MCV807 October 3rd 2014 by Future PLC

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MULTIPLAYER Get a taste of Kyratâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s embattled history in an all new adversarial multiplayer mode. Play as a heavily armed soldier of the Golden Path rebellion, or as a member of the ancient Kalinag warrior tribe.

MAP EDITOR: DEATH-TRAP DESIGNER Create and share your own maps using the most powerful and intuitive map editor ever offered in the Far Cry series. * Based on Metacritic as of 12/18/2012

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES ISSUE 807 FRIDAY OCTOBER 3RD 2014

ANARCHY ON XBOX ONE

PAGE 16

XBOX’S VIBRANT SHOOTER SUNSET OVERDRIVE EXPLODES ONTO RETAIL SHELVES

SKY FALL IS THE WORLD’S BIGGEST KIDS VIDEO GAME FRANCHISE BROKEN? SKYLANDERS INVESTIGATION PAGE 06

£438,000

LOOK WHO’S BACK

THE STORY BEHIND GAMESAID’S RECORDBREAKING CHARITY HAUL

GEARS OF WAR CREATOR CLIFF BLESZINSKI ON HIS NEW INDIE VENTURE

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CHEAT SHEET

THE EDITOR WHY HAVE PUBLISHERS NOT STEPPED UP TO CONFRONT THE DISGUSTING BEHAVIOUR OF THEIR CONSUMERS THROUGHOUT #GAMERGATE?

s the man who normally spends his time looking after MCV’s online editorial, this last month has not been professionally inspiring. And while most normal humans who don’t have to spend the majority of their waking hours online may be largely unaware of the gritty details surrounding #GamerGate, if you’re in the industry I’m going to presume you’re at least aware of it. Actually, I’m going to presume you have a professional interest in it as the entire movement has united itself under your banner. Gamers. The people who have perpetuated this fiasco are associating themselves with your products and identifying as like-minded consumers of the items you produce. PICKING SIDES Make no mistake about it – I’m not taking a balanced view on this. What happened throughout #GamerGate was abhorrent. I’m not talking about the conduct of journalists, who have no case to answer against the almost unanimously unfounded accusations that have been thrown at them. I’m talking about the vile strain of misogynistic anger thinly veiled under the fabricated guise of concerns regarding media ethics. Taking that as a given – which I do – I’m of the opinion that the industry has resoundingly failed in its duty and obligation to stand up to the behaviour I and my peers have had to endure throughout this episode. In researching this piece I contacted the UK offices of 12 publishers with three questions: Have they released an official comment on #GamerGate? Do they have an official stance?

October 3rd 2014

Do they think the industry has a responsibility to react? The response? Ten of them said they are not prepared to oﬀer any comment and two didn’t even bother to reply.

YouTuber Matt Lees told me. “If you aren’t on the list of developers and publishers that this toxic element think should be boycotted, then there’s a good chance these people see you as the good guys. “Hardcore fans are important for business, but publishers need

DEAFENING SILENCE The closest I came to getting any concrete response was this from UKIE CEO Jo Twist: “We respond to our members and the industry when they need us to do so. This is not a games industry exclusive issue, but one that society must police, and there are clear laws against harassment and abuse. We focus on promoting the positive, diverse, nature of games, the joy people get from playing games and the amazing careers people can have within the industry and we will continue to do that.” Which I guess pretty much leaves it up to me to speculate? Presumably, this unwillingness to confront this issue is due to one of two reasons. Here’s the ﬁrst – publishers are scared of alienating sections of the buying public. Despite the fact that said section comprises of mostly young men who feel entitled, or even obligated, to publicly air violently sexist views. “Remaining silent seems like the safest option, but leaves the morality of publishers open to appropriation,” journalist and

In researching this piece I contacted the UK oﬃces of 12 publishers. Ten of them said they were not prepared to oﬀer any comment and two didn’t even bother to reply. to start thinking carefully about the brand ambassadors their silence is likely to create.” Freelancer Leigh Alexander was less convinced of the industry’s direct responsibility to confront current behaviour, but did call it out for the role it played in creating it. “I don’t think companies who

produce consumer products are necessarily responsible for moderating their community of buyers,” she told me. “On the other hand, I think what we’re seeing is the result of actual decades of all of us, from content creators and game makers to web communities and sites, declining to curate our cultures in any way. “To an extent ‘we are what we eat’ – we have an audience that’s been explicitly catered to with expensive tech products about statistical gains, masculine power and capitalistic weaponry, where pesky narratives and values must never get in the way of the fun, and this may be the result.” ARE WE NOT FRIENDS? The second possibility? The games industry simply doesn’t care about the games press and is happy to watch it burn. The rise of social media (and direct-to-consumer contact) and YouTubers (who are able to receive payment for the promotion of titles and STILL be defended by fans while the traditional press is accused of all sorts of absurd and unfounded evils) means that the press just isn’t as important any more. In fact, maybe we’re even an inconvenience? All these calls for gender equality and unwillingness to let abusive behaviour slide and the active want to evolve gaming beyond simply a money factory producing BANG SMASH THUMP multi-million pound action titles. Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong. But until the industry stands up and speaks out, we’ll all be left to guess – and to keep moderating the endless hate your fans throw our way. Ben.Parﬁtt@intentmedia.co.uk

www.mcvuk.com

CHEAT SHEET

MARKET DATA DOWN Hyrule Warriors drops ten places to No.13, with sales declining 74 per cent

Two week after the launch of Destiny the market is up again thanks to the blockbuster launch of EA’s FIFA 15 £60m

TOP ONLINE STORIES THIS WEEK Our biggest stories for the week ending Sept 30th

1 Weekly Xbox One sales push past PS4 in UK after FIFA 15 and price cut sales spike

£30m

£56m 1,328,359 units

£27m 653,827 units UP The market is up thanks to FIFA – revenue rose 460 per cent week-on-week

£0m Week Ending September 21st

UK RETAIL TOP 10

3 Sony matches Xbox One’s price promotion with £329 FIFA 15 PS4 hardware bundle 4 FIFA 15 ﬁnally drops PS2 after 13 years, there’s no Wii U version this year either

£10m 326,220 units Week Ending September 14th

2 Games Media Awards 2014: The ﬁnalists are revealed

Week Ending September 27th

5 ‘Smartphones are not designed to be put in your pocket’

PRE-ORDER TOP 10

SPONSORED BY

FIFA 15

SUPER SMASH BROS (3DS)

Destiny

Activision Blizzard

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4)

Disney Inﬁnity 2.0

Disney

Forza Horizon 2 Day One Edition (Xbox One)

Microsoft

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition

Warner Bros

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Watch Dogs

The Sims 4

Fantasy Life

Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare

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NINTENDO Warner Bros

Microsoft

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Xbox One)

Activision Blizzard

Bayonetta 2 + Bayonetta 1 (Wii U)

Nintendo

Ubisoft

The Evil Within + Fighting Chance DLC (PS4)

Bethesda

Grand Theft Auto V (PS4)

Rockstar

Nintendo

Alien Isolation Nostromo Edition (PS4)

Sony

The Evil Within + Fighting Chance DLC (Xbox One)

Bethesda

Halo: The Master Chief Collection (Xbox One)

Microsoft

Sega

October 3rd 2014

IS SKYLANDERS DOOMED?

SKYLANDERS’ BATTLE FOR THE PLAYGROUND It’s the biggest kids video game in the world, but the cracks are starting to show in the Skylanders craze. Christopher Dring speaks to Activision and delivers his own analysis

“S

kylanders Trap Team is our most magical Skylanders game yet,” Activision’s CEO Eric Hirshberg told investors in August. “Since we revealed Trap Team, we have seen a 50 per cent increase in our Skylanders YouTube channel views compared to last year. And while we have strong competition, we also have breakthrough innovation, a new line-up that has more price points and options for the consumer and unprecedented support from first and third-parties, including Nintendo. “We therefore expect Skylanders to continue to lead toys-to-life this fall and determining one of the most successful kids entertainment IPs in the world.” It’s a bullish statement, and one you’d expect from a confident US executive talking about a major franchise. Skylanders remains a lucrative business with its numerous figures. And last year in the UK, the toys-to-life genre – a name Activision itself coined – generated more revenue than ever. So it looks like Activision is on course to be exactly what Hirshberg claims: the publisher with the most successful kids entertainment franchise in the world. Yet ultimately, I feel the figures are misleading. Skylanders is a series in trouble. CRASH LAND Last year’s Swap Force performed below that of the previous year’s Skylanders: Giants. There are toys still left in the channel, with

October 3rd 2014

Retailers are having to clear last year’s stock from shelves

multiple retailers slashing the prices in half to clear the shelves. And even toy stores (Toys R Us aside) are losing confidence. “While Skylanders enjoyed strong success in the toy business last year, this now appears to have slowed,” says the editor of Toy News Samantha Loveday. “One of the main considerations for toy retailers is that Skylanders really needs to be demonstrated in-store, to really show it off to its full potential. Not many indies have this kind of space. Also, this summer they were busy dealing with strong sellers such as LEGO Minifigures and 2014 FIFA World Cup Stickers; low priced, high volume products which were easy for them to sell, so I can’t help but feel Skylanders may have lost out on further space here.” The interviews MCV has conducted with Activision regarding the upcoming Trap Team shows

There are kids IP that have spanned decades. They’ve put innovation high on their agenda. That’s what we do. John Coyne, Activision

that the company is relying on three things to ensure the franchise doesn’t lose the playground. The first is the game’s innovation, the second is its quality and the third is the inclusion of a tablet version. “The important thing with kids is to continually surprise and delight them,” says Skylanders VP of marketing John Coyne. “That keeps you on your toes, both in terms of development but also in terms of the marketing and everything you do. At Gamescom I had a meeting where we were talking about how we have to continually question everything we are doing. Our audience is quick to become bored of something, or adopt something new. It makes this quite an exciting field to work within. There are no shortage of ideas. We have lots of innovations in the pipeline.” He adds: “There are many toy and kids franchises that have spanned 20 or 30 years. And the thread that has run through all of those is that they have all put innovation high on their agenda. And that’s what we do.” The innovation behind this year’s Trap Team is that players are now able to ‘trap’ villains in little bits of plastic, and then even play with them in the game. The ‘trapped’ characters can then talk via a speaker in the game’s new portal. “The idea was born out of a brainstorming session where we said: ‘So far it has been about taking something physical and bringing it to life in the digital world. How cool would it be if we could reverse the magic and grab

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IS SKYLANDERS DOOMED?

