MCV 875 April 22nd 2016 by Biz Media Ltd

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

FOURTH GEAR MICROSOFT’S BIGGEST CHRISTMAS GAME: GEARS OF WAR 4 P16

ISSUE 875 FRIDAY APRIL 22ND 2016

EGX vs GAMEFest Is there room for both of these blockbuster events?

P18

Codies reborn Codemasters’ new CEO on the future of racing games

P14

Inside GameStop’s next

$400m business O O

US retail giant plans to publish up to ten games from established developers every year But with no High Street presence, can it really have an impact in Britain?

P02

History Lesson:

XCOM Our new regular feature explores the history of UK games, starting with the remarkable story of XCOM

P25

Doing it for the kids How the ageing Ratchet & Clank could be the secret to PS4’s battle for younger fans

P28

NEWS ANALYSIS GAMESTOP’S PUBLISHING MOVE

NEWS ANALYSIS

Is independent games publishing the secret to GameStop’s survival? Christopher Dring speaks with GameStop’s internal development boss Mark Stanley about the company’s new GameTrust publishing arm

EVER since the birth of the internet, physical retailers have been told their time is up. And there have certainly been some casualties. Yet here we are, in 2016, and physical retailers are still alive, and what’s more, they’re profitable. No more so than GameStop. The US giant has not had the strongest few quarters, but it remains cash rich and the most powerful games company in America. Of course, these retail businesses know that boxed game sales are in decline – the number of releases have dropped significantly recently. 368 physical games were released in the UK last year (GfK figures), a drop of more than 50 per cent since 2010. The trend is only going to continue. So GAME and GameStop, are diversifying. The former is investing in tech and events (more about that on page 18), while the latter is doing the same, as well as pushing further into merchandise and, as of this week, publishing. GAMESTOP: THE PUBLISHER GameStop is planning to publish five to ten games a year, and it is currently talking with 20 developers. It has so far signed four games; the first is the 2D underwater adventure Song of the Deep from Insomniac [famous for Ratchet & Clank], while there are three unannounced projects from Ready at Dawn [the team behind The Order: 1886], Tequila Works [Rime] and Frozenbyte [Trine]. These titles will be released under the GameTrust label, and the firm is targeting games with

April 22nd 2016

“This is why we have established GameTrust as a separate vertical within GameStop,” says Stanley. “We have large merchandising and marketing teams which make sure all publishers’ titles are promoted and sold in the best way possible. “We are still massively focused on our bread and butter business, which is traditional triple-A titles.” GameStop announced it would be publishing Insomniac’s Song of the Deep in March

sub-$15m budgets – although it is currently only interested in working with established developers “It’s about making sure the content that we bring is top quality,” said Mark Stanley, the GameStop exec in charge of the division. “If you draw a comparison to back in the day when Netflix was going to move into doing original series, they signed up pretty hardcore directors and impressive screenplays. We are taking a parallel approach.” But there’s a potential conflict of interest here – GameStop will be competing with its own publishing partners. Stanley says that triple-A firms like EA, Ubisoft, Take-Two and Activision are only interested in $30m+ projects, and that GameTrust is “working in this sweet spot that is largely ignored”. But that’s not entirely true. In February, EA published Unravel, a quirky, 2D platform game made by an indie team. Ubisoft often makes smaller, lower budget projects like Valiant Hearts and Grow Home, while Activision has recently relaunched its Sierra indie label.

We are still massively focused on our bread and butter business, which is selling traditional triple-A titles. Mark Stanley, GameStop

WHAT ABOUT EUROPE? GameTrust is not just about distribution and marketing. Stanley says it will also fund games right from the ‘napkin concept stage’. It is also not interesting in owning the IP, GameTrust may retain sequel rights, but ultimately games like Song of the Deep will belong to its creators. All of this is a far cry from when GameStop spoke with MCV just last month. The ﬁrm announced Song of the Deep in March, but told us that they weren’t interested in becoming a publisher. “The experience has been just great,” Stanley said, explaining the ﬁrm’s change in tune. “We have found that it is something we have an advantage in, as far as being able to bring exclusive content to GameStop stores. “We will be selling these games physically in GameStop, but we will also be selling in traditional digital spaces like PSN, Xbox Live, Steam and others. “And we are able to bring an additional piece... no other publisher can guarantee retail placement in a leading market share outlet.” This is all well and good for the US, but GameStop’s global

www.mcvuk.com

GAMESTOP’S PUBLISHING MOVE NEWS ANALYSIS

Stanley says GameSpot is looking for games with a budgets of $15m or less

presence is patchy. In the UK it just has a website, while there are other markets where it doesn’t have any outlets whatsoever. One of the selling points behind GameTrust is the fact it can guarantee discoverability. GameStop has 44m reward card holders, over 6,200 stores and the popular magazine Game Informer... all of this is a marketing goldmine and it’s something that Stanley repeatedly talks about during our interview. But in the UK, for example, most of that is meaningless. So will it be working with other physical retailers in these markets, or simply rely on digital channels like Xbox Live and PSN? “We are open to [working with other retail partners],” said Stanley “In countries where we do have stores, we do want to keep that exclusivity for our customers, but we have actually been in conversations with numerous diﬀerent partners in other regions of the world where we don’t have a presence, like Asia and Latin America for example, where there are big gaming communities to

www.mcvuk.com

‘GAMETRUST WILL BE A RISK-TAKER’

try and reach both digitally and through physical stores.” GameStop, being a retailer, would potentially be a decent partner for the likes of GAME. Many of GameTrust’s titles will come with high-margin merchandise, courtesy of its ThinkGeek division. And Stanley says the ﬁrm will be looking to plug the gaps in the release schedule – don’t expect these titles to come out during Christmas.

When Netﬂix started doing original series, they signed up big directors and screenplays. We are taking a parallel approach.

THE FUTURE OF GAMESTOP? So what does this all mean for GameStop’s current strategy? The ﬁrm told investors last week that physical gaming is going to account for just 50 per cent of its business by 2019. “Right now there is no big expectation for this to be the next billion dollar business for GameStop,” Stanley concluded. “It could become a signiﬁcant part of our business. A sector like merchandise was about $74m in 2010. It closed at $300m last year and it is expected to be $400m by the end of 2016. “We have equal expectations for GameTrust.”

Mark Stanley, GameStop

GAMESTOP’S publishing arm will be fearless in taking risks on games. The firm’s VP of internal development and diversification, Mark Stanley, told MCV that GameTrust is even eyeing VR titles. “VR is the shiny new object in our industry, it is kind of a big ‘to be determined’. We are in no rush to get into that world, but we are starting to look at it now,” he said. He continued: “In the industry today, we have this current status of franchises and triple-As that are less of a risk as they have an established model. It’s great to be able to work together in a space where we can take bigger risks, as we have some determining assets to work with that will allow those risks to play out. And those risks will be there whether they’re a creative risk, gameplay risk, or even investing heavily in collectibles for a new IP... that’s a major risk.”

April 22nd 2016

NEWS

Industry vet Roberts returns at Pole To Win FORMER Vivendi, D3P and THQ exec Adam Roberts is back in the games industry. He has taken the role of European head of sales at QA ﬁrm Pole To Win International. Roberts has been involved in games since the early 1990s and has held senior roles at Vivendi (including EVP of Europe), D3P (including General Manager) and THQ (where he was director of sales). He left the industry in 2012. “Adam’s knowledge of the games industry is second to none. His in-depth experience will be invaluable in helping PTW grow,” said senior VP of sales and marketing Becky Walker.

Toy giant Mattel plots video games invasion New Mattel Creations division to handle TV, movies, YouTube and video games By Christopher Dring THE new Mattel Creations is seeking out developers to make games based on the likes of Thomas The Tank Engine, Bob The Builder and Barbie. Mattel Creations formed in March, and saw the company merge its Playground Productions unit (movies) with Hit Entertainment (TV). It also encompasses the American Girl range of TV shows and YouTube videos. In the initial announcement, Mattel said that the division is designed to support ‘theatrical, TV and digital content,’ but has told MCV this week that video games will form a major part of the new company’s remit. “A high-proﬁle in the gaming industry is an important part of Mattel Creations’ overall content strategy, and partnerships with top-notch game developers and publishers are high on our agenda,” Christopher Keenan, Mattel’s senior

Keenan is looking for studios to work on IP like Thomas The Tank Engine

VP and executive producer for global content development and production, told MCV. “We have an extensive portfolio of character and play-based properties and many of these are

well-suited for game and app development. The possibilities are enormously exciting.” Mattel is currently working on a Barbie movie, plus an animated series called Wellie Wishers.

NEWS

Gears 4 dev slams industry’s ‘twisting’ of multiplayer betas

Box Plus Network wants more gaming shows on its channels

The Coalition’s studio head Rod Fergusson says consumers think betas are ‘highly-polished demos’

4MUSIC, The Box and Kerrang TV owner The Box Plus Network wants to increase the amount of video games content shown on its networks. Viewers of these channels have become accustomed to special features on movies, but the company hopes that games can claim an increasingly large share. The network recently aired a Quantum Break Special, produced by Attention Seekers. The show starred familiar industry faces such as Julia Hardy, Mike Channell, Jane Douglas and Andy

By Alex Calvin THE studio head of Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition has said the industry has ‘twisted’ what multiplayer betas mean. Speaking to MCV, Rod Fergusson said that thanks to the industry’s misuse of the word, when consumers see ‘beta’, they think it means ‘demo’. The studio head said The Coalition nearly called its multiplayer beta for Gears 4 an alpha to drive home the point that it is not a ﬁnished product. A beta for Gears 4 launched on April 18th for those who bought last year’s Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. It’s open to all on April 25th and runs until May 1st. “The industry has taken the word beta and twisted it to mean ‘pre-release demo’,” he said. “The community thinks they should be

a highly polished demo. We are really focused on saying we’re pre-alpha right now. I even joked that we should call our beta an alpha just so people understand where we are and that we are actually looking for feedback and we’re actually testing systems.” Fergusson points out that, in the past, Gears of War games have not always had technically perfect launches – and is using its betas to ensure a smooth performance for Gears 4 on launch. “We stumbled out of the gate with Gears 2 because it was our ﬁrst time doing party-based matchmaking,” Fergusson explained. “We were testing that with 1,000 people internally with Microsoft and all of a sudden it was a million people and everything falls down.” You can read more about Gears of War 4 on page 16.

