MCV834 May 22nd by Future PLC

LONDON, 1868

At the heart of the Industrial Revolution, lead your underworld organisation and grow your influence to fight those who exploit the less privileged in the name of progress. © 2015 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Assassin’s Creed, Uplay, the Uplay logo, Ubi.com, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

TELLING TALES

ISSUE 834 FRIDAY MAY 22ND / 29TH 2015

TELLTALE GAMES’ BID TO TAKE ON TELEVISION P06

The greatest show on earth? Pressure builds on E3 as more games are delayed

by Christopher Dring E3 2015 ‘must deliver games’ as the event’s pre-show press conferences are finalised. UK stores have told MCV that they’re concerned over the number of big games pushed out of 2015, including Uncharted 4, Zelda, The Division and Dead Island 2. “We are holding out hope that E3 will deliver a few surprises,” said the buyer of one leading retail chain. “There are seven press events this year, which gives cause for optimism. But how many of these games will be out this year? E3 must deliver if we want to end the year in growth.” Sony hinted to MCV last week that Project Morpheus will form part of the firm’s E3 offering,

while there will be more games announced for 2015, too. Meanwhile, Xbox UK marketing boss Harvey Eagle said that E3 and Microsoft’s 2015 line-up will impress. “We’re very excited about what’s planned for E3 and our roster of exclusive games for 2015, which includes Rise of the Tomb Raider and Halo 5: Guardians,” said Eagle. “We also have the big triple-A titles coming to Xbox One this year, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops III, FIFA 16 and Star Wars Battlefront, and unique cross-play experiences like Fable Legends via Windows 10. So it’s going to be a great show and an even better year for gamers.” E3 will also see events from Nintendo, Ubisoft and EA, while Bethesda and Square Enix are also planning conferences.

Press conference schedule finalised

E3: THE SCHEDULE SUNDAY, JUNE 14TH 18:30 PDT (UK time, Monday June 15th at 2:30am): Bethesda Press Conference

MONDAY, JUNE 15TH 09:30 PDT (UK time 17:30): Xbox Press Conference 13:00 PDT (UK time 21:00): Electronic Arts Press Conference 15:00 PDT (UK time 23:00): Ubisoft Press Conference 18:00 PDT (UK time, Tuesday, June 16th at 2:00am): PlayStation Press Conference

TUESDAY, JUNE 16TH 09:00 PDT (UK time 17:00): Nintendo Digital Event 10:00 PDT (UK time 18:00) Square Enix Press Conference 17:00 PDT (UK time Wednesday June 17th, 1am): PC Gaming Show

Take-Two joins call for more digital data THE CEO of Take-Two says the lack of digital data in the games market is misleading. Speaking in an exclusive interview with MCV, Strauss Zelnick said that a lot of the stories around the games sector are negative because the true value of the industry is not known.

His comments follow the release of GTA V on PC last month, which would have been No.1 in the UK charts if Steam data was counted. “More information is better,” he said. “I’m chairman of the ESA, which is focused on providing more industry information. Sometimes news that comes from the industry

IS IT GAME OVER FOR KICKSTARTER? INTERFACE SHOW REPORT

is sort of dampened down as if there is negative news. But this is a growth industry. It’s great to have such good results. When the wind is at your back you try new things and more often than not they go well.” Take-Two’s latest ﬁnancal report shows that a third of its revenue came from the digital market.

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CHEAT SHEET

Market Data Thanks to a lack of new releases, games revenue fell by 28 per cent week-on-week £10

£6.45m 231,552 units

£5m

Nintendo has booked cinema, TV and digital ads for Splatoon

£8.5m 268,234 units

£6.1m 220,881 units

Nintendo plans Mario Kart 8-level marketing push for its new shooter IP Splatoon

Week Ending Week Ending Week Ending May 9th May 1st Apr 25th

UK RETAIL TOP 10

PROJECT CARS

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Grand Theft Auto V

Mortal Kombat X

Warner Bros

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster

Square Enix

FIFA 15

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Dying Light

Destiny

Battleﬁeld Hardline

BANDAI NAMCO Bethesda Rockstar

NINTENDO is preparing a marketing campaign for new IP Splatoon that will rival last year’s Mario Kart 8. That’s according to Nintendo UK marketing manager Chandra Nair, who says that the firm is confident in its colourful new shooter. The platform holder is already pushing Splatoon with digital billboards, cinema ads ahead of Tomorrowland (for kids) and Mad Max (for adults), sponsorship of Cartoon Network, and a digital campaign that started in April. The firm is even opening a Splatoonthemed skatepark in Corby.

Last year Nintendo held a six-month long campaign for Mario Kart 8, from its launch in May 2014 right until the end of the year. “We have a substantial campaign planned for Splatoon. To give you an idea of the scale, we’re matching Mario Kart 8 – that’s the potential we think Splatoon has,” Nair told MCV. “We have the utmost conﬁdence in the potential of Splatoon. It gives retailers a fantastic art style that stands out in-store or on-screen and it also oﬀers various up-sell opportunities with the accompanying Amiibo. It’s a really interesting game for us because it allows us to expand out to a group of people who may never have considered Wii U before.”

EA Activision Blizzard Warner Bros Activision Blizzard EA

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PRE-ORDER TOP 10

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Batman Arkham Knight Day One Ed (PS4)

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (XO)

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Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Rooks Ed (PS4)

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Yoshi’s Woolly World + Green Yarn Yoshi Amiibo Nintendo

Splatoon Squid Bundle, Splatoon Boy + Girl , Keyring Nintendo

Amiibo Pink Yarn Yoshi (Wii U)

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Splatoon + Keyring (Wii U)

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Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain Day One Ed (PS4) PS4

May 22nd 2015

by Alex Calvin

Ubisoft Warner Bros

Bloodborne tops UK book charts THE Collector’s Edition of the Bloodborne game guide was the best-selling video game book of April. The guide sold over 2,500 units in the UK, and was comfortably ahead of its nearest rival – Brady Games’ Minecraft Strategy Guide.

Minecraft guides continued to perform well in the charts, while there were two Zelda books in the chart – including The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Strategy Guide. The chart is courtesy of book publisher Nielsen.

NIELSEN GAME GUIDE TOP TEN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Bloodborne Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide Build, Discover, Survive! Minecraft Strategy Guide Kid’s Colouring Book: Fun Minecraft Drawings For Kids The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire – Official Pokedex Minecraft: Awesome Traps to Trick Players and Mobs The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia Grand Theft Auto V: Signature Strategy Guide Pillas of Eternity Strategy Guide Minecraft for Dummies

UNIT SALES (2,574) (1,172) (489) (479) (466) (459) (410) (352) (291) (280)

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CHEAT SHEET

THE EDITOR

UK eSports scene is ‘absolutely’ mature enough to support betting by Matt Jarvis ESPORTS betting platform Unikrn has allayed fears of corruption as it launches its UK division. Formed by former-Microsoft exec Rahul Sood last November, the ﬁrm has partnered with Australian wagering outlet Tabcorp to allow UK consumers to watch and place bets on pro-gaming. “There’s never been a better time to introduce eSports betting,” Sood told MCV. “The convergence of gamers, tournaments and global spectators has exponentially increased in the last couple of years.

“eSports has never been bigger; audiences topped 205bn viewers in 2014, it’s now as big as the NHL.” When asked whether the eSports sector was mature enough to support the introduction of betting, given past controversy over corruption, he replied: “Absolutely; the market is global, and it’s growing. “There is no better way to increase engagement on sports than through betting. Corruption happens in all sports and eSports is growing in popularity everyday, so concerns about corruption are ampliﬁed by the fact that it is new.”

E3 MUST DELIVER

f you’ve been reading the pages of MCV, you’ll know there’s a general nervousness over the weakness of the current release slate for PS4, Xbox One and Wii U. The recent announcements of Disney Infinity, LEGO Dimensions, Guitar Hero and Rock Band have done little to allay fears over a Christmas that’s now set to miss Uncharted 4, The Legend of Zelda, Quantum Break, Dead Island 2 and Ratchet & Clank. It makes E3 this year doubly important. Microsoft has promised - again - an impressive showing that will focus on firstparty titles. Sony is tight-lipped, but with no Gamescom press event this year, don’t expect the firm to hold back. Ubisoft will reveal a new triple-A IP, EA will show some new BioWare titles – even Square Enix and Bethesda are holding press events. Nintendo may actually be the biggest mystery this year. The firm usually teases its E3 plans, but this year it has simply said what it won’t be showing – namely its new console, Zelda or its mobile line-up. So what it will be showing is anyone’s guess. There’s a lot of pressure on E3 to deliver the games this year. But with so many press events scheduled, there’s at least cause for optimism.

Unikrn’s Sood says there’s never been a better time to introduce eSports betting

24/7 eSports channel incoming from streaming ﬁrm DingIt NEW live-streaming service DingIt says it will launch a 24/7 eSports streaming channel. The Twitch rival launched in February of this year, and the ﬁrm says it has already grown its user base from 7,000 to over 100,000 in two months. “We have about 250,000 broadcasters on board and had about 60 eSports events in April,” boasted founder and CEO Mark Hain. “We expect to double that in the next few months. We’ll soon have a 24/7 eSports channel, which doesn’t exist anywhere else currently. “Our focus is eSports events, with broadcasters being a

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secondary focus. We want to get to the point where we have a 24/7 channel of eSports content. That’s how we’ll diﬀerentiate ourselves.” Hain adds that because DingIt uses proprietary technology it is a cheaper platform to run, and therefore gives more money to broadcasters. “Currently if you are on YouTube or Twitch, you can barely make a living unless you’re very, very big,” he said. “But all of intermediate broadcasters can live on what they make from the DingIt platform. A lot of broadcasters are coming to us because of that.”

