MCV 907 February 10th 2017 by Biz Media Ltd

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES ISSUE 907 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10TH 2017

DO WE NEED A BGI? LIVINGSTONE AND GIBSON MAKE THEIR CASE P18

Q1 TRIPLE THREAT

HORIZON: ZERO DAWN ■ FOR HONOR ■ HALO WARS 2 We speak to the people behind three of this quarter’s biggest releases

MINI BUT MIGHTY As mobile and browser specialist Miniclip turns 15, the firm sets its sights on the console publishing sector

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MERCH MARCHES ON Gaming Merchandise UK talks counterfeit merch, market shifts and the competitive event scene

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PLUS TAKE-TWO ■ SNIPER ELITE 4 ■ LADYKILLER IN A BIND 01 MCV907 Cover_V6.indd 1

08/02/2017 17:50

NEWS TAKE-TWO

Take-Two is going to the movies CEO Strauss Zelnick says track record of video game to film adaptations is “spotty at best” l Publishing giant favours licensing deals over backing films itself

By Alex Calvin FILMS based on properties owned by Take-Two may be on the way. In an interview with the publishing giant’s CEO Strauss Zelnick, the exec said that the firm has licensed some of its IP for film, but isn’t able to announce anything just yet. However, Zelnick pointed out that the success rate of films based on video game franchises was “spotty at best”. Furthermore, he said that TakeTwo wouldn’t be using its own money to get involved in film and TV, instead favouring licensing deals which afford the publisher creative control over the final product. In 2016, films based on Angry Birds, Warcraft and Ratchet &

Clank hit the silver screen, while Activision launched a Netflix show based on its Skylanders IP. Meanwhile, 2017 kicked off with an Assassin’s Creed film from Ubisoft. Upcoming video game films include Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy’s as well as three Tetris movies. “We have licensed a couple of titles for motion picture production and we don’t have much more to say about that yet,” Zelnick told MCV. “We are open-minded. We are certainly not going to use our own balance sheet to invest in motion pictures and TV. If other people want to license them and we can retain creative control, we are open-minded. The track record of the conversion of video game IP to motion pictures is spotty at best.”

Some Take-Two IP have been licensed for film production, Zelnick said

Devcom will showcase European development community By Alex Calvin THE organisers of new games trade show Devcom have said their aim is to show off the “status quo” of Europe’s development community. The show has been developed by Aruba Events, Koelnmesse and German games trade body the BIU, with support from former UBM MD and current International Business Media CEO, Frank Sliwka. It replaces GDC Europe on the events calendar. That show took place at Koelnmesse alongside Gamescom, but was cancelled by organiser UBM in December. The inaugural Devcom takes place between Sunday August 20th and Thursday August 24th 2017. “Our target is to create a showcase of the status quo of the European game developer community, its products and innovations,” Sliwka said.

“With the power and support of Gamescom we are confident to establish a platform which supports developers in terms of worldwide attention, media coverage, knowledge exchange, business opportunities and matchmaking. “With Aruba Events as part of the Computec Media Group we have access to game developers worldwide. And we want to use this platforms on a daily basis to find the right concept for Devcom.” Gamescom project manager Tim Endres added: “Devcom will present a wide scoop of different talks, workshops, keynotes, tailor-made master classes which are dedicated to the support and needs of developers. We hope we can convenience with our program and business opportunities the worldwide game development community to attend Devcom.”

Pictured above, left to right: Frank Sliwka and Tim Endres

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www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 18:05

DIGITAL SALES NEWS

Publishers report increased digital sales in Q3 By Katharine Byrne IT’S financial report season in the games industry, and several companies have revealed that digital sales are on the rise. Microsoft kicked things off stating its software sales and services revenue were up 18 per cent year-on-year, and that digital transactions reached $1bn [£800m] this quarter. The company also revealed that its Xbox Live service now has 55m active users, showing a growth of 15 per cent compared to the previous quarter. EA, meanwhile, revealed that 32 per cent of its unit sales had been digital over the last nine months, and that this figure was ahead of its own expectations of 29 per cent. “The 32 per cent number is a trailing 12-month number for all of our titles on Gen 4 consoles, and as comparison, in fiscal 2015, that number was 20 per cent; fiscal

2016, it was 24 per cent; and this year, it’s running at 32 per cent. We thought it would be probably 29 per cent for the full [fiscal] year, so [we’re] running ahead of that,” EA’s CFO Blake Jorgensen said during an investor call. Capcom also reported high digital download sales, particularly in the US and Europe. The company sold a total of 6.1m digital units over the last nine months, a rise of 21.1 per cent year-on-year. Packaged sales were also up 19.1 per cent year-onyear, totalling 8.9m units. Take-Two had a stellar year for digital downloads as well, with digital revenue soaring 64 per cent year-on-year to reach $240m [£192m]. GTA V, Civilization VI and NBA 2K17 were the biggest contributors to this figure, with 39 per cent of the $240m coming from recurrent consumer spending on items such as virtual currency, micro-transactions and DLC.

Take-Two also said that Q3 was its best ever quarter for recurrent consumer spending, contributing 20 per cent to the publisher’s overall net revenue figure of $476.5m [£381m]. Not all publishers experienced high digital sales, however, as Sega reported stronger growth from its packaged game sales. This rose 29 per cent year-on-year during Q3, hitting ¥37.3bn [£267m]. Digital sales, meanwhile, grew by just 6 per cent year-on-year, hitting ¥35bn [£250m]. Sega also noted that packaged game sales hit 8.13m units over the last nine months, which surpassed the units sales for the same period last year. Sony and Nintendo, meanwhile, didn’t release any exact figures concerning its physical/digital split, but Nintendo said “digital sales were also down to a large extent on the same period last year.”

EA SALES

2% n DIGITAL 3 8% n PHYSICAL 6

CAPCOM SALES

n DIGITAL 41% 9% n PHYSICAL 5

SEGA SALES

8% n DIGITAL 4 2% n PHYSICAL 5

THE EDITOR DEMOCRACY IS A TRICKY BALANCING ACT, EVEN WITH ‘HONORABLE’ INTENTIONS MY faith in democracy has been somewhat shaken of late. We all know that no electoral system is perfect, but Trump’s victory after coming second in the popular vote is a pretty terrible outcome. At least those who voted Trump knew what they were getting, for better or worse. Brexit, at least, was a clear victory for the majority. Though it’s arguable that no one really knew what they were going get, either as an ongoing member of the EU or apart from it. Again, hardly an ideal situation. Democracy, of a sort, also seems in vogue for video games. Games are still made in a bubble of secrecy, but post-release developers are keen to say they will follow community demand when providing additional content and features - see For Honor on

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page 24 for just such an example. It’s a noble idea but decisions are usually based on unproven community ‘sentiment’ or opaque data. Maybe developers, like politicians, are worried the community doesn’t know what’s best for it - rightly or wrongly. All of which brings me to the MCV Awards. The Awards are voted for, but aren’t a democracy in the traditional sense, we have a series of expert panels instead. As with most systems for choosing a winner, it’s the best one that successive editors of MCV have managed to come up with. If you have a better idea then please get in touch. The judges have now (largely) finished their deliberations, and the events team here have been totting up the votes. Don’t ask me who has won as I’m keeping

Maybe developers, like politicians, are worried the community doesn’t know what’s best for it.

myself purposefully in the dark until the very last minute, it’s safer that way. Speaking of the Awards, thanks to everyone who has booked tables to attend the event so far. We’re proud to say the room is packed with big publishers and platform holders: EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Warner Bros, Square Enix, Capcom and more will be there on the night. Sony and Microsoft too, plus we’re far enough from the Switch launch to welcome Nintendo, after what must surely be a gruelling few weeks of promotion. It’s my first ever MCV Awards. So I’m really looking forward to seeing you all there and celebrating the best team and individual efforts in the games industry throughout 2016. sbarton@nbmedia.com

February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 18:05

NEWS BIG STORIES

BUSINESS RATES CHANGES TO HIT BRICKS-AND-MORTAR RETAILERS

BUSINESS RATES will undergo their biggest shift in decades, when updated figures hit at the start of April. This will affect the whole industry, but retailers will see the biggest changes. Due to a delay by the government, the figures haven’t been revised since 2008, so there will be some sharp upward (and downward) shifts in the rates paid, which are based on the rental value of all business properties.

WHAT THE PRESS SAID...

WHAT THE INDUSTRY SAID...

...AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

THE Financial Times said that the rise of favours online retailers over the High Street. Noting that while Amazon will see its warehouse rates fall, retailers in London could see rises of 14 per cent. The Guardian said: “Highstreet retailers will need to find an estimated extra £125m to pay [the] increased rates. This lumbers the average small shop with an extra £3,663 bill.” However, The Telegraph argued that while rates changes can affect businesses, it’s landlords that shoulder most of the burden in the long term, with research showing up to 75 per cent of the cost falls on them. That means only businesses that own their premises, which is relatively few, will be fully affected by any rise.

SPEAKING to the FT, the Independent Retailers Association said: “If you’re sending your product straight to the consumer, and your business rates are based on industrial warehouse rates, you’ve a massive competitive advantage.” Sir Charlie Mayfield of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) also told The Telegraph: “Business rates bills have continued to rise when property values have fallen. Reforming the rates system would be a welcome boost for retailers and help drive investment in training and technology.”

BUSINESS organisations are making business rates a key lobbying point to the government for next month’s budget. When the rates rises kick in, smaller owner/occupier businesses will have their rates increases staggered to help them cope with the change. But the Institute of Directors will call for a raise in the threshold for small business tax relief in order to offset the changes. Even if the changes are staggered, and retailers don’t own their properties, it’s another blow for physical stores.

EVENT CALENDAR FEBRUARY 2017 ......................................................................... THE PC GAMER WEEKENDER Olympia London, London Saturday, February 18th Sunday, February 19th ■ A developer stage, tabletop gaming sessions, PC workshops, early access to the latest games, speakers and competitive gaming tournaments will all be part of the 2017 edition of the PC Gamer Weekender. ■ Tickets for the PC-focused event start at £9.99. GDC 2017 Moscone Center, San Francisco Monday, February 27th Friday, March 3rd ■ San Francisco’s Moscone Center will host the Game Developers Conference again this year. ■ This 31st edition of the conference will see developers from all around the world gather to discuss the key trends of the dev industry. ■ The usual Choice Awards and Independent

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Games Festival will be part of the festivities again in 2017.

MARCH 2017 ......................................................................... MCV AWARDS 2017 The Brewery, London Thursday, March 9th ■ The MCV Awards, now in their 15th successful year, are returning for 2017 to recognise the best and brightest the UK games industry has to offer in publishing, retail, distribution, marketing, PR, events and media. ■ This year’s ceremony will take place at The Brewery and you can book table online. ■ The 21 main categories are judged by a panel of members of the games industry while Store Manager, Unsung Hero and Person of the Year are selected by the MCV team. ■ For more information on the ceremony and the 2017 finalists, simply head to the event’s website: www.mcvawards.com

www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 18:04

BIG STORIES NEWS

PS4 PRO BOOST MODE HAS POTENTIAL TO LIFT SALES

SONY’S mid-cycle console upgrade, the PS4 Pro, literally got a boost this week with the release of a new ‘Boost Mode’. The new feature potentially allows any PS4 title to benefit from the additional power of the new console. Previous to this, developers would have to patch their titles to make use of the faster hardware. So the update improves the performance of numerous older titles.

