MCV828 March 27th / April 3rd

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THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

SMARTPHONE THINKING

ISSUE 828 FRIDAY MARCH 27TH / APRIL 3RD

MEET THE FIRM BRINGING NINTENDO TO THE MOBILE WORLD P06

Cities: Skylines was last week’s No.1 game... but nobody was counting MCV publishes its first-ever combined digital/physical chart O UK Top 10 is transformed ...WHAT IT SHOULD REALLY LOOK LIKE

THE ‘UK CHARTS’ LAST WEEK...

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

TITLE Grand Theft Auto V Dying Light FIFA 15 Minecraft: Xbox Edition DmC: Definitive Edition Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Evolve Zombie Army Trilogy Sniper Elite III: Ultimate Edition

PUBLISHER Rockstar Warner Bros EA Microsoft Capcom Activision Sony 2K Rebellion 505 Games

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

TITLE Cities: Skylines Grand Theft Auto V Dying Light Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number FIFA 15 Minecraft: Xbox Edition Zombie Army Trilogy Ori and the Blind Forest DmC: Definitive Edition Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

PUBLISHER Paradox Interactive Rockstar Warner Bros Devolver Digital EA Microsoft Rebellion Microsoft Capcom Activision

Chart for the period: March 8th to March 14th Sources: UKIE & GfK Chart-Track

Chart for the period: March 8th to March 14th Sources: UKIE & GfK Chart-Track, plus digital store data provided by third-parties

by Chris Dring and Michael French

If the UK charts included digital sales data, last week an entirely new IP would have been No.1 - the Paradox-published Cities: Skylines.

The game sold 60,000 copies over 10 days in the UK alone.

Elsewhere, indie sequel Hotline Miami 2 would have been at No. 4.

One other new IP would have cracked the Top 10 on digital sales alone: Ori and the Blind Forest on Steam and Xbox One. Second-week digital sales of Sniper Elite spin-off Zombie Army Trilogy – UK studio Rebellion’s first self-published game on console –

LAST week’s ‘official’ UK Top 10 chart would have been totally different if digital sales figures were taken into account.

Key sources have shared data with MCV that underlines the disparity between ‘official’ charts and the still unmeasured digital world.

The pressure is now mounting on the industry as a whole publishers, format holders, data trackers and trade bodies - to start offering this kind of insight on a regular basis.

Pressure is mounting on the industry to start offering this insight on a regular basis.

actually push the title up the chart when download numbers are paired with boxed figures. Minecraft gets a similar lift.

The UK trade has been talking up a digital chart for years. But efforts by both Chart-Track and UKIE have stumbled as they failed to secure the support of 100 per cent of publishers.

However, MCV put the chart on this page together over just a few days with input, data and guidance from the likes of Paradox Interactive and Rebellion, plus off-the-record guidance from retail sources wishing to remain anonymous for now.

So MCV will do the counting for you UNTIL a formal solution is offered for better showing the health of software sales in the UK, MCV is committed to offering a substitute.

Going forward, we hope to start publishing regular charts accurately

taking into account digital sales like the one above.

Using a variety of sources, we will try to accurately portray a total measure of games sales in the UK, across both boxed and digital.

We do not guarantee 100 per cent accuracy from day one – but what we do promise is to start bringing some unity on the otherwise separated and fractured data sources in the business.

If you’d like to contribute to this new initiative, contact MCV editor Chris Dring at cdring@nbmedia.com.

Data will be kept confidential at all times and used only to aggregate Top 10 or Top 20 rankings.

PLUS GAME TALKS BLACK FRIDAY FIXING THE INDUSTRY’S BROKEN GAMES

CHEAT SHEET

Market Data

THE EDITOR

The huge launch of Battlefield Hardline causes the market to rise this week £15m

TIME TO CHANGE THE CHARTS

£10m

£8.2m 282,224 units

C

£13.2m 370,997 units £6.8m 236,060 units

Week Ending Week Ending Week Ending Mar 8th Mar 15th Mar 22nd

UK RETAIL TOP 10

1

BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE

2

Final Fantasy Type-O HD

3

Grand Theft Auto V

4

Dying Light

5

FIFA 15

6

Mario Party 10

7

Resident Evil: Revelations 2

8

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

9

Minecraft: Xbox Edition

10

Minecraft: PlayStation Edition

EA Square Enix Rockstar Warner Bros EA Nintendo Capcom Activision Blizzard Microsoft Sony

SPONSORED BY

PRE-ORDER TOP 10

1

BLOODBORNE

2

Borderlands The Handsome Jack Collection (PS4)

2K

3

Borderlands The Handsome Jack Collection (XO)

2K

4

Mortal Kombat X (PS4)

5

Bloodborne Collector’s Editon (PS4)

6

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (PS4)

Square Enix

7

Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward (PS4)

Square Enix

8

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4) Bandai Namco

9

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Seige (PS4)

10

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PS4)

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

SONY

Warner Bros Sony

Ubisoft Bethesda

onfession: The new games chart we have printed on the cover this week is inaccurate.

We couldn’t get all the data for all the games we wanted. Not everyone was willing to share. And yes, we know that’s the exact reason why an ‘official’ version of that chart doesn’t exist.

But then again, the ‘UK games chart’ that the likes of MCV, Eurogamer, GameIndustry.biz, Videogamer and many others publish each Monday morning isn’t accurate either, most of the time.

It was definitely wildly inaccurate two weeks ago - our cover proves it.

By contrast, look at the reveal of the No.1 music single and album each week.

This is a genuine measure of the most popular release of the week. That industry does the alleged ‘unachievable’, uniting disparate platforms and data in one – boxes, downloads and streams.

So it’s an embarrassment that the games industry does not have a similarly reliable record, regardless of the industry cold war over sharing data. Maybe it’s that bitter stubbornness which is hurting the business.

Our chart this week throws up plenty of legitimate questions. How do you even present a chart like this on a regular basis?

Considering the price differences between the titles, what about a value chart? How do we count free-to-play revenues? Do we include DLC? What about mobile?

But those questions are not worth asking right now. Only one question matters: why is this so hard for the industry to pull its finger out and get this sorted?

UKIE valiantly tried to launch a chart of its own last year, but couldn’t get sign-off from 100 per cent of its audience. The answer in the mean time is to revert to accepting the retail charts. But do we have to accept the market was worth just £6.8m two weeks ago?

And it’s not like we weren’t warned.

Chart-Track’s already excellent data is useful to a large section of our industry,

04

but it’s not telling the whole story. ChartTrack was the first to say it back when MCV ran a tentative ‘digital chart’ story back in 2007. No one listened. To give you a feel of how long ago that was, and how much warning we had, that was before the iPhone was launched.

Just think what the industry could achieve if everyone shared digital data with any real depth.

Our rogue, scrappy alternative chart tells us a lot. It tells us players do like strategy games, that 2D titles can still sell decent units, that SimCity-style games are as popular as they ever were, that PC truly is a major platform and that Team 17, Devolver and Paradox can mix it up with the likes of EA, Ubisoft and Activision.

You won’t get that from the retail charts.

If there’s some fear at a senior exec level about the story that tells, then that’s just dumb. A chart, like the one that we have made, points in lots of directions and highlights lots of opportunities for publishers, developers, retailers, investors and the media – for all of us.

Just think what the industry could achieve if it pulled this one together with any real depth.

Our job as the trade publication is to provide useful information to you. And without accurate data, it’s becoming increasingly difficult.

But we will keep trying. As we say on the cover, we’ll continue to try and print charts like the one this week, and reveal data whenever we can get hold of it. It may not be quite right, it may not be every week, but until the industry can start sharing data in a managed way, it’s the best we can do to help you place the right bets. cdring@nbmedia.com

www.mcvuk.com

CHEAT SHEET

GAME: Black Friday is going nowhere But the High Street retailer’s CEO Gibbs hopes to avoid issues caused by last year’s price cut bloodbath

by Christopher Dring THE price war that erupted in the games market before Christmas may have hurt GAME’s bottom line, but the retailer says it won’t be backing away from Black Friday.

Last year’s Black Friday saw major games and consoles cut by as much as 40 per cent, and GAME felt the brunt of the discounting, issuing a profit warning in January and posting a decline in profits for the 26 weeks ending January 24th.

Yet CEO Martyn Gibbs said that although there were lessons the business will continue to partake in future Black Friday events.

“Anybody that is saying they can hold back Black Friday is foolish,” he told MCV. “Consumer appetite for Black Friday is here to stay.

There are learnings in terms of how

to manage it differently next time around. But we look at Black Friday as a big opportunity going forward.”

GAME also cited the aggressive bundling as harming its revenue potential, and said that it’s this that has meant the market has got off to a slow start in 2015.

“New releases are performing well. Battlefield Hardline performed slightly above our forecast. But in terms of the back catalogue and chart titles, with so much good content given away with consoles last Christmas, that has been softer than we expected,” he said.

GAME’s financial performance has also been impacted by a smallerthan-expected line-up of games, particularly earlier in the year.

“I’ve been saying for years that I would rather have one big title a month, rather than everything coming at peak,” said Gibbs.

Google Play deal is major coup for age rating bodies

AGE ratings body PEGI says getting on the Google Play store is major win for the games industry and consumers.

PEGI struck a deal to rate apps and games on Google Play as part of an ‘international coalition’ of ratings bodies, which includes ESRB in the US, USK in Germany and others.

www.mcvuk.com

“With the digital evolution moving faster, if we weren’t able to get on the Google Store, it would have been bad for us.”

Discussing the firm’s new International Age Ratings Coalition (IARC) system, which lets developers and publishers fill in one form to get age ratings for the US, Australian, European,

Now PEGI is looking to introduce age ratings on Xbox Live, PSN and Nintendo eShop, and is eager to get Steam and Amazon on-board.

“It took us four years to get here,” said PEGI’s Dirk Bosmans.

“Google Play is a big player – just look at the sheer number of apps and games.

05

UK and Brazilian games markets, Bosmans says: “It’s a win, win situation. It is easier for games companies because now they have a simplified process. If your app has no inappropriate content, you can tick that up-front and you get your app rated for lots of markets around the world in minutes.”

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

INTERVIEW TOMOYUKI AKIYAMA, DENA

WHO IS NINTENDO’S SAVIOUR? Last week Nintendo announced it is making its first steps into developing for smartphones via a partnership with Japanese mobile giant DeNA. But what does DeNA offer? What are its plans? And why was Nintendo so eager to partner with it? Christopher Dring asks the firm’s global corporate communications chief Tomoyuki Akiyama

O

n Tuesday March 17th, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata surprised a gathering of press with a major announcement about the future of its business.

“In recent years, with the spread of smart devices, we’ve increasingly heard a variety of opinions on the future of the dedicated video game system business, and in particular relatively pessimistic ones,” he said, adding that issues impacting the performance of 3DS and Wii U has sparked analysts “to suggest that dedicated game systems too may be consumed by smart devices since the latter has already been said to have consumed a variety of dedicated devices such as digital music players, cameras and car navigation systems.”

Iwata doesn’t agree with that analysis, to the point that he announced the NX – a dedicated console that will be revealed next year. But, he does view smart devices as the next generation of the TV and said: “It would be a waste not to use these devices.”

Nintendo said it would be developing mobile games. It is something some critics and analysts have longed lobbied the company to do. Yet the economics of mobile gaming is something that has never sat well with Nintendo.

