MCV844 August 21st

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES ISSUE 844 FRIDAY AUGUST 21ST 2015

NUCLEAR WINNER BETHESDA’S HINES ON THE FIRM’S BUSIEST YEAR EVER P04

Industry turns back the clock 20 years as 1990s mania hits the games business

by Christopher Dring

RESIDENT EVIL 2 is the latest game to ride the wave of ‘90s nostalgia that has swept into the market.

The iconic 1998 horror game is being remade, publisher Capcom has announced. The news comes just two months after Square Enix revealed that its own 1990s epic – Final Fantasy VII – is being recreated for release in 2017.

Other ‘90s revivals include the recent Chart-Track No.1 Rare Replay, a new game in the longdormant Shenmue series and the upcoming Super Mario Maker, a game that delves into Mario’s back catalogue of 2D platformers.

“Nostalgia is a powerful thing,” said Capcom brand manager Brian Ayers.

CONTINUES OVER PAGE

PLUS OCULUS ON THE REALITY OF VR SONY’S NEXT GENERATION OF HORROR

NEWS

NEWS THIS WEEK Resident Evil 2 joins roster of 1990s classic comebacks Continued from first page “As we get further away from the ‘90s, the rose-tinted glasses start to come out, and a fondness for the period starts to creep back-in.

It runs through everything from fashion to music to film, and games are now an established enough culture that they’re affected, too.”

Gavin Price, studio head at Playtonic Games, which is developing Yooka-Laylee – a game inspired by 1990s 3D platformers – added: “The longer time passes with such experiences missing-inaction, the more and more the pressure builds to do something reminiscent. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I would say.

“A plainer explanation would also be that there has never been a better environment and set of circumstances to allow creators the freedom to do what their hearts desire.”

It isn’t just games benefitting from a 1990s renaissance; in TV, both Twin Peaks and The X-Files are receiving new series, while films such as Jurassic World, Independence Day 2 and Baywatch tap into the same nostalgia.

So why now? From a pure economic stand-point, kids brought up in the 1990s are now in their 30s and working within these industries. They’re also an affluent audience keen to relive past glories.

“For myself - and I reckon most ‘children of the ‘90s’ – it was a time when I had the spare time to play games to my heart’s content... you’re almost overwhelmed with great memories due to the sheer volume of games you played,” Price says. “I’ll happily sit and look at my retro collection just to evoke those memories.”

Sony’s European president Jim Ryan, commenting on the reaction to Final Fantasy VII and

August 21st 2015

It’s not just games – ‘90s TV shows like The X-Files and Twin Peaks are also returning

Shenmue III at E3, feels that other entertainment fields have long been able to delve into their history, and the wave of ‘90s revivals in games shows how this industry is maturing.

“It’s probably symptomatic of the fact the industry simply now has more years under its belt,” he said. “20 years ago we couldn’t do this because we weren’t 20-years-old. Don’t you think it’s always been the case that great entertainment experiences are enduring? Maybe the form in which they manifest themselves down the road is different, but there is great classical music that transcends ages and generations.

It’s two things – great stuff will always be of interest and relevant to successive generations, and as an industry we are just older now, so there’s the possibility for that phenomenon to come about in a way that wasn’t possible a number of years ago.”

Of course, there’s an even simpler reason for the industry’s new fondness for the 1990s – it sells.

“Since Capcom announced Resident Evil HD last summer the fans have been getting more vocal about wanting a Resident Evil 2 Remake,” explains Ayers

Many things in the ‘90s were ‘firsts’ for many players... there just aren’t that many ‘firsts’ in games these days.

Gavin Price, Playtonic Games

as to why Capcom finally gave into demands for a new Resident Evil 2 – a game that has been a much-requested title for more than a decade.

“As a result of the great reception and success of Resident Evil HD and the upcoming Resident Evil Zero, the team have taken notice and looked at exactly what the fans want next.”

He continued: “The 1990s was a time when tech started to catch up with imagination, and allowed developers real freedom to think bigger in terms of game design.

You can see it reflected in many ways throughout the nineties – from what composers were able to achieve with the Super Nintendo sound chip right through to what the arrival of CD-ROMS could allow for in terms of file sizes. Some incredible games came out of that period, many of which have stood the test of time fantastically well, and we have so many easy ways to access them again now.”

Price concluded: “The hobby was more enthusiast-driven back then and so any game regardless of its material or mechanics had a chance of becoming something muchloved. Many things back then were ‘firsts’ for so many players and it was probably the peak time for that... there just aren’t that many ‘firsts’ in games these days, which is a natural outcome for a maturing industry.

“But you never forget your first time, whatever the experience.”

Playtonic’s Price (above), Sony’s Ryan (above) and Capcom’s Ayers (above)

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www.mcvuk.com

NEWS

THE EDITOR

MCV Awards set for March 3rd, 2016 PAY ATTENTION: The MCV Awards will take place slightly earlier next year.

It’s all part of a move to a new venue - the brand new Hilton London Bankside and a new time of year: March 3rd, 2016.

As usual, the MCV Awards will acknowledge the best of the best in the UK games industry, with awards for marketing, retail and publishing.

We expect it to be another busy night, with 550 games industry professionals in attendance.

Right now, all we’re revealing is when and where the event will take place. In the meantime, we’re taking soundings from the industry when it comes to new

categories and areas to cover - email your thoughts to MCV editor Chris Dring cdring@nbmedia.com.

On September 7th, we’ll announce new categories and how you can enter - entry will be open until the end of the year and voting will be conducted in the first few weeks of 2016. Tickets will go on sale the same day. You can register your interest now by contacting Debbie Opeyokun on 020 7354 6001 or emailing dopeyokun@nbmedia.com.

Otherwise, contact Conor Tallon on 01992 535 647 or ctallon@nbmedia.com to get involved with the MCV Awards.

READY THE TILLS, THE DROUGHT IS OVER

T

his week’s Top 40 Chart makes for depressing viewing.

The No.1 retail game barely broke 10,000 units sold.

You only had to sell 1,000 copies to get into the Top 40.

Of course, it wouldn’t be an MCV editorial leader if we weren’t complaining about the lack of digital data. Not for the first, second or even third time this year, the retail No.1 was not the most popular game last week. That accolade (according to our trusted source) belonged to PS4 exclusive Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. Was this the first PSN-exclusive game to top the charts? We don’t know.

And until everyone starts sharing data, we’ll never know.

Yet even when you take into account digital hits like Cities: Skylines, Angry Birds 2 and Rocket League, this hasn’t exactly been a big year for video games.

The Witcher III, Batman and Battlefield were big sellers, but there’s been little else of note.

For all the rapid sales of PS4 and Xbox One, the software market has not managed to keep up.

Next week, however, the great games drought of 2015 comes to an end. Between next Friday and Christmas there is a major game out almost every single week.

The industry has a September starring Mad Max, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario Maker, Destiny, Forza, FIFA, PES, Skylanders and LEGO Dimensions, an October that marks the return of Rock Band, Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, Halo, Uncharted, Zelda, Assassin’s Creed, and WWE, and a November filled with wallet-

MCV Awards 2016 will take place at the new Hilton London Bankside (pictured, top)

SPONSORED BY

PRE-ORDER TOP 10

1

METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN DAY 1 EDN INC STEELBOOK (PS4) KONAMI

2

Until Dawn – Extended Edition (PS4)

3

Amiibo Mewtwo (Wii U)

Nintendo

4

Gears of War Ultimate Edn + Golden Hunter DLC (XO)

Microsoft

5

Amiibo Modern Mario 8-bit (Wii U)

Nintendo

6

Call of Duty: Black Ops III Inc Beta (PS4)

Activision

7

FIFA 16 (PS4)

EA

8

FIFA 16 (XO)

EA

9

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Day 1 Edn Inc SteelBook (XO)

10

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (PS4)

www.mcvuk.com

Sony

Konami

2015 might be one of the best Christmas’ the industry has had in years. draining hits like Call of Duty, Fallout, Tomb Raider, Star Wars: Battlefront and Need for Speed.

There’s Hitman, Rainbow Six: Siege and Just Cause in December, plus a few games still awaiting a release date.

Critics might point to the sheer number of shooters and 18-rated titles amongst that lot. In contrast to recent years, there’s a distinct lack of new IP, too.

Yet there’s also some variety in there: a mix of licensed games, kids brands and returning icons.

Even amongst those shooters, each one is offering something quite different, whether that’s the tactical gameplay of Rainbow Six, the sci-fi stylings of Halo, the near-future warfare of Call of Duty or the epic, multiplayer re-imagining of some of Star Wars’ most famous battles.

There’s not the overabundance of games that impacted the market at the start of the previous generation, but there isn’t a dearth of triple-A releases like last year.

It’s been more by luck than design, but the end of 2015 might actually be one of the best Christmas’ the industry has had in years. And maybe, just maybe, we can go a few months without moaning about the lack of digital data. Maybe. cdring@nbmedia.com

Sony 03

August 21st 2015

INTERVIEW PETE HINES, BETHESDA

Fallout boy Bethesda is on course for the biggest 12 months in its history. Christopher Dring talks Fallout 4, Doom and mobile gaming with VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines

A

t E3 2014, Bethesda told MCV that it had never announced a game at the LA show before.

12 months later, not only did the firm announce projects, they actually launched one, and did so via a curtain-raising press conference brimming with confidence.

In an act of stated symbolism, Fallout creator Todd Howard took to the stage at The Dolby Theatre in LA – a venue famed for hosting Oscarcraving movie stars – to declare E3 as ‘the best week for entertainment ever’. It was a statement watched by millions around the globe.