WHAT THE PRESS SAID...

WHAT THE INDUSTRY SAID...

...AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

ENTHUSIASM for the new mode was unanimous across the press and on YouTube. In its coverage, The Verge said: “Boost Mode represents a nice attempt to help PS4 Pro buyers get a little bit more out of the beefed up console.” PushSquare said that once again the best new features of a PS4 update were the unannounced ones, ”and the results range from meh to borderline mind blowing.” Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Just Cause 3, Bloodborne, The Evil Within and The Witcher 3 were all touted as being much improved by beta users on YouTube.

SONY described the update as follows: “Experience improved gameplay, including higher frame rates, for some games that were released before the introduction of PS4 Pro.” But the platform’s holder also warned that gamers may “experience unexpected behaviour during gameplay.” Talking to The Verge, Sony went into some more detail, saying it “lets PS4 Pro run at a higher GPU and CPU clock speed in order to improve gameplay.” Microsoft meanwhile has yet to comment on how Project Scorpio will improve the performance of older titles.

BOOST MODE should not only improve the desirability of the PS4 Pro to consumers but could also give a sales kick to those titles that most benefit from the new firmware update. Titles that struggled to hit their stride on the base hardware, either due to poor optimisation or over ambition, are those that most benefit and could be pushed back into the limelight. Going forward, the vast majority of new titles should support the PS4 Pro anyway, as adding support is pretty straightforward, but the new mode will help pick up any stragglers. There’s no set date for when the 4.5 update will be pushed out to all PS4 owners but we should see it in the next couple of months.

Meet the MCV Awards sponsors MCV is pleased to announce its sponsors for the MCV Awards 2017. DingIt.TV will be the Headline Sponsor for this year’s Awards, while Aardvark Swift, Gamescom, OPM Recruitment and Playwire Media will be backing the event as Event Sponsors. Twitch is the exclusive Livestream Partner for the 2017 Awards, and Fandom has signed up to be the official Photobooth Sponsor. UKIE will be the Association Partner, and GamesAid is the MCV Awards Charity Partner. HEADLINE PARTNER

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

The MCV Awards take place on Thursday March 9th 2017 at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London. There are 22 awards up for grabs across retail, publishing, PR and more. We’d love to see you at the Awards on the night, so if you’d like to book a chair or table, please contact Maeve Nicholson on 020 3871 7383 or mnicholson@nbmedia.com, or head to the MCV Awards 2017 website at: www.mcvawards.com. PHOTOBOOTH PARTNER

EVENT PARTNERS

3m EA’s Blake Jorgensen revealed the publisher expects Mass Effect Andromeda to sell 3m units in Week One during its Q3 earnings call

$500m ZeniMax’s suit against Oculus came to a head this week, with the jury awarding ZeniMax $500m after Oculus violated an NDA

4.51m SuperData estimates that Samsung shipped 4.51m Gear VR headsets last year, which is more than PSVR, Vive and Rift combined

$1bn Pokémon Go becomes the fastest app to gross $1bn, according to a new report from Sensor Tower

1.5m

LIVE STREAM PARTNER

Nintendo’s highly sought-after NES Classic Mini has sold 1.5m units worldwide

TABLE GIFT PARTNER

Battlefield 1 Controller - PDP Design and manufacture the Officially Licenced Battlefield 1 Controller for Xbox ONE MEDIA PARTNER

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CHARITY PARTNER

europesales@pdp.com

www.pdp.com

February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 18:04

NEWS INTERNATIONAL IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Starbreeze signs publishing deals for Psychonauts 2 and Dead by Daylight SWEDISH publisher and developer Starbreeze made headlines twice this week when it announced publishing deals for Double Fine’s Psychonauts 2 and the digital PS4 and Xbox One versions of asymmetrical horror multiplayer game Dead by Daylight. Previously, Starbreeze published the PC version of Behaviour Digital’s Dead by Daylight, but the company has now joined forces with 505 Games to bring the upcoming PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game to retail later this year. Starbreeze will publish the game on digital platforms for PS4 and Xbox One when it launches in Q2 later this year, while 505 Games will be taking on retail distribution duties for the physical console versions. The retail agreement excludes Asia and the Nordic territories, but 505 Games will pay a minimum guarantee advance royalty that amounts to $2.5m (£2m). It’s not yet known how much the console

versions of the game will cost, but it currently sells for £14.99 on Steam, where it’s sold 1.8m units since its launch in June last year. As for Double Fine’s Psychonauts 2, Starbreeze announced it’s investing $8m (£6.5m) to bring the game to PC and console via digital distribution when it launches next year. The company will take an initial 85 per cent revenue share in the game, which will then reduce to 60 per cent after its investment is recouped. Meanwhile, Double Fine will retain 100 per cent of the intellectual property rights relating to Psychonauts 2. Starbreeze’s CEO Bo Andersson-Klint commented: “We’re very proud to be able to add this prominent collaboration to our publishing business. Starbreeze is looking forward to support Double Fine in bringing the new and exciting game Psychonauts 2 to young and old gamers world wide.”

Psychonauts 2 was successfully crowdfunded on Fig last year, where it raised $3.8m

Starbreeze is the perfect partner for Psychonauts 2 backers. Tim Schafer, Double Fine

Double Fine president and CEO Tim Schafer added: “Starbreeze is the perfect partner for Double Fine and our backers on Psychonauts 2. Their expertise in not just developing and publishing games, but supporting them after launch will be a great benefit for players of the game.”

Milestone signs distribution partnership with Koch Media ITALIAN developer Milestone has signed an exclusive distribution partnership with Koch Media for all of its upcoming 2017 titles. The partnership will begin with the release of the next entry in Milestone’s MXGP franchise, MXGP3 – The Official Motocross Videogame, and will also cover its upcoming MotoGP 17 title as well as a currently unannounced game that’s due later this year. “We are extremely pleased to have opened our new distribution agreement with Koch Media, a long established, wellrespected and strong company in the UK market,” Milestone’s VP Luisa Bixio said.

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“They have a wealth of experience in the racing genre and we are confident that together we can build an even greater demand for Milestone products.” Craig McNicol, Koch Media’s managing director of Northern Europe, added: “We are thrilled to be working alongside Milestone on their upcoming slate of titles. Milestone’s talent and commitment to quality has established them as one of the leading publishers in the genre. We’re dedicated to driving the success of these titles as we work towards their release.”

www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 17:15

APPOINTMENTS NEWS

Mansell steps up at Jagex Good Catch appoints new head of development ■ WhatCulture boosts games channel with new editorial JAGEX GAMES STUDIO | PHIL MANSELL has been promoted to chief operating officer and acting chief executive officer at Jagex. Previously vice president of the studio, Mansell takes on the role following the departure of outgoing CEO ROD COUSENS. “Driven by a passion for creativity, our teams are focused on what really matters for the core business – supporting our live titles and their huge communities and leading the creation of new games for multiple devices,” Mansell said. “Off the back of record financial performance, Jagex is in an incredibly fortunate and positive position. We have

Catch’s team of developers and oversee the technical development of all Good Catch’s products. He commented: “I am thrilled to join such a talented team and very much looking forward to working with them to produce many more exciting original and branded IP games. Already I can see that this is a very strongly positioned company with great aspirations and amazing potential.” Mistry added: “We are really pleased that Mark has decided to join Good Catch and be a key lead figure during our growth for the coming year and beyond. “His expertise in Unity development and management will help shape the business as we move forward.”

become stronger with every year that passes and now that we are united with our parent company, ZhongJi Holding, it is both an honour and a privilege to be take Jagex to its next stage.” GOOD CATCH | Endemol Shine Group’s games division has appointed MARK OXENHAM as its new head of development. He was previously lead programmer at VR Studio in the Netherlands, and has also worked for the likes of R3D Pixel, Kwalee and Codemasters. Reporting to managing director ANIL MISTRY, Oxenham will manage and cultivate Good

WHATCULTURE | TOM ORRY has been appointed as gaming editorial director at WhatCulture. Formerly editorial director and founder of VideoGamer, Orry will now be working on WhatCulture’s gaming channel, bolstering its current output with unique content from a variety of writers and new voices. He said: “I’m hugely excited to be working with WhatCulture. The site already sees millions of people visiting each month, enjoying the wide mix of content on offer. I hope to continue in the site’s traditions while also providing readers with new and interesting takes on what’s happening in the games industry.”

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

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February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 17:15

GAMES BIG RELEASES

FOR HONOR

DEVELOPER Ubisoft Montreal PUBLISHER Ubisoft

WHAT THE PUBLISHER SAID...

WHAT THE PRESS SAID...

...AND HOW WELL WILL IT DO?

REVEALED at E3 2015, For Honor is definitely something new for Ubisoft. This action-packed hack and slash will let gamers “experience the chaos, fury and brutality of battle,” the publisher says. “For Honor is a competitive third-person melee fighting game mixing speed, strategy and team play with visceral close range combat in multiplayer action,” Ubisoft’s official blurb reads.

EARLY write-ups all agree on one point: For Honor is unique. The title’s blend of genres also makes it difficult to describe in a few words. Matt Purslow from PCGamesN tried though, stating it’s “essentially Street Fighter with bloody huge swords.” Having played the beta, he added: “There’s plenty that needs improving on. (but) For Honor’s problems can be fixed, and I really hope they are, because it’s the most refreshing, bizarre, and fascinating game that Ubisoft has made in over a decade.” US Gamer’s Jaz Rignall added that “the multiplayer is where For Honor really stands tall.” despite a “rather unusual control system”, while David Jenkins from Metro UK said he was “impressed by its clever mix of medieval combat and online shooter game modes.”

FOR HONOR involves vikings, knights and samurais – and obviously no historical accuracy – with characters divided into classes and factions, all of them with specific skills and weapons. There are numerous multiplayer modes but smaller than usual numbers (four-on-four) make it a more personal experience. This highly original concept could attract a wide range of players to the game. But it’s not a straightforward genre title, so it will need some explaining. Press reaction has been positive to date, so hopefully Ubisoft can rely on pretty good reviews. Then there’s a very attractive art style. And vikings. Everyone loves them. For details on For Honor’s highly structured competitive seasons, see page 24

DISTRIBUTOR Exertis PLATFORM(S) PS4, XO, PC PRICE £39.99 RELEASE DATE February 14th

DIGITAL RELEASES SEMISPHERES DEVELOPER: Vivid Helix PUBLISHER: Vivix Helix PLATFORM(S): PS4, PC PRICE: TBC RELEASE DATE: February 14th

AFTER spending a year on Steam Greenlight, Semispheres will finally launch on PC this February, and will also land on PS4, with an Xbox One release due later this year. In this self-proclaimed ‘meditative’ puzzle game, players use each analogue stick to control two different avatars on a split screen, with the ultimate goal of resynchronising the two worlds through portals.