Will parents be willing to shell out £50 for the new Trap Team starter pack?

something from the digital world and bring it into the physical?’” But this idea brings with it challenges. Not least the need for parents to buy even more bits of plastic and yet another ‘portal of power’ accessory. An essential starter pack costs over £50. Its rival game, Disney Infinity 2, is priced at a similar level. Yet Disney has the pleasure of its billion-dollar licences. CHARACTERS UNKNOWN Disney Infinity has its own challenges, too. The latest game introduced Marvel heroes and its first week sales are up 32 per cent compared with its predecessor. And the inclusion of Guardians of the Galaxy characters, the smash blockbuster of the summer, means that the game has the likes of fanfavourite Groot to win over kids (and slightly older kids than last year’s game, too). The challenge it faces is in terms of quality. Disney Infinity 2’s Metacritic score sits in the 70s. As THQ found out shortly before its collapse, kids won’t settle for mediocre games, irrespective of any licence. If the rumours of a Star Wars-based Infinity game for 2015 is true, then the developer will need to improve, because Star Wars fans have had their fill of low-quality tie-ins.

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Regardless, Disney (and indeed Nintendo with Amiibo) have the benefit of popular characters to sell. Skylanders’ heroes are confined to the video game world, there has been no film or cartoon to establish the likes of Chop Chop amongst a wider audience. “The Skylanders TV show/movie is a question we get asked a lot,” says Coyne. “I’ve always maintained that the game is the entertainment. Any fan of the franchise is spending a lot of time with the characters in the game. You ask kids and they know our characters as much as they know characters in TV shows. It’s not something we necessarily miss.” Young gamers may know the Skylanders characters, but what about the rest of the kids market? Surely a TV show or a film would widen the franchise’s reach? That’s exactly what Nintendo did with Pokémon to phenomenal success. I can’t help by feel that the insistence on not taking Skylanders beyond the console is something that weakens the game’s popularity, not increases it.

Kids are playing everywhere and we need to be with them. This tablet version is a bold approach. Paul Reiche, Toys 4 Bob

MOBILE MOVES One of the big challenges facing anyone developing kids games on consoles, is that all the kids aren’t there. Since the decline of Wii,

children have splintered out across various platforms. Some are still on Wii, some have taken to Xbox 360, and loads have stepped away and moved onto mobile devices. It means that Activision’s decision to launch the full Trap Team game on iPad and Android tablets is a smart one. MCV was shown the game at Gamescom and we were impressed. It’s the full Trap Team game with visuals identical to the Xbox 360 version. Activision has even developed its own special Portal that doubles as a tablet stand, while in the base of the portal is a bluetooth controller. “For at least two years now this has been something we wanted to do,” says Paul Reiche, CEO of franchise creators Toys 4 Bob. “But it took tablets of sufficient power to get into the hands of our players.” He added: “The kids are playing everywhere, and we need to be there with them with Skylanders if we want to continue being as successful and being the leader in this space. This tablet version was a surprise, and it’s a bold approach.” It’s certainly a smart move by Activision, but peripheral-heavy smartphone games have failed to light up the iOS and Google charts. Last year the biggest mobile game in the world – Angry Birds – tried the whole toys-to-life concept with its Telepods, to very limited success. What Skylanders is trying to do is certainly a good idea, but it’s by no means a sure fire hit. SKY IS UP? Maybe Trap Team can get Skylanders back on track. Perhaps the ‘trap’ innovation will inspire a new generation of fans. The new tablet version could reach children who have either moved on or who have never touched a console. But that is a lot of maybes, perhaps and coulds. It’s a year of big objectives for Activision. It has just successfully launched its most ambitious new project to date in Destiny. It is attempting to reinvigorate Call of Duty with a new studio. But its biggest challenge will be keeping Skylanders relevant amongst an increasingly fickle kids gaming audience.

October 3rd 2014

GAMES MEDIA AWARDS

THE WRITE STUFF Finalists for the Games Media Awards have been revealed - with over 60 writers and outlets in the running, plus the event’s first ever public vote. MCV talks you through the new changes and how the short lists were decided

2014 MAJOR changes to the Games Media Awards this year have guaranteed a wider array of talents in the running. For a start, we have changed the entry process and the award categories. We’ve got eight awards and two special awards. The main eight are divided into key areas for games coverage - news, features, criticism, video and audio, plus new talent and overall prizes for editorial teams. There’s also a public vote (Gamers’ Choice) and a vote on the night by the media in the room (Journalists’ Journalist). This year, instead of lobbying from readers and friends of top journos,

October 10th 2014

editorial coverage of games - they are as discerning media watchers as much of the press. In some instances they are even ex-writers,

we asked the writers and editors to put themselves forward. The response was huge - over 150 different names were put forward by journos, their colleagues and bosses. (Of course, we did still have some lobbying, and read every submission ultimately.) But 150 names competing for eight updated awards categories plus two special awards is a fierce challenge. So when it came to narrowing the long lists down further, we called in separate juries for each award to vote for their top choices. The judges hail from across the industry. Not just journalists; PRs, developers and publishers often read just as much if not more

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. so are more sensitive to the pressures and deadlines of games media than you might think. All the votes helped decide both the winners and the finalists for the main eight awards. The list of the finalists can be found on the right - to

find out who won you need to be in the room on the night of October 15th. As for the winners of the special prizes: voting is now open for the Gamers’ Choice prize, so nominated writers and outlets can encourage their audience to vote, with a closing date of midday on October 15th. Obviously, a widely-discussed event like the GMAs is never going to please everyone. But we’ve updated the event and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve also got some exciting additions planned for 2015... TO BOOK A PLACE AT THE GMAs, CONTACT Conor.Tallon@intentmedia. co.uk or call on 01992 535 647.

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GAMES MEDIA AWARDS

THE FINALISTS GAMERS’ CHOICE - powered by Playfire The Real Games Journalist interviews Mike Bithell by Gav Murphy for CVG http://bit.ly/1ouIqhL

Expert Super Guide Matt Lees Other Places Outside Xbox VideoGamer TV GTA V O’clock

NEWS WRITER Dave Cook Edwin Evans-Thirlwell Matthew Reynolds mcspotlight Tom Phillips Wesley Yin-Poole

Inside Monopoly’s Secret War Against the Third Reich by Christian Donlan for Eurogamer http://bit.ly/1hOjpij

EDITORIAL TEAM - PRINT Edge gamesTM Official PlayStation Magazine OXM PC Gamer The Observer

FEATURES WRITER Christian Donlan Keith Stuart Mark Brown Martyn McLaughlin Simon Parkin Stuart Dredge

Disabled Gamers: Part of Your World by Jordan Erica Webber for Kotaku UK http://bit.ly/1kofVR3 Hands-on with Fiona Bruce: BBC uploads the UK’s favourite news personality to Oculus Rift by Steve Hogarty for PC Games N http://bit.ly/1rIhFLL

EDITORIAL TEAM OF THE YEAR - ONLINE CVG Eurogamer Kotaku UK PC GamesN RockPaperShotgun Total Xbox

GAMES CRITIC Andy Kelly Chris Schilling Harry Slater Keza MacDonald Matt Kamen Matthew Castle Nathan Brown

RISING STAR - sponsored by SEGA Angus Morrison Hamish Todd Jim Trinca Kirk McKeand Luke Karmali Ria Jenkins

JOURNALISTS’ JOURNALIST Keith Stuart Simon Parkin Ellie Gibson Guy Cocker Matthew Castle Julia Hardy

Dragon Age’s first ‘fully gay’ character by Aoife Wilson for OXM Blog http://bit.ly/1k9rCud American Roads and Game Design: A Love Letter by Cara Ellison for Kotaku UK http://bit.ly/1nFiipt The Video Game Invasion of Iraq by Simon Parkin for The New Yorker http://nyr.kr/1vu6BSn The Last Of Us: Left Behind is a masterful, affectionate and poignant farewell by Chris Schilling for Edge Online http://bit.ly/1ouJ4M0 Chico’s Tape 4 by Ria Jenkins http://bit.ly/1vu6I0h

PODCAST OR RADIO SHOW Chet and Jon’s Reassuringly Finite Playlist Daft Souls Game On GlitchFreeGaming One Life Left StickTwiddlers Podcast The Explosive Alan Podcast The Sausage Factory