Farrant. Content also included an interview with the game’s actor Shawn Ashmore. “Gaming specials are something we have been developing for a while,” Box Plus Network’s creative director Tim Warren told MCV. “Video games are bigger than ever and to work with a brilliant production company like Attention Seekers to be the ﬁrst UK broadcaster delivering a gaming special like this is a fantastic achievement and one we hope to repeat with other games in the near future.”

SPONSORED BY

PRE-ORDER TOP 10

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

SONY

Ratchet & Clank inc. The Bouncer DLC (PS4)

Sony

Sony Playstation VR (PS4)

Sony

Sony Playstation VR & Camera (PS4)

Final Fantasy VII (PS4)

No Man’s Sky (PS4)

Doom inc. Demon Multiplayer Pack (PS4)

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

Sony

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Special Edition (PS4)

Sony

Gears of War 4 (XO)

Sony Square Enix Sony Bethesda

Microsoft

CHEAT SHEET

UP & DOWN

Market Data With the launch of Dark Souls 3, software revenue remains ﬂat this week in the UK

£10m

£30m £5m

£8.5m 306,883 units

Week Ending April 2nd

£9m 296,911 units

Week Ending April 9th

IN ITS SECOND week, Quantum Break falls to No.2 with a 64 per cent sales slide

£9m 266,840 units

Week Ending April 16th

EA’S UFC 2 shoots back up to third place following a 64 per cent rise in sales last week

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: RATCHET & CLANK

[INFO] FORMATS: PS4 RELEASED: April 22nd PUBLISHER: Sony DISTRIBUTOR: CentreSoft CONTACT: 01216 253 388

April 22nd 2016

SONY is going all out to push its Ratchet & Clank reboot. The ﬁrm started marketing the title in March with a pre-order campaign on specialist media. The company then targeted core gamers with takeovers, display and pre-roll ads on the likes of IGN, GameSpot and Eurogamer. PlayStation is also delivering preroll ads on YouTube. This promotion will focus on the positive critical reception the title has received. PlayStation has also been using these accolades in a social media campaign that began on April 10th. Around the game’s launch, Sony will target kids with TV and PR activity. The game also has a £30 RRP, which will help it reach the children’s market. Over the summer, the publisher will shift focus to kids and parents following the launch of the ﬁlm of the same name. And PlayStation is gong to be pushing the game until Christmas. It will be included in hardware

Sony’s marketing push for Ratchet & Clank will last ‘throughout the year’

promotions, trade marterials as well as above-the-line marketing around ‘four key moments’ post-launch. “The series is one of our most popular so we have an existing, passionate fanbase and this is who we are spending against to reach in the launch phase,” product manager Joe Palmer said.

“Routed in a classic platforming style, there’s not much out there to rival Ratchet & Clank at the moment. This is a much-loved and under-serviced genre. I believe this, price and quality will go a long way to broaden the audience. “Whilst we are starting to talk to kids at launch, we know the ﬁlm will help us introduce the characters to a new and broader audience.”

www.mcvuk.com

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

ALEX ST JOHN DEFENDS LONG HOURS AND POOR WAGES FOR DEVELOPERS

$150m

In a piece on VentureBeat, development vet and Direct X creator Alex St John argued that game developers should stop complaining about poor working conditions, hours and pay, and accept that sacriﬁces are needed to create ‘art’.

Lead Grand Theft Auto designer Leslie Benzies is suing Rockstar and Take-Two for $150m over unpaid royalties for GTA V

200,000 @tha_rami The attitude that passion doesn’t start until you work 80 hours without pay already cost us too many great game devs we’ll never know about. Rami Ismail, Vlambeer Sunday, April 17th

@sinisterdesign Of course, you have to realise that Alex St. John isn’t unique – he merely wrote what many industry execs already think (or claim to think).

Dungeon crawling twin-stick shooter Enter the Gungeon sold 200,000 copies in its ﬁrst week, developer Dodge Roll announced

Craig Stern, Sinister Design Sunday, April 17th

GAMESTOP MOVES INTO PUBLISHING

TITANFALL 2 REVEALED, COMING TO PS4

US retail giant GameStop has launched a full publishing division and is already working with the likes of The Order 1886 studio Ready at Dawn and Ratchet & Clank ﬁrm Insomniac

EA has oﬃcially announced a sequel to its 2014 mech shooter Titanfall. Unlike its predecessor, which launched on Xbox One, 360 and PC, Titanfall 2 will be coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC.

@Toadsanime GameStop’s publishing arm is good for everyone. Good for consumers as GS can release at reduced rate. Good for devs as they keep their IP. Ryan Brown, Daily Mirror Monday, April 18th

@ScarlettCatalie Titanfall 2: The ‘Will it have a decent amount of content and will it price itself at something I’m willing to pay’ Edition.

Natalie Clayton, Abertay University Monday, April 11th

@ForkParker GameStop will start accepting trade-ins on used publishing contracts next.

Indie farming simulator Stardew Valley has sold over one million units since its February launch

8.2% Research ﬁrm Sensor Tower says games were the cause of an 8.2 per cent rise in mobile app downloads in Q1 2016

1.2m Developer Yacht Club Games has revealed that Shovel Knight has sold 1.2m units – 200,000 of which were physical

@Doctor_Cupcakes Pumped for Titanfall 2. The ﬁrst one was honestly fun as hell. The mechanics were there, just not the content.

Fork Parker, Devolver Digital Monday, April 18th

Liam Robertson, Unseen64 Monday, April 11th

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

www.pdp.com

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

www.mcvuk.com

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 22nd 2016

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

Square Enix strengthens its communications team New recruits to focus on Final Fantasy O Toxic hires new editor O Activision promotes Earl to EVP international SQUARE ENIX | Square Enix Europe has expanded its PR and community team with two new hires. COLETTE BARR has made the move from agency PR to in-house: she joins following two years at Lick PR. She will take on the role of PR executive for the company’s flagship MMO, Final Fantasy XIV. She commented: “I’m extremely excited to join the Square Enix family and work on a brand that I’m personally very passionate about.” SUNIL GODHANIA also joins as community executive working on titles such as Final Fantasy,

April 22nd 2016

Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts. Godhania previously was the founder and manager of the Final Fantasy UK Fans community group. Senior PR manager ALEX HUHTALA stated: “We’re delighted to welcome Colette and Sunil to the team working across our Japanese titles in Europe and PAL regions, they join at the perfect time as we get ready for a busy 2016 and beyond full of eagerly anticipated titles.”

Ward is also editor of Download Magazine, which he launched in August 2015 and focuses on digital products and companies within the games industry. Ward stated: “I’m so excited to step up at this thrilling time to take the number one pre-teen magazine in the market to even greater heights. “Toxic has a brilliant and phenomenally talented team, who know our readers inside out. And I can’t wait to help add to this publication’s incredible legacy.”

TOXIC | Children’s publisher Egmont has promoted SIMON WARD from deputy editor to editor of boys’ lifestyle magazine Toxic.

ACTIVISION | The Call of Duty publisher has named PHILIP EARL as executive

vice president of international. He replaces STEVE YOUNG, who is heading to Activision’s headquarters to become chief revenue officer and executive vice president. Earl previously was Activision’s EVP and managing director for the Asia-Pacific region. He first joined the firm in 2008 as senior vice president for the same territory before taking the role of Activision’s executive vice president in 2010. Young commented: “The international group is critical to our continued profitable growth plans and we’re delighted to have a seasoned industry executive of Philip’s caliber assume this important role.”

www.mcvuk.com

STAND UP FOR

IT’S

GamesAid

EL OF LAUG R R A B A E B O T G IN O G ’S BACK AND IT

All proceeds (excluding booking fees) go directly to the charities nominated and voted for by Gamesaid members.

A riotous evening of fun, frolics and frivolity and if your sides haven’t split by the end of the evening, they must have been surgically re-enforced.

THE LINE UP SO FAR Allyson Smith

Damian Clark

Marlon Davis

Mike Gaunn

Steve Gribben

Terry Alderton

THE MC IMRAN YUSUF

Monday May 9th • 8pm (doors from 6:30pm) The Comedy Store, London

Tickets £15.00 (PLUS £2.50 BOOKING FEE FOR ONLINE AND TELEPHONE BOOKINGS)

TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT WWW.THECOMEDYSTORE.CO.UK For more information on GamesAid, the charities it supports and to become a member please visit www.gamesaid.org

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

WEEKLY CHARTS DARK SOULS III debuts at the top in this week’s charts. It is the first No.1 for Bandai Namco’s series and also the first UK No.1 for the publisher this year. Dark Souls III’s sales outperformed the Week One performance of Dark Souls II by 61 per cent. Last week’s No.1, Microsoft’s Quantum Break, has been pushed down to fourth place, with sales decreasing 61 per cent. Meanwhile, Ubisoft’s The Division climbed one place to No.2 in spite of a 40 per cent decrease in sales. EA Sports UFC 2 also performed well this week, climbing five places with sales rising 64 per cent. In the meantime, Nintendo managed to have five games in the charts this week.

Most of them are part of the Nintendo Selects value range released last Friday: New Super Mario Bros + New Super Luigi enters the listings at No.18, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD at No.25 and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze at No.39. Bandai Namco’s Dark Souls III is also at the top of Steam’s charts - as well as its Deluxe Edition at No.2. Square Enix’s Final Fantasy IX, which launched on Steam on April 14th, debuts at No.3. Over on mobile, Steve Howse’s Slither.io was the best-selling free game on iPad last week. It also ranked No.4 in the free iPhone listings. The grossing charts for both platforms are still dominated by Supercell’s Clash of Clans.

