed

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SEBASTIAN KNUTSSON, KING INTERVIEW

KEEPING IT SWEET CANDY Crush Saga has been bolstered by multiple expansion packs and updates since its launch in 2012, but this October marked the game’s first full sequel – Candy Crush Soda Saga. King co-founder and CCO Sebastian Knutsson says that despite the first game’s popularity, Soda Saga was kept in development until it was right to launch – rather than being quickly flung out in the hope of chasing a quick few (billion) bucks. “We started first by having a team that started experimenting with what we could do if we changed up the gameplay, tried something new, built a new graphical engine and so on,” he explains. “So it was more that when we felt that game was really good, it was ready to launch. We didn’t actually have a launch date – we instead had a plan with the team that they would try to improve everything we had done before, which is not an easy thing.”

criticism at the model employed by King and others: “That’s it, we’re giving up the premium game. Next time we’re just going to sell you 500 coins for $2 instead.” Posed with the question of whether players were right to complain at the developer, Knutsson says it’s due to how people now expect to consume mobile content. He argues that free-to-play should be embraced, rather than opposed. “If you look at players, the mobile market is growing by 30 to 40 per cent every year – so the players love the free-to-play model,” he explains. “But it’s changing how people have to think as they create a game. “If you look at Japan, for instance, last year more than 50 per cent of the total game industry was mobile games. So it’s surpassed the console industry – it’s now smaller than mobile in Japan. “I think that’s going to happen here; we just have to accept and learn from it, rather than trying to stop it.”

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While Soda Saga embodies much of the original game’s design and mechanics, Knutsson argues that the series is far from a ‘one hit wonder’ for the firm. “Soda Saga is just one of the games we do; we’ve launched four titles already this year, and we have tons of games in development,” he explains. “Most of our teams are working on new games we have yet to release, and none of them are Candies. We launched Diamond Digger Saga before this, Bubble Witch Saga 2... we’ve done several games – Farm Heroes Saga launched this year, too. “It just happens that we get a big splash when we launch Soda, of course, so people notice. We’re really focusing on building our network for players, and Candy Crush is our strongest franchise, so we’ll keep investing into it, but it’s about launching more games – that’s what the company is focused on.”

ROYAL REVOLUTION For Knutsson and King, free-toplay is clearly the future. But with billions of dollars and million of players under its belt, what’s next for the outlet? Interestingly, Knutsson concludes that, like its console rivals’ increasing focus on multiplayer and online support, the mobile outlet plans to push the social connectivity of titles. “My hope is that mobile games will become social,” he says. “I think today that people who have never played before are playing for the first time; they’re playing alone, they enjoy playing during their free time on public transport and so on. “The next step is to get them playing together. Games are often best played together. “As people mature and they become experienced players, they’re not going to request more graphics or cooler bling – they’re going to want to do stuff together. That’s my vision, at least.”

Candy Crush Soda Saga is the sequel to mobile and browser hit Candy Crush Saga

December 12th 2014

THE PES COMEBACK

YOU THOUGHT IT WAS ALL OVER PES is back. No, really, it is. This year’s game is better than it’s been in years and some critics have even dubbed it a ‘FIFA beater’. Christopher Dring speaks to Konami’s Adam Bhatti and Erik Bladinieres on whether the series can really challenge EA’s footballing dominance

here was a time, back in the days of PS2, when the match between Konami and EA’s football titles was a real top-ofthe-table clash. It was Pro Evolution Soccer, the purist’s game of choice, versus FIFA, the game that had all the big name licences. And while the latter might win the fight for sales, it was the former that won the hearts of critics and hardcore football fans. Until it didn’t. It’s been well documented how PES has waned over the last console generation. FIFA has cemented itself as the world’s best football game, breaking a new sales record every year. PES, meanwhile, has slipped into obscurity. Its annual release goes almost unnoticed by trade, media and consumers alike. Even Konami seemed to lose faith. For a few years, MCV would run the same PES story where the publisher predicted: ‘This year will be our comeback.’ Yet, it never quite managed it. Konami itself became reluctant to talk-up the title. “People were fed up of hearing about false dawns around PES,” admits PES European brand manager Adam Bhatti. “Maybe it was our fault, where we kept telling people ‘PES is back’.” Yet, like any good underdog story, this one has a twist in its tale. Because this year’s PES title has done something the series has not managed to do in a long while – score a Metacritic average that matches that of FIFA. CRITICAL COMEBACK “There was a huge outcry from fans because we didn’t bring PES to the

December 12th 2014

new consoles last year,” explains Bhatti. “But what that did was give us enough time to make a game where people could instantly see the difference in quality. “As this is our first game on PS4 and Xbox One, we took it very seriously because of how PES has been perceived in recent times. We really had to make a statement on our first game for the new consoles because that would pave the way for the future. We could not afford to start slow this time. “Now we have been given this chance we have to take it.” Erik Bladinieres, Konami’s global director of strategic alliances adds: “For a couple of years we got distracted because of our competition. “Now we are back with that original concept of PES. When you go out with your friends to the park around the corner and have a kick about – that is the heart of PES. It’s not about the millions of dollars and the sponsorships... that is not PES.” The game’s good review scores have had a galvanising effect on Konami, says Bhatti. “It has definitely made us believe in ourselves again. We are the same people, the same company, that made those beautiful football games back in the PS2 days.”

He continues: “PES has never been big budgets and big licences, even when we were awesome. As long as we have the better game, people will take notice. For a number of years people didn’t think we were the best anymore and that really hurt us. We have now proved we have the better game, so let’s go, twice as hard now.” This year’s PES was no fluke goal, insists Konami. There has been a huge amount of

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THE PES COMEBACK

THE NEXT STAGE

Konami’s Adam Bhatti (far left) says PES’ ‘false dawns’ are ﬁnally at an end

investment behind the scenes. The firm built a 20-man UK-based PES team, tasked with developing new concepts for the game. And that team is already looking to the future. “When we finished PES 15, the Windsor office were already working on the future ideas to make sure we are well-ahead and keep surprising people year-onyear,” adds Bhatti. Konami has also been using the new Fox Engine, which was created by the Kojima Productions studio. The engine has primarily been built for games like Metal Gear Solid V, which means the PES creators have only been using it for visual oomph thus far. “We can do a lot more,” continues Bhatti. “We’re only scratching the surface of what that engine can do. That is one of the really exciting things for the future of PES, there’s more that we can incorporate and implement from the FOX Engine.” MARKETING GOALS One thing PES appears to have lost over the last few years – especially compared with FIFA – has been its presence. There doesn’t appear to have been many big TV ads for the series

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“You are seeing a different approach and it is working.” PR boss Steve Merrett adds: “This year it seems to have clicked that we don’t have to do it the EA way; we can do it the Konami way.” This might just be the future for PES. Not as a 3m-plus-selling super-franchise – it can’t really compete with EA’s financial weight there – but as a true alternative in the market. And it’s been a long while since we’ve had one of those. “PES has managed to compete with some big companies down the years, and now there’s just the two making these console games,” concludes Bhatti. “We are still here, fighting and scrapping hard. And we are here because we deserve to be. This year will be a strong year for us because word-of-mouth is going to be so important. We have been quiet regarding some of the things we are doing, but we are signing bigger partnerships, we are working with more football stars, and we are going to do a lot more early in 2015. “We need to be seen as the best football game. Because for too many years we haven’t been. Once we have that, and it’s established, then we can look back to those PS2 days.”

for a while, whereas EA’s footie franchise is everywhere. “This year we did not create a lot of noise during the first couple of months,” says Bladinieres. “In the past we tried to get beautiful TV advertising out there, but the reality was that those ads were not appreciated by PES consumers.

