MCV 872 April 1st 2016 by Biz Media Ltd

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES ISSUE 872 FRIDAY APRIL 1ST 2016

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THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

LONDON GAMES FESTIVAL

ISSUE 872 FRIDAY APRIL 1ST 2016

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO TEN DAYS OF EVENTS P22

Oculus Rift launch is ‘like a beta’ GAME says the early hype for PlayStation VR is similar to a new console launch by Christopher Dring THE arrival of Oculus Rift was akin to a video game test launch, says GAME. The Rift was released via Oculus’ own website last week, although it was missing a couple of features – namely the special Oculus Touch controllers. And GAME boss Martyn Gibbs has played down fears that the VR ﬁrm is avoiding traditional retail, by likening it to a beta. “Their phase one approach is very much, I’d go as far to say, beta-esque,” he told MCV.

“What they are doing is utilising their own channels to get to a ﬁrst wave of customers. But we have been engaged with them on that strategy for upwards of 18 months, so I wouldn’t read anything into that at all. You should think of it more as them doing a beta-type approach through their own website. Do I think that is a retail exclusion tactic? No.” GAME is reporting signiﬁcant interest in VR, and said the PlayStation VR announcement was ‘exceptionally strong’.

“We saw very similar dynamics to when a new console is announced, actually,” he said, before adding that there may be stock shortages. “Do I ever think there will ever be a new console that comes out that will meet the demand? No. “And this is, for all intents and purposes, a console and a platform. I am not scaremongering, but we have all been around the block and we can see that stock for VR will be pretty tight.”

We can see that stock for PlayStation VR will be pretty tight. Martyn Gibbs, GAME

GAME: Digitalonly VR is no problem RETAILER GAME is not concerned by the prospect of VR games going digital-only. HTC, Oculus and PlayStation have yet to announce whether their upcoming VR games will be made available in boxes. But GAME says it doesn’t matter either way. “You can see that in the tough market in the UK last year, and across our UK and Spanish businesses, we grew our digital revenues 10 per cent,” said CEO Martyn Gibbs. “For many years now we have been saying that we are ambivalent, we need to be working with however our gamers want to access products. So be it within a digital framework or a physical framework, we think we are going to play a very big part in that. We’ve also said, as well, that code-to-content margins for us are pretty similar to physical discs. “We do have line of sight on how some of the VR ecosystems are going to work, and because we have Codebank, which is our proprietary distribution system for codes, we are comfortable we can work with any infrastructure that the guys want to work with.”

Martyn Gibbs says Oculus is testing the water with its Rift headset

PLUS THE BIG GAME: QUANTUM BREAK TINYBUILD VS THE PIRATES

NEWS

‘We should be charging more for indie games’ Team17 boss says we need to challenge consumer perception that indie games are low quality or ‘cheap’ by Alex Calvin THE games industry is undervaluing indie games, say leading publishers. The majority of indie games are sold for £10 or less, but this year a number of high proﬁle titles have broken that barrier, including Jonathan Blow’s The Witness (£30) and Camp Santo’s Firewatch (£15), which has sparked online discussion over the cost of these titles. “As an industry, in some sections yes, we are undervaluing indie games,” said Team17’s Debbie Bestwick. “Collectively we all need to work at this, there’s a big gap between pillar indie games – with a sales potential in excess of 500,000 units – and the rest. “The bigger challenge is changing the consumer perception of just what indie means. It doesn’t mean cheap and low quality, but instead more creative freedom and agile approach to both business models and consumers.”

Rising Star’s Martin Mathers added: “For the most part, yes, we should be charging more for indie games. But there is a diﬀerence between ‘indie’ games and larger projects. The whole thing comes down to entitlement. The reason why a lot of games can’t be priced at more than £15 is because it is a buyer’s market, especially on PC. Users will sit there saying: ‘No, you entertain me. I deserve this, I’m entitled to this’. My response to that mentality is: ‘No, you’re not’.”

As an industry, we are undervaluing indie games. Debbie Bestwick, Team17

But Curve Digital’s publishing director Simon Byron says that indie ﬁrms are right to compete on price to give them an edge over triple-A releases. “The indie sector has to work harder to push itself up ahead of gamers buying anything else. Price can be one of the best ways to do that,” he said. “But I don’t think that publishers are undervaluing indie games. From our point of view, we are picking the price points that we know work for the types of games that we are publishing.”

Remedy ‘baffled’ by fanboy fury over Quantum Break PC release by Alex Calvin THE creative director of Quantum Break says gamer anger over console exclusives leaves him baffled. Remedy announced in February that its upcoming Xbox One title was no-longer exclusive to the platform, and would also be coming to PC. This resulted in a backlash amongst a section of fans who felt that the decision to release the title on PC devalued the Xbox One. “It baffled me,” said Remedy’s Sam Lake. “We were pushing for

April 1st 2016

He added: “Phil Spencer was recently saying positive things about Uncharted 4 and there was a negative reaction saying: ‘He’s saying that because Xbox is losing the console war’. But that reaction baﬄes me. As a creator of games, the more great games that are out there the better. I’m a big fan of Naughty Dog’s work. Why can’t I say that just because we have been working with Microsoft for many years? I’ve been really happy and have an amazing relationship with Xbox, but am also really looking forward to Uncharted 4.”

the PC version along the way. It’s always good news to make our creations available for a potentially wider audience. That to me was what it was.” “I do kind of understand the reaction, stepping back and thinking about it. People are very passionate and have a feeling of ownership on their chosen platform. That passion is very important to us because when people are passionate they are willing to spread the word. I understand and appreciate that. But sometimes it can turn into negativity.

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NEWS

Sega to publish War Child compilation due this summer by Marie Dealessandri THE upcoming War Child video game compilation will be published by Sega and could even come to retail. The title is due out this summer and includes games made from Halo developers 343 Industries, Total War ﬁrm Creative Assembly, Worms makers Team17, Stealth Inc creators Curve and many more. The project is led by War Child supporter and Sports Interactive studio head Miles Jacobson. And he tells MCV that after teaming up with Amazon, the ﬁrm is considering an Android version, plus retail possibilities. “We have some of the hottest studios in the world, from 343 to Team 17, from Torn Banner to Hardlight, Creative Assembly to Curve, taking six days out of their ridiculously busy schedules to make a game for War Child which we’re then going to release as a compilation,” he told MCV. “Originally it was just going

THE EDITOR

to be for PC, but with Amazon now on board we’re looking at an Android version too. It’ll be out in July as a digital product, although there are retail possibilities with both merchandise and digital cards. “Sega is publishing, and giving 100 per cent of revenues to War Child.” The project is designed to mimic the War Child Help albums, which was a partnership between the charity and the music industry. “War Child have been releasing records under the Help banner – typically compilation albums from the hottest bands in the world, often with themes. This year, it’s games’ turn. “The aim is to not only raise significant funds for the charity, but use the games to raise awareness of their work.” Sports Interactive is already donating 10p from the sale of each Football Manager game to War Child.

AN HISTORIC WEEK FOR THE GLOBAL GAMES INDUSTRY

wo historic events happened in the games industry this week. The first saw Oculus Rift, the original VR headset, come to consumers. VR is now very much real for thousands of gamers around the world. The second saw Nintendo effectively become a third-party publisher but launching its first smartphone game. Yet neither moment received much fanfare. Martyn Gibbs’ comment about Oculus Rift’s launch being a ‘beta’ is quite an interesting one. Oculus Rift was only available to buy via its website, was only released in limited quantities and doesn’t even contain the much touted Oculus Touch controller. It’s an interesting test for Oculus. They’re working out what consumers like and don’t like, whether the price is prohibitive, which software is the most played... and when they have finished with this ‘beta’, they can roll it our across the High Street complete with those special controllers. It’s risk averse, but perhaps that’s no bad thing when you consider this is an untested market. VR hasn’t stumbled out of the gate, but nor has it launched with a bang. It has strolled out into the world, and it’ll be intriguing to see if Oculus’ strategy is a wise one in the long-term. Nintendo’s Miitomo app is similar in many ways. This wasn’t the ‘Mario hits smartphones’ that we were expecting. This is some unusual part-game partsocial network concept that may struggle to find a big audience.

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PRE-ORDER TOP 10

UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END LAUNCH EDITION (PS4)

Sony Playstation VR (PS4)

Ratchet & Clank inc. The Bouncer DLC (PS4)

Dark Souls III inc. Digital Comic (PS4)

Quantum Break (XO)

Sony Playstation VR & Camera (PS4)

Final Fantasy VII (PS4)

Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)

No Man’s Sky (PS4)

Hitman (PS4)

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SONY

Sony Sony Bandai Namco Microsoft Sony Square Enix Sony Sony Square Enix

Miimoto is Nintendo’s mobile test case. But this allows Nintendo to test the waters in a marketplace they are not familiar with. The late Satoru Iwata expressed his concerns about microtransactions. He feared that the business model could damage the gameplay or, even worse, rip off the customer. Nintendo’s caution extends to the fact it uses the phrase ‘free-to-start’ rather than ‘freeto-play’. It wants everyone to understand from the outset that these games are not free. Free-to-play games are a tricky business anyway. Give away too much content, and users won’t spend a penny. Keep too much content back, and gamers will just go elsewhere. Miitomo is Nintendo’s mobile test case. It is the platform holder’s opportunity to try some things that it can later implement in its first mobile game that uses the name of Mario or Zelda. As a result, the past seven days have lacked the sort of excitement you might expect from a major hardware launch, or a significant change of direction for one of the world’s biggest games companies. Yet in the fullness of time, we could look back at this week as being one of the most significant in the history of the games industry. cdring@nbmedia.com

April 1st 2016

NEWS

Nintendo launches #3DSAdventures marketing push Platform holder outlines online and video campaign to push 2016 RPG line-up, which includes Pokémon includes the upcoming launch of Japanese phenomenon Yo-kai Watch (April 29th), and the recently announced Pokémon Sun and Moon, which are due out during Q4. Other cult hits such as Fire Emblem Fates (May 20th), Monster Hunter Generations (summer) and Dragon Quest VII (TBC) will also fall under the same banner campaign. The activity kicks oﬀ with a heavy social media push, online hub and a specially created trailer.

by Christopher Dring THIS year the 3DS is all about adventure games, Nintendo says. The company has launched a new PR and marketing campaign to highlight a number of major RPGs set for release this year, including Final Fantasy Explorers, Bravely Second: End Layer and Hyrule Warriors Legends. Other titles set to feature in the #3DSAdventures campaign

“It might be late in the Nintendo 3DS’ life cycle, but 2016 looks like it’ll be another stellar year for RPG adventure fans with an unparalleled and exclusive line-up spanning from January through to December,” said Nintendo UK marketing manager Chandra Nair. “I think in years to come RPG adventure fans will look back on Nintendo 3DS as having one of the best line-ups of all time. And we’re celebrating it right now.”