DayZ: An Anthropological Study by Angus Morrison for RE:Roll http://bit.ly/1vrYftG Escaping into Skyrim by Anonymous for Midnight Resistance http://bit.ly/YHkqBg IGN UK Podcast – Episode 243: The Blabber Dook http://bit.ly/1mLzAk6

VIDEO App Spy BitSocket

OUR SPONSORS GAMER’S CHOICE PARTNER

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October 10th 2014

MARKETING

[INFO] Released: October 3rd Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Sora/Bandai Namco

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK

Distributor: Open

THIS WEEK: SUPER SMASH BROS

Contact: 01753 483 700

THE CAMPAIGN The launch of Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS has got off to a great start, selling over one million units in Japan in its first week. Nintendo is hoping that this strong level of success is repeated in the UK when the game launches on October 3rd. The firm is generating interest ahead of the release with a huge campaign spread across a variety of mediums. Part of the push includes a large digital display campaign targeting fans and kids, which is estimated to deliver over 13m impressions between September and October. In addition to this, Nintendo is also utilising TV advertising. Aiming at Super Smash Bros’ target demographic of kids

IN THEIR OWN WORDS and families, Nintendo said that the TV campaign is predicted to deliver over 900 TV viewer ratings (TVRs). The video adverts on TV and online combine pre-rendered and in-game footage, focusing on the game’s diverse all-star roster. Promotions for the limited edition 3DS XL pack, including a custom design console and a pre-installed copy of the game, are also being shown. As well as Nintendo’s eﬀorts to highlight the title before its release, the ﬁrm will also embark on a proactive PR campaign, focusing on specialist, kids, men’s and online media. And of course, a demo for Super Smash Bros for 3DS was also released via the Nintendo eShop ahead of the launch.

MARKETING NEWS EA | Life-simulation title The Sims 4 has partnered with charity Cancer Research UK to sponsor Stars At Your Service, a new show on Channel 4. The programme, which will be broadcast starting on Friday October 3rd and Saturday October 4th at 8pm and 6:15pm respectively, will grant viewers the chance to request TV and comedy stars to do anything they choose – live on TV. The Sims 4 TV bumpers, created by firm The Wagon, feature familiar at-home experiences that

October 3rd 2014

VANISHA KAVIA Product Manager, Nintendo

We are really excited about the launch of Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS, especially as it’s the ﬁrst time this popular franchise is going to be available on our handheld console. The game has everything players already love about the franchise, as well as some great new additions. These include new game modes (Smash Run), more characters than ever before and the ability for gamers to play as their own Mii characters. The new game has loads to keep fans of the franchise engaged and warmed up ahead of Super Smash Bros for Wii U. In addition, there will be appeal to kids as it’s a game that brings all their favourite Nintendo characters together in one place.

The Sims 4 has been announced as the lead sponsor for Channel 4’s Stars At Your Service

soon take a turn for the weird – in keeping with the world of The Sims. EA has also recruited YouTuber Mollie Fauxwilkins, also known as English Simmer, for one of the idents. The sponsorship will extend to a one-off celebrity Deal or No Deal, which will air on Sunday October 12th. This activity is part of Cancer Research’s major Stand Up to Cancer marketing initiative.

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MARKETING

BRAND PROFILE HELLO KITTY PQube’s Geraint Evans on the video game legacy of the world’s most famous feline (or is she?) ALONGSIDE Mickey Mouse and Mario, it’s tough to think of another character that’s as iconic or proliﬁc as Hello Kitty. 2014 was her 40th anniversary, and from her humble beginnings as a purse decoration back in 1974, she’s become a global icon worth over $7bn annually, appearing on hundreds of thousands of items,

later a spokesperson suggested that saying Hello Kitty isn’t a cat is “going too far”. One thing we can all agree on is that, historically, Hello Kitty games have hardly set the world alight With the exception of the brilliant Hello Kitty Roller Rescue on the GameCube back in 2005 (seriously, if you’ve played it, you’ll know what I’m talking about), Hello Kitty games have tended to be content-light interactive software and edutainment-style titles – providing little in the way of quality or long-lasting entertainment.

from clothing and accessories to stationary and airliners. Perhaps more impressively, Hello Kitty remains as loved and as relevant to fans from childhood through to adulthood, with the cleanness of her design ensuring that she remains timeless in her ability to adapt to changing tastes. You’ll notice we’re careful to refer to her as ‘she’ – following the recent revelation that she may not be a cat after all. “A little girl, a friend, but not a cat,” said the founder of licence holder Sanrio. Although

With that in mind, we’re very pleased to have announced Hello Kitty: Sanrio Friends 3D Racing for the Nintendo 3DS in time for the Christmas holiday. Hello Kitty: Sanrio Friends 3D Racing will provide fans with their ﬁrst signiﬁcant Hello Kitty gaming release in quite some time, and that’s something we at PQube are very excited to be able to deliver. We’ve also partnered with Sanrio to provide pre-order bonuses in the form of highly collectable Hello Kitty 40th anniversary merchandise.

NINTENDO DOMINATES CHILDREN’S GAMES & CONSOLES MARKET This week, GameTime examines how Nintendo has mastered the use of TV advertising

Nintendo CH TVRs

1400

46%

Market Share (CH TVRs) 61%

49%

70%

1200

60%

1000

50%

800 600

40% 1160

1044 945

400

20%

200 00

30% 10%

June

NINTENDO has not let up on maintaining post-E3 TV advertising market pressure. When looking at children’s TV viewer ratings (CH TVRs) speciﬁcally, Nintendo has occupied over 50 per cent of the games and consoles TV advertising market

July

August

The launch of Tomodachi Life in June saw signiﬁcant investment in TV advertising. To date, the campaign has reached 70 per cent of the total children’s audience. The nearest competitor to Nintendo in terms of TV advertising market share was King.com

across the last three full months of consolidated data. The success of Mario Kart 8, released at the end of May, which sold over 2.82m units worldwide, marked the start of a return to heavier TV advertising for Nintendo after a quiet start to the year.

00%

Across the examined period, King. com accrued over 800 CH TVRs in support of multiple properties. Year-on-year, Nintendo has increased their TV advertising presence (in terms of CH TVRs) by over 15 per cent, indicating the importance of these properties.

MCV GameTime is provided by Generation Media 0207 255 4650 | www.generationmedia.co.uk

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October 3rd 2014

Market share (CH TVRs)

CH TVRs

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

10 NEW MEMBERS FOR UKIE BOARD Sony, EA and Ubisoft chiefs among those elected O Gerhard steps down as Jagex CEO O Curve hires Watson

Top row, left to right: Ella Romanos, Fergal Gara and Helana Santos. Second row, left to right: Ian Livingstone, Kate Booth and Keith Ramsdale. Third row, left to right: Miles Jacobson, Noirin Carmody and Rob Cooper. Bottom: Stuart Dinsey.

UKIE | The trade body has announced 10 new board members at its AGM. The new members on the trade body’s board are as follows: ELLA ROMANOS, commercial director at Strike Gamelabs. FERGAL GARA, VP and MD at Sony Computer Entertainment UK and Ireland. HELANA SANTOS, lead programmer at Modern Dream. IAN LIVINGSTONE CBE, BIS creative industries champion. KATE BOOTH, operations director at Preloaded. KEITH RAMSDALE, VP of major markets at EA. MILES JACOBSON, studio director of Sports Interactive. NOIRIN CARMODY, founder and COO at Revolution Software.

ROB COOPER, MD for Northern Europe and export at Ubisoft. STUART DINSEY, chairman of Curve Studios. The new additions mean that 25 per cent of the board of directors are women, a first for the body. Ukie chairman Andy Payne commented: “Each year competition for places increases and our democratic process has seen more people putting themselves forward for election and more members voting this year than ever before.” JAGEX | CEO MARK GERHARD has announced he is to depart the online publisher.

Gerhard will retain his position until the end of the year, at which point an as-of-yet unannounced replacement will take over. He has been at Jagex since 2008, joining as chief technology officer in 2008 before stepping into the role of CEO in 2009. CURVE | The indie publisher has hired former Gamer Network advertising manager PAUL WATSON. Watson will serve in the role of commercial marketing executive. Watson previously worked on a variety of key campaigns for website Rock Paper Shotgun.

AROUND THE INDUSTRY MIND CANDY | The Moshi Monsters firm has suffered a round of redundancies. The company has laid off 30 members of staff from its web team, but is continuing to hire new talent. Mind Candy founder Michael Acton Smith said that none of these redundancies came from the Moshi Monsters team. “No, the whole of the Moshi web team did not go,” he said. “Last year we moved some people off the web team onto our new mobile projects. There were a small number of redundancies at that time. “As with any business, it’s important to ensure the core team is the right size and of the right expertise. “This is why we have had to rethink the structure of the company to focus on the future with our new brands in mind.”

October 3rd 2014

PHONES 4U | Staff at High Street mobile phone retailer Phones 4u have been told that they might not receive their full wages. According to an internal document circulated to employees, they are not to be paid while administrators PwC search for a buyer for the troubled phone store. SQUARE ENIX | The Japanese publisher is opening a cloud gaming subsidiary entitled Shinra Technologies. The name is shared with the evil corporation from Square’s 1997 RPG Final Fantasy VII. Shinra is to be based in New York under the leadership of former Square Enix CEO and current chairman Yoichi Wada. The company says that it aims to offer ‘new game experiences’ through its proprietary cloud tech.