Mobile games rarely cost more than a £1 – Nintendo would have to sell a lot of Super Mario iOS to generate significant money – which is why so many mobile developers have adopted the free-to-play (or ‘free-to-start’ as Iwata calls it) model. Perhaps Mario runs out of energy after a few levels, and

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

gamers will either have to wait until he’s refreshed, or pay some money to buy him a power-up.

Or perhaps fan will have to pay micro-transactions to access extra monsters in Pokémon.

It would work, but would it go down well with Nintendo’s diehard fans? Or, more to the point, how well would it sit with parents, who are already wary of mobile gaming’s ‘free’ business model?

It’s something Iwata is clearly concerned about. In subsequent interviews, he has suggested that Nintendo may have to come up with entirely new business models.

And this is perhaps where Nintendo’s new friend can come into play. The Japanese smartphone giant: DeNA.

Nintendo can help with our global expansion. Its IP will bring the best gaming experience to players around the world.

MOBILE SUPERPOWER Nintendo has partnered with DeNA to launch its smartphone games platform, and as part of the deal Nintendo has taken a ten per cent share in the firm, while DeNA has taken a 1.24 per cent share in Nintendo.

DeNA is one of the biggest mobile games companies in the world. It employs some 2,000 people and generated almost $1.8bn last year – primarily from mobile games. Meanwhile, almost $2bn was consumed by DeNA mobile games in 2013. It is on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and even owns a Japanese baseball team.

It wasn’t always a mobile games business, however. It began life in operating online actions, before moving into online retail, then mobile auctions, mobile advertising, mobile social networks and then finally entering the gaming space.

Tomoyuki Akiyama, DeNA

It launched a platform called Mobage – a bit like Xbox Live for mobile – which has over 30m users.

“DeNA shifted its business focus to mobile as early as in 2004 - three years before the iPhone and built its expertise,” says global corporate communications chief Tomoyuki Akiyama.

Akiyama says there are three key strengths to DeNA, including its metrics-driven operation, the ability to “develop mobileoptimised service for small screens and ‘in-between time’ and technology that is able to handle massive data traffic.”

But it’s not all about technology and analytics.

DeNA knows a thing or two about publishing and making games. It released Kaito Royale, a mobile hit in Japan, and it’s published Rage of Bahamut and Blood Brothers, which have topped the App Store and Google Play charts in the West.

GLOBAL HOPES DeNA also has ambitious goals of its own.

“We want to be the world’s No.1 mobile internet company,” says Akiyama. “Mid-term, we want to establish our position as a mobile gaming leader, and to launch multiple new non-gaming businesses for sustained growth.”

It’s the global element that is key to DeNA. The mobile market has become saturated in Japan, but the company’s attempts to launch globally have had mixed results.

06

www.mcvuk.com

TOMOYUKI AKIYAMA, DENA INTERVIEW

It has a Western presence, and has invested in developers, but not to much success. Although it’s learned some valuable lessons.

“We found out what does and doesn’t work for users in the West,” continues Akiyama. “The difference includes lower revenue per user, higher drop-out rate and the different competitive landscape.

He adds: “Nintendo can help with this global expansion.

“Its IP will help bring the best gaming experience to over a billion mobile users globally.

We will also continue to share knowledge between our offices around the world.”

It’s not the only thing Nintendo can help with. DeNA admits there are challenges in the mobile space, including intensifying competition, worsening discoverability for apps and increased user-acquisition cost – all of which, Akiyama says

is something Nintendo can help solve, because it has the games and the software to help DeNA rise above its competitors and get the visibility it wants worldwide.

THE NINTENDO NETWORK Of course this all sounds great for DeNA. But what about Nintendo?

Listening to Akiyma, DeNA sounds nothing like Nintendo.

This is a company that talks about metrics, user acquisition and technology. These are not the sort of buzz words typically mouthed by Nintendo executives, who prefer to use words like ‘creativity’ and ‘fun’. Nintendo is run by creators; it’s why it often makes brilliant games, but not always astute business decisions.

Yet it’s because DeNA sounds like the antithesis of Nintendo that this partnership could work. Iwata says that: “DeNA’s strength is its world-

We want to be the world’s No.1 mobile internet company.

Tomoyuki Akiyama, DeNA

class internet service construction and operating know-how.” And says that the two will work together “to construct a bridge between mobile and dedicated game hardware.”

DeNA can build something that Nintendo has repeatedly struggled to do: an online network that keeps gamers engaged with both the company and its games. Nintendo may not make billions from Mario Kart on Android, but if it can convince a fraction of those gamers to go and buy Mario Kart 7 on 3DS or Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, it could prove to be a lucrative initiative.

The potential of smartphones is huge for Nintendo – especially as many of these mobile gamers are the ones that bought into Wii and DS just a few short years ago. But the real exciting element of this move might actually be DeNA, and the role it can play in finding Nintendo a place in the modern games industry.

Nintendo will release entirely original games based on classic characters on mobile

www.mcvuk.com

07

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

MARKETING

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3D

[INFO] Formats: New 3DS Released: April 2nd Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Monster Games/Monolith Distributor: Open Contact: 01753 483 700

BECAUSE Xenoblade Chronicles 3D is exclusive to Nintendo’s New 3DS consoles, the platform holder is targeting owners of the hardware. The firm is also targeting core RPG fans, as well as users who missed the original Wii release of Xenoblade Chronicles in 2011.

Nintendo will use the original title’s 92 Metacritic rating, as well as other accolades it has accumulated, to show Xenoblade Chronicles 3D’s pedigree.

The platform holder has been using ‘tactical online activity’ over YouTube and Twitch to push preorders. It is also ramping up its online campaign over specialist gaming networks.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

GEMMA HALL Product Manager, Nintendo UK

XENOBLADE Chronicles 3D is exclusive to the New Nintendo 3DS, and is a must-have for all owners of the new systems.

It pushes the new hardware and lets fans play this classic for the first time on the go and in superstable 3D. This will be an exciting prospect for both owners of the New 3DS and RPG fans, as the last few years have proven the 3DS to be the home of great RPGs, with the likes of Fire Emblem Awakening and Bravely Default.

We expect to see this audience expand and grow as we add to this great roster of titles.

HOW THE TOP 10 TV CAMPAIGNS OF 2015 REACH THEIR AUDIENCES This week, GameTime dissects the factors that make 2015’s biggest TV campaigns top the airwaves 1+ Cover vs Individuals

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

1+ Cover vs Male 16-34

Individual TVRs

600 500

479 451

447

400

402

300

274 247 161

200 144

128

119

100 0

KING.COM

KING.COM

SUPERCELL

KING.COM

SUPERCELL

KING.COM

MACHINE ZONE

NORDEUS

2K

SUPERCELL

BUBBLE WITCH

PET RESCUE SAGA

CLASH OF CLANS

CANDY CRUSH

BOOM BEACH

FARM HEROES SAGA

GAME OF WAR

TOP ELEVEN 2015

EVOLVE

HAYDAY

SAGA 2

SODA SAGA

THE percentage reach of a TV campaign provides insight into the potential effectiveness of a brand’s impact against a target audience.

Examining the Top 10 games and consoles campaigns so far this year by means of Individual TV viewer ratings (TVRs) accrued, King.com’s mass market approach to TV buying for Pet Rescue Saga

Supercell’s Clash of Clans. Despite achieving fewer individual TVRs, the campaign was more successful than King.com’s Bubble Witch Saga 2 in terms of percentage reach.

This can be attributed to Supercell’s investment in high profile spots such as Match Day Live on BT Sport.

Between them, King.com and Supercell occupy seven of

is proving effective, with over 70 per cent of all UK individuals having seen the commercial at least once so far this year. Compared to 2014, King.com has expanded its portfolio of TV campaigns, having achieved 70 per cent more individual TVRs versus the same period last year.

The third biggest campaign in terms of individual TVRs is

the Top 10 games and consoles TV advertising campaigns of the year as mobile and online properties saturate the market even further.

2K’s Evolve property was the only ‘traditional’ boxed game to make the Top 10, reaching 43 per cent of all UK individuals in just over four weeks on air.

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

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

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www.mcvuk.com

ESPORTS PRO

TOP 10 eSPORTS LEADERS Last week we looked at the top developers in eSports who are making the most popular competitive games.

But what about the other businesses transforming the face of pro-gaming? We reveal the top 10

1 ESL THE oldest eSports league in existence, ESL represents more than 5m members and 1m teams.

The outlet holds tournaments for more than 50 separate titles at ESL’s own events, such as the ESL Pro Series, as well as thirdparty events such as Gamescom.

The organisation recently announced that it would be bringing five eSports competitions live to cinemas around the UK. A documentary following the lead-up to the Intel Extreme Masters championship will also be screened.

2 TWITCH

3 EGL

2014 saw Twitch reach more than 100m unique monthly users, many of whom were watching eSports events.

The popularity of the live streaming service has been credited as one of the reasons behind the growth of eSports.

FOCUSING on the UK and Europe, EGL’s network of eSports leagues includes tournaments across both console and PC. The firm recently partnered with ESWC to host online qualifiers for the ESWC 2015 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Finals.

4 MLG

5 GFINITY

6 MULTIPLAY

THE longest-running North American eSports league, MLG also offers video streaming platform MLG.tv, which acts as a network of live eSports coverage.

The outlet also operates tournament system Gamebattles, which has over 10m users across more than 40 competitive titles. MLG has itself run more than 66 live competitions.

FORMED in 2013, Gfinity has just launched the UK’s first dedicated eSports arena in London, with three custom stages and space for over 600 attendees.

As well as this, Gfinity will be hosting 30 live events during 2015, including the Gfinity Championship 2015 LAN. More than $500,000 in prize money will be up for grabs.

MULTIPLAY made news across the UK earlier this year, when it was purchased by GAME for £20m.

The firm is known as the host of the Insomnia gaming festival, which saw over 67,000 visitors in 2014. The show combines competitive gaming, a retail expo and often attracts many notable YouTube stars.

7 BEYOND THE SUMMIT

8 DREAMHACK

9 STARLADDER

10 EVO

A broadcasting team for Dota 2, Beyond The Summit also organises the The Summit tournament, which last year offered over $300,000 to Dota 2 pros from around the world.

Opening rounds for The Summit 3 are currently underway.

DREAMHACK plays host to many eSports tournaments, including Counter-Strike, Dota and Street Fighter, and claims to be the world’s largest digital festival. Over 26,000 visitors are expected at DreamHack Summer 2015 in June.

NOW in its 12th iteration, StarLadder’s Star Series XII invited 40 teams to compete for more than $80,000, with the total bolstered by crowdfunding.

The event’s finals are to be held in Kiev’s Cybersport Arena between April 24th to 26th.

THE Evolution Championship Series is an annual competition dedicated to fighting games.

2014 marked one of the biggest instalments yet, with a reported online viewer peak of 147,372.

This year’s event will take place from July 17th to 19th.

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

NEW MARKETING AND SOCIAL HEADS FOR GMG Revillon and Gardner join retailer O Curve co-owner Biddle departs O New Koch Benelux MD GREEN MAN GAMING | The online retailer has made two new hires.