Giant Monopoly kicks oﬀ London Games Festival this weekend by Christopher Dring A giant Monopoly board full of video game references will appear on Trafalgar Square this weekend. The activity is part of London Games Festival, which kicks oﬀ today (Friday, April 1st) and runs until April 10th.

The Monopoly board is 15 metres squared and has been customised to tell the history of video games in the UK. The history will take in the computer boom of the 1980s, right through to modern-day Virtual Reality technology.

The Monopoly board will tell the history of video games in the UK.

There will be life-sized statues of playing pieces, plus a digital dice in the Festival app so that people can walk the board themselves. London Games Festival will also include some 32 events in total, such as consumer expo Rezzed and the BAFTAs video game awards.

‘Dirt Rally will be No.1 selling rally game on PS4 and Xbox One’ by Alex Calvin CODEMASTERS’ Dirt Rally will shift more units than any rally game on current gen hardware. That’s according to Koch Media’s head of sales for publishing Greg Whalley, who also claims that the title will be popular with a mainstream audience. Other recent hit rally games includes Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo and WRC 5. Developer Codemasters released Dirt Rally on PC in Early Access in April 2015, and is launching on PS4, Xbox One and

April 1st 2016

Dirt Rally is launching on consoles and PC next week.

PC courtesy of Koch Media on April 5th. “Dirt Rally is expected to achieve strong sell through, both at launch and beyond,” Whalley said. “There is no doubt it will be the best-selling rally game to date on current gen consoles and will break out to a wider audience.” Senior product manager Nick Turner added: “Codemasters put emphasis on community feedback, and after some 80m miles of road testing, it has developed what many are heralding as not just the best rally game, but one of the best racing games ever created.”

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NEWS

TinyBuild: We should not ‘cripple’ games with DRM to ﬁght piracy Piracy hit publisher says there are better ways of getting players to buy games He added: “We are going to look at regional pricing and do more aggressive deals in lower wealth regions. “We also need to oﬀer more value to people actually buying the game. We would have had many more people who start playing on mobile and would buy it on PC if we had cross-platform saves. That was a misstep on our part.” Turn to page 16 to read more

by Alex Calvin TINYBUILD has condemned the use of DRM to stop illegal downloading, despite its latest game being heavily pirated. Punch Club on smartphones and PC was purchased by 300,000 people, but downloaded illegally by another 1.6 million – that’s 81 per cent of the total players. But TinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik believes there are better ways to combat piracy than DRM, including using local pricing. DRM is widely used by most major publishers, but it isn’t popular as it asks consumers to prove they’re legitimate owners of the game. “I do not believe we should cripple the experience in any way for people who actually buy our games,” Nichiporchik said. “We’ve seen the industry try this as a whole and it’s just backﬁred. Remember SimCity’s launch? That was awful.”

Punch Club was dowloaded illegally by 1.6 million gamers.

MCV debuts industry podcast YOUR favourite trade weekly has teamed up with Develop on a games industry podcast. The cannily titled MCV and Develop Podcast will run every fortnight and feature a special guest discussing the latest news and trends taking place within the games business. Our first podcast, which was recorded live at GDC and hosted by MCV editor Chris Dring and Develop editor James Batchelor, is all about the new virtual reality technology – specifically the announcement of PlayStation VR’s release window and price point. We managed to secure special guest Dr David Ranyard to join us, who worked on PlayStation VR from the start, and has just left Sony to launch his own independent VR studio. To download it, you can find it on iTunes, various Android apps (including Pocket Casts and Player FM), MCV’s YouTube channel and via the MCV website.

EA plans year-long support for UFC 2 via Ultimate Team mode Formats chart, beaten only by Ubisoft’s The Division. Sales remained strong in its second week on sale, too. Product marketing manager Estefan Binder told MCV that the early signs are good, and that mixed martial arts as a sport is growing in popularity in Britain. “The launch is going well and we, of course, hope this continues on the back of the positive player experience so far,” he said. “Our plans are ongoing as we continue

by Alex Calvin THE new UFC game is the fastest selling in the franchise’s history, and publisher EA hasn’t ﬁnished yet. The ﬁrm tells MCV that it will be releasing new content and supporting the game regularly over the coming 12 months via the game’s Ultimate Team mode. The title launched for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 17th and went straight to second place in the UK All

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to push the product at retail and drive more content year round through Ultimate Team.” He continued: “From a player perspective the launch has been very positive and smooth, it’s also critically doing well and proving commercially successful for the business. “Mixed martial arts is immensely popular in the UK, with the recent success of the London UFC Fight Night and the exposure of local ﬁghters like Conor McGregor.”

April 1st 2016

CHEAT SHEET

UP & DOWN

Market Data Retail promotions on the likes of Far Cry Primal keep software revenue buoyant

£20m

£30m £10m

POKKÉN Tournament falls 11 places to No.14 with a 57 per cent dip in sales

£19.3m 478,485 units £11m 316,902 units

Week Ending March 12th

£11m 362,805 units

Week Ending March 19th

Week Ending March 26th

BATTLEFRONT returns to the Top Ten. Sales rose 319 per cent due to price promotions

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: DIRT RALLY

[INFO] FORMATS: PS4, XO, PC RELEASED: April 5th PUBLISHER: Koch Media DISTRIBUTOR: Koch Media CONTACT: 01256 385 200

April 1st 2016

AFTER launching on PC in Early Access last April, Codemasters’ Dirt Rally is ﬁnally making the leap to both console and boxed retail. In order to promote the game, publisher and distribution partner Koch Media is focusing on reaching racing gamers through both specialist and motoring press online, print and TV. Furthermore, Koch has made custom Crazy Carts that the ﬁrm is using for retail and consumer competitions and other social activities. On launch day, Koch is taking over London with a consumer launch event. 30 rally cars will drive through the capital’s streets, before arriving at South Bank where they will be displayed for the public. In addition, Koch has teamed up with motionsimulation.com, who will have full motion simulators running the game at this event. Monster Energy and X-Games

Koch has made custom Dirt Rally Crazy Carts to promote Dirt Rally

gold medalist Liam Doran will be at the event, too. “Dirt Rally has returned to the roots of what made the original Colin McRae games so successful and incredibly addictive,” senior product manager Nick Turner said. “Players will be able to select from

a range of 46 cars. Everything from classic Escort Cosworths and the iconic Colin McRae 555 Subaru, right up to modern day monsters such as the championship winning VW Polo and Mitsubishi Evo X. Every car handles completely diﬀerent to the next.”

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CHEAT SHEET

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

THE NEWS IN 140 CHARACTERS The Tweets you might have missed in the last seven days

Your shortcut to sounding clever in the pub, we take you around the industry in under 30 seconds

NINTENDO LAUNCHES MIITOMO IN THE WEST

£4.3bn

Platform holder Nintendo has made its ﬁrst foray into the mobile gaming market with Miitomo. The app launched in the UK and US on Thursday, March 31st, following a March 17th release in Japan. In that region, the app was downloaded over one million times in its ﬁrst week.

Research ﬁrm SuperData reports that $6.2bn (£4.3bn) was spent on digital games globally during February

4.5 @Toadsanime We’ll all be able to play Miitomo this Thursday then. I’m interested to see what sort of a mark it’ll make in the Western world.

@kobunheat Internet: Nintendo should go mobile Nintendo: Ok, we went mobile. You now owe Tom Nook real money

Ryan Brown, Daily Mirror Tuesday, March 29th

SONY HAS CLOSED EVOLUTION STUDIOS PlayStation has announced the closure of DriveClub studio Evolution following a review of its European studio structure. This follows Microsoft announcing the closure of Fable makers Lionhead on March 7th.

Chris Kohler, Wired Friday, March 25th

THAT DRAGON, CANCER DEVELOPER BLAMES YOUTUBERS FOR POOR SALES

@TommyRefenes That Dragon, Cancer is a very niche very personal, very special game. Because of that it has no chance of selling well. YouTube is blameless. Tommy Refenes, indie developer Saturday, March 26th

Niall McGuinness, Nintendo, Tuesday, March 22nd @MegMgumi Sad news to hear about Evolution Studios :( Thoughts going out to all the guys and girls up there.

151% Wii U hardware sales roses 151 per cent in Japan on the week that Pokkén Tournament launched in the region

£225m

Deeply personal game That Dragon, Cancer has only sold 14,000 units since launch, with creator Ryan Brown blaming YouTube Let’s Play videos.

@milkslice Tough month for studios. Evolution, Lionhead, 5th Cell+Press Play...I’m sure there are unfortunately others. Hope folk land on their feet.

Further sources speaking to Eurogamer and the Wall Street Journal have said that the rumoured PS4.5 is real

Data company Newzoo has said that $325m (£225m) will be spent on eSports marketing in 2016

500,000 Indie title Firewatch sold half a million units in its ﬁrst month and recouped its development costs in one day

@joeparlock Ho boy, at a glance, the That Dragon, Cancer’s stance on Let’s Plays is a load of wank. Need time to read it through closely, but yowza.

Meg Rice, PlayHubs Tuesday, March 22nd

Joe Parlock, Destructoid, Thursday, March 24th

Xbox ONE Rock Candy Wired Controller - PDP Design and manufacture the Oﬃcially Licenced Microsoft Rock Candy Wired Controller for Xbox ONE europesales@pdp.com

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GAMESAID THIS WEEK .................................................... PLAY YOUR PART BECOME A MEMBER AMBASSADOR TRUSTEE WWW.GAMESAID.ORG

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LONDON MARATHON

GAMESAID GOLF DAY

STAND UP FOR GAMESAID

..................