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PSYCHONAUTS IN THE RHOMBUS OF RUIN DEVELOPER: Double Fine Productions PUBLISHER: Sony PLATFORM(S): PSVR PRICE:TBC RELEASE DATE: February 21st

TEN years after Psychonauts’ debut on PS2 and Xbox, the franchise returns in the form of a PlayStation VR exclusive title. Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin intends to be the bridge between the first title in the series and Psychonauts 2, which was succesfully crowdfunded in 2015 and should release in 2018.

PIXEL HEROES: BYTE & MAGIC DEVELOPER: The Bitfather PUBLISHER: Headup Games PLATFORM(S): Xbox One PRICE: £7.99 RELEASE DATE: Out now

SATIRICAL roguelike/RPG game Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic has finally landed on Xbox One on February 3rd, after being available on Steam for two years. This retro-looking title lets gamers explore a randomised world with a party of three heroes. There are thirty classes to unlock. The title is also available on iOS and Android, and a PS4 version is in the works.

www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 17:53

BIG RELEASES GAMES

SNIPER ELITE 4

DEVELOPER Rebellion PUBLISHER Rebellion DISTRIBUTOR Sold Out PLATFORM(S) PS4, XO, PC (Digital-only) PRICE £39.99 RELEASE DATE February 14th

WHAT THE PUBLISHER SAID...

WHAT THE PRESS SAID...

...AND HOW WELL WILL IT DO?

TALKING to MCV last December, Rebellion’s marketing and PR manager Robbie Cooke said Sniper Elite 4 is “by far the largest game ever created” in the franchise. “The most noticeable change is the sheer scale and complexity of the maps,” lead designer Paul C. Wright added. This will change how players deal with the missions, as they now have the freedom to approach them in any order they want. Rebellion also improved the AI system, which was a recurrent criticism towards the previous entries in the franchise, and opted for a much more open environment. “There aren’t design-driven ‘biggest weapon wins’ scenarios or ‘you must stealth here’ sections. This is a much, much more open game,” Wright explained.

SNIPER ELITE has never been critics’ favourite series. But this time round, it seems that the title has got it right. Trusted Reviews’ Brett Phipps praised the freedom offered by the title. “No matter how much chaos you cause in one area, it won’t affect the others,” he wrote. “It allows me to enjoy each moment for what it is, knowing that I can start afresh in the next location (...) rather than frantically hitting ‘Restart’ over and over to the point of frustration and eventually quitting.” He added that the game is a “step up in visuals” while also “more fluid and fast.” Louise Blain from GamesRadar+ further said that the title “feels rich with possibilities” and stated that Rebellion “has upped SE4’s stealth game significantly.”

REBELLION is self-publishing Sniper Elite 4 for the first time, with some serious marketing spend. Previous titles in the series have sold a whopping 10m copies between them. Sold Out is handling the physical release and is confident how the title will perform in its first week on shelves in the UK. Between the good previews and Rebellion’s investment on the marketing side, Sniper Elite 4 should hit its targets without trouble.

INCOMING TITLE

A trio of LEGO Dimensions packs are launching today, before Valentine’s Day brings us For Honor and Sniper Elite 4 FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

PS4/XO/Wii U/PS3/360

Toys-to-life

Warner Bros

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

February 10th LEGO Dimensions Batman Movie Fun Pack LEGO Dimensions Batman Movie Story Pack

PS4/XO/Wii U/PS3/360

Toys-to-life

Warner Bros

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

LEGO Dimensions Knight Rider Fun Pack

PS4/XO/Wii U/PS3/360

Toys-to-life

Warner Bros

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Slain: Back from Hell

PS4

Action

Merge Games

07885 723 353

Open

For Honor

PS4/XO/PC

Action

Ubisoft

01279 822 822

Exertis

Sniper Elite 4

PS4/XO/PC

Shooter

Rebellion

0203 4054584

Sold Out

3DS

RPG

Bandai Namco

0121 506 9585

Advantage

XO/PC

RTS

Microsoft

01279 822 800

Exertis

Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

PS4

Action

Koei Tecmo

01462 476130

Open

February 14th

February 17th Dragon Ball Fusions February 21st Halo Wars 2 February 24th LEGO Worlds

PS4/XO/PC

Sandbox

Warner Bros

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

The Walking Dead - The Telltale Series: A New Frontier

PS4/XO

Adventure

Telltale

01480 359 403

Maximum

Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch

PS4

Strategy

Funbox Media

01246 810623

Open

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February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 17:53

GAMES WEEKLY CHARTS

WEEKLY CHARTS TOP 40 UK PHYSICAL RETAIL 011

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

LW 01 02 04 NEW 05 06 07 15 12 11 13 09 18 17 19 16 10 34 22 NEW 03 23 26 28 27 21 25 33 36 31 20 32 29 27 RE 30 35 RE 40 RE

Title Resident Evil VII: Biohazard Grand Theft Auto V FIFA 17 Hitman: The Complete First Season Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Rocket League Battlefield 1 Final Fantasy XV WWE 2K17 Mafia III Overwatch Watch Dogs 2 Minecraft Xbox Edition Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens Pokémon Sun Steep Titanfall 2 Pokémon Moon Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Doom Fallout 4 Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Tom Clancy’s The Division Forza Horizon 3 Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection LEGO Marvel Avengers Dishonored 2 Just Dance 2017 Guitar Hero Live NBA 2K17 Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Super Mario Maker The Last Guardian Star Wars Battlefront Far Cry Primal Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Edn Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege LEGO Jurassic World

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

Publisher Capcom Rockstar EA Square Enix Activision 505 Games EA Square Enix 2K Games 2K Games Blizzard Ubisoft Microsoft Bethesda Warner Bros Nintendo Ubisoft EA Nintendo Nintendo Square Enix Bethesda Bethesda Sony Ubisoft Microsoft Ubisoft Warner Bros Bethesda Ubisoft Activision 2K Games Sony Nintendo Sony EA Ubisoft Square Enix Ubisoft Warner Bros

CAPCOM’S Resident Evil VII held the top spot for the second week in a row, with sales declining a respectable 68 per cent week-on-week. In holding down No.1 for two weeks, the survival horror title is just one more week away from matching the franchise’s record. It is currently held by both Resident Evil 3 and 5, which both managed three weeks at No.1. Whether Resident Evil VII will hold the top spot week depends on the performance of Koei Tecmo’s Nioh, the only major release hitting shelves this week. Grand Theft Auto V held second place, with sales declining a mere two per cent week-onweek. The crime romp charted ahead of FIFA 17, which in turn rose one place to No.3. Meanwhile, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare landed at fifth place, with a four per cent rise. Sales were no doubt helped by the fact the shooter’s first round of DLC – Sabotage launched last week. NEW BLOOD There were some new games in the Top 40 this week. The highest ranking of these was Hitman: The Complete First Season, the boxed release that collects all six parts of Square Enix’s 2016 episodic release. Further down the charts, Nintendo’s 3DS exclusive Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World debuted at No.20.

A number of games benefitted from price promotions this week. The boxed SKU of Psyonix’s Rocket League saw a 16 per cent rise in sales – following a 46 per cent rise the week before – and charted at No.6. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XV sales rose 19 per cent, with the JRPG coming in at eighth place. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens charted at No.15 with an eight per cent sales rise. Further down the charts, Titanfall 2 saw a 67 per cent sales boost following price cuts, with the shooter rising from No.34 to No.18. Previously it had fallen out of the Top 40 altogether. STEAM POWERED Over in the Steam Top Ten, a new Early Access title based on the Conan the Barbarian IP, Conan Exiles, has topped the game ranks. The release launched last week. Meanwhile, Resident Evil VII dropped from No.1 in the Steam ranks to fourth place. Preorders for Ubisoft’s new medieval combat game For Honor were the third highest-purchased release of the week, rising from being the fifth best-selling item the week before. Rainbow Six: Siege re-entered the Top Ten at No.5, likely due to the free weekend Ubisoft held for the tactical shooter, as well as the firm outlining its plans for a second season of content.

Hitman: The Complete First Season was the highest ranked new entry this week

Source: UKIE/GfK Entertainment, Period: Week ending February 4th February 10th 2017

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08/02/2017 17:21

WEEKLY CHARTS GAMES

Market Data Following a busy week which saw the launch of Resident Evil VII, the market dropped. Revenue fell 30 per cent, while software unit sales dropped by 22 per cent week-on-week

£15m

£10m £15m

£30m £5m

£11.1m 339,466 units

£7.2m 271,205 units

£6.4m 222,508 units

Week Ending January 14th

Week Ending January 21st

£7.8m 265,883units

Week Ending January 14th

Week Ending January 21st

GLOBAL STEAM CHARTS (UNITS)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 02 05 01 RE RE 03 04 RE 06

Sponsored by

MARGIN MAKERS THIS WEEK: LEGO LEGO has just been named the most powerful brand in the world, and The LEGO Batman Movie hits theatres today. If that wasn’t enough, Warner Bros also has several LEGO games hitting shelves. Marie Dealessandri reports on the latest merchandise 2016 was another good year for Warner Bros and LEGO in the UK. Although the publisher’s software market share decreased compared to 2015 (from 9.9 per cent in units to 6.4 per cent in 2016), there were still four LEGO games in the year’s Top 50. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens made it to No. 14 and LEGO Marvel’s Avengers landed at No.16, while, further down the charts, LEGO Jurassic World charted at No.33 and LEGO Dimensions at No.38. 2017 also looks like a promising year for the TT Games-developed series. First, a couple of new packs for toys-to-life franchise LEGO Dimensions are hitting shelves today, one based on TV series Knight Rider and the other

derived from The LEGO Batman Movie, which opens in UK cinemas today. After that, sandbox game LEGO Worlds will land on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam on February 24th, while former Wii U exclusive LEGO City Undercover is due to arrive during Q2 on the same platforms. Warner Bros will also jump on the Switch train later this year, with both LEGO Worlds and LEGO City Undercover launching on Nintendo’s new console at some point this year. More pop culture brands will no doubt be adapted into LEGO games throughout the year, which will give retailers plenty of opportunities to sell figures, apparel and other tie-in items. In the meantime, here’s a glimpse of what’s already on shelves.

gaming merchandise uk

LEGO DIMENSIONS BATMAN MOVIE THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE hits theatres today, alongside a new expansion for LEGO Dimensions. The Batman Movie Story Pack features Batgirl and Robin minifigures (as well as a buildable Batwing) and lets gamers play the complete movie through six new levels. The Batman Movie Fun Pack includes an Excalibur Batman minifigure (with the sword, which gives new abilities in-game) and his Bionic Steed. SRP: £14.99 (Fun Pack) £39.99 (Story Pack) Manufacturer: Warner Bros Distributor: CentreSoft Contact: 01216 253 388

There were four LEGO games in 2016’s Top 50 chart.

THE LEGO MOVIE MINIFIGURE EDITION THE LEGO MOVIE delivered its fair share of awesomeness back in 2014. For the few who haven’t seen it yet, there’s still time to catch up and the best way to do so is certainly this special edition, which includes a LEGO minifigure of Vitruvius.