GLOBAL STEAM CHARTS (UNITS)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

LW NEW NEW 05 04 03 05 08 RE

DARK SOULS III DEVELOPER: FROMSOFTWARE PUBLISHER: BANDAI NAMCO

TITLE Dark Souls III Deluxe Edition Final Fantasy IX Dark Souls III Deluxe Edition (P) Counter-Strike: Global Oﬀensive Enter the Gungeon Stardew Valley Grand Theft Auto V Darksiders Franchise Pack

PUBLISHER Bandai Namco Square Enix Bandai Namco Valve Devolver Digital Chuckleﬁsh Rockstar Nordic Games

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

Title Dark Souls III Tom Clancy’s The Division EA Sports UFC 2 Quantum Break Dirt Rally Far Cry Primal FIFA 16 Call of Duty: Black Ops III Grand Theft Auto V LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 Star Wars Battlefront Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege LEGO Jurassic World WWE 2K16 Minecraft: Xbox Edition Minecraft: Story Mode New Super Mario Bros + New Super Luigi Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Disney Inﬁnity 3.0 Destiny: The Taken King MXGP2 – The Oﬃcial Motocross Videogame Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Fallout 4 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection Just Cause 3 Trackmania Turbo Batman: Arkham Knight Terraria LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga NBA 2K16 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain LEGO Dimensions Pokkén Tournament Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer Forza Motorsport 6 Bloodborne: Game of the Year Edition Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Source: Steam, Period: April 11th to 17th April 22nd 2016

Format Publisher PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO EA XO Microsoft PS4, XO Codemasters 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, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Telltale Games/Avanquest Wii U Nintendo PS4, PS3, Vita Sony PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PC PQube PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC Bethesda Wii U Nintendo PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PC Square Enix PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC 505 Games PS3, 360, Wii, DS LucasArts PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Sports PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Konami PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Warner Bros Wii U Nintendo 3DS Nintendo XO Microsoft PS4 Sony Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros

Source: UKIE/GfK Entertainment, Period: Week ending April 16th 10

www.mcvuk.com

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

UK IPAD PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 04 06 NEW 10 RE 03 02 RE RE

UK IPHONE PAID

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title LEGO Jurassic World Minecraft: Story Mode Dark Parables: Queen of Sands Peppa Pig: Theme Park The Room Crazy Craft Mod For Minecraft PC Edition Terraria Soccer Physics Monument Valley

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Warner Bros Telltale Big Fish Entertainment One Fireproof Games Franko Bucker 505 Games Otto-Ville Ojala Ustwo

LW 03 04 05 RE 06 07 NEW RE RE

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Heads Up! Monopoly Game Football Manager Mobile 2016 Radiation Island Plague Inc. Bloons TD 5 Stockcars Unleashed Monument Valley The Chase

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: April 4th to April 10th

UK IPAD GROSSING (REVENUE)

UK IPHONE GROSSING (REVENUE)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 02 03 04 05 06 08 RE 10 09

CLASH OF CLANS DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

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

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

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

LW 01 03 04 05 06 07 RE 09 10

CLASH OF CLANS DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Clash Royale Candy Crush Saga Game of War - Fire Age Mobile Strike Candy Crush Soda Saga Candy Crush Jelly Saga Marvel Contest of Champions Episode - Choose Your Story, feat. Mean Girls: Senior Year 8 Ball Pool

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: April 4th to April 10th

UK IPHONE FREE (UNITS)

LW 03 NEW 01 02 05 04 RE RE 08

SLITHER.IO DEVELOPER: STEVE HOWSE

Title Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2 Disney Crossy Road Driving School 2016 Color Switch Piano Tiles 2 Stack Stupid Test! WordBrain Themes Roblox

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Marvel Entertainment Disney Alexandru Marusac Marc Lejeune Cheetah Technology Ketchapp Leigh Be MAG Interactive Roblox Corporation

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: April 4th to April 10th www.mcvuk.com

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

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: April 4th to April 10th

UK IPAD FREE (UNITS)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Warner Bros EA Sega Atypical Games Ndemic Creations Ninja Kiwi Stuart Cowie Ustwo Barnstorm Games

LW 02 03 NEW 03 NEW 04 07 RE 06

STUPID TEST! DEVELOPER: LEIGH BE

Title Stack Driving School 2016 Slither.io Color Switch Disney Crossy Road Flappy Bird: Original Version Piano Tiles 2 Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2 GyroSphere Trials

Developer Ketchapp Alexandru Marusac Steve Howse Marc Lejeune Disney Liangshang Zhou Cheetah Technology Marvel Entertainment Pronetis

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: April 4th to April 10th 11

April 22nd 2016

MONTHLY SALES CHARTS

MARCH CHARTS AFTER two months at the top of the charts, Call of Duty: Black Ops III has been pushed down to ﬁfth place by Tom Clancy’s The Division. Ubisoft’s RPG shooter enters this month’s UK rankings at No.1 and is the best-selling Q1 release ever, beating an 11-year record held by Gran Turismo 4. Meanwhile, Far Cry Primal holds steady at second place. With two Ubisoft titles at the top the charts, the physical software share ranked by studio is logically dominated by the ﬁrm’s teams, with The Division developer Massive at No.1 and Far Cry Primal creator Ubisoft Montreal at No.3. Ubisoft is also No.1 in both listings for physical software share by publisher (in revenue) and physical software share by company (in units). EA also performed well during March: UFC 2 debuts in the charts at No.3 and FIFA 16 is still No.4. In the meantime, Nintendo managed to have three new

entries in the Top 40 this month. Wii U titles Twilight Princess HD and Pokkén Tournament debut at No.9 and No.13 respectively, and 3DS exclusive Hyrule Warriors: Legends enters the listings at No.40. These good performances allowed both Nintendo platforms to rank well in the physical software sales by format charts. For the ﬁrst time since the beginning of the year, the Wii U made it to the Top Three in terms of revenue, surpassing the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Sony’s Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls Collection also enters the charts this month at No.22, while Warner Bros’ Mortal Kombat XL debuts at No.33. Concerning digital sales, the Top 10 is still dominated by EA’s FIFA 16, with revenues reaching £6.22m for the month. Tom Clancy’s The Division made it to the second place with £4.27m, and Call of Duty: Black Ops III fell one place to No.3 with £3.82m in revenues.

Tom Clancy’s The Division has become the best-selling Q1 release ever in the UK

TOP 40 UK PHYSICAL RETAIL 02

TM 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

LM NEW 02 NEW 04 01 05 10 03 NEW 06 07 20 NEW 15 16 09 11 12 19 18 30 NEW 13 22 17 24 RE 08 34 26 31 35 NEW RE 40 RE 23 RE 29 NEW

Title Format Publisher Tom Clancy’s The Division PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Far Cry Primal PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft EA Sports UFC 2 PS4, XO EA FIFA 16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA Call of Duty: Black Ops III PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard Grand Theft Auto V PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 PS4, XO, PC EA LEGO Marvel’s Avengers PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita Warner Bros The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD Wii U Nintendo Star Wars Battlefront PS4, XO, PC EA Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Forza Motorsport 6 XO Microsoft Pokkén Tournament Wii U Nintendo Minecraft: Xbox Edition XO, 360 Microsoft LEGO Jurassic World PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita Warner Bros Fallout 4 PS4, XO, PC Bethesda Assassin’s Creed Syndicate PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Minecraft: Story Mode PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Telltale Games WWE 2K16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360 2K Games Minecraft: PlayStation Edition PS4, PS3, Vita Sony Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection PS4 Sony Heavy Rain & Beyond Two Souls Collection PS4 Sony Just Cause 3 PS4, XO, PC Square Enix Disney Inﬁnity 3.0 PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney Destiny: The Taken King PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard Halo 5: Guardians XO Microsoft Knack PS4 Sony Street Fighter V PS4, PC Capcom Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Konami Rise of the Tomb Raider XO, 360, PC Square Enix Terraria PS4, XO, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC 505 Games/Merge LEGO Dimensions PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Warner Bros Mortal Kombat XL PS4, XO Warner Bros Skylanders SuperChargers PS4, XO, PS3, 360, Wii U, 3DS Activision Blizzard Killzone: Shadow Fall PS4 Sony LEGO Marvel Super Heroes PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita Warner Bros Need for Speed PS4, XO EA Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer 3DS Nintendo Just Dance 2016 PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii Ubisoft Hyrule Warriors: Legends 3DS Nintendo

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: February 28th to April 2nd April 22nd 2016

www.mcvuk.com

MONTHLY SALES CHARTS

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY STUDIO (REVENUE)

TOP 10 UK CONSOLE DIGITAL SALES BY REVENUE (MARCH)

01 TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 04 RE 02 08 03 05 RE RE RE

MASSIVE ENTERTAINMENT PARENT COMPANY: UBISOFT

Developer EA Canada Ubisoft Montreal Traveller’s Tales PopCap Games Treyarch Rockstar North Tantalus Digital Illusions Nintendo

Parent company EA Ubisoft Warner Bros EA Activision Blizzard Take-Two Independent EA Nintendo

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Title FIFA 16 Tom Clancy’s The Division Call of Duty: Black Ops III Grand Theft Auto V Fallout 4 ARK: Survival Evolved Star Wars Battlefront Far Cry Primal Destiny FIFA 15

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: February 28th to April 2nd

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY PUBLISHER (REVENUE)

01 TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 02 06 03 04 05 RE 10 09 RE

LM 02 05 04 03 06 09 07 10 08

Revenue £6.22m £4.27m £3.82m £1.71m £1.44m £1.31m £1.08m £0.94m £0.79m £0.65m

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SALES BY FORMAT (REVENUE)

UBISOFT Publisher Electronic Arts Nintendo Warner Bros Activision Blizzard Take-Two Sony Microsoft Square Enix Bethesda

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY COMPANY (UNITS)

TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Publisher Electronic Arts Ubisoft Activision Rockstar Bethesda Studio Wildcard Electronic Arts Ubisoft Activision Electronic Arts

Source: SuperData, Period: March 1st to March 30th

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 01 02 06 03 04 05 07 08 09 10

Title PlayStation 4 Xbox One Wii U Xbox 360 3DS PlayStation 3 PC Wii PlayStation Vita DS

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: February 28th to April 2nd