Next month, Warner Bros PR and GamesAid trustee Cat Channon is running the London Marathon to raise money for the charity. The 26.2 mile endurace race is taking place on April 24th and donations can be made via the platform JustGiving.

The annual GamesAid golf and spa day returns on July 14th. Since its debuts in 2008 the event has raised more than £375,000. Tickets can be booked on golfandspaday.com or by contacting Keeley Munden at keeley2703@hotmail.com.

Games industry comedy night Stand Up For GamesAid returns to London’s Comedy Store on May 9th. The event will be hosted by GamesAid patron and comedian Imran Yusuf. Tickets are available on thecomedystore.co.uk and cost £15

April 1st 2016

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

Justin Towell departs GamesRadar+ Reviews editor to become self-employed O EA names new EVP of global publishing O IO poaches Ubisoft director GAMESRADAR+ | JUSTIN TOWELL has just departed GamesRadar+ after ten years at Future to become self-employed. He joined the company in 2006, rising from editorial assistant to reviews editor. “Working at GamesRadar+ with Andy Hartup, Dan Dawkins and the immensely talented global team has been a privilege, and I leave the site in a state of phenomenal audience growth and high journalistic quality,” Towell stated. “However, by any measure, 10 years in one place is a long time, so I’m now looking to set up several new creative projects myself, based around

April 1st 2016

has navigated challenges with great focus and leadership. I am thrilled to have her strategic thinking, drive and passion for play in this critical position.” Miele commented: “I have been fortunate in my 20 years at EA to be a part of delivering what I believe to be the highest form of entertainment to millions of people around the world all while working with incredibly talented people. “I am honoured to step into this new role and lead global publishing in a time of rapid change for the industry, when there is more opportunity than ever to deliver awesome experiences to players. I couldn’t imagine a more exciting challenge.”

photography, video, writing and music. I will still be available for freelance games writing and video, so if you need someone who knows how to use the gears in racing games, do get in touch.” EA | Former Electronic Arts SVP LAURA MIELE has been promoted to EVP of global publishing, announced CEO ANDREW WILSON. He said in a statement: “Over the course of her career with EA, Laura has held a variety of leadership roles across publishing, marketing and analytics. She has played an integral role in developing the fabric of our company, and she

IO INTERACTIVE | After four years at Ubisoft’s Massive, RYAN BARNARD has left the firm to join IO Interactive, as gameplay director. Barnard previously was Ubisoft’s game director and recently worked on The Division. He started his career at Sony in 2003, and also worked for Crytek and the late Mythic studio. IO said in a statement: “Ryan will focus on expanding on the near-endless possibilities of gameplay that a game like Hitman possesses. Ryan’s contributions to game design over the years show he’s the ideal person to spearhead the coming efforts.”

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Coming April 8th 2016 MXGP - The o cial FIM Motocross World Championship Videogame © 2016 developed and published by Milestone s.r.l. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2016 YouthStream - All rights reserved

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

WEEKLY CHARTS THE DIVISION is dominating the UK charts for the third consecutive week. The game endured a 35 per cent decline in sales this week. The last Ubisoft title to remain at the top for this long was Watch Dogs, released in May 2014. EA Sports UFC 2 remains in second place, with a 51 per cent decrease in sales. Ubisoft’s Far Cry Primal comes back in the Top Three this week, thanks to an impressive 132 per cent rise in sales. This is due to retailer promotions during the Easter break. Promotions also helped Sony’s Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection to rise from No.38 to No.11 with sales increasing 447 per cent. Meanwhile, EA’s Star Wars Battlefront saw its sales increased by

319 per cent, thanks to promotions and the release of its ﬁrst DLC. In the meantime, Nintendo’s Hyrule Warriors: Legends, which launched on 3DS, debuts at No.14. Another new entry lands on the Top 40 this week: Ubisoft’s latest racing title,Trackmania Turbo, debuts at No.21. On Steam, pre-orders for Dark Souls III as well as its Deluxe Edition enter the listings at No.6 and No.7. But Tom Clancy’s The Division is still leading the platform’s charts, followed by mainstays GTA V and indie hit Stardew Valley, published by UK company Chuckleﬁsh. Over on mobile, Supercell’s Clash Royale and Mojang’s Minecraft continue to perform extremely well.

GLOBAL STEAM CHARTS (UNITS)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

LW 07 02 RE 05 NEW NEW 08 RE

TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION DEVELOPER: UBISOFT PUBLISHER: UBISOFT

TITLE Grand Theft Auto V Stardew Valley Fallout 4 Counter-Strike: Global Oﬀensive Dark Souls III Deluxe Edition (P) Dark Souls III (P) Factorio Fallout 4 Season Pass

PUBLISHER Rockstar Chuckleﬁsh Bethesda Valve Bandai Namco Bandai Namco Wube Bethesda

TOP 40 UK PHYSICAL RETAIL 02

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

LW 01 02 05 06 04 07 18 09 08 14 38 13 NEW 03 20 12 11 16 10 19 NEW 15 17 23 22 RE RE 27 31 29 37 26 35 RE 24 RE RE 33 36 RE

Title Tom Clancy’s The Division EA Sports UFC 2 Far Cry Primal FIFA 16 Call of Duty: Black Ops III Grand Theft Auto V Star Wars Battlefront LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection Fallout 4 Hyrule Warriors: Legends Pokkén Tournament WWE 2K16 LEGO Jurassic World Minecraft: Xbox Edition Minecraft: Story Mode Forza Motorsport 6 Just Cause 3 Trackmania Turbo Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Knack Disney Inﬁnity 3.0 Skylanders Superchargers LEGO Dimensions Destiny: The Taken King Terraria Halo 5: Guardians Football Manager 2016 Killzone: Shadow Fall LEGO Marvel Super Heroes The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Need for Speed NBA 2K16 Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Legends LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Gears of War: Ultimate Edition

Source: Steam, Period: March 21th to 27th April 1st 2016

Format Publisher PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO EA PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PC Bethesda 3DS Nintendo Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Telltale Games/Avanquest XO Microsoft PS4, XO, PC Square Enix PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, PS3, Vita Sony PS4 Sony PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS Activision PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC 505 Games XO Microsoft PC Sega PS4 Sony PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC CD Projekt RED/Bandai Namco PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Konami PS4, XO EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Sports PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Little Orbit PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros XO, PC Microsoft

Source: UKIE/GfK Entertainment, Period: Week ending March 26th 12

www.mcvuk.com

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

UK IPAD PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 07 05 NEW 09 03 RE 08 NEW RE

UK IPHONE PAID

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Goat Simulator Terraria Amaranthine Voyage: The Obsidian Book Bloons TD 5 HD The Room Three Dangerous Games: Illusionist HD Geometry Dash Mimpi Dreams The Sims 3

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Coﬀee Stain Studios 505 Games Big Fish Games Ninja Kiwi Fireproof Games Big Fish Games RobTop Games Silicon Jelly EA

LW 02 RE 03 RE 05 04 RE 06 09

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Heads Up! Hitman: Sniper Plague Inc. You Must Build a Boat Monopoly Game Football Manager Mobile 2016 Goat Simulator Bloons TD 5 Geometry Dash

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 14th to March 20th

UK IPAD GROSSING (REVENUE)

UK IPHONE GROSSING (REVENUE)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 01 02 04 05 09 07 06 08 10

CANDY CRUSH SAGA DEVELOPER: KING

Title Clash of Clans Clash Royale Game of War - Fire Age Candy Crush Soda Saga Boom Beach Mobile Strike Hay Day Candy Crush Jelly Saga Gummy Drop!

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Supercell Supercell Machine Zone King Supercell Epic War Supercell King Big Fish

LW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 RE RE

CLASH ROYALE DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Clash of Clans Candy Crush Saga Game of War - Fire Age Mobile Strike Candy Crush Soda Saga Candy Crush Jelly Saga 8 Ball Pool Boom Beach Marvel Contest of Champions

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 14th to March 20th

UK IPHONE FREE (UNITS)

LW NEW 03 04 02 NEW RE NEW 05 09

CLASH ROYALE DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Basketball Stars Dragon Land Color Switch Stack Disney Magic Kingdoms LEGO DC Super Heroes Mighty Micros Shopping Centre Car Parking Simulator Piano Tiles 2 Merged!

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Miniclip.com Social Point Marc Lejeune Ketchapp Gameloft LEGO Systems Play With Games Cheetah Technology GramGames

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 14th to March 20th www.mcvuk.com

Developer Supercell King Supercell Epic War King King Miniclip.com Supercell Kabam

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 14th to March 20th

UK IPAD FREE (UNITS)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Warner Bros Square Enix Ndemic Creations Eighty Eight Games EA Sega Coﬀee Stain Studios Ninja Kiwi RobTop Games

LW 03 NEW 02 RE NEW NEW 06 NEW 08

STACK DEVELOPER: KETCHAPP

Title Color Switch Basketball Stars Clash Royale Handbrake Valet Damn Daniel Damn Daniel - Game Piano Tiles 2 Weed Firm: RePlanted Thumb Drift

Developer Marc Lejeune Miniclip.com Supercell Meagan Harrington Daydream Josiah Jenkins Cheetah Technology B! Canada SMG Studio

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 14th to March 20th 13

April 1st 2016

INTERVIEW MARTYN GIBBS, GAME

A GAME of two halves As GAME’s retail business recovers from a challenging 2015, the firm’s events side is beginning to flourish. Christopher Dring looks at the numbers and talks to Martyn Gibbs on the changing face of the UK’s biggest games specialist

ust before Christmas GAME warned its shareholders that sales had been lower than expected. The news of a disappointing festive period can be a critical blow to any retailer, but especially to one in a market like video games, which is so heavily dependant on Q4. The profit warning was followed by a slump in the firm’s share price, which prompted a review of its UK business in January. ‘Profit warnings’, ‘share price slump’, ‘business review’... journalists had plenty of doomladen phrases to play with. Two months later, and the situation appears to have calmed a little. It helps that the earnings drop that it had warned about in December was not as severe as had been feared (earnings were £33.1m, and not the £30m it had revised). But also the games business has enjoyed a shot in the arm in recent weeks – there was the success of Ubisoft’s The Division, and then came the exciting announcement of PlayStation VR. And besides, the company says the only reason it had a challenging pre-Christmas was down to one already redundant issue: the sudden collapse of PS3 and 360. “Those consoles are dropping off far quicker than we or any of the external market had forecasted,” CEO Martyn Gibbs admits to MCV. “That has obviously impacted the profitability across the market. The impact of the falling legacy software sales has been faster than we anticipated. However, what that

