MCV 895 October 7th 2016 by Biz Media Ltd

ISSUE 895 FRIDAY OCTOBER 7TH 2016

FAMILY IS WHO YOU DIE FOR.

OUT NOW

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30/09/2016 12:41

FAMILY IS WHO YOU DIE FOR.

OUT NOW

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PRIME TIME

ISSUE 895 FRIDAY OCTOBER 7TH 2016

AMAZON’S UK GAMES BOSS ON A CHALLENGING 2016 P16

MEET THE UK GAMES INDUSTRY’S RISING STARS

PLUS THE RETURN OF TITANFALL n CI GAMES TALKS SNIPER: GHOST WARRIOR 3 03 MCV895 Cover_V5.indd 1

04/10/2016 10:41

30 UNDER THIRTY

ADAM MASON Video Producer, GameSpot UK Age: 28 Adam Mason has worked as a video producer in games for over five years. Starting out as the producer and director of Ginx TV’s Planet of the Apps, he went on to work on the company’s flagship shows, The Blurb and Videogame Nation. Despite having a reportedly low budget and small team, Mason turned out high-quality shows which were broadcast on Challenge TV. For his work on VGN, he was nominated for two Games Media Awards. Departing Ginx in June, Mason now works at GameSpot UK as a video producer.

MCV reveals the most talented young minds working in the UK games industry in 2016 ALEX GIRLING

ALEX MOYET

Digital Manager, Indigo Pearl Age: 28

Director, Amcade Age: 28

In his current role of digital manager at UK games PR gurus Indigo Pearl, Girling handles asset distribution at PressXtra for giants including Activision, Bethesda, Capcom, Sega, Square Enix, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. He is described to MCV as one of the most diligent, efficient and attentive people working in the games media. According to one client, he is available all hours of the day to handle assets. He recently helped launch Indigo Pearl’s DigitalXtra.net code delivery service.

Moyet has been active in the games space for six years, starting as an account executive on Xbox’s European ad push in 2010. She then went on to work at PlayStation for three years as a brand manager working on franchises such as Uncharted, Killzone, Tearaway and SingStar. Since, she has set up her own marketing company, Amcade, which is entirely dedicated to the video games space, with clients such as LittleBigPlanet studio Media Molecule and industry charity Special Effect.

ALICE BELL

ALYSIA JUDGE

Content Editor, VideoGamer Age: 26

Video Host, IGN UK Age: 24

Described as ‘one of the best growing voices in games criticism’, Bell has worked at VideoGamer for just under a year but has already made a big impact. Her role was quickly expanded to writing features and reviews. As a result, she’s just been promoted from junior staff writer to content editor. Bell has also taken part in VideoBrains’ events since August 2015 and has just been made a resident speaker. She has also worked as a freelancer, writing for the likes of OXM, OPM, MacLife and GamesRadar.

‘The next Julia Hardy’ is how Alysia Judge has been labelled. IGN’s video host joined the publication only five months ago and but has been working in the industry since 2012. As a freelance journalist, she has written for the likes of Sky News, BBC Radio 1, Al Jazeera, Official PlayStation Magazine UK, TechWeek Europe, GameReactor and GamesMaster. In October 2015, she became AppSpy’s editor – after a stint as sister title Pocket Gamer’s news editor – hosting daily Twitch livestrams and working on YouTube videos for both AppSpy and Pocket Gamer.

AMY ELLISON

ASHLEY METCALFE

Account Executive, Edelman/Xbox UK Age: 24

Sales Analyst, Warner Bros Age: 25

For two years, Ellison has been handling PR for the Xbox brand in her role at Edelman’s Assembly team. She has been involved in the promotion of several big first-party titles, including Forza Motorsport 6 and Halo 5: Guardians, and is part of the campaign for the upcoming Gears of War 4. On top of handling press requests, she has worked hard to both develop relationships with prominent YouTube personalities and get Microsoft releases press coverage outside of the games media.

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Warner Bros’ Metcalfe is the worthy representative of the finance sector in this year’s 30 Under 30. He started at Warner Bros in 2011 as part of the company’s internship programme, he returned as an international sales analysis manager in May 2015 following a period at Santander. Some of his achievements include securing a recent $2m sale and dealing with the SCEE digital promotions across all of EMEA. He provides ‘crucial’ reports and insight for Warner Bros’ international team.

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 14:12

30 UNDER THIRTY

BEN TESTER

CALLUM UNDERWOOD

PR, Marketing and Comms Manager, Wales Interactive Age: 26

Publishing and Developer Relations, Oculus VR Age: 29 Virtual reality is only in its infancy, but Callum Underwood has been an evangelical force for the new tech. Since the start of 2014, he has been heading up Oculus’ European developer relations and is described as ‘singlehandedly changing the world’ when it comes VR. He has been a constant presence at events and has become the point of contact for Oculus developers in Europe, always making sure they have what they need and sourcing help from the virtual reality firm.

Wales Interactive’s Ben Tester has been a key member of the developer-publisher’s growth since he joined in 2014. He has helped launch indie titles such as Master Reboot, Soul Axiom, Coffin Dodgers and The Bunker. In addition to leading the marketing strategy, community, and media relations, Tester also took over Wales Interactive’s publishing arm as account manager. Before joining the Pencoedbased firm, Tester worked as a CG, 3D and environment artist for the likes of Irontown, Bait Studio and Dinamo.

CHARANJIT RUPRAH

CHARLEYY HODSON

Operations Advisor, Nintendo UK Age: 28

eSports TV Show Host, Ginx/Sky Age: 24

Ten months into his new position as operations advisor, Ruprah is said to have excelled in the role. Having previously worked for four years in Nintendo UK’s customer support team, those who put him forward for 30 Under 30 say he has a friendly can-do attitude, and is proactive in dealing with tricky situations. In his current role he handles the day-to-day management of multi-million pound retail customer accounts, and is the first pointof-call for order-related queries from the games trade.

Charleyy Hodson began her career as a sales assistant at GAME, all while starting to write for her own website, Confessions of a Gamer Girl, which has gathered over 20,000 followers since its 2010 launch. She was hired by Bleeding Cool as game reviewer in 2015 and also started working with YouTube-focused website We The Unicorns that same year. In May 2016, as Ginx created its 24-hour eSports channel, Hodson launched her own docu-reality series, IRL, focusing on the daily life of UK eSports personalities.

ELISHA BROWN

ELLEN ROSE

Social Media Executive, Substance Global Age: 26

Presenter and Video Producer, Gamer Network Age: 27

A relatively new addition to marketing firm Substance Global, Elisha Brown has achieved a great deal since her arrival in April. ‘Flair for copy’, ‘creative’, ‘thoughtful approaches’ and ‘infectious enthusiasm’ are only a few of the ways her work has been described. In her current role, Brown has reinforced relations with the likes of 20th Century Fox for its upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie. She was hired after spending over two years as community manager at NextGen Skills Academy Electronic Dojo, PlayMob and Magic Notion.

Starting out with her own YouTube channel in 2010, Ellen ‘icklenellierose’ Rose has managed to garner an audience of more than 25,000 subscribers. In 2015, she was approached by Attention Seekers to help host Microsoft’s official Xbox On channel, a role she held until very recently. She is credited with helping the platform reach 140,000 subscribers with ‘unprecedented’ engagement and video views. Now she is working on a currently-unannounced project over at Gamer Network.

FRANCESCA MEAD

HARRISON LEWIS

PS Store & PS Plus Community Coordinator, Sony Age: 26

Production Manager, PQube Age: 25

Many of us never want to look at the comments, but for Sony’s Francesca Mead, that is her job. In many ways, she is the public face of Sony’s PSN store. Mead is the point of contact for any concerns members of the community have with PlayStation’s digital storefront. Furthermore, she creates ‘fun and engaging’ events around PlayStation Plus titles. She continues to work hard even in the face of what is described as an, at times, ‘very hostile’ audience.

www.mcvuk.com

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Lewis landed at PQube right after he finished his computing degree at the University of Bath in 2013. He has since then gone from managing two to three products a year to overseeing work on 27 different projects in the last 12 months. He started as digital media assistant but took over the role of production manager after two years. Lewis has worked on successful localisation projects and managed both physical and digital launches. He’s been described as ‘remarkably organised’, ‘ruthlessly efficient’ and ‘with boundless enthusiasm’.

October 7th 2016

04/10/2016 14:12

30 UNDER THIRTY

HOLLY NIELSEN

IAN MORRIS

Freelance journalist Age: 22

Editor, Everybody Plays Age: 29

At only 22, Holly Nielsen already has a CV that would make many journalists jealous. She has written for the likes of The Guardian, PC Gamer, International Business Times, The Telegraph and Stuff and has appeared on Sky News as a gaming expert and reviewer. She has just finished studying for her History batchelor’s degree at King’s College. On top of that, she still has time to cohost the Toku Podcast alongside games writer Kate Gray, one of our 2015 30 Under 30 picks.