The first is CHARLES REVILLON (left, above), who has been hired as head of partnerships and channel marketing. Revillon has worked in the industry since 2003, starting out at Square Enix, before moving to mobile firm Gameloft. He then worked as relationship marketing manager for SCEE and was EMEA product marketing manager at WildTangent.

Meanwhile, MATT GARDNER (above) joins as social media manager. Gardner spent half a

of Curve’s flagship title Stealth Inc – aka Stealth Bastard – and also led development on Fluidity.

“I’m so intensely proud of the work I’ve done as part of the incredible team at Curve over the past ten years, and I’m hoping to continue creating games as fresh and exciting as those Curve made with my own studio for years to come,” Biddle said.

“Having seen the inner workings of Curve’s publishing as it has grown, I couldn’t imagine trusting anyone more with publishing my future titles.”

Curve Digital MD Jason Perkins, commented: “Bidds has lead teams developing titles that have helped to define us as both a developer and a publisher.

We’re very glad that his new

decade heading up HotUKDeals’ games blog Despawn. He will be in charge of GMG’s social media channels, including blog coverage and community engagement.

“These new appointments are already bringing strength, expertise, talent and energy to our commercial team,” Green Man Gaming CEO Paul Sulyok said. “I am thrilled to welcome Charles and Matt to the Green Team.”

CURVE DIGITAL | Design director and co-owner JONATHAN BIDDLE has left the firm.

Biddle has set up his own studio Onebitbeyond, which will publish games through Curve. He was central to the development

venture will allow us to continue working closely together.”

KOCH MEDIA | BERND THIEN has been hired as MD in the Benelux region, starting April 1st.

Thien moves to Koch after an esteemed career, having worked at Sega Benelux and Universal Pictures, before joining distribution firm Level03 as commercial director in 2012.

“I’m looking forward to working with the Benelux team,” said Thien. “Deep Silver has a lot of potential with big franchises such as Dead Island, Saints Row and Homefront. I also see plenty of opportunities to expand on distribution.”

AROUND THE INDUSTRY KONAMI | According to a source at Konami, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima will depart the company following the launch of upcoming title Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

The names of Kojima and his studio Kojima Productions have been removed from branding on Konami’s website.

“We are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business,” Konami said in a statement.

“Konami Digital Entertainment (including Mr. Kojima), will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products.”

STARBREEZE | A 2.67 per cent stake in the Payday and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

10

developer has been acquired by the owner of 505 Games, Digital Bros.

The $5m deal sees the Swedish studio valued at $187m.

The agreement accompanies a two-year extension to the existing partnership between the two firms.

In January, 505 acquired the Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons IP from Starbreeze for $500,000.

EVOLUTION | The DriveClub creator is set to lose staff.

“We will be looking to relocate team members throughout the studios but, unfortunately, some redundancies will be necessary,” Sony said in a statement.

This follows news of a restructure at the studio earlier this month, which Sony said was a step towards offering DriveClub as a ‘service’. One key focus was said to be the game’s long-delayed PS Plus Edition.

www.mcvuk.com

EDITORIAL CONTACTS

EDITORIAL CONTACTS Christopher Dring Editor

Michael French Publisher

cdring@nbmedia.com

mfrench@nbmedia.com

Ben Parfitt Associate Editor

Alex Boucher Group Sales Manager

bparfitt@nbmedia.com

aboucher@nbmedia.com

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

your brand brand here here PROMOTE YOUR JOB EVERY WEEK THROUGH MCV PRINT AND ONLINE CONTACT CONOR TALON FOR MORE INFORMATION 01992 535 647 OR EMAIL CTALLON@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.

US Correspondent Erik Johnson ejohnson@nbmedia.com

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March 27th / April 3rd 2015

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

DATA & RESEARCH EA has its first number one of 2015 as Battlefield Hardline shoots to the top EA’s long-awaited shooter Battlefield Hardline debuts in first place of the GfK Charttrack Top 40.

The cops and robbersthemed entry in the Battlefield series is the biggest launch of the year to date, and EA’s first No.1 of 2015.

It isn’t the only new release in the Top 40 either.

There’s a new Final Fantasy title, Type 0 HD, which debuts at No.2. This game was originally released in 2011 as a PSP title in Japan, and was never released in any other territories.

This HD edition was also bundled with a demo for Final Fantasy XV, which will have attracted attention.

Elsewhere, NINTENDO’s Mario Party 10 debuts

in sixth place, and the physical edition of Resident Evil: Revelations 2 also starts life in the boxed charts in seventh place. The horror game was first released digitally and episodically over four weeks, with the boxed SKU coinciding with the fourth episode.

Meanwhile, the release of a Halo: The Master Chief Collection Xbox One hardware bundle sees MICROSOFT’s shooter rise 14 places up the charts to No.13 as sales increase 80 per cent.

The Steam charts were unfinished when we went to press. But PARADOX’s Cities: Skyline remains number one, having sold in excess of 600,000 units worldwide.

TOP 10 XBOX LIVE (UK)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 09 RE RE RE NEW RE RE 08 10

MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION PUBLISHER: MICROSOFT DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Terraria: Xbox 360 Edition Monopoly Plus Castleminer Z Avatar Warfare Resident Evil: Revelations 2 ApocZ Survival Games Season One Battleblock Theater Castle Crashers

PUBLISHER 505 Games Ubisoft DigitalDNA DigitalDNA Capcom Sick Kreations 2.0 Studios The Behemoth The Behemoth

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 NEW 01 02 03 06 NEW 06 04 07 17 12 27 13 21 14 16 15 08 16 10 11 19 22 05 20 09 24 23 25 RE 32 28 29 33 RE 35 26 39 31

BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE EA FORMATS: PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC Title Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Grand Theft Auto V Dying Light FIFA 15 Mario Party 10 Resident Evil: Revelations 2 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Minecraft: Xbox Edition Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Disney Infinity 2.0 WWE 2K15 Halo: The Master Chief Collection Terraria The Order 1886 Forza Horizon 2 Destiny Far Cry 4 Evolve The Crew Sniper Elite 3: Ultimate Edition Dragon Ball Xenoverse The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D Super Smash Bros DMC: Definitive Edition LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Zombie Army Trilogy LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Watch Dogs Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare Skylanders Trap Team Dragon Age Inquisition Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate The Evil Within Wolfenstein: The New Order The Last of Us Remastered Tomodachi Life Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Alien Isolation Just Dance 2015

Week ending March 21st

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

DEVELOPER: VISCERAL GAMES Format Publisher PS4, XO Square Enix PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Rockstar PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC EA Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Capcom PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, PS3, Vita Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Disney PS4, XO, PS3, 360 2K Games XO Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 505 Games/Merge PS4 Sony XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC 2K Games PS4, XO, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 505 Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bandai Namco 3DS Nintendo Wii U, 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO Capcom PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO Rebellion/Sold Out PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA 3DS Nintendo/Capcom PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bethesda PS4 Sony 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Sega PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii Ubisoft

Week ending March 21st

12

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DATA ANALYSIS Source

TOP 10 IPAD PAID

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 39 40

LW NEW NEW NEW 02 04 01 NEW 03 NEW NEW 07 05 NEW 08 22 13 09 10 15 12 25 NEW 25 20 17 33 NEW 30 19 21 23 06 29 14 RE RE 35 34 36

BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE EA FORMAT: PS4

DEVELOPER: VISCERAL

Title Battlefield Hardline Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Mario Party 10 Grand Theft Auto V Grand Theft Auto V Dying Light Battlefield Hardline Dying Light Final Fantasy Type-O HD Resident Evil Revelations 2 FIFA 15 Minecraft: Xbox Edition Battlefield Hardline FIFA 15 Halo: The Master Chief Collection The Order 1886 FIFA 15 Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Forza Horizon 2 The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D Resident Evil: Revelations 2 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Grand Theft Auto V Terraria Disney Infinity 2.0 Battlefield Hardline FIFA 15 Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Minecraft: Xbox Edition Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate DMC: Definitive Edition Tomodachi Life Evolve Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare The Last of Us Remastered WWE 2K15 Super Smash Bros Destiny

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

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

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 The Chase Tipping Point Construction Simulator 2014 Max and Ruby Bunny Bake Off Flightradar24 – Flight Tracker Football Manager Handheld 2015 Monument Valley Terraria

DEVELOPER Scott Cawthon Barnstorm Barnstorm Astragon Cupcake Digital Flightradar24 Sega Ustwo 505 Games

Week ending: March 22nd

TOP 10 IPHONE PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT — POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Enlight Heads Up! Theory Test for Car Drivers UK Facetune Ski Tracks - GPS Track Recorder The Official DVSA Theory Test Kit Afterlight Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock

DEVELOPER Lightricks Warner Bros Focus Multimedia Lightricks Afterlight Collective TSO Afterlight Collective Scott Cawthon Northcube AB

Week ending: March 22nd

TOP 10 GLOBAL GOOGLE PLAY

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Theory Test UK 2014 Worms 3 Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 Tipping Point Monument Valley AllCast Premium Motorsport Management The Chase Five Nights at Freddy’s

PUBLISHER Focus Multimedia Team 17 Scott Cawthon Barnstorm Ustwo ClockworkMod Christian West Barnstorm Scott Cawthon

Correct as of March 23rd

Week ending March 21st

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

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

2.5m

3.2m

4.3bn

14

Free-to-play Nintendo 3DS title Pokémon Shuffle has been downloaded over 2.5m times since it launched in February

According to developer Techland, Dying Light has had 3.2m active players in the 45 days since launch, making it the studio’s most successful game to date

Research firms Newzoo and Octoly claim that YouTube videos featuring Minecraft were viewed by 4.3bn people last month.

GTA was in second place

Steam is now refunding purchases made in EU for 14 days after launch.

However, this is only applicable if consumers do not play the game

www.mcvuk.com

13

PDP design & manufacture the Afterglow Communicator PlayStation europesales@pdp.com

www.pdp.com March 27th / April 3rd 2015

THURSDAY MAY 14TH 2015 A new event for developers and publishers in a unique Central London arts space www.interface.events

CONNECTING CONTENT MAKERS AND INVESTORS GUARANTEEING DELEGATES AT LEAST 10 GOOD INTRO MEETINGS MEET AN INVESTOR OR SIGN UP THE NEXT BIG GAME

Indie Zone Partner

Event Partner

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT CONOR TALLON ON 01992 535647 OR EMAIL CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM

IN IN TER IN DIE AC TI IN VE S V IN TR ST E O O CO IN -DE D R NT IN TE PT UC S EN IN LO RES H F TIO T YO ND T U N M I N M N A U ON G D E RK R IN E V DI G TIN ET E A NU A PL G RY D S E V AC :M IC E E AY 14 TH

INTERVIEW NAOKI KATASHIMA

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Bandai Namco Games has changed its name, again, and will now be known as Bandai Namco Entertainment. Why the change? European president and COO Naoki Katashima details the changes to MCV

WHY THE NEW NAME? “Our future vision and business of the Group has more to do with providing Entertainment, rather than just video games.

In Japan there’s a huge number of companies that work with everything from developing games for all platforms to toys, figurines, anime, music and much more. So for us this is a natural step to evolve into Bandai Namco Entertainment as it will better reflect all areas of our business on a worldwide level.”