As long as we have the better game, people will take notice. Adam Bhatti, Konami

“Over the last 12 months we’ve done a lot of research on where exactly to communicate with consumers. We want to make sure we get our message out there to people who care about football and video games. So we may not have those big TV ads, but we are reaching our consumers. “We’ve just had our week three sales and we are picking up again, which is something we don’t usually see. And that’s because of all the activity all the brands teams are doing around PES.

THE PES 2015 story does not end here. Konami is now eagerly trying to push the game out there and pull in more fans to generate that word-of-mouth. “There is a second-part of the marketing campaign coming in the next couple of days that support a couple of things,” says Konami’s global director of strategic alliances Erik Bladinieres. “One of the things about PES this year is it is going to be alive all year long, all the way from here until the moment we sell PES 16. “We also have a number of partnerships. The biggest one we have right now is with Samsung. We have a great partnership with their new Curved TV. This partnership will be running many different promotions, tournaments and communications.” “On top of that we have a big partnership with PlayStation, and we have a smaller – but still strong – partnership with Adidas. We never really, fully took advantage of these in the past, and now we have a full team dedicated to it.” The company is also rolling out its PES League globally. The League was previously just for the UK and a few other territories, but now it’s live worldwide and will lead up to an event at the Champions League Final in Berlin next June. Bladinieres adds that Konami is looking to secure more licences, to go alongside PES’ existing licences such as the Champions League. “I wish we could have every single league and every single player in the world, and I think it’s the same wish from our competition. Unfortunately, we both have to fight for them. “This week we are going to have a conversation about licences for next year, and we have our expectations set very high.”

December 12th 2014

REVIEW OF THE YEAR

THE 14 MOMENTS OF 2014 MCV looks at the events, the stories and the drama of a transitional year for the games industry

THIS YEAR’S UPS AND DOWNS

GAMERGATE ROCKS THE INDUSTRY

CRYTEK Cash-flow issues forced the firm to lay off staff and sell Homefront to Deep Silver

PS4 Sony’s platform was comfortably the UK’s No.1 console this year MMOS Blizzard cancelled Titan, while Carbine, Turbine and Zenimax all laid oﬀ staﬀ

Critic Anita Sarkeesian received death threats from angry gamers

GAME The High Street chain enjoyed a successful stock market floatation ROVIO The Angry Birds publisher’s profits fell by more than 50 cent and 110 staff were laid off

UBISOFT Watch Dogs, Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed ﬁred Ubi into the publishing big leagues December 12th 2014

A dark chapter in the history of video games. A group of disgruntled (primarily male) gamers turned on the media and women in an episode that rolled on for months and saw death threats sent to female creators and critics. There was already a bubbling undercurrent of mistrust of the games media before Zoe Quinn’s vengeful ex-boyfriend exposed her relationship with a games journalist. Quinn was the developer of a game called Depression Quest and speculation mounted that she had started a relationship with the journalist for a positive review of the game – despite the fact that he never actually reviewed the game. Alongside this, feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian – who has had to contend with years of abuse from some male gamers – issued a new episode in her Tropes vs Women in Games series entitled: ‘Women as Background Decoration’. What followed was

harassment so severe that she was forced to ﬂee her home and cancel a number of talks as a result of threats of violence. These two incidents formed the backbone of ‘GamerGate’ (coined by a B-list actor who really should know better), and the events were covered extensively by the media. Gamers attacked websites and journalists on social media. They even lobbied successfully to get Intel to pull their adverts from games website Gamasutra after it published an article criticising these gamers (Intel would eventually re-book its campaign). It was primarily women that faced the wrath of the group, but select male writers were also targeted. GamerGate has quietened down in recent weeks (although it remains an issue), but the lasting damage this has done to the industry will only be seen over time, as the whole world saw a dark and disappointing side to the video game community.

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REVIEW OF THE YEAR

AMAZON ACQUIRES TWITCH

VIDEO games streaming giant Twitch has seen a meteoric rise over the last 18 months, and by July the service had 55m unique monthly viewers. It was integrated into both the PS4 and Xbox One, and was livestreaming partner for a number of major events, including E3. It was inevitable it would attract attention from potential suitors. The favourite to buy Twitch was YouTube parent

Growing fervour around the Oculus Rift VR headset has led other ﬁrms – including Sony – to enter the market

VR TAKES OFF: SONY UNVEILS MORPHEUS, FACEBOOK BUYS OCULUS

VIRTUAL reality made its mark on 2014. Back at GDC in March, Sony unveiled Project Morpheus, a VR headset that it hopes will become the future of video games. Accompanying the reveal were a number of playable games that showed that Sony was serious about the possibility of VR. The ﬁrm then took Morpheus to E3 before letting consumers go hands-on with it at Gamescom. Rival Oculus Rift said Sony’s move just proved that VR is a genuine future for the games

business, and a certain social media giant clearly agreed. Facebook spent $2 billion acquiring Oculus Rift, which sparked conversations on how VR could be used in industries away from games – such as communication, education and movies. We are still no closer to having a release date for any of these VR projects. But 2014 was the year the conversation around virtual reality moved from ‘if’ it happens to ‘when’ it happens.

Google, which was believed to be in late-stage acquisition talks. Yet suddenly, for a price of just under $1bn (£585m), it was Amazon that swooped in for the website. The deal will allow Amazon to compete more heavily with video streaming rivals Netﬂix and YouTube. It will also allow the website to promote games – digital and physical – to a massive audience of gamers.

Amazon beat oﬀ suitors, including front-runner Google, to acquire Twitch, paying around $1bn

MICROSOFT CUTS XBOX ONE PRICE. AND THEN AGAIN. AND THEN AGAIN.

THE PS4 vs Xbox One showdown was not going in Microsoft’s favour. Last Christmas in the UK, Sony’s machine had opened up a sizeable lead over Microsoft’s new console, and the gap was widening with every week. Sony had the momentum and Microsoft was floundering. But the latter was determined to turn things around. So, to coincide with the launch of Titanfall in March, the firm cut the price of Xbox One from £430 to £399, complete with a free copy of the new shooter. Sales spiked briefly, but PS4 was soon back in command. In June, Microsoft took the decision

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Xbox has kept pace with PS4 via price activity

to remove the Kinect camera from the Xbox One and reduce the price again – this time to £350, the same RRP of PS4. Again, sales rose briefly, but it wasn’t enough to stop PS4’s momentum. Come September, Microsoft unofficially reduced the price of Xbox One a third time to £330, with a game. PlayStation fought back, but for the month of November – driven by a number of big launches, marketing campaigns and price activity – Xbox One outsold PS4 for the first time. PS4 remains in pole position in the UK, but Xbox has not let its rival get too far ahead... albeit at a cost.