LEGO ANGRY BIRDS – KING PIG’S CASTLE

SRP: £9.99 Manufacturer: Warner Bros Distributor: Warner Bros Contact: 020 7984 5200

ANGRY BIRDS is one of the many games franchise that have been turned into a LEGO collection. In this box, fans can build the King Pig’s castle and then enjoy destroying it. SRP: £79.99 Manufacturer: LEGO Distributor: LEGO Contact: 01753 495 000

February 10th 2017

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www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 17:30

MERCHANDISE GAMES LEGO STAR WARS: THE VISUAL DICTIONARY (UPDATED AND EXPANDED)

LEGO STAR WARS DARTH VADER MINIFIGURE CLOCK EVERYONE loves Star Wars, everyone loves LEGO and everyone loves to know what time it is. So everyone should love this 9” LEGO Star Wars clock.

HERE’S the bible every LEGO Star Wars fan should own. It covers 15 years of LEGO Star Wars models and figures and it includes a retro-looking Luke Skywalker minifigure.

SRP: £24.99 Manufacturer: LEGO Distributor: LEGO Contact: 01753 495 000

SRP: £16.99 Manufacturer: DK Books Distributor: DK Children Contact: sales@uk.dk.com

LEGO DIMENSIONS - SONIC THE HEDGEHOG LEVEL PACK SEGA’S iconic character made the move to LEGO Dimensions last year, as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations. This Level Pack obviously features a Sonic figure, as well as two vehicles (the Sonic Speedster and the Tornado bi-plane). SRP: £29.99 Manufacturer: Warner Bros Distributor: CentreSoft Contact: 01216 253 388

LEGO BOYS T-SHIRT WE tend to forget about it, but LEGO used to be for children – yes, we can’t believe it either. So here’s a classic LEGO Wear boys’ T-shirt if you’re looking for a new outfit for your kid.

LEGO MINECRAFT THE IRON GOLEM WE can’t think of a better fit than Minecraft and LEGO, really. This pack is only one of the many products the two squared brands have launched together, so fans have plenty of items to choose from.

SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: LEGO Wear Distributor: Kabooki Contact: info@kabooki.com

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SRP: £19.99 Manufacturer: LEGO Distributor: LEGO Contact: 01753 495 000

February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 17:30

FEATURES BGI

Do we need a British Games Institute? Industry veterans Ian Livingstone and Rick Gibson have proposed the creation of a brand new Government organisation, the British Games Institute, to handle games funding and highlight the sector’s contribution to our culture and economy. But don’t UKIE, TIGA, Creative England and the BFI already do that? MCV reports

While London is home to the BFI, the BGI could gain kudos by braving it outside of the capital

n the last few years, video games have come a long way in terms of working with government. Thanks to the tireless work of certain members of our industry, UK video games have received tax relief (VGTR) since 2014. And thanks to the Hope Livingstone report, we now have coding on the National Curriculum too. Yet now, according to industry veterans Ian Livingstone and Rick Gibson, we need a new government body for the UK games industry. The duo in fact proposed such an organisation, dubbed the British Games Institute, to government at the end of January. It is modelled on the British Film Institute (BFI), with Livingstone and Gibson hoping that the BGI will achieve similar results for the games industry. Founded in 1933, the BFI is funded by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport and exists under Royal Charter to promote and champion February 10th 2017

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the cultural, economic and educational impact of UK film. Livingstone and Gibson’s proposed body has a few aims. The first is the funding of 40 ‘cultural British games’ each year, with grants and loans to help studios secure investment. Secondly, this organisation will promote the contribution games make to the UK, both culturally and economically. Finally, it wants to develop games to use in education. But we have this already, don’t we? UKIE and TIGA have worked tirelessly to ensure that video games are taken seriously by our government, while organisations like the BFI and Creative England help out on the funding side of things. “We have two fantastic trade associations, but what we don’t have is an agency plugged into government that can support the industry, both culturally and in terms of funding,” Livingstone tells MCV.

I hope BGI achieves what the BFI has done for film. Ian Livingstone

“We have seen the fantastic work the BFI has done for the film industry – film gets over £170m in public funding and an awful lot of movies are being made that would not have been made. At the same time, in the games industry, the total public funding is around £5m. There’s not a huge difference between the revenues derived from films and games, so we thought there’s a disproportionate amount of funding. We’re not trying to take away any money from film, But I’d like a more proportionate amount of public funding going into games, because the games industry is, after all, a great British success story. “It plays to our knowledge of high technology and our natural creativity. It’s no surprise that some of the biggest blockbusters around the world have been developed in this country, and yet with very little support. We thought that the industry really deserved a separate www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 18:15

BGI FEATURES

BEST OF BRITISH ONE of the most surprisingly parts of Livingstone and Gibson’s BGI proposal was that both British video games trade bodies – UKIE and TIGA – have backed the initiative. “UKIE has long campaigned to government for more cultural and economic support for innovative games content in the UK, and so we’re happy to back an initiative that proposes to support and promote the cultural and economic growth of our sector,” says CEO Dr Jo Twist OBE (below right). “We need to ensure that any model that delivers this support is forward thinking, representing the innovative and geographically-spread nature of the industry it serves. If we’re going to have a new organisation in place we should take the opportunity to assess whether the existing agency template used by film and other media organisations will deliver the best result for games businesses and build on the work already done nationally in the UK. “We look forward to working closely with the team behind the BGI proposal to get additional detail following their press

Film gets over £170m a year in public funding thanks to the BFI

agency and what’s why we came up with the idea of the BGI. We haven’t been alone in saying this; UKIE and TIGA have made similar noises previously. We’re not trying to claim ownership; we’re just trying to make this happen.” BGI’S OWN DESTINY Thus far, the idea has had a healthy reception. Though there are certainly critics of the scheme – or rather, those demanding more details of how BGI will achieve its aims – more than 350 members of the UK games industry have publicly pledged their support to the initiative, while both UK video game trade bodies, TIGA and UKIE have backed the proposal. “I’ve had an initial discussion with people who count within Government, and there’s been no push back; they definitely want to know more,” Livingstone says. “While there is no indication if it’ll happen, there’s significant interest. Of course, that’s not surprising given the Prime Minister’s Industrial Strategy announcement, where she said she has selected five sectors, one of which is the creative industries, which games are front and centre of. This could be a perfect solution to help plug their industrial strategy, to have a BGI. www.mcvuk.com

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“What we’ll need to do is step out from under the shadows of other agencies and determine our own destiny and help not just the cultural impact of games and the funding of games, but to send a positive message to parents, teachers and investors that this is a great success story and that it’s a jobs and growth story. It plays into their industrial strategy of the knowledge economy.” Gibson adds: “We have very rare support from both trade bodies (more on that in ‘Best of British’), we have some of the most senior people in the industry standing up and saying this is a great idea. We were amongst the first of all industries to respond to the government’s call for assistance in a concerted way, with a single voice. What we hope is that this idea will continue to grow and build momentum. This is a really good way to ensure that Government is going to invest in these key industries, that there is a body that will stand up and present a strategic vision for the games industry. “I’m not suggesting that UKIE and TIGA don’t do that; they do. But what the BFI does for film is say: ‘In five years time, here is where we want to be, and here is how we are going to get there’. What we are saying 19

release, as well as consulting with our members, the wider games sector and government representatives to ensure that the industry’s needs are met and a strong strategy is formed.” TIGA boss Dr Richard Wilson (below left) adds: “I would like the BGI to achieve three things. Firstly, introduce and operate TIGA’s proposed Games Investment Fund. This would provide pound-for-pound match funding for games developers up to a maximum of £200,000 per game. This scheme would boost investment, create jobs and promote innovation in the games industry. Secondly, I would like to see the BGI introduce a programme to enhance the management and commercial skills of games developers. This would help to ensure that more studios have the skills and knowledge to grow world beating studios. Thirdly, I would like the BGI to promote awareness about the UK video games industry. “Video games are embedded in UK culture and society; it would be great if the achievements of UK developers were as well known as the achievements of the UK film industry.”

February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 18:15

FEATURES BGI

Grand Theft Auto is inarguably one of the biggest entertainment products made in the UK

is that BFI is a brilliant template; let’s do the same for games, build the same organisation. Ian and I both have had discussions with key stakeholders. What we need is for the Government to fund it. That’s the call and we’re hoping that this will carry on moving forward as we win more support from the sector.” BUILDING THE UK INDUSTRY In terms of long-term vision, Livingstone and Gibson have their sights on some pretty lofty aims for this new organisation. “I hope BGI achieves what the BFI has done for film - to celebrate the art form, the industry, the economic and cultural contributions that it makes to this country,” Livingstone says. “The games industry has never been viewed in as glowing terms as it should be, because it’s never had much public investment and public support. Recently we’ve had a couple of wins with VGTR and getting computing on the curriculum, but now we need funding because we’ve punched above our weight with very little support in terms of the media and money. If the BGI can help drive the growth of the industry, then that would be a fantastic thing. There February 10th 2017

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are so many companies that I have come across that have struggled to get investment beyond the initial bootstrapping. Little companies have gone out of business because they have been unable to get funding. “That isn’t to say we’re going to fund lame ducks,” he continues. “We want to give people a chance to execute on their ideas, in the same way that the Government has introduced the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme to get companies up and running. Long-term, some of those will be hugely successful and the tax revenue they’ll get from those companies will more than justify the initial investment. We want that to be part of the BGI investment and that BGI will recognise talent that’s not been funded, in the hope that it’ll help make successful games that wouldn’t be made otherwise.” Gibson adds: “What I want to build is an organisation that is winning between £15m and £20m from government and the national lottery to fund games production, to have a vibrant and exciting British Games Week that travels around the different clusters where games are made, celebrating the local

I want to put real money behind educational initiatives that are going to upskill our studios. Rick Gibson

companies that are actually making our industry so great. What I want to do is start to put real money behind educational initiatives that are going to upskill our studios. “So many people I have spoken to over the last few days, who have expressed support for this, have been saying: ‘we love the idea and we want to help that next generation of British games studio learn from our mistakes and our successes so that they can succeed, too’. That’s where the BGI could have a really important impact. We want to build on the Government’s agency for games and have it succeed and be around for decades, carrying on building the British games industry.” Of course, there are still questions surrounding the BGI. For one, we don’t yet know how far support government goes, making positive noises is a long way off actual, substantial funding. Secondly, we need to know more about how such an organisation will achieve its goals. Though there’s no doubt the UK games industry supports the spirit of the BGI – or any body that supports the sector – it now needs more information about how the BGI will achieve its goals. www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 18:15

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08/02/2017 09:41

FEATURES HORIZON: ZERO DAWN

Meet Aloy, the ‘PlayStation icon of the future’ With its stunning world, badass machines and promising lead character, Horizon: Zero Dawn has created unbelievably high expectations and a fair amount of hype. One month from launch, Marie Dealessandri talks to Sony’s Jon Edwards about the upcoming PS4-exclusive title

orizon: Zero Dawn is easily one of the most anticipated games of the year, if not the most anticipated PS4-exclusive of 2017. Of course, it’s still early in the year and E3 could bring its own share of surprises, but so far the Guerrilla-developed title ranks very high on the hype scale. Indeed, early write-ups based on a four-hour hands-on with the game have been very positive, with words like “jaw-droppingly attractive”, “gorgeous” and “spectacular” all stirring players’ expectations even further. “We’re excited by the reaction that the fans have had to the game so far,” Sony Interactive Entertainment UK’s product manager Jon Edwards tells MCV. “We really feel that [Horizon: Zero Dawn] is an exciting addition to the array of PlayStation exclusives already available. “Managing expectations can be tough but what we’ve really tried to do is focus on things like the live playthroughs from the team at Guerrilla and also to give a glimpse of what [protagonist] Aloy faces in this post-apocalyptic world.” On paper, Horizon: Zero Dawn sounds like a pretty-promising open world action RPG. “Civilisation as we know it has gone,” Edwards describes. “The world has been reclaimed by nature and is now dominated by machines. We follow Aloy; an agile, cunning and inquisitive hunter, on her quest to unravel the truth of the world around her own past.” However, the title has a strength that most of the recent open world

February 10th 2017

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PS4-exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn will be hitting shelves on March 1st

RPGs don’t have, and that’s Aloy herself. Horizon’s lead character has become one of the title’s biggest selling points – the other one being its beautiful open world. It hasn’t always been this way, though, as president of Sony’s Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida said he was “nervous to see the reaction from people” when he first unveiled the game at Sony’s E3 press conference in 2015.

“She’s a female lead character,” he told Polygon at the time. “That has always been the vision by the team, but we had a discussion. Is it risky to do a female character? “The concern came after the game was in development. We started to show it to many more people internally and they had questions about it. So we worked with our marketing groups to do this focus testing. The focus testing

reaction was positive and that made us feel good, but you know it’s a limited number of people that we were able to test.” While it’s worrying that having a woman as lead character still raises questions in the games industry, it seems Aloy has been a hit for Guerilla and Sony, as they now not only have a new flagship character in their portfolio, but a flagship character who’s a strong woman. When asked whether or not having a woman as the lead character remained an issue for Sony when it started working on Horizon’s marketing plans, Edwards’ answer is clear. “No, not at all,” he says. “Guerrilla Games has talked about this in the past and they were very much focused on creating a curious and determined character that was believable in this new world – it just so happened that the character ended up being female. Aloy is spirited, adventurous and driven to figure out the challenges that she comes across in this post-apocalyptic world inhabited by machines, you really buy into her as a tribal hunter and we think that the players will really enjoy playing as her. She’s a PlayStation icon of the future.” THE HIGHEST STANDARD With its stunning art, story-driven gameplay and recognisable characters, Horizon: Zero Dawn looks like the kind of game that could easily become a franchise. But it’s too early to tell, Edwards says.

www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 17:42

HORIZON: ZERO DAWN FEATURES

GET THE ALOY LOOK TALKING to MCV’s sister title Licensing.biz back in 2015, Sony’s senior business development manager for licensing and merchandise David Evans stated that Horizon: Zero Dawn presented “an incredible licensing opportunity” for merchandise. Now that the title is on our doorstep, Sony revealed last week that it is indeed launching alongside a wealth of tie-in items. “Since work first began on Horizon: Zero Dawn, we’ve been excited by the prospect of partnering closely with the talented team at Guerrilla Games to build upon what is an incredibly rich new IP,” Evans now tells MCV. ”From the moment the game was announced, we were inundated with requests from enthusiastic partners, eager to join our licensing program. We’ve been busy developing an array of items to extend the exciting world of Horizon: Zero Dawn and we are proud to announce that products will be available at launch with the following licensee partners: Titan Publishing for art books and other publishing formats, Future Press for strategy guides, Triforce for high-end statues, Cook and Becker and Iron Gut Publishing for limited edition art prints, GB Eye for posters and giftware, Bioworld, Gaya and Park Agencies for apparel and accessories.” And if this impressive list wasn’t enough, there’s even more to come, Evans says: “We are also in discussion with a number of other partners to further grow the licensing program, and will be developing a selection of additional items to expand the fascinating Horizon: Zero Dawn universe.”

Pictured: Sony’s Jon Edwards (right) and David Evans (far right)

“Nothing has been announced to date but I think there’s a lot of potential for this to be an exciting new franchise for us – we’ll just have to wait and see.” For now, Sony is focusing on pre-orders and on the marketing campaign ahead of the game’s launch on March 1st. “Pre-orders are in line with our expectations. The players seem to be excited for this new gaming experience and this is reflected in the pre-orders,” Edwards says. “We have kicked off our abovethe-line campaign in cinema alongside Assassin’s Creed, XXX

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3 and Underworld. We will also have a big focus on TV and outdoor advertising in the build up to launch and beyond. Combine all this with our digital plans and we will have a significant campaign which will reach players across the UK. “We also plan to provide a strong campaign post-launch to promote the title. We see this as a key title for PlayStation and supporting it through all of its life cycle is key.” Horizon: Zero Dawn was initially due to launch in 2016 but it ended up being delayed until early this year after Guerrilla said it needed

more time to polish the game ahead of its launch. “Guerrilla Games wanted to make sure the visuals and gameplay quality were to the highest standard,” Edwards says. “The extra time allows the studio to deliver their ambitious vision for Horizon: Zero Dawn.” It also allowed the title to be compatible with Sony’s brand new PS4 Pro. “This game looks beautiful on the standard PS4 but those with a PlayStation 4 Pro will definitely experience enhanced visuals if they have a 4K HDR-ready TV.

You will notice subtle details such as branches swaying in the wind and more details to the machines. Meanwhile, the HDR really adds a whole new level of beauty to the different ecosystems.” Sony obviously has a very strong new IP in Horizon: Zero Dawn and Edwards believes it could be a hit. “We’re really optimistic about how this title’s likely to perform. It’s got a great studio behind it and what we’ve revealed so far has been really well received. It was also on many ‘Most Anticipated Games of 2017’ lists which added to our confidence.”

February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 17:42

FEATURES FOR HONOR

For Honor, For Ever? Ubisoft’s new IP may be set in an dark alternate history of vikings, knights and samurai, but its intricate planning shows it only has eyes for a far brighter future. Seth Barton takes a look

or Honor is a medieval combat game. With not a gun in sight, it immediately stands out amongst the usual multiplayer offerings. But that’s not what’s really interesting about Ubisoft’s brand new IP. Instead, here’s a game that’s been designed from the ground up for long-term competitive play, with serious thought put into how the title will engage players over hours, days and months. What’s more, the development team was composed from the off to support that title in the long term. It also has very small player counts, just four on each side in its most populous modes. This should make it much easier for players to find a dedicated team of friends to play with, and the team that plays together, stays together. For Honor may look back to the past for its inspiration, then, with a slightly bonkers mix of vikings, knights and samurai doing battle, but this is a very modern game and one that should engage its player base for years to come. We talked to Bio Jade Adam Granger, game designer on For Honor at Ubisoft Montreal, about the new title and the team’s plans for the future. HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR For Honor is based around a set of carefully designed time periods that are set up to engage players in the short, medium and long-term. Each of these time segments have their own goals that can be achieved, providing feedback loops for players of varying frequency.

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With ‘turns’ that last two hours, ‘rounds’ of six days and ten week ‘seasons’, the game has something to offer at every level. Granger explains: “We wanted the player to have short term goals of their own, medium term goals with your friends, your clan, and the whole season is about the whole faction.” That means that as the timescale expands, it’s matched by a greater need for community engagement, from personal goals right up to faction-wide ones - the latter including every player on the chosen side, be that Knight, Viking or Samurai, in the world, regardless of whether they’re on PS4, Xbox One or PC. The ten-week seasons will also form the basis for the release of new content, in the form of new heroes to play, potentially rearranging the metagame every season and reigniting player interest. While heroes will have to be bought with cash or in-game currency that can be earned by playing, new maps will also drop in time for new seasons and will be free to all, a strategy taken from Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege. The seasons themselves have significance too. “At the end of the season we write what happened in the lore of the game, so the Vikings took those territories and lost others,” explains Granger. Maps in the game will then be festooned with faction-appropriate details to make the victories and losses of last season apparent to all, Granger continues: “There are unique elements for each season, items, XP bonuses, stuff you can only earn that one time. So you know that your faction won season two as you can never acquire that specific item ever again.”

www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 17:16

FOR HONOR FEATURES

We see For Honor as a living game, not something we put on the shelf and forget. Bio Jade Adam Granger, Ubisoft

Such inducements are like honey to bears for gamers, who will fight tooth-and-claw to secure them for their faction. There will also be downtime between seasons. The amount of time has yet to be decided but it’s likely to be days rather than weeks. It just has to be sufficient for the team to implement the changes and test everything before the next season begins. MANNING THE WALLS To keep this long term vision of the game ticking over, Ubisoft’s planned ongoing support from core development personnel in a way it hasn’t done before. “For the first time at Ubisoft, most of the core team is staying on for the live period, supporting the game and creating new content for it,” Granger says.

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“It’s a bit like Rainbow Six Siege but they had a different approach for the team. We see For Honor as a living game, not something we put on the shelf and forget, and just have a husk of a team looking after the servers. We want to make it grow, we want to improve it with feedback from the community. It’s going to be a living organism that we share with the players. “We have a few seasons planned, but it’s going to depend on the reception of the players, and the direction we take will depend on the players too, more eSports features, more AI, more maps, we have a few things planned because we started working on it already, but we have the ability to react.” It will be intriguing to see how this joint venture between developers and fans plays out. It should bring greater long-term

engagement but not everyone knows what’s good for them, so the team may have to make some tough choices. TESTING THE DEFENCES Thankfully, any decisions will be based on a lot of data. The team already has plenty of analytics to peruse, with in-house playtesting, an alpha, data from public events and the upcoming beta. Data is also very useful in overcoming inherent ‘truths’ that build up over a long time working on the game, Granger says. “When you’re a developer you’re skewed, you know what you should do. For the Conqueror which is a heavy, defensive character, we had a closed alpha and people used him offensively as he did so much damage. This surprised us and we changed the Conqueror as a result.

“The mechanics are so new, we have a humility about knowing that we don’t know. We’re very lucky to have a dedicated community on Reddit. We recently received an 18-page feedback document from a player, which was very useful.” We suggest that it’s amazing a player can come up with such useful insight when there’s so much data already available. But Granger points out that it’s not so simple. “There are always differences between the truth of the data and the perception. Nothing is real, it’s only what you perceive as a player, even if a hero is balanced, if every player perceives he isn’t, then you have a problem. “A fun example, the best hero was actually the one with the second worse win/loss ratio, so it’s all about perception.”

February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 17:16

FEATURES FOR HONOR

CAMPAIGN MODE

Ubisoft made this 360-degree video to promote the battlefield experience

FOUR HONOR Speaking of perception, we can’t help but think that For Honor’s core four-on-four multiplayer mode might mean it’s perceived as being a little hardcore; after all, there’s no place to hide on such a small team and teammates won’t be shy to say if players aren’t pulling their weight. “When we had our first live period, more than a year ago now, our main feedback was that player skill variance was very high, we foresaw this,” Granger says. “So we implemented that every game mode could be played against AI and you can select difficulty, so you can train against specific bots. There’s matchmaking and custom matches, too. “We really wanted players to earn their skills and to play different heroes, as just because you’re good with one character doesn’t mean you’ll kick ass with the others.” On the positive side, the small team numbers should make it easier to form complete teams of stangers or acquaintances. Granger agrees: “The idea of a band of warriors is a term that our creative director has used very often, to feel like you are that band

February 10th 2016

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of lone vikings, a family of samurai, knights of a specific lord.” If For Honor can engender a brothers- (or sisters-) in-arms feel to the game then its community will be built up for very strong blocks of players. That again bodes well for the title in the long-term.

understand the world they are playing in. When we announced the game we only showed the multiplayer. We’d already started working on the single-player but not on the story. People were asking so many questions: Why are we fighting? Who are the heroes? They felt it was a bit of a vacuum. “We were happy because it confirmed our belief that we need to have some kind of narrative to make you care, because if you don’t care you don’t have fun. It really depends on the type of player. Some do just want to get better, but some care about why they are fighting. Since this is our own world, and obviously those three factions never really fought, you need some context.” Finally we just had to know if there were going to be pirates added at some point? Sadly there’s nothing planned to date. For Honor, even without pirates, looks an intriguing title with some really well-conceived ideas about building a long-term community. It’s out on Valentine’s Day and Ubisoft will be hoping that its romance with gamers lasts for many years to come.

We need to have some kind of narrative to make players care. Bio Jade Adam Granger, Ubisoft

GOING SOLO With plenty of effort going into retaining players, arguably the only remaining piece of the puzzle is how to attract them to begin with. With this in mind, Ubisoft has added a single-player campaign into a game in which you might not expect one. Granger explains: “You play from the point of view of all three factions. The aim of the story mode is to make the players

OF COURSE, all this intricate forward-planning won’t amount to much unless Ubisoft gets the message out to gamers with its marketing campaign. We talked to brand manager Will Buck, about the company’s plans for promoting the title in the UK. “For Honor is the first game that will really allow players to feel the true emotions of being a skilled melee warrior on a believable battlefield. The game is set in a medieval fantasy genre that’s been heavily popularised in our culture over recent years,” Buck explains, making reference to the huge success of Game of Thrones. He continues: “The For Honor UK marketing plan is primarily a digital led campaign across paid and earned channels. We had a great success with the recent closed beta that was supported through social media, digital programmatic display and activity with gaming influencers. “Moving into the open beta, we are adding specialist display across IGN, Wikia, Twitch and first-party dashboard buys. We also have programmatic online VOD campaigns to push awareness. Our launch burst then kicks in, introducing broadcast VOD to the plans on top of impactful home page takeovers online with a factionbased lead creative on display. He concludes: “This is then complemented with a strong plan for our immersive 360-degree video activation named “In the Battle” as well as content produced with celebrity talent.”

www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 17:16

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08/02/2017 13:58

FEATURES GAMING MERCHANDISE UK

Merchandise sector still ‘finding its feet’ In just four years, Gaming Merchandise UK has become the go-to distributor for collectible gaming items in the UK. Marie Dealessandri had a chat with founder Luiz Ferreira and buying manager Phil Rolls about what lies ahead for the firm and the merchandise sector

e already know that 2016 was not the best year ever for the UK games market. But there’s one category within gaming that still provides growth: merchandise. GAME said in its 2016 financial report that although sales declined in the year, licensed merchandise was up 70 per cent year-on-year. But sometimes growth is not enough to call a year successful. “2016 has been something of a mixed bag all told,” Gaming Merchandise UK’s founder and director Luiz Ferreira tells MCV. “As is everyone else in the industry, we’re driven by the quality of releases. There were some amazing software releases in 2016, which, for whatever reason, didn’t quite gain the traction of the previous years. Many games that reviewed well just didn’t hit the numbers anybody expected. Merchandise sales are very much linked to how well the software performs in the market but we are hopeful that ‘the good will out’, and now that we’re seeing prices dip, these titles will hit the numbers February 10th 2017

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they deserve and we’ll piggy-back on that.” CH-CH-CHANGES GM UK launched in 2013 and has since then become a key player in the market. In this respect, the merchandise firm knows the industry trends better than anyone else and has evolved alongside the sector. And it has changed quite a lot lately, according to GM UK’s buying manager Phil Rolls. “Once upon a time it was enough to print a bog-standard t-shirt with box cover art on it, and it would sell,” he says. “We’re seeing customers are far more discerning these days with a move towards fashion pieces. Cosplay, too, continues to blossom and we’re seeing IP holders really getting on board and engaging with the community to produce the merch they actually want. And away from apparel, we’re seeing a demand for higher-end figures and statues. Consumer expectations are now so high that license-holders really have to produce top quality

Counterfeit merchandise is an issue that needs addressing. Luiz Ferreira, Gaming Merchandise UK

product to stand out in the marketplace.” This evolution is evident in the emergence of brands such as Musterbrand or Level Up Wear – companies that are investing in high-end, ‘trendy’ apparel with higher price points. Are gamers now ready to spend more than before on tie-in items? “The evidence suggests so,” Rolls answers. “We’ve worked closely with the [Musterbrand and Level Up Wear] guys and have seen a shift towards the higher-quality, higher-priced product. The trick is in finding that market though. Some franchises lend themselves more readily to ‘fashion’ items – Assassin’s Creed, Dishonored 2 spring immediately to mind – the challenge lies in being able to engage with customers who’ll be buy this merch but don’t even necessarily know it’s out there.” But the market isn’t only heading towards higher-quality products – it’s more complicated than that, as there are also huge opportunities at the bottom of the ladder. www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 18:20

GAMING MERCHANDISE UK FEATURES

The market will become saturated but we’re not there yet.

Some franchises lend themselves more readily to ‘fashion’ items

Phill Rolls, Gaming Merchandise UK

“There is unquestionably a serviceable space at the lowerend of the market,” Rolls continues. “Let’s not forget that gamers don’t always have huge amounts of disposable income, but still want to demonstrate their affinity to the brand in some way or other. Keyrings, dog-tags and the like are perfect in this respect – so long as the quality is right. At whatever price point, customers rightly demand quality.” But a booming market doesn’t come without challenges and the merchandise sector is no exception. For starters,

as any profitable market, merch attracts new firms every day, with the risk of levelling down the whole sector and eventually reaching a saturation point. “With shareholders chasing growth, and merch being a very profitable means by which to achieve it, it’s no wonder that more firms are getting involved in the sector,” Rolls explains. “There will of course be a tipping point at which the market will become saturated but we’re not there yet. Ultimately success will be driven by those who pick up the right type of license, and then delivering on quality. Volume merch sales work best at the intersection of cult ‘cool’ and mainstream popularity. Fallout is the perfect example – even over a year after release its still amongst our topselling ranges.”

proliferation of counterfeit merch benefits no-one except those selling it. IP holders’ brands are damaged, they lose royalties, and legitimate traders are in a position where they can’t compete on price, particularly at the lower end of the market.” He adds: “Event organisers, publishers, IP holders, legitimate retailers, licensees and trading standards need to come together to coordinate a coherent strategy that delivers tangible and lasting results quickly.” Interestingly, gaming shows are where counterfeit merchandise thrives, according to Ferreira, but it’s also where licensed firms do most of their business – hence GM UK’s discontent with unlicensed products. “We’ve been working events, both gaming and more general Comic Con-type shows for some years now and our strategy continues to evolve,” Ferreira explains. “They are a vital part of our business, as not only do they provide important income but they give us an opportunity to engage directly with the community and find out exactly what they want ‘from the horse’s mouth’. We based range decisions on feedback from events in the past and will continue to do so.” But, again, that doesn’t come without challenges.

FAITH IN FAKES But profitability, top-selling ranges and popular franchises mean another thing: everyone wants a slice of the cake and, as a consequence, counterfeit products are another issue looming on the market, Ferreira adds. “It’s an issue that needs addressing,” he says. “The www.mcvuk.com

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“The events space is becoming more competitive, both in terms of the number of events available to trade at, and the number of traders at those events,” Ferreira says. “There is a ‘sweet spot’ in respect of the ratio of traders/customers and we’ll focus on those events where we feel that ratio works rather than chase every event that’s offered.” Rolls adds: “The acquisition of Multiplay by GAME has meant that the Insomnia events have become a much bigger proposition. They now occupy some of the same space as EGX, competing for the same pound in the consumers’ pockets.” But both Ferreira and Rolls are positive about the m erchandise market, and believe it’s only just the beginning and bright days are ahead. “Notwithstanding those challenges, we’re really excited about where merch is headed right now, both in terms of the quality of releases in 2017 and the quality of merch being made available for them,” Ferreira says. Rolls concludes: “The merch sector is in its relative infancy and it’s fair to say we’re all still ‘finding our feet’ to some extent. Some are further ahead than others and we can all learn lessons from one another.” February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 18:20

FEATURES BANNER SAGA 3

A banner year Banner Saga is back on Kickstarter for the third and final entry in Stoic’s epic turn-based strategy series. Katharine Byrne catches up with technical director John Watson to find out why the studio’s returned to crowdfunding and what lessons it’s learned over the last five years

toic’s Banner Saga was one of the early Kickstarter success stories. Announced back in 2012 with a funding goal of $100,000, players flocked to this new turn-based strategy RPG in their droves, pledging over $720,000 by the end of its campaign and simultaneously securing the future of its intended sequel, Banner Saga 2. With both games financed, Stoic’s future looked bright. However, after the second game struggled to match the sales figures of its predecessor, the studio realised just how big a role the community had played in getting the first title off the ground. With the fate of the third and final game in the series now hanging in the balance, Stoic was determined not to let its past mistakes get the better of it, which is why it returned to Kickstarter last month to ask for $200,000 to help finish the development of the muchanticipated Banner Saga 3. “When we were planning and prototyping the first Banner Saga, we saw Kickstarter as a great way of promoting our game and getting the word out,” Stoic’s technical director John Watson tells MCV. “We also hoped to get a little cash to alleviate our biggest bottleneck, the animation work. We were expecting a much smaller amount of money, and were planning a smaller, more lo-fidelity game as a result. When the first Banner Saga Kickstarter was a success by over 720 per cent of our goal, our scope became larger

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Indeed, Watson says he continues to meet former Banner Saga players who have no idea a sequel even exists. “Banner Saga 2 launched well and was generally considered a superior game, but it’s had difficulty gaining awareness,” he admits. “I meet people every week who played and loved the first Banner Saga but aren’t even aware that Banner Saga 2 has been released. Hopefully our current crowdfunding efforts [for Banner Saga 3] will help increase awareness.”

and grander, and the project turned into the game we have today.” However, this change in direction took its toll on Stoic, and the thentrio of former BioWare developers simply didn’t have the resources to give Banner Saga 2 the same kind of exposure. “Banner Saga 1 exhausted us completely,” says Watson. “It was the hardest work we had ever done. It sold well, and we were focused on all the follow-on work. “However, we let our community go pretty quiet during Banner Saga 2’s development, because we’re a very small team and every single member of staff was overwhelmed by the amount of work required. Our team was too small for anyone to have any bandwidth to plan and run a crowd-funding campaign while simultaneously doing development on the game.

MAINTAINING MORALE Watson’s plan seems to have worked, too, as Banner Saga 3 quickly met its funding goal in under a week. “Crowdfunding helps pull your audience together, creates buzz, and sometimes allows you to manufacture cool merchandise that would be too expensive to produce otherwise,” he says. “I want to stress that an immense amount of behind-the-scenes work goes into planning and running a crowdfunding campaign, and that work continues for years after the campaign ends as well. “We’ve been planning our current Banner Saga 3 Kickstarter for many months, and it’s been a full time job for several of us. I think that most people would be shocked at the amount of iteration, changing, reshuffling, and design work that goes into a crowdfunding campaign behind the scenes before it even opens to the public.” Watson tells us Stoic did

consider using private investment to help fund the series’ final chapter, but the studio eventually decided against it. “We realised that it wasn’t a good fit,” he says. “More money will make the game better without a doubt, but will it really make the game more profitable? Probably not. “Taking any kind of money will relieve some of the budget pressures we deal with on a daily basis, but with investment money you have to pay it back, normally at a three-times rate. So if we took $500k investment, we’re paying back $1.5m back in the end. “If the game isn’t more profitable because of the investment, you’ve just undermined your ability to keep the studio running and making the next great game.” This fear of undermining the studio is one of the main reasons Stoic chose to return to Kickstarter rather than launch the game on another crowdfunding platform, such as Fig. “Fig.co is a great platform and we are friends with some of the people who run it. But for Banner Saga 3 we preferred to go with completely traditional crowdfunding and avoid taking investment money,” says Watson. “One of our primary goals is to make all three games fit together relatively seamlessly, almost as one continuous game. Therefore, any changes to gameplay, mechanics, and scope must be considered carefully to keep the three games consistent and coherent with each other. We can’t just throw money at Banner Saga 3 and turn it into

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08/02/2017 17:17

BANNER SAGA 3 FEATURES

MOBILE WARFARE: PAYING THE PRICE

Banner Saga is an improbable game. It wouldn’t exist in its current form without that original backing of crowdfunding. John Watson, Stoic

a totally different game, because then it wouldn’t match the others. Investment works better for a ‘blue sky’ new game where your direction and design isn’t yet fully formed.” CARAVAN COMMUNITY Watson says he also believes crowdfunding will continue to be a dominating force in indie development, despite the platform experiencing its first year of decline since it started in 2009. “Crowdfunding will be around for a long time, even if it changes in scope and technique,” he says. “It is an excellent way for things to get made that would not otherwise

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WHILE originally developed for PC, Stoic has also brought its Banner Saga games to mobile and consoles, spending over a year after the first game’s release supporting the porting process. “We went quickly into mobile development, because we had kept touchscreen user interfaces in mind from the beginning and had set the technology up in a way to make it relatively straightforward.” “Our console porting took much longer because a year into development, the porting team went out of business entirely, and we had to essentially start over with a new team. With Banner Saga 2’s technology re-use, we were able to launch on mobile and console much more quickly.” Stoic chose to use a premium model for the mobile version of Banner Saga, but Watson says the team struggled to nail down an appropriate price. “We launched the mobile versions at a lower price, which I’m not sure was the correct choice. We launched

exist. Banner Saga, really, is an improbable game. It is unique in many ways, and very expensive to make. The art and animation style are shockingly labor-intensive, making it an ‘impractical’ game from a development and business perspective. It’s unlikely that a riskaverse corporation would attempt such a thing, and it’s not the type of game that one would have made as a pure business decision. “Our game would not exist in its current form without that original backing of crowdfunding. But now that the crowd has decided that this game should exist, it has had an impact on the game

the original Banner Saga for $10 (£7) on mobile, then one year later lowered the price to $5 (£3.99). The price lowering was attended by an increase in sales, so we interpreted that as meaning the correct price was $5. “However, I believe by launching [Banner Saga 2] at $5 we kind of shot ourselves in the foot by undermining potential revenue from people who wanted the game no matter what. “The $5 price is good for the long tail of sales perhaps. The game is obviously worth far more than $5, as the exact same game sells for $20 on other platforms. “For our console launch [of Banner Saga 2], we participated in Xbox One Games With Gold during launch month, which resulted in a massive number of completely new players coming into the game. That is very exciting for us as we develop Banner Saga 3, and hope that all those new players will join us for the final chapter.”

landscape. People frequently make comparisons of new games with Banner Saga, and several projects exist that are directly inspired by it.” Needless to say, Watson’s been very pleased with how players have received Banner Saga 3, and he says the studio plans to keep them involved throughout the rest of its development. “The reception has been very exciting and gratifying. People are ready to see the final act in this story, and we are anxious to tell it. We’ve been fortunate, during the entire five-year history of our studio, to have some of the best followers and fans.

We’ll engage our community throughout development. One of the centerpieces of our Kickstarter campaign is the ability for backers to participate in limited alphatesting of in-development battles, which we hope will provide a focus and motivator for continued interaction.” He added: “We’ve really poured our blood, sweat, and tears into this series and seeing the entire three-act story completed and available for players will be an immensely satisfying moment. I hope that the series continues to astonish and delight people for years to come.”

February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 17:17

FEATURES HALO WARS 2

‘Halo Wars 2 is a great opportunity to make an RTS for everyone’ A sequel to 2009’s RTS title Halo Wars is finally hitting shelves next week, with strategy game gurus Creative Assembly at the helm. Alex Calvin speaks to creative director Alistair Hope about how a Sega-owned studio came to work on a Microsoft-owned IP

iven the colossal impact that the Halo franchise has had on the shooter genre, it’s easy to forget that at one point in the original game’s development it was going to be a real time strategy (RTS) title. So when the original Halo Wars launched in 2009, it was almost like things had come full circle for the franchise. However, despite being a modest success – with over 1m units of Halo Wars sold – developer Ensemble was closed shortly after release, making a sequel seem highly unlikely. Yet, here we are with Halo Wars 2, which was revealed on-stage at Gamescom 2015 with Sega-owned Total War devs and RTS gurus Creative Assembly at the helm. “A sequel to Halo Wars was the number one most-requested title to 343 Industries by fans for a long time, and that company was just looking for the right partner to make a sequel,” creative director Alistair Hope tells MCV. “343 came to us and it was just great timing; RTS on console is something that we’ve been thinking about for a long time. We’re big fans of the universe and we leapt at the chance to create a sequel to a game we really liked. “One of the really nice things is that Halo was first envisaged as a real-time strategy game before it became a first-person shooter. It’s nice to see the series go back to those roots and to create another chapter in the Halo story.”

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A sequel to Halo Wars was in high demand, says Hope

Halo Wars 2 that they’d find really engaging, satisfying and rewarding,” says Hope. “There are more people playing strategy games than ever before. One of the goals for us with Halo Wars 2 was to make a game where people would play it and then say they didn’t realise they liked strategy games. “It’s exciting taking Halo Wars to Windows 10 – we’re taking Halo in a really big and meaningful way to PC for the first time in years. That opens up the potential audience to Halo and Halo Wars 2 enormously. That’s super exciting. “One of the other cool things about the game is that it works even if gamers aren’t super familiar with Halo. The story takes place 28 years after the events of the first game and the main character doesn’t know much about the Halo universe either. You go on this journey of discovery with him and learn about Halo hand-in-hand.”

Hope believes the combination of the hugely popular Halo franchise with the RTS heritage of Creative Assembly could be a potent mix, too. “This was a great opportunity to make an RTS for everyone,” he says. “We were big fans of the Halo universe, we really like the original Halo Wars. Being given the opportunity to make a sequel was just something we leapt at. It’s that combination of our heritage in making strategy games plus this amazing universe – combining those things could really take strategy games to a wider audience. There’s great potential there. GOLDEN STRATEGY Making the game accessible to newcomers was one of Creative Assembly’s most important goals. “Our biggest focus was making sure we could give a wider variety of gamers an experience within

This wider appeal is something that’s reflected in the gameplay modes that Creative Assembly has put into Halo Wars 2. “We’ve produced a number of different modes,” Hope says. “Stronghold is full-on arcade action. This is about players getting all their fun toys out onto the battlefield and smashing them against their opponent in this quite short but intense encounter.” “Then there’s Deathmatch, which is a true test of RTS skill; it’s about resource management, tech building and coming up with a long-term strategy but having the micro-skills to be able to execute it and understand what the opponent is doing and countering that. We have Blitz as well, a new take on RTS and card collecting. “Across that range, we have something for those who are completely new to strategy games and people who are experienced with RTS titles.” TAKING CONTROL Historically, PC has been the home of the RTS as many titles are more suited to being controlled with a mouse and keyboard than a standard gamepad. The original Halo Wars, however, proved the genre can work on console. “The original game was massively popular and was the best-selling console RTS of all time, and that’s with good reason,” Hope says. “Ensemble did a lot of things really well and it’s a great experience. For us, it was wanting

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08/02/2017 17:17

HALO WARS 2 FEATURES

We’re taking Halo in a big way to PC for the first time in years.

RTS fans should feel right at home with Halo Wars 2

Alistair Hope, Creative Assembly

to build on top of those origins and make something that felt intuitive no matter what platform you are playing on. The aim for the controls on Xbox One was to create something that felt natural, so if you’re familiar with playing on a pad, you’re going to feel quite at home there. “Likewise, if you’re familiar with keyboard and mouse, then it’s going to feel just like a natural strategy interface. We didn’t see it as a big deal for us; we just wanted to make sure both controller, and keyboard and mouse just felt really intuitive.”

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HALO EFFECT

As such, Hope is rather bullish about Halo Wars 2’s prospects when the RTS title hits shelves later this month. “This sequel’s been a long time coming,” he says. “Fans have really wanted it and the reception so far has been tremendous. We’re really excited and have a beta coming up for Blitz. I really can’t wait to see people’s responses. We’re going to have some really great DLC available post-launch for six months-plus, a new campaign, new leaders, new unit and cards. I really like to think we’re going to be supporting that community with extra cool content post-release.”

THE golden question whenever MCV sits down to talk to anyone involved in an upcoming multiplayer game is: ‘But can it be an eSport?’ For Halo Wars 2, creative director Alistair Hope says Creative Assembly’s aim was to make a great release and that it’s ultimately up to the fans to decide whether it becomes an eSport. “First and foremost, we want to make a really great and fun game that people will want to play for a really long time,” Hope says. “As for eSports, that’s really up for the community to decide

in a lot of ways. What we wanted to do is create a game that’s really fun to play and entertaining to watch. “Blitz is a great example, where we’ve streamlined the experience so it’s engaging to watch even if viewers don’t know a lot about the underlying mechanics or controls. “The actual battles are relatively short at five or six minutes so you get these really exciting experiences. “It’s very watchable and entertaining, so there’s potential there. In the end, however, it’s ultimately up to the community.”

February 10th 2017

08/02/2017 17:17

XXX XXX INDIE INTERVIEW CHRISTINE LOVE

The sex factor As an industry, we tend to struggle with sex and relationships. Alex Calvin speaks to Ladykiller in a Bind maker Christine Love to see how her approach to these topics differs to most and why big companies and sexual content sometimes don’t mix

aking one look at Christine Love’s work is indication enough that she isn’t a traditional developer. The self-described ‘novelist who made a wrong turn’ started off making what she thought was an interactive narrative in 2010’s Digital: A Love Story. But everyone who tried it thought it was a game, so Love leaned into this and started making visual novel titles with her studio Love Conquers All. The firm’s 2012 release Analogue: A Hate Story was in fact the first visual novel to launch on Steam. Recently, this genre has thrived thanks to Japanese games, such as Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa, as well as Western takes, like Devolver’s Hatoful Boyfriend. “It just took a while for the audience here to connect with them,” Love tells MCV. “Games like Ace Attorney were released in the West a decade ago and did really well, but no-one associated them with visual novels. Now, we’re starting to see people associating that with a genre and going: ‘Oh, that’s a visual novel’. It’s

been a combination of Western developers making them where there didn’t seem to be much of a market for it before, as well as the big Japanese titles launching here, too. Now, it’s really proving that there definitely is [a market] and it’s often enjoyed by people who aren’t necessarily into super traditional video games.”