How far this company has come.

At the start of the last generation, Bethesda had just a single (admittedly, very good) games studio and one (admittedly, very good) IP – Elder Scrolls. Now it boasts a lineup of triple-A royalty that includes Fallout, Dishonored, Wolfenstein, Quake, Doom and The Evil Within.

And during its E3 conference it showed perhaps its strongest release slate to date, headlined

by Fallout 4, but also including Dishonored 2 and the Doom reboot.

“For this year, with everything we had going on, the E3 showcase was the right way to talk about it,” Pete Hines, VP of PR and marketing at Bethesda, told MCV. “We could have done that at the booth and been just as successful, but the showcase felt like the better way to go. I liked the idea of being able to show it to everyone at the same time.”

we did eight or 10 games a year?’

That’s just not who we are or how we do things.”

franchises to rely on. Back in 2011, Bethesda had a big year with games like Brink, Hunted, Rage and Skyrim. What followed was almost three years where Dishonored, a Doom 3 update and some DLC were the only releases of note.

Hines plays down the need for more acquisitions, and actually feels the firm is starting to find some consistency.

“We are getting to the point where these studios that we have acquired have now put a thing out, figured out how they work together and are starting to hit a bit more consistency,” he says.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily the case that we are doing okay with seven studios, but if it was 14 we could do twice as much. We are pretty aware of who we are and we ultimately want to build to a point where we are doing three or four big titles a year. I would prefer not to be in the same place we were in in 2011, where we had four titles and then went super quiet. I want to avoid that. We want to get to the point of regular releases, but we are not thinking: ‘What if

APOCALYPSE NOW For the next 12 months, Fallout 4 is unquestionably the biggest game in Bethesda’s arsenal.

2008’s Fallout 3 was a massive sales success, while 2011’s Elder Scrolls: Skyrim – a game made by the same studio – is the biggest RPG of all time, smashing even Bethesda’s most optimistic expectations.

“I think this can top Skyrim,” Hines says confidently. “It could be our biggest release ever. But we will see. It is part of my job to build the megaphone that we hold up to the game, and the game decides how loud it goes. Just how big it is going to be is hard to say. Skyrim was a massively big deal.”

Early signs are good. Facebook said that in the month after E3, Fallout 4 was the most talkedabout game on its social network.

The special edition has already sold-out, with fans eager to get their hands on the ‘real Pip Boy’ toy that is included in the package.

SPENDING SPREE Bethesda’s rapid rise has been down to some shrewd spending. Over the past eight years it has created two studios and bought four others.

But its release schedule remains patchy and it has no annual

August 21st 2015

Fallout 4 arrives seven years after its predecessor

04

ULTIMATE DOOM FALLOUT 4 is a huge launch, but in many ways the game launches itself.

The biggest challenge for Bethesda’s publishing comes in re-establishing Doom.

The new Doom opened E3, and already you can see advertisements for the game, almost a year before its launch in Spring next year.

“Your average first-person shooter gamer does not list Doom amongst his or her favourite or most beloved first-person shooters, because there hasn’t been one for a decade,” reminds VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines. “Doom is fast-paced, very visceral and sort of incentivises you to be aggressive. If you are low on health, the best way to stay alive is to find a demon and kill. If you stop taking fire for a little bit, your health doesn’t go back up.

“It has some old-school sensibilities but it is doing it in a very modern, fresh next-gen way. The multiplayer is not your traditional first-person shooter multiplayer. It is not one shot and the other guy is dead, it is not about who has the fastest trigger finger or reactions.

“All of those things together creates something you’re not going to get from many other first-person shooters, which is all well and good, but if nobody knows about it, it’s like a tree falling in a forest while nobody is around. So the posters you’re seeing are intending to raise its profile.

“It can go toe-to-toe with those really big shooters.”

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PETE HINES, BETHESDA INTERVIEW

Bethesda’s Pete Hines hosted the firm’s first-ever E3 conference

It shouldn’t come as a surprise; Fallout merchandise has always sold in significant numbers. During Gamescom, you couldn’t move for Fallout T-shirts and masks.

“I saw someone with a Vault 101 hoody when I got out of the car,” adds Hines, referring to the Fallout 3 apparel.

“We now have a licensing director who is specifically focused on building and growing that, a really smart guy. He used to be at ThinkGeek and we hired him with a specific focus on growing our merchandise side - specifically in Europe where it hasn’t been as good as it has been in North America.”

The hunger for a new Fallout was evident at E3 when Bethesda unveiled and launched Fallout Shelter, an iOS game that immediately shot to the top of the charts and became the highestgrossing title of the week.

Its success was such that mobile experts even suggested Fallout Shelter might prove more lucrative than Fallout 4.

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“No way,” retorts Hines. “Not even close.” But he adds that Shelter remains a big part of Bethesda’s plans for the next 12 months.

Shelter wasn’t the only new Bethesda mobile game. The firm is also working on Elder Scrolls Legends, a strategy card game akin to Blizzard’s Hearthstone.

Bethesda is a firm renowned for its triple-A efforts, so why the sudden smartphone interest?

“Simple,” answers Hines. “To put games on that platform that caters for an existing fanbase or to grow a fanbase. It doesn’t matter if you know Fallout or not to be able to enjoy Fallout Shelter.”

I think Fallout 4 can top Skyrim and be our biggest release ever.

But we will see.

Pete Hines, Bethesda

WAIT FOR THE BOOM The launch of Fallout 4 and the move into mobile are only two elements of Bethesda’s busy 12 months. There’s the return of critical darling Dishonored, which launches alongside a new Doom (see Ultimate Doom), plus there’s a new IP in online PC title Battlecry.

05

Then there’s Elder Scrolls Online. The game had a troubled launch on PC in 2014, but it was re-launched in May on consoles, and the results have been pleasing.

“The PC launch was bumpy,” admits Hines. “But we stuck with it, we didn’t just throw our hands in the air and go: ‘Oh, that didn’t go as well as we wanted so f- it’. The team focused on the stuff that they felt should be better.”

Bethesda views itself as a secretive company; a Rockstar and Valve-type whose plans and secrets are hidden behind a wall of silence. By stepping out on stage at E3, it brought down that wall.

Hines plays down the idea of further E3 conferences. But when you’re topping the App Store, creating the most talked-about title on Facebook, and have a release schedule that rivals the world’s biggest games firms, there’s no going back to those secretive days.

Because if Bethesda can sustain its recent run, it will find itself a permanent member of the games publishing big leagues.

August 21st 2015

NEWS

UP & DOWN

Market Data No new releases this week means that the market continues to decline

RARE REPLAY slips five places to No.6 as sales drop 71 per cent

£10m £15m

£10m £5m

£7.1m 269,210 units

£6.2m 242,477 units

Week Ending August 1st

£5m 204,836 units

Week Ending August 8th

Week Ending August 15th

IS VR THE FUTURE THIS WEEK?

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: UNTIL DAWN

[INFO] FORMATS: PS4 RELEASED: August 28th PUBLISHER: Sony DISTRIBUTOR: CentreSoft CONTACT: 01216 253 388

August 21st 2015

PLAYSTATION UK kickstarted its marketing push for upcoming survival horror game Until Dawn with an experiential marketing event.

Fans were invited to a cabin-themed scarebox, with their terrified reactions being used in the game’s main ad campaign.

Meanwhile, online, the publisher has been using the game’s theme of ‘choice’ by allowing gamers to choose what trailer they want to watch.

The firm also used the title’s celebrity stars - including Hayden Panettiere of Heroes fame Fargo’s Peter Stormare, as well as Need for Speed’s Rami Malek – in its early marketing for the game.

Until Dawn is the latest survival horror in a long

DYING LIGHT re-enters the Top Ten after a retailer promotion with sales increasing 23 per cent

line-up of scary games to appear on the PlayStation consoles.

“PlayStation has a rich heritage over its 20-year history of debuting and nurturing new franchises and gaming genres,” Palmer told MCV. “The horror genre is very well-represented with Resident Evil, Silent Hill and our own Siren.

Even the popularity of the Zombies mode in Call of Duty is testimony to the appeal of the genre.

Until Dawn represents a novel twist in a genre for which PlayStation fans have proven a healthy appetite.

“We are hoping to strongly appeal to that demand with our marketing and PR comms in the run up to launch of Until Dawn.”

06

YES VR and AR promise to change the way we interact with technology and entertainment.

John Riccitiello, Unity

www.mcvuk.com

NEWS

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

THE FUTURE OF GAMES IS NOT ‘SPOTTY NERDS’

54m

In an attempt to promote diversity with games development and to encourage students to take arts subjects along STEM courses, John Cridland, DG of the Confederation of British Industry, said: “We need extra coders - dozens and dozens of them but nobody is going to play a game designed by a spotty nerd.” Twitter was not impressed. He later apologised.

Take-Two has announced that Grand Theft Auto V has shipped 54m units between September 2013 and June 2015

33% @MituK As a spotty nerd, coder and game dev, #notaspottynerd is not okay. We do need diversity tho, spotty nerds or otherwise.

Mitu Khandaker-Kokoris, The Tiniest Shark, Wednesday, August 13th

@GabrielleKent Wow. Great that he’s pushing the arts and games development, but, um, why is he branding us spotty nerds?