December 12th 2014

REVIEW OF THE YEAR

BIG GAMES’ FAILURE TO LAUNCH

EXCITEMENT behind some of this year’s highly anticipated games turned into anger as games failed to work. Media and gamers rounded on titles such as Assassin’s Creed Unity (which suﬀered from numerous bugs and online issues), Halo: The Master Chief Collection (which suﬀered online matchmaking problems), World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor (which forced gamers into lengthy queues), and GTA V for PS4 and Xbox One (the character transfer system didn’t work correctly). Meanwhile, connectivity issues crippled Sony’s DriveClub.

SingStar, Watch Dogs and The Elder Scrolls Online were also hit by launch-day problems. All the developers issued apologies and, in some cases, compensation. In an increasingly online world, issues such as these would inevitably ﬂare up. However, the quantity of these broken games is alarming. If the industry truly wants to move forward into a digital and connected age, then it must learn to overcome these problems or risk irrevocably damaging consumer trust. If the game isn’t quite ready, then it’s better in the long-run to delay it.

NEW IP DOMINATES THE CHARTS

WITH new hardware comes completely new games. The last console generation yielded blockbuster new properties like Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed and Gears of War very early on. And a year into the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One we’ve already had a bout of new and fresh ideas. The big three were Titanfall in March, Watch Dogs in May and Destiny in September. Each of these were huge launches. Watch Dogs broke the record for the fastest-selling new

Assassin’s Creed Unity’s bugs led to many humourous pictures and videos

IP in UK chart history, a record it then promptly lost when Destiny arrived a few months later. Meanwhile, Titanfall was positioned as a major Xbox One system seller. This highlights the sheer pentup demand from consumers for some new games and new brands. These three titles all scored sales ﬁgures usually reserved for big name sequels, not entirely new concepts. Of course, these new IPs were backed by huge marketing campaigns, and consumers were

TAX RELIEF FOR GAMES DEVELOPERS BOOSTS BRITAIN’S DEV PROSPECTS

MARCH 2014 marked the date that the much-delayed tax breaks for video games developers were ﬁnally approved by the European Commission, after a year-long delay. We have yet to see the true impact of these tax breaks and are unlikely to for at least another year, but we do know that 14 games have all been approved for tax relief to date. These approved projects include quite small and niche projects such as Shred It!, SoccerManager. com and Beyond Flesh and Blood. In total, 30 applications for tax relief have been received.

December 12th 2014

Games applying have to pass a test qualifying them as culturally British – for instance, by having a predominantly British team. It’s a potentially positive move for the UK games market, as the tax relief is extremely competitive with any other similar beneﬁts provided to game creators in the world, including Canada. That’s not to say it’s all been good news from the UK Government. Certain other funds have been changed or are under threat, including the Creative Skillset’s Skills Investment Fund. “Our vibrant gaming industry is going from strength to strength

We are building the foundations our creative industries need to continue to thrive on the global stage. Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries

and is a vital contributor to the growth of the UK economy,” Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey said. “Through tax reliefs and the development of the country’s digital infrastructure, we are building the foundations our creative industries need to continue to thrive on the global stage. “It is encouraging to see that the companies already beneﬁting from the new tax relief represent a mix of organisations from across the UK, furthering the creation of jobs and skills development in the industry.”

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REVIEW OF THE YEAR

MICROSOFT BUYS MINECRAFT

IT was a big year for acquisitions in 2014. One that really sent social media into meltdown was the news that Microsoft would buy Minecraft and its developer Mojang. Minecraft is the biggest game in the world. It is this year’s biggest paid-for product on iOS, it dominates the PSN and Xbox Live charts, and its merchandise business is huge. One Minecraft book released this year has sold well in excess of a million copies. So you can see why the game and its studio was worth the $2.5bn Microsoft paid for it. Meanwhile, Mojang’s three founders Markus Persson, Carl

Watch Dogs was one of many brand new franchises to see commercial success this year

Watch Dogs broke the record for the fastestselling new IP in UK chart history, a record it then promptly lost when Destiny arrived.

driven to stores to pick them up by the publisher hype train. These games were all good. However, they faced some criticism from fans and the media for failing to live up to these expectations. Yet new IP rarely gets it just right ﬁrst time, and subsequent sequels should ensure these franchises join the ranks of the mega blockbusters. With Splatoon, Evolve, The Order 1886 and Quantum Break, among others, set for launch next year, hopefully we’ll see some more new hit franchises emerge.

Manneh and Jakob Porsér all left the business. To some it may seem inevitable that Microsoft would make Minecraft an Xbox exclusive, but in reality that doesn’t make sense. Minecraft is bigger than Xbox and forcing its consumers in a certain direction would not make commercial sense – and would place the brand at risk. Microsoft’s best bet is to use its expertise to boost Minecraft’s merchandise and licensing business. Otherwise, leave it alone, let it explore new platforms and watch the money come in.

Microsoft promised that Minecraft would not be made Xboxexclusive following its Mojang acquisition

TOYS-TO-LIFE IN TROUBLE?

THE toys-to-life genre is one that has enjoyed massive growth for three consecutive years. It was driven initially by the genre’s founders - Activision with Skylanders - and then carried on with Disney’s Infinity. Yet 2014 is the first year cracks in the genre started to show. Disney launched first with Infinity 2.0, which started strongly but since saw sales tail off. It’s now tracking behind its predecessor. Meanwhile, the new Skylanders game – Trap Team – is tracking behind 2013’s Swap Force. So what’s gone wrong? Well, it’s been partly driven by the current

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state of the kids market in the console space. Skylanders initially beneﬁtted from the power of Wii and its large young audience, but that has waned over the years and Nintendo’s new Wii U has failed to replicate its predecessor’s success. Xbox 360 and PS3 have been moderately popular with a younger audience, but not to the same extent. Meanwhile, the Xbox One and PS4 are primarily being sold to core, adult gamers. Activision has tried to circumvent this issue by bringing the full Skylanders experience to tablet – yet apps that require extra peripherals have endured very limited success.

The new Skylanders and Disney Infinity remain the most powerful kids games on the High Street, having sold well in excess of 300,000 units in the UK combined.

But for all this negativity, the toys-to-life genre is not about to disappear from the High Street. Falling numbers or not, Skylanders and Disney Inﬁnity remain the most powerful kids games on the High Street, and the new games have sold well in excess of 300,000 units in the UK combined. Furthermore, Nintendo has just launched its new Amiibo range, which includes iconic Nintendo characters that work with a number of Wii U titles (and, eventually, 3DS). 2015 will be a crucial year for this genre. The key element will be whether the console market can attract the kids audience.

December 12th 2014

REVIEW OF THE YEAR

BLACK FRIDAY ROCKETS CONSOLE SALES THE US Thanksgiving sales event has officially made its home in the UK this year, with almost every retailer slashing prices across the board on Black Friday. Almost 2m games were sold that week, with 240,000 Xbox One and PS4 consoles finding new homes. Microsoft and Sony’s machines were both on sale for under £280. The result was a huge spike in install base, but was it really worth sacrificing margin for?

Were the sales additional, or did everyone just move Christmas forward a month? And what about those smaller independent retailers that were unable to match the big chain outlets? We won’t know the true impact of Black Friday on the market until the Christmas period is over. But for some extra insight into the preChristmas sales, check out PlayStation UK boss Fergal Gara’s thoughts on page 23.