I feel like if you can censor sex from your game, it probably wasn’t a core part of it and, in that case, why was it there at all to begin with? Christine Love, Love Conquers All

SEX EDUCATION Love’s latest release, kinky lesbian sex visual novel comedy Ladykiller in a Bind – or to use its full name: My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress as Him and Now I Have to Deal with a Geeky Stalker and a Domme Beauty Who Want Me in a Bind!! – has certainly grabbed some headlines since its release, namely for its sexual content. Historically, sex and relationships are topics that video games have struggled with. Their approach, Love says, leaves a lot to be desired much of the time. “The biggest difference in our approach is that we want this to feel like it’s all about the romance, just in terms of the way we write that,” she explains.

“I feel like a really common thing in games is for romance to be the result of you saying the right thing to a person, then do it again and then you give them the correct gift and then at the end it culminates in you getting together, and then you go fuck. That’s the very traditional structure; getting together is the endpoint and everything up to that is you trying to impress them. That feels weird. It’s about relationship as a reward. “The way we approach it is that the characters start off having sex; the relationship starts with a hookup and then it continues from there and you have to deal with being in a relationship, which is a much more interesting space to be in. It turns out the challenges don’t stop the moment two people get together. There’s actually the relationship part, and that’s interesting, too, and it’s super under-explored.” Ladykiller in a Bind hit Humble in October, but it was only in January that the game launched on Steam. Back in October there was speculation that Steam had taken issue with the title’s sexual content. The actual reason, however, is far more mundane. “It was a case of us wanting to make sure it was totally safe to sell,” Love says. “We didn’t want there to

Valve didn’t want to censor Ladykiller in a Bind on Steam, Love says

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be any concerns. It just took a while to get through to a human [at Valve]. With small developers and big companies, this is just often how it is. It takes some time. But once we did get through, they were very understanding. They didn’t want us to censor it all.” Before their meeting, being asked to change Ladykiller in a Bind was a concern for Love, though. “It was a worry, but it wasn’t something I was willing to do,” she says. “I feel like the sex is really important; this is a game that’s about sex. If you can censor that from your game, it probably wasn’t a core part of it and, in that case, why was it there at all to begin with?” Ultimately, the issue was not with Valve or Steam, but with an industry that simply hasn’t had to question sexual content that much before. “In general, the games industry hasn’t had to interrogate this very much,” Love concludes. “They just don’t think about it. There aren’t enough games that are bringing up the questions so people just assume that big companies won’t be okay with this; but they never had to consider it. With Valve, the question had never been broached but once it was, they immediately understood it.” www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 17:17

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FEATURES MINICLIP

Miniclip at 15: How the mini became mighty After 15 years of publishing games on the web and mobile, Miniclip is now entering the console market. Katharine Byrne speaks to CEO Rob Small to find out more

he games industry has changed a lot since 2001. PlayStation 2 was little more than a year old; the first Xbox was yet to hit shelves; while the most prominent mobile title was Snake II on the Nokia 3310. It was also the year that mobile and browser game publisher Miniclip set up shop online. Armed with a host of titles users could play through their internet browser, Miniclip quickly established itself as the go-to destination for free online games. However, as markets and user habits began to change, Miniclip learned it had to adapt quickly or get left behind. Fortunately, Miniclip’s ability to capitalise on popular trends and shift its business accordingly means it now has over 200m active monthly users and has just celebrated 1bn downloads. Building on the success of its endeavours as a mobile games publisher, the company now has its sights set on console publishing with the launch of its very first title, Saber Interactive’s MX Nitro, coming up on February 14th. “We’ve faced two main challenges - a shifting market, and rapid growth,” Miniclip CEO Rob Small tells MCV. “Like many companies in this industry, we began to see the rise of a whole new audience of gamers on mobile, so it was vital to our success that we were able to move quickly to meet that demand. We’ve shown over the years that our success comes not just from our flagship titles, like 8 Ball Pool, but from a whole range of new games that prove very popular with our audience. We February 10th 2017

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rise to thus far, and are well placed to continue to meet.” Even with its in-depth understanding of user habits, however, Small says even he couldn’t have predicted the meteoric rise of some of its titles. “Agar.io definitely surprised us in just how huge it became, and still is,” he says. “It’s such a simple concept but its popularity is incredible - it was the No.1 app upon release, the top-trending game on Google Search in 2015, and appeared on House of Cards.

make fun, high-quality games that are very accessible but still have depth. “Finally, it was important that we expanded our talent pool and infrastructure at the company, in proportion with the massive growth we’ve seen among our numbers of players. I’m pleased to say that that continues to this day, we’re currently hiring for over 50 new roles, from 3D artists to game designers.” MOVING TO MOBILE Of course, the mobile games market is now a far more crowded place than it was when Miniclip was first started out, but thanks to its strong web presence and everexpanding user base, Miniclip’s move into mobile publishing has proved highly successful. “The boom of mobile gaming has clearly had a huge impact on user habits, which has been exciting to see and be a part of. Gaming is such a big part of many people’s lives now,” Small explains. “As a result, while traffic on Miniclip.com remains strong, the growth of our player base on mobile has been massive. I think we appeal to a much broader audience now than 15 years ago - when our audience was quite young, via mobile gaming we now encompass a much more diverse age range. “In recent years, we’ve seen companies like Nintendo enter that market, too, so one of our biggest challenges is to make sure we keep developing and growing within that space, and keep producing games that players turn to time and again. It’s an exciting challenge: one we’ve been able to

We’ve faced two main challenges – a shifting market and rapid growth. Rob Small, Miniclip

“The game had already become a viral sensation on web before we released the mobile version, so there was already a big demand to play Agar.io on the go. It had been played by Pewdiepie, Markiplier, and scores of other YouTubers, so its popularity really snowballed from there. It was important that we moved fast to develop the mobile game to capitalise on that popularity. “A more recent example would be our game Flip Diving, which released last summer and went straight to the top of the download charts on both Android and iOS. It is in many ways a perfect mobile game, and hits a lot of the things that we strive for in our game design: easy to pick up and play 36

for a couple of minutes, but with plenty to keep players coming back for more.” A GOOD CLIP Indeed, with the launch of MX Nitro fast approaching, Small hopes that branching out into console publishing will help take Miniclip to even greater heights. “We’re going to be putting our all into [MX Nitro] and hoping we can achieve big things. As well as investing in PR, we will be promoting the game across YouTube and other forms of social media. We’ve seen great success in marketing our games on YouTube in the past and we plan to continue that with MX Nitro. The console and Steam markets are at least as well-saturated as mobile, so we want to do everything we can to get MX Nitro noticed. As for more console games, I would love for this to be a big part of our company going forward.” Miniclip won’t be leaving mobile publishing behind, though, as Small says it’s still a great place to do business. “I think the mobile space is extremely healthy, and it is more than possible for a company to exist solely in that market,” he says. “We’re branching out into console with MX Nitro because we see it as a great opportunity to explore a new area of the industry and hopefully make a success out of it. It’s also a first opportunity for us to work with Sony, Microsoft and Steam on releasing a big title on their platforms, which has been a very exciting step for the company. The more great games we can make, and the more places that people can play them, the better.” www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 17:18

MINICLIP FEATURES

It is more than possible for a company to exist solely in the mobile market. Rob Small, Miniclip

www.mcvuk.com

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08/02/2017 17:18

FEATURES AKAMAI

Know your nodes In this second talk with Akamai’s marketing director for gaming Nelson Rodriguez, MCV discusses server provision for games and internet security for gaming services

How does using a content delivery network (CDN) differ from typical server or cloud implementations? There are two solutions to multiplayer right now. The obvious one is to install servers all over the world, Europe, both coasts of the US, Latin America, and so on. The other option is to use cloud providers. The cloud sounds more exciting and more flexible, but cloud implementation is a lot harder if you’re trying to move from an existing infrastructure to the cloud. We’re in a space now where we’re providing a third solution. You don’t have to install servers, you don’t have to migrate your infrastructure to the cloud, you can instead use these acceleration schemes and use the existing infrastructure you already have. Say you’re a publisher in the UK with servers set up here, to reach a North American audience on the west coast can be super challenging. Option one is you spin up a bunch of servers in say Seattle, option two is that you hire a cloud provider but you might then need to change your database and backend to cope with that. Or you figure out how to accelerate your data and keep your servers here and that’s where Akamai comes in. How does a CDN help with security? We actually stumbled upon the security business. We discovered we were simply absorbing attacks just because we had such a distributed platform. So we thought we should be in the security business, as we can handle attacks that most infrastructures can’t. Akamai now works with governments, financial services companies, biotech companies. But the single most attacked February 10th 2017

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industry is gaming, over half the attacks we see on our network are against gaming companies. How well prepared are most gaming companies? I think they are improving. A lot attacks you see happen are the result of an unlocked door, so to me that means not enough is being done broadly to cover every possible entrance. In short, they are not breaking down walls, they are trying every doorknob. If you talked to companies, their posture was ‘we’re fast, we’re going to react like a ninja’. A survey we did recently showed that 30-to-40 per cent of companies had no security plan in particular, they were planning to react. But they are starting to realise that prevention is a better option. The biggest publishers and brands are spending preventatively; they are attacked every day, dozens of times a day. It’s when a vector pops up that hasn’t been accounted for that you see it in the news.

multiplayer servers, authentication servers, personal identifying information, databases, there are so many points to attack. With gaming, persistence of connection is vital. It’s easy to disrupt gaming in a way that affects people and it’s easier to do that in gaming than in almost any other industry. When you’re watching a film or logging into a store that connection happens once. You’re not constantly polling in the same way.

Are most attacks designed purely for publicity? We’ve found that publicity-seeking attacks are actually a distraction for data theft attacks, with the security resources distracted. A considerable percentage of attacks have a money motive, a data theft motive. I think that such attacks are getting ever more complex too.

Over half the attacks we see on our network are against gaming companies.

Are gaming services particularly vulnerable? Gaming is a big target because it pushes the technological envelope in ways that other industries don’t, which makes gaming constantly exposed. New innovations in multiplayer, and in the way the infrastructure is set up, make it harder to protect against the vectors consistently. You have lots and lots of points of access,

Nelson Rodriguez, Akamai

Is the problem getting worse? There are more devices and the attacks are getting bigger. As the tech to protect against attacks gets better, the attacks get bigger in response. We have a command centre, we can watch in real time the attacks that happen globally. We’ll see a spike in our traffic, we can also see the launch of a game, such as Battlefield. For IoT-based attacks, there will need to be global legislation. There’s no accountability at present, who’s responsible for the attack, at present the defender is the one responsible for dealing with it. That needs to change. www.mcvuk.com

08/02/2017 17:46