WHO COULD TAKE-TWO BUY? It’s always fun to guess who or what a cash-rich company might spend its wealth on. Take-Two is rightly proud of the organic growth it has secured. CEO Zelnick took pleasure in comparing its 2007 revenue of

With so many press events at E3 this year, there’s cause for optimism that games are coming. $100m to 2015’s $1.6bn. GTA V isn’t the only reason for this. The publisher has launched BioShock and Borderlands and turned NBA into a powerhouse in that time. But its release schedule remains inconsistent, and its annual revenues more so. It’s a far cry from challenging EA, Activision and Ubisoft, even with the world’s most popular games IP in its stable. If it wants to challenge the big three, it might need to open its wallet. One that happens to contain over $1bn. But who, or what, will it buy? Konami’s decision to focus less on triple-A console games and more on mobile might attract some attention. A franchise like Pro Evolution Soccer would ﬁnally give 2K Sports a brand that has global potential. Or perhaps a merger with Bethesda? The two share the same problem – their release slates are patchy. And, Bethesda’s success with FPS and RPG games would dovetail with Take-Two’s success with action and sports games. It’s entertaining to speculate. But the truth is, Take-Two know the real key to its continued success will be to invest in and attract talented people, not necessarily IP or businesses. cdring@nbmedia.com

May 22nd 2015

INTERVIEW TELLTALE GAMES

A ‘tale of two industries It’s got a back catalogue built from some of the biggest franchises of the last decade and boasts player numbers that rival television audiences. But Telltale Games isn’t finished yet. SVP of publishing Steve Allison tells Matthew Jarvis about the firm’s plans to blur the worlds of TV and games

ame of Thrones. Minecraft. Marvel. The Walking Dead. Jurassic Park. Back to the Future. Telltale Games’ library of titles reads like a licensing wishlist. Working on any of these millionselling franchises might seem like a chance that any games firm would jump at but, even as recently as a few years ago, licensed titles had become somewhat abandoned by developers and publishers. “While many people in the games industry lamented the pitfalls of making games based on licences, we believed it was a poorly-served market, especially with way that our industry was creating products,” recalls Telltale SVP of publishing Steve Allison. Formed just over a decade ago, Telltale’s licensing drive started out reasonably low-key, adapting comic books Bone and Sam & Max, before moving onto franchises such as CSI, Wallace and Gromit, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. But it wasn’t until the first season of The Walking Dead in 2012 that Telltale really made its name, with the game becoming the firm’s fastest-selling title to date; the first episode alone shifted one million copies in under three weeks. Since then, Telltale has snowballed, picking up Game of Thrones, Minecraft and Marvel partnerships, as well as two more seasons of The Walking Dead. And they’re selling in the millions – not bad for a segment previously shunned by the industry. “Over the past few years we’ve purposefully gone after the concept of making great narratives based on IP that people are passionate about,” says Allison. “With everything we do our goals are pretty simple:

May 22nd 2015

Telltale has moved from TV and comic book tie-ins to expansions of existing games, such as Borderlands

put people into a narrative within a universe they are super passionate about and give them the ability to drive and connect to the narrative the way they want to as opposed to sitting back and watching TV or a movie passively.” MEASURED APPROACH Telltale’s catalogue is notable for the huge popularity of the media it adapts – between Game of Thrones and Minecraft alone, it holds two of the biggest licences in both television and games. So how does the firm go about handling such precious IP? “We tackle each series we work on as a vertical or ‘made for fans’ first, and build the content entirely around the things those franchise fans are passionate about,” Allison explains. “Each fanbase – be it The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones or Minecraft – requires different game plans to ensure we get the message out to everyone in a way that will resonate. Our partners like HBO, Skybound and Mojang play a big part in getting us in contact with those fans.”

The benefit of the episodic model is having this sixto eight-month relationship with consumers during the run of the game series. Steve Allison, Telltale Games

But, Allison continues, there is another set of players that has started to emerge alongside these existing audiences. “We do have a nice side benefit of having a secondary ‘Telltale fan’ that buys our games because they like what we do so much,” he observes. “It is becoming a difference-maker that lets us take more creative risks.” This popularity can mean that games even out-perform the material they are based upon. “We’ve had over 30 million unique people play our Walking Dead games across all the platforms we support, which is as large an audience as the biggest television shows draw worldwide.” PIECE BY PIECE Seemingly inspired by comic books and television series, Telltale has championed the episodic release format since Sam & Max Save the World in 2006. Episodic games have become increasing prevalent since then, recently being utilised by Square Enix’s Life is Strange and Capcom’s Resident Evil Revelations 2.

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TELLTALE GAMES INTERVIEW

BOX SETS TELLTALE’S episodic titles flourish via digital distribution, with each new episode instantly available to players. But once each series comes to a close, it takes on a new lease of life at retail in the form of collated boxed releases, which feature all available episodes, often with some bonus extras. “Retail serves an entirely different set of people than the digital launches do,” says Steve Allison, SVP of publishing at Telltale Games. “There are three types of consumers who pick up the retail SKUs: those who just don’t buy digital games – an ever-

shrinking group of people – gift givers, and those who picked up an episode or two early in the season, but didn’t get the Season Pass option and didn’t make their way back to play for whatever reason. The latter group grabs the disc and sort of binge-plays their way through the series. “Retail makes up about 30 per cent of a Telltale Games series’ lifetime revenue, but it’s very much worth doing. We have offered Collector’s Editions in the past for The Walking Dead and we expect to do cool things this fall to support the physical releases of Game of Thrones and Minecraft: Story Mode.”

The Walking Dead kickstarted Telltale’s ascent as a major games ﬁrm

“Episodic works for what we do very well because we build our games like television shows, with strong stories and cliffhangers that leave players – when we do it right – really wanting more and ready for the next episode,” explains Allison. “The benefit of the model is having this six- to eight-month relationship with consumers during the live run of the game series. With active editorial support and lots of fan conversation, it keeps mind share high versus the traditional game launch that tends to fade into the background after a few weeks. “Each episode being consumable in a focused 1.5- to 2.5-hour playthrough is satisfying for the people who love what we do and we leave them wanting more. The dynamic that drives passionate television viewers also drives passionate Telltale Games players when the episodes are in the live launch phase.” While episodic releases can keep a game at the forefront of players’ minds over a longer period of time, this can also backfire – Telltale has been criticised in the past by people who are tired of waiting around for the next chapter. “The challenges of timing and the impact of delays are a huge factor and are what makes building content this way amazingly

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difficult and stressful – more so than conventional triple-A development,” explains Allison. He also warns that companies which attempt to shoehorn a title into the episodic format without fully considering the risks could find their game’s longevity reduced, instead of lengthened. “I hope we’ll see more episodic games, but my strong belief is the format really only works for strong narrative-based games where story is the focus of the gameplay,” he states. “It’s not a model where you can take a traditional shooter or action game and chop it up into five pieces and – voilà – ‘episodic game’ appears and it’ll work. What we’ve seen when companies do that are titles where gamers feel like they run out of content to play, and really lose interest after the initial episode.”

We view ourselves as a scripted entertainment company focused on interactive experiences, rather than a traditional games company.

MORE THAN A GAME Between IP such as Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead and its episodic release structure, Telltale’s inspiration clearly lies in television. The next year will see the company increase its links to the platform in the form of ‘Super Shows’, a combination of gaming and TV-style content that will work together to tell a single story. “We view ourselves as a scripted entertainment company focused on interactive experiences, rather than a

Steve Allison, Telltale Games

traditional games company,” Allison says. “Our new Super Show format is an innovative and logical step for our creative evolution, combining first-class television entertainment and our episodic games into a new format, using gaming-enabled devices as the ‘network’.” Among the first companies to partner with the new project is movie giant Lionsgate, which has distributed series including The Hunger Games, Saw and Twilight. Perhaps most surprisingly, these Super Shows will mark the first completely original IP from Telltale since 2010’s Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent. But with its experience working with some of the biggest television, games and comic book franchises of the last decade, could Telltale be set to rival the very companies that helped make its name? “There’s a real potential for us to birth new franchises aimed at a very specific kind of 18- to 34-year-old audience that can continue to be franchised in this Super Show format, move on to a more traditional longform TV series on cable or even become movies,” Allison details. “You will see the filmed episodes also running on streaming services or TV as a short form series when the interactive series goes live, creating a customer acquisition dynamic that has never existed before.”

May 22nd 2015

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

DATA & RESEARCH Bandai Namco achieved its first consecutive No.1 since 1999 with Project CARS PROJECT CARS is once again No.1 of the All Formats Top 40. This is the first time that BANDAI NAMCO has had two consecutive weeks at the top of the UK charts since 1999’s Ridge Racer Type 4. And with The Witcher 3 launching next month, it’s promising to be a strong month for the publisher. This title was the second and fifth most preordered title on Steam last week. Meanwhile, BETHESDA’s standalone Wolfenstein expansion, The Old Blood, debuts in second place. This is in spite of the fact the game launched digitally ten days earlier.