F2P INVESTIGATED

THE free-to-play business model has faced some signiﬁcant criticism over the last 12 months. The majority has come from specialist games media, which criticised ‘freemium’ games for damaging the enjoyment of certain titles. A media storm surrounding iOS title Dungeon Keeper and negativity towards Rollercoaster Tycoon on mobile both focused on the games’ poorly implemented free-to-play model and their ‘pay-to-win’ nature. But the real issue faced by freeto-play creators is the concern

Black Friday saw almost a quarter of a million new consoles sold, thanks to big price cuts for PS4 and Xbox One

around the use of the word ‘free’, and that some children and parents are downloading software unaware of hidden costs. The situation sparked the Office of Fair Trading to intervene, and in February the firm issued its guidelines. The OFT had voiced concerns that consumers – children in particular – were being subjected to practices that were misleading, aggressive or unfair. The principles, which came into effect on April 1st, required developers and platforms to be more accurate about games

DELAYS, DELAYS AND MORE DELAYS

IT seems we couldn’t go for more than a few months during 2014 without a blockbuster game being pushed back or delayed. The Witcher 3, Evolve, Batman: Arkham Knight and Battleﬁeld Hardline were among the biggest titles postponed from the end of this year until 2015. These titles are the ﬁrst PS4 and Xbox One games from their respective developers. SCEE boss Jim Ryan told MCV that he feels the delays were driven by the fact that – as we transition to new platforms – games are becoming increasingly complicated, more so than many had expected.

December 12th 2014

Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot posited a similar but diﬀerent theory, saying that as these new consoles allow developers to do so much more, these studios are pushing themselves to do more things in their titles, which require more time. Whatever the real reason, the delays of many of this year’s biggest games meant that 2014 was lighter on software releases than we had hoped. And the boxed software market for 2014 is down year-on-year, according to GfK Chart-Track. There is, of course, a positive in the line-up for 2015.

The boxed software market for 2014 is down year-on-year, according to GfK Chart-Track.

Evolve is due in February, Project CARS and Battleﬁeld Hardline arrive into stores in March, The Witcher 3 is in May, while Batman: Arkham Knight is being released in June. And that’s just the ﬁrst six months of the year. Best of all, the game releases appear more spread out throughout the year than 2014’s bunched-up schedule. And with a massive install base for PS4 and Xbox One, coupled with end-ofyear blockbusters such as Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Zelda and Uncharted 4, the next 12 months for video games is looking promising.

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REVIEW OF THE YEAR

FUTURE’S BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL

2014 was a pretty dire year for the traditional games media, particularly with GamerGate and the growing dominance of YouTube (see ‘Skate 3 and the power of YouTube’). But it was even worse if you happened to work for games media giant Future. It started optimistically enough, with Future launching the UK division of Kotaku. But what followed was a £30.6m loss for the first half of the financial year. The company’s entertainment department which includes games and film - generated £7.2m, a drop from the £8.5m it made last year. So Future announced plans to sell its cycling magazines and lay off 170 members of staff. Operation ceased on the Edge Online website, as well as on the portals for the Official PlayStation, Official Xbox and Official Nintendo magazines. The company also planned to move all of its print titles from its London outlet to its Bath office, and later in the year announced it would

Roller Coaster Tycoon for mobile was among the game harshly criticsed for its use of the free-to-play model

and costs associated with them, including in-app costs. It also stated that consumers must not be misled into thinking that payments are not required to progress if they are, and likewise, they must not be led to believe that payments are required when that’s not the only option. Developers were also told not to adopt aggressive practices that put pressure on kids or parents to spend money, and that payments cannot be made without the informed consent of the person who owns the bank account.

Apple made changes itself to help protect consumers. For free-to-play games with in-app purchases, the ﬁrm changed the ‘FREE’ buy button to read ‘GET’. It may seem like free-to-play is coming under ﬁre from all sides, but in reality it is part of the business model becoming more prevalent. Freemium games are now such a force in the games industry that it’s inevitable they would garner some criticism. And a sure sign that freemium is here to stay is the establishing of laws in order to protect its consumers.

no-longer be publishing Oﬃcial Nintendo Magazine. The most surprising news was that CVG was being considered for closure in May. The 33-yearold media brand had grown in prominence over recent years and the outpouring of sympathy following MCV’s original story saw Future decide to keep CVG going for a little longer, albeit with a smaller team. However, come December, the brand is again up for closure. It’s been a painful experience for all involved. But Future hopes it now has the right portfolio to drive itself forward. The company has combined its Total Film, SFX and GamesRadar websites into one website called ‘GamesRadar Plus’, designed to be the main destination for all Future games and ﬁlm activity. It also hopes to attract some of CVG’s audience to this new site by incorporating some of its content. Whether it will work or not is to be seen, yet what is clear is that 2014 was the year the video games media irrevocably changed, for better or worse.

SKATE 3 AND THE POWER OF YOUTUBE

IF you follow the UK charts as closely as we do, you will have noticed that Skate 3 has been in the Top 40 pretty much all year. The reason why this is worth noting is because Skate 3 is over four years old. There is no other game of that age in the Top 40. And yet over the course of the year, it has been a permanent fixture in Chart-Track’s weekly listings. In fact, MCV revealed that the Xbox 360 and PS3 game had sold 32.9 per cent more units for the first six months of this year compared with the first half of 2013. The reason is an interesting one, and shows the real power of

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The popularity of YouTuber PewDiePie led to a resurgence in Skate 3 sales

playing Skate 3. And these videos have been watched by millions. The biggest YouTube star of all is PewDiePie. One such Skate 3

the YouTube phenomenon. If you head over to YouTube and put in ‘Skate 3’, you’ll ﬁnd tons of comedy videos from prominent YouTubers

video by him has been watched by an astonishing 13m people. And this is just one of several videos of him playing the game. The result of this coverage has caused a spike in interest. The game was out of print, but the weight of consumer demand at retailer GAME meant the ﬁrm requested EA produce more copies. The result has been the title sitting in the charts all year. It just goes to highlight how prominent and impactful the likes of PewDiePie, Total Biscuit, StampyLongHead, Ali-A and the Yogscast team are having amongst a young audience.

December 12th 2014

PLAYSTATION® 4 GAMES

CALENDAR 2014-15 YOUR GUIDE TO WHAT’S ON

DEC

DECEMBER OUT NOW THE CREW

OUT NOW DESTINY EXPANSION I: THE DARK BELOW

COMING 2015 FEB

FEB

EVOLVE

THE ORDER 1886

FEB

DYING LIGHT

THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT

MAR

JAN

24 20

PROJECT CARS

MAR

SAINTS ROW IV RE-ELECTED & GAT OUT OF HELL

BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE

MAR

JAN

FEB

FINAL FANTASY TYPE 0

MAR

“2”and “PlayStation” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Also, “

2015

TBA

UNTIL DAWN

2015

TBA

ULTRA STREET FIGHTER IV

TBA

GODZILLA

2015

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT

2015

JUN

2015

MORTAL KOMBAT X

DEAD ISLAND 2

TBA

RESIDENT EVIL REMASTERED

2015

APR

TBA

PGA TOUR

2015

DARK SOULS II: SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN

METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN

TBA

TEARAWAY UNFOLDED

2015

APR

TBA

UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END

2015

MAR

BLOODBORNE

2015

” is a trademark of the same company. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

TBA

AND LOTS MORE TO COME LATER IN THE YEAR!