April 1st 2016

trying to expect gamers to have finished Fallout before the next one arrived,” he says. “That was not where we want to be.” Gibbs understandably doesn’t want to dwell on the negatives. Instead he’s eager to talk about the other half of GAME’s business. He wants to discuss the ten per cent increase in digital sales, the more than 90 per cent jump his GAMEtronics business has posted, plus the 25 per cent increase in ‘other’, which includes the company’s new Multiplay eSports business. “Almost a third of our profit against the period last year, was from these higher growth categories,” Gibbs boasts. These growth areas, particularly Multiplay, tech, digital and merchandise, will be crucial in GAME’s future – especially if the physical software side continues to dip. The fact that these areas are worth almost 33 per cent of its profit is promising, but Gibbs says getting that percentage higher is not a business objective.

basically means is that the impact will be diminished in the future.” Does that mean the time is up for Microsoft and Sony’s older machines – barely two years after the launch of PS4 and Xbox One? “With pre-owned we will be lastman standing on these formats, and always would be,” insists Gibbs. “But if you see the amount of titles being released now on PS3 and 360... our participation on mint will be dependent on the products that are available for our customers to buy, which is diminishing rapidly.” NEW GAME PLUS GAME can’t blame all of its struggles on Xbox 360 and PS3. There has been slower than expected sales on PS4 and Xbox One software, too. Working out why that has been the case is a little trickier, perhaps it’s the rise of digital, or the idea that gamers are buying fewer titles and spending longer on them. Gibbs, meanwhile, doesn’t believe the cramped release schedule has helped matters. “We are constantly talking to supplier partners about spreading out the releases better than we have seen, especially around Christmas which was, at one point, pretty tortuous in terms of

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MARTYN GIBBS, GAME INTERVIEW

Gibbs says he does not foresee any GAME stores closing

“[The third of the profit] is an interesting stat but I’m not a great believer in tasking the business on participation metrics,” he says. “I want us to do really well on every format, and whatever the participation becomes of that, it is what it is. We have not set a target of making those areas of our business 50 per cent, because that might mean we are failing on other categories.” UK RETAIL’S FUTURE GAME has to do something about its UK retail division. No matter how successful it is proving to be in Spain, or how many sellout shows Multiplay is putting together, it is the slow down on the High Street that is harming GAME’s bottom line. In its financials, GAME talks about making retail ‘efficiencies’ – it has already closed its customer services department and outsourced it. But Gibbs says that these efficiencies will be largely behind the scenes, and store closures are not part of the company’s plans. “We are reviewing every part of the business based on the market, but also based on the organisation

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design we need both for now and in the future,” he explains. “In terms of answering the store question, we are not foreseeing any material closures in store. We have a lot of lease events coming up and there may be some changes, I will give you a couple of examples. We launched a big new store in Trafford last year, we did a big store in the Metro Centre where we took two stores to one, we just moved out of Southampton West Quay, and then put a store on the High Street, that is performing very well. “It is just about getting the portfolio of stores right at the right cost base. We still don’t have a loss-making store in the UK, which is still a very proud statement we can make.” However, GAME’s High Street presence might not receive much love over the next 12 months – especially compared with last year, when it rolled out multiple digital screens into all of its stores. Gibbs says that the firm will be investing further, although expect it to be in online, mobile, digital, the GAME app and, most significantly, the Multiplay events business.

We always ask our partners to spread out releases, especially around Christmas which was pretty tortuous. Martyn Gibbs, GAME

Multiplay, which it bought for £20m last year, is yet to justify the price tag, but Gibbs continues to talk up its potential. Multiplay events are now being rolled out to other locations, and the division will also be running the GAMEFest consumer show in August. “We eulogise around Multiplay and Insomnia a lot at the moment, and for us we needed to build the right infrastructure – which was mainly around people,” Gibbs says. “We will keep pushing that business hard. We just think the opportunity for us is significant, and that we are building something that is differentiated to anything else – it’s not the same of any show globally.” GAME’s transformation from boxed game shifter to a digital retailer-cum-marketing channel was never going to be seamless. When the firm stated two years ago that it had negotiated short store leases, you could see this was a company that was preparing for the sort of turbulence that the games industry is known for. GAME has endured its first major bump in the road. The hard work now begins to make sure it is prepared for the next one.

April 1st 2016

NEWS ANALYSIS PUNCH CLUB PIRACY

TinyBuild versus the pirates Publisher TinyBuild recently announced its latest sales milestone for Punch Club – 300,000 copies downloaded. But there was a catch. The game had also been illegally downloaded 1.6m times. Alex Calvin speaks to CEO Alex Nichiporchik

inyBuild’s new game Punch Club has garnered its fair share of headlines since it debuted in January. The title was marketed with an interesting Twitch Plays series, and went on to make $1m in sales in just ten days, shifting 100,000 copies. And last week, TinyBuild announced a new sales milestone – 300,000 units sold. But there was a sizeable catch – that figure represents just 19 per cent of total installs. The game has been illegally downloaded 1.6m times. “People really undervalue the shock that real numbers have,” CEO Alex Nichiporchik says. “I have known that piracy is huge for years, I know that 80 per cent piracy on the overall number of installs is totally normal. But what’s really shocking is when you see that directly correlating to your own numbers. We’re talking to the developer saying: ‘okay, we just sold 300,000 units across all platforms. Great, shall we make a story out of that?’ and we thought no-one would care. Then the designer chimes in saying that it had been pirated one million times. I just wrote it off as a joke, but he was saying it’s actually over a million. I replied with: ‘holy shit’. The shock value of that was really eyeopening for us. It’s a tangible number that’s really big.”

One of the main topics of a blog post published by Nichiporchik was the impact that localisation has on piracy in various territories. For example, the rate of piracy in China was unaffected by TinyBuild translating Punch Club into Chinese. But Brazil only started pirating Punch Club when it was localised for Brazilian Portuguese. “I was really surprised to see that the Chinese market didn’t care about whether a game is localised to Chinese or not,” Nichiporchik says. “They still pirated it. But then Brazil is such a huge local market for Brazilian Portuguese that they waited for it to get localised before they pirated it.”

I thought the dev was joking when he said Punch Club had been pirated 1m times. But then he showed us. I replied with: ‘Holy shit’. Alex Nichiporchik, TinyBuild

FIGHTING BACK But TinyBuild has more than one plan to help combat the piracy of its games. “What we are definitely going to do is look at regional pricing and do more aggressive pricing in lower wealth regions,” Nichiporchik explains. “That definitely helps and we have actually seeing that work in Eastern Europe. The Russian ruble and the Ukrainina hryvnia are jumping like crazy. We manually adjust the pricing so it’s

Nichiporchik says that TinyBuild is experimenting with regional pricing to combat piracy April 1st 2016

much lower there. The game costs $5 on iOS and Android and $10 on PC. But because of regional adjustments, in the Ukraine, the PC version is cheaper than the mobile SKU. We are going to be pricing more aggressively.” On the surface, changing prices for different regions is a sound idea – but this is also how key resellers get their hands on cheap codes to sell off in more affluent territories for a profit. Is this something Nichiporchik is concerned about? “Oh yes,” he laughs. “We are having many discussions with a few of the key resellers. I’m a direct guy, whenever I search for Punch Club on some key resale website and see it for $4, I get pissed off and send angry emails. “The issue in an open economy is that you can’t really combat reselling outside of doing it at a platform level. If a vendor facilitates these sales and doesn’t do thorough checks, such as verifying the origins of the keys, that’s not good. “I’m not sure if regional locking would help fix that. But it would cause us a lot of other issues with imported games and what not.” EXTRA VALUE TinyBuild has also experimented with ways to stop piracy of multiplayer games like 2013’s SpeedRunners. “When people try to pirate multiplayer-focused games, they have to jump through hoops to get it to work. I have read a couple of threads with instructions like ‘do this, do that, create a virtual server, you hijack this

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PUNCH CLUB PIRACY NEWS ANALYSIS

81 per cent of Punch Club’s total installs are the result of piracy

internet connection, you route it here’ and they‘re like: ‘I’m not a rocket scientist, I’ll just pay $10 for the game’,” Nichiporchik explains. “With SpeedRunners, we created a demo which was pretty much the same experience as if you pirated it. It’s a single player experience that you can play with friends locally. I’m not seeing that much piracy for it, just doing random searches on Pirate Bay. I can’t really see a lot of hype for a pirated version of SpeedRunners, because you can download the local multiplayer version of it. That’s my hypothesis, at least.” He adds: “We can also combat piracy by offering more value to people actually buying the game. We may have converted more people who started playing on mobile on to the PC version if we had cross-platform saves. I imagine a lot of people might pirate the PC version in Brazil because they can’t afford it, or it’s difficult to pay, then get hooked on the game and want to continue to play on their phone. Missing cross play at launch was a misstep on our part that could have been much better. “Beyond that, I do not believe we should cripple the experience in any way for people who actually buy our games. We’ve

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Piracy Rate 19%

Bought 81%

Pirated

Piracy Split

31.1%

68.9%

Mobile PC

seen the industry try this as a whole and it’s just backfired.”

EASTERN EFFORT

THE NEXT STEP Years ago, developers banded together to release bundles – collections of cheap digital games. With great value, these helped reduce piracy. And Nichiporchik says there needs to be a new kind of concept to fight piracy now. “Bundles made it too much effort to pirate a game,” he explains. “As a poor kid from Latvia I couldn’t afford to buy full price games. And when bundles came about, suddenly it was more convenient to have stuff in your Steam library. “What’s happened in the bundle sector is the same thing that happens to any business – everyone gives it a go and suddenly the market just deflates. “The whole idea of indies joining together for a very low price on a huge volume of sales, that was a very novel concept that helped offset piracy. But now there needs to be something else, something different as the bundle market is saturated. I don’t know what that might be. “That’s the billion dollar idea, giving good value for everyone who is pirating to persuade them to buy the game.”