Format PS4, PS3, XO, 360 PS4, XO, PC PS4, PS3, XO, 360 PS4. XO, PS3, 360 PS4, XO PS4, XO, PC PS4, XO PS4, XO, PC PS4, XO, PS3, 360 PS4, PS3, XO, 360

Manufacturer Sony Microsoft Nintendo Microsoft Nintendo Sony N/A Nintendo Sony Nintendo

Market Share 46.9% 37.3% 4.4% 3.7% 3.7% 2% 1.4% 0.2% 0.2% 0%

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: February 28th to April 2nd

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SALES BY FORMAT (UNITS)

UBISOFT Publisher Electronic Arts Nintendo Warner Bros Activision Blizzard Take-Two Sony Microsoft Square Enix Bethesda

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 01 02 03 05 07 04 06 08 09 10

Title PlayStation 4 Xbox One Xbox 360 3DS Wii U PlayStation 3 PC Wii PlayStation Vita DS

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: February 28th to April 2nd www.mcvuk.com

Manufacturer Sony Microsoft Microsoft Nintendo Nintendo Sony N/A Nintendo Sony Nintendo

Market Share 42.1% 33.9% 7% 4.9% 4.5% 3.9% 2.6% 0.5% 0.4% 0.2%

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: February 28th to April 2nd 13

April 22nd 2016

INTERVIEW FRANK SAGNIER, CODEMASTERS

Masters of their craft Codemasters is profitable for the first time in five years. It has refocused on racing (again). Its new game Dirt Rally went straight to No.2 in the UK charts. And it has just acquired some serious development talent from Evolution Studios. Is the 30-year UK veteran back? Alex Calvin speaks to new CEO Frank Sagnier

t’s been a tough few years for Codemasters. The UK-based outfit has struggled to get off the ground with the PS4 and Xbox One. Meanwhile, its ventures into nonracing territory – such as last year’s Overlord: Fellowship of Evil – proved disappointing. In fact, Codemasters closed its non-racing operations in November 2015. But this awkward phase is over. “The business has been transformed quite a bit in the last few years,” CEO Frank Sagnier says. “We are now seeing the fruits of our new strategy and focus. It’s paying off, but as you know it takes a long time to change things. In the last two years we have focused on what we are best at – racing. “The transition to the new machines has not been easy, we have cut the areas which we didn’t feel were strategic for us and we have ended up with a year that is actually the first operational profit we have had in five years (for fiscal 2016, which finished in March). That is a big achievement and something I’m very proud of to say the least.” He continues: “It’s a very positive time for the company. Dirt Rally has been really successful. The results are very good and we’re very happy with that. F1 2015 was successful, we did two-and-ahalf times the number of units we did the year before. The company is more focused. Our morale is up because when you do good games and they’re successful, your employees are happy. And, by the way, so are your shareholders.” Sagnier’s talk about refocusing Codemasters around racing is nothing new. For the duration of its 30-year history, racing has been Codemasters’ bread and butter. And Sagnier says that it’s essential

April 22nd 2016

for companies to play to their strengths in the current market. “You have to be the best at what you do these days. Average does not work and what we do well is racing,” he explains. “We don’t decide the market. But we can easily increase the size of our business five or six times by making better games and focusing on this area. It was a very simple observation of a market that is growing between five and seven per cent a year. There’s a lot of room to do better. We just can’t be good; we have to be great. The only way I could make our games even better is to focus on them and I do believe that just making better games increases your business considerably. We want to be the best racing studio in the world.”

We can easily increase the size of our business five or six times by focusing on the racing sector. Frank Sagnier, Codemasters

IN THE DIRT Codemasters’ latest release is Dirt Rally, which went straight to No.2 in the All Formats Top 40 when it launched on April 5th. While very successful, this project was the definition of careful. Codemasters released the game onto Steam’s Early Access in April 2015. Over the next twelve months, the PC community helped Codemasters work out many of the title’s problems. For a company in the midst of an awkward transition, this approach appears to have paid off. “We make games for

communities. Only the consumer will decide whether they like your game or not,” Sagnier says. “After I left EA I spent years making free-to-play games and learnt a lot. Having data to listen to what consumers want has become absolutely crucial. It’s essential to succeed. It was very important to get as much feedback as possible so that we knew that we had something consumers want and something that had a chance to be successful. We are building brands and these brands don’t get built in one game.” IT’S EVOLUTION, BABY Codemasters also made the headlines recently with its acquisition of the development team from Sony’s now-closed DriveClub studio, Evolution. “The thinking behind that was pretty simple,” Sagnier says. “I wanted us to grow and become the No.1 independent racing studio. To do this, we needed to develop more games and hire more people. We started to look at how we were going to do this, then the opportunity arose. I had been speaking to Mick [Hocking, Evolution co-founder, now Codemasters VP of product development] for a few months, heard that Sony was intending to close the studio and thought it may be a good opportunity for them to join us. Evolution has a very similar DNA to us, it makes triple-A games and together we could do something really, really exciting. It came together by focusing on racing

www.mcvuk.com

FRANK SAGNIER, CODEMASTERS INTERVIEW

Dirt Rally went straight to No.2 in the UK charts last week

and looking around at how to grow the business in the quickest way. “I could have hired a team of 50 or 100 people but do you know how long it takes to do that? And when you hire a new team, you have no idea how it is going to work together, how it’s going to gel. The beauty of Evolution is that these guys have been working together for many years and have developed some triple-A games and just happened to be available at the right time. So we jumped at that opportunity and I have to say that Sony has been great. It has been really helpful in facilitating the whole process.” MASTER OF THE ARTS And going forwards, Sagnier is optimistic about the future. “The message I want to get out there is we really want to be the best at what we are already good at,” he enthuses. “The company is back in a growth cycle. We are very excited. Our revenue increased last year and they will increase again next year. For as far as we can see, we are growing every year and

www.mcvuk.com

we’re talking big double digits, we’re not talking about a few per cent. I’m very excited about that.

EVERYTHING’S OKAY IN THE UK WITH the proposed closure of Fable makers Lionhead, Sony shutting Evolution and Activision ‘restructuring’ Guitar Hero Live studio FreeStyle, things look challenging for the UK games development scene. But Codemasters boss Frank Sagnier disagrees. “The UK games development scene is thriving at the moment,” he insists. “Yes, there are some closures but there are also some huge successes. You saw the results of the BAFTA Game Awards last week – you see a lot of UK companies [Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture developer The Chinese Room and Her Story dev Sam Barlow both took home three prizes] doing really well. Overall, it’s very buoyant. “And big companies shutting down studios is sometimes the result of strategic decisions that go beyond the product itself. It always happens and will always happen. “But overall the industry is doing really well. I don’t think

Evolution has a very similar DNA to us. It makes triple-A games and together we can do exciting things. Frank Sagnier, Codemasters

“And I’m very excited about the future in general. I see many opportunities whether they are geographic, like China becoming a huge market where we have to be. Or whether it’s new platforms like Nintendo’s new NX console coming at some point, or even VR and eSports. There’s so much to do if you occupy a segment like racing, and if you are able to do great in all of these areas, then you are in for a very good ride. And you can build a very valuable company that keeps hiring people.”

anyone would complain about how the console market is doing, how well Steam is doing on PC, how well mobile is doing. “It’s not easy and that is why you need to be very good at what you do, choose carefully what you are good at or the segment you want to be in, and if you do some great games, usually it pays off. “When you’re small you have to be the best at what you do if you want to survive – and we are small as a developer, even though we’re not a ten-person studio in a back bedroom, but when compared to the big publishers of this world we are still a very small company. Focusing on racing was an obvious route that I chose at the time because I’m not sure you could support many genres and be good at them all at the same time and succeed. It’s too risky a strategy for who we are and who we want to be.”

April 22nd 2016

THE RETURN OF GEARS OF WAR

Stepping up a Gear Gears of War has shifted over 22m units and made more than $1bn. It was one of Microsoft’s biggest Xbox 360 IPs and now it is making the leap to the Xbox One with a new developer at the helm. Alex Calvin speaks to studio head Rod Fergusson to ﬁnd out how The Coalition is modernising the blockbuster franchise

ears of War was the quintessential Xbox 360 series. It was a high-budget, triple-A franchise with a huge focus on the then-new world of online console multiplayer. It’s a franchise that has sold over 22m units and generated over $1 billion since its 2006 debut. And after working on last year’s Gears of War: Ultimate Edition – a remaster of the original game – developer The Coalition is hard at work on a brand new entry in the series. And it is updating it for a new generation. “The modernisation of Gears 4 has happened across a few different facets,” studio head Rod Fergusson says. “One was from an art-style and story perspective. We like to think of our new art style as being this baroque authenticity. It has to be stylised to be Gears, but we wanted it to be more believable. What you find is that the proportions and bulk have been reduced, but you can still definitely tell that it is Gears. We have been trying to increase believability but not go realistic. From a story perspective, we looked back at 2006 when it was okay to do a really black and white story where things are super obvious and clear. These days people want more questionable morality-type stuff

April 22nd 2016

that’s a little bit more grey. That’s what we’re going for. “And from a gameplay point of view, our biggest thing was making and keeping Gears Gears – how do we stick with the fundamentals and how do we build on top of that without breaking it? Because we changed engines and we changed studios, it was really about parity – how do we keep it Gears? And then once we got there, we talked about how we innovate the use of cover and innovate with the weapons. It’s just playing around with those kinds of things and being true to what Gears is.”

