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THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MINECRAFT?

ISSUE 841 FRIDAY JULY 24TH 2015

MOJANG TALKS EDUCATION, SPIN-OFFS AND AR P04

UK games media condemns ad-blocker ‘protection racket’ Paying ad-blockers to be on a white list is ‘giving into blackmail’, says IGN

IS IT LEGAL?

by Christopher Dring AD-BLOCKERS are costing jobs and seriously harming the games press, say leading media execs.

Tech-savvy gamers are more prone to using ad-blockers than any other audience, according to IGN and Videogamer.

These websites can pay to have their ads unblocked, as long as they only use ‘acceptable advertising’. But one leading sales manager said “this is no different to an East End protection racket”.

“I understand why people install ad-blockers as there are still many websites out there where the advertising is intrusive, aggressive and of low quality,” said IGN’s international boss Geoff Inns.

“Once installed, ad-blockers appear to be used fairly indiscriminately, affecting those sites working hard to please

constituents as much as the tenads-on-a-page sites that care little for any of their customers.”

He added: “Paying ad-blockers is giving into blackmail – it only intensifies the problem and makes overly-stringent demands more acceptable.

It’s like trying to legitimise illegal file sharing for games – a selfish act that ultimately harms the industry.

“Most likely is that technical solutions to ad blocking will be found, and we’ll see an arms race between those who wish to block, and those who wish to assert their right to fund the service they provide.”

Co-founder of Videogamer owner Candy Banana, Adam McCann, added: “Ad-blockers are the bane of every media owner.

“It has been somewhat mitigated by the sharp rise in mobile users over the past few

Ad-blockers are the bane of every media owner. On average, gamers are more likely to have Ad-Blocker.

Adam McCann, Videogamer

years, however ad blockers are soon going to become commonplace on mobile as well.

“In addition, despite attempts by us and some other media owners to keep advertising non-intrusive, savvy users in the gaming sphere are more likely to have Ad-Blocker installed by default compared to other audiences.”

AD-BLOCKERS charging sites to have their advertising ‘unblocked’ is not illegal.

Two leading legal firms say that although ad-blockers’ practices are dubious, it’s currently allowed under law.

“AdBlock Plus and its ‘white list’ business model was recently held by the German courts to be legal. It’s likely a UK court would reach a similar conclusion,” said Nic Murfett of Harbottle and Lewis.

Susan Barty of CMS added: “One concern is the opacity of the ‘white list’ and how it operates. Ad-blocking firms have refused to publish the lists, and have not had their rate cards publicly available.

Sites relying on ad revenue should try to gather as much information as possible prior to paying to be on the white list as it is uncertain what they are truly paying for.”

PLUS GAMESCOM SURVIVAL GUIDE HOW THE MEDIA COVERED E3

NEWS

VR collapse is a ‘very real threat’...

Mobile games veteran Neil Young is concerned too many developers are rushing to support virtual reality

by Christopher Dring VR headsets could go the way of defunct game streaming services like OnLive.

That’s the warning from Network’s Neil Young, a senior games industry veteran and founder of mobile games publisher Ngmoco.

Young predicts that VR headsets will become a popular item, but not for another ‘three to five’ years, and that some businesses rushing into the sector could find themselves in trouble.

“I think [a market collapse] is the biggest risk, and potentially the most likely outcome,” he told MCV. “VR and AR right now are the new shiny thing. You’ve got to love it if you are a game maker who has been frustrated by how the console space has developed, because here is an opportunity to start building new and exciting things.

VR will be only be used for big games and events, says Network’s Young

“But there are a lot of speed bumps that we will encounter along the way.”

He said that wearing a VR headset has ‘social barriers’ and that users will only get the headset out for big events such as concerts, a big sporting final or a major game.

“It will be even more of a hit-driven business,” he said. “That, the barriers

It is the cycle of this industry, where we get a little ahead of ourselves.

Neil Young, Network

to entry, the cost, the medical issues... all of these things create this conundrum for the VR industry that has to be sorted through.

“I can imagine VR going through the same thing that streaming went through where OnLive and Gaikai were here, and it was going to be the future where you don’t need a console anymore. Then it doesn’t quite happen: the funding dries up, someone shuts down and someone buys the patents. Yet over the arc of five or ten years, it will become an important facet of the games industry.”

He continued: “It is the cycle of this industry, where we get a little ahead of ourselves. That is good and bad. If we didn’t think that way then we wouldn’t keep pushing forward, but we can sometimes get into difficulties. A killer app can change everything – but it is going to be harder than some imagine.”

Games Media Awards return with three new categories New awards for Streamers and YouTubers O Mainstream Voice award brings back vote for mass market media THE GMAs return on October 14th, with new prizes for video leaders and mainstream writers.

2015 marks the ninth annual outing of the always-talked-about event which champions the best in games editorial.

After a successful revamp last year - which saw almost every category improved, a new voting system and venue - the October event will see the addition of prizes for YouTubers, Streamers plus a category for Mainstream Voice.

Returning are all the core awards, which focus on writers, not the brands they work for or pay them - plus our audience voted prizes. These include the Players’ Choice, sponsored by Playfire,

July 24th 2015

GMA 2015: THE CATEGORIES News Writer Feature Writer Games Critic Video Team Mainstream Voice NEW YouTuber NEW Streamer NEW Radio or Podcast Team Rising Star Editorial Team of the Year Online Editorial Team of the Year Print Journalists’ Journalist Players’ Choice

voted for by consumers, and the on-the-night vote of Journalists’ Journalist.

Entries are now open. We’re looking for input direct from entrants and would-be finalists; industry suggestions and reader lobbying will all be read, but won’t be the overall deciding factor.

Submissions will be accepted to gma@nbmedia.com until

02

August 14th. The finalists will be announced on September 4th.

To find out more about sponsorship, contact Laura West, lwest@nbmedia.com or call 01992 535 647.

AND DURING THE DAY...

THIS year’s GMAs take place as a post-show evening event for a brand new Q4 games showcase organised by MCV. The 12 Games of Christmas will present the 12 key games all vying for a place on gift lists.

Want to know more?

Contact Laura West (details above) for more information.

www.mcvuk.com

NEWS

THE EDITOR

...But Sony says otherwise

by Christopher Dring VR creators don’t expect to change the world overnight, says the head of Sony’s London studio.

David Ranyard, who is currently building games for PlayStation’s Morpheus headset, likens the VR shift to when silent movies were replaced by ‘talkies’ - which took several years to take place.

“VR is such a step-change in terms of immersion,” he told MCV. “The two things that people say the most when playing [the firm’s VR demo] London Heist is: ‘Oh my God, that’s awesome,’ and ‘I’m a VR convert’.

“This is not another 3D gaming. Fundamentally you are taking people to another place, and that is something huge. If

we look at the first three to five years, there are various things that could go this way or that.

But I like to look at the past to work out the future. If you look at cinema when it went from silent movies to talkies, it was a similar transformative change in the medium and it took ten years for the theatres in America to change over. There were quite a lot of films that were dualauthored for silent and speech.

“That took a while to bed in because there were naysayers, there were establishment and business deals and things like that, but fundamentally it went in one direction. That’s my view with VR – it will go in one direction. The rate of that – the bumps on the way – you can’t predict.”

DON’T BE FOOLED BY AD-BLOCKER RHETORIC

Y

ou can see where the idea for ad-blocker came from.

I won’t shame them here. But we all know those websites that throw aggressive pop-ups and oversized ‘super banners’ into the eyes of their visitors. They’re usually mainstream websites that just don’t have the sort of engaged audience that specialist sites have, so need to resort to such measures to help their advertisers get attention.

Ad-blockers kill these ads.

They make browsing the web a more pleasant and less corporate experience for all. But they’re seriously harming the media, and especially the games media - which has a smart and savvy audience that knows all about the various ad-blockers.

But don’t believe the rhetoric. Ad-blockers are not some hero for the common man, vanquishing those evil corporate types. Is it fair to punish every media website for the actions of a few? Would you fine Asda for a mistake Tesco made? No. It’s not fair.

In theory, the White List system that allows ‘responsible media’ to bypass ad-blockers is a nice solution. But despite how they make it sound on their website, this is not some kindness on behalf of an ad-blocker. This is a racket, which allows them to finance their business by leeching off the success of Eurogamer, GameSpot and their ilk.

Ad-blockers have sales people now, who are going around and demanding a cut of the ad revenue so these

PlayStation’s Ranyard says the shift to VR is like the move from silent movies to talkies

SPONSORED BY

PRE-ORDER TOP 10

1

FALLOUT 4 (PS4)

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Fallout 4 (XO)

Bethesda

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Gear of War: Ultimate Edition (XO)

Microsoft

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

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Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (PS4)

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Rare Replay (XO)

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Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4)

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BETHESDA

Konami Sony Microsoft EA Square Enix EA Sony

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How is this any different from paying a gang not to break your legs? websites can have their customers back. How is this any different from paying a gang not to break your legs?

Most websites in the games space don’t attack their audience with nasty advertising. For all the willywaving that goes on from the media giants regarding traffic numbers, the truth is that it’s the engaged community that matters the most. It’s the returning users that read every word, engage with the journalists, post on the forums and then share that information on Twitter that are the most valuable consumers to advertisers. You don’t sustain an active community by throwing endless popups in its face. That is why Eurogamer, IGN and the rest are nice websites to visit.

What can be done? Well it doesn’t appear that the law will side with these websites (at least, not yet), so it might be high time for the games media giants to unite for a change: to choose to not pay these leeches their protection money and come up with a new way to solve the problem.

Although – to use the tired cliché – that is far easier said than done. cdring@nbmedia.com

July24th 2015

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MINECRAFT?

‘Our mission is to make Minecraft the most amazing game we can’ It’s sold near 70m units in six years. It’s so valuable that Microsoft shelled out $2.5bn for it. But what’s next for Minecraft? Alex Calvin speaks with COO Vu Bui about following up the biggest game on Earth

I

’m not going to patronise you by going on too much about the success of Minecraft.

Much has already been written about Mojang’s runaway hit.

Everyone has seen the sales figures. And we can’t miss the piles of merchandise and books in every retailer: from GAME to Primark.

Earlier in the month, Minecon, the annual celebration of all things Minecraft, took place.

Present were a record-breaking 10,000 fans – the event was all the evidence you need about the scale of Minecraft’s popularity.

“The response from the fans who attended has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Craig Fletcher, founder and CEO of organisers Multiplay. “That’s the main measure by which any show should be judged. One of the great things about this job is taking a moment and seeing so many people having such a great time.”

It’s been six years since Minecraft launched and if Minecon showed anything, it’s that the fanbase is growing and it isn’t going anywhere.

All this over a single game. It’s the kind of popularity that any game maker would dream of.

“With Minecraft, the mentality has always been that Mojang is a game studio and Minecraft is our main game,” Mojang COO Vu Bui told MCV in an exclusive interview.

“We have focused on creating a game, and that has lead to many other things. There’s merchandise, which is huge (see Top Toys), there’s a movie in the works, and there’s the new Telltale spin-off project. We are still developing the game. We haven’t stopped. Those other things exist concurrently. It’s important

July 24th 2015

Minecraft is finally getting a narrative courtesy of Telltale’s Story Mode

to not forget what your mission is. Ours is to make Minecraft the most amazing game we can and make it so that as many people as possible can experience it. All the other things move alongside of that. They’re not less important, but they’re not Minecraft’s core.”

The culture surrounding it is huge.

In fact, several YouTube personalities are making a living recording themselves playing the game.

One such online celebrity is VikkStar123 – aka Vikram Barn – whose Minecraft-focused YouTube account boasts 1.8m subscribers.

“I decided to start covering the game shortly after my friends introduced it to me,” he says. “I saw the success of these videos and it prompted me to try other Minecraft content out.

“With millions of players and creators producing unique playable content, mods and minigames within the game itself, there is always something new to try out. ”

Will Minecraft be as popular as it is now in 20 years? I don’t know.

But there’s no sign of it slowing down. We’re not worried.

Vu Bui, Mojang

BLOCKBUSTER FUTURE All of the above is impressive,

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but what now? How do you follow-up the biggest game in the world – one that does not really require a sequel?

First, Mojang’s Bui wants to bring the game to any and all platforms.

“If I had my way, we’d be on everything,” he says. “Everyone wants that. We’re getting there. I’m pretty excited – there’s nothing I can talk about specifically, but we want to continue to be available to all players. And sometimes that means being on new platforms because everyone uses something different.”

Microsoft had spent $2.5bn for Minecraft and its studio, and it is putting the game to good use. First it will be part of a push for Windows 10, while at E3, Microsoft showed a special Minecraft demo using the AR technology, HoloLens.

“All those reviews saying HoloLens is mind-blowing and like being in the future are correct,” Bui says. “It really is a special experience.”

Bui adds that working with Microsoft has significantly helped Mojang.

“We’ve said a lot of times that things are going great and that we’re really happy,” he says.

“It’s surprising to some, but opportunities have opened up for us as opposed to the other way around. Minecon is the first time we are able to show people.

We’re all still the same 50-person team in Stockholm – now we just have more teams that we work with. And we work together to achieve goals. That brings us extra resources, extra things that

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WHAT’S NEXT FOR MINECRAFT?

‘OF MANY GAMES’ WHEN Microsoft purchased Mojang, some worried the tech giant would force the Swedish studio to only try and make as much money out of Minecraft as possible.

And when it was announced the firm was halting work on its strategic card game Scrolls, it seemed these fears had been realised.

Is Microsoft’s Mojang just focused on Minecraft?

“We have a Mojang crest in our office, and in that it says in Latin ‘Of many games’,” Mojang COO Vu Bui says. “We still operate internally as a games studio. That means we are not a Minecraft-only studio, even though that is our big hit, so we are in active development on other things. People just haven’t seen them yet.”

(Left to right): Multiplay’s Fletcher, Jazware’s Taylor, YouTube personality VikkStar123, Telltale Games’ Stauff er and Egmont’s Fletcher

TOP TOYS IN addition to being the biggest game in the world, Minecraft is also one of the biggest licences.

And toys, clothes and books based on the IP are multimillion dollar businesses in their own right.

“We have fantastic brands in our portfolio,” Jonny Taylor, MD of Minecraft toy firm Jazwares says. “But Minecraft is a brand that comes along every ten years and is totally unparalleled in popularity.”

Eleanor Fletcher of book firm Egmont adds: “Our Minecraft titles were our bestselling books of 2014, dominating the children’s – and adult – book charts for most of the year. To date, Minecraft books have delivered over £15m in UK retail sales, as tracked by Nielsen Bookscan. Our Updated Handbooks, which launched in May 2015, are selling very strongly and we expect another great year for Minecraft.”

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schools to go into. But there is really no limit.”

we did not have the ability to do before. Minecraft in Education is really huge, for example. Mojang is a tiny company, and education is a complex thing. Having that partner like Microsoft allows us to do things that previously would have been much more difficult.”

TELLING TALES For all its educational benefits, Minecraft is entertainment. And now it’s getting its own storyline with Telltale Games’ Minecraft: Story Mode.

“In late 2012 we were working with [developer] Gearbox and the idea was stirring about doing a game based on Borderlands,” Telltale’s comms boss Job Stauffer says. “The idea of making something based in another game IP started there.

“We had two candidates in mind. One was Borderlands – it’s so completely rich and full of characters and lore and a universe we could kind of take and run with it and fill in certain gaps.

“On the other end of the spectrum was Minecraft. We are all big fans, and it’s this complete cultural phenomenon. And it was a completely blank slate where we could build any kind of story we wanted to as long as we could stay within the logic and the rules of the Minecraft universe.

“The desire from Minecraft fans for some kind of fiction has been

LESSON PLANNING Mojang’s Minecraft in Education programme is something of particular interest. Teachers around the world are already using the game as a teaching method.

“I don’t really see a limit to our ambition for Minecraft in Education,” Bui says. “What I want is to inspire and enable people to use MInecraft in ways that they think will enhance education. It’s about us listening to the people who are already doing it. They’re just doing it, trying it out, and figuring out what adventures and journeys they go on in this process and what results they get out of that. Then we can start to think what can we actually do to help people? Because they are going to do it with or without us, right? We aren’t creating Minecraft in Education – it’s happening. What we want is to inspire it to go further.

I guess we’d eventually run out of

05

there for a while and we’re just super proud and excited that Mojang wanted to work with us and bring the first foray into it that. They could work on with us, but still develop something that wasn’t official in anyway. This isn’t The Story of Minecraft, this is A Story, it’s one interpretation of a universe full of limitless possibilities.”

All of this should give confidence in the future of Minecraft. In the media, we have a tendency to look upon huge successes like Minecraft as bubbles waiting to burst. But Mojang’s Bui doesn’t see an end in sight.

“It’s tough to say ‘bubble’ because that term is loaded,” he says. “Bubbles will eventually burst. I don’t know if that is what this is. It’s hard to tell. No-one is able to predict how markets will turn. Will Minecraft still be as popular as it is now in twenty years? I have no idea. We are on this incredible journey that is nothing we could have predicted.

And we are enjoying it, and we of course want it to last as long as possible. But it doesn’t really show any signs of slowing down.

“I wouldn’t call us worried.”

July 24th 2015

CHEAT SHEET

UP & DOWN

Market Data The market picks up ever so slightly as sports games take advantage of the summer

F1 2015 slips from pole position in the charts to second place

£10m

£8.7m 271,420 units

£5m

Week Ending July 4th

£8.5m 274,212 units

Week Ending July 11th

£9m 295,247 units

Week Ending July 18th

EVENT CALENDAR

DESTINY sees weekly sales almost double thanks to Amazon Prime Day deals

IS VR A FAD THIS WEEK?

AUGUST 2015 ..................................................................................

GAMESCOM 2015 Koelnmesse, Cologne, Germany Wednesday, August 5th – Sunday, August 9th Q The world’s largest games trade fair Q 10 per cent more exhibition space than 2014 Q More than 700 exhibitors from over 40 countries

NO

SEPTEMBER 2015 ..................................................................................

LEGENDS OF GAMING LIVE Alexandra Palace, London, UK Thursday, September 4th – Sunday, September 6th Q Host to YouTube Legends tournament finals Q Areas include Indie Zone, Pro-Gamer Challenge and Over-18 Tournaments

There have been a lot of key moments in the development of television but I think virtual reality will change the nature of programming.

OCTOBER 2015 ..................................................................................

DEVELOP LIVE Pinewood Studios, Bucks, UK Wednesday, October 7th Q One-day conference examining the crossover between game development and movie production Q Speakers include Her Story developer Sam Barlow, Centroid Motion Capture CEO Phil Stilgoe, Atomhawk founder Ron Ashtiani and Gobo concept artist Jenny Harder

July 24th 2015

Sir David Attenborough, on the launch of the First Life VR exhibit at London’s Natural History Museum

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CHEAT SHEET

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

THE NEWS IN 140 CHARACTERS The Tweets you might have missed in the last seven days

Your shortcut to sounding clever in the pub, we take you around the industry in under 30 seconds

STAMPERS NAMED DEVELOPMENT LEGENDS

250,000

Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper were awarded the converted Develop Legend prize at last week’s Develop Awards. Elsewhere, Alien: Isolation collected three prizes for Audio and Use of Licence, Dontnod’s Life is Strange collected two for New Game IP and Narrative, while Team 17 was named publishing hero.

@andrew250469 Congrats to @djbteamsters on winning Publishing Hero #developawards from the Microsoft & Greenshoots team.

Fighting game tournament Evo attracted more than a quarter of a million viewers for its climactic finals

$6,333,295 @inTimesWorld Chris & I are #DevelopAwards Legends! Here we are @FortuneFishLtd. The past was good.

But look, the future looks great!

Shenmue 3 has become the most-funded video game on Kickstarter in history, with over $6.3 million pledged

34.4 million

Tim Stamper, Fortune Fish, Thursday, July 16th

Amazon revealed that its members-only Prime Day sale was bigger than 2014’s Black Friday, with 34.4m items sold

DEEP SILVER DITCHES DEAD ISLAND 2 DEV

JADE RAYMOND JOINS NEW EA STUDIO MOTIVE

Publisher Deep Silver has parted ways with Dead Island 2’s developer Yager.

“We will continue working towards bringing our vision of Dead Island 2 to life, and we will share further information at a later stage,” Deep Silver said.

Yager later added that the companies’ “respective visions of the project fell out of alignment”.

Assassin’s Creed producer Jade Raymond has joined EA to open a new studio called Motive based in Montreal. The studio will work “in close quarters” with BioWare and is described as a “creative-driven team, incubating entirely new IP and taking on some amazing projects”. Its first project will be aiding development on Amy Hennig’s Star Wars game.

More than 4,000 people braved a nearby typhoon to attend Nintendo president Satoru Iwata’s two-day funeral

Andrew Webber, Microsoft, Wednesday, July 15th

4,000

@haydencd Deep Silver is churning through developers. We’ve now seen them break projects off with Techland, Crytek, and Yager in short order.

@amy_hennig I’ve known and admired Jade for many years - this will be our first opportunity to work together. Great things ahead!

Hayden Dingman, PC World, Tuesday, July 14th

176 Sony’s game streaming service PlayStation Now has entered open beta in the UK, with a catalogue of 176 titles available ANKA Headset - PDP Design and manufacture the Officially licensed Microsoft – fully Wireless Headset for Xbox ONE

Amy Hennig, Visceral Games, Monday, July 13th europesales@pdp.com

www.pdp.com

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH GAMESAID ....................................................

PLAY YOUR PART BECOME A MEMBER AMBASSADOR TRUSTEE WWW.GAMESAID.ORG

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GAMESAID CHARITY VOTING STARTS SOON

GAMESAID COLOGNE TO BRIGHTON CYCLE

..................

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GamesAid will very shortly be opening the voting over which charities will receive the money raised over the last 12 months. You can vote by becoming a member of GamesAid – simply head to www.gamesaid.org/join-us.

Want to cycle from Gamescom back to Brighton?

The trip takes place from August 8th to August 11th.

To take part in the heroic 350-mile journey contact tracey@greenmangaming.com to join the ride.

07

JOIN GAMES ON SONG ..................

The games industry choir had its first meet and greet last week, but you can still take part by contacting gamesonsong@ gmail.com - rehearsals for the big concert start in September and all abilities are welcome.

July 24th 2015

DATA JUNE CHARTS

MONTHLY CHARTS It was a quiet month for the UK games retail market, but there were big wins for rising publishers Bethesda and Warner Bros. Christopher Dring analyses the latest data

THIS MONTHS UPS AND DOWNS BANDAI NAMCO The firm slipped down the rankings but remained in the Top Three

beset by issues on PC when it launched last year, but those appeared to have been fixed for the console release, and the title performed strongly. The Xbox One SKU of The Elder Scrolls Online was the second best-selling individual game of the month.

Elsewhere, NINTENDO had a stronger month, with Wii U rising up the platform rankings. The console benefitted from the launch of new IP Splatoon and Yoshi’s Woolly World.

INDIVIDUAL FORMATS TOP 40: JUNE (MAY 24TH - JUNE 27TH)

WII U Nintendo’s home console spiked up the rankings with help from Splatoon 270,000 fewer boxed games were sold last month compared with June 2014

BETHESDA The arrival of Elder Scrolls Online on consoles boosted the firm’s market share July 24th 2015

FORGET EA, Ubisoft and Activision, June 2015 for the UK games retail space was dominated by WARNER BROS, BETHESDA and BANDAI NAMCO. Bandai enjoyed another great month thanks to continued big sales of The Witcher 3 (No.3), while Warner Bros tops the publisher rankings thanks to Batman: Arkham Knight (No.1) and LEGO Jurassic World (No.4).

There was reason to cheer for the team at Bethesda, too. The Elder Scrolls Online was

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

Title Batman: Arkham Knight The Elder Scrolls Online The Elder Scrolls Online Batman: Arkham Knight The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt LEGO Jurassic World Splatoon LEGO Jurassic World LEGO Jurassic World Grand Theft Auto V LEGO Jurassic World Grand Theft Auto V Project CARS Minecraft: Xbox Edition FIFA 15 Halo: The Master Chief Collection Yoshi’s Woolly World Mortal Kombat X FIFA 15 Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Dying Light Battlefield Hardline Payday 2: Crimewave Edition Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Destiny Dying Light Battlefield Hardline Payday 2: Crimewave Edition The Sims 4 Destiny Farming Simulator 15 FIFA 15 FIFA 15 Farming Simulator 15 Mortal Kombat X Terraria Forza Horizon 2 Minecraft: PlayStation Edition

08

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

Publisher Warner Bros Bethesda Bethesda Warner Bros Bandai Namco Bandai Namco Warner Bros Nintendo Warner Bros Warner Bros Rockstar Warner Bros Rockstar Bandai Namco Microsoft EA Microsoft Nintendo Warner Bros EA Bethesda Warner Bros EA 505 Games Activision Sony Activision Warner Bros EA 505 Games EA Activision Focus Home Interactive EA EA Focus Home Interactive Warner Bros 505 Games/Merge Microsoft Sony

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JUNE CHARTS DATA

ALL FORMATS TOP 50: JUNE (MAY 24TH - JUNE 27TH)

SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE BY PUBLISHER [UNITS] LM 02 10 01 05 03 04 06 07 08 09

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

TITLE Warner Bros Bethesda Bandai Namco Nintendo EA Take-Two Activision Blizzard Ubisoft Microsoft Sony

MARKET SHARE 27.6% 12.2% 9.9% 8.3% 7.3% 5.1% 5.1% 3.8% 3.1% 3.0%

SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE BY PUBLISHER [VALUE] LM 02 12 01 05 04 03 06 07 08 09

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

TITLE Warner Bros Bethesda Bandai Namco Nintendo EA Take-Two Activision Ubisoft Microsoft Sony

MARKET SHARE 33.3% 15.7% 13.2% 7.2% 6.2% 5.3% 3.5% 2.4% 2.2% 2.1%

SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE BY FORMAT [UNITS] LM 01 02 03 04 07 05 08 10 08 09

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

TITLE PlayStation 4 Xbox One Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 Wii U PC 3DS PlayStation Vita DS Wii

MARKET SHARE 36.2% 26.6% 12.8% 7.5% 5.5% 4.4% 4.3% 1% 0.9% 0.9%

SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE BY FORMAT [VALUE] LM 01 02 03 07 04 05 06 08 09 10

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

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TITLE PlayStation 4 Xbox One Xbox 360 Wii U PlayStation 3 3DS PC PlayStation Vita Wii DS

MARKET SHARE 43.6% 31.5% 8.4% 4.9% 4.7% 3.3% 2.3% 0.7% 0.3% 0.2%

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

TITLE Batman: Arkham Knight The Elder Scrolls Online The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt LEGO Jurassic World Grand Theft Auto V FIFA 15 Splatoon Battlefield Hardline Farming Simulator 2015 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Destiny Project Cars Minecraft: Xbox Edition Dying Light Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Mortal Kombat X Payday 2: Crimewave Edition Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Terraria Far Cry 4 WWE 2K15 Halo: The Master Chief Collection LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Yoshi’s Woolly World LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Forza Horizon 2 Disney Infinity 2.0 Assassin’s Creed: Unity Watch Dogs The Sims 4 Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 Skylanders: Trap Team Bloodborne Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor Plants vs Zombies 2: Garden Warfare Mario Kart 8 Super Smash Bros The Amazing Spider-Man 2 The Crew Resident Evil: Revelations 2 The LEGO Movie Videogame The Last of Us: Remastered Batman: Arkham Origins Borderlands: The Handsome Collection Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate Skate 3 Assassin’s Creed: Rogue Tomodachi Life Battlefield 4 Call of Duty: Ghosts

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FORMAT PUBLISHER PS4, XO Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco PS4, XO, 360, PS3, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar PS4, XO, Wii, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC EA Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, 360, PS3, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Focus/Koch PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision PS4, PS3, XO, 360 Activision PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, PS3, Vita Sony PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO 505 Games PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 505 Games/Merge Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360 2K Games XO Microsoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney Interactive PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Konami PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, PC Activision PS4 Sony PS4, XO, 360, PS3, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA Wii U Nintendo Wii U, 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision PS4, XO, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Capcom PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, PS3 Sony PS3, 360, Vita, 3DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO 2K Games 3DS Nintendo/Capcom PS3, 360 EA 360, PS3, PC Ubisoft 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, Wii U, PC Activision

July 24th 2015

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

Ubisoft bolsters UK team Warner’s Alex Friend joins Ubi marketing team O Gregory leaves Future O Riot hires new writer UBISOFT | The publisher has made some changes to its UK PR and marketing team.

ALEX FRIEND (top left) joins from Warner Bros as senior brand manager, where he will be handling the Assassin’s Creed series. Friend has worked in the games industry since 2004 when he joined Sega Europe as community manager. He then moved to Warner Bros in 2007 as junior product manager before being promoted to international product manager in 2010.

July 24th 2015

Ubisoft’s other hire is HOLLY COOPER (middle left), formerly of the publisher’s field sales team. She joins the PR team as PR executive.

Prior to her time at Ubisoft, she worked at marketing firm Amplify as a PlayStation brand ambassador. In her new role, Cooper will be working alongside senior PR manager STEFAN MCGARRY on a variety of brands including Rainbow Six, Might and Magic, and The Division.

Meanwhile DAVID BURROUGHS (left) has been promoted from junior PR executive to PR executive.

Burroughs joined Ubisoft in 2013, having previously worked at Trion Worlds and Testology.

PCGAMESN | GamesMaster editor JOEL GREGORY is leaving Future.

He has taken on the role of editor at PCGamesN. Gregory was first hired in 2010 as a staff writer on Official PlayStation Magazine. He was then promoted to reviews editor in 2011 and then deputy editor in 2012. In 2013 he left Future to join Which? before returning three months later to be GamesMaster’s editor.

“We’re delighted Joel is joining the team. He’s the perfect guy to lead our team as we grow and evolve PCGamesN,” creative director TIM EDWARDS said.

“What a time to be alive.”

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RIOT | The League of Legends firm has hired JEM ALEXANDER as a staff writer.

Alexander previously worked in journalism, PR and community roles, and was employed by Sony, Square and OXM. In his new role at Riot, Alexander will be tasked with copy writing, creating player-facing editorial for fans and covering League of Legends tournaments.

“I’m very excited to be a part of the Riot writing team in the Brighton office,” Alexander said.

“I’ve been avidly following the eSports scene for a while, so I’m looking forward to helping bolster the editorial output in the run up to the World Championships.”

www.mcvuk.com

ANNE LEPISSIER, MICROSOFT INTERVIEW

One to watch Entering 2014 on the back foot, Xbox One fought passionately to pull itself back into the race against PS4. Microsoft UK director of sales Anne Lepissier tells Matthew Jarvis how her team helped keep pace with Sony’s machine – and what comes next

Congratulations on winning the MCV Award for Sales Team.

Thank you very much. This award really means a lot to our team, as they worked extremely hard to deliver a standout year with our partners.

This recognition goes to the sales team and our account V-teams; each and every one of them.

Towards the end of last year, you saw your market share expand. How will you continue this growth?

Our share growth is a result of hard work from teams across the Xbox business. Factors such as price competitiveness, offering choice (Xbox with and without Kinect), great content and exclusive games, an open conversation with fans about features they would like added to our monthly platform updates, a close partnership with retailers – these have all been critical to our share growth.

What trends and developments have impacted your sales approach from the last generation of consoles?

The rise of digital and the emergence of social marketing in consumers’ considerations have completely re-shaped the gaming market and impacted our sales approach to consumers and with retail partners. To optimise product availability and conversion, we have had to entirely re-map the consumer shopping journey to make sure we engage with them when, how and where they wish.

The Xbox One’s price was cut in April, which followed a similar price reduction last September.

www.mcvuk.com

Microsoft has doubled down on its Xbox One sales efforts since launch, earning it the MCV Award for Sales Team in 2015

How has that SKU fared compared to the Kinect bundle?

It is fundamental for us that we offer the widest choice to our consumers: quality and breadth of deals, choice of when and where to shop and choice of SKUs, for different experiences and price points. Whilst the Kinect-less SKU has been extremely well received and driven the major part of our growth in peak, the Xbox One with Kinect remains a popular option for shoppers that want that all-in-one experience.

Which titles do you expect to have a particularly beneficial effect on Xbox One hardware sales this year?

We’re confident that the launch of Halo 5: Guardians will be one of the key moments of this year for all fans of the Master Chief, alongside the other anticipated exclusive titles such as Forza Motorsport 6 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Alongside the blockbusters, we have also a wide selection of brand new games, such as Ori & the Blind Forest, that are undoubtedly delighting new Xbox One owners.

What effect have the cuts had on uptake of the console?

Offering our fans the choice of whether they want their Xbox with or without Kinect has enabled us to drive to even more competitive price points. This has been fundamental in reaching a broader audience with Xbox One to grow our community, as well as being able to attach more games and accessories within a limited shopper basket spend.

2014’s Black Friday period saw particular success for Xbox One, with 120,000 machines sold. How did you manage the demand?

We understood early in the planning process that nearly all UK partners wanted to play a major role for Black Friday. We were able to anticipate and work with each partner to offer the widest choice to the consumer - and we’re confident that we can help our partners achieve even better success this year.

The rise of digital and the emergence of social marketing have completely re-shaped the gaming market.

Anne Lepissier, Microsoft UK

A Kinect-less version of the Xbox One was launched last June.

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What’s next for the Xbox sales team this year?

Our sales team will focus further on deepening our retail partnerships and growing a vibrant, diversified Xbox offer to UK shoppers. As we aim to be our partners’ best partner, for planning their business and anticipating new market trends where they need to win, we will focus on the market’s digital transition so we are geared for the retail transformations to come.

July 24th 2015

Meet us at Gamescom, Hall 2.1, B-010 5th–7th August 2015

POST-E3 MEDIA ANALYSIS

Fallout E3

This year’s E3 was one of the busiest and most exciting in years. So how did the UK’s games media outlets make the most of the show, and how did they fare? MCV asks six of the best

ACCESS ALL AREAS IGN’s UK editor-in-chief Alex Simmons lifts the curtain on the media giant’s record-breaking coverage of this year’s E3

“A FEW years ago doomsayers claimed E3 was dead, that the show was little more than a demonstration of gratuitous excess.

But that was the E3 of old, and as an event in the gaming calendar I’d argue it’s more important than ever.

“Much like the show itself, IGN’s approach to E3 has evolved. This year we invited our audience to get closer to E3 than ever before through IGN Access, which ran across Twitter and asked millions to influence what we covered at the show. The response was fantastic; IGN Access alone delivered over four million video views. We have since rolled out the programme at

IGN clocked up 28.1 million visitors during E3 – the most visitors we’ve ever had in a single week.

San Diego Comic-Con and will be doing the same at Gamescom.

“We also improved how we covered the show in existing ways.

IGN Live has long been a staple of our E3 coverage, but this year it ran for longer and covered all of the biggest games – and more. We streamed live from our broadcastquality studio for five days, offering expert insight in the run-up to Bethesda’s press conference and continuing through to when the show closed on Thursday. Our strongest line-up of guests yet showcased the biggest and best games direct to our audience, with 10.5 million video views.

Alex Simmons, IGN

FUNNY GAMES VideoGamer.com head of video production Simon Miller explains how the site’s comedic approach to E3 helped it stand out from the crowd

STAY ON TARGET Gamer Network’s editors discuss their E3 coverage OLI WELSH, EUROGAMER “We put a lot of effort into social media, using it to give our followers a behind-the-scenes flavour of the show. We also had our four-person video team working from both sides of the Atlantic for the first time. Video is a crucial part of E3, so it was great to have the resources to keep up with it, reflected in a huge increase in views.

“Our away team in LA pursued a targeted appointments schedule, saving much of their material for after the show, when the noise has died down.”

www.mcvuk.com

“On the subject of numbers, IGN clocked up 28.1 million visitors during E3 – the most visitors we’ve ever had in a single week.

“There was a real buzz around E3 this year, with many proclaiming it was the best show yet. I’ve been to 16 E3s and after all these years I still get hugely excited. But more importantly, E3 reminds me how privileged I am to be working in such an amazing industry.

“E3 isn’t dead, it’s only just beginning.”

MATT MARTIN, VG247 “We were absolutely laser-focused on titles like Fallout, Destiny, Battlefront and Dark Souls 3. We’re only a small team, so we cut out the bullshit and go deep on the triple-A. That’s how we pushed past six million unique users.”

“FOR E3 2015 VideoGamer decided to try something different.

Using comedy as a basis for the majority of our video output has always been at the forefront of what we do, and this has evolved to the point where alter-egos and characters have been introduced.

“Jim Trinca and I came up with the idea of live-streaming some of the major conferences and reacting to them as ‘Yir Auld Da’ and ‘Simon ‘The Miller Report’ Miller’. Along with attempting something new to see how our audience responded, we wanted to try a different spin due to how much competition there is during E3 week.

JANE DOUGLAS, OUTSIDE XBOX “We have to be selective and timely, rather than exhaustive, and focusing on games that most excite our audience, such as Fallout 4, did us well at the show.”

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“Outside of this, we had comprehensive coverage thanks to E3 - from trailer impressions to gameplay thoughts - and finding a balance between the comedy and straight-up information felt like a smart decision during the week.

“Being in LA allowed Steve Burns and David Scammell to cover the show directly. In terms of video, it meant they could record on-location reactions which we could then use as another angle for our viewers.

“This year’s E3 was definitely a worthy experiment that resulted in some unique and thorough coverage for VideoGamer.com.”

July 24th 2015

POST-E3 MEDIA ANALYSIS

ON THE RADAR E3 2015 marked the first big show for Future Publishing since its major restructuring. GamesRadar+ executive editor Andy Hartup looks back at how things went

OK COMPUTER PC Gamer’s Tom Senior talks about bringing the platform back to E3 “THE PC can lose out in the tumult of E3. This year we launched the PC Gaming Show to raise the PC’s profile and shine a spotlight on games that are ordinarily lost in the scrum.

“Our US team, with support from Samuel Roberts in the UK, put the show together in a short timeframe, and it was a considerable success. 180,000 viewers tuned into the Twitch broadcast, demonstrating an appetite for better PC representation at the industry’s biggest event.

“The show generated news that meant a lot to our audience.

The reveal of new terrain for ARMA might seem like a relatively minor event, but PC gaming is full of niche games with huge, dedicated audiences. Microsoft’s appearance at the show created another interesting moment as Phil Spencer answered questions about Microsoft’s lack of support for the PC as a gaming platform.

“As always, it’s our job to find the PC gaming angle on E3. We paid close attention to big games that only the PC can do and games with a strong PC heritage.

“The rush of E3 announcements was important, but we also have success when we focus on details our readers love to obsess over.

“Our columns, E3 awards and a special edition of our weekly ‘Highs and Lows in PC Gaming’ feature all worked to deliver the PC gaming perspective on an event that’s still heavily focused on the console market.

Fortunately there was plenty to be excited about; E3 2015 turned out to be the liveliest expo in years.”

COMMUNITY SERVICE Curse VP of global sales Nathan Lindberg reveals the firm’s unique approach to covering E3 – and how it kept its fans happy “OUR priorities at events like E3 are very different from those of others in the industry, and we’re extremely proud of that,” Curse VP of global sales Nathan Lindberg enthuses.

The firm’s rapid ascension over the last year was clear in its E3 booth, which had doubled in size from 2014.

Stars of Curse’s ‘Union for Gamers’ network took to the show floor to provide coverage and meet fans, generating hundreds of thousands of YouTube views.

Curse also hosted a mixer event at The Standard in LA, with over

July 24th 2015

300 attendees given the chance to play upcoming title Mighty No.9.

Online, Curse’s E3 coverage centred around its E3 wiki, which was bolstered by more than 100 articles for every game revealed and shown at the event.

“For E3 2015, Curse continued its strong tradition of giving the community what it deserves,” recalls Lindberg. “We went in with four main points of focus for the show this year: wiki, the booth and Happy Hour, influencers and our community awards.”

THE last year saw huge changes for Future’s output, with the closure of CVG and the combination of its remaining games brands into GamesRadar+. E3 was arguably the first big test for Future’s flagship website since its November launch.

“It was easily our best year,” reveals GamesRadar+ executive editor Andy Hartup. “We’ve added a few new faces since last year, and there’s a lot of talent on the team, so we all pulled together well and nailed the event.

“We did a great job of all the pre-E3 build-up, and post-show analysis, too. It was a very rounded effort. The site itself has changed dramatically since last June, so we had to approach our E3 coverage in a slightly different way - but it all worked to our advantage.

“During E3 week, we doubled uniques year-on-year in the UK, setting traffic records on the Monday, and again on the Tuesday. Globally, we added over one million unique users year-on-year during the week, so that was really encouraging.

“What I was really pleased to see is that traffic didn’t come from a handful of break-out stories creating ‘spikes’ in our analytics - the majority of our content, from news and features to hands-on previews and video, performed extremely well. That’s a great sign that the site is growing the way we want it to; we’re not relying on single, one-hit pieces to prop up our stats. In fact, we’ve seen the site continue to grow since E3.

“How did we do it? We genuinely work as a global team, so we can provide coverage almost 24 hours per day. During E3 week we actually split into three separate units – UK, LA and San Francisco – each with its own areas of responsibility for covering the show.

“More than that, though, everyone who works on GamesRadar+ genuinely loves what they do. So people are willing to go the extra mile. Most of the UK team stayed until 4am on the Monday to help cover the Sony conference, and were then back in work at 9am.”

This E3 was our best event to date, and we’re excited for the chance to outdo ourselves again next year.

The awards wrapped up E3, offering ‘gamer-focused’ accolades, such as the ‘Cake Is a Lie’ prize for the game with the best plot twist.

“The show was a massive success for us,” concludes Lindberg.

“Unfettered access to the games, people and products that make this industry world-class was our aim, and we delivered on it. This E3 was our best event to date by far, and we’re excited for the chance to outdo ourselves again next year.”

Nathan Lindberg, Curse

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www.mcvuk.com

GAMESCOM SHOW GUIDE

Operation: Gamescom As the games industry prepares to fly out to Cologne, Alex Calvin rounds up what is happening where, what there is to do, and speaks to some of the biggest names in publishing, PR and the games media for their survival tips

WHAT ARE YOUR PREDICTIONS FOR THE SHOW? With Sony bowing out of this year, Microsoft has the stage to itself to get some decent share of voice on the titles which they deliberately held back from E3. Sony will respond officially at Paris Games Week, but would be dull if it didn’t have a curveball up its sleeve.

(Tim Woodley, 505 Games) Microsoft will go all out and make Gamescom its own. It needs a strong showing in Europe and with Sony already passing on a media briefing, Microsoft will double down and come out guns blazing with a few surprises.

(Alex Verrey, MadCatz) Xbox One price drop. And there will be no seats outside the Corkonian.

(Gareth Williams, Premier PR) Gaming as we know it will be turned on its head when hard truths are revealed. That or a lot of chuffsters will whoop and holla over nothing.

(The Miller Report’s Simon Miller, Videogamer) The entire UK industry will once again convene at the Corkonian pub on Alter Markt on Thursday evening, like moths to the flame (Harvey Eagle, Xbox UK) Everyone you meet will say: “It only seems like five

July 24th 2015

minutes since E3” (Joel Gregory, PCGames) It’s going to be a weird show, for sure. Sony’s diminished presence means that Microsoft will be going all out to impress. I imagine there’ll be VR, first party exclusives, a lot of sweaty punters and a few metres of Kölsch.

(Lucy James, GameSpot) Microsoft will make some exciting announcements, especially with no Sony this year.

And all of the UK industry will be found drinking lots of jager shots in the very traditional Irish bar each evening.

(Laura Skelly, Capcom UK)

EXHIBIT HOURS BUSINESS HALLS Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 09:00 - 19:00

Fallout 4 hands on, Rockstar announcement and Homefront: The Revolution stealing the show.

(Kat Osman, Lick PR)

Thursday, August 6th, 2015 09:00 - 20:00

Games that had a heavy presence at E3 but no release date will receive one. Two new big IPs will be announced. The Irish Bar will make record profit (Dan Kilby, IGN )

CONSUMER HALLS

Friday, August 7th, 2015 09:00 - 20:00

Thursday, August 6th, 2015 10:00 – 20:00 Friday, August 7th, 2015 10:00 – 20:00

LEGO Dimensions will win Game of Show and virtual reality will steal the show overall. And Simon Turner from 2K will still look fabulous in the morning despite going to bed at 6am.

(Ben Lawrence, Brown Betty)

Saturday, August 8th, 2015 09:00 – 20:00 Sunday, August 9th, 2015 09:00 – 18:00

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www.mcvuk.com

GAMESCOM SHOW GUIDE

WHAT ARE YOUR SURVIVAL TIPS FOR THE SHOW? Add an extra ten minutes to your travel time to account for the sea of cosplayers in the main concourse. Take some spare deodorant. The show heats up and you don’t want to be that guy with marks under your armpits.

(Andy Tudor, Slightly Mad) As you will be hungover every single day do not book anything before 10am. Surely you do not want to sit down in front of a game with the after taste of Jagerbomb and a little bit of nausea. (Stefano Petrullo, Renaissance PR) Hide. A lot. Seriously, Gamescom is awesome but as soon as they let the public in, it explodes into a greenhouse of sweat, humidity and noise.

(Alex Verrey, MadCatz) Get your most important meetings scheduled for the trade-only days.

Travelling between halls is impossible once the consumer show starts.

(Harvey Eagle, Xbox UK) Pack food. There is no time to eat, so stuff your bag with protein bars, nuts, and a slowroasted leg of lamb if it’ll fit.

(Joel Gregory, PCGamesN) Get the train. Just shy of five hours with one change and you can go first class for not very much (booking early makes that much cheaper) and it’s such a nicer way to travel.

(Caroline Miller, Indigo Pearl) If you’re running late for your appointment then please be nice and let the PR know.

(Laura Skelly, Capcom UK ) Surely everyone knows this by now, but DON’T go on the show floor after the doors have been opened to the public.

While it’s fantastic that the show is filled with so many enthusiastic gamers, having to muscle your way through that crowd removes all the fun and replaces it with sweat.

(Lucy James, GameSpot)

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Don’t mock the people who decided to bring skateboards to travel between halls. You’ll all be jealous when you see me rolling past Hall 6 on my PS Access branded Heelys.

(Hollie Bennett, PlayStation) Try to have all meetings and appointments in the Business Halls from the Wednesday afternoon onwards. Make sure you have perfume/aftershave/ deodorant on you at all times.

(Kat Osman, Lick PR ) Remember people’s names.

There’s nothing worse than seeing someone glance at your name badge.

(Ben Lawrence, Brown Betty) Play all the games. Even all those weird-looking games tucked away in the corner that are designed to teach children how to tie their shoelaces. You won’t get the full Gamescom experience if you can’t tell your friends about literally every game that was there.

(Kate Gray, Attention Seekers) Leave plenty of time in between meetings to be where you need to be so you aren’t rushing from meeting to meeting, and ideally book as many meetings as you can in the Business Halls away from the maddening crowds.

(Debbie Bestwick, Team 17) Enjoy it. Working in the Business Halls is a lot easier than some other large shows with air-con and plenty of catering. Drink lots of water, especially if you’re frequenting the Irish bar – which is the Cologne equivalent of the Saddle Ranch.

(Stefan McGarry, Ubisoft) Press-ups. Whenever.

Wherever. If you’re not dropping to the floor and exerting your body at Gamescom, you’re doing it wrong. Anyone can interview a developer or play a game. Few can do it after achieving the ultimate pump.

(The Miller Report’s Simon Miller, Videogamer)

July 24th 2015

GAMESCOM SHOW GUIDE

THE CONFERENCES

WHAT ARE YOUR FOOD AND DRINK ADVICE?

MICROSOFT Tuesday August 4th 16:00 (UK: 15:00) Gürzenich Köln Martinstraße 29-37 50667 Köln

Eat the pork knuckle. Go to the Irish Pub. Don’t drink the absinthe. Repeat.

(Andy Robinson, Playtonic)

EA Wednesday, August 5, 2015, 09:30 (UK 08:30) EA Booth, Hall 6/Booth C-60

WHO IS ON STAGE AT THE GAMESCOM CITY FESTIVAL? FRIDAY, AUGUST 7TH Activision/Guitar Hero, 17:00 Teesy, 18:00 Ryan Sheridan, 19:00 Andreas Bourani, 20:45 SATURDAY, AUGUST 8TH Activision/Guitar Hero, 17:30 Valentine, 18:30 OK Kid, 19:30 Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, 21:30 SUNDAY, AUGUST 9TH Activision/Guitar Hero, 15:30 Gamescom Winner Contest, 16:00 RDGLDGRN, 17:00 Moop Mama, 18:00 Marcus Wiebusch, 19:00 Activision/Guitar Hero, 20:00 LaBrassBanda, 20:45

Corkonian. Shh, don’t fight it.

(Lucy James, GameSpot)

Meeting people at the Corkonian is surreal. It’s the equivalent of Saddle Ranch for E3 as all the Brits go there. Food wise, pork knuckles are unmissable.

(Stefano Petrullo, Renaissance PR) It’s a taxi ride away, but Osman 30 has amazing views of the city and great food. Book in advance, because it’s popular.

(Gareth Williams, Premier PR) Throw any diet plans out of the window and appreciate that the Germans are the best at curried sausage and Kölsch.

(Harvey Eagle, Xbox UK) Fight it all you want, but you will end up in The Irish pub, waiting ages for watery beer and standing on the cobbles wondering how soon you can call it a night. Pro tip: skip the queues by walking to any of the other bars nearby, and bringing your drink back with you.

(Joel Gregory, PCGamesN) For pork knuckle and a metre of Kölsch, there’s nowhere better in Cologne than the Haxenhaus.

As for a night out, everyone always descends upon The

Don’t forget that bars don’t have normal closing hours so don’t ‘accidentally’ drink until 6am, you’ve got a show to do.

(Caroline Miller, Indigo Pearl) Haxenhaus is a great little place for a traditional German evening with lots of sausage and beer.

Früh by the Dom is also very traditional and serves Cologne’s famous beer - Kölsch.

(Laura Skelly, Capcom UK) Gilden im Zims does a ‘Butchers plate’ and that’s all you need to know. But, I’ll be so mad if I can’t get a table this year because you all read this.

(Hollie Bennett, PlayStation) It should be a legal requirement when visiting Cologne to eat at Haxenhaus – it’s the best pork.

For a great night out head to Friesenstrasse. There’s loads there so you can just see where the night takes you... usually to a horrendous hangover.

(Dan Kilby, IGN) There’s a small beer hall down that small alleyway in the centre of town. You get a whole pig leg and bucket of beer for a fiver.

You’ll know you’re in the right place - it’s full of Germans and the staff are rude as hell.

(Ben Lawrence, Brown Betty)

OUR PANEL...

Kate Gray Video Producer, Attention Seekers

July 24th 2015

Alex Verrey Global PR Boss, MadCatz

Andy Robinson Writer, Playtonic Games

Andy Tudor Creative Director, Slightly Mad

Ben Lawrence Account Director, Brown Betty

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Caroline Miller Director, Indigo Pearl

Dan Kilby Gareth Williams Harvey Eagle Marketing Manager, Snr Account Director, Marketing Boss, IGN Premier PR Xbox UK

www.mcvuk.com

GAMESCOM SHOW GUIDE

AROUND THE SHOW: OTHERS THINGS TO SEE AND DO Have a spare ten minutes at the show between meetings and want to try something a little bit different? Here are some of other activities available on-site at Gamescom: HALL 5.2 THE SOCIAL MEDIA STAGE For the first time ever, Gamescom is hosting a social media stage presented by German model and presenter Annica Hansen. In addition, DJs, bands and poets will be competing for a slot at the Gamescom City Festival.

GAMESCOM CAMPUS Visitors to this corner of Gamescom can expect exciting lectures and shows in the Speakers Corner, as well as careers and jobs information. Institutions such as the North Rhine Westphalia Youth Forum will be offering advice about youth protection, media competence and games.

COSPLAY VILLAGE All of Gamescom’s cosplaying fanatics will be gathering here for events and photo-ops.

RETRO GAMING SPECIAL Clubs, retro-themed projects and collectors will be presenting the history of games in this 1,200 square metre exhibition. Organisers Koelnmesse promise that this will be bigger than before.

LASER GAME Want to let off some steam? Take part in this laser tag event.

HALL 11.3

HALL 10.1

VIDEO GAMES LIVE On August 7th, 8th and 9th, Video Games Live will be performing music from the some of the most-loved games of all time. Opens at 8pm on Friday and Saturday, and at 6pm on the Sunday.

LET’S PLAY MEETS GAMESCOM STAGE YouTubers Peter Smits and Danis Hartwig from the PietSmiet channel will be presenting live Let’s Plays of the newest games from the show. On the Friday, the award ceremony for the Game of the Show prize will be handed out here.

OUTDOOR AREA MOTOCROSS SHOW Three or four times a day, moto cross riders from the Relentless Energy Team will be performing tricks and putting on a show

HALL 10.2 HEADIS Table tennis played with one’s head. Simple.

Hollie Bennett Kat Osman Community Manager, Team Director, PlayStation UK Lick PR

www.mcvuk.com

Laura Skelly PR Manager, Capcom UK

Lucy James Senior Producer, GameSpot

Simon Miller Head of Video, Videogamer

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Tim Woodley Marketing Boss, 505 Games

GAMESCOM BEACH Relax, take in the sun or play beach volleyball at the Gamescom Beach, presented by BigFM.

Stefano Petrullo Founder, Renaissance PR

Stefan McGarry Debbie Bestwick Senior PR Manager, MD, Ubisoft Team 17

July 24th 2015

INSIGHT

ANALYSIS

Communication breakdown of digital, within the games and consoles market. Games firms are clearly invested in the traditional form of reaching their target audience. In fact, TV ad pressure is nine per cent up in 2015 to date.

ALEX SMITH, senior account manager at Generation Media, looks back at the first half of 2015 to break down how advertising has fared across the various mediums

BATTLE FOR THE TV SCREEN Despite TV ad pressure remaining relatively consistent from May to June, June actually experienced a 14 per cent decline in individual TV viewer ratings (TVRs) year-on-year, despite an increase in the number of brands on air (34 versus 26).

This indicates a decrease in the weight of the average campaign.

In June last year, ad pressure was heavily skewed by Microsoft’s Xbox One, which saw the release of a Kinect-less SKU at the start of the month.

Big TV investors last June also included SuperCell, which

A

TV is still the most dominant and widely used medium, with over 70 per cent of spend, outside of digital.

Alex Smith, Generation Media

The 2015 games and consoles advertising media mix Year-On-Year % Change

500% 400% 300% 200% 100% -100%

464%

41%

9%

Radio

Outdoor

TV

-14%

-56%

Internet

Cinema

Press

80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

72%

-5%

-20% -40%

-2%

68%

21% Jan

Feb

Mar YOY % Change

July 24th 2015

-3%

June 2015: TV ad pressure under the microscope

Year-On-Year % Change

s we move into the allimportant Q3 and Q4, it’s a good time to reflect upon how the overall media mix in games and consoles has evolved over the first half of the year.

Internet ad spend is nearly impossible to track – therefore, we are reliant on surveys that inform us that online is now the dominant medium in the UK, growing 14 per cent year-on-year during 2014 versus 2013 and projected to account for half of ad spend in 2015.

This figure is likely to be exceeded in the games and consoles market, with advertisers looking to digital advertising as a key tool within their marketing strategies.

Looking at the year-on-year change of the media mix we can see that radio has seen a substantial 464 per cent increase in investment. This has been driven by Machine Zone, with its free-to-play MMO property Game of War featuring on stations such as Absolute AM, Kiss and Planet Rock – its strategy is to benefit from the low-cost, high-frequency approach that radio offers.

Likewise, outdoor has seen an increase in investment, with traditional advertisers such as Microsoft and Warner Bros looking to add an element of fame to the launch of those all-important triple-A releases.

Regardless of the changes in investment across these traditional forms of advertising, TV is still the most dominant and widely used medium, with over 70 per cent of spend, outside

timed the launch of its television advertising for Clash of Clans to deliberately rival competitior King.com and its plethora of apps aimed at the mass audience.

In 2015, however, it is Machine Zone and Game of War that continue to dominate the games and consoles TV ad market this June.

Elsewhere, Warner Bros found itself in second place with Batman Arkham Knight, which in its launch week achieved the highest week one sales for any game in the Batman Arkham series.

The success of 2015 year-to-date in terms of TV market ad pressure owes a lot to both January and May, which respectively finished 72 and 68 per cent up year-onyear in terms of individual TVRs accrued. This can be attributed to heavyweight campaigns from both King.com and SuperCell.

20

9% -14%

Apr

May

June

YTD

Ind. TVRs

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INSIGHT

ANALYSIS

New school 17-year teaching and computer science veteran SHAHNEILA SAEED discusses her latest project in collaboration with UKIE: The Digital Schoolhouse

T

he Digital Schoolhouse project is a games industryled initiative to get more children interested in coding and help schools teach it in fun and engaging ways.

The project has initially been funded by the Mayor of London’s Schools Excellence Fund and is supported by Computing At School (CAS) as well as the Department for Education.

Currently we have eight Digital Schoolhouses within secondary schools across London. These get access to the latest lesson plans, teacher training, technology and content. Nearby primary schools can organise for their pupils to visit one of these Schoolhouses for a day of immersive workshops, which get them excited about computational thinking.

STORY SO FAR Since the project started in September 2014 we have worked with over 70 primary schools and 4,800 pupils across London. The pupils have had the chance to get hands-on in a creative and free way with programming, and, importantly, the confidence of teachers and students has grown. One of our biggest wins has been the clear impact the creative workshops have with girls, particularly when it comes to their interest in algorithmic thinking and programming.

We are now officially recognised as one of five hub support networks for schools by the House of Lords Digital Skills Committee, which is fantastic.

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INDUSTRY LEADERS There was a reason UKIE was chosen as the main coordinator for this project. We knew from the Next Gen Skills Report that the games sector was not seeing the skilled workforce coming through the education system that had the unique mix of programming and creative expertise. We also know that the digital products that children want to make most are games.

So there were clear reasons for the games sector to get involved, and individual games businesses are a vital part of the project.

We have already collaborated with companies and individuals across the games and tech industries such as Code Kingdoms, Warner Brothers, Disney, Playniac and 3Doodler, whose input has been key to creating the Digital Schoolhouse workshops. They supply us with interesting tech and content and I then write the educational materials used within the workshops so that they sync up with the computing curriculum and computational thinking frameworks to fulfil the needs of the schools and teachers.

We are always looking for more companies from the industry to get involved with the project. If you want to find ways you can get involved please drop me a line.

The students we reach are the future of our sector so we need your input to help shape them.

The project works with schools to encourage kids to learn programming

We all have a key role to play in supporting and inspiring the next generation for the sake of our sector.

Shahneila Saeed

NATIONAL AMBITIONS In the long term we want to make sure that the Digital Schoolhouse

21

Project is rolled out to more schools around the UK. Our funding from the Mayor of London will end at the end of July, so we are exploring options to remedy this. I get lots of requests to create digital schoolhouses in different areas outside London and our ultimate goal has always been to expand the programme across the UK. The Digital Schoolhouse project is there to inspire a diversity of pupils and support our teachers.

Given a choice, pupils will not pursue a subject and a potential future career unless they are interested in it from an early age.

The existing Digital Schoolhouses have been a huge success and we want this project to thrive and the great work to continue. Our ambition is to establish at least one hub in each of the 18 video games clusters in the UK. If you know anyone who would be interested in funding the project for schools in your area, get in touch. The games industry is taking the lead in this area and we all have a key role to play in supporting and inspiring the next generation for the sake of our sector.

July 24th 2015

INDIE INTERVIEW GERALDO NASCIMENTO

One indie’s journey to resurrect local multiplayer Geraldo Nascimento moved from Portugal to the UK in order to pursue his dream of developing games independently, and is now working on his first release, a multiplayer hack and slash game called Xyrtica. Alex Calvin finds out more

I

n 2012, Geraldo Nascimento left his native Portugal to move to the UK in order to develop games.

A life-long gamer, Nascimento started doing software consultancy work during his Master’s degree in computer science at the University of Lisbon, and realised he wanted to make games.

But he says going indie in Portugal is not encouraged, so he moved to the UK. “You don’t feel that if you stay in Portugal you can go make games,” he explains. “There isn’t much push to go out and do your own thing.

So I didn’t really feel safe in doing that. But then eventually with an MA and the explosion of Twitter you just get so exposed to news every day and the whole indie boom worldwide.

“That pushed me to start working. I did a game for my MA and another in my free time, then became acquainted with Unity, which is what I’ve been using for my own long-term project.”

He continues: “The experience I’ve had trying to make games since I came to London and gaining experience with real people, and not just on the internet, is very motivational.”

WHAT’S IN A NAME? That long-term project is the tough-to-pronounce Xyrtica, a bloody local multiplayer hack and slash that Nascimento is making in his spare time alongside German artist CrazyArcadia. That’s in-between Nascimento’s job as a game client engineer for a social casino game firm.

“The difficulty in pronouncing Xyrtica is an issue,” Nascimento says. “We changed the name. It

July 24th 2015

was originally Gun Katana, which is a very cool name. But there’s another game with the same name, only with a hyphen. We didn’t want confusion. So we had to come up with a new name. We might change it again.”

The game is very much inspired

by Dennaton’s Hotline Miami series, specifically some of the more over-the-top elements from its sequel, Wrong Number.

“I played Hotline Miami loads and loved it,” Nascimento says.

“And then the trailer for the second one came out, and there’s a move where a character has two Uzis and can move them in an arc.

“Seeing that really sparked something in me. It was a huge inspiration for the look and the gameplay of Xyrtica.

We want to build on that with different mechanics.”

Xyrtica is inspired by the art-style and bloody gameplay of Hotline Miami

FUN WITH FRIENDS Xyrtica is focused on local multiplayer – a game feature that has fallen by the wayside in recent years.

“It’s a product of the indie community” he says. “There were some local multiplayer meet-ups at the London game space so I figured I could do a quick mock-up of the game and have it experienced by real people and get feedback.

“Since then it’s been feeding back on itself. It has given me a lot of joy seeing people play it and raging at each other and laughing. It’s a really visceral experience that’s not the same with just single player.”

But why has local multiplayer not appeared in many games recently?

“It’s because of the onset of online multiplayer and being

I’d like some of the big publishers to invest in local multiplayer because it’s a different energy.

Geraldo Nascimento

22

able to play with a lot of people around the world,” Nascimento explains. “There’s less focus on gathering your friends in your house or somewhere and having that experience. That’s one of the factors. It’s hard to say why it went away but I feel that it’s coming back. There are a lot of indie games doing it now. I’d like to see the big players invest in local multiplayer, just because it’s such a different energy.”

Xyrtica is set for a 2016 release, with no platforms confirmed yet.

But Nascimento is aiming on bringing it to all devices.

“It looks like this would really be at home on the PlayStation 4,” he says.

“There are similar games there.

We’re not working on ports just yet, but as we’re developing in Unity I’m sure it would be easy. I’d also like to be on Steam and Xbox. We have some ideas for game modes that involve the Wii U controller, something like the Luigi Mansion mini-game in Nintendo Land, something like that. But that’s just an idea at the moment. That’s just our ideal scenario.”

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MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE MCV speaks to Stephen Osborne of Longton’s The Game Place on why Xbox Live points have been selling well recently, Microsoft’s Xbox One backwards compatibility announcement and his plans for online retail a lot, especially PS4s. We have pre-orders in place for the new 1TB machine. I’m quite confident about that selling well.

How has business been for you recently?

It’s been relatively quiet. We’re ticking over okay and we’re getting a lot of interest in new releases.

Call of Duty pre-orders are looking healthy, which is good at this time of year. The transition to the newgen machines is also going pretty well. It’s all relatively positive.

People are wandering in and picking up random titles from the shelves. There isn’t any stand out game that people are asking for. Digital points cards through CentreSoft and Epay have been strong sellers. Especially this week when there’s been a sale on Xbox Live. That’s resulted in a lot of people buying the Microsoft points.

What’s been selling well?

I can’t put my finger on anything in particular. It’s just a mixed bag.

How are your hardware sales at the moment?

They’re very strong. We’re selling

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

PRICE CHECK: CANTERBURY

What are your thoughts on the Microsoft backwards compatibility announcement from E3?

That was a great announcement.

It was a very good play by Microsoft, but it hasn’t had much of a reaction from our customers, yet. It’s good that the game disc is

It’s good Xbox One backwards compatibility needs the disc. Otherwise we’d have people trading in worthless stock.

Stephen Osborne, The Game Place

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. FALLOUT 4 PS4, Bethesda

TOMB RAIDER DEFINITIVE EDITION

2. Fallout 4 + Fallout 3 XO ......................................................................Bethesda

THE LAST OF US REMASTERED

3. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection PS4 .............................................................................Sony 4. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition XO ...................................................................... Microsoft

XO

Sony, PS4

Deep Silver, PS4

Bandai Namco, XO

£33.82

£45

£23.99

£19.99

N/A

£14.95

£33.95

N/A

£44.99

£17.99

£25

£22.99

9. Amiibo Bowser Jr Wii U ..................................................................Nintendo

£37.99

£17.99

£33.99

£16.99

10. FIFA 16 PS4 ..................................................................................EA

£36

£18.70

£36

£28

6. Rare Replay XO ...................................................................... Microsoft

ONLINE

5. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Day One Edn PS4 ....................................................................... Konami

METRO REDUX DARK SOULS II: SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN

7. Final Fantasy VII Remake PS4 ..............................................................Square Enix

UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

JOURNEY

THE SWINDLE

KING’S QUEST: A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER

Thatgamecompany’s artsy PS3 classic is finally out on PlayStation 4

Size Five’s console debut will be on PS4 and Vita in a matter of days

This episodic puzzle title is coming to PlayStation and Xbox platforms

OUT: NOW

July 24th 2015

IN STORE

8. Amiibo Pikmin & Olimar Wii U ..................................................................Nintendo

OUT: JULY 28TH

24

OUT JULY 28TH

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MARKETPLACE

The Game Place 71 The Strand, Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, ST3 2NS

required to play, because if it was just a download we’d have loads of people trying to sell their old games and we’d end up with some worthless stock. The idea is good.

How are you keeping busy during the quieter release periods?

We do repairs in store, and that keeps us steadily ticking over. And we do the digital points – we’re very consistent with that and that generates a good footfall.

Phone: 01782 698218 Website: www.game-place.co.uk

You have a website, but it’s not in use yet. What are your plans for that?

Online retail is the plan. I’m about to put a new EPOS system in store. Our pricing has become a little bit uncompetitive, so what I’m doing is putting an EPOS system in place that lets us be faster. That is going to be linked to the website, and it’ll be on Amazon and GAME Marketplace, too. So everything in-store will be on those sites and our own website.

INCOMING TITLE

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

It’s a big few months for fans of blockbuster action games – first we have Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, shortly followed by MGS V and Mad Max FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

PC

Simulation

Ravenscourt

01256 385 200

Koch Media

PS4, XO, Wii U PS3, 360

Adventure

Nordic Games

01256 391209

Open

XO

Action

Microsoft

01279 822 800

Exertis

July 24th Fishing Expert

July 28th Legend of Kay HD

August 4th Rare Replay

August 28th Devil’s Third

Wii U

Action

Nintendo

01753 483700

Open

Dishonored: Definitive Edition

PS4/XO

Action

Bethesda

01215 069 590

Advantage

Gear of Wars: Ultimate Edition

XO, PC

Shooter

Microsoft

01279 822 800

Exertis

Lost Dimension

PS3, Vita

RPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Open

Onechanbara Z2: Chaos

PS4

RPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Open

Until Dawn

PS4

Horror

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

PS4/XO/PS3/360

Stealth

Konami

02089 875 730

Open

PS3

Adventure

Soedesco

01902 861 527

Pavilion

September 1st Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

September 4th Adams Venture Chronicles Danganronpa: Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girl

Vita

RPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Open

Etrian Mystery Dungeon

3DS

RPG

NIS America

020 8664 3485

Open

Mad Max

PS4, XO, PC

Action

Warner Bros

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Super Mario Maker

Wii U

Platformer

Nintendo

01753 483700

Open

Tearaway Unfolded

PS4

Platformer

Sony

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

September 11th

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25

July 24th 2015

JAPAN

JAPAN They might not be as big as Call of Duty or FIFA, but cult Japanese franchises boast a highly passionate audience with a fondness for merchandise.

Matthew Jarvis heads East to check out the biggest imports

JAPAN is the land where video games matured. Now, three decades after the release of the NES, the country continues to entice Western players with some of the most inventive and engrossing titles on the market.

But while Mario, Final Fantasy and Pokémon may be as recognisable in the UK as Call of Duty, FIFA and Assassin’s Creed, you’re less likely to have heard of other Japanese franchises such as Danganronpa, Persona or Naruto.

These fandoms are there and they’re very strong.

Karla Pett, Bandai Namco

That’s not to say these niche titles aren’t as valuable to retailers.

They might not shift the same number of units as their big-brand rivals, but players invested in their worlds and characters are often highly passionate, seeking out tiein merchandise that allows them to show off their favourite brand.

The audience is growing, too – Capcom’s Monster Hunter series is bigger than it’s ever been in the UK, with Monster Hunter Ultimate 4 shipping one million units in the West.

HELLO KITTY CONTROLLER KITTY T-SHIRT An international icon for more than 30 years, Hello Kitty’s success continues to reign thanks to its combination of two winning factors: cats and cuteness. Here the favoured feline’s unmistakable bow and whiskers are combined with the nostalgic design of a retro console controller, meaning that fans of cats, consoles and fashion alike will be able to express their fondness for the Japanese star.

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

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN NINE-INCH DEIDARA PLUSH

MONSTER HUNTER LANYARD

DRAGON QUEST FIGURE SET

An ideal counterpart to the Shippuden series of video games, this squishy toy portrays powerful ninja Deidara.

This lanyard features a selection of the catlike Felyne helpers in a variety of armours from new entry Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.

The iconic enemy and Dragon Quest franchise mascot, Slime, makes an appearance in this kit, which also features a Brickman Golem.

SRP: £10.99 Manufacturer: GE Entertainment Distributor: GE Entertainment Contact: geanimation@geanimation.com

SRP: $5 (£3) Manufacturer: Capcom Distributor: Capcom Contact: 020 8600 6100

SRP: €24.98 (£18) Manufacturer: Square Enix Distributor: CentreSoft Contact: 0121 625 3388

July 24th 2015

26

www.mcvuk.com

JAPAN Sponsored by

O

gaming merchandise uk

“Monster Hunter is a phenomenon in Japan,” says Chandra Nair, marketing manager for Nintendo UK. “There are dedicated theme parks and you’d be hard-pushed to find anyone who didn’t recognise the brand in some way. We’re some way from that in the UK, but the community we have is constantly growing and every bit as dedicated.”

Bandai Namco publishes several titles based on Japanese properties, including hit manga

and anime franchises Naruto and One Piece. Product manager Karla Pett suggests that UK retail would be short-sighted to ignore the opportunity on offer.

“Sometimes the manga and anime community suffers from a lack of mainstream visibility,” she observes. “But these fandoms are there and they’re very strong.

Now, with the increasing acceptance of ‘geek’ pastimes in mainstream culture, the market is only growing stronger.”

DANGANRONPA 2: GOODBYE DESPAIR T-SHIRT This top stars the cast of the second entry in Spike Chunsoft’s cult visual novel series Danganronpa, which has now sold more than 200,000 units in the West. Like its predecessor, Goodbye Despair sees gifted students take on the maniacal killing game organised by an anthropomorphic bear, Monokuma. They must work together to figure out the culprit of a brutal murder – before they become the next victim.

SRP: $24.99 (£16) Manufacturer: NIS America Distributor: Creative Distribution Contact: 0208 664 3456

ONE PIECE - CHOPPER NEW WORLD HAT

ACE ATTORNEY 3DS XL CASE

PERSONA 4 MUG

Based on the popular manga and anime character, this hat (and its wearer) also make an appearance in One Piece’s many games.

Star lawyer Phoenix Wright inspires this suitlike 3DS XL case – the ideal way to play his many outings in the Ace Attorney series.

Persona sees players juggle maintaining friendships with battling evil. For when it’s a bit much, fans can have a cuppa with this mug.

SRP: £17.99 Manufacturer: GE Entertainment Distributor: GE Entertainment Contact: geanimation@geanimation.com

SRP: $19.95 (£13) Manufacturer: Capcom Distributor: Capcom Contact: 020 8600 6100

SRP: £9.99 Manufacturer: GE Entertainment Distributor: GE Entertainment Contact: geanimation@geanimation.com

www.mcvuk.com

27

July 24th 2015

HOT PRODUCTS

Sponsored by

HOT PRODUCTS MCV takes a look at the best accessories heading to UK retail. This week, Gioteck talks up its latest headset and Roccat takes control with a new mousepad GIOTECK LP-01 HEADSET

[INFO]

FOR players looking for a more compact alternative to an overear headset, Gioteck is offering its latest single-ear Bluetooth chat product.

The LP-01 boasts improved sound acoustics for audio output, coupled with a noise-isolating microphone, which aims to eliminate unwanted background noise so that the player’s voice can be heard more clearly.

Targeted at PS4 users, the LP-01 connects via Bluetooth. This means it can also link up with a PS3 console, smartphone, tablet or another Bluetooth-equipped device.

Built into the side of the headset are on-ear controls, allowing the wearer to turn the device on and off, answer and end phone calls, mute the sound, and turn the volume up and down with ease.

Reversible ear hooks mean that the LP-01 can be worn comfortably on either ear.

A power status light is integrated into the peripheral’s design, which is available in black, blue and red colour schemes.

RRP: From £29.99 Release Date: August Distributor: Gioteck Contact: info@gioteck.com

ROCCAT TAITO CONTROL MOUSEPAD BUYING a specialised gaming mouse for playing on PC is of little point without a mousepad to match.

The Control is the latest cloth mousepad to be added to Roccat’s Taito range of gaming surfaces. It’s based upon the original Taito mat, but has been redesigned to boost precision while playing.

The mid-sized pad measures 400x320mm, a size that Roccat claims makes usage more comfortable for PC gamers. The surface is 3mm thick and edged with a stitched border, which aims to work alongside the stress-tested cloth of the main mat to ensure that it can handle the long and hard use of enthusiastic players.

July 24th 2015

28

Glide and control are two soughtafter factors that PC fans look at when deciding on a new mousepad.

The Control aims to balance the two key variables, boasting a smooth surface for maximum glide (meaning it doesn’t slow the mouse down), augmented with what Roccat calls ‘enhance command’, living up to its name and improving control and precision.

[INFO] RRP: €19.99 (£14) Release Date: Out Now Distributor: Meroncourt Contact: 01462 680 060

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AT PINEWOOD STUDIOS

A BLOCKBUSTER EVENT AT THE INTERSECTION OF GAMES AND MOVIES Wednesday, October 7th at Pinewood Studios, (near Uxbridge or M25 J16) All-day conference examining the crossover between interactive entertainment and film

Special passes include a money-can’t-buy tour of the Pinewood facilities

Venue is the John Barry Theatre, on-site at the iconic world-famous Pinewood Studios, home to movie shoots for the likes of Star Wars, James Bond, Marvel and many more

Global speaker roster with expertise in VFX, graphics, performance capture, game design, narrative and audio

VIP TICKETS £199 gets you a full-day conference pass plus an exclusive VIP Tour of Pinewood Studios’ famous world-class backlot and facilities. Pinewood is not open to the public so this rare opportunity takes you behind the scenes of a key creative centre in the global entertainment business.

ONLY 20 VIP TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE – BOOK NOW! Standard tickets cost £129 and include conference pass plus lunch and tea/ coffee networking breaks.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES High-profile sponsorship opportunities will get you in front of a high-level audience of games development professionals willing to explore new technology and the games/movie frontier.

CONTACT Charlotte Nangle cnangle@nbmedia.com or call 01992 535 647 to get involved

BOOK NOW AT www.developlive.com Or contact Gerogia Blake on gblake@nbmedia.com or call 01992 535 646

DIRECTORY

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

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

GAMING ACCESSORIES DISC REPAIR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DISC REPAIR

TOTAL DISC REPAIR

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 489500

July 24th 2015

Web: www.totaldiscrepair.co.uk

30

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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

Web: www.finkcreative.com

Tel: +44 (0)203 137 3781

DISTRIBUTION

email: sales@click-entertainment.com

CURVEBALL LEISURE

Web: www.creativedistribution.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1792 652521

DISTRIBUTION

SONY DADC

DISTRIBUTION

Web: www.curveball-leisure.com DISTRIBUTION

Empowering your creative business

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

www.sonydadc.com Tel: +302 1090 11900

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Web: www.enarxis.eu

Tel: +44 (0) 207 462 6200

31

Web: www.sonydadc.com

July 24th 2015

DIRECTORY

GAMING ACCESSORIES

L3I

GAMING ACCESSORIES

VENOM

Power Up! Twin Docking Station

Twin Docking Station

Tel: + (0)1923 471 020

Web: www.logic3.com

ADVERTISE WITH US

WANT TO ADVERTISE IN OUR DIRECTORY? Web: www.venomuk.com

Venom UK Gaming @VenomGamingUK

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

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

Tel: +44 (0)1763 284181 July 24th 2015

32

w w w. v e n o m u k . c o m

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

INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE KEYWORDS

DIRECTORY

WHO? Specialism: Testing, localisation and quality control Location: Whelan House, South County Business Park, Dublin 18, Ireland

Develop is the only dedicated publication for the UK and European games development community. It reaches over 300,000 subscribers every month.

Keywords Studios CEO Andrew Day reveals the impact of games moving from products to services

FOR GREAT ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES, CONTACT CHARLOTTE NANGLE CNANGLE@NBMEDIA.COM

What successes have you seen recently?

We are fortunate to work on many really awesome games so it’s hard to single out one title. One measure of success for us is our ability to provide multiple services to support the development and publication of games. We have a few examples of titles now where the Keywords Studios group has provided art, audio, localisation, QA and customer support services.

THIS MONTH’S DIRECTORY SPOTLIGHT: Outsource Media .......................................................................www.omuk.com

What are the biggest trends in the games industry affecting you right now?

As games continue to move from product to service we, as a provider of customer experience management services, could not agree more with EA COO Peter Moore; he recently said that the concept of selling games is quickly becoming archaic and it’s all about managing the player journey every step of the way.

What are you looking forwards to in games over the next 12 months?

This year’s E3 saw a strong comeback of console titles and triple-A games in general. It’s impossible not to be excited about productions like Uncharted 4, Just Cause 3 or Rise of the Tomb Raider, but we are also awaiting the next giant hits in the mobile game sector.

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

This year’s E3 saw a strong comeback of console titles and triple-A games.

How did you choose your company name?

Keywords started as a localisation company almost 20 years ago. As such, words, language and quality have always had a focal role in our company. Although our range of services has since grown beyond the multilingual activities we are well known for, into art production, functional QA and original language audio production, the name ‘Keywords’ – with its reputation for quality, flexibility and scalability – has stuck.

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

Contact: W: keywordstudios.com E: sales@keywordsintl.com P: +353 190 22 730 F: facebook.com/KeywordsStudios

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July 24th 2015

FACTFILE SERBIA Sponsored by

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: SERBIA Population: 7,209,764 Capital City: Belgrade Currency: Dinar GDP (Per Capita): $6,123 (excluding Kosovo) KEY RETAILERS Game-S, Computerland, ComTrade Shop TOP DISTRIBUTORS Extreme CC

TOP DEVELOPERS Nordeus, Stygian Software, Digital Arrow, Eipix Entertainment, G2 CES, Metamorf, Cofa Games NOTABLE GAMES FIRMS WITH A LOCAL OFFICE Sony, Microsoft

DESPITE its relative youth, Serbia’s games industry is quickly growing into an important presence on the worldwide stage.

According to research outlet Newzoo, Serbia is the 60th biggest games market in terms of revenue worldwide. The country generated $46.7 million (£30.1m) in games revenue last year.

The Serbian games market appears to reflect the industries of the UK and US. The University of Novi Sad conducted a survey on the most popular titles in the country, finding that Serbian gamers counted Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike among the most popular online titles.

One of the biggest developers based in the country is Nordeus, which released sports management title Top Eleven in 2010. Top Eleven is the world’s most popular sports game on

mobile, with over 100 million registered players.

Another major player is Eipix Entertainment. It collaborated with US organisation the Smithsonian Institution to produce Hidden Expedition: Smithsonian Hope Diamond in 2014.

Serbia’s games industry is keeping pace with the trends of its Western counterparts.

Belgrade developer Cofa Games released the first MOBA title to be created in the country, Awakening of Heroes, on PC and mobile last summer.

Games continue to grow in popularity in Serbia, despite their premium status. The average monthly wage is 44,206 dinar (£264) – but, regardless of this, the cost of new titles for PS4 and Xbox One is similar to their price tags in the UK, coming in at around 9,999 dinar (£60).

The average monthly wage in Serbia is 44,206 dinar (£264), but new titles cost around 9,999 dinar (£60).

July 24th 2015

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SERBIA FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... CHINA Sales of PS4 and Xbox One are expected to fall short of expectations, with high pricing and a dearth of triple-A to blame NEXT-GEN console fever is yet to grip China, according to Niko Partners.

The analyst has predicted that combined sales of Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One will reach just 550,000 by the end of 2015.

Xbox One arrived in the region last September, with PS4 following in March of this year, after the government lifted its long-lasting ban on foreign consoles in January 2014.

Niko added that the cost of the hardware must be lowered and China’s cultural office must approve more triple-A titles if the two machines are to flourish.

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35

In fact, should the current trend continue, the set-top box and smart TV sectors are estimated to overtake games hardware by 2019. The two markets are predicted to climb to a combined $3 billion value by that time.

Both Xbox One and PS4 were delayed before their eventual arrival on Chinese shores. Rival Nintendo has reportedly since abandoned its own plans to enter the market.

July 24th 2015

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION Sponsored by

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

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DC GAMES GROUP No.9, Hemmatian St., Takestan St., Sattarkhan Tehran, Iran Tel: +98-912-1014090 +98-21-44228670 Email: Bahizad@Doostan-Co.com Web: www.Doostan-Co.com

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

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

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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 July 24th 2015

36

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OFF THE RECORD

OFF THE RECORD This week, our next batch of #AllForOne winners show o their prizes, Minecraft breaks records like blocks and Mario brings some style to Shoreditch YOU’RE THE ONE THAT I WANT We once again had a fervent response to our #AllForOne competition to win an Xbox One. It was hard-fought, with some seriously creative entries, but we ďŹ nally picked our next set of winners.

Congratulations to Super Games World’s Naz (below), Framestore’s James Morrissey (far right), Rebellion’s Andy Dowley (right), Twitch’s Chris Thomas (below right) and Maker Studios’ Dan Sheridan (above right).

IN MEMORY OF IWATA6$1¡6 817,0(/< 3$66,1* /$67 :((. :(¡5( $6.,1* :+$7 $5( <285 )$9285,7( 1,17(1'2 *$0,1* 020(176" #GMGASKS

Playing Unirally with my girlfriend. Not long after...

I married her! #Shesakeeper

Getting right up on the TV screen for Duck Hunt.

Zelda: What!? I can save my game and restart it later without the use of a 40-character case-sensitive password? Radical!

MG EXIÂż QJWRQ #-'%XIÂż QJWRQ

JĂŠrĂ´me Laroche @ShiroTheSniper

When my dad asked ³:KLFK EXWWRQ ¿ UHV"´ , VDLG ³<´ 'DG ¹ ³%HFDXVH , QHHG WR NQRZ ´ +DKD Super Nintendo days. ;)

Blindly playing PokĂŠmon Silver and learning there is a whole new area after the Elite Four. Those were the days.

BoyToyGaming @BoyToyGaming Mario Kart Wii tournaments with friends. Best couch multiplayer game ever.

Adam @Adamski_UK Erwin @ColonelChocomel

I was 12 the year N64 launched. I covered my bedroom door with Mario 64 magazine articles for my parents. Got one for my b-day. <3 <3

Discovering the multicoloured Yoshis and secret levels in Super Mario World. What a game.

Ben Sanborn @BSanbizzle

www.mcvuk.com

Jonathan Lightfoot @LightfootCC

37

Joni-Mikko LĂśytynoja @JonskuwithZerro So many Nintendo moments and many more to come thanks to Iwata.

PS. Lost many friends to Mario Party. :D Argick @JKArgick Gonna be hard for anyone to pick just one, but Super Smash Bros. on the 64 is my winner. More tears the day it stops working.

Steve @metalupyourarse

July 24th 2015

OFF THE RECORD

SIX DEGREES OF KAT OSMAN

MINE GOODNESS The biggest game in the world came to London earlier this month, hosting MineCon, which was crowned as the largest convention ever held for a single video game by Guinness World Records, with 10,000 attendees.

Eight further world records were set during the show, with 13-year-old Jake Edwards achieving the most sand castles built in three minutes (14) on Minecraft Pocket Edition and 12-year-old Omar Siraj collecting the most cobblestone in three minutes, with 137 blocks under his belt.

Meanwhile, brothers Adrian and Darren Mo caught 11 Minecraft toys while blindfolded, claiming the accolade for the most soft toys caught blindfolded in 30 seconds by a team of two – mum must have been proud.

Sadly, nobody managed to break the record for the fastest time to stack 20 large LEGO bricks.

IN OUR TRIP FROM KEV TO KAT, WE PASS THROUGH A NUMBER OF INDUSTRY PR VETERANS, FROM LUNCH TO KOCH AND BEYOND…

One of KEVIN BACON’s most well-known roles is that of Sebastian Caine in Hollow Man, acting alongside...

...KIM DICKENS. Dickens also appeared in recent movie hit Gone Girl with...

...ROSAMUND PIKE, who also starred in Hector and the Search for Happiness. It was distributed by Koch Media, known in games for...

...Dead Island, promoted by Koch PR manager SUZANNE PANTER. Panter moved to the firm from THQ...

...where she worked with SAM BRACE, now of Decibel PR. He formerly did freelance work for Lunch PR, working with...

...KAT OSMAN, who went on to found new PR agency Lick PR last year.

July 24th 2015

38

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OFF THE RECORD

IT’S-A GRAFFITI, MARIO To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its iconic hopping plumber and the upcoming release of Super Mario Maker, Nintendo UK created a graffiti mural inspired by the DIY title.

Bringing style to the Shoreditch space where Nintendo held its post-E3 event, the artwork took around five hours to spray.

Taking the form of Mario himself, the impressive display is created from item blocks, pipes, Goombas and more of the franchise’s unmistakable imagery.

EDITORIAL CONTACTS Lianne Davey Circulation ldavey@nbmedia.com

Christopher Dring Editor

Conor Tallon Account Manager

cdring@nbmedia.com

ctallon@nbmedia.com

Ben Parfitt Associate Editor

Sam Richwood Designer

bparfitt@nbmedia.com

srichwood@nbmedia.com

Michael Canham Finance Manager mcanham@nbmedia.com

Alex Calvin Staff Writer

Laura West Business Development Consultant

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

acalvin@nbmedia.com

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The contents of MCV are subject to reproduction in information storage and retrieval systems.

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MCV is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association.

For the 12 months ending December 2009, MCV had an average weekly net circulation of 8,045. MCV’s circulation is 100 per cent named and zero per cent duplicated.

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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ISSN: 1469-4832 Copyright 2015

THE RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD Charlotte Knight GAME

Steve Moore Simply Games

Jennifer Johnson Don McCabe CHIPS Shop Direct

Jon Hayes Tesco

Sarah Jasper The Hut

Gurdeep Hunjan Simon Urquhart Sainsbury’s Microsoft

Dermot Stapleton Niall Lawlor GameStop Get Games

Phil Moore Grainger Games

Igor Cipolletta ShopTo

Phil Browes HMV

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Craig Watson Dixons Retail

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July 24th 2015

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