Having worked as a freelance journalist and games writer for years, Morris launched Everybody Plays in 2010. The site’s mission was to write about interactive entertainment for a wider audience. Today it boasts a majority female and family audience, something largely unheard of in the games media. As well as running the site, Morris helps design, program and manage it. Earlier this year, Morris launched the new EPAL rating system, which ranks games based on what skills younger children require to play them.

JAMES LIVETT

JON BLAYNEY

Community Manager, Koch Media/Deep Silver Age: 28

Events and PR Manager, Xtreme Gaming Age: 26

Since April 2014, James Livett has been the heart of Deep Silver’s gaming community, acting as the frontline responder for fans across brands such as Agents Of Mayhem, Saints Row, Dead Island, Metro and Homefront. Livett learnt the job at Green Man Gaming, where he held a similar position for nearly three years, after scoring an internship at the digital retailer in 2011. During the same period, he also did voluntary community management at Orca Cola, one the biggest Blood Bowl communities.

eSports enthusiast Jon Blayney achieved an honourable mention in last year’s 30 Under 30. This time around, he’s made it onto the list thanks to his increasing contribution to Xtreme Gaming’s business, helping build strong relationships with key publishers such as 2K Games and Bethesda. Blayney was also instrumental in bringing Resonate Glasgow - the city’s first ever games show - to life and planning its eSports programme.

JOSHUA GARRITY

MARK TURPIN

Digital Content Manager, Sold Out Age: 27

CEO, Yogscast Age: 29

Garrity joined publisher Sold Out in September 2015, but had been on the fringes of the games industry for some time prior to this role. For five years now he has helped run the popular Cane and Rinse podcast. Via a stint in community moderation at social media firm Tempero – where he managed Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s social media presence – he joined Sold Out he has helped bring the likes of Prison Architect and Worms WMD to physical retail.

Known to the company’s millions of followers today as ‘Turps’, Mark Turpin is the boss of Bristol-based media outlet Yogscast. Joining the company in 2012 as its CEO, Turpin, along with the rest of the Yogscast team, has helped raise millions for charity. Furthermore, under his stewardship, Yogscast has become a central part of the UK games media, with Sony and Microsoft’s official YouTube channels, PlayStation Access and Xbox On, being produced inhouse at the firm.

MATT BOWE

NATALIE JOHNSON

Account Director, Twitch Age: 28

Digital Games Buyer, Green Man Gaming Age: 27

As an inaugural member of Twitch’s UK sales team, Matt Bowe has witnessed the platform’s rapid growth. He helped to secure campaigns across Europe with brands like Apple, IKEA, Doritos and Paramount, which earned him the title of 2015’s salesperson of the year at Twitch. Prior to joining the live-streaming platform in 2014, he previously worked at media network Manning Gottlieb for brands such as Google, Square Enix and Pokémon. Prior to that, he worked at MediaCom, mainly for EA, for two-and-a-half years.

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Since joining digital retailer Green Man Gaming in 2012 as a content administrator, Johnson has become an essential part of its trading team. Now working as a digital games buyer, she has built strong relations with publishers to make sure Green Man Gaming is stocked with the latest games. She manages over 130 accounts and is responsible for some of the retailer’s most important clients. Before joining Green Man Gaming, Johnson worked as a support advisor for Sony’s European arm.

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 14:12

30 UNDER THIRTY

NEALE MAKER

RAVI VIJH

eSports Partnerships Manager, Multiplay Age: 27

Account Director, Bastion Age: 28

Since he joined Multiplay one year ago, Neale Maker has worked tirelessly at growing the company’s events, such as Insomnia 58 for which he worked as eSports partnership manager. He arrived at the company as events manager, but was promoted last summer after only 11 months. Before that, Maker held the role of resource advisor at Carnival UK and also worked in recruitment at Spectrum IT, SPS International and Matchtech.

Vijh has worked at PR firm Bastion for six years, rising from account executive to account director during that time. He is praised for his work on accounts such as Develop: Brighton, where he has secured growing mainstream press coverage and increased attendee figures for the event. Vijh also handles PR for eSports company ESL and has completely immersed himself in this new sector, and in doing so has provided support and guidance for the pro-gaming firm.

ROZ TUPLIN

SAMANTHA KINGSTON

Business Development Administrator, Games London Age: 28

Co-Founder and Client Director, Virtual Umbrella Age: 26

Best known for her work at Games London, Tuplin started her career in games when she helped launch Nottingham’s National Videogame Arcade. She joined Games London at the end of 2015 as its business development administrator and has proved invaluable to the organisation’s success in liasing with companies seeking investment. With London Games Festival’s return earlier this year, Tuplin was in charge of the Festival Fringe, a series of events that ran alongside the main show. Now she is working to bring £38m of investment into the UK.

Winner of the Venus New Business Awards Samantha Kingston created Virtual Umbrella in 2015 with one goal in mind: help VR companies raise awareness of their products. Kingston gained expertise in virtual reality while working at developer nDreams where she was social media coordinator and then became a VR freelance consultant. She also co-created VR Girls UK to help promote the role of women in tech. Kingston was amongst the 2016 finalists of MCV’s Women in Games Awards, in the Unsung Hero category.

SAMUEL ROBERTS

SOPHIE DENSHAM

Editor, PC Gamer Age: 28

Community and Communications Officer, UKIE Age: 24

Despite being yet to reach his 30s, Samuel Roberts is already an industry veteran with over nine years in games. He started as staff writer at Imagine’s Play magazine in 2007 and made his way to the top. He then became editor at Future’s PC Gamer in 2013. For the past two years, he’s been overseeing all content for both the UK and US editions and recently managed the redesign of the magazine. At Imagine, Roberts held various writing and editing positions at X360, SciFiNow and GamesTM publications.

Following a nine month stint as games industry charity SpecialEffect’s first ever intern, Densham went on to take on the role of UKIE’s community and communications officer in 2015. She has been described as invaluable to the trade body, helping to launch initiatives such as the nationwide roll-out of Digital Schoolhouse and the UK Games Map. She also handles UKIE’s public affairs communications and managing over 300 Video Game Ambassadors.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

TOM COPELAND Publicist, Premier PR Age: 29 Premier PR’s Copeland has managed to run European PR for games firms including Telltale, Crytek, Curve Digital and Nexon Europe for the past two years. Copeland joined Premier in August 2014 as assistant publicist and became publicist last June. He’s previously written about games for a number of outlets, including Game Rant and Game People, and has created a dedicated London games diary before he brought his enthusiasm to Premier.

www.mcvuk.com

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Kamala Kuzmicka (Green Man Gaming), Edward Price (Nintendo UK), David Jewitt (GameSpot UK), Chris Mead (Twitch), Josh West, (GamesTM), Sayem Ahmed (Green Man Gaming), Nathan Mills (Koei Tecmo), Ryan Brown (Daily Mirror), Oscar Taylor-Kent (Rice Digital), Ric Cowley (PocketGamer.Biz), Vincent Jurgens (HyperX), Patrick Dane (Bleeding Cool), Joshua Dahdrai (Curve Digital), Adam Symonds (GeekCore), Edward Bailey (Hyper X) and Roald Van Buuren (FaceIt)

October 7th 2016

04/10/2016 14:12

NEWS

PS4 sales up 380% on back of £149 bundles Discount deals boost PlayStation 4 in the UK l Xbox One S still outsold PS4 Slim as sales spike holds firm by Alex Calvin SONY’S PlayStation 4 has returned to the top of the weekly UK hardware race following a number of cut-price bundles. Sales of the console climbed 380 per cent week-on-week, thanks to a 359 per cent boost to original PS4 sales, according to GfK hardware figures for the week ending October 1st obtained by MCV. Overall PS4 sales were 55 per cent higher than Xbox One. However, sales of Microsoft’s machine fell by just 16 per cent, which is impressive considering the 989 per cent spike it enjoyed the previous week.

And Xbox One S sales remained 24 per cent higher than PS4 Slim, although PS4 claimed an overall market share of 57 per cent. The PS4 sales spike followed widespread deals by several retailers, including Tesco, GAME, Argos and ShopTo, offering an original non-slim PS4 and a copy of either FIFA 17 or LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens for just £149 - £110 short of the RRP. This was almost certainly an attempt to clear stock of the older machines ahead of efforts to shift the slim console in the run-up to Christmas, and before of the release of the PS4 Pro on November 10th.