VISIT UK.PLAYSTATION.COM/PS4/GAMES TO FIND OUT MORE AND VIEW FUTURE RELEASES

#4ThePlayers

INTERVIEW SHAHID AHMAD, SONY

VITA, PS4 AND PLAYSTATION’S HUNT FOR THE NEXT BIG INDIE HIT Shahid Ahmad, senior business development manager at Sony Europe, has been one of the driving forces behind PlayStation’s thriving indie movement for the last two and a half years, having signed recent and upcoming hits including Thomas Was Alone, OlliOlli, Fez, Hotline Miami and No Man’s Sky. Matthew Jarvis sees what’s next You work with a lot of Vita developers. Japanese publishers Atlus and NISA recently told us that they would like to see Sony put more support behind the device in the West. What is the plan for the handheld in the UK? As far as Vita’s concerned, we’ve got a truckload of content coming down the line. We have over 50 titles coming from independent developers. There are some titles where we talk to large entities where we can’t actually discuss details and so on, but they get announced as and when. So we’re very busy. I’m not sure if you’d call Vita a massive success, but it’s certainly been doing good numbers, it’s been steady, and software is coming practically by the day. The catalogue is really healthy now. Software is no longer a problem on Vita, I would say. There are still people saying ‘I want this on Vita’. You can’t have everything;

December 12th 2014

there are commercial realities. But we are seeing more and more, and I don’t think people are going to run out of Vita games anytime soon. You must have many developers coming to you interested in developing for PS4. Do you go back to them and suggest they bring those titles to Vita too? We’re actually hearing just as much interest from developers on Vita as we are on PS4. I really didn’t expect that – I expected all of the focus to be on PS4 and a really tiny minority on Vita, but it hasn’t worked out that way at all. It’s a healthy sign. There will be some developers who are very PC focused and won’t want to make a Vita version, but they are actually in the minority. There arguably hasn’t been a definitive indie hit like Thomas Was Alone this year. What does that mean for the indie market? I think we’ve had quite a few titles that have had a similar level of success to Thomas Was Alone. Velocity 2X was absolutely amazing; it’s done over a million downloads and has 91 and 87 Metacritic scores on Vita and PS4 respectively. It’s from a studio that had never made a PS4 game before. So I would say that’s been pretty special. Thomas Was Alone was important, because it was the first clearly identifiable indie title that made it big on PlayStation. After that you had Hotline Miami, Spelunky and so on. That was all exciting, but once you have that first one it’s difficult to recreate the

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SHAHID AHMAD, SONY INTERVIEW

same amount of ‘Oh my God’ and media coverage. PlayStation’s recently changed; it’s working with independent developers and this is now a thing. So after that we had just a stream of titles coming out. Last year, we had over 50 titles on Vita; we have a similar number this year and even more next year. Of course, there is the little game you might have heard of called No Man’s Sky on PS4 next year, too. When you look at an indie title that has been out for a while on another platform, how do you decide whether it’s worth bringing to PlayStation? It’s really important that we think it will work well. Will it transfer at all? If it’s not going to do that, maybe we’re not so interested. But something that is perfectly suited, we then want to make it the best. That’s really important to us. We’re also doing more and more exclusives. Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is not the original PC game – it’s completely rebuilt and remixed, with loads of new content; we look to do that kind of customisation. When people experience these games on PlayStation for the first time, we want the best experience they can have with this game to be on PlayStation. Whether or not they’ve played it before on another platform. Velocity 2X and Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, among other games, came straight to (subscription service) PlayStation Plus, for free. What justifies that decision? It’s not a decision that we make; it’s a discussion that we have with our partners. In some cases, there’s an argument to be made for ensuring that a game that otherwise wouldn’t get enough of the oxygen of publicity is given a huge amount of exposure.

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It works really well with independent games. Suddenly, you’ve got the millions and millions of people who subscribe to Plus exposed to this game that they might not have played otherwise. Very often, you’ve got an enormous amount of publicity given to triple-A games and independent developers can’t compete. They don’t have a

We’re actually hearing just as much interest from developers on Vita as we are on PS4. Shahid Ahmad, Sony Binding of Isaac: Rebirth was a brand new version of the game for PlayStation

snowball’s chance in hell, frankly. So what do you do? You start with a bigger snowball and maybe they’ve got more of a chance.

BEST OF THE BUNCH

PlayStation recently turned 20 years old. What’s different now? We’ve never had such strong demand from the development community during the 20 years of PlayStation. It’s crazy the amount of developers we’re trying to process at the moment. It’s never been easier to work with PlayStation, and the demand has never been greater either. It’s exciting times.

SHAHID Ahmad, senior business development manager at Sony Europe, picks out his mostanticipated games of 2015 NO MAN’S SKY “I’m hugely hyped on a personal level. Really, really excited. “When I saw the video, it brought tears to my eyes and raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I’ve never had that visceral reaction to a game before. “This is the game I’ve been waiting for. I grew up with the sci-fi of the ‘70s and ‘80s, and those optimistic visions of the future, and here was a game that promised that hope and freedom – that seamlessness, that sense of exploration and discovery of worlds that nobody has ever seen before.” VOLUME “I’m also really excited about what Mike [Bithell, developer of Thomas Was Alone] is doing with

Volume. Mike has already been granted a well-earned place amongst the best independent developers, but I think he’s one of the future greats of the industry. I’m really looking forward to Volume, because I know he’s putting a lot into that.” HELLBLADE “I’m also really looking forward to Hellblade, because I think that Ninja Theory has got the magic touch. Everything it has done recently has been sensational, it has an eye for detail that very few other developers have got and it has a sense of storytelling that I think is really compelling.” AND MORE “There’s loads of really cool stuff coming, but even the stuff that we have talked about is going to be great. There’s a game called Flame Over from Laughing Jackal – that’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s a dark horse. “There’s just such a long list, and there’s an even longer list of titles in my head that we haven’t talked about yet.”

December 12th 2014

IAN LIVINGSTONE INTERVIEW

‘WE ARE IN THE SECOND GOLDEN AGE OF GAMES’ Industry legend Ian Livingstone has represented the face of British games success for almost four decades. Matthew Jarvis speaks to the Games Workshop co-founder, former Eidos life president and current UK Skills, Digital and Creative Industries Champion about how Britain is leading the world on games

an Livingstone is one of the UK game industry’s greatest success stories. Starting up Games Workshop alongside fellow Brit Steve Jackson in their flat in 1975, Livingstone moved from board games and roleplaying novels into video games during the mid-‘90s, joining Eidos Interactive and securing major franchises including Tomb Raider. Now Livingstone operates as a role model for budding games creators, serving as the Government’s Champion for Skills, Digital and the Creative Industries. His contribution to the ‘Next Gen Skills’ review helped cement the need for coding as part of the school curriculum in the UK. He argues there’s no better time for the UK to come to the forefront. “These are very exciting times,” he states. “You could argue this is the second Golden Age of games, because the routes to market are now open. “In the past, physical media was sold at a premium price through traditional distribution channels with all the barriers along the way before it could reach the consumer. That required a certain investment and capital. But today small teams are able to reach global markets. “In addition to this, we are one of the most creative nations, if not the most creative nation, in the world. “Therefore with app stores, alongside online and digital consumption of games, there’s an incredible opportunity. “Britain is now rushing towards that opportunity and establishing

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Grand Theft Auto represents the best of British game development, says Livingstone

itself as one of the leaders in video games production.”

Britain is establishing itself as one of the leaders in video games production.