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EDITORIAL CONTACTS

EDITORIAL CONTACTS WE ARE PLAYING... FIFA 15. Some critics are claiming this year’s game is a step back for the series. Those critics are wrong. Christopher Dring, Editor

My Vita and I enjoyed Danganronpa so much that it ﬂat out died afterwards. So I’ve been playing Destiny. Alex Calvin, Staﬀ Writer

Chris.Dring@intentmedia.co.uk

Alex Calvin@intentmedia.co.uk

Thanks to the tragic delay of the last Dark Souls II DLC, it’s been a week of mostly Destiny. Ben Parﬁtt, Associate Editor

I can’t spare the time to write this, because I have to get back to Destiny’s Loot Cave. Purple engrams, here I come. Matt Jarvis, Staﬀ Writer

Ben.Parﬁtt@intentmedia.co.uk

Matt.Jarvis@intentmedia.co.uk

Publisher: Michael French Michael.French@intentmedia.co.uk

Head of Operations: Stuart Moody Stuart.Moody@intentmedia.co.uk

Group Sales Manager: Alex.Boucher Alex.Boucher@intentmedia.co.uk

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Saxon House, 6a St. Andrew Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire, England SG14 1JA Intent Media specialises in tradededicated print and digital publishing for entertainment and leisure markets. As well as MCV, Intent publishes Develop, PCR, ToyNews, Music Week, MI Pro, Audio Pro International and BikeBiz. It also has two onlineonly brands: Mobile Entertainment, dedicated to the growing mass market smartphone sector, and Licensing.biz, for everyone in the global licensing industry. It also runs a number of events including the MCV Industry Excellence Awards, the London Games Conference and the Games Media Awards.

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October 3rd 2014

DATA ANALYSIS Source Games and Charts compiled by GfK Chart-Track

DATA & RESEARCH This week FIFA 15 launched and utterly dominated the All Formats Top 40 THE latest entry in EA’s best-selling FIFA series launched this week. And launch it did. FIFA 15 shot straight to No.1, accounting for 80 per cent of all units sold in the UK this week. Not only this – it was responsible for 87 per cent of this week’s software revenue. Comparing FIFA 15’s launch week to that of FIFA 14 (there were two launches last year – one for then current-gen formats; one for PS4 and Xbox One), FIFA 15 sold around the same amount as FIFA 14, but it generated six per cent more revenue. 54 per cent of the game’s sales were on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox

One, while 45 per cent were on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One might be leading the way, but there is still considerable life in the PS3 and Xbox 360. Meanwhile in the Steam charts Early Access title Life is Feudal: Your Own is in the top spot. In second place is the Valve Complete Pack bundle, which charts highly thanks to an oﬀer that saw its price reduced by 75 per cent. And there is clearly a lot of excitement for Shadow of Mordor and Borderlands: The PreSequel as pre-orders for both were in the Steam Top 10 this week.

TOP 10 STEAM CHARTS

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW RE 01 NEW NEW 03 08 NEW 06 09

LIFE IS FEUDAL: YOUR OWN PUBLISHER: BITBOX DEVELOPER: BITBOX

TITLE PUBLISHER Valve Complete Pack Valve Wasteland 2 InXile Entertainment Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor PE (P) Warner Bros Stronghold Crusader 2 Fireﬂy Studios Counter-Strike: Global Oﬀensive Valve Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (P) Warner Bros Gauntlet Warner Bros DayZ Bohemia Interactive Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (P) 2K Games

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

FIFA 15 EA FORMATS: PS4, XO, PS3, 360, WII, 3DS, VITA, PC TITLE DESTINY DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS WATCH DOGS THE SIMS 4 FANTASY LIFE MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION 3 PLANTS VS ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE THE LAST OF US REMASTERED THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEOGAME HYRULE WARRIORS GRAND THEFT AUTO V LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES TOMODACHI LIFE TERRARIA DIABLO III ROS ULTIMATE EVIL EDN FROZEN: OLAF’S QUEST ASSASSIN’S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG TITANFALL SNIPER ELITE 3 BATTLEFIELD 4 METRO REDUX SKYLANDERS: SWAP FORCE MARIO KART 8 FORZA MOTORSPORT 5 SKATE 3 INFAMOUS: LAST LIGHT WOLFENSTIN: THE NEW ORDER RAYMAN LEGENDS MADDEN NFL 15 LEGO THE HOBBIT RESIDENT EVIL 6 JUST DANCE 2014 POKÉMON WHITE NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS POKÉMON BLACK NHL 15 EA SPORTS UFC

Week ending September 27th

October 3rd 2014 2014

DEVELOPER: EA CANADA

FORMAT PUBLISHER PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PC EA 3DS Nintendo PS3 Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4 Sony PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros Wii U Nintendo PS3, 360 Rockstar PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros 3DS Nintendo PS3, 360, PC 505 Games/Merge PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard 3DS, DS GSP/Avanquest PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft XO, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 505 Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Deep Silver PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard Wii U Nintendo XO Microsoft PS3, 360 EA PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Vita Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360 EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS3, 360, PC Capcom PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii Ubisoft DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360 EA PS4, XO EA

Week ending September 27th

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DATA ANALYSIS Source

TOP 10 IPAD PAID CHARTS

TOP 40 INDIVIDUAL FORMAT

01 TW 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 40

LW NEW NEW NEW 01 02 03 08 06 NEW 07 09 05 11 04 12 14 NEW 19 16 10 18 NEW 22 23 28 24 NEW 35 32 35 26 33 29 21 31 27 RE 13

FIFA 15 EA FORMAT: PS4

DEVELOPER: EA CANADA

TITLE FIFA 15 FIFA 15 FIFA 15 DESTINY DESTINY DESTINY MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION THE SIMS 4 FANTASY LIFE DESTINY MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION 3 EDITION DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 THE LAST OF US REMASTERED HYRULE WARRIORS WATCH DOGS TOMODACHI LIFE FIFA 15 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS GRAND THEFT AUTO V DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS FIFA 15 TERRARIA PLANTS VS ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE MARIO KART 8 THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEOGAME FIFA 15 FORZA MOTORSPORTS 5 FROZEN: OLAF’S QUEST INFAMOUS FIRST LIGHT TITANFALL LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES SKATE 3 WATCH DOGS METRO REDUX WATCH DOGS CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS DISNEY INFINITY 2.0

FORMAT 360 XO PS3 PS4 XO 360 360 PC 3DS PS3 PS3 360 PS4 Wii U PS4 3DS Vita PS4 360 PS3 XO Wii 360 360 Wii U 360 PC XO DS PS4 XO 360 360 360 PS4 PS3 360 PS4

PUBLISHER EA EA EA Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard Microsoft EA Nintendo Activision Blizzard Sony Disney Sony Nintendo Ubisoft Nintendo EA Activision Blizzard Rockstar Disney Activision Blizzard EA 505 Games EA Nintendo Warner Bros EA Microsoft GSP/Avanquest Sony Microsoft Warner Bros EA Ubisoft Deep Silver Ubisoft Activision Blizzard Disney

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Goat Simulator Swype – Keyboard Five Nights at Freddy’s Goblin Sword Flightradar24Pro Football Manager Handheld 2014 Terraria Worms 3 Photon Flash Player

PUBLISHER Coﬀee Stain Studios Nuance Communications Scott Cawthon Eleftherios Christodoulatos Flightradar24 AB Sega 505 Games Team 17 Appsverse

Week ending : September 21st

TOP 10 IPHONE PAID CHARTS

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

SWYPE – KEYBOARD DEVELOPER: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS

TITLE Goblin Sword Fantasy Premier Peague 2014/15 Goat Simulator Minecraft – Pocket Editon 7 Minute Workout Challenge Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock Open House London 2014 Heads Up! Five Nights at Freddy’s

PUBLISHER Eleftherios Christodoulatos Premier League Coﬀee Stain Studios Mojang Fitness Guide Inc Northcube AB Simon Filip Warner Bros Scott Cawthon

Week ending September 21st

TOP 10 GOOGLE PLAY CHARTS

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Goat Simulator Theory Test UK 2014 Flightradar24 Pro The Chase Poweramp Full Version Fantasy Premier League 2014/15 Football Manager 2014 The Room Nova Launcher

PUBLISHER Coﬀee Stain Studios Focus Multimedia Flightradar24 AB Barnstorm Games Max MP All Apped Up Sega Fireproof Games TeslaCoil Software

Week ending September 27th

PRESENTS

£329

5 SECOND FACTS 100m

Microsoft has once again Steam now claims it has cut the price of its Xbox One 100m active users. This to £329. Sony has matched is considerably up from this, with the PS4 and FIFA the 75m people on Valve’s 14 bundle costing the same platform back in January

Correct as of September 29th

Read and remember these stats so you can sound clever at the next Monday morning meeting...

PlayStation Home is set to The internet may be going close on March 31st 2015. crazy about iPhone 6 Plus The social gaming platform handsets bending, but will have been active for 76 Apple claims that only nine months when the bell tolls customers have complained

PDP design & manufacture the Oﬃcial Microsoft licensed Xbox ONE TV Kinect Sensor Clip europesales@pdp.com

www.pdp.com www.mcvuk.com

October 3rd 2014

THE BIG GAME SUNSET OVERDRIVE

October 3rd 2014

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SUNSET OVERDRIVE THE BIG GAME

SUNSET OVERDRIVE

KICKING INTO OVERDRIVE Sunset Overdrive is about to explode onto Xbox One in a colourful shower of zany weapons, curse words and open-world shenanigans. Matthew Jarvis speaks to James Stevenson, community and marketing lead at developer Insomniac Games, about what the studio has in store

Release Date: October 31st Formats: Xbox One Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Insomniac Games

Insomniac Games is smiling once again. Establishing itself with the first trio of kid-friendly Spyro the Dragon games on the original PlayStation, before moving onto the PlayStation 2 with the entendre-loving Ratchet and Clank series, the studio then darkened its tone with the Resistance trilogy of shooters on PS3. But the bright and colourful worlds of Spyro and Ratchet are set to make a spiritual return in Insomniac’s next game, Sunset Overdrive. COMIC INSPIRATION Sunset Overdrive places players in the eponymous Sunset City, a lively locale with one big problem – it’s overrun by mutants. But these mutants aren’t your standard uglies; they’ve been transformed by their addiction to the sickly sweet taste of fictional energy drink Overcharge Delirum XT.