PS4 had the majority of the market last week, but the Xbox One S continues to outsell PS4 Slim

Replay: Diversity is the key to Play Expo’s success by Alex Calvin THE organiser of Play Expo in Manchester believes that offering attractions for a wider audience is key to the growth of its event. Speaking to MCV, Replay Events director Andy Brown said that many shows already cater to the core gaming and triple-A market, but that the upcoming Play Expo boasts stands and features that will attract a broader audience. Since the event’s debut five years ago, attendance has risen by 400 per cent, with ticket sales for this year’s event already higher than 2015’s already recordbreaking 20,000 visitors. “Gaming culture continues to evolve and adapt in interesting ways and we want Play Expo to evolve alongside,” Brown said. “Many shows already do an excellent job of providing triple-A games for trade and consumers to play. We forge a different path, putting on a different kind of

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Replay’s Brown expects more than 20,000 visitors at this year’s Play Expo

show and doing it well. Our show features those same big games, of course, but we also have a packed weekend of panels, special industry guests, retro gaming, table-top board games, interactive shows and so much more. “We’re aiming for a relaxed, festival feel to Play Expo. Our event is fun, inclusive and geared towards the whole family. We cater

Games continue to evolve and we want Play Expo to evolve alongside. Andy Brown, Replay Events

for parents who want to show their kids how it used to be played, and kids showing parents how it should be played. There isn’t another show in the UK quite like Play Expo and when we say there’s something for everyone, well, we truly mean it.” Play Expo takes place at Manchester’s EventCity on Saturday, October 8th and Sunday, October 9th.

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 14:42

NEWS

THE EDITOR

CI Games pledges new quality focus The Sniper: Ghost Warrior developer-publisher will release fewer games in the coming years by Marie Dealessandri SINCE its inception in 2002, CI Games has mainly focused on mid-budget IP that pleased the players but not the critics. But the developer-publisher now intends to level up. Talking to MCV about the next entry in its Sniper: Ghost Warrior series, CEO Marek Tymiński said the team intends to improve the quality of its portfolio. “It’s not really about the quantity of games that we will have but more about the quality of them and the size of them,” Tymiński explained.

“We consider Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 a triple-A release and we have very ambitious goals for the franchise.“ He continued: “We are also very ambitious about Lord of the Fallen’s sequel and want to make sure that we bring a fresh approach to that IP.” The CEO added that he didn’t rule out the possibility of working on new IPs in the next five years, and considered marketing Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 as a new IP as it differs from its predecessors in terms of content and quality. To read more from Tymiński and CI Games, turn on page 22

THE BEAUTIFUL GAMES

do wonder what Konami thinks when it looks at the sales of PES 2017 and FIFA 17. Although I’ve been a gamer for nearly as long as I remember (and that’s all the way back to the Atari 2600, to give you an idea of my caducity), I drifted away during my uni years. It was experiencing the holy PS2 trinity of Gran Turismo 3, Grand Theft Auto 3 and Pro Evolution Soccer that dragged me back in. I was resolutely a PES guy throughout the PS2 era, and even in the early days of the PS3 and 360 age. It was then, however, that I found my love for the series dwindling, and in its place new new affection for FIFA grew. I can’t remember the exact year I finally made the switch, but it’s been a while now. FIFA 13 and FIFA 14, in particular, were incredible games that I regard as affectionately as I do Winning Eleven 7 International. Every year I read that PES is ‘back’ and every year I try it, only to conclude that it’s not. I shall admit, however, that the time I’ve put into FIFA these last two years has declined (it probably didn’t help that I discovered Dark Souls, either). I guess it’s a problem for any iterative series - you hit on the right formula, but something needs to change for every annual release, and you run the risk of working the good out of it. 2016 will be remembered not just for the Brexit disaster, the implosion of the Labour party, the passing of Bowie, Wogan and Prince and PLEASE NO the election of a lunatic to America’s highest oﬃce. It will also, for me, be remembered as the year when PES finally did return.

CI Games’ Tymiński says the company has ambitious goals for the Sniper: Ghost Warrior franchise

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Square Enix

PES 2017 is a fantastic game. Yet despite the tremendous amount of work and craft that undoubtedly went into giving PES the gameplay edge over EA’s mighty FIFA, PES’ sales are down year-on-year and FIFA’s are up. What is Konami to do? I guess a lot of it comes down to what people want. Me? I want to sit down and play a single player career mode as Southampton. I want to play Redmond on the wing, I want to give Ward Prowse game time to up his stats, and I want to re-sign Rickie Lambert. PES does all of that really well. However, I feel that isn’t what the masses want. They want authenticity (me too), they want online and they want FUT. For me a console football game is about escaping the world and pretending others don’t exist. For the majority, however, it’s actually about willingly connecting and competing with humans. EA has nailed this, without doubt. As an overall package FIFA’s incredible and I understand its success. Could it be that all the highly refined gameplay in the world can’t swing the sales? I hope not. Not because I’m concerned about the ‘winner’. I’ve always stuck up for EA and will continue to do so. I just want to see companies that are able to prioritise gameplay over sellable features. Not that every game needs to do this - mass market success is great, whether its gameplay focused or not. But I hope that the market for gameplay feel remains large enough to be worth someone’s time servicing it. bparﬁtt@nbmedia.com

October 7th 2016

04/10/2016 14:42

CHEAT SHEET

UP & DOWN

Market Data

Revenue increased 1,030 per cent this week, thanks to FIFA 17’s impressive sales £60m £15m

RECORE has seen its sales decrease 45 per cent, falling from No.13 to No.33

£58.8m 1,423,866 units

£30m £30m

£6.6m 213,457 units

£5.2m 181,970 units

Week Ending September 17th

Week Ending September 24th

Week Ending October 1st

A 66 PER CENT rise in sales allowed Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 to re-enter the charts at No.39

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: MAFIA III

[INFO] FORMATS: PS4, XO, PC RELEASED: October 7th PUBLISHER: 2K Games DISTRIBUTOR: Exertis CONTACT: 01279 822 800

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AFTER XCOM 2’s console versions last week, 2K Games has another important launch this week. Mafia III is landing on PS4, Xbox One and PC today and UK product manager Sean Phillips said it will be “on a par with some of the biggest entertainment launches of the year.” “We will focus on activations that deliver the unique world of Mafia III,” he continued. “So far we have gone for ‘knock out’ punches during each key beat of the campaign, such as showcasing our E3 trailer via a global exclusive TV ad in the England v Russia game back at Euro 2016.” 2K is aiming at the mass market with its Mafia III campaign, which will be taking place on big media channels. “Mafia III will feel like a huge event at launch,’ Phillips explained. “We will run an extensive TV advertising campaign, which gives us the ability to drive targeted and rapid reach to the mass male audience. This will be supplemented by

Mafia III hits shelves today, six years after its predecessor

a VOD campaign and online programmatic advertising [automatic demographic-based ads]. And our campaign won’t just hit people sat in front a screen: in addition to the London Underground, expect to see our campaign in big city centres, on

arterial routes, in small towns and commuter belts.” Phillips added that players should be excited about Mafia III, because of its “action-orientated open-world gameplay” and “comprehensive story that can change dependent upon your actions.”

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 16:57

CHEAT SHEET

PRESENTS

THE NEWS IN 140 CHARACTERS

5 SECOND FACTS

NO MAN’S SKY INVESTIGATED OVER ALLEGED DECEPTIVE MARKETING

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

The Tweets you might have missed in the last seven days

The Advertising Standards Agency has started an investigation on No Man’s Sky after receiving “several complaints” from players arguing that the title’s marketing was deceptive and did not reflect the final product. The organisation will primarily focus on how the space sim was presented on Steam,

The traffic on Niantic’s servers was 50 times more than its target when Pokémon GO launched, Google revealed

@SamuelWRoberts Reddit’s next task is making No Man’s Sky accountable for Brexit.

£13.5m

High-Street retailer GAME has sold its head office and distribution centre for £13,5m

Samuel Roberts, PC Gamer Thursday, September 29th

$6.1bn

@Toadsanime Don’t understand the defence of No Man’s Sky being investigated. Its Steam store page is misleading. You’d complain if EA did it.

@Wesley_Copeland Okay, Hello Games being investigated by the ASA. It’s silly. Not because there’s not a case there, it’s that lots of games lie.

Ryan Brown, Daily Mirror Wednesday, September 28th

Pokémon GO and No Man’s Sky boosted the global digital market by 11 per cent in August, reaching $6.1bn, SuperData reports

Wesley Copeland, freelance journalist Wednesday, September 28th

CHARACTERS WON’T BE CARRIED OVER TO DESTINY 2

Destiny 2 will be coming to PC, as well as PS4 and Xbox One, recent reports suggest. According to Kotaku, developer Bungie wants this sequel to feel like an ‘entirely new game’ and possibly won’t allow players to carry over the characters they created in Destiny. @ForceStrategy Looking forward to learning more about Destiny 2, really hope they add more scale to the game world, make it feel more like an MMO.

Dennis Duhamel, YouTuber Saturday, October 1st

@tripleWRECK Not sure why some are panicking, if I have to leave my current Guardians behind for an allnew, better Destiny 2 then I will happily do so.

@wyp100 Losing motivation to play Destiny after hearing Destiny 2 may leave characters behind. Will be tricky to communicate.