WHAT ARE THESE OTHER BUSINESSES? “In the West we are mostly known for IPs such as PacMan, Dark Souls, Tekken, Tales of, Soul Calibur, Ridge Racer and Ace Combat, as well as licensed IPs like Naruto, Dragon Ball and One Piece, to name a few. As a business we have some incredibly strong property usage outside of just gaming. Our Japanese animation licences remain the strongest on a worldwide level and we also have a successful Bandai Namco Amusements

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

business with recent licensed announcements in arcades such as Star Wars Battlepod, which totally sits outside of our traditional business.

“We are also well known for our toy and figurine divisions – Bandai and Banpresto respectively – that work with licences such as PacMan, Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, Gundam, Yokai Watch, Disney’s Big Hero 6 and Ben 10. These are a small selection of companies and areas we operate in outside of traditional video game development, publishing and distribution.”

We are Japan’s leading entertainment company, but we still have work to do in the Western market.

Naoki Katashima, Bandai Namco

HOW’S YOUR LINE-UP FOR 2015 LOOKING? “We are in a strong position and remain the leading entertainment company in Japan but we still have work to do in the Western market.

“In the US and Europe we have recently had some very strong success with the Dark Souls franchise and we hope to continue to focus on this incredible IP. Dark Souls II Scholar Of The First Sin will be arriving on April 2nd and it’s delivering everything that Souls fans want but with new improvements: changing up enemy placements, 60 FPS and 1080p visuals and all DLC content. And now it’s on PS4 and Xbox One, and there’s a PC Direct X11 version, too.

“Dragon Ball Xenoverse has shipped over 1.5 million units and in a short time proven to be an absolutely amazing success on a worldwide level in box and digital sales. We will continue to support this important franchise that we have been behind for many years. PC as a platform is something we will

WHAT DOES THE CHANGE MEAN FOR UK OPERATIONS? “The UK office currently in Hammersmith will be moving some time later in 2015, and our group companies in different divisions will share the same new office. We are also expanding our EMEA head office in France. This is a great sign of how strong Bandai Namco Entertainment is showcasing itself as a company for the future.”

16

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NAOKI KATASHIMA INTERVIEW

be supporting much more going forward and we are already seeing this being successful with games like Dragon Ball Xenoverse. We are extremely lucky to work on some of the biggest anime and manga IPs that have proved to have a strong audience. Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 on the new consoles and PC will sell well when it comes out later in the year, as will One Piece Pirate Warriors 3, Saint Seiya, Tales of Zestiria, J-Stars Victory VS + and Godzilla.

“We have worked hard to strengthen our fanbase and community and we have even more titles to announce in this genre. Alongside our IPs we will also continue to build upon our third-party publishing and distribution with the powerful Project CARS from Slightly Mad Studios in May, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt from CD Projekt Red in May, Rollercoaster Tycoon World from Atari in the summer, and we continue our great partnership with Codemasters.

We also have some undisclosed announcements coming soon, some of which will be revealed at E3.

“This year is Pac-Man’s 35th anniversary and over the last few years we have been successfully launching Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures on TV worldwide – Disney XD in the UK – and globally licensing the IP across all forms of merchandise and gaming.

“We will be hosting a range of Pac-Man related activities to celebrate his 35th landmark. Pac-Man still remains one of our most important IPs as he’s our company mascot and we will have new announcements soon.

This year also sees the summer release of Pixels from Sony Pictures, which features Pac-Man and Galaga.

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“Mobile, and free-to-play also remains strong for the business as Tekken Card Tournament continues to be successful on a worldwide level and Ace Combat Infinity serves a strong existing audience whilst generating a new audience in this flight action genre, which we excel in. We have more titles planned in this segment.”

and very strong teams on a global level to be able to provide a complete 360 degree publishing and distribution model. Project CARS for example is a title that Bandai Namco Entertainment publishes alongside Slightly Mad with a huge amount of support put in place over the last couple of years to take this from an incredibly well made racing game to a highly anticipated and highly pre-ordering competitor to games like Forza and Gran Turismo.

“The teams are very passionate about making this one of the greatest racing titles that has ever been released.

Fans that have been following the title since development and new mainstream car-enthusiasts will be happy at what this game delivers in not only visuals, but simulated realism on the new console hardware.

“The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt has for over two years remained

WHAT ARE THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN YOUR THIRD-PARTY DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS? “We have great relationships

17

one of the most anticipated releases on new-gen and it’s already won close to 200 awards. This is a game that will be remembered for many years to come. It is a stunning and mature RPG in a completely believable medieval world that people come to expect from the likes of Grand Theft Auto.

“We are also teaming up with Atari to launch Rollercoaster Tycoon World, the sequel to one of the most popular and biggest selling series on PC. “Alongside these core titles we have a strong kids and family business with our own IPs and titles from Little Orbit. A new range of titles in this segment will be announced soon but we have seen some recent successes with How to Train Your Dragon, Monster High and Barbie, and we continue to focus on this area of our business.”

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

XXX XXXGAME TAX BREAKS VIDEO

TAX BREAKERS After another good Budget for the UK games development scene, Christopher Dring asks developers making use of Government tax relief – just how effective is it?

Would your game have been possible without tax relief?

Muwanga: Possibly, but certainly not with the scale and artwork we’ve made.

What made your game a good fit for UK tax relief?

Jens Bachem, Gingersnap: Created in partnership with leading museums, Gingersnap is a fun new way for children and grandparents to keep in touch. All development is UK-based and we’re working with British heritage and cultural institutions to help them bring their stories to life.

Phil Muwanga, Pixelbomb: Beyond Flesh and Blood will be a uniquely British sci-fi game – only gorier.

It is set in Britain – Manchester, specifically. It will feature a British cast and it’s made in Manchester by a local team. Incidentally, our original creative aims matched the homemade criteria of the BFI. David Banner, Wales Interactive: Soul Axiom is a first-person sci-fi adventure game. The team are all British, the game is developed entirely in the UK and some of the game’s content reflects British culture. The game was actually one of the first to be classified as ‘British’ by the BFI back in November 2014.

Have you had to make any compromises to get the tax relief?

David Amor, Delinquent: We’re creating a mobile game where almost all of the costs are in the UK. It’s been really straightforward.

I suppose it’s made us more inclined to place work exclusively in the EMEA region, but that hasn’t proved to be a compromise.

Bachem: It would certainly have been a lot more difficult. While we’ve been relatively successful at raising funding, support from the Government has made it a lot more feasible.

UK Chancellor George Osborne promised increased tax credit support for the games industry

bits that explain the real-world significance of certain famous buildings we’ve scaled in the game’s version of Manchester, which adds depth and familiarity to the story.

If you’re a limited games company then you’d be foolish not to utilise the tax relief. It could be the difference to your studio’s success or failure.

What has the tax relief allowed you to achieve?

Banner: It would have been a lot harder to get the project off the ground if it wasn’t for the Government support.

Amor: At one level it’s allowed our money to go further. At another it’s proven to be an incentive for investment. We’ve taken investment from overseas and, although no investor would invest exclusively on the basis of a good tax system, it’s a nice cherry on the top.

David Banner, Wales Interactive

Below, from left to right: Wales Interactive’s Banner, Delinquent’s Amor, Gingersnap’s Bachem and Pixelbomb’s Muwanga

What would you tell other studios looking to obtain tax relief?

Banner: If you’re a limited games company then you’d be foolish not to utilise the tax relief. I see it as a safety net and it could be the difference to your studio’s success or failure. If you are serious about making a living out of making games then don’t be afraid of incorporation, especially if it means qualifying for tax relief on your latest title.

Muwanga: Don’t feel guilty because getting a foothold in the industry and going to market is really hard, especially if you’re creating something yourself. If you’re an indie, go out there with your dreams and get all the help you can.

Bachem: Talk to the BFI and HMRC. Be open with them. They’re there to make your game production possible.

Muwanga: It didn’t force us to shoehorn anything in. If anything, it’s created a little discipline in the areas we needed. For instance, we’ve added historically-accurate ideas into the game; we’re creating

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

00 18

www.mcvuk.com

XXX XXX HOW THE SIMS GOT BACK ON TRACK

GHOSTS, ALIENS AND SWIMMING POOLS: HOW THE SIMS 4 GOT BACK ON TRACK Its initial launch disappointed some fans, but The Sims 4 has patched things up and is about to launch its first full expansion – Get To Work. Producer Azure Bowie-Hankins tells Matthew Jarvis what’s new in the add-on, and why listening to users has turned the game around

A

fter the success of The Sims 3, The Sims 4 seemed like a sure-fire hit.

Released in 2009, The Sims 3 sold 1.4 million units in its first week and went on to tot up more than 10 million sales. A sequel – and further success – was inevitable.

But by the time of The Sims 4’s release last September, something had changed. The game topped the charts, but its sales didn’t match up to the runaway triumph of its predecessor. Players posting on community sites accused the game of missing content and offering less, rather than more, than its six-year-old parent.

More than six months on and the game has made a recovery, thanks to a series of free updates which have added a host of fanrequested features.

Azure Bowie-Hankins, producer for the game, says that taking player criticism into account has been key.

“To be completely honest, we definitely heard that feedback, and that brought about this philosophy of creating really strong communication between the players and the studio,” she explains.

“There were all of these free updates that we added to the game; we added ghosts, pools, more careers and a family tree, genealogy.

All of that was based on player feedback. They told us and we heard them very loud and clear.

“It’s been really exciting because the players have responded really well – they really do feel like we’ve been listening to them. We want to

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

Get To Work adds new career options – including retail – to The Sims 4

be a live service, where we listen to them and can action on the things that they want.”

Players have told us what they want and we have heard them very loud and clear.

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS With the fans back on board, EA is now bringing an inaugural expansion pack to The Sims 4 – Get To Work.

Likely to be the first of many (The Sims 3 received 11 during its tenure), Get To Work allows players to take up one of three careers – doctor, detective or scientist – and actively participate in the day’s work. This is a big change from past entries in the franchise, when employed Sims would just disappear for chunks of the day, free of player control.

Introducing an entirely new neighbourhood to the game, it also allows players to set up their own retail outlets and run the businesses directly – be that a bakery (baking is also new in the add-on), costume shop, art gallery or more.

Azure Bowie-Hankins, The Sims Studio

00 20

There’s also the addition of aliens, who will bring quirky happenings such as a freeze ray, male pregnancy and an alien world into the mix.

Asked how the studio decided what to give away for free, and what to charge players for as part of an expansion, Bowie-Hankins responds: “It’s not necessarily a clear one-to-one ratio.

“Some of the things that we’ve given away for free – like pools – are actually big features that have a lot going into them, while other free things – like outfits – are smaller.

“An expansion pack is a theme that expands the base game in a way that’s very different. It’s stuff that you don’t need to have a good Sims experience, but that we want to offer to players.”

Bowie-Hankins concludes that it’s all part of a new way of pleasing fans.

“We picked the number one theme players said that they wanted,” she says. “It’s a new way of deciding what to do, and we’re really enjoying it.”

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FIXING THE BROKEN GAMES FEATURE

BREAKING BAD One of the major issues impacting games today is titles launching with bugs and errors.

What can we do to stop this? Alex Calvin asks the QA experts

A

t the end of 2014, it felt like we couldn’t go a week without a game being released with some severe issues.

Assassin’s Creed Unity came out with glitchy visuals; Microsoft had serious issues with Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s online mode. Even Tetris had problems.