ONE alarming fact that arose out of TinyBuild’s piracy news was that – unlike Brazil – pirates in China were illegally downloading the game well before it was localised for the country. This implies that localisation isn’t that important to Chinese gamers – so is TinyBuild going to continue to translate its products in the region? “China is one of those huge markets that is in a rapid development stage, so discounting it is a bad idea,” CEO Alex Nichiporchik says. “Discounting China is not the right way to go. And even though the piracy rate in Brazil skyrocketed after we localised, we still made our money back on localising it and then some. Overall it was still worth it. It’s shocking to see those numbers because it really does suck. “But getting back to the overall question, we need to offer good value. Maybe working with different local stores might help because you have localised payment methods.”

April 1st 2016

INTERVIEW SAM LAKE, REMEDY

Remedy’s Quantum leap Finnish developer Remedy is known for story-driven action titles such as Max Payne and Alan Wake. And the studio’s next project, video game-cum-TV show Quantum Break, looks like its most ambitious title yet. Alex Calvin speaks to creative director Sam Lake

t this point in time, you may know Quantum Break as a game with enormous scope involving time travel, branching narratives, time travel and its own TV show. But it was not always this way. In fact, the game was the result of Remedy – fresh off the release of 2010’s Alan Wake – wanting to develop its narrative capabilities. “We had the idea of pushing our storytelling in ways such that the player can affect the story,” creative director Sam Lake says. “We started out with just that. I wanted to find a story genre that worked with the idea of players making choices and there being consequences, which led me to the idea of time travel. That was the beginning really. “Quantum Break is an entertainment experience. It’s a Remedy game so it’s a cinematic, story-driven action spectacle and this time centered around the main theme of time. It’s a time travel story with the idea that time is breaking down, as well as a superhero origin story.”

GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION On the surface, Quantum Break may look like just another thirdperson cover-based shooter -

April 1st 2016

albeit with some cool-looking timebased super powers – but there’s more to it. One of the most interesting aspects of Quantum Break is that it is partially a TV show. The game itself follows Jack Joyce and company (aka, the good guys), while a live-action TV show follows what the bad guys are up to. All of the game’s main characters are modelled on – and played by – Hollywood stars, including X-Men: First Class’ Shawn Ashmore, Aidan Gillen of Game of Thrones fame, and Lost and Lord of the Rings actor Dominic Monaghan. Players will see different bits of the live action show depending on their decisions within the game. But why was a TV show such a core element to Quantum Break? Couldn’t Remedy have just produced everything within the game itself using the – pretty impressive – facial and motion capture technology? “We have invested a lot of money in the character tech, in the digital doubles of the actors and pushed that forwards,” Lake says. “In a funny way the fact we have the show and the actors in live action inside the game also was a motivation to push the character technology forward. If you are

If you are going to see the same actor both in the ﬂesh and as a character model, the CGI tech needs to be good. Sam Lake, Remedy

going to see this same actor both in the flesh and as a character model, the tech needs to be good. “It was a logical and interesting experiment. We have done some live action in the past with Alan Wake – we had in-game TV shows and prequel videos – I just felt like we should do something more. I felt that it was a good idea to explore this more. The fact is that different mediums have their own strengths. “Our games are very storydriven but at the same time they are action games. To create a nicely-paced action spectacle, you couldn’t do the amount of character drama and storytelling that we can do when we have the show. We wouldn’t ever really consider it no

Quantum Break was set to launch last year, but was pushed to April 5th

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SAM LAKE, REMEDY INTERVIEW

LEAP TO PC Previously an Xbox One-exclusive, Quantum Break is also coming to PC

matter what the quality level of the technology, it just feels that pacing wise it doesn’t really find its role, it needs to flow in a nice way. “Having the show on the side as a separate, but connected, thing with its own role, gave us our own opportunity which lets us now expand the ensemble cast. We can give gamers a different perspective into it and once there were ideas that all of these different pieces served their own roles, it started to make sense.” When the Xbox One was first announced, part of the console’s future was film and TV content produced by the now-closed Xbox Entertainment Studios. Microsoft’s pursuit of this avenue was fortuitous for Remedy as it pitched Quantum Break. “The strategic drive that Microsoft had at that point in time certainly is very much the reason why we got to have a TV show, because it was part of our pitch, we wanted to do it,” Lake explains. “I’m not sure Microsoft would have necessarily said yes. But because it had Xbox Entertainment going on they came back to us: ‘Why don’t you be even more ambitious with this?’. The firm gave us the opportunity to do something even bigger and we were happy to say yes. But from the get go the idea

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with Quantum Break was that we have a separate outsource production company, Lifeboat Productions in LA. We were not really part of the internal project. So Xbox Entertainment Studios closing didn’t affect us along the way.”

level of polish and iteration and fine-tuning of the experience.” And now that Quantum Break is finally on its way to stores, coming out for Xbox One and PC on April 5th. What are Lake’s expectations for the title?

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING The title is finally coming out after being pushed out of the 2015 release slate. Game delays aren’t an uncommon event, and are normally down to developers and publishers concerned about the quality of the end product. But, according to Lake, this wasn’t the case with Quantum Break. “Funnily enough the delay came from Microsoft’s end,” he says. “It was looking at its portfolio of upcoming games and were feeling that it would be foolish to have all of these bigger games come out at the same time, essentially fighting among themselves for the audience. So it wanted to stagger them out. “Certainly we were happy to take the extra time and really happy to have that extra time as these are really challenging, complicated projects always. In a big game like this, the polish phase is absolutely essential. We were more than happy to take the extra time. That mainly resulted in much a higher

Quantum Break was delayed to 2016 because Microsoft wanted to stagger out its line-up of big games. Sam Lake, Remedy

“I’m a creative guy, so my first concern is never the business side,” he says. “Of course, this a business and you hope that commercially it does so well that it was worth it for all the parties involved. As a creative, I just want people to like it and enjoy it – hopefully a lot of people. I’m also hoping we’ve made our contribution to pop culture, and that this will resonate with and inspire people to create their own things in the future.”

QUANTUM BREAK was first announced as an Xbox Oneexclusive. But in February of this year, Microsoft revealed that the title would be heading to PC as part of the tech giant’s push to unite its PC and Xbox ecosystems. “We were pushing for the PC version,” creative director Sam Lake says. “Remedy has a strong heritage on PC and have a lot of fans on the PC side. From a developer’s perspective, it’s always good news to make our creations available for a potentially wider audience. That to me was what it was. I’m really happy that there’s a PC version and everyone at Remedy is really happy.” But when the PC edition was announced, the reaction from some Xbox gamers was negative – Xbox owners were enraged that one of their exclusives would be coming to another platform. “It baffled me,” Lake says. “But I do kind of understand the reaction, stepping back and thinking about it. People are very passionate have a feeling of ownership on their chosen platform. That passion is very important to us because when people are passionate they are willing to fight and spread the word. I understand and appreciate that. “But sometimes it can turn into negativity.”

April 1st 2016

XXX XXX MCV AWARDS INTERVIEW GAMES CENTRE

How the King in the North held his throne After picking up his fifth successive Independent Retailer prize at the MCV Awards, Games Centre MD Robert Lindsay speaks to Marie Dealessandri about how the firm has done it once again

his year, Scotland’s Games Centre walked away with the Independent Retailer prize at the MCV Awards for the fifth time in a row. With eight stores and a successful online business that delivers to over 50 countries, Games Centre is a force to be reckoned with in the UK independent retail scene. What’s more, it has seen important growth these last few years, performing better in 2015 than it did in 2014. Following his win at the MCV Awards, we speak to MD and founder Robert Lindsay to find out how 2015 went for Games Centre, and what we can expect from the retailer during the rest of the year. Congratulations on winning an MCV Award for the fifth time. Thank you. It means as much this year as it did first time around, and to know that our industry peers have given us their vote is reward in itself. Why do you think you won this category again? We’ve been in the industry now for nearly 25 years and over time we have built up fruitful relationships with key publishers and suppliers, as well as developing a reputation for strong marketing campaigns and customer service. What makes Games Centre stand out from the crowd? The indie sector is still competitive with many good retailers such as Chips, Barkman, Insane Games and Playtime having been around for years. As we’ve won the award previously, maybe our name springs to mind

April 1st 2016

be ahead of the curve as summer approaches. No further store expansions are planned in the immediate future, but if the retail landscape were to change then we would certainly consider the option.

Games Centre is optimistic about 2016 due to a strong release slate

more readily when voting time comes around. What were your biggest achievements in the last year? 2015 was another challenging period. Did I say that last time? Probably. We outperformed 2014, which itself was a strong year, and have maintained growth into Q4. Launching our tech initiative was successful, though not without its challenges. To complement the strong trade-in proposition we have, we now offer a part exchange service on phones and tablets, many of which have been traded towards PS4s and Xbox Ones. The more reasons we can give our customers to shop with us then the more likely we will be to retain their business in the years to come.

When 20 per cent of a new game’s sales are digital, it’s hard to dispute the impact this will have on boxed.

What are your expectations for the year to come? Do you have any plans for further expansion? Quiet optimism. Q4 has been stronger than expected and with a strong release schedule over the next few months we should

Robert Lindsay, Games Centre

00 20

What are you most looking forward to in the games industry over the next few months? Having initially been skeptical about VR, Sony’s recent announcement is building an air of excitement and VR could take off. Time will tell. What other issues are facing Games Centre? Digital, which is a threat and an opportunity in equal measures. When 20 per cent of a new release’s sales are digital, it’s hard to dispute the impact this will have on boxed products. The need to diversify is greater than ever. Digital sales have steadily increased, particularly over the last six months, as consumers have become more aware of the digital content available at store level with Season Passes in particular proving very popular on key releases. Our website is an important and growing channel for us, particularly as we have such a strong back catalogue offering within the business. We will continue to add new products as the year progresses. GAME Marketplace performed really well for us in the lead up to Christmas. It has slowed down lately, possibly due to the number of other retailers now on the platform. But hey, it’s a great industry to be involved in and in some way, shape or form, we will be here as a business for some time to come.

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SAVE THE DATES The best networking events, the most informative conferences and the greatest awards nights from the team behind MCV

May 5th St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Church

May 19th Hamyard Hotel

October London

TWELVE GAMES OF

October London

November London

Nov 21st The Brewery

For more information contact Conor on 020 7354 6000 or email ctallon@nbmedia.com

LONDON GAMES FESTIVAL

Guide to the London Games Festival Starting today, the London Games Festival begins, with 32 events taking place over nine days. MCV takes a look at the events to attend – from BAFTA to Mario: The Musical

THE London Games Festival kicks off today and runs until April 10th. There are 32 events set to take place across nine days, with over 500 games to be shown. There are two sets of events – official ones such as BAFTA and Rezzed, and ‘fringe’ events, which includes the Videogamer Awards. Here is a run-down of what to expect:

11am – 4pm Royal National Hotel, Russell Square

Sunday, April 3rd Trafalgar Square A 15 meter square Monopoly boards comes to Trafalgar Square, and it’s been customised to tell the history of video games in the UK.

The London Gaming Market features vendors selling video games, board games and related merchandise.

(FRINGE) THE GAMES EUROPE PLAYS Saturday, April 2nd – Sunday, April 10th 11am – 5pm The Finnish Institute

MONDAY, APRIL 4TH LGF @ BFI Monday, April 4th, 10am – 6pm BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XT

FRIDAY, APRIL 1ST NOW PLAY THIS Friday, April 1st to Sunday, April 3rd Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA Featuring experimental digital games, physical installations, illustrations, books, board games, games for mobile devices and more. (FRINGE) RUMPUS: PICK YOUR OWN MISADVENTURE Friday, 1 April, 10pm – 6am Islington Metal Works This party features seven rooms crammed with circus, live bands, DJs, art and performances.

Featuring independent games from across Europe that focuses on children’s games looking at learning through play.

A series of talks and summits including the Games Audio Summit, UK Games Showcase, Virtual Reality Summit, The Art of Videogames: The Chinese Room and there will also be a demo area.

(FRINGE) RADIUS NIGHTS Saturday, April 2nd, 6pm Loading Bar, Stratford A live show format that explores ‘everything games’ with a panel of industry leaders.

(FRINGE) UKIE STUDENT GAME JAM Monday, April 4th - Tuesday, April 5th Nationwide

(FRINGE) LATE SHIFT Saturday, April 2nd, 6pm BAFTA 195 Piccadilly

UKIE’s student members at 15 universities and colleges go head-to-head.

An interactive movie where the audience decides what the protagonist does via their phone.

TOURNAMENTS @ MELTDOWN Monday, April 4th – Friday, April 8th Meltdown Bar The bar will feature a Smash

SUNDAY, APRIL 3RD SATURDAY APRIL 2ND MONOPOLY AT THE SQUARE Saturday, April 2nd –

April 1st 2016

(FRINGE) THE LONDON GAMING MARKET Saturday, April 3rd

Bros tournament on Monday, DOTA 2 contest on Tuesday, Hearthstone on Wednesday, Street Fighter V on Thursday and League of Legends on Friday. TUESDAY, APRIL 5th GAMES FINANCE SUMMIT Tuesday, April 5th, 10am - 3pm Grange City Hotel, 8-14 Cooper’s Row, London EC3N 2BQ A summit on games funding. This event is invite-only. (FRINGE) SENSIBLE STRIKER PRO Tuesday, April 5th, 7pm Six Yard Box, Elephant & Castle A celebration of the best ‘90s football games. Take part in the Sensible Soccer, Striker and ISS Pro tournaments. (FRINGE) {CODE}AOKE Tuesday, 5 April, 6.30pm BrewDog, Shoreditch Imagine a karaoke night, but instead of singing, developers take to the mic to share ideas, code, or ask for help. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6TH GAMES FINANCE MARKET Wednesday, April 6th – Thursday, April 7th

www.mcvuk.com

LONDON GAMES FESTIVAL

Grange City Hotel, 8-14 Cooper’s Row, London, EC3N 2BQ

UKIE, 21-27 Lamb’s Conduit Street

A private event that connects handpicked games business with potential investors.

A series of talks from highly successful games industry professionals on boosting your studio and career.

ESPORTS SUMMIT Wednesday, April 6th, 11.30am Princess Anne Theatre, BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LN A three-hour summit that looks at the treatment of players and opportunities for companies.

A lecture from Dave Ranyard, VR developer and former studio head of Sony London.

Sheridans, NetNames, Level3 and the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit discuss IP infringement.

EGX REZZED Thursday, April 7th – Saturday, April 9th Tobacco Dock, 50 Porters Walk, Wapping London E1W 2SF

A comedy awards event that celebrates the funniest, stupidest and, maybe, the best of the past year. (FRINGE) ROCKET JUMP EVENTS – LONDON Wednesday, April 6th, 5pm

www.mcvuk.com

(FRINGE) GAME ON SUTTON Thursday, April 7th, 10am – 5pm St Nicholas Shopping Centre, Sutton Learn how to make games, presented by Carshalton College Computing and Creative Industries Centre.

(FRINGE) UNDERSTANDING VIRTUAL REALITY: A GUARDIAN MASTERCLASS WITH DAVE RANYARD Wednesday, April 6th, 7pm Goldsmiths, University of London

(FRINGE) UKIE: PROTECTING IP FROM DIGITAL THREATS Wednesday, April 6th, 9.30am UKIE, 21-27 Lamb’s Conduit Street

(FRINGE) THE VIDEOGAMER AWARDS Wednesday, April 6th, 4pm The Soho Theatre

The British Academy Games Awards is BAFTA’s annual celebration of excellence.

(FRINGE) SHOW ME THE MONEY! THE CHALLENGES OF RAISING CAPITAL IN THE GAMES INDUSTRY Thursday, April 7th, 5pm 10 Queen Street Place Join Bates Wells Braithwaite for an interactive discussion that considers the current fundraising scene in games.

THURSDAY, APRIL 7TH

EAST VS WEST LONDON: MARIO KART TOURNAMENT Thursday, April 7th, 6:30pm Unity Creative Agency, Clerkenwell

160 playable games are expected, with independent developers showcasing their latest projects alongside projects from major publishers.

Blueprint: Film and Unity present a one-night-only Mario Kart 8 tournament.

BRITISH ACADEMY GAMES AWARDS Thursday, April 7th Tobacco Dock, 50 Porters Walk, Wapping London, E1W 2SF

Wall, London, EC2Y 5HN Leading cultural institutions and exhibitors will share their experiences of archiving British video game culture. (FRINGE) MORE THAN JUST A GAME: INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND IP LAW Friday, April 8th, 2pm Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), Queen Mary, University of London This invitation-only seminar will provide a platform for academics, practitioners, developers and publishers to discuss IP issues. SATURDAY, APRIL 9TH (FRINGE) MARIO! THE MUSICAL Saturday, April 9th, 7.30pm Stratford Circus The show features original songs based on classic Nintendo tunes.

FRIDAY, APRIL 8TH

#SUPERWAREHOUSE Saturday, April 9th 8pm – 1am Shoreditch Studios

GAMES CULTURE SUMMIT Friday, April 8th, 10am Museum of London, 150 London

Joypad and VICE Gaming present the EGX Rezzed afterparty.

April 1st 2016

DATA GAMETRACK

A question of inﬂuence A survey conducted by Ipsos Connect’s GameTrack busts some myths on the changing face of the video games media. Christopher Dring reports

ast week, MCV ran a cover story that revealed that gamers in the UK trust their media. 83 per cent of gamers surveyed said they trust the specialist games press, versus 71 per cent for YouTubers and 70 per cent for mainstream media (such as newspapers, websites and TV shows). Yet even official content is trusted by the consumer. 75 per cent said they trusted official videos and trailers, 60 per cent (the lowest figure) said they trusted advertising and 75 per cent said they had trust in articles written by game

developers and publishers via their websites. The figures are a little surprising, especially when you consider the Gamergate controversy which saw gamers aggressively question the likes of IGN, Kotaku, Eurogamer, Gamespot and other official websites. YouTubers, too, have also faced questions over disclosing videos created on behalf of game makers. Yet a little closer look at the data reveals a far more wary consumer than what the top-line figures represent. Gamers were asked to select one of four options when discussing the various media types. Do they find them: Very Trustworthy,

SPECIALIST MEDIA

Official Developer/ Publisher websites

(Magazines, websites, TV shows)

83% This is the percentage of gamers who said they trust the specialist press

Generalist Media (Newspapers, TV shows, Radio, websites)

Somewhat Trustworthy, Somewhat Untrustworthy or Very Untrustworthy. The vast majority of answers were for ‘Somewhat Trustworthy’, while the second most popular answer was ‘Somewhat Untrustworthy’. Very few were 100 per cent confident in the media they read, listen to or watch. MEANWHILE IN EUROPE In other European territories, gamers are a little more sceptical. Spain in particular are wary, with only 40 per cent trusting advertisers and 49 per cent paying attention to Social Media feeds. Specialist magazines are still the

Official Video Content From Games Publishers (Trailers, game footage, etcetera)

TRUSTWORTHINESS TO GAMERS 5%

TRUSTWORTHINESS TO GAMERS 6%

14%

TRUSTWORTHINESS TO GAMERS 6%

11%

TRUSTWORTHINESS TO GAMERS 5%

13%

13% 20%

20% 23%

Overall Trust

83%

75%

70%

75% 65%

68%

64%

INFLUENCE ON GAMERS

13%

62%

INFLUENCE ON GAMERS

12%

17%

INFLUENCE ON GAMERS

12%

14%

INFLUENCE ON GAMERS

10% 25% 15%

20%

Overall Influence

68%

25%

Overall Influence

51%

63%

36%

75% 43%

51% 51%

April 1st 2016

50%

www.mcvuk.com

GAMETRACK DATA

most trusted source, but only by 62 per cent of gamers (YouTubers have a trust rating of 60%). Germany is also more questioning of its games media. Although they have faith in the specialist press (71 per cent) only 56 per cent trust the words of video bloggers and YouTubers. Meanwhile, only 36 per cent trust advertising. France’s figures are more in-line with the UK, although only 44 per cent trust advertising, 51 per cent trust social media feeds and 63 per cent trust YouTubers. Once again specialist media tops the trust list with 80 per cent.

only has an influence number of 68 per cent amongst UK gamers. It’s not clear the reason for the discrepancy between the media they trust and what they consider influential. It could be because gamers are more like to see trailers or TV ads, than they are to watch YouTube videos or read previews in magazines or newspapers. It’s could also be because gamers are savvy and prefer to come up with their own opinions based on the trailers and advertising they see, and not rely on the views of journalists. Whatever the reason, the trend is reflected across the other European markets. The research was conducted on behalf of MCV by Ipsos Connect’s GameTrack project. For more information, contact Eduardo Mena: eduardo.mena-bahos@ ipsos.com.

71% of gamers trust YouTubers, such as PewDiePie.

INFLUENCE SURPRISE One of the more surprising elements of the data is what UK gamers consider to be influential. 75 per cent say official trailers and videos - created by developers and publishers - influences their opinions - the highest influence of any source. This is closely followed by advertising, which 72 per cent are influenced by. Meanwhile, the most trusted sources - the specialist press -

75% Oﬃcial trailers and videos are a big inﬂuence on gamers

Data is for the UK and Europen markets. 8,317 European gamers were asked about what media most influenced their opinions, and what sources of media they trusted. This including 2,107 UK gamers.

Social Media Feeds

Advertising

Video Bloggers/ YouTubers

TRUSTWORTHINESS TO GAMERS

13%

Very Trustworthy

22%

Overall Trust 30%

30%

Overall Trust

60%

71%

61%

Somewhat Trustworthy Somewhat Untrustworthy

54%

Very Untrustworthy

55% 58%

INFLUENCE ON GAMERS

12%

INFLUENCE ON GAMERS

10%

13%

21%

20%

24%

Very Influential 20%

Overall Influence

68%

17%

Overall Influence

20%

72%

Overall Influence

67%

Somewhat Influential Not Very Influential Not At All Influential

47%

www.mcvuk.com

44%

52%

April 1st 2016

DiRT RALLYÂŽ

FREE T

For every unit of Dirt Rally purchased you will receive one special edition t-shirt while stocks last.

To place an order contact Superindie on 01183 345 736 or order online at Superindie.co.uk www.Superindie.co.uk

SKA STUDIOS INTERVIEW

INDIE INTERVIEW Meet the Silvas Husband and wife studio Ska has just put out its latest game, the 2D action RPG Salt and Sanctuary – a title that resembles From Software’s cult Souls series. Alex Calvin reports

alt and Sanctuary looks like what would happen if Dark Souls became a 2D sidescrolling adventure. The title is the fourth full game from the New York-based indie developer Ska Studios, currently staffed by husband and wife, James and Michelle Silva. The duo met through games development – Michelle worked in QA and did bug testing on James’ first Xbox Live Arcade title The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. They eventually met in 2009 at PAX in Seattle before becoming friends, dating and eventually getting married. And Salt and Sanctuary is their latest game, one of many indie titles heavily influenced by From Software’s Souls series. It joins the likes of Eneme Entertainment’s Eitr and Daniel Wright’s Dark Maus. “There’s something about the Souls formula and being a game developer,” James explains. “I can get a feel for what that formula is without being able to put my finger on it. You can see this ripple in the indie game space where there’s a load of developers who are obsessed with Dark Souls and want to play with those mechanics. It’s this really neat marriage of action, stats and different mechanics coming together in really interesting ways. The obscurity of the mechanics and lore is so delicious. We’re not the first and we won’t be the last of this trend of indie developers who want to give those mechanics a try. “I became interested in action games with old PS2 and original Xbox-era titles like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden Black. Those releases with really intense and stylistically over-the-top action. With Dark Souls it was like the develoeprs took that and grounded it a bit and added all sorts of crazy styles of play and stats to play with. I didn’t really get it at first, I just had heard it was really hard, how fun could that be? But once I got it, I thought it was perfect. Loads of other developers are having

www.mcvuk.com

Michelle (right) and James (far right) Silva were racing to get Salt and Sanctuary out before Dark Souls III

There’s something about the Souls formula. We’re not the first and we certainly won’t be the last indie developer giving Dark Souls’ mechanics a go. James Silva, Ska Studios

that same reaction so we’re going to see loads of indie Souls games.” RACING YOUR IDOLS Salt and Sanctuary launched on March 15th for PlayStation 4 – with PC and Vita editions coming in the future – and though Ska isn’t able to say just how well the game has done, it has been ‘pretty successful’. This is something that many fans and Ska itself say may be partially down to the title launching right before Dark Souls III’s April debut, and

scratching that niche RPG itch. Though this was not intentional. “We actually wanted to get it out a lot sooner,” Michelle says. “We first started just before Dark Souls II was announced and after that with each Souls game that came out we were like: ‘We really need to get this out right now, before this game and that game’. Then we saw Dark Souls III announced at the last E3, and we weren’t quite finished yet but we just had to get it out before then.” Ska also opted to self-publish the title, with James believing his time working with Microsoft taught him most of what he needed to know about the world of publishing. “When I got the Xbox Live Arcade contract, Microsoft showed me the progress of making and releasing a game,” he explains. “So many other people in the indie scene are really up on the nuances and details of how to do business, what to sign, how to approach publishing, all that stuff. I definitely see the benefit of working with a publisher, and for people who are newer to the industry I’d highly recommend working with a publisher.”

April 1st 2016

MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE Tom Humphrey, co-founder and director of London’s Retro Game Base, tells MCV about the state of classic gaming and discusses its evolution since he started his business in 2011 of the sorts of products, there’s a fair amount of resources and an increasing number of people scrambling over the same stuff. So it’s becoming increasingly more difficult, not only for collectors or people interested in buying the stuff, but also as retailers like us, to be able to find the correct and good stock to be able to resell.

How has your business been lately? It has been ok, we’re a very specialist business so there are ups and downs in markets like this. But it’s pretty much done as a labour of love and it is sustainable.

very well as it turns out. We were initially running an online store on eBay but that started expanding so we ended up in a situation where we needed a premises for stock. So we decided to go for a shop, rather than a lock-up.

Why did you decide to specialise in retro gaming? We started the business in 2011 and it’s because there wasn’t many physical shops really doing it, and they were not doing it

What’s the state of retro gaming at the moment? How has it evolved since you started? It’s very popular, it seems to be constantly growing in terms of its popularity. As of the nature

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

PRICE CHECK: DARTFORD

Retro gaming is becoming increasingly more diﬃcult, not only for collectors, but also for retailers like us. Tom Humphrey, Retro Game Base

What have you been selling particularly well recently?

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END LAUNCH EDITION Sony, PS4 2. Sony Playstation VR Sony.........................................................................PS4 3. Ratchet & Clank inc. The Bouncer DLC Sony.........................................................................PS4

RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER

UNCHARTED: THE NATHAN DRAKE COLLECTION

4. Dark Souls III inc. Digital Comic Bandai Namco ...................................................PS4

Microsoft, XO

ASSASSIN’S CREED SYNDICATE GRAND THEFT AUTO V

Ubisoft, XO

Rockstar, PS4

£32.99

£34.99

£22.99

£45.99

£41.99

£46.99

8. Horizon: Zero Dawn Sony.........................................................................PS4

£24.99

£29.99

£34.99

£24.99

9. No Man’s Sky Sony.........................................................................PS4

£31.70

£24.99

£36.85

£14.37

10. Hitman Square Enix..........................................................PS4

£25.26

£41.76

£45.22

£46.68

7. Final Fantasy VII Square Enix..........................................................PS4

UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

STAR FOX GUARD

XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN PLUS

COLD DARKNESS AWAKENED

The tower defence title launches alongside Star Fox Zero on Wii U

PS Vita players can now enjoy the 2012 turn-based strategy title

The ﬁnal DLC for Rise of the Tomb Raider is now out for Xbox and PC

OUT: APRIL 22ND

April 1st 2016

ONLINE

£49.99

6. Sony Playstation VR (PSVR) & Camera Sony.........................................................................PS4

IN STORE

Sony, PS4

5. Quantum Break Microsoft ..................................................................XO

OUT: NOW

www.mcvuk.com

MARKETPLACE

Retro Game Base 430 Streatham High Rd, London SW16 3PX

Phone: 020 3489 6146 Website: www.retrogamebase.co.uk Email: shop@retrogamebase.co.uk

It’s always the cartridge-based Nintendo and Sega items. Nintendo 64 and Megadrive products are the key items. Speaking about Nintendo, I know you are into retro gaming but do you have any thoughts on their next console? I know zero about it (laughs). I don’t know anything about current generation machines, to be honest. I only have an N64 and a Megadrive at home.

What are you prospects for the year to come? Well, to continue to do what we’re doing, to get in good items, as interesting items are diﬃcult to come by, and continue to be able to provide professional knowledge on this scene. Is there any particular event you are looking forward to this year? There’s Retro Revival in August, a retro gaming-based event. That’s the particular event that stands out.