Ari Smith, Twitch streamer Wednesday, September 28th

Wesley Yin-Poole, Eurogamer Wednesday, September 28th

N64

An N64 emulator called Win64e10 made it to Xbox One for a few hours last week before being shut down

400m

Windows 10 has now been installed on over 400m systems worldwide, in only 14 months, Microsoft announced LVL 5 Afterglow Headset – PDP Design and manufacture the LVL 5 Afterglow Headset for PlayStation 4

europesales@pdp.com

www.pdp.com

GAMESAID THIS WEEK GAMESAID GOLF DAY RAISES £30,OOO

GAMESCOM TO BRIGHTON CYCLE RIDE

GAMESAID RAISES £954,000 FOR CHARITY

The annual GamesAid Golf and Spa Day returned for the ninth time on Thursday, July 14th. The event raised a whopping £30,000. This year it was once again held at The Grove in Watford.

A number of GamesAid members cycled 352 miles from Cologne to Brighton for charity, raising £3,430 in the process. You can still donate here www. justgiving.com/teams/ gamescomtobrighton2016

UK games industry charity GamesAid raised a massive £954,000 in the last year. This was shared between ten different organisations, who each walked away with £95,400. Over nine years, GamesAid has raised £2.7m.

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

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

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October 7th 2016

04/10/2016 16:57

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

New deputy editor at Develop Cleaver replaces Jarvis ● Hutch strengthens London and Brighton studios ● Special Gun Productions created DEVELOP | Following the departure of deputy editor MATT JARVIS in September, Develop has hired SEAN CLEAVER to replace him. Cleaver has been a freelance games writer and editor for the past five years, working for the likes of GameSpot, VICE, Pocket Gamer, The Game Jar, PC Gamer and more. He stated: “Develop is a great place to be at a time when the games industry in the UK is growing and filled with creative people. It’s an exciting move to look at the industry, away from reviews and critiquing I’ve previously done, and I can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Editor JAMES BATCHELOR added: “Sean has already proven himself to be a hard working and accomplished journalist in the games industry. He will be an excellent addition to the team.”

industry veteran has worked for the likes of Lionhead and EA. Chambers said: “As a motorsport enthusiast, I am delighted to be joining such a talented team. Having worked on a number of big franchises over the years, I am confident that with the people and culture we have at Hutch, combined with an exciting strategy and some very strong partners, Hutch is the place to be making games.`’ Griffiths stated: “It’s rare to find such a passionate group of people. I’m really looking forward to getting Top Drives out of the door.”

HUTCH | The MMX Racing dev is growing its London and Brighton teams. PETER HANSENCHAMBERS (left) has joined as commercial director. He previously was managing director at PHC Consulting and spent over six years at Codemasters. He is joined by IAN GRIFFITHS (above), who has been hired as product owner. The 12-year

SPECIAL GUN | Former VideoGamer staff JIM TRINCA (above right) and STEVE BURNS (top right) have left to create their

own firm with film and TV cameraman DAVID MILLS. Special Gun Productions will focus on marketing campaigns, production services, event coverage and consultancy in the creative industries. Trinca had been working at VideoGamer for two years as video producer. Burns started his career in games at Future and became reviews and features editor at VideoGamer in 2013. He commented: “We formed SpecialGun Productions to work on top-class creative campaigns, drawing on our experience in the film, TV, and video game worlds.”

Distributed by IT World Services TEL: +44 (0)17538 21122 EMAIL: sales@itworldservices.co.uk

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www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 16:52

"Overcooked is the best chaotic, co-operative culinary game you've ever played" 4/5

"the real fun comes from playing with others due to the screams that occur when everything 8/10 inevitably sets on fire."

Includes Lost Morsel DLC

Time to experience the Culinary Co-op Sensation

14 OCT 2016 £19.99/€19.99/$29.99

Sold Out - Sales & Marketing Ltd. 36 Whitefriars Street London EC4Y 8BQ +44 (0)203 405 4585 www.soldout.uk.com Sales@SoldOut.uk.com Overcooked Developed by Ghost Town Games Ltd. and published by Team17 Digital Ltd. © 2016. Team17 is a trademark or registered trademark of Team17 Digital Limited. All other trademarks, copyrights and logos are property of their respective owners.

AdTemplate.indd 1

13/09/2016 09:44

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

WEEKLY CHARTS FIFA 17 is unsurprisingly No.1 this week, with pretty strong numbers. Week One sales for EA’s new title are 18 per cent higher than FIFA 16’s launch performance. Forza Horizon 3 takes the No.2 spot and becomes the third best-selling Week One performer in the Forza franchise (considering both Motorsport and Horizon). Meanwhile, Warner Bros’ LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes back to the Top 3, thanks to retail promotions that have seen its sales grow by 127 per cent. Last week’s No.1, BioShock: The Collection, falls down to No.4 with

sales decreasing 24 per cent. Console versions for 2K’s XCOM 2 debut in the charts at No.5. Elsewhere, the latest game to have its Nintendo Selects version, Wii U’s Super Mario 3D World, re-enters the listing at No.32 with sales rocketing 999 per cent. EA’s Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is also back at No.39, thanks to a 66 per cent growth. Over on Steam, Stunlock’s Battlerite is No.1 and Osiris: New Dawn debuts at No.3, just as the PS4 and Xbox One versions have been announced by developer Fenix Fire. Pre-orders for Mafia III also enter Steam’s ranking at No.8.

GLOBAL STEAM CHARTS (UNITS)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW RE NEW 03 RE 08 RE NEW RE RE

BATTLERITE

DEVELOPER: STUNLOCK STUDIOS PUBLISHER: STUNLOCK STUDIOS

TITLE Grand Theft Auto V Osiris: New Dawn Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Doom Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (PO) Quantum Break Mafia III (PO) H1Z1: King of the Kill Call of Duty: Black Ops III

PUBLISHER Rockstar Reverb Triple XP Valve Bethesda 2K Microsoft 2K Daybreak Activision

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

Title FIFA 17 Forza Horizon 3 LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens BioShock: The Collection XCOM 2 Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 Destiny: The Collection Rocket League NBA 2K17 Grand Theft Auto V Overwatch Minecraft: Xbox Edition Fallout 4 Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Call of Duty: Black Ops III Star Wars Battlefront No Man’s Sky Batman: The Telltale Series Ratchet & Clank F1 2016 Doom Tom Clancy’s The Division Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Halo 5: Guardians Homefront: The Revolution Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Minecraft: Story Mode Disney Infinity 3.0 LEGO Marvel’s Avengers New Super Mario Bros 2 Madden NFL 17 Super Mario 3D World ReCore LEGO Jurassic World LEGO Dimensions LEGO Marvel Super Heroes EA Sports UFC 2 Batman: Arkham Knight Plant vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 The Witcher III: Wild Hunt GOTY Edition

Source: Steam, Period: September 26th to October 2nd October 7th 2016

14 15 MCV895 Weekly Charts_V5.indd 1

Format PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC XO PS4, XO, PS3, 360 PS4, XO PS4, XO PS4, XO, PS3, 360 PS4, XO PS4, XO PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC PS4, XO, PC XO, 360 PS4, XO, PC PS4 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC PS4, XO, PC PS4 PS4, XO, PS3, 360 PC PS4 PS4, XO, PC PS4, XO, PC PS4, XO, PC PS4, PS3, Vita XO PS4, XO, PC PS4, X0, PC PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 3DS PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Wii U XO PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 PS4, Wii U, PS3, 360, Vita, 3DS, PC PS4, XO PS4, XO, PC PS4, XO, PC PS4, XO, PC

Publisher EA Microsoft Warner Bros 2K Games 2K Games Konami Activision 505 Games 2K Games Rockstar Blizzard Microsoft Bethesda Sony Activision EA Sony Telltale Games Sony Codemasters Bethesda Ubisoft Sony Microsoft Deep Silver Square Enix Telltale Games Disney Warner Bros Nintendo EA Nintendo Microsoft Warner Bros Warner Bros Warner Bros EA Warner Bros EA Bandai Namco

Source: UKIE/GfK Entertainment, Period: Week ending October 1st 14

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 10:42

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

UK IPAD PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 04 RE 06 NEW 09 RE RE RE NEW

UK IPHONE PAID

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Minecraft: Story Mode Plague Inc. Terraria Haunted Hotel: The X (Full) Bloons TD 5 HD Sable Maze: Soul Catcher HD Draw a Stickman: EPIC 2 Geometry Dash Batman - The Telltale Series

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Telltale Ndemic Creations 505 Games Big Fish Ninja Kiwi Big Fish Hitcents.com RobTop Games Telltale

LW 01 NEW 03 06 RE 02 05 08 RE

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: September 19th – September 25th

(UNITS)

PLAGUE INC.