“It was clear that these games just weren’t ready to be released,” MD of QA firm Testology Andrew Robson tells MCV. “They had issues and relied on Day One patches. QA teams only have a short time to make sure everything is working, which is detrimental to game quality.”

Babel Media functionality QA manager Mathieu Lachance is a bit more sympathetic and says that this is nothing new: “2014 had a few games with some issues,” he says. “2013 was the same. Before that, similar situations happened again and again. In practice, it’s impossible to release a flawless game. There will always be some bugs left in a game, be it within or outside of the developers’ control.”

AFTER THE FACT A large portion of these problems were down to companies relying on post-release updates and fixes.

“Patches allow for further developmental scope beyond release,” Robson says. “99 per cent of the time most of these issues would have been found during development but marked as ‘won’t fix’, or ‘waived’ in the bug database, or fixed in patches. This is purely so the games can be shipped. It’s a matter of selection for deadlines.”

VMC’s director of business development Ben Wibberley adds:

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(Left to right) Testology’s Robson, VMC’s Wibberley, Babel Media’s Lachance and Testronic’s Wheatley

that need to be adhered to. And publically traded publishers that have to ship certain titles to meet retail deadlines.”

“Day One patches are now the norm for console releases and it was only a matter of time before developers weren’t able to fix all the known issues before launch.”

Testronic boss Dominic Wheatley adds that new hardware has exacerbated the situation.

“New consoles always bring new challenges for the developers to get the best out of the machines, especially in the early years of their launch,” he says. “The new consoles are giving headaches to some of the developers in being able to produce games to a standard that can be defined as next-gen.”

The run-on effect is that devs require more time making the game, resulting in QA firms having less time to find bugs before launch.

“QA has never really had enough time to test games thoroughly,” Robson says.

“Shipping dates are now being driven more by marketing, TV ads, and window space in the shops, beyond excellence of product.”

Wibberley adds: “Other compounding factors include the title being bundled with a console at retail, meaning the game simply has to ship, as well as marketing spends and campaign timelines

THE SOLUTION So what can be done to ensure the next set of big releases aren’t plagued by issues.

“Games are so much bigger than they used to be. Integrating QA earlier into the development process would help,” Robson says.

“So it really just comes down to having more time scheduled for QA and releasing the game when it’s truly ready.”

He continues: “A few companies are doing it right by having Early

Access releases and betas so they can get as many people playing before release to iron out issues.”

For Wheatley, the solution is simple: “Gamers would rather a developer be honest and say the game has some issues and that they need to put the release date back so they can fix it before release.

“Project Cars, The Witcher 3 and the PC port of GTA V are examples of delayed games, and the feedback on the whole has been positive, as fans know they care for the games, rather than release a broken title that requires patching for the first month or so.”

Assassin’s Creed Unity shipped with a number of graphical errors last year

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March 27th / April 3rd 2015

INDIE INTERVIEW ACID NERVE Sponsored by

CLASH OF THE TITAN Titan Souls was thrown together at a game jam competition in 48 hours. Six months later it was on stage at E3. Alex Calvin speaks with Acid Nerve’s Mark Foster about the game’s remarkable story

I

n December 2013, three developers gathered to take part in online game jam Ludum Dare.

They were UK-based programmer and lead designer Mark Foster and music and sound designer David Fenn, and Andrew Gleeson, an artist from Australia.

In time, they would take on the studio name Acid Nerve.

The theme for the game jam was ‘you only get one’, resulting in the team developing a title in which the player takes on colossal creatures where both protagonist and monsters have a single health point. This was named Titan Souls after the hugely popular Japanese anime and manga Attack on Titan.

Six months later, their game was being shown off on-stage at PlayStation’s E3 media conference as part of a sizzle reel of indie games from publisher Devolver Digital.

“The PlayStation E3 conference was the first the world saw of Titan Souls. We made a jam game, worked on it a bit and then the first thing we do after is go to E3. It was pretty mental,” Foster tells MCV. MEETING UP E3 marked another milestone for the studio, too. Until then, they hadn’t all been in the same room.

“I know Andy from Twitter. David and I had done some Ludum Dare games before. We made one called Leaf Me Alone. I did the art, which was inspired by Andy,” Foster explains. “When we did the next game jam, I emailed to see if he wanted to help. He jumped on Skype and took part. And now we’re working together.”

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

Titan Souls was originally a demake of PS2 classic Shadow of the Colossus

Shortly after the game jam, the team was contacted by Devolver via Twitter after seeing positive press from PC-specialist sites, as well as fellow developers such as Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail.

“It escalated from there, and we ended up getting Titan Souls published and turning it into a full game.”

And Foster insists that Devolver was vital to Titan Souls’ development.

“Devolver has helped with everything,” he says. “The game wouldn’t have been made if it hadn’t been for Devolver. We liked it, we wanted to expand on it but we had no money or time to do anything. When Devolver got involved it funded the game from the beginning and gave us all the marketing support we needed. The guys liked the prototype and thought that we could do something good. In the last year I have been around the world showing the game at different places. In the past two weeks I’ve been to GDC, PAX and now Rezzed.”

You can try crazy ideas out at game jams. If they don’t work, you can throw them away. You have lost nothing.

Mark Foster, Acid Nerve

22

COLOSSAL INSPIRATION While Titan Souls was heavily influenced by the game jam theme of ‘you only get one’, the team’s other big inspiration was 2006 PlayStation 2 classic Shadow of the Colossus. In that game, players take on a series of huge boss monsters. In fact, Titan Souls was initially a demake – where developers remake a more modern title in a retro style – of that title.

“When we started to do a demake of Shadow of the Colossus, we realised that a game involving climbing monsters in a 2D world wouldn’t be easy to make,” Foster says.

“So we just focused on boss fights – everybody likes those, right? We just wanted to make something that focused on those central and unique experiences.

Then the theme was ‘you only get one’, which is where the idea of the one arrow, and all characters having one health point. All that stuff came from the theme. If it was just a boss fight game where you are slashing away at stuff it wouldn’t have been anything like what Titan Souls is.”

And Foster says none of this would have been possible without taking part in game jams.

“At game jams you can try crazy ideas in a day or two and if they are bad you can throw them away.

You have lost nothing – but you have gained some experience about certain things in development.

He concludes: “You know what ideas do and do not work. It gives you more ideas about what you can do in the future. Game jams are only positive.”

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OPINION

INSIGHT

THE PRACTICALITIES OF SELF-PUBLISHING AND PROJECT TIMING don’t. With Zombie Army Trilogy, we had one eye on The Order: 1886 and Batman Arkham Knight.

The Order turned out to not have multiplayer and Arkham Knight got pushed back to June, which worked out well for us.

Knowing the genres of games you will be competing against is important; with Zombie Army Trilogy we wanted to avoid other major shooters, but Forza Horizon and Just Dance were less of a concern.

In part two of his continuing look at developers self-publishing, Rebellion boss JASON KINGSLEY offers his advice on knowing where to invest your time and effort

A

dapting your business to the self-publishing model requires a number of practical changes; you need someone who can handle PR, manage an internal marketing team or someone that can hire in and manage freelancers.

Finding someone externally to make assets like trailers can be costly so, if you can’t afford dedicated teams, think about hiring individual artists and video editors who can help with communications.

This all needs to be done a long way in advance, as planning and creating the content needed for sales, marketing and media channels takes a great deal of time.

ASYMMETRIC WARFARE Being an indie publisher you have to accept that there will be, in many cases, an enormous disparity in the scale of resources at your disposal.

Rebellion is now relatively large, yet we are aware we’re still competing with titles that cost at least ten times as much to make and have more than 20 times our marketing budget. So you need to have talented people who can spot an opportunity and make it count.

We have to be very targeted in our more traditional marketing activity, using social media intelligently and choosing only a handful of important voices and trusted media partners with whom we have a longstanding

Being an indie publisher you have to accept that there will be, in many cases, an enormous disparity in the scale of resources at your disposal.

Jason Kingsley, Rebellion

TIMING IS EVERYTHING As a developer-publisher you have to make the call on when to launch.

This means considering when you realistically expect to complete project milestones, checking resources like MCV’s release schedule and making sure you’re not going to market jammed in between two franchise behemoths. As an indie publisher, you’ll want as much clear space around your release as possible.

With massive games these days initial release dates can slip, and feature sets can often change or be dropped. It’s therefore best to keep your ear to the ground for insider news. It’s also worth looking at the track record of those making a potential competitor.

Some dev teams hit dates, others

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

With games such as Zombie Army Trilogy, a smart approach can make up for a lack of marketing budget

24

professional relationship. For us, TV spots are out of the question, but short, effective bursts of video pre-roll ads on Twitch and YouTube aren’t. Focus your resources where you can, and where you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck. Be sure to review the data afterwards to find out what worked.

MINIMISE THE SURPRISES If you are making your first foray into publishing then my top piece of advice would be to communicate honestly and as far in advance as possible with your partners. Problems can and will emerge, and you will need other people’s help to address them.

As a publisher you are more dependent, compared to a developer, on a wider array of other businesses to do your job – whether they are retailers, manufacturers, design agencies, merchandising support, legal counsels, journalists, or banks.

Companies like Sony and Microsoft are huge, with complex structures and in spite of large budgets in places, a lot of restrictions. It is vital to cultivate relationships here - you will need friends in high places, and the best way to win new friends is to be honest and ask for help when you need it. The biggest corporations are run by busy people and behaving like an aggressive so-and-so won’t win you any favours.

When plotting your project timelines, be sure to overestimate how long everything will take and give yourself an extra week here and there – the extra time will be used up in ways you didn’t expect.

Ultimately, things will happen, but by minimising the surprise as much as possible, you give your partners the time they need to help you address the challenges.

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CREATIVE AGENCIES FEATURE

Special editions are being announced earlier to drive pre-orders

CREATIVE THINKING Alex Calvin speaks to the leading creative agencies to discuss the rapidly changing world of games marketing

B

ehind every point of sale display, special edition and fancy CGI trailer is a creative team.

Sometimes they will be working internally at a publisher, but more often than not they will be part of third-party creative agencies that help creators promote their wares with interesting and eye-catching ways.

And it’s a sector that never sits still. Five years ago it was all about print and TV, and today it’s all live-streaming and online.

“We’ve definitely seen a bigger move towards more integrated campaigns and an increasing focus on creating assets exclusively for digital consumption,” says Uber MD Richard Benjamin.

“Brand building and pre-launch promotion starts much earlier

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than it did even five years ago, and new product launches are heavily reliant on the buzz created by online video content and social media marketing way before they hit the shelves.

“Creating a fully integrated campaign for a new launch now means that agencies need to produce great work that can be adapted to lots of different platforms and touch points to capitalise on the opportunity to build organic hype through online word of mouth.”

Brand building and pre-launch promotion starts much earlier than it ever did five years ago.

Richard Benjamin, Über

GOING ONLINE Digital marketing and social media have also been a big focus for the Game Room’s Lau Glendinning: “New releases need campaigns that drip feed compelling content and news for extended periods

27

of time and creative campaigns must be single-minded but have the scope to support this.

“Using social media to engage with gamers is not a new change in the business, but one that’s ramping up. Gamers now are massively social and developing activations that capitalise on their capacity to engage, share and create is always a priority.”

Kennedy Monk MD Stuart Monk adds: “Digital is a big area for us. We’ve seen a higher demand for online and social solutions.