“There’s lots of pressure in taking Gears to The Coalition and trying to deliver on some of the success we had with the original Gears of War games. There’s a lot of pressure to deliver the experience that fans want, and changing something enough so that it’s new, but not so different it doesn’t feel like Gears. Microsoft has invested heavily in Gears of War and we have a super passionate fanbase that loves the franchise, so how do I deliver the experience that they want?” Yet this is a new console generation, with potentially a new generation of fans. So what about this possible audience? “When we started Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, we thought it was for existing players,” Fergusson says. “But almost 50 per cent of players had never played another Gears game before. That was a surprise to us. So we spoke to the focus groups as we were trying to build Gears 4 and realised that we were talking to these young people who were saying: ‘I was nine when Gears of War first came out’. We are putting as much emphasis in existing players as we are into new people playing the game. “The big thing for us, too, is that Gears 4 is the beginning

GEAR CHANGE The last time another studio handled the Gears of War series was 2013’s Judgment. It was developed by People Can Fly, with a Metacritic score roughly ten points lower than the other Gears games. And Gears of War isn’t the only Microsoft franchise to change studios – Halo switched from Bungie to 343 Industries, whose Halo games have had slightly lower Metacritic scores, too. Although Fergusson produced the original Gears of War trilogy during his time at Epic, the studio head admits the pressure is on to keep up the quality. “We’re feeling all kinds of pressure,” Fergusson laughs.

of a new saga. So even if you weren’t part of the original trilogy, this is an awesome place to start.” SPORTS GEAR The Coalition is also trying to court pro-gamers. Though eSports is by no means a new thing for the shooter, the studio is pushing competitive play hard with Gears of War 4. “Obviously we’d love to be hugely successful in eSports,” Fergusson says. “But that’s not a given, it has to be earned. eSports is successful because of the communities that support it. In order to get one million viewers or to fill a stadium, that’s not because of a prize pool or a particular feature set. That’s about a community coming together to support the thing they love. We want Gears 4 to be the continuation of what Ultimate Edition has started, which is bringing that community to eSports. In the past, we didn’t look at professional play with the original games. We figured they’d do what they were going to do and we were focused on making the game more accessible. “With Gears 4, we are taking care of the competitive player as well as new people.”

www.mcvuk.com

THE RETURN OF GEARS OF WAR

CONTENT FANS

BETA BLOCKERS AN online beta for Gears of War 4 is going live at the end of April, which in itself isn’t news given that most triple-A online titles do these tests. But The Coalition’s Rod Fergusson questions the motivations of publishers behind many of these betas. “The industry has taken the word beta and twisted it to mean ‘pre-release demo’,” he says. “The community thinks they should be highly polished. “If you put something out that’s not a highly-polished demo, people see it as a reason not to buy it as opposed to helping support a game’s development. For us, we are really focused on saying we’re pre-alpha right now. I even joked that we should call our beta an alpha just so people understand where we are and that we are actually

www.mcvuk.com

looking for feedback and we’re actually testing systems.” He continues: “Gears of War has had issues in the past. We stumbled out of the gate with Gears 2 because it was our first time doing party-based match-making. We were testing that with 1,000 people internally with Microsoft and all of a sudden it was a million people and everything falls down. “We don’t want that to happen again, so we did a beta for Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and learned a lot with that. Ultimate Edition was on Unreal Engine 3, now we’re on Unreal Engine 4 with all-new code, so we have to make sure that on launch day it works. I’d rather we pay for it early. If we are going to trip, I want to trip during beta and then be solid at launch.”

GEARS OF WAR 4 will be receiving a wealth of free content post-launch. At any given point, there will be ten multiplayer maps available, with The Coalition rotating what’s available. “It was about not segmenting our audience,” studio head Rod Fergusson explains. “One of the things I really don’t like about even in Gears 3 right now is that there’s a playlist for people who have all the DLC, another for all the people who have none of the DLC, here’s another for people who have one bit of DLC. You separate everyone and they can’t play together. With Xbox One, you can push content out to people so that they have it and make sure that everyone has every map so there is no segmentation, everybody can play with everybody.” This strategy also ties into The Coalition’s eSports ambitions for Gears of War 4. “If you’re going to use skillbased match-making and you’re going to use loads of visible skill-ranks and that kind of thing, you want the biggest player pool,” Fergusson says. “Even today in Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, you’ll get level 60 players competing with level 2 gamers, which is unfair. That’s because the player pool was small at that time of day. People don’t tend to respond to that well so that’s why the bigger pool you can have, the more ability you have to find good competition for a player.”

April 22nd 2016

INTERVIEW FRED PREGO, GAME

GAMEFest and its showdown with EGX GAME has announced the return of its GAMEFest consumer show – which will take place at the same venue and just four weeks before the current UK market leader, EGX. Why the sudden act of aggression? Christopher Dring asks marketing chief Fred Prego

ast week, Gamer Network CEO Rupert Loman declared his disappointment in GAME. He was referring to the retailer’s new GAMEFest event, a consumer expo that will take place four weeks before his own EGX show... and at the same venue (Birmingham NEC). Upon making some allusions to the fact the retailer has not always been on safe financial footing – referencing the firm’s 2012 fall into administration – he concluded by saying that, ultimately, his publisher partners remain committed to EGX. You can’t blame him for feeling frustrated with GAME. EGX is comfortably the UK’s No.1 consumer games expo and has endured numerous challenges to reach this status – including the closure of its original home at Earls Court in London. And GAME is a real competitor. GAMEFest is going to form part of Insomnia, which is a gaming festival run by the now GAME-owned

April 22nd 2016

Multiplay, and it also ties-in with the retailer’s widely attended Store Manager’s Conference. Yet GAME’s marketing and insight director Fred Prego plays down the rivalry with EGX, as well as the firm’s aggression in launching GAMEFest so close to it. “Insomnia has always happened in the Bank Holiday weekend in August,” he tells us. “It is the right time because gamers want to play for more than just a weekend, and we have always taken that message. The event has always been there. “As a company, GAME has been very supportive of all gaming events – including EGX. I am sure there is room for everyone in there. Insomnia is very special for us, and we are very keen to support it as it continues growing.”

The UK games market is huge. Our goal is to bring in 100,000 visitors... that’s the tip of the iceberg. Fred Prego, GAME

DECISION TIME Yet there is a risk here. Publishers will need to make the politically sensitive choice of backing one

show or both of them, and even if they all do decide to splash out and attend the pair of them, what about the consumers? GAMEFest and EGX will be both trying to attract attendees from the same Birmingham catchment area. “At the end of the day, the gaming market in the UK is huge,” insists Prego. “We are talking millions and millions and millions, but for Insomnia, our goal is to bring in 100,000 visitors... that’s the tip of the iceberg really. “All we want to do is celebrate the passion for gaming that we have in this country, and it’s an enormous contributor to the UK economy – we know that. “And, as you said already, the other reason for us to do GAMEFest alongside Insomnia is because, just after Insomnia finishes, we have our annual GAME Store Managers Conference. That is a key retail moment for the UK and for publishers. So it

www.mcvuk.com

FRED PREGO, GAME INTERVIEW

GAMEFEST VS EGX: THE FACTS INSOMNIA58 AND GAMEFEST When: August 26th – August 29th Where: Birmingham NEC Price: £25 (day), £60 (weekend), £99 (Bring Your Own Computer) Previous Attendance: 34,441 (Easter) EGX 2016 When: September 22nd – September 25th Where: Birmingham NEC Price: £12 (Afternoon tickets), £18 - £22 (Day ticket), £65 (Weekend Ticket) Previous Attendance: 75,000 (2015)

GAME’s Galleon will form a central part of GAMEFest

is important that we link the two together. He continues: “I believe there is space for more events in the UK. Definitely. In fact, in a few weeks time we are having our first Insomnia event in Scotland... so what we are saying is that yes, there is space for more. “GAME as a retailer will consider every single event and we will work with every event organiser. I understand we need to make sure that there is a key message for consumers about why they should go to every event. In our case, we want them to come because we think that it is the first time for people to play games that have been announced at E3 and Gamescom in the UK.” GAME wants to bring in 100,000 visitors to Insomnia58, which is a huge target when you consider the Easter Insomnia event was attended by 34,441 consumers. “The beauty of us moving to the Birmingham NEC has always

www.mcvuk.com

Insomnia58 and GAMEFest is ‘the Glastonbury of video games’, although it actually has a bit more in common with Gamescom’s consumer element. Gamescom has multiple halls dedicated to the triple-A titles, PC games, indie projects, there’s a retro zone, an entire hall dedicated to buying and selling merchandise, plus eSports tournaments, concerts and other ancillary events. GAME hopes to attract all this over time, and it is already highlighting the show’s retail component – the GAME Galleon store will be taking up 300 square meters of floor space in August. Yet to have any chance of competing with EGX, GAME really needs to sell it. Insomnia is popular and has been built up through over 20 years of events, but it remains a show targeted at the PC audience (it started as a ‘bring your own computer’ event at a race course), with

been that we wanted to make Insomnia events huge,” continues Prego. “We are scaling up very, very quickly to make sure we make it a memorable event. We are confident we will get 100,000 visitors, and there will be plenty for them to do. And not just at GAMEFest, but also we have confirmed two eSports pro tournments, which we will announce very, very soon. We are about to announce that we have world famous YouTubers with over 60m subscribers confirmed for the event. And we are not stopping there, there is more to come, we are really building a huge event and we have planned with the NEC to make sure that we have the space to make it this big. “For this one we really want to demonstrate that Insomnia can be the leading gaming festival event in the UK.” GAMING’S GLASTONBURY GAME’s marketing line for

eSports and Minecraft amongst its more popular elements. It has yet to truly break into that more mainstream console space. GAMEFest, it hopes, is its ticket to doing so. It won’t be easy. EGX has long proven itself a master of putting on a good show for the mainstream gaming community – it just did it again in London with EGX Rezzed. GAMEFest may have the store manager’s conference, it may be the first big UK show after Gamescom, and it may have the bank holiday weekend, but success is far from guaranteed. “We will definitely be supporting it via the GAME stores, but we are planning to put behind it Insomnia58 our biggest marketing campaign ever,” insists Prego. “There will be more to come about that, I can’t reveal all yet. But we are ready to invest to make sure that this is definitely the biggest UK gaming event of this year.”

