MCV822 February 13th

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

CAPCOM’S COMEBACK

ISSUE 822 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 13TH 2015

THE PUBLISHER TALKS RESIDENT EVIL AND STREET FIGHTER P06

UK games market jumps 13% to £3.94bn Digital, online and mobile market up over 18 per cent O Pre-owned sales eclipse £100m

by Christopher Dring THE UK games market is on the brink of returning to a level of prosperity not seen since 2008, with £3.944bn spent on video gaming in 2014.

This makes it the second biggest year in UK games industry history.

The fastest growing area of last year was console hardware, which was up by more than a third to £915m on the back of strong PS4 and Xbox One sales, while Wii U and Vita also saw sales growth in 2014.

OVERALL UK GAMES MARKET VALUE: £3.944bn

£1.048bn DIGITAL CONSOLE AND PC

CONSOLE HARDWARE

Source: IHS

Source: GfK Chart-Track

UP 17.6% (REVISED 2013: £891m)

£288m 2014 was the secondbiggest year in UK games industry history.

The digital games market - including PC and console downloads, microtransactions and mobile titles – is now worth almost £1.6bn (based on current IHS estimates), a rise of 18.8 per cent year-on-year.

Books and magazines were also up, by 77 per cent, bolstered by best-selling book franchises such as Minecraft.

The single largest digital market was console (including games and service subscriptions), which is now worth £573m, while PC content sits at £475m.

UKIE CEO Dr Jo Twist commented on the evaluation: “It’s fantastic to see the consumer market thriving and growing.

“Impressive figures like these help reinforce the importance of our sector to policy makers and the media, strengthening our global standing as a key market in the digital economy.”

Turn the page for more information about the UK games market in 2014.

£915m UP 46.2% (2013: £626m)

£106.8m

PERIPHERALS AND ACCESSORIES

PRE-OWNED SOFTWARE

Source: GfK Chart-Track

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

UP 4.3% (2013: £276m)

£23m

UP 10.7% (REVISED 2013: £96.4m)

£935m

BOOKS AND MAGAZINES

BOXED SOFTWARE

Source: Nielsen and industry estimates

Source: GfK Chart-Track

UP 77% (2013: £13m)

£548m MOBILE GAMING

DOWN 6.3% (2013: £998m)

£69m TOYS

UP 21.2% (REVISED 2013: £452m)

DOWN 14% (2013: £80m)

Source: IHS

Source: NPD

£5.5m EVENTS

UP 96.4% (2013: £2.8m) Source: MCV estimates

£5.4m MOVIES AND SOUNDTRACKS DOWN 21.7% (2013: £6.9m) Source: Official Charts

PLUS 3DS’ ‘LUCKY’ DAY SONY’S FIRST BIG EXCLUSIVE OF 2015 – THE ORDER: 1886

CHEAT SHEET

Market Data With a lack of new games, the market once again shrinks week-on-week £10m

£8m 321,949 units

£5m

£8m 308,762 units

Both Moshi Monsters and Angry Birds toys saw sales fall during 2014

£7m 283,450 units

Week Ending Week Ending Week Ending Jan 24th Jan 31st Feb 7th

Toy market tumbles as Moshi Monsters falters

by Christopher Dring

UK RETAIL TOP 10

1

CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE

2

Grand Theft Auto V

3

FIFA 15

ACTIVISION Rockstar

SALES of toys based on video games fell 14 per cent in 2014, NPD has told MCV. The decline is almost entirely down to a drop in popularity of Moshi Monsters products. NPD tells MCV that if Moshi Monsters was discounted, then video game toy sales would have risen year-on-year.

It was also a challenging year for Angry Birds. Sales of Angry Birds toys and products fell 50 per cent in value year-on-year, although they accounted for a smaller proportion of the market.

The most popular toy brand of 2014 was Minecraft. In total, £69m was generated from video game toys (not including toys-to-life products).

EA

4

Assassin’s Creed Unity

Ubisoft

5

Minecraft: Xbox Edition

Microsoft Sony

6

Minecraft: PlayStation Edition

7

Destiny

Activision

8

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Activision

9

Far Cry 4

Ubisoft

10

The Crew

Ubisoft

SPONSORED BY

Points cards accounted for around 15 per cent of console and PC digital spend

PRE-ORDER TOP 10

1

ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK 3D + NECKLACE (3DS) NINTENDO

2

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS)

3

The Order 1886 + Knight’s Endurance DLC (PS4)

4

Dying Light + Survivor Handbook (PS4)

5

Amiibo Mega Man Figure (Wii U)

Nintendo

6

Amiibo Sonic Figure (Wii U)

Nintendo

7

Battlefield Hardline + Versatility Backpack DLC (PS4)

8

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (3DS)

Nintendo

9

Amiibo Charizard Figure (Wii U)

Nintendo

10

Bloodborne (PS4)

February 13th 2015

Nintendo Sony

Warner Bros

EA

Sony

Digital points cards worth £158m GFK Chart-Track has revealed that consumers spent £158m on points cards in 2014. £26m of that figure was generated by points cards for specific individual titles, which a greater number of stores

04

stocked last year. That’s a 136 per cent increase year-on-year.

IHS estimates that £1.048 billion was spent on console and PC digital content in 2014. This means points cards comprised around 15 per cent of overall digital spend.

www.mcvuk.com

CHEAT SHEET

2m Minecraft books sold in 2014

THE EDITOR

BOOKS based on video games were worth £14.5m in 2014, a rise of almost £10m from 2013.

Book tracker Nielsen revealed this increase was down to the success of Minecraft books. Minecraft strategy books and annuals filled seven places in the Top Ten books based on games, totalling almost 2m sales.

TOP TEN UK VIDEO GAME BOOKS 2014 (UNITS)

CAN GAMES KEEP GROWING?

1

MINECRAFT: OFFICIAL CONSTRUCTION BOOK (EGMONT)

548,017

2

Minecraft: The Official Combat Handbook (Egmont)

466,897

3

Minecraft: The Official Redstone Handbook (Egmont)

406,132

4

Minecraft: The Official Beginner’s Guide (Egmont)

387,647

5

Minecraft: Blockopedia (Egmont)

80,835

6

Skylanders Official Annual 2015 (Puffin)

7

Minecraft: The Official Annual 2014 (Egmont)

8

Assassin’s Creed Unity (Penguin Books)

26,870

9

Angry Birds: Super Interactive Annual 2015 (Pedigree)

24,208

10

Build, Discover, Survive! Mastering Minecraft (Brady Publishing)

22,810

W

e were a little disappointed that this year’s market valuation did not total £4bn.

That would mean that the games industry was finally back to the level the retail market reached in 2008 when Guitar Hero, Wii and DS ruled the shelves.

But make no mistake, £3.94bn is an incredible figure – and the best news is that this growth is almost across the board. Mobile games, PC games, console games, console hardware, peripherals, points cards and even books and magazines all grew in 2014.

The boxed software market continued to falter, but physical games retailers were easily compensated by impressive hardware and accessory sales, plus an increased share of the digital sector – video game points cards alone accounted for £158m in revenue last year.

And that’s not counting merchandise. One Minecraft book last year sold more copies than the latest Assassin’s Creed. Boxed game sales may be declining, but make no mistake: there are other opportunities for games stores and brands.

Toys took a battering last year, although this is entirely down to a rapid decline in Moshi Monster products.

Take away the kids IP and the market would have grown, too.

The good news is that growth can be expected to continue in the short-term. But there are some early warning signs worth considering.

51,310 48,399

GTA V is number one game soundtrack SALES of video game-based movies and soundtracks slipped to £5.4m in 2014, according to the Official Charts Company.

Both sectors suffered from a lack of high profile releases. The biggest movie was the Need for Speed tie-in, which generated £3.4m in DVD sales.

TOP TEN UK VIDEO GAME DVDS 2014 (REVENUE)

1

NEED FOR SPEED

2

Angry Birds Toons – Season 1, Volume 1

£293,831.93

3

Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist

£174,705.23

4

Resident Evil: Retribution

£152,397.95

5

The Resident Evil Collection

6

Silent Hill: Revelation

7

Angry Birds Toons: Season 1, Volume 2

£86,505.34

8

Pokémon: Kyurem vs The Sword of Justice

£49,866.75

9

Pokémon The Movie – White/Black

£44,749.06

10

Silent Hill

£39,134.06

£3,371,424.84

£133,417.97 £110,348

TOP TEN UK VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACKS (REVENUE)

1

THE MUSIC OF GRAND THEFT AUTO V

2

The Last of Us: Official Soundtrack

£14,195.65

3

Destiny: Official Soundtrack

£9,920.67

4

Mass Effect 3

5

Far Cry 3

£3,989.54

6

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – Sea Shanty Edition

£3,924.29

7

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Vocal

£3,813.73

8

Dragon Age: Inquisition

£3,683.51

9

Pokémon X and Y – Super Music

£3,458.17

10

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag www.mcvuk.com

£23,397.62

£7,341.96

One Minecraft book last year sold more copies than the latest Assassin’s Creed.

For instance, the boxed software market was expected to rise last year, but didn’t. The toys-to-life genre dropped five per cent, which isn’t as severe as first feared, but certainly suggests that the likes of Skylanders and Disney Infinity may have peaked.

Even mobile and digital games, despite an impressive combined figure of £1.57bn, are growing at a slower pace than they did in 2013.