This is a similar situation to WARNER BROS’ Dying Light – that title was released digitally one month before the physical release. The latter still went on to sell very well. And Grand Theft Auto V falls one place to third this week, but has now sold over 5m units in the UK, meaning ROCKSTAR’s crime blockbuster has shifted one million units since the PS4 and Xbox One versions launch in November. GTA V is also No.1 in the Steam charts. Over in the mobile charts, it’s been a good period for Monument Valley. USTWO’s title has had price promotions on both the App Store and Google Play.

TOP 10 STEAM (GLOBAL)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW NEW NEW 02 RE RE 08 05 04 03

GRAND THEFT AUTO V PUBLISHER: ROCKSTAR DEVELOPER: ROCKSTAR NORTH

TITLE PUBLISHER The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (P) CD Projekt RED Counter-Strike: Global Oﬀensive Valve Galactic Civilizations III Stardock Entertainment The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt + Expansion Pass (P) CD Projekt RED Project CARS Slightly Mad Studios Elite: Dangerous Frontier Developments The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimted Bethesda Invisible, Inc Klei Entertainment Arma 3 Bohemia Interactive

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 02 03 RE 04 06 05 10 07 08 09 11 12 14 15 17 16 19 18 20 22 21 25 24 RE 23 37 13 28 27 RE 26 33 30 RE 34 35 38 RE

PROJECT CARS BANDAI NAMCO/SLIGHTLY MAD STUDIOS FORMATS: PS4/XO/PC

Title Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Grand Theft Auto V Mortal Kombat X Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster FIFA 15 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Dying Light Destiny Battleﬁeld Hardline Minecraft: Xbox Edition Halo: The Master Chief Collection Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Forza Horizon 2 WWE 2K15 Terraria Assassin’s Creed Unity Disney Inﬁnity 2.0 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Far Cry 4 Watch Dogs Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Borderlands: The Handsome Collection Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 The Crew Mario Party 10 Skylanders Trap Team Super Smash Bros Evolve Wolfenstein: The New Order Bloodborne The Sims 4 The LEGO Movie Videogame Mario Kart 8 Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare Resident Evil Revelations 2 Skate 3 Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Week ending May 16th

May 22nd 2015

DEVELOPER: SLIGHTLY MAD STUDIOS Format Publisher PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, PS3, Vita Square Enix PS4, XO, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA XO, 360 Microsoft XO Microsoft PS4,PS3, Vita Sony XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 505 Games/Merge PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Warner Bros Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO 2K Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Konami PS4, XO, 360, PC Ubisoft Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS Activision Blizzard Wii U, 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PC 2K Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bethesda PS4 Sony PC EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, DS, PC Warner Bros Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Capcom PS3, 360 EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft

Week ending May 16th

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DATA ANALYSIS Source

TOP 10 IPAD GAMES PAID

TOP 20 INDIVIDUAL FORMAT

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

LW NEW NEW 02 04 03 05 07 06 NEW 08 10 12 09 15 18 14 19 25 23

PROJECT CARS FORMAT: PS4

BANDAI NAMCO/SLIGHTLY MAD STUDIOS

DEVELOPER: SLIGHTLY MAD STUDIOS

Title Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster Project CARS Grand Theft Auto V Mortal Kombat X Halo: The Master Chief Collection Mortal Kombat X Grand Theft Auto V Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Minecraft: Xbox Edition Forza Horizon 2 Dying Light Dying Light Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush Battleﬁeld Hardline Minecraft: PlayStation Edition FIFA 15 Terraria

Format PS4 PS4 XO PS4 PS4 XO XO XO XO 360 XO XO PS4 XO Wii U PS4 PS3 PS4 360

Publisher Bethesda Square Enix Bandai Namco Rockstar Warner Bros Microsoft Warner Bros Rockstar Bethesda Microsoft Microsoft Warner Bros Warner Bros Activision Blizzard Nintendo EA Sony EA 505 Games

Week ending May 16th

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Monument Valley Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Call of Duty: Strike Team Grim Fandango Remastered Goat Simulator GoatZ Legend of Grimrock Goat Simulator Terraria Football Manager Handheld 2015

DEVELOPER Ustwo Rockstar Activision Double Fine Coﬀee Stain Studios Almost Human Coﬀee Stain Studios 505 Games Sega

Week ending: May 10th

TOP 10 IPHONE GAMES PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MONUMENT VALLEY DEVELOPER: USTWO

TITLE Lifeline Minecraft: Pocket Edition Heads Up! Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Plague Inc Football Manager Handheld 2015 Goat Simulator Worms 3 Monopoly

DEVELOPER 3 Minute Games Mojang Warner Bros Rockstar Ndemic Creations Sega Coﬀee Stain Studios Team 17 EA

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

LW 03 01 09 04 06 05 10 RE RE

Week ending: May 10th

TOP 10 GLOBAL GOOGLE PLAY

GOAT SIMULATOR MICROSOFT DEVELOPER: COFFEE STAIN STUDIO TITLE Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition SFG Soccer Mount Your Friends CastleMiner Z ApocZ Avatar Warfare Game of Thrones Terraria: Xbox 360 Edition Monopoly Plus

PUBLISHER Microsoft Stir Fry Games Stegasaurus DigitalDNA Sick Kreations DigitalDNA Telltale Games 505 Games EA

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

HOOK DEVELOPER: RAINBOW TRAIN

TITLE Earn or Die R-Type Monument Valley Minecraft: Pocket Edition R-Type II Motorsport Manager Bloons TD 5 The Dark Knight Rises Bridge Constructor

PUBLISHER Not Doppler DotEmu Ustwo Mojang DotEmu Christian West Ninja Kiwi Gameloft Clockstone

Correct as of May 18th

Week ending May 16th

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

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

$1.1bn

9.5m

Grand Theft Auto V has shifted ﬁve million boxed units in the UK, according to data from GfK Chart-Track

Space Ape’s iOS strategy title Rival Kingdoms has been downloaded one million times in its ﬁrst week on sale

Chinese gaming giant Tencent has reported profits of $1.1bn for its first financial quarter, up eight per cent year-on-year

Steam has reached 9.5m concurrent users, another new record for Valve’s service

PS4 Bluetooth Communicator - PDP Design and manufacture the PS4 Bluetooth/USB Communicator europesales@pdp.com

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May 22nd 2015

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

Green Man Gaming bolsters commercial team Three new hires for the digital retailer O Joystiq’s Kubba moves to Rebellion O Curve expands production team GREEN MAN GAMING | The digital retailer has hired three new names to its commercial team. GAVIN HOWES (top) joins as senior buyer. Howes previously worked as senior category buyer at HMV. Before that he was an accessories buyer at Carphone Warehouse. Meanwhile CASSIM ZAHID (middle above) comes on board as SVP of digital marketing having spent two years working as senior ecommerce manager at furniture company VOG. There

He has been hired as PR coordinator for the Oxfordbased games developer. Kubba worked at Joystiq for two and a half years until its closure in January 2015, and was the site’s only Europebased contributor. He has also written for the likes of Ars Technica, GameSpot and Videogamer. “It was very sad to say goodbye to Joystiq and what was the most enjoyable time of my career so far,” Kubba told MCV. “But I’m thrilled and grateful to have this new opportunity at Rebellion. I had a great feeling about the company and everyone here from the first time I came to the studio, and that’s been reinforced in my brief time here.”

he was responsible for increasing its paid search account revenue by 150 per cent year-on-year. And VISHAL GARG (left bottom) has been hired as email marketing manager. Garg joins with seven years of online marketing experience, having worked with the likes of Boticca. “The Green Commercial Team is the strongest, most dynamic and talented we have ever had. I’m thrilled to welcome Gavin, Cassim and Vishal to Green Man Gaming,” said EVP of commercial MARTIN BAXTER. REBELLION | Former Joystiq contributing editor SINAN KUBBA has joined Rebellion.

CURVE DIGITAL | The indie publisher has hired SIMON CHANEY to its production team. Chaney will be working as a producer for Curve, and comes on board with twelve years of industry experience. He was previously production lead on PlayStation Home, and worked on that project for six years. He has also held production roles at THQ, and before that worked in QA for EA. “Curve is publishing at least six more games this year, many on multiple formats, so Simon’s experience working on major console projects is going to be invaluable to our team,” Curve’s MD JASON PERKINS said.

AROUND THE INDUSTRY PLAYTONIC | The Kickstarter campaign started by a group of former Rare employees is now the highest crowdfunded UK game ever. The crowdfunding push – for Playtonic’s debut title Yooka-Laylee – has beaten the previous record holder, Frontier Development’s Elite Dangerous. It was also the fastest game project in the world to reach $1m. According to Kickstarter, Yooka-Laylee reached this figure in just five hours and 41 minutes. KOUKOI GAMES | Former Rovio and Nokia staff have started a new studio in Oulu, Finland. Called Koukoi Games, the team is working on two mobile titles, the first of which is set for a summer launch.