“Anything community-focused seems to be in vogue at the moment, too. Ideas that engage and increase the fanbase are invaluable, this can be from a simple community competition thorough to user-generated content.”

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

FEATURE CREATIVE AGENCIES

Fluid’s Brandum says that more clients want to integrate digital in POS

For many games, pre-orders are king, and marketing creative – including special editions – are being announced earlier in order to help drive these.

“There’s more scope and ambition to build interest and engagement at an early stage now, so we actively initiate these conversations and look for opportunities,” Monk says.

Fluid’s Brandum adds: “It all depends on the client. We would typically expect a special edition brief to land six to nine months in advance of release due to production timings and that seems to have stayed true.

“Over the years we have created countless examples of special edition creative but we are seeing an increase in that over recent years, not just in games but in music as well.”

GETTING PHYSICAL Retail is one of the biggest areas of change for creative agencies.

The rise of online, digital and the introduction of new technology has meant that there are a whole new selection of tools that can be used to encourage gamers to part with their cash.

“The medium has changed more than the message,” Monk says. “With the shift away from brick and mortar stores towards digital purchases, the creative still has to work just as hard, but with new and exciting challenges and solutions.”

Brandum adds: “We haven’t necessarily witnessed a huge shift on the design front.

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

create tangible customer experiences, ones that leverage emotion and creative POS needs to maximise this.”

“One thing that is more prevalent in POS and retail in general is thinking digital. We are talking to more clients that want to integrate digital into POS and phrases like ‘silent salesmen’ are often heard.

“We are particularly interested to see how this could apply to gaming peripherals and the possibility of using digital applications and kiosks to compare products in-store.

The challenge there is to successfully communicate the brand or IP using a platform that might not be it’s natural home such as AR or VR and the result has to be theatrical.”

He continues: “On a digital front this has led us in to some interesting areas with retailers.

We’re looking at the touchscreen kiosk user experience and moving these away from the conventions established for the internet. We also have a live project to look at different ways to integrate beacons in to the store environment over the course of a series of six experiments in a shop environment.”

This focus on new technologies is shared by Glendinning: “Maximising new digital tech and integrating social amplification mechanics mean that in store is changing. It’s exciting times.

“The important thing is not to let technology be at the expense of a strong creative idea - a game hook that grabs attention and gets remembered.

Stores have the chance to

With the shift away from physical retail to digital purchases, in-store creative has to work hard.

Stuart Monk, Kennedy Monk

28

NEW PLAYERS Yet one of the biggest changes for the creative agencies are the clients that are seeking their expertise.

“We’re increasingly being approached direct by developers,” Glendinning says. “They need help turning game concepts into compelling games propositions – nailing messaging hooks and setting the identity and tone for marketing communications.”

Benjamin adds: “Mobile gaming also continues to go from strength-to-strength backed by ever increasing marketing budgets and now represents a genuine avenue of exploration for those of us working in the gaming space.

“It’s a strange period of transition really with rabid enthusiasm for gaming as a medium, but with the industry struggling to cater for so many different types of gamer, with even the big players in the market getting it wrong spectacularly as often as they get it right.

“A greater shift to online promotion and driving advocacy amongst fans and key influencers will play a big part in this, and it’s something we’re really passionate about and ready to embrace.”

He concludes: “The role we can play in this evolving landscape is in helping developers and publishers communicate more effectively.”

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CREATIVE AGENCIES PROFILES

FLUID DESIGN Creative agency Fluid Design is celebrating its 20th birthday this year.

MCV finds out more FLUID has been working in the games industry for 20 years now, starting out life developing key art, point of sale and branding with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for the original PlayStation. It has continued to work with the platform holder, most recently it has developed campaigns for The Last of Us, LittleBigPlanet, Alien Isolation and Destiny.

“Some of our latest campaigns and projects have included a press kit to help launch Activision’s Destiny, a tabletfirst Sonic: The Lost World microsite and Alien Isolation’s 360 campaign identity,” Fluid’s communication manager Nick Brandum explains.

The firm says it is trying to ensure that its work remains relevant within the ever-changing industry: “We need to stay on top of corporate and media shifts; UK marketing one year might become US marketing the next,” Brandum explains.

“We work hard on our relationships and our model of plugging clients straight into the talent helps facilitate a healthy understanding of one another and that dynamic usually brings great creative.

We also have to keep thinking about how we present ourselves in a changing media landscape.”

And Fluid is also evolving as a company, too, and most

We need to stay on top of media shifts.

UK work might be US work very shortly.

Nick Brandum, Fluid Design

recently launched a new brand within the firm.

“Perhaps the biggest thing for us recently is the launch of [online arm] Fluid Digital, the growth of that team and our exploration into user experiences,” Brandum says.

“That launch has obviously kept us on our toes as the snowball builds and we have taken on more in-house talent but that growth is feeling increasingly natural.”

However, Fluid doesn’t want to just be limited to video games.

Brandum explains: “Clientside, we are excited to do more in consumer tech and gaming peripherals with guys like Gioteck and Musaic to name a couple. And again, that’s a natural progression.”

KENNEDY MONK MCV speaks to Kennedy Monk boss Stuart Monk about who it is working with and what its content creation process entails Tell us a little bit about Kennedy Monk We are an independent, integrated design agency based in London.

Renowned for our incredible artwork, unforgettable branding and killer trailers, we also work with publishers and developers to deliver integrated campaigns across a full range of disciplines from concept through to delivery.

How has business been for Kennedy Monk recently?

We’ve seen a shift away from the traditional campaign solutions towards more community engagement activities. We’re being tasked with ways to bring additional content, engagement

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and value to a brand, it’s simply not enough to rely on a beautiful piece of art backed by a national press campaign anymore.

What are some of the campaigns you have worked on recently?

We can’t say too much as we’re knee deep in non-disclosure agreements, but our current relationships include the likes of publishers such as Bandai Namco, [Train Simulator company] Dovetail Games, Square Enix and a major mobile gaming client.

We’re a strong believer in getting to grips with a brand earlier rather than later.

What is your process for generating content like?

We’re a strong believer in getting

Stuart Monk, Kennedy Monk

31

to grips with a brand earlier rather than later.

As a ‘partner’ agency we want to help plan the entire campaign from the ground up with our clients, that means talking to the dev teams as the game is being built, consulting on story and possible opportunities that we can build on from within the game. It’s not enough to fire pre-created assets at a design team and ask them to build a campaign from it, the vision is to involve us right from the beginning, that way we can help steer a consistent brand message through the core of the marketing campaign and beyond.

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

PROFILES CREATIVE AGENCIES

GAME ROOM MCV speaks to Game Room managing partner Lau Glendinning about the firm’s recent work with the Pro Evolution Soccer series What is Game Room?

We are a creative consultancy that specialises in targeting gamers. We think like players, transforming features from titles into benefits to develop compelling integrated campaigns based around those insights. We believe that creativity delivers genuine competitive advantage. For us it’s all about the game hook and its expression as a creative idea.

What are some of the campaigns you have worked on recently?

Not long ago we completed the global brand repositioning for Pro Evolution Soccer. A massive strategy piece

helping Konami to leverage Pro Evolution Soccer’s distinct position in the market, play to the brand’s considerable strengths and help future-proof it.

Another client win is HyperX. It’s not a games publisher, but it is a market-leading manufacturer of PC components and gaming accessories. The company specifically targets gamers and we are helping it develop more emotional messaging with gamers.

Our expertise in talking to players is enabling us to actually expand out, speaking to nongaming brands that have gamers as a larger proportion of their audience.

We think like players, using game features to develop compelling marketing campaigns.

Lau Glendinning, Game Room

Can you tell us a bit about how you repositioned the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise?

We identified that Pro Evolution Soccer is about purity of play the 90 minutes of unbeatable on-pitch action that has the potential to generate heartthumping moments of brilliance.

We went with the marketing statement ‘The Pitch is Ours’, which is an unassailable statement of truth that unites fans all over the world.

Simple yet galvanising, it inspires every aspect of how the brand behaves, informing everything from future product development, to driving compelling marketing content and advertising

ÜBER Managing director Richard Benjamin tells MCV about Über, and what areas it has expanded its business into recently FORMED in 2004, Sheffield and London-based Über is an awardwinning creative agency.

In the last twelve months, the firm has been voted as one of the Top Three agencies in Campaign Magazine’s Annual School Report, while also taking second place in The Drum’s Independent Agency Census.

“2014 to 2015 was arguably our most successful year to date,” MD Richard Benjamin tells MCV. “We are recognised both nationally and internationally for our work and consistently produce award winning trailers, key art, digital assets, branding, advertising, POS and social media campaigns for a host of projectbased and retained clients.”

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

And that includes working on some major entertainment brands.

“We have worked extensively within the games and entertainment sectors for clients including Sony, Activision, Sega, Warner Brothers, BAFTA, Universal Pictures and the BFI on campaigns for IPs as diverse as Alien, The Hobbit, Call of Duty, LEGO, Skylanders and Tomb Raider amongst many others,” Benjamin tells MCV. Über hasn’t been limited to games, either.

The creative agency has teamed up with some of the biggest names in the retail and leisure sectors, including High Street fashion chain Topman, tech firm Casio as

We consistently produce awardwinning trailers and key art.

Richard Benjamin, Über

32

well as online retailer eBuyer and gambling site Tombola.

And Über has also expanded its business in the last year, too.

“Over the past twelve months we launched our all-new website, and have welcomed a host of new clients to our evergrowing roster of diverse brands including eBuyer, The Hobbit and Doc/Fest and built on our already successful relationships with existing clients.

“We’ve also expanded our business with new recruitment in key roles including head of design and client services director, along with a troop of new designers and account managers bringing fresh input, experience and thinking to our work.”

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MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE Managing director Jon Moss tells us why he set up old-school-themed retail website Home of Retro, what has been selling well, who he is targeting with these goods and what he hopes to stock in the future Where did the idea for Home of Retro come from?

I obviously didn’t get out much growing up and was always obsessed with film, TV, gaming and music growing up, reciting entire scenes or songs.

In the summer of 2013 I just started to think how cool it would if there was a store that showcased all things retro across every conceivable product area. Not just a fashion site or a home site but an all encompassing retro-themed site.

How do you source your retro products?

After developing my strategy and deciding on product areas I wanted to launch, I spent a long time researching on Google, looking at competitors and going to trade fairs.

Now it is a lot easier as I have developed a lot of contacts that can point me in the right direction.

is working with reliable suppliers that offer a core range with good availability and a fast turnaround.

In the early days I was holding minimal stock and having to order little and often. I also like to feel that people share my love for the product as I was always very product focused in my buying and merch planning days.

What sort of companies do you look to work with?

The most important thing to me

What sort of items sell best?

Bags have been a real success, especially the gaming ones. The

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

PRICE CHECK: YORK

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. BLOODBORNE Sony, PS4

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4. MGS V The Phantom Pain: Day One Edition Konami .................................................................... PS4

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10. Tales of Compilation: Tales of Graces & Tales of Symphonia: Chronicles Bandai Namco ....................................................360

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7. Final Fantasy Type 0 HD Collector’s Edition Square Enix, PS4

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This retro boss attack title is coming to PS4, Vita and PC next month

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This standalone expansion hits PS4, Xbox One and PC in May

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DEAD OR ALIVE 5: LAST ROUND

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OUT: APRIL 14TH

34

OUT: MAY 1ST

www.mcvuk.com

MARKETPLACE

Home of Retro

Commodore 64 bag and the Spectrum one are our best sellers.