The games industry will not grow perpetually without continued investment and effort. Next year I am confident we’ll surpass that £4bn number. But will it remain at that level in 2016 or 2017?

It’s important that this revenue the industry is generating goes back into it.

It goes into growing books and magazines and toys and soundtracks, it goes into new technologies like Oculus Rift and streaming and, most importantly of all, it goes back into making more great games.

Because it will be those games that decide whether the numbers continue to rise, not the popularity of mobile phones or free-to-play or tie-in paraphernalia. cdring@nbmedia.com

£3,368.74 05

February 13th 2015

INTERVIEW CAPCOM UK

2015: THE RETURN OF CAPCOM After two years of near silence following a major company overhaul, Capcom is now returning to the scene with some of its biggest franchises. Christopher Dring meets UK commercial director Andy Davis and head of marketing Antoine Molant to discuss Capcom’s comeback

T

he last time MCV met with Capcom’s UK team, they were full of optimism.

It was early 2012 and the next year was to mark the arrival of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Street Fighter X Tekken, DmC: Devil May Cry and Resident Evil 6. The products were in place for what would surely be the publisher’s biggest year.

It didn’t pan out that way. Fans and critics (and in some cases both) were left disappointed by almost all of those titles. What followed was a major company restructure that would see Capcom release just a handful of products over the next two years.

“Our company chairman realised that maybe we weren’t trading on the seal of quality we used to,” says Capcom’s UK commercial director Andy Davis.

“So we decided to rejig development, but do it at a time when the new formats were coming through and install bases are low - well that was the theory, no-one saw them coming out of the gates the way that they did.”

He adds: “We are now going to concentrate on the bigger products and the triple-A brands.

So that is exciting, the revenue will still be there but it won’t be spread across any me-too products.”

NECESSARY EVIL As was apparent during this interview, the mood at Capcom is once again optimistic. The firm says that it’s reorganised the team so that the management is closer to both the development and commercial sides. Individual regions now have more autonomy, they can do their own deals, even sign their own merchandise,

February 13th 2015

Antoine Molant, Capcom UK

following the impressive early sales of PS4 and Xbox One. The episodic nature means it has a marketing period of almost six weeks, and it has an attractive price point, even the boxed version retails for around £35. But most significantly, the firm has made sure Revelations 2 does not repeat the mistakes of Resident Evil 6, which suffered a backlash from fans for being too action-orientated.

“We heard the fans. They want to play an original, back-to-roots Resident Evil, and Revelations 2 is a good showcase of that,” says Molant. “The single player campaign uses modern techniques but has a very old school atmosphere, and that is what the fans want. But, there’s also a market that wants to play an action-packed Resident Evil, because Resident Evil 6 was very commercially successful. So with Revelations 2, we have the more action-orientated Raid mode separate from the main single-player campaign.”

The ones that want just a taste of Resident Evil might simply go for an episode. But we were actually surprised to find – talking with our fanbase on social media – that the appetite for the boxed game is massive. We thought these people would want to buy the game before anyone else, so would download the episodes as they are released or get the season pass. But actually a lot of them are saying the extra content in the box is worth it, and they want a physical copy as well.”

Capcom is understandably optimistic about Revelations 2.

Originally intended for released on Xbox 360 and PS3, the firm redeveloped it for the new platforms

FIGHT BACK The year begins with Capcom’s efforts to win over disgruntled Resident Evil players, and then the firm’s next target is Devil May Cry fans. DmC: Devil May Cry was released in 2013 to critical praise, but the fans condemned the title for being too different to its predecessors. Now the publisher is re-releasing the game for Xbox One and PS4, with a few significant changes.

“This offer is purely based on what the fans have told [developer] Ninja Theory they would like to see in the game,” explains Davis.

Molant adds: “DmC was a very controversial game, but a very good

Capcom’s Molant (left) and Davis (above) say that the firm is focusing on the big releases

without necessarily having to involve the directors in Japan.

“Now we have our destiny and our fate in our hands,” enthuses Capcom UK head of marketing Antoine Molant. “That makes a big difference. That makes us stronger.”

But this renewed optimism is not all about Capcom UK’s increased responsibility. It’s far more simplistic than that: the publisher now has some games to sell.

The first is the return of Resident Evil. A new version of the original game was a huge digital seller in January and now the company is preparing an episodic take on the series: Resident Evil: Revelations 2.

This title will be available to purchase in three ways. Fans can buy the episodes individually as they become available (released weekly from February 25th), buy a season pass, or wait until the last episode is released and buy them all in a box – complete with extra content.

“It is uncharted territory for us,” continues Molant.

“Right from the start we were very clear that there are three offers.. And through that we will tackle all sorts of consumers.

The fans want to play an original, back-toroots Resident Evil and Revelations 2 is a good showcase of that.

06

www.mcvuk.com

CAPCOM UK INTERVIEW

game. We had a lot of ups and downs with it. But we are confident about this new one because it has been made with old-school Devil May Cry fan feedback.”

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 and DMC: Definitive Edition are the warm up acts for Capcom’s main event. It’s not clear if Street Fighter V will make it out in Europe this year, but make no mistake – we’ll be hearing a lot about it over the next 12 months.

It’s quite a busy time for fighters, with a new Tekken, Dead or Alive and Mortal Kombat on the schedule.

But Capcom isn’t concerned.

“Not to be arrogant, but Street Fighter seems to operate on a level of its own within that genre,” says Davis. “When Street Fighter IV came out, there were people who hadn’t played a video game for years but came back because it was Street Fighter. So there is an opportunity to tap into that market.”

We are looking at eSports with Street Fighter V. Antoine Molant, Capcom UK

Molant adds: “We are looking at eSports with Street Fighter V as well. We have big plans there. It is a field that is exploding these days and the fighting genre is not that well represented yet. The League of Legends of the world are the top played games in eSports, but we feel we can grow that market for fighting games massively, and that is what we are looking at with Street Fighter V. But having said that, at its core Street Fighter is a game you play with your mates on the same sofa, having a laugh after a night out.”

On paper, Capcom’s line-up may not sound particularly new and inspiring. There’s a new Street Fighter, an episodic Resident Evil and a Devil May Cry update.

But after years of silence, these titles show Capcom is finally finding its feet, and it’s doing so with the help of its fans.

www.mcvuk.com

07

February 13th 2015

MARKETING

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK 3D NINTENDO has been focusing on online and social media content to promote the remake of Majora’s Mask. The tone of these ads is sinister, in keeping with the title.

On YouTube, Majora’s Mask has been appearing at the top of related searches, while video content has been uploaded to the Nintendo3DSUK channel. The game was also central to the last two Nintendo Direct broadcasts.

In addition to this, the firm has been running a live action trailer on television to promote the game.

There is also a limited edition version of the game and a special 3DS console, both of which have been pushed alongside it.

[INFO] Formats: 3DS Released: February 13th Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Grezzo/Nintendo Distributor: Open Contact: 01753 483 700

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

CHANDRA NAIR Marketing Manager, Nintendo UK

MAJORA’S Mask 3D is another classic that has already received critical acclaim once, but is taking the gaming world by storm yet again.

We’ve got high expectations for the game. The funny thing about Majora’s Mask is that so many people have heard of it, and it’s often talked about, but so many people missed out on it because it came at the end of the N64 console cycle. Now the millions who missed it finally have an opportunity to play it in the best possible way, with multiple additions and improvements.

MOBILE PROPERTIES CONTINUE TO DOMINATE TV AD MARKET Only one console game appears in the Top Ten TV campaigns of January. GameTime investigates

RANK

ADVERTISER

BRAND

INDIVIDUAL TVRS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

King Supercell King King Supercell Supercell Social Point Nintendo King Disney

Bubble Witch Saga 2 Clash of Clans Pet Rescue Saga Farm Heroes Boom Beach Hayday Dragon City Tomodachi Life Candy Crush Soda Saga Club Penguin Mobile App

480 292 263 247 202 119 75 42 40 20

THE start of 2015 has shown no sign of letting up when it comes to the use of TV advertising by online and mobile properties.

So much is this the case that Nintendo was the only ‘traditional’ games advertiser to make the Top Ten TV campaigns of January with

Elsewhere, online firm Social Point entered the TV market for the first time in support of its Dragon City property which was launched across both iOS and Android in August 2014. It is often the case that mobile game marketers opt to invest in TV after the initial user

its Tomodachi Life property (in terms of individual TVRs accrued).

After dominating the games TV advertising market last year (occupying over 30 per cent of all individual TVRs), King and Supercell owns seven of the Top Ten campaigns of 2015 thus far.

base is established through mobile specific cost per action driven campaigns.

With traditional games advertisers, TV ads are often dictated by the release timeline, in contrast to the ‘always on’ strategy employed largely by mobile firms.

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

February 13th 2015

08

www.mcvuk.com

ESPORTS PRO

eSPORTS ROUND-UP THIS WEEK’S BIGGEST NEWS FEMALE CS:GO TOURNAMENT DRAWS CRITICISM A $30,000 competition aimed at female Counter-Strike players has come under fire from professional gamers for its limited and exclusionary nature

UPCOMING EVENTS

FEBRUARY 12TH – MARCH 12TH DOTA PIT SEASON 3 GROUP STAGE Online, Europe The Dota Pit League Season 3 kicked off its qualifiers on January 20th, with the group stage starting on February 12th and continuing for the following two months.

The event’s prize pool started at $80,000, and has since been bolstered by sales of the in-game ticket. An additional $3,000 prize will be awarded to the player voted most valuable.

FEBRUARY 20TH – 22ND STARLADDER STARSERIES SEASON 12 LAN FINALS CyberArena, Kiev, Ukraine The 12th season of StarSeries boasts an increased prize pool of $50,000 and a brand new format.

16 teams will be split into four groups during Stage One, with the top two sides of each group qualifying for Stage Two. The teams will then compete in a best-of-three series. The top two teams of each group will qualify for the LAN finals.

ESPORTS organisation ESL has announced a $30,000 (£19,600) tournament for female CounterStrike: Global Offensive players.

The Intel Challenge Katowice will take place at Spodek Arena on March 15th, and will invite four teams to compete for the prize.

However, some players have criticised the event for only offering four slots, and the exclusionary nature of a gendered tournament.

“It’s a sad day when there are teams outside the pro/semi-pro circuit who could rightfully attend,” Brianna ‘masq’ B told eSports Pro.

APEX 2015 SMASH BROS GATHERING SAVED Annual community get-together for fighting title rescued at the last moment by Twitch and Red Bull after a series of misfortunes resulted in loss of venue APEX, the annual tournament for Smash Bros fans, had a lucky escape this year.

A bogus fire alarm on the Friday of the event brought marshals to the Empire Meadowlands Clarion Hotel, Secaucus, where a routine check uncovered structural

damage. This, combined with other infractions, left APEX without a venue – and facing cancellation.

Luckily, Twitch and Red Bull stepped in to save the show, relocating it 40 miles to the Garden State Convention Centre in Somerset, NJ.

LGBT RULE U-TURN FOR LEAGUE OF LEGENDS EVENT Filipino tournament for League of Legends forced to backtrack on controversial ruling restricting number of LGBT players per team after backlash from fans A League of Legends competition in the Philippines has hastily reversed its decision to limit the number of LGBT players per team.

Organiser Garena originally stated that “a maximum of one (1) Gay/Transgendered [sic] woman” would be permitted, explaining:

“There are arguments and concerns that Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered Women members may probably have some unfair advantage.”

But following a critical response from fans, media and even League developer Riot Games, Garena rescinded the rule.

A NEW OUTLET FOR eSPORTS A new channel on MCVuk.com dedicated to competitive gaming Written by experts, and guided by an advisory board of insiders Supported by a twice-weekly email newsletter sent to over 10,000 execs Get on the mailing list - email eSportsPro@nbmedia.com to register Sponsorship packages available - email ctallon@nbmedia.com for details

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

JON ROOKE NAMED SEGA EUROPE MARKETING BOSS Publisher also makes Cartoon Network licensing hire O GAME digital boss departs SEGA | The Sonic publisher has made two high-profile hires to its team.

Former THQ exec JON ROOKE (top left) is moving to Sega’s European HQ as its European marketing director.

Rooke takes the new role following a stint at Sega-owned developer Creative Assembly, where he worked as global brand director for survival horror title Alien Isolation.

Rooke is an industry marketing veteran, having spent five years at now-defunct publisher THQ, ending his time with the company as European marketing director.

He will replace AMANDA FARR at Sega Europe, who is moving to Xbox UK as its head of content and services.

“Jon has a well-earned reputation within the industry and we’re very pleased to welcome him to Sega,” said the publisher’s COO and president Jurgen Post.

Meanwhile JASON RICE (left) joins the company as director of brand licensing. Before this, Rice was licensing director for Cartoon Network at Turner Broadcasting.

“I’m delighted to welcome Jason to Sega,” said Post. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve heavily invested in the growth of our now extensive licensing portfolio, resulting in a fantastic

range. Jason brings with him a wealth of experience with top brands and is perfectly placed to further develop and expand on our strategy and licensing offering.”

GAME | The retailer’s chief digital officer IAN CHAMBERS has left to pursue other opportunities.

Chambers joined GAME in 2013 having previously served as VP and international MD at IGN. Prior to that he held digital distribution and digital marketing roles at EA and Ubisoft.

In a press release from GAME, Chambers said: “I’ve

very much enjoyed working at GAME throughout this period of growth, but now is the right time for me personally to leave to develop other business interests.”

GAME boss MARTYN GIBBS added: “On behalf of everyone at GAME I would like to thank Ian for the valuable gaming strategic insight that he has brought to the business thanks to his experience in the games industry, and wish him every success for the future.”

In an email sent to partners, seen by MCV, Gibbs said that the firm’s digital team will be reporting to category director CHARLOTTE KNIGHT, while ANDY GRAINGER will head up its business strategy team.

AROUND THE INDUSTRY JOYSTIQ | The online gaming brand has been shut by AOL. 20 employees have been made redundant as a result of the shutting of both Joqstiq and MMO title Massively.

“I would like to be able to tell you truthfully that this is an equitable and just decision that makes some sort of logical sense, but the reality is that our overlords’ decisions have always been unfathomable,” Massively editor-in-chief Bree Royce said.

“We all suspected this was coming eventually a year ago when a VP whose name I don’t even know and who never read our site chose to reward our staggering, hard-won 40 per cent year-over-year page view growth by... hacking our budget in half. It’s not about merit or lack thereof, and it’s not about journalism or gaming being dead or anything grand

February 13th 2015

12

like that, so there’s no point in taking it personally.”

SONY | The entertainment giant has sold off Sony Online Entertainment to investment management firm Columbus Nova.

SOE is to be renamed Daybreak Game Company, and will continue to work on Early Access zombie game H1Z1, as well as MMO titles EverQuest Next and Landmark.

The developer will be working across PS4, Xbox One and PC. SEGA | The publisher is slashing 300 jobs as it moves its focus onto PC and mobile titles.

Sega is offering voluntary redundancy packages to staff. It is also moving some employees to the digital side of its business.

Sega’s office in San Francisco will be moved to Southern California in the summer.

www.mcvuk.com

EDITORIAL CONTACTS

MCV’S

EDITORIAL CONTACTS

FEBRUARY 19TH

z Ceremony takes place on February 19th

Christopher Dring Editor

Michael French Publisher

cdring@nbmedia.com

mfrench@nbmedia.com

in London at the Ham Yard Hotel, near Piccadilly Tube

z Networking afternoon and awards event z Honouring our Top 100 and giving three special awards to outstanding individuals

Ben Parfitt Associate Editor

Alex Boucher Group Sales Manager

bparfitt@nbmedia.com

aboucher@nbmedia.com

z Tickets cost £65 + VAT each and include pre- and post-event drinks plus theatre-seating awards ceremony

z Sponsorship opportunities still available

Alex Calvin Staff Writer

Conor Tallon Account Manager

acalvin@nbmedia.com

ctallon@nbmedia.com

Matt Jarvis Staff Writer

Sam Richwood Designer

mjarvis@nbmedia.com

srichwood@nbmedia.com

Production Executive: Elizabeth Parker eparker@nbmedia.com

Finance Manager: Michael Canham mcanham@nbmedia.com

Head of Operations: Stuart Moody smoody@nbmedia.com

Head of Design and Production: Kelly Sambridge ksambridge@nbmedia.com

Circulation: Lianne Davey ldavey@nbmedia.com

guaranteeing exposure and involvement in our Women In Games activity throughout February

CONTACT SARA MATHER TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE SMATHER@NBMEDIA.COM / 020 7354 6001 FOR SPONSORSHIP / SALES ENQUIRIES CALL ALEX BOUCHER ON 01992 535 647 OR EMAIL ABOUCHER@NBMEDIA.COM

Saxon House, 6a St. Andrew Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire, England SG14 1JA Newbay Media specialises in tradededicated print and digital publishing for entertainment and leisure markets.

As well as MCV, Newbay 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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THE RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD MCV takes soundings from its Retail Advisory Board on the biggest issues in the industry. The current members are...

Charlotte Knight GAME

Steve Moore Simply Games

Jon Hayes Tesco

Ketu Patel Amazon

Sarah Jasper The Hut

Phil Moore Grainger Games

David Firth Shop Direct

Don McCabe CHIPS

Gurdeep Hunjan Sainsbury’s

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Simon Urquhart Microsoft

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February 13th 2015

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

DATA & RESEARCH Assassin’s Creed Unity makes it back into the Top Five in a quiet week for video games IT’S the same names at the lead of the GfK Top 40 – Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, FIFA and Assassin’s Creed all feature at the head of the charts.

The latest in UBISOFT’s Assassin’s Creed series rises to fourth place from eighth after the average price of the title dropped £5 in a retailer promotion.

There’s a distinct lack of new releases in the boxed charts, but over in the Steam rankings there are a number of fresh entries.

Topping the charts is WARNER BROS’ new zombie IP Dying Light. The Ultimate Edition of this game – which includes the title’s season pass – also appears in sixth place. This game was set to come out physically alongside

its digital release but this was pushed back. No doubt Dying Light would have appeared high in the boxed charts.

Remasters of iconic puzzle title Grim Fandango and sci-fi adventure game Homeworld also appear in the charts in seventh and fifth places respectively.

In the Xbox Live charts, SQUARE ENIX’s Life Is Strange is top.

The episodic title beat Minecraft to first place.

It debuted last week in second place, and it’s likely word of mouth has helped boost the game’s sales this week.

Meanwhile, the release of the second episode in TELLTALE’s Game of Thrones series helps bring it back into the Top Ten.

TOP 10 STEAM CHARTS

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 NEW

DYING LIGHT PUBLISHER: WARNER BROS DEVELOPER: TECHLAND

TITLE PUBLISHER H1Z1 Daybreak Game Company Stranded Deep Beam Team Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Valve Homeworld Remastered Collection Gearbox Dying Light Ultimate Edition Warner Bros Grim Fandango Remastered Double Fine Ryse: Son of Rome Crytek DayZ Bohemia Interactive Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 Idea Factory

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

COD: ADVANCED WARFARE ACTIVISION BLIZZARD FORMATS: PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC DEVELOPER: SLEDGEHAMMER GAMES Title Grand Theft Auto V FIFA 15 Assassin’s Creed Unity Minecraft: Xbox Edition Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Destiny Call of Duty: Ghosts Far Cry 4 The Crew WWE 2K15 Saints Row IV: Re-Elected and Gat out of Hell Terraria LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Watch Dogs Disney Infinity 2.0 Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Forza Horizon 2 Dragon Age: Inquistion The Evil Within Assassin’s Creed Rogue Super Smash Bros Rugby 15 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Just Dance 2015 Halo: The Master Chief Collection Alien Isolation Football Manager 2015 Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare Wolfenstein: The New Order The LEGO Movie Videogame Tomodachi LIfe The Sims 4 Skylanders Trap Team Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Mario Kart 8 NBA 2K15 Battlefield 4 Pokémon Omega Ruby

Week ending February 7th

February 13th 2015

Format Publisher PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Rockstar PS4, XO, PS3, 360,Wii, 3DS, Vita, PC EA PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft XO, 360 Microsoft PS4,PS3, Vita Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games PS4, XO Deep Silver PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Merge/505 Games PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Disney PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bethesda PS3, 360 Ubisoft Wii U, 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Big Ben PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Ubisoft XO Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Sega PC Sega PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, DS, PC Warner Bros 3DS Nintendo PC EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS Activision Blizzard PS4, XO Square Enix Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360 2K Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA 3DS Nintendo

Week ending February 7th

14

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DATA ANALYSIS Source

TOP 10 IPAD PAID CHARTS

TOP 20 INDIVIDUAL FORMAT

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

LW 03 02 04 05 06 09 15 13 11 22 10 12 07 28 27 21 17 RE RE

GRAND THEFT AUTO V ROCKSTAR FORMAT: PS4

DEVELOPER: ROCKSTAR NORTH

Title Grand Theft Auto V Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare FIFA 15 Minecraft: Xbox Edition Assassin’s Creed Unity Assassin’s Creed Unity FIFA 15 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Minecraft: Xbox Edition Call of Duty: Ghosts Minecraft: PlayStation Edition FIFA 15 Far Cry 4 Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Destiny The Crew Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Call of Duty: Ghosts

Format XO PS4 XO PS4 360 XO PS4 XO 360 XO 360 PS3 360 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS3 PS3

Publisher Rockstar Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard EA Microsoft Ubisoft Ubisoft EA Activision Blizzard Microsoft Activision Blizzard Sony EA Ubisoft Sony Activision Blizzard Ubisoft Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard

Week ending February 7th

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE The Chase Radiation Island The Chase Football Manager Handheld 2015 Tipping Point Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Goat Simulator Strawberry Shortcake Berry Beauty Salon Plague Inc

Week ending: February 1st

TOP 10 IPHONE PAID CHARTS

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

HEADS UP! DEVELOPER: WARNER BROS

TITLE Minecraft– Pocket Edition The Official DVSA Theory Test Ski Tracks – GPS Track Recorder Football Manager Handheld 2015 Afterlight Monopoly Plague Inc DVSA Theory Test The Chase

DEVELOPER Mojang TSO Core Coders Sega Afterlight Collective EA Ndemic Creations Focus Multimedia Barnstorm

TOP 10 XBOX LIVE (UK) 01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 01 02 08 05 09 RE 06 RE RE

Week ending: February 1st

TOP 10 GOOGLE PLAY CHARTS

LIFE IS STRANGE SQUARE ENIX DEVELOPER: DONTNOD TITLE Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Terraria: Xbox 360 Edition Monopoly Plus Apocz Castleminer Z Game Of Thrones – A Telltale Game Series Survival Games Season One Avatar Warfare Elements of Destruction

PUBLISHER Mojang 505 Games Ubisoft Sick Kreation Digitaldna Telltale DigitaDNA DigitalDNA Frozen Codebase

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Worms 3 Theory Test UK 2014 The Chase Football Manager Handheld 2015 Geometry Dash Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Tipping Point Star Wars: KOTOR Scribblenauts Remix

PUBLISHER Team 17 Focus Multimedia Barnstorm Games Sega RobTop Games Scott Cawthon Barnstorm Aspyr Media Warner Bros

Week ending February 7th

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

Correct as of February 19th

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

4.5m

$850m

20m

£49.99

Micro-computer Raspberry Pi has sold 4.5m units since 2012.

It is 500,000 units shy of being the best-selling UK-made computer ever.

Between them, Activision Blizzard’s new IPs Destiny and Hearthstone have made $850m in nonGAAP revenue.

During Halo 5: Guardian’s multiplayer beta, 20m matches were played over the course of 2.5m hours of gameplay.

Free-to-play film tie-in Big Hero 6 Bot Fight has one microtransaction worth £49.99.

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DEVELOPER Barnstorm Atypical Barnstorm Sega Barnstorm Scott Cawthon Coffee Stain Cupcake Digital Ndemic

PDP design & manufacture the Official Microsoft licensed Xbox ONE Charging Doc europesales@pdp.com

www.pdp.com 15

February 13th 2015

FEATURE NINTENDO’S NEW 3DS

WHAT’S NEW ABOUT NEW 3DS? Nintendo has just launched two new versions of its 3DS console and two major games along with it.

Christopher Dring takes a look at the new machine and finds out more from Nintendo’s UK head of consumer marketing, James Honeywell

BRAND NEW SCREEN

AMIIBO SUPPORT NFC technology has been built into the bottom screen of the New 3DS so that gamers can use their Amiibo toys (which work in a number of titles such as Super Smash Bros) without the need for an extra accessory.

One criticism the 3DS has faced down the years is that gamers really have to sit still to enjoy the true 3D effect.

Nintendo has fixed that with super-stable 3D, which uses the console’s camera to track head movement.

It will still falter if users move out of the console’s field of vision, but it is still a massive improvement.

TWO MODELS

MORE POWER

There are two versions of the New 3DS (excluding special editions) – the standard and the XL – and each has its merits. Both have a good build quality and include all the new features. XL has the bigger screen, but it isn’t as portable, while the standard version is more compact and even allows gamers to customise it with changeable faceplates.

There are a few tweaks to the New 3DS under the hood, including a better battery life. But the most noticeable change is the increased CPU, which sees the console load faster and menus scroll faster.

One game, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (due April 2nd), makes use of this extra juice and will not work on older 3DS units as a result.

February 13th 2015

16

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NINTENDO’S NEW 3DS FEATURE

NEW CONTROLS

Q&A: NINTENDO’S HEAD OF CONSUMER MARKETING, JAMES HONEYWELL

There is no longer any need for that bulky Circle Pad Pro as Nintendo has added two new buttons and an extra analogue ‘nub’ to the machine. While not quite as comfortable as a fullblown analogue stick, the nub is ideal for moving the in-game camera in several titles, including the newlyreleased Zelda.

Last year was a bit of a quiet time for the 3DS. How would you say 2015 compares?

While the early part of last year was quieter in terms of releases, the end finished in strong style with the launches of Super Smash Bros and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, both of which performed really well. This year gets off to a bang with the New 3DS, New 3DS XL, Majora’s Mask, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Ironfall Invasion and a host of updates.

Friday, February 13th is really going to be a lucky day for our fans.

Who are you targeting the New 3DS at? Upgraders?

New customers?

Our first customers will be those who already own a Nintendo 3DS and are very active. This will be followed by kids and new customers as we roll out more new titles and increase our marketing throughout the year. We are aware that many people just received new units at Christmas so we won’t be targeting them directly for now.

Which model do you anticipate being the most popular?

Based on other markets and who is pre-ordering, we expect the New 3DS XL to initially be the biggest seller but as we reach out to wider audiences during the year the New 3DS will come into its own.

You’re launching Majora’s Mask and Monster Hunter 4 alongside the New 3DS. What are your marketing plans?

Majora’s Mask is a much-loved title that fans have been asking for a long time so it has an instant

The first New 3DS owners will be those who already own 3DS consoles.

James Honeywell, Nintendo UK

base. We really want to make sure we are introducing it to a whole new audience who might not know about this title. For Monster Hunter we feel now is the time when we can open the title up to a Western audience. The developers have worked hard to listen to existing players and given them more of what they want, but also ensuring that this new instalment is open to newcomers.

Are there any other titles you’re looking to push alongside 3DS? Ironfall Invasion is a great new exclusive available on eShop as a free demo. It’s a great demonstration of the control features of the New 3DS but still works fully on the original 3DS as well. Our Ambassadors are really enjoying going back to relive some of their favourite titles. And those lucky enough to have the new hardware can look forward to the launch of Xenoblade Chronicles.

What features do you expect to be the big selling points of the hardware?

With many Ambassador units already out in the hands of UK fans we’ve managed to gain some great insights into what people are enjoying. Top of the list for those who’ve had handson experience is the new super stable 3D, new controls and even the customisable cover plates.

Xxx

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17

February 13th 2015

Call our specialist sales team 01279 822 822 exertis.co.uk/home exertis.co.uk/home/store

OBOX: THE NEXT BIG GAMES CONSOLE?

OBOX: THE CHINESE GAMES CONSOLE THAT WANTS TO TAKE ON PS4 AND XBOX ONE Snail Games is a major player in the Chinese games market, with its MMO Age of Wushu attracting more than 5.5m monthly players. Now, the firm’s new Android console is headed to the US and Europe.

Matthew Jarvis finds out more from US director of business development Dan Doughty

“Y

ou have to do mobile gaming to be successful in the long-term.”

This is how Dan Doughty, director of business development at Snail Games USA, introduces the company’s upcoming mobile-meetshome console device, the OBox. Designed to bridge the gap between the graphical prowess of the PS4 and Xbox One and the pick-up-and-play convenience of smartphones, the OBox is built on an Android operating system.

It’s not an original concept – from the Ouya to the Mad Catz MOJO, Android boxes are now a common sight. But Doughty says that the OBox will stand apart by providing a level of performance akin to a fully-fledged console.

“The problem with the Ouya was that it was taking existing mobile games and blowing them

up onto a big screen,” he states.

“It wasn’t capable of processing high-definition video the way video games need to be when they’re blown up onto a big screen.”

This focus on high-quality gaming is best seen in the OBox’s potential display output; the machine features support for 4K video.

The machine is also modular, allowing consumers to swap out older components for improved hardware in the future.

FRONT OF THE PACK It’s a bold claim that an Androidpowered device could take on the new consoles from the two biggest companies in games – but Doughty says the OBox’s ability to be upgraded will see it come to the forefront for players as the PS4 and Xbox One start to age.

“The Xbox One is already two generations behind, as is the PS4, in processing data and video,” he says. “They will four or five generations behind by their endof-life. That’s not acceptable in a technology-driven world.

“Video games used to be synonymous with pushing the leading edge of technology – that’s really fallen by the wayside. Now, PCs are pushing video gaming because the consoles don’t do it, and mobile devices aren’t able of doing it.

“We’re trying to push the technology again in a way that it’s not being pushed.”

It will be a year or two before you move a product like Call of Duty over to an Android system.

Dan Doughty, Snail Games USA

The OBox (left) will be launched alongside the W3D smartphone and handheld games console (below, right), which can be used as a second controller

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19

Of course, it’s not all about the technology.

“Content is key, so we’re driving content very hard,” says Doughty.

Having announced Snail’s first deal with mobile studio Gameloft, Doughty says there are ‘many, many more’ partners to be revealed pre-E3.

There’s also the firm’s own hit property, Age of Wushu. The MMO currently sees more than 5.5 million monthly users, and is set to come to the OBox. Doughty states that bigger outlets and titles will move across as they realise the potential of Android.

“It will be a year or two before you move a franchise level product like Call of Duty over to an Android system and make it look as good as it does on Xbox One,” he says.

The lower pricing of Android titles will also be a big draw for consumers, Doughty argues.

“You’ll see things like Asphalt 8 doing surprisingly well because they’re all of the things that people are looking for, without the overhead of having to pay $50 to $70.

“It doesn’t make sense in this world having to pay that kind of money simply because of the format you’re developing for.”

Doughty concludes that highend Android systems such as the OBox mark a change in consumer demand.

“It’s not about what we want to give the market; it’s what the market wants from us.”

February 13th 2015

THE BIG GAME THE ORDER: 1886

THE ORDER: 1886

NEW ORDER The first big console exclusive of 2015 is The Order: 1886, an atmospheric steampunk shooter. Could it prove to be a major PS4 system seller? Christopher Dring asks creative director Ru Weerasuriya Release Date: February 20th Formats: PS4 Publisher: Sony Developer: Ready At Dawn

F

or all its commercial domination last year, PS4 wasn’t exactly awash with many triple-A exclusives.

DriveClub, LittleBigPlanet, Infamous, The Last of Us: Remastered... there were certainly plenty to enjoy. But there was something missing.

Something like a new big-budget IP from one of the world’s most talented studios.

The Order: 1886 was shaping up to be that game. Originally scheduled for late last year, the steampunk single-player action game was unveiled at E3 in 2013 and has been subject to plenty of press attention.

Yet, six months ahead of its scheduled arrival, Sony announced that the game had been delayed.

“I’m happy we just pushed it,” says Ru Weerasuriya, creative director and CEO at Ready at Dawn, the game’s studio.

February 13th 2015

“Sometimes games get delayed by a year or two. For us it wasn’t a question of delaying it a couple of years – it was a question of knowing where we were and knowing that we wanted to finish this game right, rather than force it out. The great thing about a partner like Sony is that it has the same mentality as us. They want the game to be really good. The conversation was pretty easy. Nobody forced it on anybody, but everybody came to the same conclusion.”

WHAT IS THE ORDER? When The Order was first unveiled it was via a teaser trailer that revealed very little. It was clearly steampunk in design (a mixture of Victorian characters and settings with reimagined modern-day weaponry and technology), and many instantly equated it to other Steampunk titles, such as Bethesda’s Dishonored.

It wasn’t a question of delaying The Order a couple of years – it was a question of wanting to finish this game right.

Ru Weerasuriya, Ready At Dawn

20

Yet, as more was revealed, it turned out to be more like a shooter with magical elements – a sort of Victorian, mystical Gears of War. With a bit of stealth and melee combat – oh, and werewolves.

“The game is its own thing,” says Weerasuriya, putting us out of our misery in trying to define it.

“I know a lot of people want to coin certain terms for it because it’s what everybody does. If you see a good film, you equate it to something you’ve already seen before purely because your mind works that way. We need patterns; it’s no different here.

“But we’re trying to build our own thing and we’re doing that by giving the player more of a diverse gameplay ride than what people will expect in a game.

“The interesting thing about The Order is that it’s a narrative

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THE ORDER: 1886 THE BIG GAME

ONLY ON PLAYSTATION ALTHOUGH Ready at Dawn has a longstanding relationship with PlayStation, it isn’t one of Sony’s owned studios.

In fact, the company has even developed for Wii in the past. Yet studio CEO Ru Weerasuriya says that PS4 was always the platform of choice for The Order: 1886.

“We do count on the fact that there’s 8GB of DDR5 RAM on PS4,” he says.

“There are certain hardware differences that make it worthwhile to do this stuff on there.

“I haven’t worked with Microsoft on something like this, but I’ll tell you something that was really cool about why it was only possible on PS4 – and that’s the approach that Sony took to building the platform years ago.

“It’s not all about the hardware, it’s about that mentality. I saw that mentality first hand and it helped. We truly believed that PS4 was being built for developers. This hardware was the ideal launch platform for us and all the developers out there to do something cool, rather than being a be-all, endall platform and everyone having to work with it.”

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February 13th 2015

THE BIG GAME THE ORDER: 1886

The Order: 1886 has been widely praised for its cinematic and lifelike visuals

gameplay and visual rollercoaster.

The visuals will be the most important thing at different times, sometimes gameplay or narrative will be. They’ll just intertwine the entire way through.

“That’s the fun part about building a game. It’s experiencing this ride and taking people with you, and you hope they’ll pick up at the beginning and not let go until the game is finished.”

Indeed, the reaction towards The Order has evolved with almost every trade show the game has been to. There was a bit of uncertainty over what it was back in 2013, but after successful runs at E3 and Gamescom last year, Weerasuriya is feeling bullish.

“It’s been a long campaign since the game was announced,” he says.

“It was a risky one to announce early, but the interesting thing is seeing people’s reactions as things grow and as we show more. It was really cool.

“It’s hard to not answer some questions when people are telling you that you’re always showing them the same bits and are asking about the rest of the game. You always have to tell them to be patient. But then you show what we showed at Gamescom, and it feels

February 13th 2015

good because people say they get it now.”

ARE YOU READY? The Order: 1886 is not just a potentially big game for PS4, it is also a significant moment in the life of its developer.

Ready at Dawn is a very good studio. Put its name into Metacritic and its ‘career score’ is 87 from an average of five games. That puts it up there with the likes of Uncharted creator Naughty Dog. But despite its consistency, Ready at Dawn’s entire output to date has been based on other developers’ franchises – such as God of War. For all its critical plaudits, the company has not actually developed an original game. Until now.

“The company was built for this purpose,” continues Weerasuriya.

“We could have jumped onto a new IP very early on back in 2006, we had the deal good to go but we didn’t purely because it wasn’t about doing the biggest thing possible as fast as possible.

We wanted to set ourselves up to win, to make sure we could do this right. Team, technology, culture – all of that has come together.

“The Order has been the most rewarding thing that any of us has ever done. We’ve built

The visuals will be the most important thing at different times, sometimes gameplay or narrative will be.

They’ll just intertwine the entire way through.

Ru Weerasuriya, Ready At Dawn

22

ourselves for this, and it’s hard to find a good group of guys that you want to work with every single day, but it’s an enriching experience: not just because of the IP, or the game, but because of the individuals.”

We would normally put a sentence in here about how developing a new IP is a risky venture, but that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore.

Titanfall, Destiny and Watch Dogs proved that a new IP can be as much of a selling point as a sequel at the beginning of this console cycle.

But that doesn’t mean Ready at Dawn hasn’t felt pressure. PS4 is selling faster than even the most optimistic analyst had predicted.

There are millions upon millions of fans eagerly awaiting each new release and, as we discovered last year, these fans are demanding a new generation spectacle.

“That’s the challenge that we wanted,” concludes Weerasuriya.

“The point of working on an exclusive console title is that you want to showcase what the hardware can do. Having the install base makes it more exciting, makes us work harder, push the graphics further. For this console cycle the first wave of games need to showcase the power of the hardware faster than in the past.

That’s the mentality we took.”

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INDIE INTERVIEW NICK BURCOMBE Sponsored by

FIGHTING FREE-TO-PLAY After the closure of Sony Studio Liverpool, development veteran Nick Burcombe decided to go indie.

Alex Calvin speaks to him about trying to build a hit game without resorting to free-to-play

I

n 2010, Nick Burcombe, veteran developer at Sony’s Studio Liverpool, was made redundant.

Burcombe had worked at the studio for the majority of his video games career, and helped launch the blockbuster sci-fi racing franchise Wipeout in 1995.

After his time with Sony, Burcombe founded Playrise Games, a design consultancy where he helped the likes of LittleBigPlanet 3 studio Sumo Digital with development. But all this did was make him want to start making games again “After I was made redundant I set out to be a design consultant, helping indie studios to get their games playing a bit better within the remaining time frame,” Burcombe explains.

“It was interesting, but you end up in a situation where you’ve arrived at the party too late. You just can’t fix everything. It was biting me that I could do better than this. I knew that with the right opportunity we’d be able to produce high quality games but in a cost effective way.”

It started as a mobile game, but Table Top Racing is coming PS4 and Vita in World Tour

“When we went indie, console was prohibitively expensive and attitudes towards indies weren’t really as flexible as it could have been. There were reduced costs in going mobile,” he says. “And you are more free to make what you want.

Digital distribution has changed everything for indie developers and that’s why there’s so much content on the stores now. But while it’s easier to publish, the sheer number of games makes it quite difficult to be seen. But if you’ve got good ideas they can stand up.”

However, the move to mobile wasn’t as simple as Burcombe anticipated. While development itself hadn’t changed that much, the business on mobile was wildly different to console.

“We launched two years ago and did very well for a few months at the start, but the market was shifting towards freeto-play,” he says.

“That’s a different type of business. It was something we didn’t understand. Even when we took Table Top Racing over to being free-to-play, it’s a completely different way of making money.

When we went indie, consoles were prohibitively expensive. There were reduced costs in going mobile.

Nick Burcombe, Playrise Digital

THE RETURN So in 2012, he set up indie studio Playrise Digital. In contrast to Burcombe’s legacy in console development, the firm’s first title Table Top Racing was released on mobile devices, and later Vita.

February 13th 2015

24

It requires a different shape of business.

“We’ve recently had to ask ourselves: do we want to be freeto-play and go through all the analytics and pore over how we’re going to get another pound from someone? And can we afford to stay in that game long enough to join the bidding war for acquiring users? That wasn’t what we got into it for. That’s not the reason we became indie.

“For now we want to make a great game that is fun, paid up front and then we’ll give gamers the option of DLC. That’s what our forte and our experience is.”

GETTING FREE-TO-PLAY RIGHT Right now Burcombe is working on a new Table Top Racing title for PS4 and Vita called World Tour.

Yet he doesn’t rule out a return to mobile and the free-toplay sector.

“We’ve had to learn from scratch what the free-to-play model is about,” he explains.

“Free-to-play requires expertise that we could acquire.

We could have spent the last twelve months trying to acquire that, but it isn’t satisfying for the business and it isn’t why we became indie.

“When we do return to mobile, if it is still the predominate business model, then we’ll have to address that by bringing in some experts and consultants to help us read the data that is coming back to us.”

He concludes: “Breaking down the data and making sense of it is a job that we might need to do but it’s not something that drives us.”

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MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE PlayTime Nottingham boss Ben Schofield tells MCV about how he’s been getting customers in his store during the quiet start of 2015 and why he keeps his website open even though it isn’t bringing in huge sales How has business been?

It’s not been bad at all. It’s been busy and I’ve been selling lots of stock. It’s a shame that Dying Light didn’t make it in January but I’m not hugely worried about that.

What was selling well over the Christmas period?

GTA V sold tremendously well, both versions. But the PS4 version was just edging it out. Other than that it was the typical chart toppers – Call of Duty and FIFA.

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

or Xbox One over Christmas and bought the then-new releases, but are now going back to games that came out previously.

Now we’re in the quieter Q1 period, how are you getting customers to visit your store?

We had our annual January sale. I’ve been looking at what offers I can do and trade-in deals so that we can stay competitive – we try and stay ahead of CEX. That means we end up with a greater variety of stock to sell. We’ve also had the likes of DriveClub, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Wolfenstein on sale and they’ve been great sellers. There are loads of people who bought a PS4

You have a website. What fraction of your sales and revenue come from the site?

The website is much smaller than our physical stores. We do a few bits online, and sell through Amazon and Ebay, too, but the majority of our sales at the moment are through our stores.

Unless you’re price matching Amazon, you’re not going to sell anything online.

Ben Schofield, PlayTime

PRICE CHECK: BELFAST

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. EVOLVE + MONSTER EXPANSION PACK 2K Games, PS4

ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME

2. Amiibo Charizard Nintendo................................................................. Wii U 3. Evolve + Monster Expansion Pack 2K Games ....................................................................XO 4. Dying Light + Pre-order DLC & Survivor Handbook Warner Bros ............................................................PS4

POKÉMON OMEGA RUBY

Nintendo, 3DS

MARIO KART 7 SUPER SMASH BROS Nintendo, 3DS

Nintendo, 3DS

£39.99

£32.99

£39.99

£32.99

£32.99

£33.99

£33.99

£34.99

£32

£36.73

£29.86

£29.86

9. The Order 1886 + Knight’s Endurance DLC Sony.............................................................................PS4

£29.95

N/A

£29.85

N/A

10. Amiibo Sonic Nintendo................................................................. Wii U

£33.85

£34.85

£29.86

£29.86

6. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D + Necklace Nintendo................................................................... 3DS

IN STORE

5. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Nintendo................................................................... 3DS

Nintendo, 3DS

7. Amiibo Wario Nintendo................................................................. Wii U

UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

February 13th 2015

ONLIINE

8. Amiibo Mega Man Nintendo................................................................. Wii U

MARIO VS DONKEY KONG: TIPPING STARS

RESIDENT EVIL REVELATIONS 2

HOMEWORLD REMASTERED COLLECTION

The latest version of Nintendo’s puzzle IP launches on Wii U next month

The first of four episodes of the new Resident Evil title launches next week.

Improved editions of the first two Homeworld titles are out next week

OUT MARCH 20TH

OUT FEB 24TH (PS4/PS3), FEB 25TH (XO, 360, PC)

26

OUT FEBRUARY 25TH

www.mcvuk.com

MARKETPLACE

PlayTime Nottingham 29 Tanners Walk, The Broadmarsh Centre, Nottingham NG1 7LG

Why do you think that is?

We do the best we can with the site, but most people will go straight to Amazon. GAME does a lot through its website, too, but not as much as Amazon. We do ask customers when they buy stock from our store to visit our website. But if you’re not price matching Amazon, you’re not going to sell anything.

In that case, why do you keep the website open?

It’s an area of growth and you

P: 0115 950 4712 T: @playtimeanytime

want to be seen to be online. You would never close it just because you’re not competing with other stores. From a retail point of view, people come into our stores and see our prices as we’re on the High Street. Getting people to visit your website takes a greater investment from customers to actually find it. Our stores have been open for many years.

We have a reputation. As our reputation grows, I’d hope people would visit the website.

INCOMING TITLE

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

Warner Bros’ new zombie IP Dying Light is finally out in a box at the end of February, while Assassin’s Creed Rogue is set to come to PC in March FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

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March 10th

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27

February 13th 2015

CO-OP

CO-OP From teaming up to take down a dragon to living out a virtual life as a criminal gang, gaming is often better with friends.

Matthew Jarvis gets together with the latest co-op merchandise

AS long as there has been video gaming, there has also been gaming with friends.

Whether it’s a second player taking control of the other paddle in Pong, a teammate reviving a downed ally in Battlefield or a rival racer pulling ahead metres from the finish line in Gran Turismo, the chance to butt heads or work together has long excited gamers.

Local multiplayer titles remain highly popular, providing retailers with the opportunity to upsell

Retailers could upsell additional controllers alongside games that support couch co-op.

additional controllers alongside games that support couch co-op, such as big hitter Call of Duty and Nintendo fan favourite Mario Kart.

Improved online and social functionality in games has allowed friends to play with each other over long distances in a greater variety of titles, too.

The desire to chat to teammates will inspire many consumers to search for a suitable headset, making that segment another prime focal point for stores.

THE ART OF EVOLVE This hardcover book chronicles each step in the creation of 2K’s monsterversus-hunters co-operative shooter. It follows the development of the title from character design to motion capture. The book features an extensive range of concept and development art, as well as in-depth creator commentary revealing more behind the game.

SRP: £24.99 Manufacturer: Titan Books Distributor: Titan Books Contact: 020 7803 1913

PORTAL 2 CHAMBER SQUARES SCARF

ASSASSIN’S CREED BROWN NECKLACE WITH LOGO

LEFT 4 DEAD ULTRA DELUXE BOOMER ACTION FIGURE

Those who survive Portal’s multiplayer co-op testing can remember their hardship fondly with this knitted scarf.

Assassins friendly with each other after playing Assassin’s Creed Unity’s co-op modes can dress the part with this necklace.

The explosive undead enemy comes to life in this detailed figure. It splits in two for added gory effect.

SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: Crowded Coop Distributor: Crowded Coop Contact: info@crowdedcoop.com

SRP: £10.99 Manufacturer: Bioworld Merchandising Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

SRP: £19.99 Manufacturer: Neca Distributor: Star Images Contact: 0207 249 4662

February 13th 2015

28

www.mcvuk.com

CO-OP Sponsored by

O

gaming merchandise uk

Both triple-A and indie games feature a range of co-operative experiences for players, and have proven highly successful at retail.

Co-op crime game Payday 2 was so popular on its release that many retail outlets sold out of boxed copies, leading publisher 505 Games to urgently order in extra stock.

Some games have even used the appeal of co-op as a marketing ploy. Far Cry 4 offered PS4 players

‘Keys to Kyrat’, which allowed them to play the title’s co-op mode with friends who didn’t own the game.

Meanwhile, Valve’s co-op zombie-shooter franchise Left 4 Dead has now sold more than 12 million units since its inception in 2008 – and resulted in consistent speculation among fans of a third entry in the series.

The developer of Left 4 Dead, Turtle Rock Studios, returns with a brand new co-op-focused IP this month, Evolve.

TURTLE BEACH EAR FORCE XO SEVEN PRO This headset for the Xbox One features the new Audio Controller Plus, which adds the firm’s Superhuman Hearing technology, as well as selectable game and microphone presets. Turtle Beach has been selected by 2K as the official headset manufacturer of Evolve, and interchangeable speaker plates based on the game will be available to coincide with the title’s launch.

SRP: £129.99 Manufacturer: Turtle Beach Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

FABLE III CHICKEN T-SHIRT

BORDERLANDS: ORIGINS

PAYDAY 2 MASKS

With co-op offering Fable Legends due out later this year, now is a great time to be stocking up on related gear like this top.

Fans of Gearbox’s chaotic shooter can find out more about the world and its characters in this fittingly high-octane prequel.

Modelled on the masks of Wolf, Dallas, Hoxton and Chains, this vinyl headgear features a backstrip for a tight fit.

SRP: £24.99 Manufacturer: Gaya Entertainment Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

SRP: £13.50 Manufacturer: IDW Publishing Distributor: Diamond Book Distributors UK Contact: 01928 531 760

SRP: £39.99 Manufacturer: Gaya Entertainment Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

www.mcvuk.com

29

February 13th 2015

HOT PRODUCTS

Sponsored by

HOT PRODUCTS MCV takes a look at the best accessories heading to UK retail. This week, we listen to Trust’s Extreme Sound headset and check out Nintendo’s New 3DS coverplates

GXT 315 EXTREME SOUND HEADSET GAME accessories brand Trust has launched its latest headset, the GXT 315 Extreme Sound.

The peripheral is designed with an adjustable headband and extra-large ear pads equipped with soft padding to provide users a comfortable experience over long play sessions.

Inside the ear cups sit speakers optimised to provide deep bass and high audio quality.

A foldable microphone, suitable for players wishing to use in-game voice communication to talk to friends and teammates, is integrated into the outside of the peripheral.

A two metre durable braided cable connects the headset to games consoles or PC, with an in-line remote for volume control and microphone mute included.

[INFO] RRP: £25.99 Release Date: Out Now Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

NEW NINTENDO 3DS COVERPLATES NINTENDO has released the first set of its custom coverplates for its New 3DS handheld console.

These coverplates are only compatible with the standardsized New 3DS. They are not for use with the New XL model.

Featuring a selection of famous Nintendo characters, as well as some colourful and abstract patterns, the coverplates lock into place on the front and back of the New 3DS. Using the coverplates, players can customise their New 3DS as they see fit. The current offering of plates includes Mario, Luigi, Toad, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Camouflage and Black Stars designs, as well as differentlytextured selections, such as a wooden Mario variant.

February 13th 2015

30

The designs can be also mixed and matched for further unique combinations.

Fans can continue the customisation of their device using a number of themes for the 3DS operating system, such as the Yoshi theme (pictured left), which are designed to complement the available covers.

38 of these coverplates are available in Japan, so it is likely Nintendo will be releasing more over time.

[INFO] RRP: £10.99 - £14.95 Release Date: Out Now Distributor: Open Contact: 01753 483 700

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HAVE YOU BOOKED YET? THURSDAY, APRIL 16TH

LONDON LANCASTER HOTEL

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FOR SPONSORSHIP CALL CONOR TALLON ON 01992 535646 OR EMAIL CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM SPONSORS

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DIRECTORY

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February 13th 2015

Web: www.totaldiscrepair.co.uk

34

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DIRECTORY

ENQUIRIES CONOR TALLON Tel: 01992 535647 ctallon@nbmedia.com

FINK

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February 13th 2015

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INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE OPM RECRUITMENT

DIRECTORY

WHO? Specialism: Recruitment Location: Ground Floor, Anderson House, 228 Old London Road, Marks Tey, Colchester, C06 1HD

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

MCV speaks to OPM MD Kim Parker Adcock about the firm’s search for recruitment Unicorns

FOR GREAT ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES, CONTACT ALEX BOUCHER ABOUCHER@NBMEDIA.COM

Tell us about your company.

OPM is a specialist recruitment consultancy that works in the games and interactive entertainment industries.

Formed in 1998, it has grown into an industry leader for recruitment in games on a worldwide scale, having put bums on seats in 29 countries in the last four years.

We hire for all areas of business, from testing through development, publishing, HR and everything in-between.

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

To be included in the Develop Directory (which appears every month in Develop and now every week in MCV) contact aboucher@nbmedia.com

What is your biggest success to date?

Winning the Develop Award for Excellence in Games Recruitment three times is an enormous achievement and one that we are very proud of. We’ve been nominated every year since the award’s inception too.

On the technical side of things, there are more vacancies than candidates worldwide.

What projects do you currently have in the works?

Right now, we are focused on expanding our commercial division: we’re looking to add another consultant.

Tell us something about your company no one knows.

OPM has never made anybody redundant or shortened their working hours, even through the recession.

What are the biggest challenges you face?

Finding ‘Unicorns’ – perfect candidates – for our clients.

Particularly on the technical side of things, there are more vacancies than candidates worldwide. There has also been a huge rise in the demand for analysts and we have to look in other industries to fill these vacancies.

How did you choose your company name?

OPM stands for Other People’s Money in honour of the investor I was going to sign up with in the beginning.

I utilised a business bank overdraft in the end but he taught me a lot and graciously gifted me the Ltd company when we parted.

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

Contact: W: opmjobs.com E: officemanager@opmjobs.com T: @opmjobs P: 01206 214 421

37

February 13th 2015

FACTFILE JAPAN Sponsored by

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: JAPAN Population: 126,434,964 Capital City: Tokyo Currency: Yen GDP (Per Capita): $37,540 KEY RETAILERS Animate, Big Camera, Yodobashi-Akiba, Super Potato, Sofmap, Book-Off, Game Hollywood, Enterking, Futaba, GEO, Gamers, Ikyyusan, Jusco, Rakuten, Sofmap, Tosho, Tsutaya, TV Panic, Wanpaku

Konami, Capcom, Koei Tecmo, Nippon Ichi, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, HAL Laboratory, Kojima Productions, NC, Team Ninja, Taito, Spike Chunsoft, Game Freak, Grasshopper Manufacture, Idea Factory, Level-5, Platinum Games

TOP DEVELOPERS From Software, Nintendo, Atlus,

PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, Konami, Atlus, Nippon Ichi, Bandai Namco, Koei Tecmo, Nintendo, Sega, Spike Chunsoft, Disney, Rockstar, EA, Microsoft

JAPAN continues to be one of the most lucrative games market in the world, despite the falling presence of console gaming in the region.

2014 marked one of the toughest years in more than two decades for Japanese console gaming.

According to Famitsu, the Japanese console games industry generated ¥368.55bn (£2.05bn) during the year. This is more than ¥160 billion (£0.89bn) down on 2013’s ¥408.97bn (£2.27bn) total and the sector’s lowest amount for 24 years.

Handheld gaming continues to outweigh its home console brethren by a big margin.

Nintendo’s 3DS platform was the best-selling gaming machine in Japan during 2014, with 3,153,045 combined unit sales.

In comparison to the decline of the traditional games market, the Japanese smartphone sector has rocketed to comprise around half of the entire Japanese games industry, mobile marketing outlet CyberZ reports.

The firm estimates that of the entire games industry’s ¥1.1 trillion (£10bn) total in 2013, smartphone gaming contributed ¥546.8bn (£3.04bn). This is a huge leap of 178 per cent on the previous year.

A closely-linked counterpart of mobile gaming – social gaming – also continues to flourish.

IT consultation firm, Nomura Research Institute, estimates that the country’s social gaming sector will grow to reach ¥393.5bn (£2.19bn) yen by 2017.