INCOMING TITLE

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

Two big games are coming out next week: Codemasters’ Dirt Rally and the long-awaited Quantum Break, published by Microsoft for Xbox One and PC FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

PS4/XO/PC

Puzzle-adventure

Soedesco

01902 861 527

Pavillion

April 1st Adam’s Venture: Origins Nights of Azure

PS4

RPG

Koei Tecmo

01462 476130

Open

Trillion: God of Destruction

Vita

RPG

Idea Factory

0208 664 3456

Creative

April 5th Dirt Rally

PS4/XO/PC

Racing

Codemasters

01256 385 200

Koch Media

Quantum Break

XO/PC

Action-adventure

Microsoft

01279 822 800

Exertis

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles

Vita

Action-adventure

Ubisoft

01279 822 822

Exertis

3DS

Sports

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

April 8th Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games MXGP 2

PS4/XO/PC

Racing

PQube

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Inﬁnite Duel

PS4

Fighting

PQube

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

PS4/XO/PC

RPG

Bandai Namco

01215 069 590

Advantage

PS4/PS3

Sports

Konami

02089 875 730

Open

April 12th Dark Souls III

April 21st UEFA Euro 2016 PES

April 22nd Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault

PS4/PS3/Vita

Strategy

PQube

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

C.T.U (Counter Terrorism Unit)

Action

Excalibur

01869 338 833

Contact Sales

Lichdom: Battlemage

PS4/XO

RPG

Avanquest

01480 359 403

Open

Ratchet and Clank

PS4

Action-adventure

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Rugby Challenge 3

PS4/XO/PS3/360

Sports

Tru Blu

01977 555 222

Alternative

Star Fox Zero

Wii U

Shooter

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

www.mcvuk.com

April 1st 2016

CONSOLE ACCESSORIES

CONSOLE ACCESSORIES The right accessory can easily improve the experience of playing on a console, whether it’s a PlayStation or an Xbox. Marie Dealessandri has selected the best products for console gamers to use

CONSOLE players are always keen on enhancing their gaming experience with the latest controller or the newest headset – and then brag about it on Reddit in an attempt to win the neverending console war. Therefore, merchandise revolving around PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (and Wii U to a lesser extent) is always something retailers should keep an eye on. Jonathan Rose, business development manager at Lime

The accessories market has remained not only stable but is seeing growth all the time.

Distribution (specialist in gaming accessories for both consoles and PC) confirms: “As the games industry is currently fluctuating over physical and digital games, the accessories market has remained not only stable but we are seeing new accounts and growth all the time.” The ever-growing influence of eSports is partly responsible for this evolution, he says. The accessories that perform the best at Lime Distribution are indeed those

ROCK BAND 4 BAND-IN-A-BOX SOFTWARE BUNDLE FOR PS4/XO Gamers can now be rock stars too with this Band-in-a-Box bundle, which of course includes a copy of Harmonix’s Rock Band 4. The box contains a wireless guitar controller, a wireless drum kit, and a USB microphone. So apparently the band will have to perform without a bass player. SRP: $249.99 (£176) Manufacturer: PDP Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

AFTERGLOW AG9 PREMIUM WIRELESS HEADSET FOR PS4

POKKÉN TOURNAMENT PRO PAD CONTROLLER

PURPLE BLOCK PLAYSTATION 4 SKIN

Speciﬁcally designed for the PS4, this headset features a removable microphone.

Nintendo released this controller to arrive alongside its Pokémon ﬁghting title.

Players can protect their console from dust with this classy PlayStation 4 skin.

SRP: £65 Manufacturer: PDP Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

SRP: £19.99 Manufacturer: Nintendo Distributor: Open Contact: 01753 483 700

SRP: £9.99 Manufacturer: GamersGearEU Distributor: Lime Distribution Contact: 01622 845 161

April 1st 2016

www.mcvuk.com

CONSOLE ACCESSORIES Sponsored by

gaming merchandise uk

designed for professionnal gaming, such as KontrolFreek’s products. “eSports on console has remained the Call of Duty franchise, Halo, and to some extent FIFA, exclusively on a level where it would draw the masses,” Rose adds. “This hasn’t really changed for some time. But it’s fantastic to see further games being introduced that can extend that space for consoles such as Rocket League and the highly anticipated Overwatch.”

But simple accessories like cases or console skins are always a safe bet, too. And as we are getting closer to the launch of virtual reality, a whole new market is coming to life for consoles. “We are super excited for VR and especially what accessories this will bring to the market,” Rose says. “It’s another example of how gaming and platforms will evolve and develop, but accessories always remain relevant for improving performance and experiences.”

KONTROLFREEK SIGNATURE COLLECTION The KontrolFreek signature collection aims at helping console players to perform better. It features a bunch of grips and thumbsticks for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 controllers and, best of all, a T-shirt that is ‘super-soft’, according to KontrolFreek. SRP: $56.99 (£40) Manufacturer: Kontrol Freek Distributor: Lime Distribution Contact: 01622 845 161

RAZER WILDCAT FOR XBOX ONE

CLEAR PLAYTHRU CASE FOR NINTENDO 3DS XL

Developed for eSports, this controller features four additional buttons that can be programmed.

A simple see-through case that allow players to still admire their 3DS XL.

SRP: £114.99 Manufacturer: Razer Distributor: VIP Computers Contact: 01925 286 900

SRP: £9.99 Manufacturer: PowerA Distributor: ILT Distribution Contact: 0845 519 7053

www.mcvuk.com

HORI HARD POUCH FOR PS VITA

This pouch protects the handheld console and can store up to three games. SRP: £11.61 Manufacturer: Hori Distributor: Hori Contact: infoeu@hori.jp

April 1st 2016

MARKETING, PR & CREATIVE AGENCIES

LEGAL

AUDIO IN

GERARD FOX LAW

Tel: 0044 7985678437 www.audioin.co.uk ........................................................................................................

charne@sprintmail.com www.gerardfoxlaw.com ........................................................................................................

BIG TOP PR Tel: 07784 778197 www.bigtop-pr.co.uk ........................................................................................................

TRADE BODY UKIE

DEAD GOOD MEDIA Tel: +44 (0)7780 600 728 www.deadgoodmedia.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: +44 (0) 207 534 0580 www.ukie.org.uk ........................................................................................................

STUDIO DIVA

PUBLISHING

Tel: 0117 214 0404 www.studiodiva.co.uk ........................................................................................................

FUNBOX MEDIA LTD

FLUID Tel: +44 (0)121 212 0121 www.ﬂ uidesign.co.uk ........................................................................................................

KENNEDY MONK Tel: 0207 636 9142 www.kennedymonk.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: +44 (0) 114 278 7100 www.uberagency.com/ ........................................................................................................

info@funboxmedia.co.uk www.funboxmedia.co.uk ........................................................................................................

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES & RECRUITMENT

Tel: +44 (0) 208 664 3456 www.creativedistribution.co.uk/ ........................................................................................................

DC GAMES GROUP Tel: +971-50-9287220 www.Doostan-Co.com ........................................................................................................

INCOMM Tel: 01489 588 200 www.incomm.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: 0207 688 6789 www.oklogistics.de ........................................................................................................

PLAY DISTRIBUTION info@playdistribution.com www.playdistribution.com ........................................................................................................

WHOLESGAME info@wholesgame.com www.wholesgame.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: + 44 (0) 8701 600 504 www.audiomotion.com ........................................................................................................

OPM RECRUITMENT

QA & LOCALISATION, PAYMENT & SOLUTION

CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION

OK MEDIA LTD

AUDIOMOTION

UBER

RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION & MANUFACTURING

Tel: +44 [0] 1206 214421 http://opmjobs.com/ ........................................................................................................

PERIPHERALS, ACCESSORIES & MERCHANDISE

RAGTAG DEVELOPMENTS LTD

GAMING MERCHANDISE UK LTD

Tel: +44 (0)1295 817617 www.ragtagdev.com ........................................................................................................

hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com www.gamingmerchandiseuk.com ........................................................................................................

REMOTE CONTROL PRODUCTS

LIME DISTRIBUTION

LA MARQUE ROSE Tel: +33 1 43 14 88 00 info@lamarquerose.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: +49 (0) 89 / 210 205 70 http://www.r-control.de/ ........................................................................................................

UNIVERSALLY SPEAKING

SOUNDING SWEET LTD.

PERFORMANCE DESIGNED PRODUCTS LTD

Tel: +44 (0) 1480210621 www.usspeaking.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: +44 (0) 1789 297453 www.soundingsweet.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: 01628 509 047 www.pdp.com ........................................................................................................

EXEQUO Tel: +1 425 279 7855 sbonﬁ ls@exequo.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: 01622 845 161 www.limedistribution.co.uk ........................................................................................................

TO LIST YOUR COMPANY HERE AND ONLINE EVERY WEEK PLEASE CONTACT CNANGLE@NBMEDIA.COM OR CALL 020 7354 6000

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT AGENCIES AND SERVICE COMPANIES

COMPANY PROFILE / AUDIOMOTION KEY CONTACTS: Brian Mitchell MD

Stacey Biosselle Producer

brian@audiomotion.com

stacey@audiomotion.com

ADDRESS: Audiomotion Studios Limited, London Road, Wheatley, Oxford, OX33 1JG

AUDIOMOTION Studios are Europe’s leading performance capture service provider. We are a multi-award winning, multi stage studio specialising in the provision of motion capture services to Video Game developers and publishers, as well as the Film and TV industries. With premises based in Wheatley Oxford we have a mo-cap stage of 24 metres long and 12 metres wide, which means that we provide the largest capture volume available in Europe. Equipped with over 150 Vicon cameras, location shoots of 400sq meters are achievable. We offer robust real-time pre-viz, head mounted cameras and virtual cameras, we can provide everything a developer, production house or producer would need. Our most recent projects that we can talk about include our involvement with ICC Pro Cricket 2015, Ridley Scott’s epic film Exodus: Gods and Kings, Doctor Who for the BBC, Maleficent and Codemasters F1. Audiomotion are the current holders of Develops’ ‘Best Services Provider’ award which they have now won on 5 separate occasions. Audiomotion are conveniently located just off Junction 8 of the M40 motorway 50 minutes from London and approximately 80 minutes south of Birmingham. Audiomotion also offer 3D scanning, green screen, motion control and tracking vehicles as part of their extended VFX services.

ISSUE 859 FRIDAY DECEMBER

GAMES

4TH 2015

INDIE THICK OF IT ISSUE 860 FRIDAY DECEMBER 11TH

2015

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS COMPANY AND MANY MORE ONLINE NOW AT:

THE A TEAM

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO

N SHAHID AHMAD ON 10 YEARS PLAYSTATION’S DEV CHAMPIO

BESTWICK TAKES US THROUGH 25 YEARS SONY P16 ATDEBBIE OF TEAM17

P18

UK RETAIL SPEAKS OUT 55%

70%

believe PS4 will rule next year (above top),

Twist think virtual reality is doomedUKIE’s SuperData’s van Dreunen

(above middle) and Reﬂection’s Leksell (above)

ack are bdig Charts ital e y’r the time, And this

19%

ches charts section console data Q MCV re-laun rships for mobile and digital dema

41%

picked Uncharted 4 as their most anticipated game of 2016