DEVELOPER: NDEMIC CREATIONS

Title Minecraft: Pocket Edition Great North Snowdogs Heads Up! Bloons TD 5 Trenches Bus Simulator Pro 2017 Monopoly Game Hitman: Sniper Geometry Dash

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: September 19th – September 25th

UK IPAD GROSSING (REVENUE)

UK IPHONE GROSSING (REVENUE)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 02 03 04 RE 05 06 10 08 09

CANDY CRUSH SAGA DEVELOPER: KING

Title Game of War - Fire Age Mobile Strike Candy Crush Soda Saga Clash Royale Clash of Clans Gardenscapes - New Acres Roblox Gummy Drop! Hay Day

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Machine Zone Epic War King Supercell Supercell Playrix Roblox Corporation Big Fish Supercell

LW 07 02 03 04 05 06 10 08 RE

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: September 19th – September 25th

POKÉMON GO DEVELOPER: NIANTIC

Title Clash Royale Mobile Strike Candy Crush Saga Game of War - Fire Age Clash of Clans Candy Crush Soda Saga 8 Ball Pool Episode - Choose Your Story, feat. Mean Girls Gardenscapes - New Acres

UK IPHONE FREE (UNITS)

LW 01 05 NEW 03 07 NEW 04 NEW 09

BOTTLE FLIP 2K16 DEVELOPER: AIDAN SABOURIN

Title Six! NCIS: Hidden Crimes Faily Rider Flip Diving Rolling Sky Wheel of Fortune Free Play: Game Show Word Puzzles Pokémon Go AG Drive Roblox

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer GramGames Ubisoft Spunge Games Miniclip.com Cheetah Technology Scopely Niantic Zorg Roblox Corporation

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: September 19th – September 25th www.mcvuk.com

14 15 MCV895 Weekly Charts_V5.indd 2

Developer Supercell Epic War King Machine Zone Supercell King Miniclip.com Episode Interactive Playrix

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: September 19th – September 25th

UK IPAD FREE (UNITS)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Mojang St Oswald’s Hospice Warner Bros Ninja Kiwi Catapult Consulting Mageeks Apps & Games EA Square Enix RopTop Games

LW NEW 01 03 NEW 07 05 08 RE RE

BOTTLE FLIP 2K16 DEVELOPER: AIDAN SABOURIN

Title EA Sports FIFA 17 Companion Six! Flip Diving Light On Rolling Sky Pokémon Go Bingo Pop Animation Throwdown: The Quest for Cards NCIS: Hidden Crimes

Developer EA GramGames Miniclip.com Ketchapp Cheetah Niantic Uken Games Kongregate Ubisoft

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: September 19th – September 25th 15

October 7th 2016

04/10/2016 10:42

INTERVIEW RUSSELL JONES, AMAZON UK

‘It’s been a challenging year for games retail’ Alex Calvin catches up with Amazon UK’s games boss Russell Jones to take the pulse of the current UK retail scene, as well as find out what the console market needs and what releases will be this year’s big hitters

ew retailers claim as large an audience as Amazon. In total, the UK arm of the retail giant generated a massive £6.3bn in 2015 with research outlet Kantar Worldpanel saying that Amazon has a 22 per cent share of the entertainment market – the largest for this sector. But, speaking about the video games market, games and software category, boss Russell Jones says that the sector has been tough in 2016. “It’s a challenging year for games from a product point of view,” he says. “We’re really feeling the drop-off in the old generation. There was a lot of talk about that last year. Nothing has come out on old-gen this year so far. FIFA is launching for it, and the LEGO games, but that’s about it. We just haven’t seen the shift up to the next generation of consoles in terms of that volume and user base. “Clearly what’s going on with Xbox One S and the slim PS4 is the creation of that opportunity. For this quarter ahead, it’s hugely important that the industry expands that user base to keep the category growing like it has been. It’s okay, but as ever it’s all about the fourth quarter.” Part of the issue with expanding who owns PS4 and Xbox One consoles beyond the core gamer is that there simply isn’t much out there for kids and families on these platforms. “It’s definitely a challenge for the industry,” Jones admits. ”Of course, you have to have the content in the first place.

October 7th 2016

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Consumers could buy or pre-order games from the show floor at EGX 2016 using Amazon’s Scan and Buy codes

Ratchet & Clank has been a phenomenal success. The reaction to the Crash Bandicoot remasters announcement at E3 was huge so that will do really well. The fact he’s in Skylanders is going to give that title a good kick this year. LEGO Dimensions is doing great – it’s solid. We could do with some real blockbuster games that aren’t 16+. “Overwatch was a phenomenal game, Blizzard did a great job and part of the success of that was its PEGI 12 rating. It’s been a big driver for console sales, which points to the fact we need some great 12 and under games to drive them up.”

We’re missing a console really designed to drive families. Hopefully NX will be that product.

X MARKS THE SPOT The family market is one that Jones believes Nintendo might be able to serve in the console space with its new NX machine, set for launch in March 2017. “Nintendo’s strong-hold is the family audience,” he says.

Russell Jones, Amazon UK

”We’re missing a console platform that’s really designed to drive families. Hopefully, NX is a product that families can engage with and can drive a lot of volume, and that it can come with all the great games that Nintendo is famous for.” It isn’t just Nintendo that is in the process of launching new hardware. Sony has its PlayStation 4 Pro hitting shelves in November, while Microsoft is rolling out its new and powerful Scorpio machine next year. Both of these support 4K, but Jones isn’t clear how much of a selling point this is. “I’m still unclear about how many people have the 4K TVs to play on,” he says. “But it’s great that [Sony and Microsoft] are innovating at the top end. It’s great that we don’t have to wait two years and that we have something that’s available for customers who are willing to

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 10:43

RUSSELL JONES, AMAZON UK INTERVIEW DIGITAL FUTURE AS well as shifting large amounts of boxed product, Amazon also has its fingers in the digital pie. In mid-2013, the retailer started selling digital codes for PC and Mac, before launching a store of PSN titles at the end of the year. “The amount of content we have on there is increasing significantly. We now sell full game downloads for Xbox One, we didn’t do that a year ago,” games boss Russell Jones says. “There’s more planned in that space. It’s a work in progress and a huge opportunity. Customers are showing increasing interest in getting rid of the physical side of things. That said, there are a surprising number of digital customers who then want a physical item with their game, so we’re selling things like statues with downloads. If that’s what they want then we’ll try and make it happen for them. It’s a growing part of our business. What we have available this Christmas is night and die versus this time last year, and it will continue to improve as time goes on.”

Amazon’s Jones says were need more games with PEGI 16 or lower ratings like Overwatch

pay the premium for the extra tech inside the box.” EVERYTHING TO PLAY FOR VR has also launched in 2016, with the PC-based and expensive Oculus Rift and HTC Vive rolling out earlier this year, before PlayStation VR hits shelves next week. It’s Sony’s hardware that Jones believes will be leading the market, at least in terms of sales. “From a volume point of view, PlayStation VR [will be the bestperforming],” he says. “It has a real price advantage, not just in the headset but that consumers can buy a slim PS4 for £259 and that’ll run a £349 PSVR. That’s cheaper than Oculus on its own, before you have to buy an expensive PC. Just from a sheer volume and units point of view, PSVR will drive the most sales. “But Oculus Rift clearly has much more potential beyond just video games. VR long term is going to be all about films, experiences, travel,

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GOOD EXPOSURE

training and so on. How Sony adapts to that will be interesting. It has a lot invested in the sector, and how it gets out into the wider industry will be interesting.” Looking towards the Q4 lineup, Jones says that it’s hard to tell which games will be the big hitters. “Most years, you have Call of Duty and FIFA coming out and they do a great job each time,” he says. “You tend to come out of E3 knowing what the third, and possibly fourth, big game will be. Last year it was obviously Fallout 4 and Star Wars Battlefront. It’s still not clear – there are loads of titles pre-ordering okay. It’s all to play for. “What’s interesting is the remasters for the new consoles, like Skyrim Special Edition and Batman: Return to Arkham, are doing really well. “It’s going to be fascinating to see what breaks out of that middle ground to be the third and fourth game of the year. We need something to break through.”

THIS year, Amazon UK was the official retail partner for Gamer Network’s EGX. As part of this deal, Amazon had a sizeable presence at the show. On many of the games booths were Scan and Buy codes (pictured, top left), allowing consumers to preorder or purchase what they were just playing. That’s on-top of a Prime Now stand at the expo where gamers were able to order goods on their phone and have them delivered to the show. “We’ve been keen for a long time to find a way to get closer to our customers and help publishers connect that moment of someone trying a game to ordering it,” games boss Russell Jones says. “The EGX opportunity came around so we jumped at the chance to get involved. We’re

trying to do two things: the first is where product is available, people can order it and take it home there and then if they’re a Prime member literally by opening the app, finding the product, ordering it and collecting it from our stand during the day. There’s that immediate gratification. “Then there are upcoming releases that were being demoed at the show. We have icons on our stand so if someone tries it and wants to buy it, they can seal the deal there and then. You open the normal Amazon app and say you want the new Call of Duty, for example, or you can scan one of the Scan and Buy logos and you can order there and then. It’s really great to be able to help publishers connect their fans trying a game to buying it if they’re convinced it’s for them.”