April 22nd 2016

MCV AWARDS INTERVIEW TURTLE BEACH

Beach boy Turtle Beach won the Peripherals and Accessories Brand prize at this year’s MCV Awards for the fourth time – and the third time in a row. On this occasion, Marie Dealessandri catches up with senior PR manager Keith Hennessey

First, congratulations again on your win. What does it mean for you to get this award? Thank you – winning this award means a great deal to the whole team here at Turtle Beach. We’re a relatively small group in the EU so this is not only a win for us but also for our global team and all of our hard working agencies and partners. It’s the fourth time you’ve won this prize - why do you think you won this category again? I think it comes down to the fact we have a brand that has earned its stripes in the sector and been around almost as long as gaming itself, with 2015 being the company’s 40th year in business. We pioneered the gaming headset category a decade ago and the company’s DNA is rooted in advancing our technology, so rather than rest on our laurels we are constantly looking to push innovation and quality for gamers, whatever their needs or budget. What were your biggest achievements in 2015? Successfully navigating our way through the console transition was certainly a challenge, but now we have a whole new family of products across all new formats. Last year alone we launched around 12 new gaming headsets for PS4, Xbox One and PC. We’re very pleased with how quickly we managed to achieve this and the level of innovation we brought, such as being first to market with the likes of 100 per cent fully wireless gaming headsets for Xbox One. I should also mention our new partnership with Disney on the Star

April 22nd 2016

Wars line of headsets. The franchise could not be ignored last year and we were thrilled to be able to work with them and create new products.

How is the accessories market performing at the moment? Accessories are still a huge part of the mix and numerous companies are now launching accessories lines. It’s a buoyant market but also a crowded one, so we have to ensure we are producing products that truly add value rather than simply rely on the brand name.

And what are your expectations for the year to come? We are very excited about this year for several reasons, many of which I can’t talk about now, but it will certainly change people’s perceptions of our brand. Talking of changing perceptions, in addition to our gaming headset business, we are really excited about the future of our other business – HyperSound – which has now launched in both the US and EU. It’s a revolutionary new directed audio technology that we have created to help people struggling to hear audio from their television, games or music.

We have to ensure we are producing products that truly add value rather than simply rely on the brand name.

What else are you currently working on? Now that would be telling wouldn’t it! Joking aside, while I can’t go into any details at the moment, we have some really great stuff planned for E3.

eSports has a growing influence on the games industry as a whole - what new trends have you seen on your part? Competitive gaming and eSports continues to grow at an amazing rate. It influences almost every aspect of the industry and is a meeting agenda point for most companies. Headsets are essential for team communication and gaining a competitive advantage, so we feel like we are in a perfect position to provide that to gamers.

Keith Hennessey, Turtle Beach

Keith Hennessey, Nick Forder (UK sales director) and Paul Struthers (senior UK account manager)

How do you think VR will influence your business? VR is such a huge trend at the moment it would be a mistake not to pay attention to it and look at ways to be involved. I think everyone is monitoring the space very closely and figuring out just where they fit into the mix. VR is surely the most influential technology we’ll see in the next few months. We’re privileged in the games industry to have seen and tried out the tech over the past year but I really can’t wait to see those outside the industry experience just how impressive it is. All the major players in the VR space look to be in it for the long haul, so it should have a very exciting future.

www.mcvuk.com

OUT THIS WEEK

“2” and “PlayStation” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Also, “Ø” is a trademark of the same company. Ratchet & Clank ©2016 Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. Developed by Insomniac Games. “Ratchet & Clank ” is a trademark or a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. All rights reserved.

EDGE

Heist Drake Multiplayer Skin Snow Weapon Multiplayer Skin Alternative box art on reverse of cover

• • •

Unique maps with rich environments that reward exploration, strategy and teamwork “Sidekicks” fight alongside you and they’ll provide support by tracking enemies, reviving fallen allies or unleashing heavy offensive firepower. “Mystical” items summon supernatural perks inspired by Drake’s previous adventures.

*$0( $''ɭ21

Triple Pack Expansion

*Full Game Required Full game rated: PEGI 16

for

TAKE THIS CARD TO THE TILL TO PURCHASE

“2” and “PlayStation” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Also, “Ø” is a trademark of the same company. All rights reserved. No Man’s Sky - TM/ © 2016 Hello Games Ltd. Developed by Hello Games Ltd. All rights reserved. No Man’s Sky - TM/ © 2016 Hello Games Ltd. Developed by Hello Games Ltd. All rights reserved.

JUNE 24TH 2 016

YOUR UNIVERSE AWAITS

THE STORY OF XCOM

HISTORY LESSON UFO: Enemy Unknown (XCOM) Developer Julian Gollop talks to Christopher Dring about the creation of the iconic PC strategy franchise, and why it almost never happened

ehold, the power of games testers. Back in 1993, Harlow-based devs Julian Gollop and his brother Nick were deep in development on UFO: Enemy Unknown – the first game in the XCOM series. Unfortunately the publisher they were working for, MicroProse, was bought out by Spectrum HoloByte. And the new owners were just not interested in this alien strategy game. “They effectively cancelled it, but the UK MicroProse guys just kept it going anyway,” says Julian Gollop. “What stopped it being cancelled was that it had gone into QA at MicroProse UK, and the QA team was very supportive. That kind of saved it.”

IN THE BEGINNING... Gollop was a huge fan of MicroProse’s games (namely Railroad Tycoon and Civilization), and in 1991 he approached the publisher with a sequel to his popular Laser Squad title. “Laser Squad 2 introduced the isometricstyle graphics and a genuine 3-dimensional modelling of positions,” says Gollop. “MicroProse was not initially impressed. Except for a designer there called Stephen Hand who was a big fan of Laser Squad. “MicroProse UK wanted to prove they could do the sort of game MicroProse US managed to do with Civilization. So they gave us three requirements: one was that the game had to be set upon earth, two: they suggested the theme of UFOs. And three: Microprose wanted something like the Civilization tech tree. That wanted a game as big as Civilization.” Far from being frustrated by MicroProse’s demands, Gollop was excited by the new project. “I was absolutely up for it,” he says. “I adored games that had these multiple layers of strategy, I am used to playing them in board game-format.” Gollop took inspiration from a book called Alien Liaison by Timothy Good when creating the game, along with Gerry Anderson’s UFO TV series, board games and Civilization – just like MicroProse wanted. The title challenged players to intercept UFOs, send off a team to fight aliens, recover

www.mcvuk.com

UFO: Enemy Unknown was effectively cancelled by its publisher – but the developers continued work on the project

I had an awful time explaining XCOM because there simply wasn’t another game like it. It was sandboxy at a time when such games didn’t exist. Julian Gollop, former MicroProse

material and build more powerful weapons. But MicroProse was confused by the concept. “I had an awful lot of explaining because there simply wasn’t any game like it. It wasn’t actually like Civilization. It was quite sandboxy in a way, at a time when such games didn’t exist.” MicroProse UK trusted Gollop with the project, and as the game progressed they became quite fond of it – even defying its new parent company which ordered its cancellation. Towards the end of 1994, Spectrum HoloByte were worried about their financials, and requested a project from MicroProse UK. It

was here when it revealed that it never actually cancelled UFO: Enemy Unknown. “All of a sudden, Spectrum HoloByte wanted it,” recalls Gollop. “So they put pressure on me and Nick to get it finished. We had to crunch pretty hard.” He recalls: “In playtesting, I was never able to play the game from beginning to end, because every time I went to play it, I would reach a point where there were bugs I needed to fix. It could have been a lot better if we had more development time, or more programmers.” The whole development project only cost £115,000, and the game “made many, many multiples of that,” says Gollop. The game tapped into the zeitgeist created by The X-Files at the time (which was born out of the same source material as XCOM), and the series became a popular one during the 1990s. In 2012, Firaxis (the studio created by the old MicroProse team) decided to bring XCOM back. Although this time Gollop was not involved in the series. However, he is plotting a return to the formula with his next game, Phoenix Point. “We are planning to crowd-fund it,” he says. “We are producing arts, screenshots, prototypes... we will be announcing our plans very shortly.”

April 22nd 2016

UPCOMING FEATURES APRIL 2016

JUNE 2016

April 29th Q Summer Accessories Guide Q International Factﬁle: Sweden

June 3rd Q E3 Preview Q International Factﬁle: Italy

MAY 2016

June 10th E3 SHOW ISSUE Q International Games Special – International markets, new territories Q International Factﬁle: North America

May 6th Q PR Sector Guide Q International Factﬁle: Canada May 13th Women of the Year Q International Factﬁle: South Africa Q

May 20th Q How to use Social Media to make your game a hit Q International Factﬁle: Australia

June 17th Q E3 Show Review Q The Secret Games of E3 – the potential sleeper hits from the show, the games you missed Q International Factﬁle: New Zealand June 24th Video Games Event Guide – GamerMania, EGX, MCM Expo, Paris Games Week, Multiplay, Legends of Gaming, Gadget Show Live Q International Factﬁle: Greece Q

May 27th Q Legal Sector Guide Q International Factﬁle: Germany

THE BUSINESS

GAMES THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO MBER 4TH 2015

ISSUE 859 FRIDAY DECE

OF VIDEO GAMES INDIE THICK OF IT ISSUE 860 FRIDAY DECEMBER 11TH

THE A TEAM

2015

BESTWICK TAKES US THROUGH 25 YEAR SONYIEP16 RS ATDEBB S OF TEAM17 P18 N SHAHID AHMAD ON 10 YEA PLAYSTATION’S DEV CHAMPIO

UK RETAIL SPEAKS OUT 55%

70%

believe PS4 will rule next year (above top),

Twist en think virtual reality is doomedUKIE’s SuperData’s van Dreun

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

Charttismea, threey’rbe daigcitkal And this

19%

harts section

41%

picked Uncharted 4 as their most anticipated game of 2016

SMALL IMPACT GAMES INTERVIEW

INDIE INTERVIEW Survival of the fittest The Black Death was an exceptionally bleak time in European history that saw up to 200m people die horribly. But it turns out it’s also the perfect source material for an open-world survival game. Alex Calvin reports

he Black Death is – pun unintended – an incredibly dark title. It’s an open-world survival game set in 14th Century Europe where the titular plague is spreading like wildfire. And once you have it, death is inevitable. The Black Death is also the first release from indie developer Small Impact Games, founded by childhood best friends James Rowbotham and Cameron Small, as well as Cameron’s brother, Mitch. They’re an experienced bunch, too. Cameron has worked at Batman: Arkham studio Rocksteady, while Mitch is formerly of Codemasters. “We all went into the industry in different roles,” Cameron says. “Then we came back together to start our own company. We love multiplayer games, we love survival titles, medieval history is a big part of Britain. So that’s how The Black Death came about.” SPREADING LIKE A PLAGUE The Black Death is huge in scope, with gamers able to play as a number of professions (classes), such as combat-focused militia and monk – the only class which can prevent the plague. But Small Impact is also letting fans play as merchants, allowing them to effectively roleplay traditionally non-playable characters. The game is being released into Early Access, which the team argues is essential to its development. “Early Access is the only way to make this sort of title,” Cameron says. “We’re quite a small company and it’s such a big idea. We can’t think of everything, so we want people to tell us what they want.” Rowbotham interjects: “With the professions, it’s about seeing how people want to interact. We can think of stuff but it might not be as broad as what the community wants. Like we’ve had people asking for chickens to lay eggs and cows that can be milked.” Cameron continues: “Yeah, people have been trying to interact with chickens, like kill them and steal their eggs. It’s a messed up world and there’s going to be some messed up stuff. And if people can help us find bugs and collision errors, that kind of thing, that’d be great, too.