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of popping that into the world, and we’ve brought that back into video games in some ways.” Stevenson adds that he hopes the eccentricity of Sunset Overdrive will provide a self-aware antidote to the myriad po-faced military shooters that have emerged in the wake of Call of Duty. “We’ve gotten so serious,” he explains. “There’s an element of games that are taking themselves really seriously – and they didn’t want to have crazy call-outs to the fact that they were games anymore. We took the opposite approach James Stevenson, Insomniac Games of: it’s okay, it’s a video game, it’s fun, and if there’s moments where we can break that fourth wall and have fun with it – to be funny and humourous and interesting – we were happy to do that. It’s great for the player to break the fourth wall and recognise that we are a video

By using their own customised character and a variety of ‘unique’ weapons – including The Dude, a bowling ball-firing armament, and the TNTeddy, a lethal combination of plush and explosive – players will fight to take back the city. If it sounds a little over-thetop, that’s because it’s meant to be, with Sunset Overdrive taking its biggest cues from the fast-paced action and extreme aesthetics of comic books. “Scott Pilgrim vs the World was a huge inspiration for us,” reveals James Stevenson, community and marketing lead at Insomniac, referring to the 2010 comic book movie adaptation. “It’s funny, because we’re a video game inspired by the Scott Pilgrim movie, which was inspired by the comic book, which was inspired by video games. So it all comes full circle; Scott Pilgrim had all these video game things in it and ways

There’s an element of games that are taking themselves really seriously. We took the opposite approach of: it’s okay, it’s a video game, it’s fun.

October 3rd 2014

THE BIG GAME SUNSET OVERDRIVE

game. We want to embrace the fact that we are a video game.” PLATFORM JUMP Sunset Overdrive doesn’t just mark Insomniac’s debut on the new generation of console hardware; it’s also the first Xboxexclusive game from the firm, following more than 15 years of (primarily) PlayStation releases. Stevenson says that despite the storied partnership with Sony – last year’s Fuse was the firm’s only non-PlayStation-exclusive console title to date, releasing on both PS3 and 360 – moving across to Microsoft’s new machine was the right choice for Sunset to reach its full potential. “In terms of why we chose to work with Microsoft, we have lots of potential partners out there who would like to work with us,” he explains. “We had the idea for this game and what it was going to be, and the things we really wanted to accomplish with it, and we pitched that. “It was also really important for us that we own our IP, so going forward it was vital that we retain the rights to Sunset Overdrive and our creation. “We went with Microsoft for a lot of reasons: they believed in the vision of the project, they wanted to support us, and, on top of that, we had our own desire to keep our control. All of those things were really critical in deciding to work with them.” Clearly, then, Microsoft was the right firm to help with the artistic vision of Sunset Overdrive. But after such a long time on Sony hardware, was it technically difficult to make the move to Microsoft’s platform? “No matter what, any sort of new hardware is always going to have its own issues,” says Stevenson, adding that the game’s expansive scope presented more of a programming challenge: “Sunset Overdrive is our first open-world game. We knew going in that we were going to create an open-world and a world you could go and explore. “As the game evolved around the traversal mechanic, it was

October 3rd 2014

Sunset Overdrive’s enemies are humans mutated by their addiction to an energy drink

objectives. That was our driving goal. We knew the gameplay, look and feel, and effects goals that we wanted to achieve, and that was something we were able to accomplish with next-gen hardware.”

clear that you need a city to explore and a playground to be in. To build that, there were a lot of technical challenges, and we had to re-think our entire structure and pipeline to be able to do that.” But the work has paid off. And Stevenson says that the extra power of the Xbox One has allowed Insomniac to create the game it imagined. “Being able to build the city with the fidelity we have, being able to have the number of enemies on screen, being able to push the effects on the weapons – these are the things the Xbox One lets us do,” he states. “We always wanted to have Sunset feel like a Kiss concert, where there’s pyro and fireworks and blood and enemies everywhere while in this big world. Obviously it’s something we never could have done on a previous generation platform. “That was the main thing – building something that really had that look and feel, while accomplishing all of those

Sunset Overdrive’s world is something we never could have done on a previous generation platform. James Stevenson, Insomniac Games

CHAOS IN THE CLOUD One of the benefits of developing on the Xbox One, and praised by Insomniac CEO Ted Price, is the implementation of Microsoft’s cloud technology. So how exactly is the futuristic tech being used in the game? “We have an eight-player co-op experience called Chaos Squad,” explains Stevenson. “To get into a Chaos Squad game from their single-player game all players have to do is go into a photo booth in the city. The booth transports them instantly up to the multiplayer game, which is running on a dedicated server.” He adds that Microsoft’s cloud helps to eliminate some of the waiting time from multiplayer

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SUNSET OVERDRIVE THE BIG GAME

Players can explore Sunset City on foot – or by zipping and grinding around

matchmaking, as well as making it easier for Insomniac to add updates to the game as time goes on. “There’s a lot of things in keeping the online city – which is the same as the regular city but for those co-op missions – loaded and ready to go at all times,” he says. “So it’s a lot faster for us to seamlessly transition players into that mode; dedicated servers make things run so much faster. “We’re also able to push out a lot of content really quickly – we have Sunset TV, which will play and stream in the game, both online and for people playing at home who are just playing the single-player mode. “There’s all sorts of little things that are enabled by the cloud: ways we can push our content better and quickly make changes to the game experience once we’re launched. Things that really match the vision of what we want to do with the game once it’s arrived.”

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THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT Sunset Overdrive marks a few new steps for Insomniac – new hardware, a new platform and new technology. But it also marks a whole new style of game for the company. A sort of mix between Ratchet and Resistance: colourful, yet violent. So what’s next? “It’s really hard to predict what the future will be,” he admits. “Marcus Smith and Drew Murray, who are the creative and game directors on Sunset Overdrive, worked on every Resistance game, and they really wanted to do something different with Sunset. That was the direction. When you work on a franchise for a long period of time, like we did with Resistance, like we have done with Ratchet and like we hope to do with Sunset, you always at some point want to change things up and try something a little bit different.” While Insomniac might be riding the hyperactive energy of Sunset Overdrive for the time being, it’s bound to move on eventually – does that mean it might again slip into the

When you work on a franchise for a long period of time, you always at some point want to change things up and try something a little bit diﬀerent. James Stevenson, Insomniac Games

dour world of something like Resistance? “I guess it’s always possible that in the future we could make something serious and dark again,” Stevenson considers. “But that’s not this franchise – this franchise is bright, colourful and fun. There’s a story to it and there’s serious implications in the world, but it’s got a good tongue-in-cheek feel to it and it doesn’t take itself over-thetop seriously or anything like that.” Referring to the IP as a ‘franchise’, it’s clear that Insomniac has more to tell surrounding Sunset City. And Stevenson says the studio already has some ideas in mind for a follow-up if the first game is a hit. “Any time you develop a game, you end up cutting things; there’s always a list of ‘That would’ve been great’,” he states. “Then when you’re finishing a game, you have to start thinking about what comes next. “If we’re lucky enough to get to make a sequel, we definitely have a bunch of ideas. We just hope we get the chance.”

October 3rd 2014

GAMESAID INTERVIEW

£438,000: GAMESAID SMASHES INDUSTRY CHARITY RECORD GamesAid donations shot up by more than 68 per cent this year, giving the charity its biggest ever haul. Christopher Dring speaks to chairman Stuart Dinsey about how it did it, and what comes next

t London’s Earls Court this week, GamesAid revealed that it had raised an astonishing £438,000. It’s a huge increase over the previous year’s £260,000, which in itself was a record for the now six-year old games industry charity. That figure will be distributed amongst seven charities, more than ever before. Accuro, Lifelites, MAPS, Special Effect, Jigsaw 4U, Safe At Last and Action for Kids were the charities nominated by GamesAid’s members to receive £62,571 each (see ‘The Charities’ for more information). What’s more, GamesAid has told MCV that its membership has gone up by 20 per cent. There are now 1,500 games industry people who have joined the organisation. “Over the last year we have raised the highest ever amount of money, we’ve secured more members than ever before, we’ve had more members voting than ever before, we are giving money to more charities than ever before, and the winning charities

are getting a bigger cheque than ever before,” outgoing GamesAid chairman Stuart Dinsey tells MCV. “So we’re pretty pleased with that.” He adds: “What we have been able to do is connect with the industry to create projects which help us raise money from the sale of software. There have been a number of products published on Humble Bundle. That means that instead of people in the industry having to go to the same people to donate, we’ve been able to engage consumers in the charity. “We were one of the nominated charities for the EA Humble Bundle, and via that we raised over £161,000 [see ‘The Top 12 Money Makers’]. “But the sponsored events – things like cycling, golf, football, running, cricket – and the industry events like the Poker Night, EGX, Stand Up for GamesAid and the MCV Tenner, are all incredibly important, too. It is all about having a variety of different projects that give the industry and consumers different ways to engage with and donate to GamesAid.”