Your products stretch into the hundreds – even thousands – of pounds. What sort of customers do you attract?

We have two very different types of customers. There are the children of the era be it ‘70s, ‘80s or more and more the ‘90s. Then there is the young adults of today, the trendy Shoreditch types that seem to have a massive appetite

Phone: 0208 441 6651 Website: www.homeofretro.co.uk

for the retro old school vibe. We set out to take the central theme of retro and go as broad as possible with it to appeal to as many people as possible. We have everything from a £3 DVD to a £5,000 coffee table.

What other product categories are you looking into?

Retro gamers seem to have an insatiable appetite for the retro days and I am hunting for as much new and exciting product as I can find.

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

The PC port of Grand Theft Auto V is finally coming out on April 14th alongside the most recent entry in Warner Bros’ Mortal Kombat series FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

PS4

RPG

Sony

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

March 27th Bloodborne Borderlands: The Handsome Collection

PS4/XO

Shooter

2K Games

01279 822 800

Exertis

Inazuma Eleven GO Chrono Stones: Thunderflash

3DS

Strategy

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

Inazuma Eleven GO Chrono Stones: Wildfire

3DS

Strategy

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

Ride

PS4/PS3//PC

Racing

PQube

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

Toukiden: Kiwami

PS4/Vita

RPG

Koei Tecmo

01462 476 130

Open

Xblaze Code: Embryo

PS3/Vita

RPG

Funbox Media

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Open

PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC

RPG

Bandai Namco

01215 069 590

Advantage

PS3

RPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Reef

April 2nd Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

April 3rd Hyperdimension Neptunia Hypercollection

April 10th Steins; Gate

PS3/Vita

RPG

PQube

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

Ride

XO/360

Racing

PQube

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

April 14th Grand Theft Auto V

PC

Action

Rockstar

01279 822 800

Exertis

Mortal Kombat X

PS4/XO/PC

Fighting

Warner Bros

0121 625 3388

CentreSoft

Vita

RPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Reef

Wii U

Platformer

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

April 17th Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy

May 8th Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush

www.mcvuk.com

35

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

BLOODBORNE AND SOULS

BLOODBORNE AND SOULS From Software’s Souls series has garnered critical acclaim and a fervent fan following.

Now the franchise has a spiritual successor in Bloodborne. Matthew Jarvis throws some light on the best merchandise

WHEN Demon’s Souls launched on PS3 in Japan in 2009, no one expected it to be a smash hit. Especially as the game – created by acclaimed studio From Software – quickly became renowned for its tough difficulty.

“Our approach in 2009 was fairly conservative given the niche concept of the game,” admits Sony product marketing manager Joe Palmer. “But Demon’s Souls helped to establish a big demand for these kinds of games.”

Bloodborne provides a great chance for us to tap into a highly engaged audience.

Joe Palmer, Sony

After proving a success in Japan, the title made its way to the West on the back of passionate campaigning from the community.

In 2011, it received a spiritual sequel – Dark Souls – that expanded the series onto Xbox 360 and PC, as well as returning to PS3. Like its predecessor, it was critically acclaimed, and sold more than 2.4m units worldwide.

This was followed by a full sequel, 2011’s Dark Souls II. The title was backed by a £1 million UK marketing

BLOODBORNE COLLECTOR’S EDITION STRATEGY GUIDE Written by the team behind the Dark Souls II guide, this hardcover book features behind-the-scenes details from Bloodborne’s creators and an interview with game director Hidetaka Miyazaki. The guide has a lore index to help players understand the title’s world, as well as a vast array of artwork from the game. Sections include a training manual to familiarise players with the controls; maps of Bloodborne’s environments; information on in-game monsters, equipment and characters; and details on the Chalice Dungeons multiplayer mode.

SRP: £19.99 Manufacturer: Future Press Distributor: CBL Distribution Contact: 0121 608 3950

WARRIOR OF SUNLIGHT HOODIE

DARK SOULS II COLLECTOR’S EDITION GUIDE

BLOODBORNE MUG

Inspired by Dark Souls’ photophilic fanfavourite character Solaire of Astora, this top features the knight’s iconic sun emblem.

This guide will help players find their way through Dark Souls II – perfect for those about to boot up re-release Scholar of the First Sin.

Stylised with key art from From Software’s latest title, this mug is the perfect vessel for blood... We mean tea.

SRP: £40 Manufacturer: Insert Coin Distributor: Insert Coin Contact: 01702 521 850

SRP: £19.99 Manufacturer: Future Press Distributor: Gardners Books Contact: 01323 521 777

SRP: £6.99 Manufacturer: GB Eye Distributor: GB Eye Contact: uksales@gbeye.com

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

36

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BLOODBORNE AND SOULS Sponsored by

O

gaming merchandise uk

campaign, which resulted in preorders rising by 50 per cent in comparison to the first game.

This year, Dark Souls II makes its return, debuting on PS4 and Xbox One in the form of remastered edition Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (it’s also coming to PC).

However, it’s not the only game From Software is bringing to players looking for a challenge; This month also marks the release of Bloodborne, a spiritual successor to the Souls franchise

The Souls games are known for their gothic designs and memorable characters – making it a huge licensing opportunity

which, like Demon’s Souls, is only coming to PlayStation.

Scholar of the first Sin and Bloodborne are launching within weeks of each other, providing an perfect opportunity to fill shelves with related products.

“Bloodborne provides a great chance for us to tap into a highly engaged audience,” says Palmer.

“Dark Souls proved that gamers want more of a challenge, and we are fully embracing this in our approach to Bloodborne.”

DARK SOULS: DESIGN WORKS Design Works showcases the gothic artwork and design of Dark Souls’ world in full colour across 128 pages. Including key visuals, concept art and rough sketches, as well as character, weapon and monster designs, the hardcover title also has a number of exclusive interviews, including discussions with game director Hidetaka Miyazaki and several of the game’s artists. The book itself is finished in a deluxe treatment, with a pearlised silver dust jacket and shimmering ultra high-gloss black and silver detailing.

SRP: £29.99 Manufacturer: UDON Entertainment Distributor: Diamond Book Distributors UK Contact: orders@diamondcomics.co.uk

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CAMP LORDRAN T-SHIRT

BLOODBORNE KEY ART MAXI POSTER

Players can proudly display the terrifying streets of Bloodborne setting Yharnam with this shirt.

This top turns Dark Souls’ iconic bonfire reprieves into a welcoming camp.

Marshmallows at the ready.

Mimicking the cover of the game, this 61x91.5cm Bloodborne poster includes the imposing figure of the main character.

SRP: £16.99 Manufacturer: Gaya Entertainment Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

SRP: £22 Manufacturer: Insert Coin Distributor: Insert Coin Contact: 01702 521 850

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www.mcvuk.com

37

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

HOT PRODUCTS

Sponsored by

HOT PRODUCTS MCV takes a look at the best accessories heading to UK retail. This week, we go wireless with Turtle Beach’s Elite 800X and power up Nvidia’s most powerful GPU yet

TURTLE BEACH ELITE 800X TURTLE Beach has introduced a new top-of-the-line headset for Xbox One. The Elite 800X is fully wireless and features noise cancelling to allow players to remove any unwanted background noise.

The headset can be connected to consoles, PC and mobile devices. It provides 7.1 surround sound by using DTS Headphone:X technology, which gives the impression of 360-degree audio.

Players who rely on hearing quiet noises to boost their in-game performance can enable Turtle Beach’s Superhuman Hearing mode, which makes cues such as enemy footsteps easier to hear.

The peripheral comes pre-loaded with a further selection of audio presets and custom DTS surround sound modes. These presets can be swapped between remotely on a smartphone or tablet using the free Ear Force Audio Hub app.

The outside of the headset can be customised via the use of Turtle Beach’s swappable speaker plates, which are available separately.

To recharge, the headset comes with a magnetic charging stand and rechargeable battery. Fullycharged, players will get up to 10 hours use.

For players looking to chat, the Elite 800X includes two integrated hidden, high-quality microphones.

The dual microphones come with a range of environmental presets to make sure other players can hear the speaker clearly.

[INFO] RRP: £249.99 Release Date: May 22nd Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

NVIDIA GEFORCE TITAN X CLAIMED by Nvidia to be the world’s fastest GPU, the Titan X graphics card comes loaded with eight billion transistors, 3,072 CUDA cores, 12GB of GDDR5 memory running at 7Gbps and seven teraflops of graphical prowess.

Being SLI-ready, the card can be run in tandem with up to four other cards. It’s also compatible with Nvidia’s G-Sync technology, which synchronises the refresh rate of the card with that of a compatible monitor to eliminate screen tearing and graphical objects.

The card, which plugs in via a PCI Express 3.0 bus, also supports Microsoft’s upcoming DirectX 12 graphics engine, which will arrive on Windows 10 later this year.

Resolutions of up to 5120x3200 can be run through the Titan X; the card offers Dual Link DVI-I,

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

HDMI and three DisplayPort 1.2 connections and can display on up to four separate monitors.

The base clock of the component is set at 1,000MHz, but can be boosted to 1,075Mhz. It fills up to 192 GigaTexels per second.

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[INFO] RRP: £879 Release Date: Out Now Distributor: Nvidia Contact: info@nvidia.com

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STUDIO DIVA

CREATIVE & PROMOTIONAL BRIDGE MEDIA GROUP Tel: 020 3283 8466 www.bridgemediagroup.com ........................................................................................................

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LOCALISATION, QA & TESTING KEYWORDS STUDIOS GROUP Tel: +353 1 902 2730 www.keywordsstudios.com

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MONETISATION & PAYMENT MILLENNIAL MEDIA Tel: +44 (0) 207 151 3320 www.millennialmedia.com ........................................................................................................

CLICK ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED Tel: +44 203 137 3781 www.click-entertainment.com Wholesaler and distributor of video games, consoles and accessories

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TO LIST YOUR COMPANY HERE AND ONLINE EVERY WEEK PLEASE CONTACT CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM OR CALL 01992 535647

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT AGENCIES AND SERVICE COMPANIES MEDIA & MARKETING CURSE, INC.

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OUR name means over, above, more than – and they’re exactly the kind of results we’ve strived for throughout our 10-year history delivering memorable and effective campaigns that built on our ever-growing experience.

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What gives Über the extra edge however is that we don’t just work in one industry, our client range and experience covers retail, technology, arts and public sector.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS COMPANY AND MANY MORE ONLINE NOW AT:

DIRECTORY

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

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DIRECTORY

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

FINK

CREATIVE

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CLICK ENTERTAINMENT

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

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Tel: +44 (0) 207 462 6200

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Web: www.sonydadc.com

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

DIRECTORY

GAMING ACCESSORIES

L3I

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CALL CONOR TALLON ON 01992 535647 OR EMAIL HIM AT CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM

Tel: +44 (0)1763 284181 March 27th / April 3rd 2015

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Venom UK Gaming @VenomGamingUK

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INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE GAMECITY

DIRECTORY

WHO? Specialism: Events Location: 24-32 Carlton Street, Nottingham, NG1 1NN

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

GameCity co-director Jonathan Smith discusses the launch of the National Videogame Arcade

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

Tell us about your organisation.