October 7th 2016

04/10/2016 10:43

THE BIG GAME TITANFALL 2

TITANFALL 2

Return of the Titan

First-person shooter Titanfall is back. This time it’s making its PlayStation 4 debut and is launching with a brand new single player story mode. Alex Calvin speaks to Respawn COO Dusty Welch and art director Joel Emslie to find out more

Release Date: October 28th Formats: PS4/XO/PC Publisher: EA Developer: Respawn Entertainment

hen Titanfall launched in 2014, it was a new IP brimming with potential. Made by Respawn, a new developer formed from alumni of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare studio Infinity Ward, it looked like an interesting evolution of the first person shooter genre. Titanfall took the first-person shooter mechanics Respawn had helped popularise, and made combat more vertical and kinetic with parkour mechanics. Oh, and players periodically had the chance to pilot massive robots called Titans. Though the title was met with a strong critical reaction and had initially promising sales, its player base dropped off considerably post-launch with gamers complaining about a lack of story mode and little to keep gamers engaged long-term in the multiplayer mode. Now Respawn is launching a sequel. This time, the game boasts a single player narrative that tells the story of the ‘bond’ between Pilot and Titan. “We haven’t just tacked single player on,” art director Joel Emslie says. “We weren’t out to just go down a check list that Titanfall 2 needed. It was a conscious effort

October 7th2016

18 19 20 MCV895 Titanfall_V5.indd 1

by a team that has a pedigree of doing single player in the past. It’s not normal to start as a multiplayer game then build single player off that; normally it works the other way around. Even for us, that was new. “Bringing the mechanics of Titanfall’s multiplayer into a single player environment with a narrative and telling the story properly while also not hamstringing players – that was incredible challenging to do. “The design team had to come at it in an entirely new way. They had to rethink how they would design the game. We have also taken multiplayer and evolved the hell out of it – really tightening the screws and making sure the pacing is right. The first game was incredibly kinetic to the point that players became fatigued playing it. Balancing that all out in multiplayer was a challenge.” But why was story mode such a focus for the team? After all, those buying shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield often head straight to multiplayer when they boot up the game. “Single player has an awesome story and all the main Titanfall mechanics, but where we can introduce multiplayer elements,” Emslie says.

Titanfall 2 is really a new IP. The Xbox One install base is much bigger than when the first game launched. Then there’s the PS4 audience. Dusty Welch, Respawn

“It’s a great place for players to cut their teeth on multiplayer mechanics in a narrative environment with a lot of cool stuff to do. You can then hop into multiplayer with all this knowledge understanding the Titan types and all the core mechanics.” He continues: “Every single level in single player is a completely new experience. It would have been very easy to simply take multiplayer and throw it on a rail shooter and get it done – put crazy moments in there but it ended up absolutely not being that at all. It seems that every level has something new to offer mechanically that you can experience. It changes it up so much.” NEW FRONTIERS As well as adding a dedicated story mode, Titanfall 2 is coming to PlayStation 4 as well as Xbox One and PC. The original skipped PlayStation – something Respawn has kept in mind when developing Titanfall 2. “We’re really excited to welcome back that original Xbox One, 360 and PC audience,” Respawn COO Dusty Welch says.

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 10:44

TITANFALL 2 THE BIG GAME

GOLDEN AGE OF TV PERHAPS the headline addition to Titanfall 2 is a single player narrative. Last time the story mode was a series of multiplayer levels tied together by a vague plot. It was an enticing look at the world that Respawn had created and one that appears to be more fully realised this time around. COO Dusty Welch even goes as far as to compare Titanfall 2’s story to that of acclaimed sci-fi television show, Battlestar Galactica. “The audience said that they loved the audience and characters that were introduced in the original Titanfall, but they wanted more,” he explains. “We gave very little. So single player affords us that narrative, that landscape where we can paint some more of the universe and the characters and that humanistic story. It’s like Battlestar Galactica, which we love. It’s set in the future but it’s relatable. The tone is relatable future with the same human struggles that we are experiencing today.”

Respawn art director Emslie (top right) and COO Welch (above right) say that the studio has a real eﬀ ort to make sure Titanfall 2 is approachable to those who didn’t play the original title

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October 7th 2016

04/10/2016 10:44

THE BIG GAME TITANFALL 2

Respawn has added a number of new Titan types in Titanfall 2

“But Titanfall 2 is really a new IP at launch if you think about it. The Xbox One install base is two or three times what it was when Titanfall launched, the PC audience continues to grow. Then there’s the PS4 install base, which is enormous. It has a ‘2’ next to its name, but that signifies the dual elements of Titan and Pilot, and the single player and multiplayer.” Emslie added: “We have to consider that there’s a whole community that haven’t played Titanfall before. That was a challenge for us – how do we make sure that Titanfall 2 is something that anyone could pick up and you don’t need to have a played the original? For fans of the first game, we’ve added a lot of story elements and secrets that they’ll appreciate. But it’s a game that stands alone. It can reach out to that new community and they can enjoy it for the first time.” CLASH OF THE TITANS Titanfall 2 is hitting shelves at the end of October. That’s one week after EA’s other shooter, Battlefield 1 launches, and a week before not one, but two Call of Duty games – Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered are

October 7th 2016

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released. Yet Respawn is bullish in the face of massive competition in the shooter genre. “There’s a place in the games community for a Battlefield and a place for Titanfall 2 and a place for the other folks,” Emslie says. “We have our own distinctive personality, and that was really important. If everyone has their own thing, that makes a better environment for gamers in general. They have a lot of choose from. You may not pick one title up on day one but you may play it a month or so later. Having a unique quality to your game that people can experience just there, that’s the most important part.” Welch adds: “I’m confident that consumers are going to play Titanfall day one, without a doubt. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, we’re going to end up having the most memorable, deepest story from our single player model. People are going to be really mesmorised by that. “As a first-person shooter gamer myself, people like me are hungering and thirsting for something deeper in single player. We want something meaty, something memorable, we want to be taken back to a time when we could explore and

Bringing the mechanics of Titanfall’s multiplayer into a single player environment was incredibly challenging. Joel Emslie, Respawn

not just walk down a hallway. That’s what Titanfall 2 has. The multiplayer is unique and has a great progression system. It’s so repeatable, learnable and balanced. It’s really rewarding and very different to something like Battlefield. “They’re different consumers, but there is some overlap. At the end of the day, I’m confident in what the team can do. I’m confident that EA, as our publisher, is going to find a way to clear the halls for Titanfall 2.” Emslie also believes that Titanfall being a relatively new franchise will work in the game’s favour. “We’re launching with a lot of sequels. They’re not just sequels either, they’re way into the series. If gamers are looking for something brand new to play, even though Titanfall 2 is a sequel, it’s the first time we’ve added single player to it, it’s something new and fresh that people can get behind. Even the way we had to develop it was new and fresh. We had to tackle it from a different angle. People will hop on board. “There are things you can do in Titanfall 2 that you absolutely cannot get anywhere else.”

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 10:44

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31/03/2016 11:02

INTERVIEW MAREK TYMIŃSKI, CI GAMES

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 aiming for quality boost It’s a franchise that has shifted nearly six million copies to date, yet by developer CI Games’ own admission, the Sniper: Ghost Warrior series has not been of the highest quality. But the firm is shooting for triple-A standards with the latest entry in the franchise. Marie Dealessandri catches up with CI Games CEO Marek Tymiński

ritics have not exactly been nice to CI Games and its Sniper: Ghost Warrior franchise in the past. Although the series has been commercially successful since its 2010 launch, its Metacritic scores are all below 55. But with Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, CEO Marek Tymiński hopes to move away from that critical indifference. Furthermore, he wants the latest title to become a new standard in the sniping genre. “Sniper: Ghost Warrior used to be a mid-price budget series and, for the first time, we are coming out at full price and at a triple-A level,” Tymiński tells MCV. “For us it’s really like re-establishing the IP.” The millions who played the previous entries in the series should thus expect quite a few changes, as Tymiński says the team even considered marketing it as a new IP. “We started from scratch. There’s so much more to Ghost Warrior 3 than any of our games before and we could even have changed the title. We didn’t as, on the other side, we have millions of fans who played previous titles that we sold. We sold close to six million copies of the previous two games but it’s really like building a new IP rather than coming out with the next instalment in an existing franchise.” PRESSURE TO DELIVER Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 is set to be released on January 27th – four years after its predecessor. The title was postponed a few times and was initially supposed to hit shelves in the first half of 2016.

October 7th 2016

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The Sniper: Ghost Warrior series has sold six million units to date

“We never really established a firm release date,” Tymiński defends. “We were saying ‘OK, we’re looking into 2016’ and then we decided we needed an extra few months in order for the game to be more polished. And I think it’s always better like that, because at the end of the day the game has to be working really smoothly. You can’t see any frame rate issues or anything like that, in order to really give real satisfaction to people who will buy the game.” The Polish developer-publisher seems to have put hard pressure on itself in order to deliver what Tymiński considers to be their most accomplished game to date. And the CEO is also pretty confident about the position of his game within the sniping category. “It’s been a lot of work, this is definitely the biggest game from

With Ghost Warrior 3, it’s really like building a new IP rather than launching the next instalment in an existing franchise. Marek Tymiński, CI Games

our studio. And Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 also is a game that is so much more than just sniping. It’s really much bigger than any other sniping game, including our own titles in the past. It’s much bigger than anything and I think it will appeal to a much wider audience than sniping games in the past.” So is CI Games looking to reach the heights of a Call of Duty with Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3? “No, we have to set our expectations realistically,” Tymiński laughs. “We don’t say we’re going to be Call of Duty in terms of the size, definitely not yet, but I think it’s going to be a big game, that’s for sure. “This game is kind of a sniping fantasy,” he enthuses. “Like, you know, one guy that can really make an impact through his decision and makes big changes... So

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 10:46

MAREK TYMIŃSKI, CI GAMES INTERVIEW

CI Games has teamed up with Koch Media to launch Ghost Warrior 3

we very much believe we have something unique here and that the feel of the game itself is different from the others.” THE UK FACTOR Tymiński puts the emphasis on the greater freedom and possibilities Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 will provide compared to previous titles in the franchise. After all, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 was labelled as ‘monotone’ and ‘repetitive’ by some critics, so CI Games must have taken that into consideration when they started working on a new iteration. “Because it’s set in an open world, you have so many things to do and it also goes in a way players can decide how they want to do each mission objective,” Tymiński explains. “You can be more of a sniper or you can be more of a warrior with a more direct approach or you can be stealthier. It’s called ‘Ghost’ after all. That gives more freedom and more choices to the players than any other kind of a game we ever did in the past.”

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In order to do so, CI Games had a core team of about 100 people working full time on the game. “At the very peak of production we had close to 300 people working on that game, together with outsources and partners,” Tymiński says. And he certainly intends to have some return on investment, especially in the UK. “We are ambitious in terms of the sales because obviously we are investing heavily on the franchise, we are making sure everything we should have will be in that game. We teamed with Koch Media and we are definitely aware of the importance of the UK market. He continues: “Koch Media has very strong presence in the UK and that’s why we partnered with them, to make sure to maximise our sales in the UK. A number of games – including Sniper Elite 3 – have done pretty good numbers when they launched a couple of years ago in the region. That just shows that the UK is definitely a very

It’s not really about the quantity of games that we have, but more about their quality and size. Marek Tymiński, CI Games

good market for that sort of products and it’s very important to us.” And Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 is only the first step for CI Games, which seems to be working hard to become a triple-A developerpublisher in the long run, with help from its other big series, Lords of the Fallen, which has a sequel in the works. “We’re definitely going to grow our franchises: we want to grow Sniper: Ghost Warrior, we want to grow Lords of the Fallen, we want to make each game bigger and bigger with every new instalment and it’s not really about the quantity of games that we will have but more about the quality of them and the size of them,” Tymiński insists. “And this is how we see ourselves moving forward for the next five years: we want to be focused and concentrated on those series and maybe we will also have another franchise... We want to really grow a strong portfolio and quality games.”

October 7th 2016

04/10/2016 10:46

OPINION

INSIGHT

Why PlayStation VR is virtual reality’s first real test In his latest regular column, former Sony Studio London and indie virtual reality developer DAVE RANYARD talks about the imminent launch of PlayStation VR

o, this is it. Next week, Sony launches PlayStation VR. This is the first real consumer test of VR. Yes, we have had Oculus and Vive but these have been relatively small compared to Sony’s launch. For the high-end sets we are still in early adopter and tech enthusiast territory. My guess is that they have sold less than 250,000 units combined and are likely to hit 500,000 by the end of the year at best. And yes we have the likes of Gear VR and Cardboard. But these are both an additive experiences to mobile, although the Gear has done some significant numbers so we should not discount it too quickly. PlayStation VR will give us our clearest picture yet as to demand and customer enthusiasm. Sony wants to shift significant numbers too, somewhere north of a million in the first year. It has a strong launch line-up and the price, even with a PS4, is under a grand. The strategy, a smart one, is to build a user base with a competitive price and then keep growing it. Start ahead and stay ahead. That same strategy got the PS4 to lead this generation so significantly. So where’s the catch? Why aren’t I re-mortgaging the house to buy Sony shares? Console launches are tough, but they

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are a known quantity. The most complicated decisions for Sony last time were the policy on second hand games and the exclusion of the PlayStation Camera and, to be honest, Microsoft helped them out enormously. This time, there’s a lot more complexity under the hood.

Ranyard says that Sony asking developers to make DualShock 4 version of PlayStation Move titles is concerning

MOVE WITH IT My biggest issue is the PlayStation Move controller. My personal view of great VR is simple: eyes, ears, hands. At the moment, this is where the magic is, and what breaks VR out to a much wider audience. Yet Sony is still asking developers to make a DualShock 4 version of Move VR games.... really? For Job Simulator or London Heist? I have heard so many studios express concern about this, not to mention the accompanying (and in my opinion misleading) marketing line ‘enhanced by Move’. Though Move is a great VR input, it does need a revamp. First announced seven years ago it hasn’t been redesigned for ‘unsighted’ (i.e. in VR) use. The tiny buttons need to go, the Move button should be a clickable touch pad and a second trigger, like on Oculus Touch, would not go amiss. There is also the camera cone. It’s easy for a player to move forward a little and put their hand outside the tracking cone that results in

PlayStation VR will give us our clearest picture yet as to demand and customer enthusiasm for virtual reality. Dave Ranyard, indie developer

immersion-breaking tracking loss. Compared to the stereo tracking of Oculus and Room Scale of Vive, this is a subtle but significant difference. Sony has yet again given too much choice to consumers about what to buy and what they need. There are bundles for those with Moves, those with a camera and for those without anything. It is like Apple releasing two SKUs of a phone, one with headphones and one without (maybe not such a good example right now). And do I need a PS4 Pro to run PSVR without framing out? Early adopters will get it, but more mainstream consumers will be confused as to which bundle they need or want. How do I know if I need Move controllers or not? But even with all this secondary confusion, Sony will lead the early sales, partly due to price, but also due to compelling content which matches closely to their dedicated audience. I hope that this will kickstart home VR entertainment for real, although it will take a while to become really mainstream. Whatever the outcome, it’s a fascinating time for gaming, tech and of course VR.

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04/10/2016 16:54

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03/10/2016 16:10

INTERVIEW FRANÇOIS ALLIOT, NERIAL

INDIE INTERVIEW When it Reigns it pours A game that fuses the user interface of dating app Tinder with the story of a series of medieval kings sounds like a strange concept, but so far Reigns has managed to sell more than 600,000 copies. Alex Calvin reports

esigner François Alliot is a relative newcomer to video games. Having studied literature at university, he was a consultant for several years, but decided to give game development a shot after he moved to the UK with his partner in 2013. Forming developer Nerial, Alliot started with mobile puzzle game Singular, which made $200, before giving French billiards a go with Magic Shot. That title brought $2,000 in for the developer, before it made $20,000 from its subsequent title, RTS Devouring Stars. Nerial then decided started work on its next project, Reigns, a title that merges the simplistic swipe left or right interface of dating app Tinder with a medieval narrative where players are take on the role of a series of kings trying to keep their kingdoms in order. “The initial idea was a prototype that we did with the artist, Mieko Murakami who was spending time on Tinder. So we messed with the idea of using Tinder for games,” Alliot says. “We wanted to the apply the mechanic to something totally different. The idea quickly became to play as a king. A monarch has a lot of power – they can send people to their death by the thousands. It was an interesting idea to attach to such a simple mechanic with very complex decisions. The game was a way to comment on how politics work – you have very complex decisions to make summed up in very simplistic views.” UP FRONT Reigns launched on PC and mobile in August. On the latter, the title came with a premium price, opposed to the many smartphone releases that opt for a free-to-play business model. “I wasn’t sure we could make a very good free-to-play game,” Alliot explains. “It involves a lot of skills that I don’t really have. I have always played games that I paid upfront for. Also, it’s hard to make a successful free-to-play title. Even if have 1m downloads, actually making sure people come back to your game so you can push updates and they get engaged in the game is hard. It’s quite difficult, especially as an

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Reigns was a way to comment on how politics work – you have very complex decisions summed up in very simplistic views.

François Alliot, Nerial

indie developer, to sustain yourself with a freeto-play game.” So far, Reigns has been something of a success for Nerial having shifted 600,000 units at last report. The firm has also said that the bulk of the sales were on mobile. “Reigns was made for smartphones,” Alliot says. “We sold it on Steam for the same price. It’s a nice game to play with a gamepad or with a mouse and keyboard. That was the proof that, beyond the swiping mechanic, the narrative itself was quite interesting. That was a great proof of concept for the mobile version.” And Alliot believes that No Man’s Sky had a role to play in his game’s performance on Steam. “We were a bit surprised by the results,” he says. “The timing of our launch was pretty good. We were supposed to launch a week earlier but we had issues with the translation so we bumped it back. That was when No Man’s Sky launched and basically no other games were released on Steam. We were so small that we decided to do it. When people had issues with No Man’s Sky, they tried our game in the meantime. Personalities like TotalBiscuit and Jim Sterling did a great job promoting our game instead of No Man’s Sky. “That was a great way to launch the game. We were also quite lucky.”

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 10:47

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03/10/2016 16:11

MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE

MCV talks to Tom Ball from Colwyn Bay’s Games Exchange about No Man’s Sky’s performance, what hardware is selling well and what releases he feels will sell well towards the end of the year How has business been lately? Not bad. Summer was good because of all the kids are off and people coming here on holiday. So, it’s been good. What games have you been selling particularly well? No Man’s Sky went well, before everyone didn’t like it. Then, of course, they traded it all back in. How many returns did you get for No Man’s Sky?

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

One because they expect us to have the Xbox One S. So in terms of the new upgraded consoles, people seem to be going for the Xbox One. I’ve not heard much about the PS4 yet but if you got the good TV to go with it, I guess it’s a smart idea to get a PS4 Pro.

A few people. It’s not what they expected really, I suppose. What about hardware? Console sales is a pretty even mix of PS4 and Xbox One, there’s no real incline towards any of the two. Is the new Xbox One S performing well so far? We didn’t get any brand new. We got the PS4 Slim yesterday but we haven’t sold one yet. People have come here to trade in their Xbox

No Man’s Sky went well, before everyone didn’t like it and traded it all back in.

You also sell merchandise – how is that doing? Yes, we do a few models and Funko Pops, but Pokémon cards were really the main thing in the

Tom Ball, The Games Exchange

PRICE CHECK: NOTTINGHAM

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. FIFA 17 EA, PS4

2. FIFA 17 EA ................................................................................XO 3. Battlefield 1 EA .............................................................................PS4

XBOX ONE (500GB)

PLAYSTATION 4 (500 GB)

4. PlayStation VR Sony.........................................................................PS4

Microsoft

NEW 3DS XL WII U + MARIO KART 8

Sony

£179,99

Nintendo

(Including LEGO Star Wars)

£239.99

£179.99

N/A

£249.99

£179.99

£228.99

£189.99

N/A

£178.99

9. PS4 Pro 1TB Console Sony.........................................................................PS4

£241.99

£199.99

£209.97

£164

10. Battlefield 1 EA ................................................................................XO

£360.17

£278.50

£269.68

£187.50

7. Final Fantasy XV Day 1 Edition Square Enix..........................................................PS4 8. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Legacy Edition Inc Zombies in Space Activision ..............................................................PS4

UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

HERE THEY LIE

MINECRAFT BOSS UPDATE

STEAMWORLD HEIST

Virtual reality horror title Here They Lie launches digitally alongside PSVR

This DLC adds boss battles to the Pocket and Windows 10 versions

Image and Form’s SteamWorld Heist has finally launches on Wii U

OUT: OCTOBER 13TH

October 7th 2016

28 29 MCV895 Retail_V4.indd 1

ONLINE

£249.99

6. Gears of War 4 Microsoft ..................................................................XO

IN STORE

5. Mafia III: Family Kick-back Pre-order Bonus 2K .............................................................................PS4

Nintendo

OUT: OCTOBER 18TH

OUT: NOW

www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 10:48

MARKETPLACE

The Games Exchange Colwyn Bay 18a Station Rd, Colwyn Bay, LL29 8BU

Phone: 01492 535 900 Website: www.thegamesexchange.co.uk Facebook: /thegamesexchangecolwynbay

summer, with the little kids. The cards went brilliantly and merchandise went fantasticaly as well, teddies and all sorts Pokémon.

there’s Pokémon Sun and Moon coming out as well. And hopefully Watch Dogs 2, Skyrim and Final Fantasy will be selling well towards Christmas too.

What are your expectations for the end of the year? We expect Christmas to be very good, with the releases of FIFA and Call of Duty coming out soon as well. Everything coming out before Christmas will all go well I think. We have a few pre-orders and

What about VR? I’m not sure about that so far. As far as we know we’re not doing VR, I’m not sure yet. But a lot of people are talking about it. The bigger store in Rhyl will probably do PSVR in-store demos, but not here, we’re a little store.

INCOMING TITLE

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

Things are heating up now with new Mafia, Mario, Gears of Wars and Tomb Raider titles hitting shelves before PlayStation rolls out its VR headset FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

October 7th Mafia III

PS4/XO

Action

2K Games

01279 822 800

Exertis

Mario Party Star Rush

3DS

Kids

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

Paper Mario: Color Splash

Wii U

RPG

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

Ride 2

PS4/XO

Racing

PQube

01462 487 373

PQube

WRC 6

PS4/XO/PC

Racing

Bigben

01462 487 373

PQube

Action

Microsoft

01279 822 800

Exertis

October 11th Gears of War 4 Rise of the Tomb Raider

PS4

Action

Square Enix

01256 385 200

Koch Media

WWE 2K17

PS4/XO/PS3/360

Wrestling

2K Games

01279 822 800

Exertis

PlayStation VR

PS4

Hardware

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Battlezone VR

PS4

Shooter

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Hustle Kings VR

PS4

Sports

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Loading Human VR

PS4/PC

Adventure

Maximum Games

01480 359 403

Maximum Games

Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience

PS4/XO/PC

Stealth

Konami

02089 875 730

Open

PlayStation VR Worlds

PS4

VR compilation

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

RIGS VR

PS4

Shooter

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Super Stardust Ultra VR

PS4

Twin-stick shooter

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood

PS4

Horror

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

PS4

RPG

Square Enix

01256 385 200

Koch Media

October 13th

October 14th Dragon Quest Builders Now That’s What I Call Sing 2

PS4/XO

Singing

Ravenscourt

01256 385 200

Koch Media

Skylanders Imaginators

PS4/XO/Wii U/PS3/360

Toys-to-life

Activision

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

www.mcvuk.com

28 29 MCV895 Retail_V4.indd 2

October 7th 2016

04/10/2016 10:48

PLAYSTATION VR

PLAYSTATION VR With PlayStation VR nearly upon us, Marie Dealessandri looks at the accessories and merchandise launching alongside what might be the most awaited piece of hardware of 2016

IN exactly one week, Sony’s PlayStation VR will finally hit shelves. Even if history ultimately decides VR was just a gimmick, the impressive amount of hype surrounding PSVR will at least guarantee a couple millions headsets to be shifted in the first few weeks, and who knows what success may follow. Christmas will also obviously be a crucial period for PSVR and Sony has made everything it can to better its odds.

Redesigned versions of the PS4 camera and the Move and Dualshock 4 controllers are set to launch alongside PlayStation VR.

First, the platform holder is bringing back demo discs, which will be included in the PlayStation VR regular launch bundle. Eight titles will be featured, allowing players to catch a glimpse of the various experiences virtual reality can offer: Driveclub VR, PlayStation VR Worlds, RIGS, Tumble VR, Battlezone, EVE: Valkyrie, Wayward Sky and Headmaster all cover a wide variety of genres, from fighting to space shooters.

NEW SONY PLAYSTATION 4 CAMERA (PS4/PSVR) Although the PS4 camera is required to run PlayStation VR, it’s not included in the standard SKU. As a result, sales for the product have been growing: for instance, Amazon saw 975 per cent rise in sales back in March. Consequently, Sony launched a redesigned version of the camera, which will hit shelves alongside PSVR on October 13th. SRP: £44.99 Manufacturer: Sony Distributor: CentreSoft Contact: 0121 625 3388

PLAYSTATION VR CAMERA EXTENSION CABLE

REZ - VINYL SOUNDTRACK 2XLP + RETROSPECTIVE BOOK + 7” VINYL

PLAYSTATION VR CHARGE & DISPLAY STATION

For all the people who will have to completely re-organise their gaming area thanks to VR, Prif is releasing a range of extension cables.

PSVR launch title Rez Infinite will have its own merchandise range, developed in partnership with trendy outlet Iam8bit.

Here’s a secure way to store your PSVR headset. It can also charge a Dualshock 4 and two Move controllers at the same time.

SRP: £19.99 Manufacturer: Prif Distributor: CentreSoft Contact: 0121 625 3388

SRP: $75 (£57) Manufacturer: Iam8bit Distributor: Iam8bit Contact: store@iam8bit.com

SRP: $49.99 (£38) Manufacturer: Power A Distributor: ILT Distribution Contact: 0845 519 7053

October 7th 2016

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www.mcvuk.com

04/10/2016 10:48

PLAYSTATION VR