KEY DISTRIBUTORS Ajioka, Happinet, Jesnet

The Japanese console games industry generated ¥368.55bn during 2014.

February 13th 2015

38

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JAPAN FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... CHINA The sale of games consoles is to be rolled out across the whole of China following a successful trial period in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone AFTER a successful trial period in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, the sale of games consoles is to be allowed across the entirety of China.

Local governments have reportedly been instructed to draft new rules facilitating the sale of games hardware nationwide.

The move follows the country’s lifting in January 2014 of a 14-year ban on the sale of any foreign consoles.

After the ban was dropped, Microsoft released the Xbox One to strong launch numbers, although subsequent reports suggest sales have tailed off.

www.mcvuk.com

39

Meanwhile, Sony’s PS4 is yet to make it to Chinese shores, after the console’s launch in the region was delayed mere days before its proposed January release. Rumours speculate that the delay was due

to government complaints that the console was region-free.

Nintendo has alluded to its interest in the region but has yet to formalise plans.

February 13th 2015

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION Sponsored by

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTORS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR NEW PARTNERS OVERSEAS, THEN LOOK NO FURTHER

BELGIUM

CLD DISTRIBUTION Rue du Grand Champs 14 , B 5380 Fernelmont Belgium Tel: +32 81 83 02 02 Fax: +32 81 83 02 09 Email: infos@cld.be Web: www.cld.be home of www.dragonwar.eu & www.mawashi.eu

BRAZIL Sony Music Entertainment Brasil Day 1 Entertainment Brasil Rua Lauro Muller n°. 116 – 40°. Andar Salas 4001 a 4003 Botafogo Rio de Janeiro RJ CEP. 22.290-160 Tel. +55 21 2128-0771 Fax: +55 21 2128-0747 Email : rodrigo.altieri@sonymusic.com Website: www.sonymusic.com.br | www.day1e.com.br

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SOEDESCO B.V. Koddeweg 13, 3194 DH Rotterdam The Netherlands Tel: +31 104722462 Fax: +31 104722893 Email: info@soedesco.com Web: www.soedesco.com

ALESAYI UNITED COMPANY Video Games Distributor in the Middle East, P.O BOX 16999 Jebel Ali Free Zone Dubai U.A.E. Tel: 00971 4 883 5960 Fax: 00971 4 883 5175 Email: marketing@alesayi.ae U.A.E. Website: www.alesayi.ae Group Website: www.alesayi.com

NORDIC WENDROS AB SWEDEN, NORWAY, DENMARK & FINLAND Jakobsdalsvägen 17 12653 Hägersten Sweden Phone: +46 8 51942500 Fax: +46 8 7466790 Email: HM@wendros.se LM@wendros.se Web: www.wendros.se

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MORE DISTRIBUTORS AUSTRALIA AFA Interactive, Bluemouth Interactive, Five Star Games, Mindscape, Namco Bandai Partners, Turn Left Distribution BENELUX CLD Distribution, Koch Media, Gameworld Distribution B.V. CANADA E One, Importel, Just4Games, Solutions 2 Go, Vidéoglobe CYPRUS Access, Gibareio, Zilos, Nortec Multimedia CZECH REPUBLIC Cenega, Conquest, Comgad, Playman, ABC Data DENMARK Bergsala, Elpa, Impulse, Koch Media, Nordisk Film Interactive, Nordic Game Supply, PAN Vision FRANCE Big Ben, Innelec, Koch Media, SDO, Sodifa GREECE Zegatron, CD Media, Namco Bandai Partners, IGE, Nortec, Enarxis, Beacon HUNGARY CNG.hu/Cenega Hungary, CTC Trading, Magnew, PlayON, Stadlbauer ICELAND Sena, Myndform, Samfilm, Ormsson INDONESIA Maxsoft, Uptron, Technosolution IRELAND MSE Group, Baumex JAPAN Ajioka, Happinet, Jesnet NORWAY Bergsala, Game Outlet, Koch Media, Nordic Game Supply, Nordisk Film, Pan Vision POLAND CD Projekt, Cenega, Galapagos, LEM PORTUGAL Ecoplay, Infocapital, Koch Media, Namco Bandai ROMANIA Best Distribution SERBIA ComTrade, Computerland/Iris Mega, Extreme CC SPAIN Digital Bros, Koch Media, Namco Bandai Partners, Nobilis SWEDEN Bergsala, Koch Media, Namco Bandai, Nordic Game Supply, PAN Vision, Wendros, Ztorm (digital) UAE Red Entertainment Distribution, Pluto Games (LS2 Pluto), Viva Entertainment, Gameplay Entertainment, Geekay Distribution

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OFF THE RECORD

OFF THE RECORD This week pictures of Eurogamer’s video team go viral and get the internet treatment, while The Pokémon Company heads down to Loading Bar to launch a new expansion pack GOING VIRAL EUROGAMER’S video team seems to be growing by the month, and to show off the new line-up (left to right: Wilson, Bratt, Chiodini and Higton) the photo to the right emerged.

Naturally, the internet stepped in to improve said image, bringing the team into classic films such as Ghostbusters (far right).

Now rate the pictures on our new three point scale: Essential, Recommended or Avoid.

THE WEEK IN 140 CHARACTERS The Tweets you might have missed in the last seven days @markhoppus 6:30am Saturday. Discussing Zelda strategy with my son and quizzing him on Majora’s Mask canon. Excited for the new 3DS XL. Mark Hoppus, Blink 182, Saturday January 31st

@IndoorHeroes 19 per cent of Twitch’s audience has a full beard. 5.3 per cent have a goatee. less than one per cent have mutton chops. I don’t know why we sought this information.

@GeorgeOsborn [Following Videgamer Patreon] “Videogamer offering in app purchase of $600 a month to unsuspecting corporate backers.”

@mikestoke I reckon there’s a market for a games website that reviews games with scores.

Chris Thomas, Twitch, Monday February 9th

George Osborn, freelance journalist, Wednesday February 4th

Mike Bell, Sky, Tuesday February 10th

@Wesley_Copeland I keep looking at Amiibos like I need them.

Ones of characters I can’t stand, too! What’s wrong with me?!

@weefz Might go all maverick and introduce review scores to The Average Gamer this year. I hear people like that sort of thing.

Wesley Copeland, freelance journalist, Thursday February 5th

Debbie Timmins, The Average Gamer, Tuesday February 10th

@KyleOrl A Call of Duty game coming in fall of 2015 is early contender for least surprising gaming announcement of the year

@kezamacdonald I wouldn’t want all games sites to go scoreless. At IGN the audience overwhelmingly wanted the 100-point system; you gotta serve the people.

Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, Friday February 6th

Keza MacDonald, Kotaku UK, Tuesday February 10th

@smcowley Presumably the first season of live action Zelda on Netflix will be explaining that the dude in green hat and stockings isn’t called Zelda.

@hownottodraw Maybe this Eurogamer review score thing means men will stop referring to women as “8/10s” and just say “maaan that lady is RECOMMENDED”

Simon Cowley, NCSoft, Friday February 6th

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Kate Gray, OXM, Tuesday February 10th

41

February 13th 2015

OFF THE RECORD

CATCH ‘EM ALL ANOTHER week, another event at Dalston’s Loading Bar. This time it’s for the latest expansion of the PokĂŠmon Trading Card Game, XY Primal Clash.

On hand was pro player Samuel McLewee, giving tips to those attending on how to be the very best, like no-one ever was – DUN, DUN, DUN.

STARS IN THEIR EYES WE often get lumped in with our cousins over in the ‘gaming’ industry (gambling). But if that means we get parties like this, then lump away.

The event held by gaming ďŹ rm PlayTech included appreances by Pixie Geldof (top) and genuine Hollywood superstar Idris Elba (above). I wonder if we can get them to attend our next pub quiz.

When I was in ninth grade, my friend and I did a whole Battlefront II galactic conquest in one go. Good memories.

CHICKPEA THE DARUDER @JacobChickpea Played both the N64 Zelda games in succession without VOHHS DQG ZKHQ , Âż QLVKHG , IHOO asleep in my seat smiling.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OUR AMAZING FRIENDS GAME BLAST 15, WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT’S YOUR MOST EPIC GAMING MARATHON EVER?! #GMGASKS

Outcast made me forget that my body requires sustenance and frequent visits to the bathroom for three days.

DrunkenMonkeyKombat @DrunkMonkeyKomb

+DV WR EH :RUOG RI :DUFUDIW WKH Âż UVW WLPH , went to Upper and Lower Blackrock Spire.

Blaze @Blaze_E6

7KH %DWWOHÂż HOG +DUGOLQH beta last week. It was fun as balls, man.

Four days without washing or sleeping, pausing only for lunch and/or dinner, playing nothing but Zelda.

S. I. Lorentsen @CookieofWisdom

February 13th 2015

Erde @latopollo

Jero @upupdowndownetc

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Beating 12 of the Legend of Zelda games over the course of a weekend.

Drew L @drew_thepooh That would be Diablo II. 20 hours a day for a week, including weekends. Got to love time off school!

Richard Shepherd @rshepherd83 Playing Manic Miner on the whole of New Years Eve day and night on the ZX Spectrum 48k.

Jan Chlupacek @poutnikantiago Played through the entire Ninja Gaiden for Xbox in one sitting without ever getting up.

) UHĂ€ G #I UHĂ€ G

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