Jigsaw4u is one of the charities supported by GamesAid

THE TOP 12 MONEY MAKERS HERE’S a breakdown of the biggest contributors that helped GamesAid achieve its record-breaking result: EA Humble Bundle: £161,308 Yogcast Charity Drive: £123,162 Ebay Store: £36,917 Sega Humble Bundle: £33,436 PuppyGames Bundle: £17,881 EGX: £10,000 Jagex Well Of Goodwill: £7,939 London 10K Run: £6,793 Stand Up For Gamesaid: £7,171 MCV Awards Tenner: £6,371 Brighton Poker Night: £3,575 Develop Awards Tenner: £2,500

OTHER NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS: MLGX 2013 Midlife Gamer Party, Play Expo Charity Party, Gary Penn Speaker Fee, Indigo Pearl Donation, GameHorizon Poker, Guildford Games Night, Golden Joysticks Tenner, PS3 Attitude Give to GamesAid, Sega Challenge Cup, Take Two Recycling of Mobile Phones, GOTE Halloween, Ian Livingstone Speaker Fee, Replay Games Charity Drive, Disney Frozen Viewing, Games Media Awards Tenner, King of Kong Screening, Sumo Digital Donation, Ginx 24 Hour Live, Paul Wedgewood Donation, MCV Games Fives, Nintendo Charity Drive, Cat’s Europe To Africa, Ubisoft Charity Drive and Afterlife Xmas Giveaway.

Many of GamesAid’s charities help the disabled enjoy games

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October 3rd 2014

INTERVIEW GAMESAID

THE CHARITIES HERE are the seven charities set to receive £62,571 each from GamesAid – the biggest number of recipients for the charity to date.

LIFELITES Lifelites installs and maintains packages of the latest fun and educational technology for the 7,100 severely disabled and terminally ill children in all 44 of the UK’s children’s hospices.

ACCURO Accuro supports children with a disability and their families with services such as shared carers, family support workers, holiday schemes, youth groups, Saturday play club and adult schemes.

MAPS (MENTORING AND ADVOCACY AND PEER SUPPORT) MAPS is a specialist mentoring programme which provides young people with a one-to-one mentor who will support them for 12 months. MAPS works with South London’s most vulnerable young people.

ACTION FOR KIDS Action For Kids is a national charity working closely with families of disabled children and young people to help them deal with the barriers to independence.

SAFE @ LAST Safe at Last provides a range of services to support young people who are at risk of running away and becoming involved in dangerous lifestyles choices.

JIGSAW 4U Jigsaw works to support children and young people through trauma, loss and bereavement. It brings together those who feel alone and different, so they can move forward together.

SPECIAL EFFECT Special Effect is the only UK-based charity dedicated to helping all people with disabilities enjoy video games, from injured soldiers to young disabled people who can’t play any other way.

ALL CHANGE Working for Gamesaid is a temporary role. Trustees only stay on for a set time, and this year Dave Walker, Graeme Struthers and Cat Channon are all departing. Meanwhile, Dinsey is vacating his role, to be replaced by The Pokémon Company’s Emily Britt. “There’s a number of trustees stepping down,” says Dinsey. “We will welcome anyone that has any interest in becoming a trustee. Or an ambassador – all you have to do to be an ambassador is hold an event and raise some money.” 2015 fundraising has already begun, and the organisation has already held a successful Golf Day, while a Square Enix Humble Bundle is on sale, raising money for next year’s charities.

October 3rd 2014

Dinsey continues: “The games industry comes in for a lot of criticism, and it’s important as an evolved and mature entertainment industry to have such an initiative. We have a responsibility to give something back, to use a cliché.” Ensuring that GamesAid charities meet the criteria set by the organisation is conducted by Sports Interactive’s Miles Jacobson. The GamesAid trustees are Stuart Dinsey (Curve), Graeme Struthers (Devolver), Dave Walker (Sega), Cat Channon (Warner), Andy Payne (Mastertronic/UKIE), Ian Livingstone, Louise Fisher (Mastertronic), David Smith (UKIE), Terry Haynes (Hotgen), Rich Keane (Sony), Rich Keith (Yogscast), Emily Britt (Pokémon) and John Houlihan (Future).

THE RISE OF GAMESAID GAMESAID was set up in May 2008 as a replacement for the old Entertainment Software Charity. It is an umbrella organisation dedicated to raising money from memberselected UK charities that aid the young. It is similar to Comic Relief and Sport Relief in how it operates. The firm has no costs outside of one intern, who was hired this year in response to the increase in funds being raised. Everyone in the UK games industry can become a member via Gamesaid.org. The total number of funds the charity has generated now sits at £1,212,754, and here is how that breaks down by year:

2008: £3,954 2009: £56,800 2010: £100,000 2011: £174,000 2012: £180,000 2013: £260,000 2014: £438,000

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CLIFF BLESZINSKI INTERVIEW

BACK IN THE GAME Cliff Bleszinski is back in the games industry with his own studio after a two-year break. Alex Calvin catches up with the developer to ask about life after Epic Games and why he has chosen to make software exclusively for PC

n October 2012 the creator of Gears of War, Cliff Bleszinski, quit the games industry aged 37. But less than two years into his ‘retirement’ he has returned. Having found himself itching to make something new, he is now at the helm of his own studio, Boss Key, developing free-to-play PC arena shooter BlueStreak. “There’s something to be said about getting bitter from the sweet,” Bleszinski says. “I’d sit there with my wife and ask her how her day was and she’d say: ‘You were there’, so we’d have nothing to talk about. Now I’m excited because I’m interviewing a candidate and we’ve got this new game mechanic. It’s back at a healthy point. I’m constantly writing down new game types. The ideas keep coming. I had two years to think about the game I wanted to make and now I’m making it.” Now Bleszinski is an independent developer – though he feels that the term is a mere technicality. “I’m an indie developer that’s published by Korean money [from Nexon]. I own the studio, so technically we are indie,” he explains. “There is this whole cultural thing about independent devs fighting over who is indie or not. People say you can’t be indie unless you put your life savings on the line and demo the game yourself at PAX. There are different types of indie.” FREEDOM TO CREATE Bleszinski says that the creative freedom he has in comparison to his days at Epic is rather liberating. “When I was at Epic you could come up with the most creative and crazy ideas and for some

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traded company they have stock prices and shareholders they need to answer to. I am a developer advocate as much as a consumer advocate, but it’s fun to tell people just how it is. Having an open dialogue is powerful and means you’re relevant.”

BlueStreak is Boss Key’s debut title, a free-to-play PC arena shooter

reason developers would always want to play devil’s advocate,” he says. “You pitch a crazy idea, they will laugh you out of the door. Sometimes that was the thing that makes it great. “When you’re implementing features because other games have them, you’re not putting them in to be original. You don’t always need shotguns or a sniper class, because you end up being that utterly generic game. It’s that sense of self doubt – will the ideas work?” It’s not just BlueStreak’s development that has benefited from this freedom, but also Bleszinski’s relationship with his fans. “The freedom of not having PR breathing down my neck, and letting the community know why things are the way they are, is great,” he says. “It’s not because publishers are evil. If you have a publicly

PC GAMING MASTER RACE BlueStreak is coming exclusively to PC – a contrast to Gears of War’s attachment to the Xbox 360. So why focus on the platform? “I want to go with PC because that’s where the high-end and modding communities are,” Bleszinski explains. “My thing is being transparent with development and putting updates out as soon as possible. “When we launched Gears of War 2 and the multiplayer was largely broken. Each week I was watching the player numbers haemorrhage and move to Call of Duty. It took us two months to get a patch out. As a start-up we’re fast, we’re nimble.” The aim is for BlueStreak to be entirely moddable – not just because Bleszinski wants to engage with players, but also because he is seeking the next great level designer. “Do I know what I want to do with the game?” he asks. “But there’ll always be one lone programmer in their garage in the middle of nowhere that can redefine how the game is played. I want to make sure that they have that sort of access as soon as possible. He concludes: “I’d love to have a store where modders can sell in-game goods and get a small cut. “It’s about engaging with the community. Not only by playing the game, but also by contributing to it.”

October 3rd 2014

DATA ANALYSIS Source IGN

THE YEAR’S MOST ANTICIPATED GAMES (AND HOW PEOPLE WILL BUY THEM) Media giant IGN shares with MCV the results of its reader survey, which looks at what video games consumers want to buy in 2014 and where they will be going to get them IGN has conducted a survey of its audience to find out what they’re interested in buying, and where they will be buying it from. 1,161 people responded to the survey. The vast majority were young males. 85 per cent of respondents were aged 18 to 36 (the majority being between 18 to 24). Likely due to their age, 30 per cent of the respondents earn £20,000 or lower, but the vast majority make over that (at

TOP 3 This year’s most popular games

least 55 per cent, with 15 per cent choosing Not Applicable), which shows decent spending power. They also buy lots of games. 46 per cent of respondents said they have bought six or more new games over the last year, with only seven per cent buying one or fewer titles. These people do not buy many games for others as gifts, with 44 per cent not expecting to buy any new titles for anyone else.