PROMISING FUTURE The UK’s games industry continues to grow in stature, but existing preconceptions that games are a ‘lesser’ form of entertainment than movies are still a barrier. “In terms of the film industry, we’re only in the 1930s – we’re a relatively new industry,” he explains. “Grand Theft Auto, a great British success story, is the largest entertainment franchise in any medium. Therefore it should be celebrated, not castigated by people who don’t know about its content. “Despite this, you can see the pervasive nature of games. Everyone now plays games.” He adds that the growing acceptance of games is helping the industry to gain momentum and backing from higher-up sources.

Ian Livingstone

This includes the tax breaks for the UK industry, which were finally approved in March. “Through people playing the more mass market way, plus the strong signals that the Government has sent to the industry by offering tax relief for games and by introducing computer science into the national curriculum to help skill up our creative nation, this is another strong indicator that games are being accepted,” Livingstone comments. Boons such as these are just the start, with mobile paving the way for more and more people to find a way into the market. Livingstone observes that the threat posed to more traditional platforms by mobile is nothing to worry about. “I just see the market continuing to expand,” he says. “I’m never ever going to suggest that console games are going to disappear. “It’s a bit like YouTube sitting alongside Hollywood. It’s additive to the market.” He continues that with benefits such as tax breaks sowing a fertile landscape for independent studios, the market would begin to divide. “There’s still an incredible opportunity for console games, but it’s a case of triple-A dominating that market. The rich are getting richer; the big franchises are getting bigger. So small teams are wholly going to be looking at digital-only. “That’s an incredibly opportunity but, of course, with that opportunity comes challenges.”

December 12th 2014

INDIE INTERVIEW SPACE APE Sponsored by

BECOMING THE BLIZZARD OF MOBILE GAMING Space Ape is making big strides with strategy title Samurai Siege. CEO John Earner speaks to Alex Calvin about the mobile market, targeting core gamers and the pros of free-to-play

obile company Space Ape is a brand on the rise. The firm is also two years old and has already seen success with real-time strategy (RTS) title Samurai Siege, which has consistently been in the Top 100 grossing apps on the iOS charts and has generated $21m in revenue since launching in October 2013. But Space Ape isn’t just another indie developer. Rather, it is a fully-independent company that develops, markets, publishes and distributes its own games. And it has some pretty grand plans, too. “We love making titles for gamers that are accessible to accommodate their busy lives,” CEO John Earner tells MCV. “With that in mind, our hope is to become the Blizzard of mobile gaming – one of the few companies noted for its highquality games that are also very commercially successful.” THE BIGGEST PARTY But the firm didn’t get into mobile games just to fit into people’s ‘busy lives’. Rather, it was a question of going to where there is the biggest audience in modern video games. “We entered mobile gaming because it is how you access not just millions but literally billions of potential players,” Earner says. “We wanted to focus on new platforms that allow us to talk to our players, to not have to fuss with the publisher and those challenges and to reach as many players as possible. “Our strategy is to be one of the defining games companies

December 12th 2014

Earner (above) says that RTS title Rival Kingdoms is for core gamers

and mobile is the best platform to do that. Mobile is transforming the industry. There will be other platforms in the future that continue to evolve it and we’d love to be a part of it.” The firm has pursued the freeto-play model so far. And though some might look down on the business model, Earner believes that it results in better games. “Free-to-play is a wonderful model for a platform with tens of millions of users,” he says. “Consumers play our games for months and years and it makes sense that they choose to spend or not spend over that time. Too often in today’s triple-A world, developers are incentivised to get a high Metacritic score to sell the game, then be done with it. It’s fire and forget. That’s not how people play community-driven games.” Whereas for some mobile firms marketing is an afterthought,

for Space Ape it is one of the most important things to the firm. “Marketing is challenging, but in mobile gaming you have to view it as core to your game,” Earner says. “Marketing used to be somebody else’s job. Designers make games, other people sell them. Our games have to perform well and delight players and if it succeeds in that, two things will happen. “Our players will become our best marketers and tell their friends. It’s a little bit of a word of mouth old-school virality that happens. Then the game will make enough money so that we can afford to spend marketing money on it. If neither of those things happen the game won’t work.” GOING TO THE CORE Looking to the future, Space Ape is on the verge of releasing another RTS title, Rival Kingdoms. But this one is just a bit different – it is being aimed at core gamers. “Rival Kingdoms is designed to be the best RTS game on the market,” Earner says. “What we are doing differently is making a core RTS offering. We think that the future of mobile is core. Candy Crush is here to stay, but there are players entering mobile from more traditional gaming. “They have an appetite for games, they like more complex titles, ones that are more similar to ‘traditional’ releases. We view Rival Kingdoms as a core RTS experience. The production values are huge. It doesn’t look like a mobile game anymore.”

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THE RISE OF FROZEN

WHY GAMERS WON’T LET FROZEN GO Frozen is the gift that keeps on giving. There’s the hit film, infectious soundtrack, and tie-in game Olaf’s Quest. Alex Calvin talks the size of the Frozen brand with Avanquest’s Simon Reynolds

uch has been written about the success of Disney’s multi-award winning blockbuster Frozen. The runaway popularity of the movie saw it remain in cinemas long after it was meant to be out on DVD. It is the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Its stellar soundtrack, including smash hit Let It Go, has become the bestselling album of 2014 on iTunes. And a tie-in game, Frozen: Olaf’s Quest, starring the titular snowman sidekick has been in the All Formats Top 40 since it was released. “The success of Frozen was a bit of a surprise,” Avanquests’s European games director Simon Reynolds tells MCV. “We thought it’d do well. We’d done some decent movie licences before, such as Sony’s Hotel Transylvania and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. We thought this one was going to be maybe a little bit bigger as it was Disney, but nowhere near the stratospheric sales that we’ve experienced. “Frozen is just the No.1 franchise out there. It’s massive. You can’t get away from it. When we first presented it to people, they were a bit sceptical. They saw that Planes and Wreck-It Ralph didn’t do brilliantly. But Frozen took on a life of its own quite frankly.” When Olaf’s Quest kept appearing in the charts, it was a surprise. There have been fewer tie-in games on consoles recently, let alone ones that hang around in the charts as long as the Frozen game has. “A lot of people don’t feel it’s worth releasing games on console these days,” Reynolds explains.

December 12th 2014

“We launched Olaf’s Quest on DS and it’s still outselling 3DS. And we’ve got Disney’s next big film out in January, Big Hero 6, and we’re bringing that out on 3DS and DS. If you’d said to me 18 months ago you’d be bringing out a DS product in January 2015 I’d have laughed.”

Frozen Olaf’s Quest on 3DS has been outsold by the DS SKU

“The numbers just aren’t as big as they used to be and mobile is the Holy Grail to brand holders because it’s free to access. There was some stats in [MCV sister title] Toy News that said that 66 per cent of kids aged between six and nine have their own handheld games console, while 45 per cent had a tablet and 17 per cent had a smartphone. There is absolutely a market for the right brands on console.”

We’ve had new retailers come on board a year after the game launched. That is down to the strength of the Frozen brand.

CONSOLE YOURSELF And of course, Frozen is the right brand. But it’s also about what console you are launching on. “We thought Frozen would be our last title on DS to be honest. Nintendo hasn’t been manufacturing the console for a few years, but we thought that there is a big user base our there, and there is a second hand, handme-down market for the old DS consoles,” Reynolds says.