May 22nd 2015

“The mission of Koukoi is to develop games that match with the rising needs of players by aiming to produce games with higher production value and broader experiences,” read a statement from the studio. GREE INTERNATIONAL | The Japanese games firm has closed its Vancouver studio, laying off all staff and ending development on all projects. This follows a poor financial year for the mobile specialist. “After evaluating market conditions, we have decided to focus our talent on building new gameplay within our biggest franchise and on elevating our commitment to service excellence,” the firm said in a statement. “We are also preparing to invest in a new generation of mobile hits.”

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EDITORIAL CONTACTS

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

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May 22nd 2015

WHAT WE LEARNT FROM INTERFACE

Six things we discovered at Interface Hundreds of indie developers descended upon Candid Arts in London last week for Interface, a new event designed to help publishers locate new games from emerging studios. Alongside the event, MCV and Develop put on a live stage featuring tips and guidance for aspiring creators. Christopher Dring recounts the best advice

campaign early; the worst thing you can do is come out of the starting blocks, start accelerating and not know where to go next.”

What does game three look like? If you can’t answer that, you’re not thinking about the company you’re building.

Execution Labs’ Della Rocca believes developers need to think ahead with their games

Indie developers need to be thinking three games ahead (at least) Jason Della Rocca (above), co-founder of Execution Labs – a business that helps indie developers with financing, technology and more – took to the stage at Interface to discuss what it takes to be a successful indie games developer. The indie champion said that the best studios are already thinking about their next two games, even while creating their first one. The reason? So they can build the tools and expertise they need on one game, and carry it through to the next one, gradually getting better as they go on. “What does game three look like?” asked Della Rocca. “If you can’t answer that, that’s a red flag. You’re not thinking about the company you’re building. It’s super important as independent developers that everything is working towards

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Jason Della Rocca, Execution Labs

making the next step quicker and better. If you can’t look ahead to game three, four and five, how can you start laying the bricks now?”

Get Good, Get Noticed Sony’s director of strategic content, Shahid Ahmad (below), was the closing keynote speaker at Interface, and gave advice on how indie studios can make it in the cut-throat world of games development. He first advised creators to ‘get good’. Picking out established developers such as Mike Bithell, he said these developers plied their trade for years before trying to make a name for themselves. Once good, Ahmad advised creators get themselves out there – and said the best way to do this is not necessarily rubbing shoulders at parties, but building relationships with people you respect.

Think about how you will fund your game post-launch It’s all well and good securing enough money to fund a game’s development, but what about after the title is out? How are you going to pay for your game’s continued upkeep? How are you going to acquire new users post-launch? These are all questions that Martin Macmallian – CEO of venture capitalist fund Pollen – posed to an audience of independent developers at Interface. “Understand your underlying virality: make sure you’re not overpaying for users you would’ve acquired anyway,” he said. “Plan how you’re going to finance your user acquisition

PlayStation’s Ahmad says relationships are more important than contracts

May 22nd 2015

WHAT WE LEARNT FROM INTERFACE

(Left to right) PR vet Petrullo, Indigo Pearl’s Miller and freelance journalist Freeman discuss getting covered in the media

He even mentioned two examples where he has allowed indie developers to get out of their contracts with PlayStation so that they could make games for rival platforms. He said he was happy to do this because: “the contract is not the deal, the relationship is the deal.” “I only need to be in touch with one person I respect to grow my network to everyone that they know,” explained Ahmad. “You will become visible if you are good, and it doesn’t take a lot of effort. Networking isn’t going to parties. If you do the thing you love, and you love the thing you do, and you keep doing it, sooner or later, you’re going to bump into people that are like you. Your work gets exposed to them and it grows your reach. If you can target people who have similar tastes, that’s much more effective.” He added: “People confuse being good with being themselves. Become yourself, then be yourself and then persist. If you’re good enough, your reach will expand and you will succeed.”

Games journalists are human beings In a panel dedicated to getting your game covered, former Ubisoft communications expert Stefano Petrullo, Guardian writer Will Freeman and Caroline Miller, the owner of MCV award-winning PR agency Indigo Pearl, advised developers to be themselves when talking to the media. “Think of the press as

May 22nd 2015

globally than going it alone.” Still added: “Be prepared to be flexible and listen to the people who have been doing this for years. There is a reason they are still in business.”

gaming fans and talk to them like that,” said Miller. “Be interesting and genuine. If your personality and passion comes across naturally, it’s a lot more interesting than someone who seems media trained.” Freeman added: “Don’t hide behind your brand too much. We remember names, faces, conversations and personalities more than logos, and when it comes to writing articles, it’s the people we actually contact, cover and quote; not the brand.”

6. Developers shouldn’t hide behind a brand too much. Journalists remember names, faces, conversations and personalities.

Distribution is not publishing In a panel dedicated to games publishing, Kiss founder Darryl Still, 505 Games’ VP of global brand Tim Woodley and project lead for Square Enix Collective Phil Elliott said that simply sticking a game on Steam or Xbox Live is not the same as publishing. “Publishing takes a lot of resource,” said Woodley. “If you are committed to committing that resource as part of a long-term vision, great. “But if it’s going to distract from the creative process either mentally or fiscally, then look to the variety of publishing options available. “You will find that the new breed of indie publishers are much removed from the big, controlling publishers, in that they are more open, honest, transparent and collaborative, but can still unlock far more commercial success

William Freeman, freelance journalist

Tesco thought Moshi Monsters creators were ‘lunatics’ The CCO of Moshi Monsters creator Mind Candy, Darren Garnham, was interviewed live on stage at Interface. He revealed the struggle of getting that ‘first deal’ for the brand at retail. He told a story about how he had to pitch to Tesco in its foyer. “All they wanted to know is when the TV show was coming out and when the movie was planned,” he said. “I had to convince them that children were in the digital space. They thought I was a lunatic.” Despite being rejected by Tesco, he eventually got the Moshi Monsters brand into toy retail chain The Entertainer. After the toys sold out, he was instantly contacted by most major outlets. Moshi Monsters wasn’t planned as a game that would get merchandise, but after the huge success of the brand in toys, cards and books, the firm now considers merchandise when developing new titles from the outset. “With World of Warriors, merchandise was considered from day one. We had changed from a digital company to an entertainment company.”

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THE POWER OF KICKSTARTER

People power The last 12 months has seen crowdfunding come under intense scrutiny, as games fail to meet their expectations and consumers slash the money they’re investing in new projects. Is it game over for Kickstarter? Matthew Jarvis asks the firm along with some of its biggest success stories - InXile, Playtonic Games and 22cans

“P

ower to the people,” John Lennon sang in 1971. It’s unlikely he was referring to video games – Pong wasn’t released until the following year – but the games industry certainly seems to have taken Lennon’s philosophy to heart 43 years later. Kickstarter is now synonymous with the crowdfunding trend it brought to the fore in 2009. The service saw more games campaigns surpass their targets in 2014 than ever before; 465 projects, compared to 438 in 2013. In total, $29 million was pledged by consumers to games software and hardware. We’re just five months into 2015, but this accomplishment is still in full flow. Former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi recently launched a campaign for a spiritual successor to that series. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has raised over $2.3 million so far. Meanwhile, earlier this month, Playtonic Games’ YookaLaylee was named as the highestfunded UK games Kickstarter ever – at the time of writing, more than £1.6 million has been pledged. BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND A spiritual successor to the 3D platforming games of two decades ago, Yooka-Laylee serves an ideal example of Kickstarter’s strength. Search through the pages of campaigns and you’ll notice a distinctive absence of military first-person shooters. Instead, it’s the habitat of niche RPGs, old-fashioned platformers and simulation titles. These genres may not boast the audience numbers of their peers, but they still have the

May 22nd 2015

Playtonic’s Yooka-Laylee is the highest-funded UK games Kickstarter campaign to date

passionate fanbases required to strike it lucky via crowdfunding. “Games creators can get projects funded on Kickstarter that publishers aren’t interested in,” observes Luke Crane, community manager for games at the crowdfunding giant. “If you look at the games funded in 2014 alone, you can see that we’re involved with nearly every aspect and type of title.” InXile Entertainment is one publisher that has harnessed the power of a smaller, yet highly dedicated, audience. The firm counts two of Kickstarter’s most successful games projects of all time among its catalogue: Torment: Tides of Numenera and Wasteland 2. Both are so-called ‘cRPGs’ – a complicated form of

Games creators can get projects funded on Kickstarter that publishers aren’t interested in. Luke Crane, Kickstarter

PC RPG that saw its heyday in the 1990s with franchises like Baldur’s Gate and has since waned in the mainstream. But demand for these types of game is clearly still there. “Crowdfunding was the perfect option for us as it proved there was viability for the concept and gave us the creative flexibility to ignore the worry about any mass market considerations,” recalls CEO Brian Fargo. “There isn’t much benefit for large triple-A publishers, but it has created opportunity for the more diverse and mid-size ones. “A successfully funded project has been vetted by the fans, and that has value for the right publisher. Players are going to get games made that they never would have been able to before.”