www.mcvuk.com

Rowbotham (right) and Cameron Small (far right) are hoping to finish The Black Death eight months after its debut in Early Access

Early Access is the only way to make this sort of title. We’re a small studio with a big idea. We need people to tell us what they want. Cameron Small, Small Impact Games

The world is massive, it takes us about five hours for us to check every corner.” But Early Access doesn’t have the best reputation. Though there have been some hits that have started in the programme and since launched fully, the service has a reputation for being a graveyard of projects that are soon abandoned. But Small Impact has an upfront road-map to prove the game’s credibility. “We have a clear plan which we’ll adapt depending on feedback,” Cameron explains. “The road map says in eight months time it’s going to look pretty much finished. The stigma Early Access has doesn’t worry us too much. There have been some great survival games

like CodeHatch’s Reign of Kings and Life is Feudal from Bitbox that have finished Early Access and come out. They went through and it worked wonders for them.” And Rowbotham also says making sure their game resembles... well, a working game, was very important to the team for Early Access. “We’ve been focused on its performance recently,” he explains. “It’s running pretty well. A lot of Early Access games are still at a very early stage in development. We want to make sure our game is functioning from Day One.” Early Access has allowed developers to escape the shackles of publishers. Studios can show the community their ideas and generate money to help finish them. So why has Small Impact opted to team up with Green Man Gaming to help publish and launch its title? “You can argue that some people are more talk than product,” Cameron says. “We haven’t had the chance to talk, so we have just been making the product. Then Green Man Loaded came up and was like: ‘you know your game is good, right? Let’s talk’. That’s the relationship. We were in the basement making this game for eight months now, it’s easy to forget what you are making and how good it is. Green Man Gaming was like ‘people want to play this’.”

April 22nd 2016

THE BIG GAME RATCHET & CLANK

“This is a new beginning for Ratchet & Clank” This year’s Ratchet & Clank reboot is quite possibly the most ambitious game in the series’ entire history. Christopher Dring talks cinema, younger players and the return of the platformer with Insomniac Games Release Date: April 22nd Formats: PS4 Publisher: Sony Developer: Insomniac

fter 14 years and 12 games, Ratchet & Clank has become a solid if unspectacular franchise for PlayStation. Almost all of those titles are decent action platform games, and the series has a loyal group of die-hard fans. But it’s been a long time since the Lombax and his robot friend troubled the upper echelons of the charts. This week’s Ratchet & Clank reboot, however, is a far bigger proposition. Not only is it a critically acclaimed remake of the original (it currently has a Metacritic score of 86), it also ties-in with a major movie based on the series and starring the likes of John Goodman, Paul Giamatti and Sylvester Stallone. “We think of it as a new beginning for Ratchet & Clank,” says Shaun McCabe, production director at developer Insomniac. “We have heard from people this week that remember playing Ratchet when they were

April 22nd 2016

teenagers, but all these years later they are getting the game for their kids. There is a whole new set of folks that are excited for platforming games. It’s really refreshing to see things come full circle like that.” James Stevenson, community and marketing lead at Insomniac, adds: “It’s nice because it’s the first Ratchet on a new generation of hardware, and PS4 has done extraordinarily well. “It is great for those that maybe played the game a while back who want to come back, perhaps they haven’t played the PS3 games and they want to see how far the franchise has come. There are also a lot of new PlayStation people that have never played Ratchet & Clank. And there are people who will see the movie first and that will be their introduction to the universe, and then realise there is a game. So it hits in a lot of different ways for us, and is the biggest opportunity that Ratchet & Clank has had in

a number of years to hit a wide audience.” GOING HOLLYWOOD Insomniac’s initial tagline for Ratchet & Clank was ‘play the game, based on the movie, based on the game’. It is quite typical of a series that has never taken itself too seriously, and it’s something that will be reflected in the movie as well. In fact, unlike other movies based on video games, the developer has been deeply involved in the production of the film. “We have been working with Blockade and Rainmaker [production companies] from the beginning,” explains McCabe. “They’ve been great collaborators and were James Stevenson, Insomniac genuinely interested in hearing what we thought about the material they were putting together, and learning from us about what made the franchise special.” Stevenson adds: “And we had people consulting,

This is the biggest opportunity that Ratchet & Clank has had in a number of years to hit a wide audience.

www.mcvuk.com

RATCHET & CLANK THE BIG GAME

from animators to our lead artists Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin... they were consulting on the film to make sure the look and feel was right. There was a lot of asset exchange, where they took a lot of our assets, and sometimes stuff they built we took and modified it and put it into the game. Some of the locations in the game actually came from the film assets. “Even TJ Fixman, who wrote the game, wrote the first draft of the film script. It is a family movie, it is a kids movie, but it stays very true to the DNA of the franchise. It feels like Ratchet & Clank.” Both PlayStation and the film’s distributors have been working side-by-side on marketing, too. This includes TV ads that promote both the game and the movie at the same time. “We are pretty proud of how the film has turned out, so it is definitely something that we want our fans to see,” says Stevenson. “And we were at the press junket for the film, which took over an entire floor of the Four Seasons hotel here in LA. We had Ratchet in costume, and all these films journalists and mum bloggers and all sorts of folks coming to speak to the stars, and then play the game. It has been a good opportunity to integrate with them where we can.” Not that’s it been easy working side-by-side with the movie team, explains McCabe. “One of our goals, and this goes back to the first Ratchet & Clank, is that we want to make a game that feels like you are playing a feature animated film,” he says. “To that respect, maintaining continuity between a gameplay set and a movie scene... there was some challenges there. But I say challenge and I kind of smile because it was actually kind of fun.”

WILL SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN PLAYSTATION 4 is doing incredibly well, and Sony has long talked about wanting to attract more families and younger players to the platform. Ratchet & Clank is a game that hardcore players enjoy, but with its Pixar-like visuals, and now with a movie to tiein with, it has the potential to attract a younger audience. And that’s something developer Insomniac has certainly recognised. “The film provided us with an opportunity to reach a little bit younger than we normally do,” says Shaun McCabe, production director at the studio.

www.mcvuk.com

“In Ratchet & Clank on PlayStation 4, we have actually done a good bit to make the game even more accessible than ever before. We want to get kids as young as six or seven to enjoy Ratchet & Clank , which was a fun challenge to take on. “We do feature a casual controls mode, where they can use the D-pad so that it accommodates kids with smaller hands or don’t want to press too many buttons at the same time. It’s basically a simplified control scheme. And we have seen all kinds of kids play it and enjoy it, which is awesome.”

Stevenson continues: “Also, as we are doing the game, the movie is evolving with different drafts of the script, they’re changing things and changing scenes... all of those things are directly affecting us. This wasn’t a classic movie tie-in game where the movie is basically done and you have six months to make the game. We were working in parallel with the film the whole time. We are both trying to build these planes in the air and then get them to fly in formation at the same time. That’s a tricky skill.” THE RETURN OF THE PLATFORMER It’s not just the movie, and the impressive PS4 install base, that Insomniac hopes to capitalise on with this new Ratchet & Clank. It also believes that there is a growing demand for classic 3D platform games, particularly amongst gamers that are a bit fed up with the same old adult shooters. “A lot of what people are saying now the game has launched – and indeed leading up to it – is how this kind of game is a breath of fresh air,” says McCabe. “We are hearing people talk about Ratchet, and a lot of the other platform games that existed down the years and are no longer around. There is a lot of enthusiasm that has been built up for this genre over the years. And honestly, a game like Ratchet & Clank is such a nice diversion from a lot of the more hardcore, M-rated experiences that tend to be fairly popular today. “There is a whole new generation of people getting into the same things that I did when I was a kid.” And with PS4 eager to win over this next generation of younger fans, this new Ratchet & Clank might just prove to be the most important title in the series’ history.

April 22nd 2016

MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE Shane Dunne, managing director at Player1 Gaming, shares his thoughts on the console war between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and points out virtual reality’s flaws How has business been lately? Really well. We’re actually pretty new, we started two years ago this May. The big titles since Christmas have picked up, like The Division and UFC 2. We do a little online, too, but in truth it’s a really small part of our business, less than five per cent. What games are you looking forward to? Uncharted 4 will definitely be the one I am looking forward to in the

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

most people already got their consoles so it’s really software that is selling.

coming months. The delay on this one has made the launch schedule in May quite squashed, with other big titles like Doom and Overwatch in the similar time frame, but I deﬁnitely expect Uncharted to be the biggest launch.

Do you sell more PS4 games or Xbox One titles? I would say that the ratio in our store is three-to-one in favour of PlayStation 4. It depends on the age of the player actually: we’ve found out that the teenage crowd tends to do slightly better on Xbox, whereas the adult age group does better on PS4. I think there’s also a snowball

What are your prospects for the year to come? We’re quite positive about this year, partly thanks to the situation with new consoles. We used to sell a lot of hardware but this year

PRICE CHECK: NEWTOWNABBEY

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

FAR CRY PRIMAL TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION

Ubisoft, XO

EA, XO

FIFA 16 EA, PS4

Ubisoft, PS4

£49.99

N/A

£45.99

N/A

£45.99

£48.99

£32.99

£41.99

£49.99

9. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Special Edition Sony.........................................................................PS4

£39.85

£27.99

£34.95

£49.90

10. Gears of War 4 Microsoft ..................................................................XO

£46.68

£47.56

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

ONLINE

5. Final Fantasy VII Square Enix..........................................................PS4

EA SPORTS UFC 2

7. Doom inc. Demon Multiplayer Pack Bethesda ...............................................................PS4

UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

FALLOUT 4’S WASTELAND WORKSHOP

SEVERED

LOST REAVERS

Fallout 4’s second DLC is available now on Xbox One, PS4 and PC

Drinkbox Studios’ action fantasy game hits PS Vita in a few days

Bandai Namco’s new free-to-play game, a co-op title, comes to Wii U

OUT: NOW

April 22nd 2016

IN STORE

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

OUT: APRIL 26TH

OUT: APRIL 28TH

www.mcvuk.com

MARKETPLACE

Player1 Gaming Unit 3, Manor Mills Shopping Centre, Mill St, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland

eﬀect: in a group a friends, if you’re going to buy a console, you’re going to buy what your friends have. And I think that’s the threat for Xbox, particularly when we’re seeing this three-to-one ratio in the store. What are your thoughts on VR? We’ve been showcasing an Oculus Rift in the store for a year and a half, and I can tell you that everybody who used it is impressed. However, there is a fundamental problem: the price point is way too high and

Website: www.player1.ie Email: player1gamingstore@gmail.com

it’s going to be unaﬀordable for too many people. If there was going to be one success story, it would be the PSVR, simply because the price point is achievable. But there’s also the same kind of vicious circle as for any console: you need an installed base to attract developers but you need good software for people to buy the hardware... And I don’t see any killer title. So it’s a tough one: people’s feedback is raw, but I don’t think it will drive a large amount of sales.

INCOMING TITLE

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

The anticipated Ratchet & Clank and Star Fox Zero come to retail today, before Yo-Kai Watch’s attempt to conquer Europe next week FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

PS4/PS3/Vita

Strategy

PQube

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

April 22nd Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault C.T.U (Counter Terrorism Unit)

Action

Excalibur

01869 338 833

Contact Sales

Lichdom: Battlemage

PS4/XO

RPG

Avanquest

01480 359 403

Open

Ratchet & Clank

PS4

Adventure

Sony

01216 253 388

Rugby Challenge 3

PS4/XO/PS3/360

Sports

Alternative Software 01977 555 222

Alternative Software

Star Fox Zero

Wii U

Shooter

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

PS4/XO

Strategy

Nordic Games

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

April 26th Battle Worlds: Kronos

April 29th Farming 2017 - The Simulation

PS4/XO/PC

Simulation

UIG Entertainment

01902 861 527

Pavillion

MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune vs Zombies

Vita

Action

Idea Factory

0208 664 3456

Creative

Stranger of Sword City

Vita

RPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Open

Yo-Kai Watch

3DS

RPG

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

PS4/XO/PC

FPS

2K Games

01279 822 800

Exertis

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

PS4

Adventure

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

Wii U

Adventure

Nordic Games

+431 236 54 870

Open

PS4/XO/PC

FPS

Bethesda

01215 069 590

Advantage

May 3rd Battleborn

May 10th

May 13th Doom LEGO Dimensions DC Comics Bane Fun Pack

PS4/XO/Wii U/PS3/360

Toys-to-life

Warner Bros

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

LEGO Dimensions Ghostbusters Slimer Fun Pack

PS4/XO/Wii U/PS3/360

Toys-to-life

Warner Bros

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

LEGO Dimensions Ninjago Lloyd Fun Pack

PS4/XO/Wii U/PS3/360

Toys-to-life

Warner Bros

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

www.mcvuk.com

April 22nd 2016

MOBILE GAMES

MOBILE GAMES Mobile titles are slowly taking over the games industry, with traditional publishers competing with mobile giants to conquer the market. Marie Dealessandri has looked for the best products related to the biggest hits of these past few years

IN 2015, the mobile market saw impressive growth in the UK, reaching £664m, a £116m increase compared to 2014, according to IHS’ annual market data. The industry has been dominated by the same big names for a couple of years now: Supercell (Boom Beach, Clash of Clans, Clash Royale), Machine Zone (Game of War), Epic War (Mobile Strike), Rovio (Angry Birds) and, of course, Candy Crush creator King, which was acquired

The UK mobile market was worth £664m in 2015, a £116m increase compared to the previous year.

by Activision last November for £5.9bn. But mobile-only firms are not the only kings of the market anymore, as leading publishers from the traditional games industry are now investing in this space. These publishers generally fall into two categories: first, those who port already existing titles to mobile platforms. For example, Blizzard launched its World of Warcraft inspired card battler Hearthstone in early 2014 on iOS

MONUMENT VALLEY VINYL SOUNDTRACK 2XLP Eerie mobile hit Monument Valley has been downloaded over 25m times and won two BAFTAs for Best British Game and Mobile/Handheld Game. Developer Ustwo has released some pretty unique related products, such as the game’s soundtrack on vinyl. It also features music from the title’s expansions, Forgotten Shores and Ida’s Dream, as well as exclusive artwork, a story booklet and a code to download a digital version of the soundtrack. SRP: $40 (£28) Manufacturer: Ustwo Distributor: Iam8bit Contact: store@iam8bit.com

PLANTS VS ZOMBIES PEASHOOTER POPPER

ALTO’S ADVENTURE T-SHIRT

CANDY CRUSH SODA – SODALICIOUS COLLECTION ROCK JAR

Plants vs Zombies fans can now defeat zombies in real life too, thanks to this peashooter.

One of Alto’s Adventure’s goals is to rescue llamas, so Snowman created a limited amount of these llama-featured T-shirts.

Nobody can escape the Candy Crush phenomenon, so retailers might as well take proﬁt from it by selling these candies.

SRP: £10 Manufacturer: Jazwares Distributor: Five Element Distribution Contact: info@ﬁveelementdistribution.co.uk

SRP: $25 (£17) Manufacturer: Snowman Distributor: Cotton Bureau Contact: us@cottonbureau.com

SRP: £5.25-£9.50 Manufacturer: Spun Candy Distributor: Spun Candy Contact: enquiries@spun-candy.com

April 22nd 2016

www.mcvuk.com

MOBILE GAMES Sponsored by

gaming merchandise uk

and Android and it’s now making more money on mobile than PC. Then there are publishers who create games specifically for mobile platforms, generally bringing an existing universe to a new audience with varying degrees of success. Square Enix’s Hitman GO, released in 2014, was critically acclaimed but Bandai Namco’s Dark Souls-inspired title Slashy Souls was panned by critics.

And of course there’s Nintendo. Its first attempt to conquer the mobile market, Miitomo, was downloaded 3m times worldwide in just one day. But the mobile market is also filled with indie games trying to compete with the big names, such 2014’s BAFTA winner Monument Valley or Hipster Whale’s Crossy Road. These games are finding it harder to stand-out in the congested mobile space, but a few do still break through.

TERRARIA SMALL PLUSH ASSORTMENT Terraria may be available on all platforms, but Re-Logic’s sandbox title has been regularly amongst the best sellers in the UK App Store charts since it launched in 2013. And Terrarrians will be glad to learn that they can now buy their very own Eye of Cthulhu in plush form. Hardmode boss Skeletron Prime is also available, as well as a more conventional bunny plush and a slime one. SRP: £7.99 Manufacturer: Jazwares Distributor: Click Distribution Contact: click@clickdistributionuk.com

80 DAYS POSTER DESIGN

CROSSY ROAD HIPSTER WHALE MEN’S T-SHIRT

SUPER ANGRY BIRDS #1

‘Interactive-ﬁction’ 80 Days, developed by UK studio Inkle, has recently been released on PC after being a huge hit on Android and iOS.

This T-shirt displays one of Crossy Road’s secret characters, which is also developer Hipster Whale’s mascot.

The Angry Birds universe never ceases to expand: this comic book version already counts four issues.

SRP: £16 Manufacturer: Inkle Studios Distributor: Cafe Press Contact: info@inklestudios.com

SRP: £16.99 Manufacturer: Hipster Whale Distributor: Crossy Road Oﬃcial Store Contact: (+1) 702 763 5833

SRP: £7.50 Manufacturer: IDW Publishing Distributor: Diamond Comic Distributors UK Contact: 01928 531 760

www.mcvuk.com

April 22nd 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 /

REMOTE CONTROL PRODUCTS KEY CONTACTS:

TELEPHONE: + 44 (0)1789 297453

Ed Walker Managing Director

Karen Faustini Account Manager

ed@soundingsweet.com

karen@soundingsweet.com

ADDRESS: Premises in Leamington Spa and Stratford Upon Avon.

SOUNDING SWEET is an independent recording and audio post production company that specialises in the production of sound for games. Our facilities include a state-of-the-art 7.1 surround sound dubbing suite with 2 VO/Foley rooms in Stratford upon Avon. We have also recently opened a second facility in the centre of Leamington Spa, where we have 5 additional audio edit suites. We provide the latest audio technology, both in-game and in the studio. We have a comprehensive knowledge of the latest audio middleware and we love to get busy with in-house technology. Our services include: Sound Design, Voice Recording, ADR (ISDN & Source Connect), Field Recording, Music Composition, Music Editing and Production, Audio Implementation, 7.1 Surround Sound Mixing, Trailers and Marketing Materials, Casting and Localisation. If you need to ‘listen in’ to a session, we can always find a way to get connected. We have a flexible ISDN Codec, Source Connect, Skype and the good old telephone! From supplying bespoke sound effects to complete integration with your development team - we’d love to talk to you about how we can help with your next project! Recent clients include: Freestyle Games, Playground Games, Codemasters, BBC App Development, NBC Universal, FOX, DreamWorks Classics, BBC Film, BBC Television, Sky, Channel 4, Virgin Media, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Chester Zoo, British Museum, National Motor Museum, National Trust, BMW, Toyota. To get involved visit: www.soundingsweet.com

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%

for mobile and digital console

data Q MCV re-launches charts

section

41%

picked Uncharted 4 as their most anticipated game of 2016