Gabrielle Kent, Teeside University, Wednesday, August 13th

KING’S REVENUE AND PROFITS DIP

RESIDENT EVIL 2 IS BEING REMADE

Candy Crush giant King.com has announced an 18 per cent dip in revenue year-on-year as players spend less in Candy Crush Saga.

Capcom has announced that 1998 classic horror title Resident Evil 2 is being remade. It is being produced by Yoshiaki Hirabayash, who handled Resident Evil HD, which launched in January.

@tha_rami King’s monthly active users are down by 9 per cent. Nuclear Throne MAU’s are up 25 per cent after the menu redesign. Investors, you know what to do.

Rami Ismail, Vlambeer Friday, August 14th

@KrystalSim I love Resident Evil 2 more than members of my actual family.

2016 Final Fantasy XV is to receive a simultaneous global launch in 2016 – a first for a ‘main’ entry in the series

100,000 Indie title Her Story sold 100,000 units in its first month out, developer Sam Barlow has announced

$20m

Krystal Sim, freelance writer Wednesday, August 13th

@joosterizer I suppose non-Candy Crush’s share of gross bookings up from 41 per cent to 61 per cent is good, but not surprising as the franchise is on decline.

Joost van Dreunen, SuperData Thursday, August 13th

In its financial report for H2 2016, GAME claims that it holds a third of the total share of the UK games market

Blizzard’s free-to-play card title Hearthstone brings in $20m a month, according to SuperData

@jemalexander Resident Evil 2 Remake is the only game that can dethrone Resident Evil Remake as the best Resident Evil game of all time.

Jem Alexander, Riot Tuesday, August 12th

Xbox ONE Rock Candy Wired Controller - PDP Design and manufacture the Officially Licenced Microsoft Rock Candy Wired Controller for Xbox ONE europesales@pdp.com

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GAMESAID THIS WEEK ....................................................

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

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NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR GAMESAID 2015 CHARITIES

JOIN GAMES ON SONG

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

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

The UK games industry can once again decide which charities will be receiving funds from GamesAid this year.

Until August 28th, GamesAid members can nominate organisations that they feel are deserving of receiving funds this year. Only GamesAid

members can put forward charities. To be eligible, organisations need to help disadvantaged and disabled children, and should have an annual turnover of under £5m and 30 per cent admin costs. Members should email contact@gamesaid.com

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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.

August 21st 2015

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

Gara departs PlayStation UK Light named UK boss O New addition to PlayStation trade marketing team O EA’s Woolnough joins 2K PLAYSTATION | The VP and MD of SCE UK FERGAL GARA (left) has resigned.

Gara has left to ‘pursue a new professional venture’. He became PlayStation UK’s boss in September 2011, replacing RAY MAGUIRE. Prior to that, Gara was in charge of entertainment at Asda.

Gara’s replacement is SCE’s Nordics, East and South Europe general manager, WARWICK LIGHT (middle above) Light has served in that role since June 2008, having

August 21st 2015

who have been amazing and, of course, Jim, for his support along with the PlayStation family who have helped make this period as successful as it has been.

“I wish Warwick every success as he takes on the UK and Ireland business.”

Meanwhile, PlayStation UK has made a new hire to its trade marketing team.

AIDEN MCCUMISKY (far left) comes on board as trade marketing executive with a wealth of retail experience from his time working at Panasonic, where his main accounts included Argos, Sainsburys and indie retailers. Prior to PlayStation, he worked at Amazon where he worked on its offline marketing.

previously worked for three years as SCE’s New Zealand GM. “Fergal is an extremely talented leader, and in his four years managing the UK business has significantly strengthened the brand and made countless contributions to our success,” European president and CEO JIM RYAN said.

“I have complete confidence that Warwick is the right person to replace Fergal in the UK role, and his 20 years of service to Sony has been marked by outstanding performance.”

Gara added: “I have had a fantastic time leading PlayStation in the UK and Ireland over the past four years. I am very grateful for having had this opportunity and I want to thank my team

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“Aiden joins at an exciting time in our business and brings a breadth of retail knowledge and a passion for the industry,” trade marketing boss ROSEMARY BUAHIN said. “I am pleased to welcome him to the team.”

2K GAMES | PR GEMMA WOOLNOUGH has joined 2K. Woolnough has joined the Borderlands publisher as a UK PR manager.

Before she was at EA, having joined in 2010 as international PR coordinator, being being promoted to UK publicist in 2011. She rose to the role of UK integrated communications executive in 2012.

www.mcvuk.com

OPINION

ANALYSIS

Summer slump July 2015: Month in review

ALEX SMITH, senior account manager at Generation Media, examines how mobile giants such as King and Machine Zone fared in the world of TV ads last month

G

ames and consoles TV market ad pressure fell for the first month since February as the number of individual TV viewer ratings (TVRs) in the market decreased by 48 per cent from June to July 2015.

July was in fact the fifth month this year to experience year-onyear decline. Despite this, the market is still six per cent up due to the months of January and May, which saw significant investment from King.com for both Candy Crush and Bubble Witch Saga.

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Despite July’s annual decrease in ad pressure, the number of brands on air versus the same month last year increased (15 versus 24), showing a decrease in weight of the average TV campaign.

July has proven to be a key summer month for child- and family-focused titles; last month we saw some of the biggest investment from the likes of Nintendo, which accounted for six out of the 24 campaigns that aired and 24 per cent of all individual TVRs delivered.

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YOY% CHANGE

YTD

IND. TVRS Now that PS4 and Xbox One are fully established, there is potential for TV ad support to fall across the October to December period. It remains to be seen whether the yearto-date growth figure of six per cent will remain until the end of 2015.

Regardless, Machine Zone, with its free-to-play MMO property Game of War, continued to come out top of the pile for July with heavy support of their blockbuster commercial starring Kate Upton for the mobile app.

Under the microscope: What is the most common launch day for games TV ads?

Generation Media reviews the most common ad launch day 60%

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IND. TVR INVESTMENT

Generation Media is a communications ďŹ rm focused on the leisure and entertainment markets. You can contact the company on 0207 307 7900.

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August 21st 2015

Ind. TVRs

www.mcvuk.com

On Sunday, TV viewing for games and consoles advertising is at its highest, with a fifth of all ads in 2015 viewed on this day.

With viewing naturally higher at weekends, perhaps there is potential for more TV campaigns to launch on Sunday. Currently only seven per cent of campaigns launch on this day.

Traditionally, it is seen as commonplace for advertisers to launch campaigns well before their official launch date to build anticipation. In fact, for the five heaviest boxed campaigns in 2015, the average number of on-air days before a titles launches is 16.

% of TV Campaigns lunched by day

E

A will now release games in the UK on Thursdays. With this in mind, we look at the day of the week the games and consoles market has historically launched TV campaigns.

There have been 44 games and consoles launches (excluding mobile and online games) so far in 2015.

The most popular day to launch a campaign is Monday, with 48 per cent of all games and consoles launching their marketing on this day.

Despite the fact that Monday is the most common day to launch a campaign, it is not the day that is backed most heavily by the industry.

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

DATA & RESEARCH LEGO Jurassic World is once again No.1 as the summer dry period continues WARNER Bros’ LEGO Jurassic World is top of the UK charts for the third week since its launch.

Kids games often have a longer tail, and the Xbox 360 edition is still by far the best-selling SKU, forming 41 per cent of sales – over double any other platform.

Last week’s No.1 – MICROSOFT’s Rare Replay – was the best-selling single platform game of the week. Sales of the Rare collection fell 71 per cent week-on-week causing it to drop to No.7 place in the All Formats chart.

Meanwhile WARNER BROS’ Dying Light makes a return to the Top Ten as sales increased 23 per cent. The title returns

to tenth place on the back of a retailer promotion.

But what the physicalonly charts don’t say is that the best-selling game last week was in fact THE CHINESE ROOM’s Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.

The SONY-published title comfortably outsold LEGO Jurassic World, sources have told MCV. This isn’t the first time a digital title has outsold a game in the All Formats physical charts.

In March, PARADOX’s Cities: Skylines was the best-selling game, while Grand Theft Auto V would have been top of the charts in April had digital PC sales of ROCKSTAR’s game been included.

TOP 10 STEAM (GLOBAL)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 02 03 05 RE RE 04 NEW 09 RE

ROCKET LEAGUE PUBLISHER: PSYONIX DEVELOPER: PSYONIX

TITLE PUBLISHER Ark: Survival Evolved Studio Wildcard Grand Theft Auto V Rockstar Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Valve H1Z1 Daybreak Game Studio Left 4 Dead 2 Valve Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (P) Konami Rocket League – Supersonic Fury DLC Psyonix The Witcher III: Wild Hunt CD Projekt RED Civilization V: Complete Edition 2K Games

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

LW 05 04 03 06 01 07 10 11 13 08 09 12 17 15 14 18 19 16 20 21 23 30 24 27 25 36 35 RE 32 34 33 28 22 RE RE RE RE RE RE

LEGO JURASSIC WORLD

FORMATS: PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, Vita DEVELOPER: TRAVELLER’S TALES Title Grand Theft Auto V The Elder Scrolls Online Batman: Arkham Knight FIFA 15 Rare Replay Battlefield Hardline Minecraft: Xbox Edition Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Dying Light Rory McIlroy PGA Tour F1 2015 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Destiny LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham The Witcher III: Wild Hunt Far Cry 4 Terraria WWE 2K15 LittleBigPlanet 3 Farming Simulator 15 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Watch Dogs Mortal Kombat X Splatoon Payday 2: Crimewave Edition Disney Infinity 2.0 The Last of Us Remastered Assassin’s Creed Unity Call of Duty: Ghosts Super Smash Bros Wolfenstein: The Old Blood God of War III Remastered Skylanders Trap Team Skate 3 The Crew Forza Horizon 2 The LEGO Movie Videogame Trials Fusion: The Awesom Max Edition Tomodachi Life

Week ending August 15th

August 21st 2015

WARNER BROS

Format Publisher PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, Vita, PC EA XO Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, 360, VIta Sony PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO EA PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco/Codemasters PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco/CD Projekt RED PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 505 Games/Merge PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games PS4, PS3 Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Koch Media PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO 505 Games PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii Disney PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4 Sony PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii Activision Blizzard PS3, 360 EA PS4, XO, 360, PC Ubisoft XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO Ubisoft 3DS Nintendo

Week ending August 15th

10

www.mcvuk.com

DATA ANALYSIS Source

TOP 10 IPAD GAMES PAID

TOP 20 INDIVIDUAL FORMAT

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

LW 03 02 06 04 05 08 17 07 10 11 09 32 13 21 24 12 19 14 28

RARE REPLAY FORMAT: XO

MICROSOFT

DEVELOPER: RARE

Title LEGO Jurassic World Batman: Arkham Knight Minecraft: Xbox Edition The Elder Scrolls Online The Elder Scrolls Online Grand Theft Auto V Dying Light Rory McIlroy PGA Tour Batman: Arkham Knight Grand Theft Auto V F1 2015 Dying Light Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Splatoon Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Battlefield Hardline LittleBigPlanet 3 The Witcher III: Wild Hunt FIFA 15

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

Publisher Warner Bros Warner Bros Microsoft Bethesda Bethesda Rockstar Warner Bros EA Warner Bros Rockstar Bandai Namco/Codemasters Warner Bros Sony Nintendo Sony EA Sony Bandai Namco/CD Projekt RED EA

Week ending August 15th

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 Terraria Farming Simulator 16 Liviging Legends Monument Valley Football Manager Classic 15 Build Battle Football Manager Handheld 15 Build Battle 2

Week ending August 16th

TOP 10 IPHONE GAMES PAID

01

FM HANDHELD 2015 DEVELOPER: SEGA

TW TITLE 02 Minecraft: Pocket Edition 03 Storage Hunters UK 04 Monopoly Plus 05 Heads Up! 06 The 7 Second Challenge 07 Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 08 Bloons TD 5 09 Farming Simulator 16 10 Terraria

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

LW 01 RE RE 04 RE 05 06 RE 07

DEVELOPER Scott Cawthon 505 Games Giants Software Big Fish Ustwo Sega Orgonite Doo Sega Linal Richmore

DEVELOPER Mojang UKTV Interactive EA Warner Bros Mind Candy Scott Cawthon Ninja Kiwi Giants Software 505 Games

Week ending August 16th

MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION MICROSOFT TOP 10 GLOBAL GOOGLE PLAY DEVELOPER: MOJANG/4J TITLE Goat Simulator Max: The Curse of Brotherhood Syberia 2 CastleMiner Z Trivial Pursuit Live ApocZ Avatar Warfare Quantum Conundrum Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

PUBLISHER Coffee Stain Studio Microsoft Studios Bandai Namco DigitalDNA EA Sick Kreations DigitalDNA Square Enix Valve

Week ending August 15th

www.mcvuk.com

11

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

PRISON LIFE RPG DEVELOPER: NOBSTUDIO

TITLE Fantasty Premier League 15/16 Minecraft: Pocket Edition Storage Hunters UK Football Manager Handheld 15 Bridge Constructor Farming Simulator 15 Bloons TD 5 Terraria Scribblenauts Remix

PUBLISHER All Apped Up Limited Mojang UKTV Interactive Sega ClockStone Studio Giants Software Ninja Kiwi 505 Games Warner Bros

Correct as of August 18th

August 21st 2015

INTERVIEW BRENDAN IRIBE, OCULUS

‘Oculus Rift isn’t going to sell billions in 2016 – and that’s okay’ After years of hype, Oculus Rift is finally on the brink of launch. Alex Calvin speaks to Oculus boss Brendan Iribe about the reality of VR, its Microsoft partnership and why big publishers aren’t backing the new tech yet

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or 18 months, there have been a lot of exciting developments for VR. Facebook purchased Oculus for $2bn, while Sony was getting involved in this new space with Project Morpheus. And Valve announced it had partnered up with HTC for its first Valve VR headset, the Vive.

But in recent months, the mood surrounding VR has been slightly dampened. We have Network CEO Neil Young predicting a ‘VR collapse’ as companies rush into the sector before it hits the mass market, while Frontier’s David Braben urges caution towards the new tech.

Furthermore, development veteran Warren Spector went as far as to call VR a fad.

But Oculus boss Brendan Iribe says that the dream hasn’t died; rather, the reality has set in.

“VR is the Holy Grail – it’s the Holodeck,” he says. “For a lot of enthusiasts like ourselves, that moment of sensation occurred during the first two years of Oculus’ Kickstarter where everyone was excited about VR and saying ‘Oh my God, it’s finally here’.

“Then it’s: ‘Okay, it’s going to be here and it’s going to ship. Now where are we really? It’s going to work, but how? What is this?

Who is this for?’ You’re not going to get a billion people on Oculus Rift when we ship in 2016. You are going to get hopefully millions, and that’s okay. But we have come down from the initial sensation to focus on the reality and on making this an incredible experience. You buy it, you have to love it, you have

August 21st 2015

CCP is one of the publishers backing VR with EVE: Valkyrie

Another is the firm’s partnership with Microsoft, which it announced just before E3. While Oculus has developed its own Touch controller (pictured top right), this is a new device that developers haven’t had much experience with. But its

to want to go back into it every day, you want to show your friends and then they want to buy it and they want to go back into it.

“That domino will start to fall in 2016. It’s going to be very excited.

MCV has seen [Oculus’ control input] Touch and the Toy Box tech demo. Most of the world hasn’t seen that. They’ve seen maybe [older version] DK2, probably only DK1. This new Rift is a huge leap.

And it’s really where VR starts. The world is about to see that in 2016 – it’s going to be very exciting.

“Then every year or so they are going to see another leap. Not necessarily in consumer VR, but we will have at least a new prototype for a new consumer product almost every year. You are going to see new kit and tech coming at a very rapid pace. There’s more to come.”

We have come down from the initial sensation of VR to focus on the reality.

Brendan Iribe, Oculus

Microsoft deal – which sees every Oculus Rift headset ship with an Xbox One pad – will help studios familiar with this controller.

“Developers haven’t had Touch yet. They haven’t been able to work with Touch for years like they have the Gamepad,” Iribe explains.

“If we were going to go out there and deliver an input device for Rift, bundled in by default that everyone could depend on at launch, that’s

REALITY CHECK For all its pioneering ideas around new technology, it’s clear that Oculus is a very grounded company.

Iribe’s expectations of Oculus Rift’s sales are an indication of this.

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the Gamepad. We asked ourselves whether we could make a better Gamepad than Xbox’s. Maybe, but wouldn’t we be better served focusing on the future of VR input than trying to make a better Xbox One controller? And I’m not sure if we even could because it’s awfully good and it has had decades of refinement, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment.

“We felt we should bundle that in, get a great strong partnership with Microsoft so that we can ensure Windows 10 support out of the box is incredibly good. It really brought us together with Microsoft and also started to get some of the little Xbox bits over to Oculus. You start to see some of that streaming where you can stream the Xbox One console to our virtual cinema.

“It’s not the Holy Grail of VR, but it is a pretty cool use case – a virtual desktop, a virtual monitor, a virtual theatre over time is going to be a popular experience for VR. Imagine you can 3D reconstruct the room you are in and put an IMAX cinema right in your room and it’s hi-res.”

However, Iribe adds, Oculus’ Touch controller will eventually replace the Xbox One pad.

“There’s not going to be as much content on Touch at launch as there is on the Gamepad, but there’s going to be more and more.

Then you’ll see in later generations of Rift there’ll be bundled packages and things like that where Touch starts to be the main focus.”

WAIT AND SEE Outside of Sony and Ubisoft, few

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BRENDAN IRIBE, OCULUS INTERVIEW

Oculus’ Iribe says that there were won’t be many games with Touch support at launch

big publishers are backing virtual reality. When we’ve asked EA or Take-Two about the technology, the standard answer has been: ‘We’ll wait and see’. A lot of the scepticism around VR’s potential is due to this hesitation, but Iribe is not concerned.

It’s still early. People need to remember that consumer VR hasn’t started yet – it starts in 2016.

Brendan Iribe, Oculus

“It’s natural. Look at how long it took the big publishers to show up for mobile,” he says. “By the time they got there they realised that if they were going to be successful they needed to acquire somebody for an awfully large amount of money. That was okay. That’s not necessarily the wrong way to go

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about it, it’s just what worked for them. It took them a long time to enter the mobile arena and there were hundreds of millions of smartphone users and it still took them a while.

“What’s unique about virtual reality is that inside of these publishers, the developers and the creators all want to make VR games. They want to be a part of virtual reality. This is why they got into gaming. You have this internal desire to build VR that just didn’t exist on mobile.

“You didn’t have developers inside of EA banging down the executives’ doors saying: ‘We just want to make a mobile game. That’s the Holy Grail, that’s what we want to do’. But they are saying that for VR. “Having that momentum internally means you’ll see a lot of experiences show up over time.

There’s exactly zero consumer VR products shipping today. It’s still early, everyone still needs to remind themselves.

“Consumer VR hasn’t started yet, it starts in 2016.”

FACEBOOK POWER THERE are similarities between Oculus Rift – and any VR tech - and Nintendo’s Wii. The Rift, much like the Wii, is an entirely new concept that requires consumers to try the new tech to really understand them.

“We want to get Rift to as many people as possible,” Oculus boss Brendan Iribe tells MCV. “We also want to make sure it’s to the right people. We don’t want to sell Rift to the wrong people who don’t really know what they are getting themselves into. This is still the early generation of VR, it’s the first generation of consumer virtual reality. You should know what kind of product you are buying.

“And we want to try to do the best job possible at conveying that, at marketing that to the right people. We feel we’ve done a good job with the developer kits, maybe setting

13

the expectation, marketing those to the right people. So we’re going to be focusing our marketing efforts on really identifying and attracting the right consumers to Rift for PC VR and Gear for mobile virtual reality.

“And it’s great that with Facebook’s backing we actually do have a marketing budget. As a start-up our marketing budget would have been much smaller. It’s great to have its resources – we are hundreds of more people, we are going to deliver a much higher-quality product and user experience, we have a much more exciting path forward that’s going to happen a lot sooner around research and the innovation.

“And on the consumer marketing side, supply chain, manufacturing and retail, that’s all going to be bigger, better, faster with Facebook’s backing.”

August 21st 2015

THE BIG GAME UNTIL DAWN

UNTIL DAWN

Dawn of the dread The Evil Within, Alien Isolation and Resident Evil HD were just the start – horror takes a new form in PS4 exclusive Until Dawn. Pete Samuels, MD of Supermassive Games, and Joe Palmer, product manager at Sony, get Matthew Jarvis to face his fears

Release Date: August 28th Formats: PS4 Publisher: Sony Developer: Supermassive Games

I

t’s not safe to come out from behind the sofa yet.

The last year has seen horror rise back into the charts, as a mixture of beloved franchise sequels and remakes, big-name licensed titles and indie efforts draw scores of gamers seeking a fright.

Whether it’s Alien Isolation’s 2.1 million worldwide sales, The Evil Within reaching number one in the UK charts or the HD remaster of Resident Evil, which became the fastest-selling digital game ever released by Capcom in Europe and the US, scary titles are back.

Many of these games are, of course, old brands – or based on old brands. Next week, however, sees something entirely new come to shelves.

MAKING A KILLING Actually, to call PS4 exclusive Until Dawn completely new is to bend the truth a little.

The title is a brand new IP – it’s not a sequel or a licensed spin-off, and comes from a team known for PlayStation Move titles and BBC tie-ins, rather than horror games – but it has already been a name in the industry for longer than some of its peers.

“We announced Until Dawn back in 2012 at Gamescom as a PS3 title with PlayStation Move support,”

August 21st 2015

because we’ve retained some of that innovation. It’s certainly got Supermassive’s personality about the control system.

“In terms of the size and style of the game, it’s very big and very serious, and the first one we’ve done as a studio. Most of the team we’ve brought into the game have really strong pedigrees from big developers and publishers on triple-A titles.

It’s not new to anyone on the team, but to the studio it is.”

explains Pete Samuels, MD of developer Supermassive Games.

“We got an overwhelming response, a lot of positivity about the type of game it was and its interesting take on horror, but also an overwhelming desire for it not to be a Move title, particularly Move-only.

“We took that very seriously and began to have some conversations.

During those conversations the PS4 was coming over the horizon, so we looked at what we wanted to do and what would be best for the title. We all agreed that the best thing would be to age it up, make it more serious, and we could achieve that by making it more believable because of what the PS4 could do.”

In fact, while Until Dawn may look like a leap away from Supermassive’s past output – which includes titles such as Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock, motioncontrolled party game Tumble and the HD remaster of Killzone – the spooky title has underpinned much of the studio’s history.

“We’ve been working on this for five years now – and the studio is only seven years old,” continues Samuels. “It is quite different from our previous releases. We’ve cut our teeth on levels of innovation, controls and interface with Move titles and so on – that’s helped with Until Dawn

THE FATEFUL EIGHT Soaked in blood and punctuated with the shrill screams of teenagers, Until Dawn aims to recreate the feel of classic horror movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street.

The game’s cinematic qualities are hardly surprising; indie horror film-makers Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick helped write and advise on the title. Its cast, too, is plucked from the heart of cinema, including Hayden Panettiere from TV Pete Samuels, show Heroes, who also starred Supermassive Games in slasher sequel Scream 4.

“Hayden is not the only famous actor in the mix,” adds Joe Palmer, product manager at Sony. “Until Dawn also stars Peter Stormare of Fargo and

Most of the Until Dawn team have really strong pedigrees from big developers and publishers on triple-A titles.

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UNTIL DAWN THE BIG GAME

Prison Break and Rami Malek of Need for Speed and the Twilight Saga; it’s a real benefit to have such strong Hollywood talent in a cinematic game like this.”

Much like its cinematic siblings, Until Dawn relies upon building tension and fear in the player to pull off its story twists (See ‘Don’t Go That Way’). As with any film, the portrayal of emotion goes a long way to making characters relatable – a vital requirement if players are to want to move them out of harm’s way. Games have long been criticised for their inability to capture nuanced facial expressions and movements, but Supermassive has utilised the Killzone Shadowfall graphics engine, combined with its own custom-made systems, to bring its live-action cast to life.

“We wanted to make it feel like you were participating in a horror film,” Samuels states. “For a number

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a niche enthusiast genre, horror is increasingly a mainstream obsession – something no longer just for Halloween.

“The horror genre is huge in the wider entertainment industry,” observes Palmer. “People want to be scared and games always

of reasons, in horror games, that’s quite a new approach.

“Horror films have such a huge fan base and we’re massive fans, so we know that you can pull off good tension, fear and scares in that kind of photographic, cinematic medium. That was the challenge – can we do that in a game?

“By moving from first-person in the PS3 game to the current thirdperson cinematic, we are creating that horror film atmosphere and tension, where you desperately care for the characters, no matter how stupid they might be – which is very typical in a horror film. You can see the stress, the pain and the fear.”

Games carry the potential to be scarier than movies or novels due to their immersive and interactive nature.

GORY DAYS Until Dawn is launching in August – a release period not widely associated with horror. But it closely follows the release of scary movies Sinister 2 and The Gift, which have also opted to give consumers summer chills. Long

Joe Palmer, Sony

carry the potential to be scarier than movies or novels due to their immersive and interactive nature.

Hopefully what we’re seeing is a shift towards mainstream gaming appreciation for the genre.”

15

Samuels adds that the wider interest in horror as a whole has harmonised with the launch of PS4 and Xbox One to provide a fertile environment for terrifying titles to thrive.

“It’s partly because of what we can achieve in terms of realism with the next generation of consoles,” he says. “That’s driving people to want to do something very different, whatever their motivation – whether that’s realistic gore, or, for some, more realistic and terrifying monsters. Whatever your motivation, realism for horror is a big driver in games.”

Until Dawn’s reception among horror fans will be helped further by its platform alignment. Palmer says that, as a PlayStation exclusive, the title follows in the footsteps of seminal scary games that remain iconic and lucrative decades later.

August 21st 2015

THE BIG GAME UNTIL DAWN

Until Dawn features TV and Hollywood stars such as Heroes’ Hayden Panettiere

“PlayStation has a rich heritage over its 20-year history of debuting and nurturing new franchises and gaming genres,” he explains. “As part of that, the horror genre is very well represented with Resident Evil, Silent Hill and our own Siren. Even the recent popularity of the Zombies mode in Call of Duty still testifies to the appeal of the fright genre.

“Until Dawn represents a novel twist in a genre for which PlayStation fans have proven a healthy appetite. We are hoping to strongly appeal to that demand with our marketing and PR comms in the run-up to launch.”

THE NEW TERROR Perhaps it is Supermassive, rather than its players, that should be quaking in its boots. By entering the horror genre with Until Dawn, the developer will find itself headto-head with some of the most venerated games of all time.

Samuels perceives Until Dawn to be the offspring of, rather than a rival to, titles like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, as well as the masters of the macabre in other mediums.

“We’ve been inspired by pretty much every game,” he enthuses.

“We wouldn’t want to pick one thing out as inspiration because we don’t want to give too much away about the game. People will recognise a number of influences, in both small moments and big scenarios.

August 21st 2015

“I wouldn’t say nothing has influenced us because everything has. As a team, we watched about 1,500 hours of horror film in research for this and read I-don’tknow-how-many horror short stories and novels, from Lovecraft through Wheatley to Stephen King – the whole spectrum. They’ve all had an influence in some way.”

With its unique take on terror, it could be that Until Dawn becomes the next big horror hit – and Supermassive the next indie developer – to strike it big in the mainstream market.

“We wanted to do something new because we wanted to make a great horror game, and we needed to create our own,” recalls Samuels. “We feel very blessed that we managed to come up with a concept and that Sony has stuck with us, even through effectively stopping production on one platform and moving it over to another.”

Palmer concludes that there has rarely been a better time to make a splash with a horror title. It may be that Until Dawn was worth the long wait – for Supermassive as much as its players.

“The recent success of titles like The Evil Within is hugely encouraging and proves that there is still a healthy appetite for games in the horror genre,” says Palmer. “This gives companies more confidence to give horror games the attention they deserve.”

‘DON’T GO THAT WAY’

The recent success of titles like The Evil Within proves that there is still a healthy appetite for games in the horror genre.

Joe Palmer, Sony

16

“UNTIL Dawn has a classic horror movie setup,” says Sony product manager Joe Palmer.

“However, the way you interact with the story and characters is completely unique. You make all the decisions and shape the relationships. For once, instead of just shouting ‘Don’t go up the stairs’, you can actually make that decision for yourself.”

Until Dawn will allow players to tell their own scary story. A huge range of different endings will be available through the branching ‘butterfly effect’.

“The ‘butterfly effect’ turns what could be trivial split-second decisions into moments of grave peril,” explains Palmer. “Anyone can die and anyone can survive. It’s an incredibly complex narrative design, with thousands of unique pathways.”

This means that fans should be driven to complete the title multiple times.

“No two stories will be the same,” says Palmer. “I genuinely think gamers will be intrigued to know how much their choices impacted their story by playing through again and again.”

www.mcvuk.comJ

THE YEAR OF BANDAI NAMCO

Bandai’s bonanza With the huge success of Western titles The Witcher III and Project CARS, its been a great year for Bandai Namco. But what does this mean for the publisher’s traditional Japanese line-up? MCV reports

T

hink of Bandai Namco a few years back, and it’s likely that Pac-Man and Dragon Ball Z would come to mind. In 2015, however, it’s titles like The Witcher and Project CARS that have helped to redefine the publisher.

The firm had its first monthly UK publisher No.1 in May of this year following the blockbuster success of both CD Projekt RED’s fantasy RPG and Slightly Mad Studios’ racing title, which it published and distributed in the region. In fact, 25 per cent of all games sold during the month were published

by Bandai Namco.

“We’ve had a very strong 2015. It’s definitely one of our strongest years to date,” EMEA communications and events director André Persson says.

“With the releases of Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Project CARS, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, F1 2015 and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, we have gained an incredible amount of market share and generated a record amount of sales thanks to these high quality titles.”

Bandai Namco is on a roll, with its publishing and distribution of third-party titles continuing to gain momentum.

“We have some great relationships on the distribution side with companies like Codemasters, Little Orbit, UIG and CD Projekt RED,” explains Persson. “Co-publishing a brilliant racing game like Project CARS with Slightly Mad Studios has been a great learning experience for us and this will positively impact future titles like Get Even, which we are working on with developer The Farm 51. We have been very passionate about all of these titles,

August 21st 2015

building high quality plans for local markets and demonstrating them at global and local events that blow many others out of the water. We put a lot of hours, dedication and love into our PR and communities.

“We will continue to work on third-party publishing and distribution deals with the right partners that fit with our business.”

LOOKING TO THE WEST With the success Bandai Namco has had with its recent Western releases, one would be forgiven for assuming that the firm would start to favour these over its traditional line-up of Japanese titles. But this is not the case.

“Our Japanese IPs remains very important to our business and actually are very successful in the EMEA territories,” retorts Persson.

“Dragon Ball Xenoverse may not grab the headlines in the UK because of a lot of noise from triple-A mainstream titles, but behind the scenes we are witnessing some incredible successes – so we are happy with our ever-growing fanbase around the world.

“Game series such as One Piece, Naruto, Sword Art Online, Tales of and, of course, Dark Souls are also examples of very successful franchises inside and outside of Japan. Our overall entertainment ethos of delivering dreams, fun and inspiration to our huge fanbase is valid regardless of first- or third-party titles.”

UK PR and marketing boss Lee Kirton adds that there is still a dedicated fanbase for anime and manga.

“It’s always a tough one, as in the UK and Ireland you don’t grow up with anime and manga as you

We have invested heavily in localisation and special and collector editions to offer die-hard fans something they can keep forever.

Lee Kirton, Bandai Namco

18

do in Japan and other countries,” he explains.

“Having said that, there is a very strong fan base and we’ve witnessed this through our engagement with community and fans at events, and the one-to-one relationships we have with bloggers and media. It retains a healthy consumer base that we are well aware of and we continue to bring all of the titles we promised we would to the Western channels. We can do this through box or digital, including mobile, and we have invested heavily in localisation and special and collector editions to offer die-hard fans something they can keep forever.

“The anime and manga market is incredibly important to us; we have some amazing titles with Tales of Zesteria, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 and Dragon Ball Z Extreme Butoden to name a few.”

In fact, these anime titles makeup a great deal of Bandai Namco’s upcoming line-up.

“We have a very busy year ahead of us,” Persson says.

“Our focus right now is on our Japanese manga titles, including Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, as well as the brilliant Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations, Get Even and our new mobile title Pac-Man 256, which I think many people will enjoy. Adventure Time is epic and the new game has voiceovers from the show that will surely please fans. Also, Dark Souls III just won the best role-playing game prize at this year’s Gamescom.

“So we are continuing our strong year with some very exciting titles and we still haven’t announced everything for this fiscal year yet.”

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THE YEAR OF BANDAI NAMCO

INCREASED MOBILITY

IN addition to its console business, Bandai Namco is releasing titles in the mobile space. These include properties from animation studio Dreamworks such as How to Train Your Dragon 2, as well as titles based on the Monster High, Barbie and Pac-Man IPs. “Our mobile business is strong,” EMEA communications and events boss André Persson says. “We have studios all over

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the world, including Europe, working on new titles. We have quite a big catalogue of games for all ages that are being enjoyed in local languages. Japan is of course the strongest market, but we are seeing a strong growth in all countries for our titles as well as the business in general.

“We are trying a lot of new ideas with the mobile games we are releasing; one of the ideas I am actually quite fond

of is the ability to fully buy and convert a free-to-play game into a purchased game. What this means is that you can pay a small set fee and the game gives you infinite credits to continue playing as much as you want but still keeps the game design intact. Pac-Man 256 will have this feature and shows that we are keeping up with the ever-changing mobile games industry.”

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2015 is definitely one of our strongest years to date.

André Persson, Bandai Namco

The success of Western games like The Witcher 3 doesn’t mean Bandai Namco will dial back its Japanese titles August 21st 2015

17-21.08.2016, Cologne

Thank you to all

participants!

The world‘s largest fair and event highlight for interactive games and entertainment in Cologne. gamescom 2015 inspired across the board: · More than 800 exhibitors (+ 14%) from 45 countries · Around 345,000 visitors, including 33,200 trade visitors (+ 5%) from 96 countries · Area expansion to 193,000 sqm · Around 6,000 journalists from 58 countries

Koelnmesse GmbH Messeplatz 1, 50679 Köln, Germany Tel. +49 180 60 89 999 gamescom@visitor.koelnmesse.de

Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware

INDIE INTERVIEW FUNKTRONIC LABS

Getting the Funk out of triple-A Two years ago, a duo of developers from Japanese studio Q-Games left to start their own venture, Funktronic Labs. On the eve of the release of their first game Nova-111, Alex Calvin speaks to studio founder Eddie Lee about why he went indie

F

unktronic Labs started life in 2013.

It was founded by Eddie Lee and Kalin, veterans of Japanese studio Q-Games, who had worked on Q’s PixelJunk series for PlayStation platforms and PC. Initially based in Japan, Funktronic soon moved to LA. Now the duo are preparing to release their first title, Nova-111.

“There’s a cost-benefit to going indie,” Lee explains.

“Big games have the advantage of bigger budgets, huge productions and lots of production value. But conversely you have a lot of money invested, a lot of people whose lives are on the line so they can’t take as much risk generally, because you have investors, you have a lot of people to take care of.

“Our budget is relatively small compared to a triple-A budget.

Particularly for Nova-111, which is a weird game - it’s a turn-based/ real time title – so it’d be very risky in terms of triple-A. How do you communicate that? Because we are indie we are able to effectively take more risks.”

STRATEGIC MIX As Lee says, the concept behind Nova-111 – blending realtime strategy (RTS) and turnbased strategy games - is an interesting one.

“Kalin and I both like very similar games, lots of turn-based titles, like old-school roguelikes [a procedurally-generated RPG where death means restarting the game],” Lee says. “We find that turn-based games generally have a deep sense of strategy that we

August 21st 2015

Funktronic’s first game Nova-111 mixes RTS and turn-based strategy elements

very much enjoy. But the problem with a lot of turn-based games is that if you are fighting someone you are standing next to them and both idling there. It feels very artificial and there is no sense of urgency.

“So we thought about real-time games, which are the opposite, where you have tonnes of urgency, lots of things going on at a given moment, but because it’s so frantic you sometimes don’t have enough time to think and stategise and find your tacts. We thought about mixing the two, extracting the elements that we find to be the best of both genres and distill them into Nova-111. That’s how it all started.”

And this is not the only experimental project the studio has worked on. During Nova-111’s development, the firm also did some work-for-hire projects, including LEAP VR titles Lotus and Collider.

“Those were fun projects that we did during the development of LEAP. It was mostly to support ourselves, because we’re a small studio. We’re not super wellfunded so we’ve been going to

Because we don’t have a catalogue of games to fund ourselves, we turned to work-forhire projects to live.

Eddie Lee, Funktronic Labs

22

contract work to fund ourselves.

It’s been fun, but it’s also been a bit distracting from our main goal, which was to make Nova. But it’s part of the process. Nova-111 is our big, first, real game. Because of that we don’t have a catalogue of games to fund ourselves. So we had to do that in order to live.”

He continues: “I’d love to continue working on our own IP. We want to make interesting things, interesting experiences for people to show them how games can be different.

Nova is different in that we tried to mesh together two genres. And hopefully if Nova does well, it’ll allow us the freedom to keep going down that route.”

GETTING PHYSICAL Right now, like many indie games, Nova-111 is a digital-only release.

And Lee says that bringing the game to physical retail does not make sense.

“I grew up going to stores and buying games,” he says.

“There’s a sense of magic just going to a store and buying a game. It’s a different business, though. You go to a store and buy a boxed copy of whatever triple-A game you want and it’s $60. And because it’s such a high price, you can justify the printing, distributing and shelf space costs.

For a game like Nova, it’s got to be ‘indie’ price. It doesn’t make sense for us to package it. If we do, three-quarters of the costs will go into packaging and distribution, which doesn’t make sense.

Maybe we could do a bundle or something with other indie games.

But for Nova on its own, it’s not feasible financially.”

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MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE MCV speaks to Alex Bowness of Canterbury-based retro specialists Level Up Games about why the store has been selling lots of Dreamcasts this summer, and what they use Ebay and Amazon Marketplace for How has business been recently?

It’s been very decent actually. It’s an odd climate for gaming at the moment, especially when you are dealing primarily in retro as there’s no rhyme or reason to it, but there’s enough health in the retro scene right now so we’ve been rocking along quite nicely.

What’s been selling well?

SNES consoles have had a massive resurgence recently.

We’ve also done really well with

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

trends but we don’t see as much of the new stuff.

Sega this year – we’ve sold 20 Dreamcasts in the last week.

That’s entirely down to the announcement at E3 this year of Shenmue III. All of a sudden, people are asking where they can play the first two Shenmue games.

You have a Facebook page.

What’s your social media plan?

It’s more for awareness – a conversational thing and stock advertising.

Have you seen many trade-ins for the newer consoles?

Not really. That’s because there are a lot of good releases coming up so people are holding on to what they have got. We can ride those

You have some Pokémon card giveaways advertised on your Facebook page. What other areas have you diversified into?

Only into associated products –

PRICE CHECK: NOTTINGHAM

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UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

ZOMBI

MEGA MAN LEGACY COLLECTION

NOVA-111

The PS4, Xbox One and PC port of Wii U launch title ZombiU is out now

This six-game Mega Man compilation is set for PSN, Xbox Live and Steam

Curve’s strategy game is hitting PS4, Xbox One, Wii U and Vita next week

OUT: NOW

August 21st 2015

IN STORE

8. MGSV V: The Phantom Pain Day 1 Ed. + SteelBook Konami .........................................................................XO

OUT: AUGUST 25TH

24

OUT: AUGUST 25TH

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MARKETPLACE

Level Up Games 22 Burgate, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2HG

anime, manga, figurines, that kind of thing. We dabble in other areas without being specialists in them.

You also have a website – what’s the plan for that?

It’s rubbish. We started that up with the intention of doing grander things like opening a store. But we never got around to affording the EPOS system for the shop or updating the stock inventory, so nothing is linked and everything would have to be manual. We got

P: 01227 785002 W: www.levelup-games.co.uk F: /levelupgamescanterbury

half way through one section and by that point the stock list was out of date. So we wrote it off. It’s more of a contact portal.

In lieu of an online store, do you sell over any third-party sellers like GAME Marketplace or Amazon?

We sell over Amazon and Ebay for the more esoteric pieces. It’s the weirder pieces that won’t be picked up by people in store normally.

INCOMING TITLE

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

Exclusives from all three platform holders are hitting in the coming weeks with Nintendo’s Mario Maker, Sony’s Until Dawn and Microsoft’s Forza 6 FORMAT

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25

August 21st 2015

HORROR

HORROR It might still be summer, but it’s not safe to go outside, with horror games lurking just around the corner.

Matthew Jarvis checks out the spookiest merchandise on offer

THE resurgence in the popularity of horror games has been frightening.

After several years in the wilderness, the last 12 months have seen a number horror titles shoot to the top of the UK retail and digital charts.

Last year’s Creative Assemblydeveloped spin-off from the iconic sci-fi films, Alien: Isolation, sold more than one million copies in its first three months on sale. That total has since surpassed 2.11 million sales, according to Sega.

Resident Evil HD is Capcom’s fastestselling digital title ever released in the US and Europe.

Alien was quickly followed by another scary success – Bethesda’s The Evil Within, which went straight to number one in the UK retail charts upon release.

Alien and Evil Within seemingly set the stage for spooky games in 2015, as the year opened with another big triumph for the genre.

The much-anticipated HD remaster of Capcom’s seminal horror title Resident Evil was launched in late January.

The publisher later reported

SILENT HILL 2 – RED PYRAMID THING 1/6 SCALE LIMITED PVC STATUE Iconic Silent Hill 2 terror Pyramid Head (also known as Red Pyramid Thing) comes to life in this highly detailed PVC statue. The monster, which also appear in the movie adaptation of the franchise, stands 13 inches high and grips an unfortunate figure in his left hand, while wielding the horrific ‘Great Knive’ in his right. Designed for collectors, each figurine comes with a numbered certificate to prove its authenticity.

SRP: £175 Manufacturer: Gecco Distributor: Gecco Contact: info@gecco.co.jp

BETRAYAL AT HOUSE ON THE HILL

RESIDENT EVIL BSAA WRISTBAND

This co-operative board game recreates the spooky experience of exploring a haunted house, Scooby Doo-style.

Resi lovers can subtly express their fondness for Capcom’s seminal zombie franchise with this fabric wristband.

The stars of Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic survival horror game take refuge on lapels and tops thanks to these stylised pin badges.

SRP: £39.99 Manufacturer: Avalon Hill Distributor: Esdevium Contact: 01420 593 593

SRP: £4.99 Manufacturer: NECA Distributor: Completely Independent Dist.

Contact: 0116 278 7273

SRP: $20 (£13) Manufacturer: Esc Toy Distributor: Esc Toy Contact: info@esctoy.com

August 21st 2015

26

THE LAST OF US PINS: JOEL AND ELLIE

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HORROR

Sponsored by

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gaming merchandise uk

that the remake was its fastestselling digital title ever released in the US and Europe, shifting more than one million copies.

Sony similarly announced that Resident Evil HD was the bestselling game on PS3 and PS4 for the month of January.

Resident Evil’s resurrected success has encouraged Capcom to announce similar remakes for Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil 2.

It may be a couple of months until Halloween, but the summer

provides an ideal breathing space for new horror IP to thrive.

This year sees the launch of long-awaited PS4 exclusive Until Dawn – a game originally slated for release on the PS3 three years ago. Developer Supermassive Games says the title has been influenced by the creepy cinema staples of the 1980s, meaning that die-hard horror fans may be tempted to invest in macabre merchandise surrounding the title’s launch.

UNIVERSAL CLASSIC MONSTERS: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION BLU-RAY Horror cinephiles looking to get their fright fix can indulge with this expansive collection of eight seminal works in the genre: Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Phantom of the Opera, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Creature From the Black Lagoon. The set also includes a never-before-seen featurette about the restoration of Dracula, plus hours of bonus features, a 44-page booklet and eight art cards.

SRP: £49.99 Manufacturer: Universal Pictures Distributor: Universal Pictures Contact: 020 3618 8000

DYING LIGHT: NIGHTMARE ROW

THE EVIL WITHIN ASYLUM KEYCHAIN

THE ART OF ALIEN: ISOLATION

This novel spin-off to Warner Bros’ zombie title serves as a prequel, and was written by official James Bond author Raymond Benson.

Players can take a little bit of The Evil Within with them using this keyring, which frames the asylum setting in black on brushed metal.

Over 300 beautiful images take pride of place in this book, which includes concept drawings by artist Bradley Wright.

SRP: TBC Manufacturer: TBC Distributor: Warner Bros Contact: 020 7984 6700

SRP: £7.99 Manufacturer: Gaya Entertainment Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

SRP: £29.99 Manufacturer: Titan Books Distributor: Titan Books Contact: sales@titanemail.com

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27

August 21st 2015

HOT PRODUCTS

Sponsored by

HOT PRODUCTS MCV takes a look at the best accessories heading to UK retail. This week, Creative blasts out its latest headset and PowerA helps Amiibo fans show off their collection

CREATIVE SOUND BLASTERX H5 CREATIVE has launched a brand new range of gaming audio peripherals, dubbed the Sound BlasterX series. The H5 headset is the first product to emerge from the range.

The Sound BlasterX H5 features a simplified design, created to shed unnecessary parts in order to save weight.

A flexible, single-piece reinforced steel band runs over the top of the wearer’s head to provide a comfortable, but tight, fit.

In addition, the headset’s earcups are lined with plush, replaceable protein leather and memory foam cushions to seal out unwanted external noise, as well as being comfortable to wear.

Inside of the the earcups, two large 50mm FullSpectrum drivers have been positioned at a very specific angle to form a miniacoustic chamber over the ear for improved audio quality.

Players can speak, as well as listen with the H5, thanks to the

integrated detachable noisecancelling microphone.

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Like the rest of the Sound BlasterX Gaming Series, the H5 includes the BlasterX Acoustic Engine software for PC, which allows gamers to customise audio profiles to suit the types of game they are playing – for example, decreasing distractions and increasing audio details in online shooters to boost performance.

[INFO] RRP: £99.99 Release Date: Late September Distributor: Creative Contact: uk.creative.com

POWERA AMIIBO END LEVEL MODULAR DISPLAY STAND NINTENDO’S line of Amiibo figurines has inspired fervent collecting among fans, and now PowerA has come up with a way for enthusiasts to show off their impressive collections.

Inspired by the steps and flag pole that mark the end of each level in the Mario series of games, the retro-styled display stand can seat a number of figurines on its blocks.

Extra blocks can be added to showcase more Amiibo, and the modular pieces can be rearranged

August 21st 2015

28

into custom positions as users see fit.

Each set initially holds up to six Amiibo, but larger collections can be exhibited by combining multiple sets.

[INFO] RRP: £23 Release Date: October 1st Distributor: ILT Distribution Contact: 0845 519 7053

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DIRECTORY

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

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£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.

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August 21st 2015

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DIRECTORY

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

FINK

CREATIVE

DISTRIBUTION

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

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Web: www.sonydadc.com

August 21st 2015

DIRECTORY

GAMING ACCESSORIES

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VENOM

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

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

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INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE LUMI CONSULTING

DIRECTORY

WHO? Specialism: PR Location: Melbourne, 3000, Australia

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

Katie Gall, marketing and communications director at Lumi Consulting, talks about the PR agency’s work

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

Tell us about your company.

Lumi Consulting is a marketing and PR consultancy for the games and technology sectors.

We care deeply about the industry; our main priority is to facilitate the growth of the Australian video games business as a privately-funded one so that it can become more self-sustaining.

THIS MONTH’S DIRECTORY SPOTLIGHT: MHT TV GAME................................................................. gerry@mhtgame.com

What successes have you seen recently?

We have been lucky to work with some amazing developers and technology companies. Some of our recent work has been with Hipster Whale. We also recently supported the release of Bonza National Geographic by Minimega, which was pretty exciting.

What are you currently working on?

We are currently working with international games development studio MidBoss, of Gaming in Colour and Gaymer X fame, on their title Read Only Memories.

We are also involved in helping to organise the GX Australia that will be happening in Sydney in March next year.

What are the biggest trends affecting you right now?

Lack of private and government funding and lack of investment – Australia’s creative industries really suffer for these. One of our personal goals is to help find ways to make the industry more sustainable, and that can be by looking at alternative business To be included in the Develop Directory (which appears every month in Develop and now every week in MCV) contact cnangle@nbmedia.com

We’re seeing a lot of ‘double-A’ indie studios popping up. models, product development and private investment funding.

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

We’re really excited to see how the landscape of indie games is going to evolve; right now we’re seeing a lot of ‘double-A’ studios popping up, so we’re curious to see how they go.

How did you choose your company name?

Lumi is short and memorable and we like the association with path-finding or lighting the way – a fundamental mechanic in adventure games, which director Lauren and I are big fans of.

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Contact: W: lumiconsulting.com E: katie@lumiconsulting.com P: @steggy_

33

August 21st 2015

FACTFILE ROMANIA Sponsored by

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: ROMANIA Population: 19,942,642 Capital City: Bucharest Currency: Leu GDP (Per Capita): $10,859 KEY RETAILERS Carrefour, GameShop, Emag, Auchan, Real, Altex, Flanco, Diverta TOP DISTRIBUTORS Best Distribution

TOP DEVELOPERS Ubisoft, MavenHut, Mobility Games, Amber Studio, IDEA Studios, Quantic Lab, Transylgamia, Angry Mob Games, Big Blue Studios, Deep Byte Studios, Green Horse Games PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION Ubisoft, EA, Gameloft, King

ROMANIA is a small but mighty market for games, playing host to big players in the global industry.

The country continues to have just one big distributor for games, Best Distribution, which handles the importing of games for the country’s similarly small pool of High Street and online retailers.

Despite this, Romania has held some big games events in the past. In late 2013, the country’s capital Bucharest was home to the International eSports Federation Finals for Aeria Games’ shooter A.V.A., boasting almost $10,000 in prize money. The Romanian eSports Championship similarly offered $10,000 in winnings last year, followed by the DreamHack Masters Bucharest event.

The growing presence of progaming has led to an increasing number of eSports teams originating from the region, such

as XPC, as well as specialist games media sites.

Although enthusiast players are helping to support games retail in Romania, the market has seen a number of stores drop out of the industry over the last couple of years, leading to questions over the High Street’s future. In particular, local outlets have been impacted by the low cost of games in other European countries such as the UK, leading players to import from elsewhere.

Romania’s development sector is increasingly prosperous.

Alongside major studios like Ubisoft, King and EA that have set up in the region, there are many small independent outlets which continue to thrive.

The size of the development segment inspired the creation of the Romanian Game Developers Assocation (RGDA) in late 2013.

Alongside major studios like Ubisoft, King and EA sit many small independent outlets.

August 21st 2015

34

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ROMANIA FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... SOUTH KOREA Local success story Nexon has seen its revenues jump 16 per cent during Q2 of 2015, driven by the popularity of Dungeon&Fighter FREE-TO-PLAY publishing giant Nexon has seen its revenue propelled during the first half of 2015.

The Korean firm saw Q2 revenues rise 16 per cent year-on-year to hit 42.7 billion yen (£220 million), with profits more than tripling to 13 billion yen (£70 million).

PC continued to propel the popularity of Nexon’s free-to-play catalogue, rising 14 per cent to hit 32.5 billion yen (£170 million), but mobile also grew, up 20 per cent in terms of revenue to reach 10.2 billion yen (£53 million).

“Our solid second quarter results were driven by strong performance

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35

from both new and existing games,” observed Owen Mahoney, president and CEO at Nexon.

“We saw impressive results from key existing titles in Korea, Dungeon&Fighter in China and our

new title DomiNations in the US and Europe.

“We are also pleased with the momentum we saw in mobile, particularly in native mobile games, which doubled in revenues.”

August 21st 2015

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

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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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WORLDWIDE

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

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

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OFF THE RECORD

OFF THE RECORD This week, we take a long, bleary look back at the madness of Gamescom, from the UK’s royal presence to beach volleyball, Scalextric and – of course – cosplay INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS INDUSTRY trade body UKIE brought a touch of British style to its Gamescom booth earlier this month. By style, of course, we mean a subtle large golden throne, a royal box, pictures of past monarchs and that most traditional of British traditions – a large bowl of Pimms at a drinks reception.

There was also a showcase of some of the finest the UK’s development sector has to offer, including Robo Pixel Games, which won UK Game of the Show, sponsored by Green Man Gaming (pictured above, far right), for its title Gunnihilation.

Her Maj would be proud (and would certainly take the opportunity to show off her multiplayer prowess, we’re sure).

Pyramid Head yeeeeeeeeeeeeee

glass joe @Zerothemaster1

FROM PYRAMID HEAD TO PHANTO, WE WANT 72 .12: :+$7·6 YOUR FAVOURITE *$0,1* 02167(5" #GMGASKS

Tyrant from RE2. When he busted through the wall of a room I just downed him in, biggest jump scare I’ve ever experienced.

Doink! The Tonberry from the Final Fantasy series.

Damian Spite @DamianSpite Stalkers from Dead Space 2.

The blank slate protagonist. There is no monster more terrifying than my mind set loose in a sandbox. gobbo @gobboGER Doh from Arkanoid, and Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh, never could beat that dude.

Damian Phillip @MinerWilly83 Dragon God, Demons Souls.

Cameron8161 @cameron8161 Daniel Castro @ShotDC

The Jockey from Left 4 Dead 2.

STALKER’s Bloodsucker and RE4’s Regenerator.

H. Kim @metavital

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minoru @minoru09

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Harry Balzania @bottygerjoe The Wumpus from the text adventure Hunt the Wumpus.

Ron Baron @rdb1191998

August 21st 2015

OFF THE RECORD

SIX DEGREES OF JON RISSIK

‘COM OUT AND PLAY IN-BETWEEN the press conferences, gameplay demos and shovelling handfuls of curried bratwurst down your palette, you might have missed some of Gamescom’s more unique experiences.

Across the halls and outside, myriad activities were on offer for excited consumers and industry members already hungover and exhausted from covering the conferences.

We counted virtual recreations of fighter planes, racing motorbikes and F1 cars – as well as the ever-popular chance to jam on a plastic instrument in the Guitar Hero area. Meanwhile, real instruments were used for the Video Games LIVE concert. Unless there’s a Flute Hero we haven’t heard about.

DOVETAIL’S SVP AND GM TAKES A TRIP THROUGH THE INDUSTRY AND BEYOND TO LINK UP WITH FRIEND TO ALL KEVIN BACON

As well as movies, KEVIN BACON starred in recently cancelled TV show The Following alongside...

...SHAWN ASHMORE, who you may also recognise from Quantum Break. Ashmore appeared at Gamescom, on-stage with...

...SAM LAKE, face of Max Payne and writer and creative director at Remedy Games. Lake worked with former CEO of the studio...

...MATIAS MYLLYRINNE, before he departed for World of Tanks firm Wargaming. He’s also on the GDC Europe board, much like...

...NICK BUTTON-BROWN, who heads up studio Improbable.

A few years back, ButtonBrown found himself at EA...

...with JON RISSIK, who spent a decade at the publisher before moving to Codemasters and, now, Dovetail.

August 21st 2015

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OFF THE RECORD JUST COS’ LIKE any big games show, the most creative fans in the industry came together once again at Gamescom to show off their latest and greatest cosplay creations.

We counted several hundred Marios, all 719 Pokémon (probably), the entire roster of Street Fighter and a croft of Tomb Raiders (please submit better collective nouns on a back of a postcard addressed to the MCV office).

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August 21st 2015

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