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THE POWER OF KICKSTARTER

Kickstarter’s Luke Crane (below) and Playtonic’s Gavin Price (below)

BACKED BRILLIANCE

We look at the games projects that took on the crowdfunding challenge and won STAR CITIZEN Initial target: $500,000 Final total: $2,134,374 on Kickstarter, $82,314,564 including third-party crowdfunding

Kickstarter has allowed older styles of game – such as RPG Wasteland 2 – to ﬁnd an audience once again

Gavin Price, studio head at Playtonic Games, adds that the fervent reaction to its campaign has allowed the team to up their ambitions for Yooka-Laylee. “The original plan for the game was PC-only and at a far smaller scale, all backed by private investment,” he says. “But we were convinced that crowdfunding was something that our fans were interested in and could result in us putting out a far bigger, more polished experience. Now, our fans’ incredible support has given us the resources required to aim for the stars; this could genuinely end up being the best game this team has ever made.” Andrew Walker, head of production at Godus developer 22cans, adds while that games like Yooka-Laylee can certainly benefit from inciting a sense of nostalgia, it doesn’t assure success. “Kickstarter projects may be more likely to get backed if people have something to compare them to,” he says. “But Kickstarter is really best suited to great ideas that the public believe in.” RISKY BUSINESS Godus, Yooka-Layle and Bloodstained are all examples of

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OUYA Initial target: $950,000 Final total: $8,596,474

iconic developers returning to the genres that made their names. But this is no assurance of success. Day For Night Games was formed by a group of developers who helped create BioShock and BioShock Infinite. It pitched an ambitious spiritual successor to those titles, The Black Glove, to Kickstarter, but fell short of its $650,000 goal by more than half. “Success on Kickstarter is never guaranteed,” warns Crane. “Even when all the elements are in place, things don’t always go according to plan.” Fargo agrees: “Some concepts just don’t resonate. Beyond that, there are other issues that come into play, like timing of the campaign, formats or even some features that turn gamers off. It’s a tough crowd.” Walker echoes the sentiment that crowdfunding flops can’t be distilled down to a single factor. “Kickstarter projects can fail to reach their goals for many reasons: lack of publicity, lack of special rewards, lack of faith in the product to meet its goal or just disinterest from the public,” he explains. “Crowdfunding is always going to be a gamble and it can turn out

TORMENT: TIDES OF NUMENERA Initial target: $900,000 Final total: $4,188,927

PILLARS OF ETERNITY Initial target: $1,100,000 Final total: $3,986,929

MIGHTY NO. 9 Initial target: $900,000 Final total: $3,845,170

BROKEN AGE Initial target: $400,000 Final total: $3,336,371

YOOKA-LAYLEE Initial target: £175,000 Current total: £1,638,030 (at the time of writing)

May 22nd 2015

THE POWER OF KICKSTARTER

Godus was successfully funded via Kickstarter, but later suﬀered controversy surrounding unfulﬁlled backer pledges

that there aren’t enough people interested in your idea.” Price sees the sporadic success rate as nothing to worry about. “We’re still seeing a natural ebb and flow to the platform, which will always be unpredictable due to the many factors beyond backers’ control,” he comments. Despite this, creators can take efforts to minimise risk. “I advise developers to have shipped a title before they turn to the crowd,” Fargo suggests. “It is critical to understand and go through the entirety of making a game. Only then do you have a real idea of time and cost estimates. I also recommend they study other campaigns and back into the numbers by being pragmatic about how many backers to expect.” Even if the very worst should occur, there’s always hope. “One of our most-funded projects to date, the Coolest Cooler, was unsuccessful the first time it launched,” highlights Crane. “Creators learn from the experience, and often come back with stronger ideas because of it.” Walker offers a reminder that crowdfunding isn’t the be-all and end-all: “Just because there isn’t

May 22nd 2015

an audience that wants to back a product from conception doesn’t mean there won’t be an audience that wants to play the product when it’s completed.” BE IN THE KNOW Even when a project successfully surpasses its target, there’s still reason to be vigilant. Perhaps more so, with backers’ money on the line. Godus recently came under fire after 22cans admitted it wouldn’t be able to fulfil a number of pledges promised during its campaign. “People who crowdfund need to be aware that they aren’t preordering, they’re backing a business decision,” Walker retorts. “Being able to see all of the highs and lows of development can be interesting and exciting to some people, but a lot of people may not enjoy the fluid nature of it.” However, he predicts that this backlash may be avoided in the future: “As Kickstarter has evolved, people have gained a much deeper understanding of what it means to back a product. “All crowdfunding attempts should be open, honest and explain the risks to the consumer.”

22cans’ Andrew Walker (above, top) and InXile’s Brian Fargo (above)

KEEPING THE CROWD With negative press around failing titles, it’s perhaps not surprising that consumers are getting wary. $29 million was spent on Kickstarter game projects in 2014, which was half of the $58 million crowdfunded in 2013. “Every aspect of our industry gets harder each year and crowdfunding is no different,” acknowledges Fargo. “Steam Early Access has grabbed funds that might have been targeted towards Kickstarter in the past. 2012 represented a dream year for Kickstarter; now, we are living in reality.” Price suggests that the dip is a sign of maturation: “Crowdfunding is still a new idea within games so there will be plenty of lessons to learn during these infant years.” Walker concludes: “Kickstarter isn’t past its prime; it’s just settling down and starting to find its key demographic. “In the next few years a lot more projects will be pitched and a much lower percentage will be funded, but the ones that are will be funded by the right people for the right reasons.”

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XXX XXX MCV AWARD WINNER TWITCH

‘There’s an art to making your games fun to watch’ 2014 marked the biggest year for live streaming giant Twitch yet. It broke viewership records, was acquired by the world’s largest online retailer and walked away with the inaugural Media Team accolade at the 2015 MCV Awards. UK sales director Michael Thomas tells Matthew Jarvis what’s next

f 2014 was the year of streaming, it was also the year of Twitch. Now synonymous with the online video service it brought to the fore of the games industry, Twitch’s third year in business marked a record-breaking 12 months for the company; it surpassed 100 million monthly viewers, toted up over 16 billion minutes watched per month and was acquired by online retail behemoth Amazon in August for $970 million (£585). The growth of live streaming has seen usage spread from consumers and web celebrities to publishers and developers as they hope to capitalise on its burgeoning popularity. EA, Ubisoft, PlayStation, Microsoft, Nintendo, Bethesda and Blizzard all increased their efforts on Twitch in 2014, with Square Enix utilising the platform earlier this year to tease its upcoming announcement of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. “Nearly every major publisher leverages their Twitch channels to create content for their consumers, in the same way they use Facebook or Twitter,” says UK sales director Michael Thomas. “Twitch controls an increasingly large piece of brands’ advertising budget.” Players that stream titles can serve as low-cost, high-impact promotion – a consideration Thomas says is increasingly vital. “Games publishers are also purposely making their games more ‘stream-friendly’,” he explains. “There’s an art to making your games fun for people to watch, as well as play.” Pro-gaming remains a huge area for Twitch; the biggest eSports event to date, the League

May 22nd 2015

supplanting glossy trailers and static previews, there should always be a place for well-written thought pieces.”

Twitch is now as vital in publishers’ marketing campaigns as Facebook or Twitter, says Thomas (left)

of Legends World Championship in Korea, used Twitch to broadcast around the world, with New York’s Madison Square Garden among the major stadiums to host Twitch footage for thousands of fans. “Live-streamed press conferences and conventions were initially experiments, but now they are the norm,” Thomas observes. “It’s because some events sell out quickly, are industry-only, or can be costprohibitive for people on the other side of the globe. Live streaming removes all of these barriers.” It’s not just consumers who stand to benefit, either. “Everything a brand does requires some sort of measurement for success,” Thomas continues. “In the games industry, that barometer is now measured by live viewership. Whether it’s a game launch or an eSports event, the accompanying infographic always has a box for Twitch stats.”

The integration of Twitch into PS4 and Xbox One has made broadcasting turnkey for gamers. Michael Thomas, Twitch

many will perceive live streaming’s continuing ascent as a death knell for traditional games media. Thomas isn’t convinced: “The biggest impact on traditional media is definitely live streaming,” he admits. “Publishers and developers are frequently bypassing the traditional media to connect directly with their fans.. “Traditional media can ride this changing tide by building up their presence in the live streaming community. “While live streaming has definitely become an influencer of purchasing decisions by

MEDIA MASSACRE While these impressive figures paint a bright future for Twitch,

00 20

CONSOLE CATALYST Twitch has long been a serious player in the PC space, but had previously seen its adoption on consoles limited to those players willing to invest in additional game capture hardware and software. This changed with PS4 and Xbox One, which saw Twitch built into the framework of their systems and simplified to a single button-press. “The integration of Twitch into PS4 and Xbox One made broadcasting very turnkey for hundreds of thousands of gamers,” Thomas says. “In addition to representing a significant part of our broadcast base, console-specific triple-A games have helped expand the content on Twitch. Since both consoles are still continuing to iterate on their broadcast feature sets and are still in an early part of their life cycles, there should be many more innovations to come in the years ahead.” GLOBAL DOMINATION So what’s next for Twitch? The firm has set its sights on territories further afield, seeing triple-digit growth in regions such as India, the Middle East and Italy. “The expansion and improvement of broadband around the world is opening up more doors,” says Thomas. “Brazil, for example, improved its infrastructure over the last year and it’s now one of the fastest growing markets for Twitch.” It’s clear that Twitch has no plans to slow its expansion yet.

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CELEBRATING THE BEST OF THE BEST

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INDIE INTERVIEW DAN MARSHALL Sponsored by

The great indie Swindle Best known for comedy PC titles like sex-ed game Privates, the BAFTA award-winning Dan Marshall is now making the leap to console with The Swindle. Alex Calvin catches up with the indie veteran

an Marshall is one of the longest-serving members of the UK indie community, and one of its most renowned names. Initially a bedroom hobbyist coder behind the likes of PC indie games ‘Time Gentleman, Please’, and ‘Ben There, Dan That’, Marshall rose to prominence when he was commissioned by Channel Four to make an educational game. This became the comedy title Privates, a twin-stick shooter starring tiny condom-hatted marines shooting sperm and STDs. “I was told that Channel Four was making games. They had to be educational – either about sex or politics,” Marshall tells MCV. “I wasn’t going to make a game about politics, so was forced down a certain path from the start. I was just idly thinking of ideas for games and this concept of a Gears of War parody came to me. It just made me burst out laughing. I pitched what would become Privates and got the job. Then every step of the way, from that first pitch all the way up to launch, I thought that surely at some point a grown-up would step in and ask: ‘what are you doing?’ But no-one ever did.”

things. Rather than worrying about getting The Swindle working on a Wii U dev kit, I’ve been sat here fixing bugs, tweaking the game and adding new content.”

would even get close to winning but we did. It was a huge honour.” Though Marshall – and his studio Size Five Games – is perfectly capable of making and releasing his own games, he has turned to indie publisher Curve Digital to help release his latest title, The Swindle, a steampunk-themed procedurallygenerated platformer. “Curve has a lot of experience in stuff that I do not,” Marshall explains. “Steam is a very different place to how it once was. The Swindle is a great game and I’d like people to be able to play it on their machine of choice. The certification process required to get games on console is something I have no experience in. It’s quite a tech-heavy thing that I have no interest in whatsoever. “I enjoy my job, I get up every morning, make a cup of coffee and I’m sitting at my desk having fun. The idea of doing all that sort of publishing stuff would have been a complete slog. Life is too short to be doing that. So I started talking to Curve about what they could do and take quite a lot of the boring bits off my hands. It seemed like a very sensible way of going about

To start, it was hard to get heard. No-one cared about indies. Now it’s hard to be heard because the market is swamped. Dan Marshall, Size Five Games

PRIVATE PARTY Marshall might have been concerned about Private’s suitability, but it went on to win a Children’s BAFTA in 2012. “It was a really weird experience. All the other nominations were these really kiddy games like Spot’s Big Red Ball,” Marshall says. “I was just sitting there thinking: ‘I have no idea what they are going to show from Privates in the nomination pre-roll’. It’s a game about condoms and spunk – it was so inappropriate for the evening. I didn’t think we

May 22nd 2015

Marshall has teamed up with Curve Digital to help release The Swindle

TIMES ARE A-CHANGIN’ Much has changed about the indie development scene since Marshall released his first game in 2006. “When I put Time Gentlemen, Please on Steam, it was a boom. People were saying ‘there’s this tiny indie game, and it’s on Steam’ – that was enough to garner press for it,” Marshall says. “The idea of that happening now is ridiculous. “Back then it could be really difficult to be heard. It was hard to get in the games press. No-one knew or really cared about indie games. They were such a small, niche thing. If you weren’t Half Life 2 or Doom or whatever, no-one was interested. Fast forward ten years and you have the same problem – it’s still difficult to be heard and get people talking about your game. But the reason for that is the market is so swamped. There are so many people doing this now. It’s the same problem, but it’s just a completely different cause.” He concludes: “Honestly, I’ve been doing this for ten years now and I’m still making this up as I go along and have no idea what I’m doing. That’s one of the joys of being an indie developer – you can make mistakes and bollocks things up. You can try something and if it doesn’t work, you do something else. That’s how the last ten years have been really. Things have shifted so that there are so many more people making games now that you’ve got to roll with it and try your hand at things. Just see what works and see what doesn’t.”

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Sessions includeâ&#x20AC;Ś Monetizing Free-to-Play: Making the Most of In-App Purchases and Ads Bruce Broadbent, Google

Twitch, YouTube, Vine... Keeping Ahead of the Video Marketing Curve 0LNH 5RVH WLQ\%XLOG *DPHV

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not playing very hard!â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Using Children to Design Games (VWKHU 0DF&DOOXP 6WHZDUW 'LJLWDO &XOWXUHV 5HVHDUFK &HQWUH 8:(

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Bring the Trolls Along: Crowd-Sourced Marketing for Small Developers Jedrzej Czarnota, Manchester Business 6FKRRO

Blending Virtual Experiences with Real-World Activity and Exploration -RKQ +DQNH 1LDQWLF /DEV

Sneaky Tips to Boost Downloads, Increase Sales, and... Get Banned Peter Heinrich, Amazon

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Big $ In Japan Harry Holmwood, Marvelous

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MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE Dafydd Davies of Llanelli’s JD Games on the popularity of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the continued success of the PlayStation 4 and what he wants from publishers in terms of digital content How has business been for you recently? It’s been very good. We’ve been trying to keep busy as there have been few new releases. We’ve had a lot of pre-orders for The Witcher 3 and Batman: Arkham Knight. They’re both going to be big. How have you been keeping busy during the quieter release periods? We’ve been doing some sale items and stocking diﬀerent lines

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

at the end of the year the Xbox One will skyrocket.

of merchandise. We’ve been selling clothing, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh trading cards as well as a line of sweets and slushies.

How have your pre-orders been? Not a lot of people are preordering at the moment. They come in on the day of release to pick it up.

How has hardware been selling recently? They’ve been doing really well. There have been loads of new release PS4 bundles at a discount, which is piquing the interest of a lot of customers. Xbox One sales are dipping a bit, but when the new Halo comes out

You use Facebook quite a lot for your store. What’s the overall aim there? It’s more of a social thing. We

PRICE CHECK: NEWPORT

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT DAY ONE EDITION Bandai Namco, PS4 2. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Day One Edition Bandai Namco ......................................................XO 3. Amiibo Light Blue Yarn Yoshi Nintendo............................................................. Wii U 4. Amiibo Light Pink Yarn Yoshi Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

MARIO KART 8 SUPER MARIO 3D WORLD

Nintendo, Wii U

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Nintendo, Wii U

£32

£49.99

£32.99

£42.99

£41.99

£34.99

£34

£38

£31.85

9. Call of Duty: Black Ops III + Beta Activision ..............................................................PS4

£39.85

£38.86

£31.85

£36.85

10. Splatoon Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

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£35

£34

6. Amiibo Splatoon Squid Bundle Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

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HYRULE WARRIORS

7. Yoshi’s Woolly World + Green Yarn Yoshi Amiibo Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

THE LAST OF US: LEFT BEHIND

STEAMWORLD DIG

WARHAMMER 40,000: DEATHWATCH

This DLC for The Last of Us is now available as a standalone download

Image and Form’s platform title is ﬁnally coming to Xbox One in May

Rodeo Games’ Warhammer mobile turn-based strategy title is out shortly

OUT: NOW

May 22nd 2015

IN STORE

8. Call of Duty: Black Ops III + Beta Activision ................................................................ XO

OUT: MAY

OUT: JUNE

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MARKETPLACE

JD Games 2 Vaughan Street, Llanelli, SA15 3TY

put up funny pictures and other information. It doesn’t really drive sales. It’s a brand-building exercise. Some people who come into the store will comment on particular posts that we’ve put up. What is your digital oﬀering like at the moment? We do PlayStation and Nintendo content through DLCSoft. The PlayStation stock sells almost daily; the Nintendo stuﬀ not so much. We’re also in the process

Phone: 01554 776 567 Website: www.facebook.com/JDGames

of setting up the Microsoft digital codes through Exertis. It’s a similar set-up to DLCSoft, but there are a few more restrictions. PlayStation has a lot of top-up options and more choice, where Microsoft is quite limited. What more would you want from publishers in terms of digital content? Probably fairer margins for retailers. That would help a lot. And fairer pricing.

INCOMING TITLE

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

The latest entry in Warner Bros’ LEGO series, Jurassic World, comes out alongside the blockbuster ﬁlm of the same name this June FORMAT

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June 6th Mortal Kombat X

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May 22nd 2015

KIDS

KIDS From the toys-to-life fun of Skylanders and Disney Inﬁnity to the imaginative gameplay of Minecraft, LEGO and LittleBigPlanet, there’s plenty on oﬀer for young gamers. Matthew Jarvis gets down with the latest kids franchises

WHILE the majority of kid-friendly titles are now found on mobile, it seems that less is more when it comes to the quality of kids games on PC and console. Minecraft is oft-cited as the ‘LEGO of video games’, but its traditional block-building ancestor has itself successfully transitioned to the virtual world. Kicked off more than a decade ago with LEGO Star Wars, Warner Bros’ range of LEGO titles has continued to combine booming

LEGO was the overall fourth-biggest game franchise of 2014, behind only FIFA, Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto.

movie IPs with the toy franchise, leading to impressive results. According to GfK Chart-Track, three LEGO games – The LEGO Movie, LEGO The Hobbit and LEGO Batman 3 – alone generated over £42 million last year, a 43 per cent jump on 2013. In fact, LEGO was the overall fourth-biggest game franchise of 2014, behind only FIFA and the kid-averse IPs Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. The last few years have seen kids brands on console taken up

LEGO MINECRAFT CRAFTING BOX Two of gaming’s biggest kids brands combine in this mashup between block-building behemoths LEGO and Minecraft. The 521-piece set includes a Steve miniﬁgure and pickaxe accessory, plus a skeleton and mooshroom. Players can create their own world from redstone and lapis element bricks, plus torches, plants and other tools. Instructions for eight diﬀerent constructions are a starting point, before kids can let their imaginations run wild. SRP: £49.99 Manufacturer: LEGO Distributor: LEGO Contact: 01753 495 000

LITTLEBIGPLANET TRUCKER SNAPBACK BASEBALL CAP

POKÉMON OMEGA RUBY AND ALPHA SAPPHIRE: THE OFFICIAL POKÉDEX

PAC-MAN SOFT TOY

Kids can stick Sackboy and his cloth pals on their noggin with this LittleBigPlanet-themed baseball cap.

Information on over 700 Pokémon and every item in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is contained in this comprehensive book.

Pac-Fans can get a load of gaming history with this plush. It stands eight inches tall and makes Pac-Man’s iconic waka-waka sounds.

SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: Sony Distributor: Meroncourt Contact: 01462 680 060

SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: The Pokémon Company Distributor: Nintendo Contact: 01753 483 700

SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: Bandai Namco Distributor: Advantage Distribution Contact: 01215 069 590

May 22nd 2015

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KIDS Sponsored by

gaming merchandise uk

another notch, thanks to the launch of toys-to-life brands Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Amiibo. Chart-Track reports that sales of Skylanders toys are up 44 per cent in units and 25 per cent in revenue for 2015 so far versus 2014. Meanwhile, Infinity toy sales have risen 56 per cent and 37 per cent in units and revenue, respectively A reasonable latecomer to the sector, the sell-out success of Amiibo has propelled Nintendo’s official accessory unit sales by 145

per cent and helped revenue boom by 121 per cent. This Christmas will see the launch of LEGO Marvel Avengers, more Amiibo and a new Skylanders, as well as the addition of Star Wars to Disney Infinity 3.0. LEGO will also combine its existing success in games with that of toys-to-life, bringing original IP LEGO Dimensions to market. While it seems mobile has quantity when it comes to kids IP, console is fighting back with quality.

RABBIDS ‘DO IT YOURSELF’ EEERZ FIGURINE Ubisoft’s zany bunnies are known for their distinctive appearance and chaotic behaviour. Fans can let out their artistic side and have their own go at making a unique Rabbid with this blank collectible. The customisable vinyl model stands at 28cm high and can be decorated with pens, paint or more exotic materials like glitter.

SRP: £39.99 Manufacturer: Ubisoft Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

ANGRY BIRDS TRANSFORMERS TELEPODS OPTIMUS PRIME RACEWAY

DISNEY INFINITY MESSENGER BAG

MONOPOLY: SKYLANDERS

Avians and Autobots unite in this 35-inch speedway, which sees Transformed Birds and Piggies face oﬀ in a drag race.

This carry bag for Disney Inﬁnity ﬁgures, base and power discs can convert into a roll-out playmat for gaming on the go.

Skylanders fans can get an introduction to a board game classic with this toys-to-life take on Monopoly.

SRP: $29.99 (£19) Manufacturer: Hasbro Distributor: Hasbro Contact: 0208 569 1234

SRP: £39.99 Manufacturer: PDP Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

SRP: £29.99 Manufacturer: USAopoly Distributor: Winning Moves UK Contact: 0207 262 9696

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May 22nd 2015

HOT PRODUCTS

DIRECTORY

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

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DISC REPAIR

TOTAL DISC REPAIR

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 489500

May 22nd 2015

Web: www.totaldiscrepair.co.uk

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DIRECTORY

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

FINK

CREATIVE

DISTRIBUTION

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

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

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email: sales@click-entertainment.com

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SONY DADC

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May 22nd 2015

DIRECTORY

GAMING ACCESSORIES

L3I

GAMING ACCESSORIES

VENOM

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DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controllers sold separately.

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WANT TO ADVERTISE IN OUR DIRECTORY?

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

Tel: +44 (0)1763 284181 May 22nd 2015

Venom UK Gaming @VenomGamingUK

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INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE ELEMENT GAMING

DIRECTORY

WHO? Specialism: Accessories and peripherals Location: P0 Box 273, Goole, East Yorkshire, DN14 4BE

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

Contact: W: elementgaming.com E: stacey@elementgaming.com P: 0371 521 33 00

Product manager Charles Floyd talks about battling big-name accessory brands on quality and price

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

What is your biggest success to date? As we are new to the gaming scene, we see our success as being able to help the gamer that wants new technology at an aﬀordable price without losing any of the quality.

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

What projects do you currently have in the works? We are currently in the process of expanding our range of products even further with a multitude of computer cases, as well as an RGB mechanical keyboard – but all this is still under wraps. Sneak shots will be shown on our website ahead of launch. What are the biggest challenges you face? Our biggest challenge is getting the quality of each Element product in front of the gaming community, in order to show that our range oﬀers substantial value for money and can easily compete against some of the more established brands. Tell us something about your company no one knows. We wanted our logo to match the Element Gaming name. In order to achieve this, we went with a shape that can be joined together and create a DNA chain. This represents the development and functionality of our brand, as well as looking like a scientiﬁc element. To be included in the Develop Directory (which appears every month in Develop and now every week in MCV) contact aboucher@nbmedia.com

How did you choose your company name? The company name was the easiest part of forming the firm. All of the items we offer are collectively an important element required for successful gaming. So, when we put these two considerations – our offering and our aim – together, the company created its own name: Element Gaming.

WANT TO FEATURE YOUR COMPANY IN INSIDER’S GUIDE? PLEASE CONTACT MJARVIS@NBMEDIA.COM OR CALL 01992 515 303

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

Our biggest challenge is getting each product in front of the gaming community, to show that our range can compete against the more established brands.

May 22nd 2015

FACTFILE NORWAY Sponsored by

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: NORWAY Population: 5,109,059 Capital City: Oslo Currency: Krone GDP (Per Capita): $80,749 KEY RETAILERS Coop, Platekompaniet, GAME TOP DISTRIBUTORS Nordic Games, Creative Distribution, Nordic Game Supply

TOP DEVELOPERS Krillbite Studio, Rain Games, Funcom, Red Thread Games, Dirtybit, D-Pad Studio, Turbo Tape Games, Ravn Studio PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION Ubisoft, EA, Nordic Games, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo

NORWAY may have a limited local games market, but investment in the industry is paving the way for growth. While Norway has one of the highest GDPs in the world at $80,749 per capita (almost double the UK’s $45,653), its game market is limited by its relatively small size; with just over five million residents, fewer people live in Norway than London. Norwegian developers commonly focus on debuting straight on the world stage in order to attract the audience they need for economic stability. Games to have made a splash in the global marketplace recently include Among The Sleep, The Secret World and Teslagrad. However, with a dearth of local publishers, studios are often forced to market and distribute their own titles worldwide.

Despite this, the government invests heavily in new business, with the Norwegian Film Institute having recently doubled its financial input into the sector to 20 million Krone (£1.7m). While the formation of organisations such as the Norwegian Game Developers Guild has helped the industry to mature, up-todate figures are still difficult to come by. The most recent Norwegian games industry overview was by the Scandinavian Game Developers and Norwegian Film and TV Producers’ Association in 2012. The survey estimated that the total revenue generated by Norwegian games firms was over 200 million Krone (£17m) in 2012. Further to this, market tracker Newzoo reports Norwegian consumer games revenue as having reached 1.75 billion Krone (£148.4m) by the end of 2014.

The Norwegian Film Institute recently doubled its ﬁnancial input into the games sector to 20m Krone (£1.7m).

May 22nd 2015

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NORWAY FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... CHINA Nintendo will not follow Sony and Microsoft into the newly-open Chinese home console marketplace, despite previous plans to do so BOTH the PS4 and Xbox One have launched in China following the withdrawal of a ban on foreign consoles, but it has now emerged that Nintendo may not follow them into the region. Japanese media outlet Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Nintendo would not execute its prior plan to manufacture consoles for the Chinese marketâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This comes despite the lifting of the Chinese restriction on games hardware, boosting the share price of platform holders, including Nintendo. Back in 2014, Nintendo said that rather than releasing existing hardware

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in emerging markets such as China, it would manufacture completely new machines optimised for the regions. Nintendo released a home console exclusive to China in 2003, the iQue Player.

The company has launched handheld systems more recently, with the iQue 3DS XL brought to the Chinese market in 2012.

May 22nd 2015

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION Sponsored by

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

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

WORLDWIDE CLICK ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED Email: info@click-entertainment.com Web: www.click-entertainment.com Phone: +44 (0)203 137 3781

MCV WORLDWIDE Editorial: + 61 (0)424 967 263 Leigh.Harris@mcvpaciﬁc.com

Advertising: + 61 (0)417 084821 Joel.Vandaal@mcvpaciﬁc.com

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

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION PLEASE CONTACT CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM May 22nd 2015

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DIARY DATES

EDITORIAL PLANNER YOUR GUIDE T0 THE SPECIAL FEATURES COMING UP IN MCV SAVE THE DATE

E3 2015 .................................................. TUESDAY JUNE 16TH – THURSDAY JUNE 18TH LOS ANGELES CONVENTION CENTRE, LA Once again, the global games industry will descend upon Los Angeles for the biggest announcements and news the market has to oﬀer. WWW.E3EXPO.COM

DEVELOP AWARDS 2015 .................................................. WEDNESDAY JULY 15TH HILTON BRIGHTON METROPOLE HOTEL, BRIGHTON Our sister title Develop will be honouring the best the development sector has to oﬀer over the course of 20 awards categories. WWW.DEVELOP AWARDS.COM

JUNE 2015 ............................................................................. JUNE 5TH Q E3 Preview and Show Tips Q QA and localisation Special Q Special Editions Q International Factfile: New Zealand JUNE 12TH Q E3 SPECIAL Q Territory Report: USA Q International Factfile: China JUNE 19TH Q E3 Announcements Issue Q International Factfile: Luxembourg JUNE 26TH/ JULY 3RD Q E3 Review Issue Q International Factfile: South Africa

GAMESCOM 2015 .................................................. WEDNESDAY AUGUST 5TH - SUNDAY AUGUST 9TH MESSEPLATZ 1, 50679 COLOGNE, GERMANY More information will be revealed about the biggest games of the year at Gamescom, and MCV will be at the show producing the International Show Daily.

JUNE 2015 ON MCVUK.COM E3 MONTH Including: Q Q Q Q Q Q

Interview with E3 organisers, ESA Who is E3 for? Find out if you need to attend E3 predictions E3 Survival Tips E3: Where to eat, where to meet Around the clock coverage of the biggest games show on earth. News, opinion and live video Q E3 review: What MCV thought Q E3 review: What the industry thought Q MCV’s Games of E3

JULY 2015 ON MCVUK.COM INDIE RETAIL MONTH

JULY 2015 .............................................................................

Including:

JULY 10TH/17TH Q Video Games Event Guide Q International Factﬁle: Turkey Q Territory Report: MENA

Q The Top 20 Independent Retailers interviewed Q How can indies survive the industry transition Q Indie Retail Awards – Who are servicing the independent scene the best Q New opportunities – new products for indies Q Where to sell your indie games Q Digital Indies – Tips for small outlets trying to sell digital content Q Indie retailer roundtable

JULY 24TH Q Gamescom Preview Q Top 20 UK Indie Retailers Q International Factﬁle: Serbia

WWW.GAMESCOMCOLOGNE.COM/

FOR MORE DETAILS CONTACT CDRING@NBMEDIA.COM TO ADVERTISE CONTACT CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM www.mcvuk.com

May 22nd 2015

OFF THE RECORD

OFF THE RECORD This week, GamesAid brightens up the industry, the creator of Assassin’s Creed reveals her secrets at BAFTA and Space Ape establishes its Rival Kingdoms on mobile STANDING OVATION GAMESAID once again transformed comedy into charity with this year’s StandUp for GamesAid. The sold-out event held at London’s The Comedy Store raised £7,000, smashing the totals raised by the previous Comedy Store showcases. Event organiser and GamesAid patron Imran Yusuf hosted a star-studded line up of comedians including Marcus Brigstocke, Rob Deering, Jen Brister, In Cahoots, Sol Bernstein, Ian Stone and last-minute addition Steven K Amos, who jumped in at short notice to replace Terry Alderton. As well as a good time, the night gave attendees the chance to win raffle prizes, including two tickets to the England vs Switzerland game at Wembley Stadium this September, a PlayStation Vita and more. The raffle alone raised almost £1,000.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

DON’T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO WIN AN XBOX ONE GRAB AN XBOX ONE IN TIME FOR THIS YEAR’S E3 – FIND OUT HOW BELOW XBOX has teamed 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 or post on our other social feeds.

MCV XBOX CHALLENGE NO.7:

HOW TO ENTER

E3 EXPECTATIONS It’s that time of the year again: E3. The games industry is gearing itself up for a week of big announcements, exciting reveals and even a few surprises. Microsoft is certain to have some amazing news regarding what’s coming up on Xbox One, and we’re giving you the chance to win an Xbox One in time to play this year’s biggest releases. All you’ve got to do is get creative and tell us what you’re hoping to see at this year’s E3, then enter via the means listed on the right.

WIN!

O Tweet us with a picture or

video of your entry (if relevant) to @MCVonline - don’t forget to use #AllForOne with your entry. Make sure you use both! O You can also send entries 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 Friday, May 29th

HAVE YOU ENTERED ANY OF OUR PAST CHALLENGES? STAY TUNED – THE FIRST WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON May 22nd 2015

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OFF THE RECORD

THE WEEK IN 140 CHARACTERS The Tweets you might have missed in the last seven days @azwah FIVE years at GAME - No consoles on desk. Day two at 2K - Xbox One and PS4 on my desk. #DeskConsoles

Aaron Cooper, 2K Games Tuesday May 12th @Sdinsey1 Dig the new breed... 505, Kiss and Square bang drum for publishers. @CurveDigital are in the pub. #InterfaceLondon

Stuart Dinsey, Curve Digital Thursday May 14th @MajorDysentry Favourite game pitch of the day [at Interface]: “This is gun, you have cat.”

Mart Mathers, Rising Star Games Thursday May 14th @misterbrilliant Reminder that I will one day evolve into @keefstuart [The Guardian’s Keith Stuart] and then into @majornelson [Xbox’s Major Nelson].

Steve Hogarty, PCGamesN, Thursday May 14th

@AceyBongos Can everyone please put an extra bit of work into their Farming Simulator 15 puns today? Hearing the same ones is getting a bit irrigating.

Graeme Boyd, Xbox Tuesday May 19th @GAMETelford Don’t forget #HouseOfWolves expansion hits #Destiny today. Here is an easy cosplay for #Destiny.

BAFTA BRILLIANCE

GAME Telford Tuesday May 19th

FORMER Ubisoft creative mastermind Jade Raymond became the first-ever female BAFTA Games Lecture speaker to offer her insight into the industry earlier this month. The co-creator and executive producer of Assassin’s Creed, Raymond also led the creation of Watch Dogs. During her ten-year tenure at the company, she additionally founded the Ubisoft Toronto studio, which has grown to over 300 employees in under three years. Raymond spent the day before the lecture speaking to BAFTA Breakthrough Brits honourees, to mark the opening of new applications for this year’s awards. She joined film director Christopher Nolan, who also helped celebrate the launch.

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May 22nd 2015

OFF THE RECORD

A ROYAL AFFAIR MOBILE studio Space Ape brought its latest title along to Dalston’s Loading Bar to celebrate its launch. Rival Kingdoms counts Tomb Raider writer Rhianna Pratchett (pictured right, second from right) among its talented team, who were present at the evening to answer questions and run through the title. Attendees were given the chance to try out the game ahead of its launch on tablets, with Space Ape live operations manager and former Clash of Clans champion Jorge Yao livestreaming gameplay for those not there to enjoy the drinks and nibbles. A host of YouTube celebrities also came along, including Nickatnyte, Molt, BjcanDive, Jrod, DonJon and Godson. (We don’t know who they are either, but we hear they’re popular.)

The Vietnam war: there still isn’t a legit reason we went there. Maybe someone was searching for a Piece of Eden.

Zay @zayy862 Aztecs/Conquistadors would be dope.

IF YOU COULD CHOOSE ANY PERIOD IN HISTORY WHERE WOULD YOU SET AN @ASSASSINSCREED GAME? #GMGASKS #ACSYNDICATE

The Boxer Rebellion, though it wouldn’t have the happiest ending unfortunately...

Chris Brown @SilasEmbargo World War II, in the US, Germany, Japan, Philippines – all the countries involved.

Chankk Saotome @ChankkSaotome Gianne @ruthlessroot

Ancient Egypt: something revolving round the death of Tutankhamun.

Cold War.

K Warren @KWarren365

May 22nd 2015

Joe T @BoyInABarrel

Space-age Assastranauts Creed! Or feudal Japan, a lone samurai versus ninja Assassins. #Kurosawa style.

Epic Gordon @eniek New York, 1863. Five points area a la ‘Gangs of New York’.

Daniel Attenborough @DanAttenborough Since Feudal Japan is a no go, let’s set our sights on Scandinavia! Vikings! #TurningOverANewLeif

TickleMeZombie @TickleMeZombie Oh, probably the early Gaelic periods. A bit early, I know, but a really cool time!

Erik W @erdubya

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Put up your dukes as brawling new Assassin Jacob Frye, and wield weapons including the kukri blade, brass knuckles and sword cane

Bring freedom to the oppressed masses by taking over London’s underworld, defeating rival gangs and building your own

Traverse the fast-paced world of 19th Century London with all-new systemic vehicles

Run and ﬁght across moving vehicles including carts, trains and steamboats

Explore the huge open world of Victorian London, from Buckingham Palace to Big Ben and the Thames

23.10.15

ON XBOX ONE AND PLAYSTATION®4 ON PC THIS AUTUMN © 2015 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Assassin’s Creed, Uplay, the Uplay logo, Ubi.com, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

23.10.15 © 2015 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Assassin’s Creed, Uplay, the Uplay logo, Ubi.com, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.