THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES ISSUE 859 FRIDAY DECEMBER 4TH 2015
INDIE THICK OF IT PLAYSTATION’S DEV CHAMPION SHAHID AHMAD ON 10 YEARS AT SONY P16
UKIE’s Twist (above top), SuperData’s van Dreunen (above middle) and Reflection’s Leksell (above)
Charts are back And this time, they’re digital
UKIE signs partnerships for mobile and digital console data Q MCV re-launches charts section by Christopher Dring AT last! The UK games industry has some digital download charts. UKIE has signed agreements with leading providers of mobile and digital sales data, and MCV will be printing the results. Analytics firm Reflection will offer UK mobile sales charts, which will be distributed by UKIE alongside the boxed charts every Monday. Meanwhile, New York-based SuperData will provide digital console sales information every month, including a dedicated UK report.
GfK Chart-Track’s physical listings will also return to MCV. MCV dropped its weekly and monthly charts sections as part of our Digital Counts initiative, which campaigned for more transparency around how well games are selling via download platforms such as Steam, Xbox Live, PSN, iOS and Google Play. “Access to data is of the highest importance to the sector, as well as to UKIE as a trade body, so that we can act appropriately on behalf of the industry that we represent,” said UKIE CEO Dr Jo Twist. “Whilst it is notoriously difficult to track
digital data, these measures will bring us closer to being able to judge the successes of our industry, and continue to grow using clear information about our games market.” SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen added: “Getting a full picture of the market, that includes categories like free-to-play MMOs and digital console, will be key to the UK industry’s domestic and international success. Certainly, it’s a big effort providing transparency to such a fragmented market and I’m proud to say we’ve done a good job over the past years by tracking the monthly spending of 383,528
digital gamers in the UK. Teaming up with UKIE allows us to extend the depth of our coverage and fulfil the ambition of providing a clear picture of the digital games market.” On the state of the mobile sector, Reflection boss Gustav Leksell said: “The market is quite immature in a way. The fact that this type of data is not readily available attests to that. This sector only goes back to 2007, but we are seeing it mature, and the next step is developers finding out how to sell their apps.” For our new-look charts section, plus more about Reflection and SuperData, check out pages 4 to 10.
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