76% Expect to own a next-gen console by 2015

1st

2nd

Assassin’s Creed Unity

Dragon Age Inquisition

However, the majority still expect to buy one or two games for others, so there is some light gifting from this group. In addition to this, they do anticipate receiving games as gifts. Only five per cent said they did not expect to be bought a game before the end of the year. But what do they want? Which stores do they shop in? And what are their plans for PS4 and Xbox One? Here are the results.

3rd Halo

AND THE REST... 4. Far Cry 4 5. Alien Isolation 6. FIFA 15 7. GTA 5 8. Shadow of Mordor 9. COD Advanced Warfare 10. Super Smash Bros 3DS Other Shop specific offers A shop-specific special edition

WHAT CONVINCES YOU TO BUY FROM ONE RETAILER OVER ANOTHER?

Ability to trade-in Location Bonus Game items / DLC A loyalty program Customer experience Lowest price 10%

October 3rd 2014

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

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DATA ANALYSIS

WHERE DO YOU BUY GAMES?

29%

BIGGEST DESTINATION FOR STORE – GAME (333 – 71% OF STORE CHOICE) BIGGEST DESTINATION FOR ONLINE – AMAZON (327 – 52% OF ONLINE CHOICE)

39% 32%

NO PREFERENCE IN-STORE ONLINE

CROSSING ONLINE AND OFFLINE SHOPPING CHOICES WITH INCOME 0-20k

21-30k

31-40k

41-50k

51-60k

Online

Amazon Steam GAME

Amazon Shop.To GAME

Amazon Steam Shop.To

Offline

GAME Asda Other

GAME Tesco Other

GAME Asda Other

GAME Tesco Other

DO YOU OWN A PS4 OR AN XBOX ONE? AND IF NOT DO YOU EXPECT TO OWN ONE THIS YEAR? 3%

4% 24%

17% 55% 24%

40%

CONSOLE OWNERSHIP

32%

PS4 XBOX ONE BOTH NEITHER

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PLANS TO PURCHASE THIS YEAR NO YES AS A GIFT N/A

October 3rd 2014

MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE MCV talks to Danny Webb, senior sales for GAME in Hanley Town, about why the right customer service matters and the eﬀort the store puts into its midnight launches Injustice: Gods Among Us has to be one of our favourites, with most of us being DC geeks. There was Batman, Arrow, Wonder Woman, Catwoman... we all got involved and the customers, especially the kids, loved getting photos with their superheroes. It’s a great game too. Honourable mention to our The Last of Us lock-in – even the guys from Sony were amazed with the amount of people who wanted to check it out.

What’s your store speciality? To answer this question here’s a story from our commander-inchief Gaz: “When I was a kid, all I wanted was a Game Boy with Mario Land. Nothing else. Not a Game Gear or Lynx. Game Boy plus Mario Land equals happiest 12-year-old Gaz ever. My mum instead got me a Game Boy with Tetris and Dr. Mario, which led to the most boring Christmas a 12-year-old could have.”

That’s why we make sure every customer gets the best service and most appropriate games for their needs. Whether it’s for Christmas, a birthday or just a random Thursday purchase, we’ll do our best to help you get it right. Plus, we’ll let you know about the games that may not be the best in the world – sorry, Ride to Hell...

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

PRICE CHECK: SHEFFIELD

What’s been your favourite midnight launch to do thus far?

We went all-out on the Disney Infinity 2.0 launch – including the appearance of Sleeping Beauty, Deadpool and Donald Duck. Danny Webb, GAME Hanley Town

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. FIFA 15 ULTIMATE TEAM EDITION EA, PS4

2. FIFA 15 Ultimate Team Edition EA ................................................................................XO

WATCH DOGS

3. FIFA 15 EA .............................................................................PS4

DESTINY Activision, PS4

4. Super Smash Bros Nintendo............................................................... 3DS

6. Forza Horizon 2 Day One Edition Microsoft ..................................................................XO 7. Grand Theft Auto V Rockstar ................................................................PS4

9. FIFA 15 + 15 FUT Packs EA .............................................................................PS4 10. PS4 + FIFA 15 UT Edition + Infamous First Light Sony.........................................................................PS4

The latest digital releases coming to market

October 3rd 2014

Nintendo, Wii U

FIFA 14 EA, XO

£59.99

£49.99

£52.99

£39.99

£49.99

£54.99

£49.99

£34.99

£42

£33.85

£24.99

£31.85

£36.85

£44.85

£45.85

£41.85

N/A

£49.95

N/A

ONLINE

8. The Evil Within + Fighting Chance DLC Bethesda ...............................................................PS4

HYRULE WARRIORS

IN STORE

5. FIFA 15 EA ................................................................................XO

UPLOADING

Ubisoft, PS4

DARK SOULS II

FINAL FANTASY XIII

CHARIOT

The third DLC pack Crown of the Ivory King is out on PS3 and 360

All three Final Fantasy XIII games are coming to PC

Frima Studio’s unique platformer is launching on PS4 and Wii U

OUT: NOW

OUT: OCTOBER 9TH

OUT: OCTOBER 22ND

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MARKETPLACE

GAME Hanley Town Unit 214-215, The Potteries Hanley, Staﬀordshire, ST1 1PS

What’s the best thing about dropping by your store? GAME Hanley Town is the home of the video game enthusiast. When you pop in to ask our opinion on a title or want to know more about an upcoming game; we’ll be there to give our honest opinions to the best of our knowledge. What’s going on in your local gaming community? We’ll be inviting the guys from @StreetpassStoke to host a

Website: www.game.co.uk Phone: 01782 266 294 Twitter: @GAMEHanleyTown

Streetpass event for the 3DS version of Smash Bros. As well as this, we’re working on starting regular ﬁreside gatherings for the local Hearthstone players. The reaction so far has been ‘Can we play tonight, please?’, which is amazing to hear. We also went all-out on the Disney Inﬁnity 2.0 launch – including the appearance of Sleeping Beauty, Deadpool and Donald Duck.

INCOMING TITLE

WANT TO FEATURE YOUR OUTLET IN MCV? Contact Alex.Calvin@intentmedia.co.uk or call 01992 515 303

Two big ﬁlm franchises make a return to video games this month, with Alien Isolation’s sci-ﬁ horrors following Shadow of Mordor’s orc-slashing action FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

Simulation

Excalibur

01869 338 833

Contact Sales

October 3rd European Ship Simulator Forza Horizon 2

Racing

Microsoft

01279 822 800

Exertis Gem

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

PS4/XO

Action

Warner Bros

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

Natural Doctrine

PS4/PS3/Vita

JRPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Open

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2

Wii U/PS3/360/3DS

Action

Bandai Namco

01215 069 590

Advantage

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC

Adventure

Focus Home

01889 570 156

Open

Super Smash Bros

3DS

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

October 7th Alien Isolation

PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC

Survival horor

Sega

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

NBA Live 15

PS4/XO

Sports

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

MX vs ATV Supercross

PS3/360

Racing

Nordic Games

01256 391 209

Open

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed

PS3/Vita

JRPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Open

DriveClub

PS4

Racing

Sony

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

NBA 2K15

PS4/XO

Sports

2K Games

01279 822 800

Exertis Gem

Project Spark

Construction

Microsoft

01279 822 800

Exertis Gem

Skylanders: Trap Team

PS4/XO/Wii U/PS3/360/3DS Toys-to-life

Activision

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

October 10th

October 17th Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

PS3/360/PC

Shooter

2K Games

01279 822 800

Exertis Gem

F1 2014

PS3/360/PC

Racing

Codemasters

01215 069 590

Advantage

MXGP: The Oﬃcial Motocross Video Game

PS4

Racing

PQube

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Bayonetta 2

Wii U

Action

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

Civilization: Beyond Earth

Strategy

2K Games

01279 822 800

Exertis Gem

Disney Magical World

3DS

Life-simulation

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

Fantasia: Music Evolved

XO/360

Rhythm

Disney

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

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October 3rd 2014

ALIEN

ALIEN One of the most iconic ﬁlm series of all time, the Alien franchise has an equally storied video game past – with plenty of merch to boot. Matthew Jarvis takes a look at the products coming outta the goddamn walls

Since its original release in 1979, the Alien franchise has remained a strong cultural stalwart. Originating with four blockbuster films and quickly diverging into novels, comic books, cross-overs (such as the Aliens vs Predator series) and 2012’s prequel Prometheus, the brand continues to provide countless opportunities for UK retail. Of course, video games are just one of the many Alien spinoffs. The upcoming title, Creative

2014 marks the 35th anniversary of Alien – meaning plenty of products are available to scratch the nostalgic itch of fans.

Assembly’s highly anticipated Alien: Isolation, is due for release on PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on October 7th, and is generating plenty of positive coverage and hype. Isolation directly follows the main storyline of Ridley Scott’s Alien and precedes that of James Cameron’s Aliens, focusing on the daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley, Amanda. This close tie with the original film means that consumers are

ALIEN FACEHUGGER PLUSH For those seeking a cuddle, this plush Facehugger – modelled to a 1:1 scale of the original movie creature – includes poseable ‘ﬁngers’ to get a proper grip on the unloved. A companion plush Chestburster is also available, in case fans are still feeling a bit lonely. SRP: £24.99 Manufacturer: Think Geek Distributor: Think Geek Contact: (+1) 888 433 5788

ALIEN HEAD AND EGGS GLOWING TRAVEL MUG

ALIEN: THE ARCHIVE

XENOMORPH POP! VINYL FIGURE

Sci-ﬁ fans can keep their hot and cold drinks at the right temperature in the vacuum of space with this mug.