Simon Reynolds, Avanquest

CONTENT IS KING But of course it’s also about the game’s content itself – and Reynolds says this was partially responsible for the title’s success. “Olaf’s Quest has its own storyline,” he explains. “We recognised early on that Olaf was going to be a strong character within the movie, and frankly had we gone with one of the female characters it would have skewed the game too much towards females. But Olaf appeals to both boys and girls. In that respect it has opened up the market a bit for us.” And Reynolds says that interest in the game just keeps growing. “Many movie IPs come and drop off, and you try and keep sales of the game going until the DVD comes out, then you have another marketing push then,” Reynolds says. “We kept the game out there, then we did a bit of price activity in the two or three weeks over Easter in line with the DVD launch and then we re-aligned the pricing and the market in the summer. “We’ve had two or three new retailers come on board in the last few weeks. It’s a year after we released the game and we’ve got new retailers picking up the product. We’ve done a fantastic job marketing it, but it is largely down to the strength of the brand.”

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MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE MCV speaks to Shaun Mickleburgh, store manager of GAME Norwich, about getting involved with local events, employing a diverse mix of gamers and why the store is going back to its roots with LAN parties Tell us about your store team. We are quite a large store made up of 14 gamers. Between us, our interests easily cover all genres, formats and generations. We work hard during the day and play hard during the night, often getting together online on Final Fantasy, Destiny, Battleﬁeld or whatever else takes our fancy. What’s your store speciality? We love to be a place for gamers

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

by gamers. We are always eager to talk and interact with anyone that comes into the store and share our passion with them, be it a ﬁrst time visitor or one of our hardcore regular customers. We also enjoy hosting lock-ins for our local community to get involved with, the most recent of which was for The Evil Within. We had some great feedback – both on the night and through social media.

PRICE CHECK: HULL

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. DARK SOULS II: SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN

Bandai Namco, PS4

2. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE

FIFA 15 GRAND THEFT AUTO V

3. Amiibo Captain Falcon Nintendo............................................................. Wii U 4. Amiibo Zelda Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

EA, XO

Rockstar, PS4

Activision, XO

£45.99

£49.99

£51.99

£44

£46

£44

£43.50

£44.73

£46.69

9. Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris Gold Edition Square Enix..........................................................PS4

£39.85

£34.85

£36.85

10. Amiibo Diddy Kong Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

£42.99

£37.99

£39.97

6. Amiibo Pit Kid Icarus Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

IN STORE

5. Amiibo Little Mac Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

DESTINY Activision, PS4

7. Amiibo Luigi Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

OLLIOLLI

I AM BREAD

DESTINY: THE DARK BELOW

Roll7’s skating title is headed to Xbox One, Wii U and 3DS

Surgeon Simulator studio Bossa’s new quirky title is in Early Access

The ﬁrst bout of Destiny’s add-on content has already landed

OUT NOW

OUT 2015

December 12th 2014

ONLINE

8. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin Bandai Namco ......................................................XO

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MARKETPLACE

GAME Norfolk 2-10 Back Of The Inns, Norwich, Norfolk

What’s been your favourite event to be involved with this year? The ‘Norwich Gaming Festival’ was fantastic and this year was the biggest yet. We had over a week’s worth of gaming goodness for the community to digest. Highlights included a public and collaborative Minecraft world, demo pods for all the latest consoles, a complete retro section and a gaming quiz night.

Twitter: @GAMENorwich Facebook: http://bit.ly/GAMENorwich

Have you got any events planned for the near future? We will be hosting a LAN lock-in soon where we set up a load of consoles and ﬁght it out late into the night on games like COD and Halo. This was actually the ﬁrst type of lock-in we had ever done, many years ago, and the people that came along all those years ago absolutely loved it and we all had a lot of laughs together.

INCOMING TITLE

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

Kickstarted space sim Elite: Dangerous launches in a boxed edition later this month, with Captain Toad making his solo debut early next year FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

PS3/360

Cheat

PQube

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Sci-ﬁ

Frontier Developments 01223 394 300

Open

Wii U

Puzzle

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

3DS/DS

Kids

Avanquest

01480 359 403

Open

Action

Rockstar

01279 822 822

Exertis

December 12th Xploder Minecraft Edition

December 16th Elite: Dangerous

January 2nd Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

January 23rd Big Hero 6

January 27th Grand Theft Auto V

January 30th Dying Light

PS4/XO/PC

Horror

Warner Bros

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Saints Row IV – Re-Elected and Gat Out Of Hell

PS4/XO

Action

Deep Silver

01256 385 200

Koch Media

PS4/XO/PC

Shooter

2K Games

01279 822 822

Exertis

The Order 1886

PS4

Shooter

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

American Truck Simulator

Simulation

Excalibur

01869 338 833

Contact Sales

XO/360

Simulation

Microsoft

01279 822 822

Exertis

February 10th Evolve

February 20th

March 6th Screamride

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December 12th 2014

2015 PREVIEW

2015 PREVIEW As this year draws to a close, Matthew Jarvis takes a look at the merchandise already hitting store shelves ahead of 2015’s biggest game releases

WHAT a year 2014 has been for video games. We’ve had two biggest-ever new IP launches – Watch Dogs in May, which was then topped in September by Destiny – both the PS4 and Xbox One consoles have continued to flourish, Nintendo’s Wii U has seen its two best-selling games to date (Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros) and Grand Theft Auto V became the new biggest-ever selling game in UK chart history.

This year we’ve had two biggest-ever new IP launches, and a new biggest-ever selling game in the UK.

This momentum looks set to continue throughout 2015, as promising new IP and blockbuster sequels pepper the year with opportunities to upsell merchandise and accessories. The Christmas rush doesn’t let up in January, with Wii U receiving puzzler spin-off Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker on January 2nd. Grand Theft Auto V will then further extend its lead as the UK’s new biggest game, hitting PC in late January.

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT LEATHER JACKET Budding caped crusaders can battle the forces of injustice in style thanks to this zipped leather top. Stylised with the iconic bat symbol and reminiscent of Batman’s outﬁt in the Dark Knight movie trilogy, it’s the jacket that fans both deserve, and need, right now. SRP: £79.99 Manufacturer: Bioworld Merchandising Distributor: Bioworld Europe Contact: +31 251 316 238

BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE STAMP LONG SLEEVE T-SHIRT

EVOLVE SAVAGE GOLIATH PREMIER SCALE STATUE

BLOODBORNE NIGHT STREET T-SHIRT

EA’s cops versus robbers FPS lands in March. Players on either side of the battle can show their love with this shirt.

Players will team up to take down monsterous beasts – including this terrifying Goliath – in 2K’s co-op shooter early next year.

The spiritual successor to Dark Souls arrives early next year. This shirt provides a sneak peek into the bleak world of Yharnam.

SRP: £22.74 Manufacturer: Jinx Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

SRP: £525 Manufacturer: Project TriForce Distributor: Project TriForce Contact: www.projecttriforce.com

SRP: TBA Manufacturer: Gaya Entertainment Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

December 12th 2014

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2015 PREVIEW Sponsored by

gaming merchandise uk

Mere days after this, two highly anticipated titles are sure to heat up UK retail; zombies-meetparkour game Dying Light releases on January 30th, with co-op monster-shooter Evolve following shortly after on February 10th. Players will have just ten days before another long-anticipated title breaks onto UK shores – Sony’s PS4-exclusive Victorian cover shooter The Order 1886. And in May, the third and final part of fantasy monster hunter

Batman: Arkham Knight is set for release next Summer – and is sure to bring scores of Batfans looking for merchandise to retail

Geralt’s story closes out on PS4, Xbox One and PC in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This is just the first sixth of the year – with titles like Battlefield Hardline, Bloodborne, Mortal Kombat X, Batman: Arkham Knight, Uncharted 4, Star Fox, Zelda Wii U, Halo 5: Guardians, No Man’s Sky and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain just a handful of the many titles primed for players’ screens, 2015 could be one of the biggest years for video games yet.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA MONOPOLY Players awaiting Link’s new adventures on Wii U and 3DS can keep busy until then with this themed take on the classic board game. Replacing Monopoly staples like Old Kent Road, Mayfair and Marylebone Station are Hyrulian locations including Link’s House, Temple of Time and Lon Lon Ranch. The Bow, Hookshot, Boomerang, Slingshot, Triforce and Hylian Shield serve as player pieces. SRP: £39.99 Manufacturer: Winning Moves Distributor: Winning Moves Contact: 01706 558 539

XOF PATCHES

MASTER CHIEF WITH CLOAK FIGURE

MORTAL KOMBAT FINISH HIM POSTER

Snake will face oﬀ against this mysterious organisation in 2015’s stealth title Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Halo’s hero Master Chief appears here as seen in the teaser trailer for next year’s juggernaut sci-ﬁ shooter, Halo 5: Guardians.

Fighting fans can prepare for the tenth entry in the bloodthirsty series with this poster featuring series staple Scorpion.

SRP: £10 (Three Patches) Manufacturer: Insert Coin Distributor: Insert Coin Contact: 01702 521 850

SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: Jinx Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

SRP: £4.99 Manufacturer: GB Eye Distributor: GB Eye Contact: 0845 002 0381

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December 12th 2014

HOT PRODUCTS

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

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£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.

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DISC REPAIR

TOTAL DISC REPAIR

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 489500

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Web: www.totaldiscrepair.co.uk

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10/12/2014 17:45

DIRECTORY

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

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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

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Empowering your creative business

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

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Web: www.sonydadc.com

December 12th 2014

DIRECTORY

GAMING ACCESSORIES

L3I

GAMING ACCESSORIES

VENOM

New officially licensed products

Vibration Stereo Gaming Headset

Vibration technology for immersive gaming

Hurricane Steering Wheel

Tel: + (0)1923 471 020

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Take racing to the next level

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INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE MODERN DREAM

DIRECTORY

WHO? Specialism: Development Location: Leamington Spa

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

Programmer Helana Santos tells MCV why you can’t make a good game without the right people

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

Tell us about your company. Modern Dream is an independent company funded in September 2013 by BAFTA Breakthrough Brit Ollie Clarke. It’s ﬁrst title was Typing of the Dead: Overkill, published by Sega. Modern Dream’s creations started taking shape two years before through the release of the abstract art game The Cat that Got the Milk and the Latin-inspired runner title The Button Aﬀair.

THIS MONTH’S DIRECTORY SPOTLIGHT: Epic Games .................................................. www.epicgames.com/careers

What is your biggest success to date? After the closure of a big studio in Leamington Spa, Ollie led a team of very talented games developers that finished the development of Typing of the Dead on time and within budget, meeting a very tight deadline. What projects do you currently have in the works? LA Cops has been developed by Modern Dream since January 2014. The game is a fast-action 3D shooter with a tactical element. It is currently available on Steam Early Access and is due to be released in Q1 2015 for PC, Mac and Xbox One. It will be published by Team 17. What are the biggest challenges you face? It’s easy to start a game but very challenging to finish and release one under any circumstances. One of the first challenges of any team is to find funding in order to be sustainable. The last To be included in the Develop Directory (which appears every month in Develop and now every week in MCV) contact aboucher@nbmedia.com

The right people will lift a game concept into becoming something brilliant. thing you want is to end up with a big debt. The other challenge is to ﬁnd great people to work with. The right people will lift a game concept into becoming something brilliant. How did you choose your company name? We wrote down words that had a meaning to us and represented our core values. We were looking for a name that would be easy to remember and easy to spell. The name Modern Dream is inspired by the optimism and ‘can-do’ attitude of the American Dream.

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December 12th 2014

FACTFILE SPAIN Sponsored by

Wholesaler and distributor of video games, consoles and accessories

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: INDIA Population: 1.21 billion Capital City: New Delhi Currency: Rupee GDP (Per Capita): $1,626 KEY RETAILERS Flipkart, Nextworld, Games the Shop, Game 4 U, Landmark, Croma, Planet M, Lets Buy, Intencity TOP DISTRIBUTORS Milestone Interactive, E-Xpress Interactive, Worldwide CD-ROMs, Redington

INDIAN mobile developers are driving the country’s games market forward, as high pricing leaves console gamers frustrated. The latest Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report from research firm FICCI-KPMG estimates that the Indian games market was worth Rs 19.2 billion (£0.2bn) in 2013. The industry is expected to continue expanding, with FICCI-KPMG predicting that the Indian games market will surpass the Rs 23.5 billion (£0.24bn) mark by the end of 2014, before hitting a value of Rs 40.6 billion (£0.41bn) by 2019. Console sales comprise more than half (55 per cent) of the total games market revenue in India. However, the true proportion of the industry is hard to calculate; many players are put off by the

TOP DEVELOPERS Reliance BIG Entertainment, Games2win, Bash Gaming, Jumpstart, Csharks Games, Gameshastra, Trine Games, Version2Games, Zynga Bangalore, Lakshya Digital, Indiagames, Rolocule Games, Gameloft PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION Reliance Entertainment Digital, UTV Group

high pricing of Western titles in the territory, leaving them to import titles from abroad. PC titles sell for around Rs 999 (£10.18), while console games can cost fans anywhere between Rs 2,499 (£25.48) and Rs 4,499 (£45.86). As a result of the high investment needed to be a console gamer, console penetration in India is far below that of the rest of the world – FICCI-KPMG states that only two per cent of urban television households own a console. Many players are therefore turning to mobile as their primary platform. Financial services group Avendus Capital Mobile believes that total revenue generated by mobile apps in India will hit Rs 20.7 billion (£0.21bn) by 2016.

Only two per cent of urban television households in India own a console.

December 12th 2014

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SPAIN FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... SPAIN Adult website YouPorn has started sponsoring the Spanish eSports team Play2Win ahead of a local Dota 2 competition YOUPORN, the adult video website, has diversiﬁed into a diﬀerent kind of popular online action. The site has announced a new sponsorship deal with Spanish professional gaming team Play2Win. The group, which competed last weekend in the local Dota 2 tournament Gamergy in Madrid, will now be known as Team YP. The six-month deal makes good on YouPorn’s previously announced intention to invest in a pro-gaming team. The site stated that it had looked into ‘hundreds’ of potential recipients. Alongside Dota 2,

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Team YP also competes in League of Legends, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft tournaments. “We’re so psyched to ﬁnally make our oﬃcial entry into gaming and

eSports,” said the vice president of YouPorn, Brad Burns, in a statement, adding that the team would be treated ‘like any other sponsor’.

December 12th 2014

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