GameCity has worked since 2006 to bring video games to the widest possible audience.

The annual GameCity Festival in Nottingham has established a worldwide reputation as the UK’s most innovative and inspiring games event. We’re now opening the world’s first permanent cultural centre dedicated to video games: The National Videogame Arcade.

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

What is your biggest success to date?

GameCity has set two Guinness World Records, played games with tens of thousands of people, and been proud to host memorable talks from hundreds of remarkable game-makers.

We’ve transformed the centre of Nottingham with tents, sand, turf, trampolines, two giant screens, origami and kazoos. Honestly, there’s too much to choose from.

What projects do you currently have in the works?

After nine years of festivals, GameCity now has a permanent home. The National Videogame Arcade invites everyone to discover and explore the creative potential of video games - with three floors of playable galleries, two bars, an outdoor terrace, event space and cinemas, and one floor dedicated to education.

It’s the home of video games.

What are the biggest challenges you face?

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

We’re opening the world’s first permanent cultural centre dedicated to video games.

A lack of permanence has always been the key challenge.

Inventing everything from scratch and popping up in surprising places is always exciting, but there’s a lot to be gained from being able to build and iterate in a space you fully control. With the new building, we can have the best of both worlds.

Tell us something about your company no one knows.

We invented a new type of table.

How did you choose your company name?

Game. City.

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Contact: T: @GameCity W: www.gamecity.org E: info@gamecity.org

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March 27th / April 3rd 2015

FACTFILE DENMARK Sponsored by

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: DENMARK Population: 5,659,715 Capital City: Copenhagen Currency: Krone GDP (Per Capita): $61,884 KEY RETAILERS Coolshop, CDON, Gucca, BilligeSpil, Dvdoo, DVD City, GameStop KEY DISTRIBUTORS Game Outlet, Nordic Game Supply, Creative Distribution

MARKET research firm Newzoo estimates that the Danish video games market generated $221.46 billion during 2014.

This makes it the 27th biggest country in the world for video games, between its overseas neighbour Norway and Portugal in 26th and 28th, respectively.

According to the latest Consumer Study of Denmark by trade body Ipsos MediaCT, in association with ISFE, 45 per cent of Denmark’s online population play games, with a quarter of adults gaming weekly. However, children are also invested in video games, with 65 per cent of those aged 10 to 15 having brought a game for themselves.

Many Danish games developers have managed to make waves overseas.

IO Interactive, now owned

by Square Enix, created the popular Hitman series, while

TOP DEVELOPERS IO Interactive, Playdead, Interceptor Entertainment, Press Play, Novasa Interactive, RetoMoto, Serious Games Interactive PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony, Warner Bros, Nordic Games, The Game Factory

Copenhagen-based Playdead developed the acclaimed title Limbo and is currently working on upcoming game Inside.

Local industry organisation Interactive Denmark estimates that 47 per cent of Danish developers during 2014 were working on mobile titles, while 30 per cent were working on traditional boxed and digital games.

It adds that total developer turnover grew 119 per cent from 2009 to 2013; Denmark’s video games export share rose by 80 per cent over the same period.

On the back of Denmark’s growing presence in the global games market, it has begun to invest more heavily in the sector. Interactive Denmark predicts that $1.42 million will be provided in cultural support annually from 2015 to 2018, with $2.84 million dedicated as innovation funds.

The Danish video games market generated $221.46 billion during 2014.

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

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DENMARK FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... CHINA Mobile publishing label Chillingo has moved into the Chinese city of Shanghai in an effort to bring ‘culturised’ titles to the local market MOBILE publisher Chillingo, which is part of EA’s mobile arm, has set up shop in China.

The new studio – Chillingo China – will operate out of EA’s Shanghai office and publish mobile titles via Chinese app stores, as well as bringing ‘culturised’ games from the region to the global market.

“China represents a tremendous growth opportunity, making it a natural location to extend our services to,” said Mike Chen, Chillingo China’s head of production. “China has the largest install base of connected mobile devices of any country in the world, combined with

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an avid gaming audience and a dynamic talent pool — a golden opportunity that Chillingo would love to seize.”

Chillingo GM Ed Rumley added: “Our team is excited to learn from and

collaborate with the phenomenal powerhouse talent in China to bring unparalleled opportunities to talented developers of all sizes.”

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

OFF THE RECORD

OFF THE RECORD This week, EA encourages Battlefield fans to steal from each other, Jagex plays host to a meeting of games and Government, and EGX Rezzed shows off its best cosplay THE REAL HUSTLE Nothing says celebration like criminal activity, so EA brought the illicit action of new cops versus robbers shooter Battlefield: Hardline to London this month.

Running from March 18th until March 25th, the real-life setup drew inspiration from three of Hardline’s new game modes – Heist, Blood Money and Rescue – as well as multiplayer maps Growhouse, The Block and Derailed.

In order to test the challenge, which apparently involved strenuous activies such as shouting at sitting people, posing in corridors and crouching behind potted shrubs (see right), EA invited games industry guinea pigs along to a press preview day and two evenings. The Daily Mirror, PlayStation Access, FHM, IGN UK and GAME were among those who fought the law (and the law won).

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

INTRODUCING THE WEEKLY XBOX CHALLENGE WIN GREAT PRIZES BY TAKING PART IN MCV’S #ALLFORONE COMPETITION FOR the next two months Xbox is teaming up with MCV to run a series of new weekly challenges.

Every Friday, Xbox will test gamers and pose key questions based around upcoming events.

Just for industry folk and retailers, there’s a way to take part via MCV which could win you some fantastic prizes.

Here’s how it works: every week, MCV will print a challenge on this page. You simply need to show us your answer - tweet it to us, email us pictures or post on our other social feeds.

Some of the challenges require creative skills, others are more thoughtful and a few require photo evidence. One or two will even need you to play some upcoming games.

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

MCV XBOX CHALLENGE NO.1:

HOW TO ENTER

EASTER EGGS We need you to be creative for this first one. Easter is coming and we want to see some Xbox-themed eggs. We’ve put a few templates below for you to practice on.

The best entry wins a ‘cracking’ prize: an Xbox One. (You have no idea how hard we had to resist putting Eggs-box there.) So make your entry special!

WIN!

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O Tweet a picture of your entry to

@MCVonline - don’t forget to use #AllForOne with your entry. Make sure you use both!

O You can also send pictures to offtherecord@nbmedia.com - use #AllForOne in the subject O Alternatively tell us via Facebook - you can find us at facebook.com/MCVonline O Deadline for entries is 5pm on Monday, April 6th

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OFF THE RECORD

INDUSTRY KNIGHTS OF THE ROUNDTABLE On Monday March 16th, Runescape creator Jagex hosted an industry roundtable with Labour shadow creative industries minister Chris Bryant MP, led by UKIE CEO Dr Jo Twist.

The open discussion was attended by representatives from key games studios that are based across the Cambridge development cluster, including Microsoft Research Ltd, Ninja Theory, Inkle, Guerrilla Cambridge, Gameaware Europe and Utopian World of Sandwiches, as well as local cluster body Games Eden.

THE WEEK IN 140 CHARACTERS The Tweets you might have missed in the last seven days @RichStanton Wow, just mentioned Supercell’s B oom B each in a tweet and got absolutely flooded by bots. The modern sign of popularity, I guess.

@andreweades This TxK thing reminds me of the time when Relentless was the only developer in the world not allowed to make a Buzz-like game.

Richard Stanton, games journalist Tuesday March 17th

Andrew Eades, Relentless Thursday March 19th

@shahidkamal I should keep a pitch clicker. It’d be broken by now though. Scary thing is just how quickly quality of developers has gone up in 12 months.

@misterbrilliant [Kojima goes to leave Konami HQ] Oh and one last thing. [Talks for three unskippable hours] Goodbye.

[Gets phone call, talks for four hours]

Shahid Kamal Ahmad, Sony Wednesday March 18th

Steve Hogarty, PCGamesN Thursday March 19th

@NeilGortz The rumours are true, Kojima has jumped ship to Capcom – he’s been hiding in this box since Tuesday.

@GAMEBluewater Final Fantasy Type-0 finally lands in the West at midnight tonight. Be there or be Square... Enix #FFTYPE0

Neil Gorton, Capcom Thursday March 19th

GAME Bluewater Thursday March 19th

@byronicman I think MCV must be broken this week or something as I’m not on the front cover.

@GAMEHempstead Serving Jill sandwiches, from midnight tonight!! #ResidentEvilRevelations2

Simon Byron Thursday March 19th

GAME Hempstead Thursday March 19th

@xiotex The epitaph of the Wii U should read: Killed by apathy and bureaucracy.

@GAMETRONICSLinc It would be CRIMINAL to miss out on Battlefield: Hardline. Make sure to arrest your copy today by visiting us and picking one up!

Byron Atkinson Jones, Xiotex Studios Thursday March 19th

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Gametronics Lincoln Friday March 20th

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March 27th / April 3rd 2015

OFF THE RECORD

DREZZED TO IMPRESS Rezzed is just like its sister event EGX, only more focused on PC and indie titles (so it’s basically the more interesting version of EGX). It’s even got a special area for ‘board’ games – whatever the heck they are.

This year’s event swapped its Brum home of the past for London’s Tobacco Dock – and, as ever, the weird and wonderful cosplay fans of the game industry turned up to show o their latest duds.

Quake II and then III Arena – I grew up playing it around friends’ houses on a LAN.

Silver Xatu @SilverXatu

WITH NEW WOLFENSTEIN ON THE HORIZON, WE STARTED THINKING ABOUT CLASSIC SHOOTERS. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE FPS GAMES FROM YESTERYEAR? #GMGASKS

Wolfenstein may have FRPH ¿ UVW EXW 'RRP ZLOO always be the daddy of FPS games as far as I’m concerned.

Has to be the original Quake. Rocket jumping, LAN parties, and even the early pro-gaming scene.

Killer Bits webshow @thekillerbits

Gareth Harmer @Gazimoff

Half Life 2, Doom, Quake 3, Counter-Srike 1.6 and Unreal Tournament would be a few. And, of course, Wolfenstein 3D.

Ryan #'UXQN5XÂż H

March 27th / April 3rd 2015

Jake @Dr__Hammer Loved the original Wolfenstein. Then Doom 1 and 2. Timesplitters was amazing.

Also can’t not mention Goldeneye 64.

Drazkul @Drazkul

Medal of Honor Allied Assault is still my favourite shooter. Level design was so much better back then.

Quake I is my fav but 'XNH 1XNHP ' ZDV P\ ¿ UVW multiplayer experience. We played it through serial port – duels were the only option.

aa @mightpyro

Pianandrill @Pianandrill

Doom without a shadow of a doubt. I also like Zero Tolerance on the Mega Drive. It was a bit System Shock-looking.

It might not be as old as the other ones, but Half Life 2 still has a quality that many modern games fall short of.

Rob Bunce @Garvaos

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GoldenEye 64 is where I started. Fantastic game.

Nzall @realnzall

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1 METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN 4 MAD MAX TBA

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DEAD ISLAND 2

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KINGDOM HEARTS III

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VISIT UK.PLAYSTATION.COM/PS4/GAMES TO FIND OUT MORE AND VIEW FUTURE RELEASES

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