Collecting artwork, storyboards and photography from the ﬁrst four Alien ﬁlms, this book provides a visual guide to the franchise.

This tiny terror is ideal for the desks of wannabe Ripleys.

SRP: £11.99 Manufacturer: Kotobukiya Distributor: Kotobukiya Contact: www.kotous.com/wholesale-retail

SRP: £35 Manufacturer: Titan Books Distributor: Littlehampton Book Services Contact: 01903 828 500

SRP: £11.99 Manufacturer: Funko Distributor: Underground Toys Contact: kenny@underground-toys.com

October 3rd 2014

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ALIEN

DIRECTORY

MCV DIRECTORY KEY CONTACTS Sony DADC ............................................ +44 (0) 207 462 6200

CREATIVE Fink ................................................................. info@ﬁnkcreative.com

GAMING ACCESSORIES DISC REPAIR

L3I............................................................................+ (0)1923 471 020

Total Disc Repair ..................................+44 (0) 1202 489500

Venom ............................................................... +44 (0)1763 284181

DISTRIBUTION Click Entertainment ............................ +44 (0) 203 137 3781 Creative Distribution ......................+44 (0) 20 8664 3456 RATES

Curveball Leisure ................................... +44 (0) 1792 652521

£70 per two column box (100mm x 75mm). To run weekly for a minimum of 1 year. Please phone for other size and/or position requirements.

Enarxis Dynamic Media ............................. +302 1090 11900

DISC REPAIR

TOTAL DISC REPAIR

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 489500

October 3rd 2014

Web: www.totaldiscrepair.co.uk

www.mcvuk.com

DIRECTORY

ENQUIRIES CONOR TALLON Tel: 01992 535647 Conor.Tallon@intentmedia.co.uk

FINK

CREATIVE

DISTRIBUTION

CLICK ENTERTAINMENT

Artworking Mastertronic Brand Identity Ukie Localisation Rising Star Games Advertising BBFC Website Design Deep Silver Exhibition Bethesda Illustration Appynation Digital Media IntentMedia Charity GamesAid Banners & Takeovers Konami Packaging Design Just Flight Email: info@ﬁnkcreative.com CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION

Tel: +44 (0) 208 6643456 ENARXIS DYNAMIC MEDIA

Tel: +44 (0)203 137 3781

Web: www.ﬁnkcreative.com DISTRIBUTION

email: sales@click-entertainment.com

CURVEBALL LEISURE

Web: www.creativedistribution.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1792 652521

DISTRIBUTION

SONY DADC

DISTRIBUTION

Web: www.curveball-leisure.com DISTRIBUTION

Empowering your creative business

Tel: +44 207 462 6200 games@sonydadc.com

www.sonydadc.com Tel: +302 1090 11900

www.mcvuk.com

Web: www.enarxis.eu

Tel: +44 (0) 207 462 6200

Web: www.sonydadc.com

October 3rd 2014

DIRECTORY

GAMING ACCESSORIES

L3I

GAMING ACCESSORIES

VENOM

New officially licensed product coming soon Rechargeable Battery Pack

SERIOUS ABOUT GAMING SERIOUS ABOUT ACCESSORIES

Tel: + (0)1923 471 020

Web: www.logic3.com

Fully recharges the DUALSHOCK®4 wireless controller for up to 20 hours of gameplay. Sleek, contemporary design fits securely to the DUALSHOCK®4 wireless controller.

ADVERTISE WITH US

WANT TO ADVERTISE IN OUR DIRECTORY?

Web: www.venomuk.com Phone: +44 (0)1763 284181 Email: darren.scott@venomuk.com sam.phipps@venomuk.com tom.hodge@venomuk.com

CALL CONOR TALLON ON 01992 535647 OR EMAIL HIM AT CONOR.TALLON@INTENTMEDIA.CO.UK

Tel: +44 (0)1763 284181 October 3rd 2014

Venom UK Gaming @VenomGamingUK

w w w. ve n o m u k . co m

Web: www.venomuk.com www.mcvuk.com

INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE ICEBERG INTERACTIVE

DIRECTORY

WHO? Specialism: Publishing Location: Belgiëlaan 63G, 2034 AW Haarlem, The Netherlands

Develop is the only dedicated publication for the UK and European games development community. It reaches over 8,500 subscribers every month.

Howard Newmark, sales director of Dutch developer Iceberg Interactive, on the diﬃculty of discoverability

FOR GREAT ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES, CONTACT ALEX BOUCHER ALEX.BOUCHER@INTENTMEDIA.CO.UK

Tell us about your company. Iceberg Interactive was founded in 2009 by three games industry vets; Erik Schreuder, Raymond Snippe and myself. Between us, we have many years of experience in publishing, developing and marketing games. We oﬀer publishing services for small to mediumsized development studios, helping them with all aspects of publishing, including QA and localisation, PR, marketing and sales, both digitally and boxed, primarily in the PC space,

THIS MONTH’S DIRECTORY SPOTLIGHT: Epic Games .................................................. www.epicgames.com/careers

What is your biggest success so far? Like children, it would be wrong to pick a favourite. Having said that, recent triumphs include StarDrive and Endless Space. What projects do you currently have in the works? It has been a busy few weeks. We had been experiencing some delays in development, but, like buses, three come at once, and we’ve had three releases in as many weeks. First came strategy title Lords of the Black Sun, followed closely by Endless Legend. And last week our space-sim, Starpoint Gemini 2, left Early Access for a full release. Next year, we will have some epic titles coming through, including StarDrive 2 and my absolute favourite, Killing Floor 2... although, we don’t have favourites, do we?

Our biggest challenge is being visible amongst all the shovelware. Howard Newmark, Iceberg Interactive

What are the biggest challenges you face? It will always be the number of shovelware titles that are released on a daily basis – and how to maintain visibility past them. Fortunately for us, we have been doing this for a long time and we have only released titles that we can be proud of and which stand up to scrutiny. Also, we have great relationships with pretty much any portal that counts, which means that we get decent visibility from the day we release our titles, be that on Early Access or full release.

WANT TO FEATURE YOUR COMPANY IN INSIDER’S GUIDE?

To be included in the Develop Directory (which appears every month in Develop and now every week in MCV) contact alex.boucher@intentmedia.co.uk

PLEASE CONTACT

WWW.DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET www.mcvuk.com

Contact: T: @Iceberg_Int W: www.iceberg-games.com P: +31 (0)23 54 30 960

MATT.JARVIS@INTENTMEDIA.CO.UK OR CALL 01992 515 303

October 3rd 2014

FACTFILE BELGIUM Sponsored by

Wholesaler and distributor of video games, consoles and accessories

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: BELGIUM Population: 11,198,638 Capital City: Brussels Currency: Euro GDP (Per Capita): $47,787 KEY RETAILERS Game Mania, Saturn, Media Markt, Carrefour

TOP DEVELOPERS Larian Studios, Tale of Tales, LuGus Studios

TOP DISTRIBUTORS CLD Distribution, Koch Media, Big Ben Interactive Benelux, Level03 Distribution, Micromedia

PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION EA, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Ubisoft

DESPITE lagging behind the rest of Europe on smartphone adoption, Belgium is a nation quickly embracing digital games retail. According to GfK Retail and Technology, in association with the Belgian Entertainment Association, the Belgian games market generated revenues of €211 million (£167m) in 2013. The overall games market in the region has been reasonably stable for the last half a decade, with revenue peaking at €246 million (£195m) in 2008. However, sales of boxed games have declined. Approximately 4,780,000 boxed game units were sold in 2013 – almost a 20 per cent drop on the 5,930,000 units sold in 2012. This is partly due to the transition of Belgian gamers to new digital platforms. Revenue generated by online titles in 2008 was almost negligible, but has rocketed within five years to hit

€44 million (£35m) last year. This itself was an increase of €15 million (£12m) on 2012. According to research firm Newzoo, half of Belgium’s 4.6 million gamers pay for titles, spending $13.10 (£8.03) per month on average. This amount makes Belgian gamers the third highest-spending gamers in Europe, behind the UK and France. While Belgian gamers are clearly accepting the digital future, they are less enthusiastic about smartphones. Newzoo states that the country is number one in the Western world for gaming on regular phones, with a third (30 per cent) of consumers gaming still using non-smartphones. In terms of which titles are proving most popular, social and casual games are the biggest sellers in the country, preferred by 3.8 million gamers, followed by console titles, which are played by 2.6 million players.

Belgian gamers spend $13.10 (£8.03) on titles per month on average.

October 3rd 2014

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BELGIUM FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... JAPAN Nintendo’s 3DS version of Super Smash Bros has enjoyed a very strong start in Japan, selling over one million units in its first week THE 3DS debut of Super Smash Bros has got off to a great start in Japan. Nintendo’s all-star fighting game sold over one million units in its first week, including both physical and digital sales. The achievement means the title joins similar Nintendo staples Monster Hunter 4 and Pokémon X and Y in the list of 3DS games to break the one million sales mark. Super Smash Bros continued to reign the Japanese charts in its second week, despite sales dropping 67 per cent week-on-week. It still managed to sell a very impressive 316,024

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units, according to data provided by Famitsu. The game’s popularity also had a knockon eﬀect on sales of Nintendo hardware. Sales of the 3DS XL grew by almost 3,000 units in Super

Smash Bros second week, exceeding 40,000 units sold that week. Super Smash Bros for 3DS is set for release in the UK on October 3rd.

October 3rd 2014

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION