MCV864 February 5th

SWEET LIKE CANDY THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES ISSUE 864 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 5TH 2016

KING’S PLANS TO GROW BEYOND CANDY CRUSH SAGA P04

Revealed: The best (and worst) paid jobs in UK video games Retail and media least profitable professions O Average industry salary is £29,000

by Christopher Dring MARKETING, development and sales are by far the best paid sectors in the UK games industry.

That’s according to MCV and Develop’s 2016 Salary Survey, which once again shows that UK games workers earn - on average - £29,000 across all markets.

Unsurprisingly, publishing is the most profitable market to be in, with marketing staff, sales managers and senior PR executives earning north of £30,000 a year. The best-paid non-senior management position is marketing director.

Although starter development roles are low paid (particularly games tester and junior coder), that changes noticeably the higher up the chain they go. A senior games programmer earns, on average, £47,650 a year.

56.7 per cent of UK games industry employees work more than 40 hours a week.

The poorest sectors to work within is retail and the games media. Sales assistants are the lowest paid games industry professionals, earning just above the national minimum wage of £12,200.

Elsewhere in the survey, 56.7 per cent of UK games industry employees work more than 40 hours a week.

For more stats from the Salary Survey, turn to page 16.

Sales assistants are the worst paid workers in the games industry

BEST PAID JOBS 1. Marketing Director 2. Lead Coder 3. Sales Manager

£56,400 £47,650 £45,000

WORST PAID JOBS 1. Sales Assistant £12,200 2. QA (Games Tester) £16,700 3. Staff Writer (media) £18,500

GameStop: ‘We’re not trying to be a publisher’ EA, Activision and Ubisoft have nothing to fear from GameStop’s decision to publish a video game, the retailer says.

The company last week signed Song of the Deep, a new game from Resistance, Ratchet and Clank and Sunset Overdrive developer Insomniac. It will release the 2D underwater adventure title in a box through its stores, and via Steam, PSN and Xbox Live.

It will also be developing a full merchandise programme, utilising its ThinkGeek business.

However, GameStop’s global lead for new business, Mark Stanley, has played down the potential competition with its publishing partners.

“We are not attempting to be publishers here,” he told MCV. “We are simply taking a great opportunity to collaborate in a non-traditional way, and trust that the combination of all these great ingredients we have put in make for a great experience.”

He added: “GameStop has worked closely with all publishers for many years,

and our store associates have been instrumental in growing triple-A franchises. That will not change. We are simply taking an opportunity to do something different. Supporting great game craftsmanship in a way that has never been done before. And this supports our industry’s quest for better gaming, and more gamers.”

Stanley, however, was coy over whether GameStop may publish more titles.

“We will listen to what the game community has to say about this game, and go from there,” he said.

PLUS A COFFEE WITH MIKE BITHELL SHOULD E3 GO CONSUMER?

NEWS ANALYSIS

Is it time E3 opened its doors to gamers?

As Electronic Arts forgoes its traditional E3 show booth in favour of consumer-focused events, Christopher Dring asks the industry: should the Los Angeles trade show end its industry-only status?

E3 must find a way to incorporate more consumers into the show, say leading games industry commentators.

It follows the news that EA will not be holding its traditional E3 booth, and will instead run consumer-focused events in both Los Angeles and London.

Meanwhile, sources close to event organisers ESA tell MCV that involving consumers in E3 is ‘top of mind’ for the US trade body.

“The relationship between creators and players is the most important issue and has been for over five years,” said UK industry veteran Andy Payne. “A B2B show is great, but the reality is that the physical retailers are becoming less significant in terms of sales.

“E3 has missed out and now the four PAX shows are king. There is always loads of room for more consumer-facing shows, and one in LA would make huge sense. That could be E3. Mix the B2B in, like Gamescom does, and they could be on to something. That way it can still be a centre piece for press and media and also allow developers and publishers to get close to their public. It’s not too late for E3, but they need to change fast.”

PCGamesN boss James Binns agreed: “In these days of gamers creating more content than the media, the costs of those crazy bombastic stands may as well be offset against a bunch of superengaged consumers. I’d have an absurd set of consumer halls and then super quiet meeting rooms so the trade can actually conduct some business and journalists can have access to developers.”

Industry commentators say E3 should let consumers attend

Kotaku UK editor Keza MacDonald said that E3 has “essentially been a consumer event for quite some time now.” She said: “A look at the show floor reveals that it is not exclusive to the trade.

Gamescom manages to function as both a consumer event and a useful event for the media and the industry in Europe; why shouldn’t E3 do the same in the US?”

has become the loudhailer of our industry, a media event which is able to reach all four corners of the globe when the entire gaming audience is listening to us.

“Allowing consumers at the show would give additional value to E3 for the assembled exhibitors and change its dynamic for the better, but relative to the hundreds of millions that pore over every piece of coverage, would be a drop in the ocean in terms of ROI.” Koei Tecmo’s Marilena Papacosta feels that although E3 has a global

KEEP THEM SEPERATED Most of the execs we spoke to agreed that a consumer element to E3 would be a benefit. But, it’s key this does not impact the trade side.

“E3 is invaluable for touching base with key partners in the industry,” said Green Man chief Paul Sulyok. “As such our objectives have a B2B focus and the event would hold less interest to us if it was a consumer-focused show.

“B2B and B2C elements co-existed at other events, like Gamescom. There’s no reason why this shouldn’t be the case at E3.”

505 Games global marketing chief Tim Woodley added: “E3

impact, she’s not convinced it will in terms of gamer attendance.

“E3, as an industry event, garners media and trade interest from across the globe,” she said.

“Will a consumer element do the same? I think not. Adding a consumer element to E3 would cater for the American audience – much like Gamescom caters 80 per cent for the German audience.

“Adding a consumer element wouldn’t take away from the business side of the event - so long as the two were segregated.”

Yet not everyone is convinced.

“I’m conflicted,” admitted Indigo Pearl boss Caroline Miller.

“You could argue that E3, is not reflecting the games market.

“But if you let consumers in doesn’t it just become PAX? So yes it would lose its global appeal. Forcing publishers to choose between doing two big West Coast Shows within three months will mean the marketing budget ‘axe’ will have to fall somewhere. The behind the scenes glamour of E3 would be lost for sure.”

EA booth space already filled THE ESA has already filled the premium booth space previously owned by Electronic Arts.

EA had one of the biggest booths at the show, situated right at the front of South Hall. Although the firm will remain at E3 in the private business areas, it has decided not to renew its booth.

A source close to the event has told MCV that EA’s position was filled ‘very, very quickly’. And that despite the publisher’s decision to leave the show floor, sales are ‘looking good’.

E3 takes place between June 14th and June 16th.

(Left to right): Andy Payne, Indigo Pearl’s Miller, PCGamesN’s Binns, Kotaku UK’s MacDonald, Koei Tecmo’s Papacosta, Green Man’s Sulyok and 505 Games’ Woodley

February 5th 2016

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www.mcvuk.com

NEWS

GamesAid Golf and Spa charity event returns this July

by Christopher Drng THE UK games industry’s Golf and Spa Day will return on Thursday, July 14th.

The event is back for a ninth year at the The Grove in Watford, with profits donated to games industry charity GamesAid. Those working in the games sector, consumer electronics, movies, music and other associated businesses, are invited to enter a four-ball team and attend the spa at the luxury hotel.

“I am excited and honoured to be organising the ninth

THE EDITOR

annual Golf and Spa Day for such a great cause,” says event founder and organiser Richard Stickler.

“The event would not be possible without the wonderful and on-going support from the games industry. So please continue to support the event, enter a team and invite some guests to the spa. I’m looking forward to it.”

For more information, please contact Richard Stickler at: rstickler@ea.com or visit www.golfandspaday.com

TIME FOR E3 TO OPEN ITS DOORS

A

lthough the thought of hundreds of thousands of gamers descending upon LA fills me with dread, I have to agree with the rest of the UK games business: it’s time to let consumers into E3.

I know what some will be thinking: ‘Don’t gamers already go?’ But no, that group of six Final Fantasy cosplayers you saw queuing up to play Gears of War were - I am reliably informed - genuine games industry professionals.

It may feel like Eurogamer Expo at times, but E3 remains an exclusive club, and that should change.

This is an industry that has become obsessed with cutting out the middleman – the news that GameStop is publishing a game is the latest in a long line of examples. And E3 is just that, another middleman, a manufactured barrier between developer and gamer.

Keeping fans away from E3 made sense when it was all about securing retail orders. But that doesn’t happen anymore. The ESA (E3 organisers) now refer to the event as the place where the world’s media congregates for the latest gaming news, but in an industry where publishers and platform holders prefer to speak directly to their fans – and not just traditional media channels – that’s also beginning to lose its attraction.

Nintendo now holds ‘direct’ videos as opposed to press conferences. Sony regularly invites consumers to witness its E3 event. Bethesda’s conference last year featured

The GamesAid Golf and Spa Day is returning for the ninth year

SPONSORED BY

PRE-ORDER TOP 10

1

TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION + BETA (PS4)

2

Tom Clancy’s The Division + Beta (XO)

3

Gravity Rush HD Remastered (PS4)

4

Street Fighter V (PS4)

5

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (PS4)

Bandai Namco

6

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth - Day One Edition (PS4)

Bandai Namco

7

Amiibo Roy (Wii U)

Nintendo

8

Amiibo Ryu (Wii U)

Nintendo

9

Far Cry Primal + Owl DLC (PS4)

10

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD + Amiibo + Soundtrack (Wii U)

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UBISOFT

Ubisoft Sony Capcom

Ubisoft Nintendo

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E3 is just another middleman, a barrier between developer and gamer. nothing for the assembled journalists - no power points or WiFi – because the company was streaming all the news directly to its fans itself.

And now EA has abandoned its South Hall stand for a consumer event to be held in both London and LA (the good news for ESA, is that EA still clearly values the E3 week, if not quite the event itself).

Traditional media remains important, but its significance has been reduced, and if E3 wants to maintain its position as the global home for video games, it needs to alter its approach.

Perhaps it could adopt the Gamescom model, and take place in a venue that can be split between consumers and business. Or maybe it extends the show, inviting gamers into its famous halls for the weekend. Those are the obvious solutions.

E3 2015 was a brilliant event. The show’s history now extends over 20 years, and there is no shortage of famous moments. But as this hyperactive, forever-changing business likes to remind us on a constant basis: sitting still will result in death. No matter how famous you are. cdring@nbmedia.com

February 5th 2016

INTERVIEW KING

The Candy man Activision is shelling out $5.9bn for King, but with declining revenue and falling paid user numbers, has the Call of Duty publisher missed the mobile giant’s heyday? Alex Calvin speaks to the company’s SVP of Candy Crush Tjodolf Sommestad

A

shock announcement from November 2015 was that Activision Blizzard is to acquire mobile company King.com.

And even more eye-opening was that the Call of Duty publisher is spending $5.9bn to buy the Candy Crush maker.

Just to put that into perspective: Disney purchased the Star Wars franchise from LucasFilm for $4.06 billion in 2012, while at the end of 2014 Microsoft shelled out $2.5 billion for Mojang and its blockbuster Minecraft franchise.

So the sheer amount that Activision was willing to spend for King - quite understandably – raised a few eyebrows.

“It is exciting, of course,” King’s SVP of Candy Crush Tjodolf Sommestad says.

“It proves that we have come a long way in building a strong business that can attract

interest from a company like Activision Blizzard.”

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE The Call of Duty publisher has said that buying King would help increase its presence in mobile. And King is – on the surface – a very attractive company in this sector.

Along with Supercell (Clash of Clans and Boom Beach), Rovio (Angry Birds) and Machine Zone (Game of War and Mobile Strike), King is one of the headline names in the billion-dollar mobile games scene.

Its expertise in this sector will surely help a traditional publisher like Activision, who is yet to make a splash in the mobile games market (the company closed its mobile studio, The Blast Furnace, in March 2014).

In addition, King has a sizeable player base: its latest financial results places the company’s total monthly active users at 474m.

However, the company’s last few financial reports have featured declines in both revenue and users.

King blamed this on the maturation of its flagship Candy Crush Saga game as fewer players spend money on the title. But this isn’t a concern for Sommestad.

“The Candy Crush franchise is in a good position,” he insists.

“Our strategy is to have a strong series and build a strong network of pillars.

We had an ambition to reduce

our reliance on the original Candy Crush game. In 2015, we had a good year following the launch of 2014’s Candy Crush Soda Saga.

“Now we are launching Jelly Saga, which is Candy Crush’s second sister title and the third game in the family for the franchise. And we believe and hope that our players will enjoy that, too. In terms of monetisation, there are many factors in there and part of our focus is trying to retain our players in our games and in our network.”

now makes up 40 per cent of our gross bookings, which means we have 60 per cent coming from other games, and we are still a very profitable company.

“And we not only have the Candy Crush franchise, where we are launching a new sister title, we also have other franchises like Farm Heroes Saga and Pet Rescue Saga that are high up in the grossing charts. It’s clearly a challenge, and I think we have been humble before that challenge in what we have been doing. I believe our strategy is the right one.”

Our ambition is to reduce King’s reliance on the original Candy Crush Saga.

READY FOR THIS JELLY The latest entry in the firm’s Candy Crush franchise is Jelly Saga, which Sommestad claims mixes up the tried and tested Candy Crush match-three formula. The new title features boss fights against AI characters, which

Tjodolf Sommestad, King

In Q3 last year, 60 per cent of King’s gross bookings came from non-Candy Crush games – a 14 per cent rise year-on-year. The firm is launching other titles to help support that growth. Though replicating the success of the original Candy Crush Saga is a concern for the team.

“It’s a challenge for any company to bring hits to the market,” Sommestad admits.

“Replicating a hit can also be really difficult. Our strategy here is to build a strong franchise and build a network. Candy Crush Saga

04

KING INTERVIEW

Sommestad says King has reduced its reliance on Candy Crush Saga

Sommestad says: “is an interesting twist that adds a more competitive element to the game, which is something that we knew that our players have been looking for.”

But, while certainly slightly different, it hardly feels like Jelly Saga reinvents the wheel. And many of King’s games – including Farm Heroes and Pet Rescue – are cut from the same matchthree cloth. Is true innovation a challenge for King?

“We have lots of ideas and there are so many things that we want to bring to the market,” Sommestad insists.

“We have to make sure we pick the right one. When developing a game like Jelly Saga, and similarly when we were working on the Soda Saga game, we

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need to find the right balance between giving players something that they would recognise.

There are so many millions and millions of people that have played our games before and have truly enjoyed them. We want them to feel that, yes, this is the Candy Crush game, it’s part of the Candy Crush family, but we also want to bring something new to those consumers that have been trying our other games.

It is definitely something that we are working on and work hard to get right.”

The mid-core is an area we are interested in. We are now working on a title in that sector.

Tjodolf Sommestad, King

PASTURES NEW Up until now, the firm has been based entirely in the casual games space. But the firm has aspirations to enter the mobile mid-core

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market, currently dominated by companies like Supercell and Machine Zone. ‘Mid core’ refers to titles that sit between casual games like Candy Crush and core releases such as shooters. In other words, apps like Clash of Clans.

“As a company, we are now working on a mid-core title,” Sommestad says.

“It’s an area that we are interested in but we have nothing to announce at this point.”

King has the talent, knowledge and money to find that difficult second mobile smash hit. As Rovio and Supercell will tell you, that’s still no guarantee of success. But for King to justify that $5.9bn price tag, it’s important the company can replicate at least some of Candy Crush’s success.

February 5th 2016

CHEAT SHEET

UP & DOWN

Market Data New releases like LEGO Marvel’s Avengers cause an increase in software revenue

£10m

£7.8m 268,714 units

£5m

Week Ending January 16th

£7.5m 273,848 units

Week Ending January 23rd

£9.8m 346,761 units

CALL OF DUTY Black Ops III falls to second place despite a 54 per cent sales leap

£30m

Week Ending January 30th

MGSV returns to the Top Ten after a retail promotion causes a 104 per cent sales spike

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: XCOM 2

[INFO] FORMATS: PC, Mac RELEASED: Out now PUBLISHER: 2K Games DISTRIBUTOR: Exertis CONTACT: 01279 822 822

February 5th 2016

AHEAD of the launch of its new XCOM title, publisher 2K Games has been going all out to target both fans of the strategy genre, as well as PC gamers.

This charge has been led by digital advertising, as well as online ad pushes on sites like IGN. There, the publisher had trailers that appeared to have been ‘hacked’ by resistance fighters.

Furthermore, TV actor Fred Dinenage is appearing in online advertising in the role of a recruiter for the upcoming game. In these trailers, Dineage has been explaining various mechanics in XCOM 2.

In addition, the publisher will be advertising the strategy title alongside Fox’s upcoming super hero film Deadpool, which launches in the UK on February 10th.

That’s on top of events 2K has been holding at its Windsorbased Gaming Bunker. The publisher has been inviting ‘new

Personality Fred Dinenage is appearing in TV ads for XCOM 2

media partners’ as well as retail communities and hardcore XCOM fans to play the game and create content to help push the strategy title.

The firm’s social media channels will be amplifying marketing for the title.

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Beyond launch, 2K has made modding the game a focus, with developers Long War Studios and DoubleJump being pushed by 2K ahead of a hands-on event at the PC Gamer Weekender, which is taking place on March 5th and 6th in East London.

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CHEAT SHEET

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

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

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

SONY FORMS NEW INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION

19m

Sony has revealed it is merging its Computer Entertainment and Network Entertainment businesses into a new entity called Sony Interactive Entertainment. Headquartered in California – as opposed to Tokyo – the division is focused on PlayStation and video games.

Microsoft has probably sold around 19m Xbox One consoles.

That’s based on figures out of EA’s investor call

$1.6bn @JeffGrubb SIE reorganising with an HQ in San Mateo is about the evaporating Japanese console market.

@ScottLowe Merging SCE and SNE may seem like a small thing, but it’ll be huge for the evolution of PlayStation.

Scott Lowe, Activision Tuesday, January 26th

Jeff Grubb, Gamesbeat Tuesday, January 26th

EA SKIPPING E3 AND IS HOLDING ITS OWN EVENT

GAMESTOP PUBLISHING INSOMNIAC’S NEW GAME

Publisher EA has revealed it will not be holding a conference at E3 and will instead be holding its own consumer event – called Play – in both London and Los Angeles.

American retail giant GameStop is publishing the new game from Insomniac. That title is platformer Song of the Deep, and is set for release on PS4, Xbox One and PC this summer.

@Sliwinski EA is out of E3? And Sunday presser? Someone got some ideas from Bethesda last year.

Riot Games made $1.6bn off its MOBA hit League of Legends in 2015, according to SuperData

6m Konami has shipped six million units of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

@V_Ben Wait, Gamestop is publishing the new game from Insomniac? I guess that’s one way to stay relevant in the digital age.

Alexander Sliwinski, Bithell Games, Wedneday, January 27th

Ben Jones, OM Thursday, January 28th

@PatrickDane EA not being the first thing you see when you walk into South Hall at E3 will be weird. EA and E3 feel hand in hand.

@SkyChrisCreegan Interesting to see Gamestop publishing debut with Song Of The Deep. Sign of things to come?

Patrick Dane, Bleeding Cool, Wedneday, January 27th

Chris Creegan, Sky News Thursday, January 28th

48m During its latest financial report, Microsoft announced that 48 million people were using Xbox Live

3 It seems the rumour that late pop star Michael Jackson wrote the score for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is true PS4 Bluetooth Communicator - PDP Design and manufacture the PS4 Bluetooth/USB Communicator

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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LONDON MARATHON

GAMESAID TENNER

STAND UP FOR GAMESAID

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In just three month’s time, Warner Bros PR and GamesAid trustee Cat Channon is running the London Marathon to raise money for the charity. The 26.2 mile endurace race is taking place on April 24th.

On March 3rd the MCV Awards will be taking place at the new venue of Bankside Hilton in London. As is tradition, GamesAid will be asking for donations of £10 from attendees. Last year’s show saw £3,088 raised for GamesAid.

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Games industry comedy night Stand Up For GamesAid returns to London’s Comedy Store on May 9th. The event will be hosted by GamesAid patron and comedian Imran Yusuf. Tickets are available on thecomedystore.co.uk and cost £15

February 5th 2016

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

Tracey McGarrigan launches Ansible PR New role for former Green Man Gaming PR O Danson joins MCV RAB O New channel controller at Activision ANSIBLE | Head of PR & communications TRACEY MCGARRIGAN has left Green Man Gaming to launch her new company, Ansible PR & Communications.

“I have founded Ansible with the goal of using my proficient skills and industry relationships to provide a deft and flexible range of communications services,” McGarrigan explained.

Ansible PR & Communications is already working with Polystream and Keymailer, and will be partnering with Press Space and Decibel-PR on selected projects.

McGarrigan will also be supporting Games London

February 5th 2016

the computing category, looking after tablets and peripherals.

He took control of gaming last October.

He has replaced JENNIFER JOHNSON who is now looking after Shop Direct’s smart technology and wearables.

“I am really looking forward to the challenges that such a fast paced category will bring, and continuing the great work that Jen Johnson has done over the last few years in growing our market share,” Danson stated.

MCV’s RAB is a group of trade’s top games buyers, including representatives from GAME, HMV, Tesco and Grainger Games. This expert panel keeps MCV up-to-date on the UK trade.

as the 2016 London Games Festival Coordinator.

“Working with senior programme executive MICHAEL FRENCH, my main task will be to deliver a range of high quality events that showcase and celebrate the industry’s huge cultural and economic impact, helping to promote the games and interactive entertainment sector in the UK capital,” she commented.

MCV | JOSEPH DANSON, gaming buyer at Shop Direct, has joined MCV’s Retail Advisory Board.

Danson joined Shop Direct in summer of 2014, as a buyer on

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ACTIVISION | Tesco’s games buying manager JON HAYES has departed to become a channel controller at Activision.

“I’ve had a fantastic four and a half years at Tesco and want to thank my team for all the support and great times we have had,” said Hayes. “Tesco is now seen as a great games retailer and is respected in the industry,” he added.

Hayes has been replaced

by ALISON MAIR, who was buying manager of newspapers and magazines. She previously worked with DVDs and has been within the entertainment team for five years.

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WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

WEEKLY CHARTS CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III has been driven out of first place by LEGO Marvel’s Avengers in this week’s charts.

The Warner Bros title is the eighth LEGO game to reach the top of the UK charts and the first LEGO Marvel release to debut as No.1: 2013’s LEGO Marvel Super Heroes began in second place, behind Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Explorers debuts as No.11, with only 56 sales separating it from Fallout 4.

Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo by PQube is the third new release to enter this week’s charts, as No.26.

Konami’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has risen from 26th place to No.8, thanks to retailer promotions

which gave the title a 104 per cent increase in sales.

Elsewhere, a handful of new titles have reached the Steam charts.

Square Enix’s Rise of the Tomb Raider debuts as No.2 and Thekla’s The Witness is at No.3.

The title’s developer, Jonathan Blow, also stated that The Witness is “the No.1 game on a certain popular torrent site.”

“Unfortunately this will not help us afford to make another game,” he lamented.

On iPad and iPhone, the same titles as last week are leading the charts. The only change appears on the iPad free games chart, where World Chef became No.1, overtaking King’s Candy Crush Jelly Saga.

GLOBAL STEAM CHARTS (UNITS)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

LW NEW NEW NEW 07 02 NEW 06 09

TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION DEVELOPER: UBISOFT PUBLISHER: UBISOFT

TITLE Rise of the Tomb Raider The Witness Rise of the Tomb Raider - Standard Edition XCOM 2 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13 Grand Theft Auto V Scrap Mechanic

PUBLISHER Square Enix Thekla Square Enix 2K Games Valve Koei Tecmo Rockstar Axolot Games

TOP 40 UK PHYSICAL RETAIL 02

01

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

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

Title LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Call of Duty: Black Ops III FIFA 16 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege Star Wars Battlefront Grand Theft Auto V Just Cause 3 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Fallout 4 Resident Evil Origins Collection Final Fantasy Explorers Minecraft: Story Mode Destiny: The Taken King Minecraft: Xbox Edition LEGO Jurassic World Forza Motorsport 6 Disney Infinity 3.0 Life is Strange Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Rise of the Tomb Raider The Elder Scrolls Online Need for Speed Halo 5: Guardians Just Dance 2016 Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection Guitar Hero Live WWE 2K16 LEGO Dimensions LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Dying Light Football Manager 2016 The Last of Us Remastered Battlefield Hardline Dishonored Definitive Edition The Crew Terraria Batman: Arkham Knight Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Source: Steam, Period: January 24th to 31st February 5th 2016

03

04

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Format Publisher PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar PS4, XO, PC Square Enix PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Konami PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PC Capcom 3DS Square Enix PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Telltale Games/Avanquest PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros XO Microsoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney PS4, XO, PC Square Enix PS4, PS3, Vita Sony PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft XO Square Enix PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO EA XO Microsoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC PQube PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Warner Bros PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PC Sega PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO Bethesda PS4, XO, 360, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, Vita, PC 505 Games PS4, XO Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC Bethesda

Source: UKIE/GfK Chart-Track, Period: Week ending January 30th 10

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WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

UK IPAD PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 11 02 NEW 04 05 10 06 NEW 09

UK IPHONE PAID

(UNITS)

01

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Hide N Seek Minecraft: Story Mode Dreampath - The Two Kingdoms HD Geometry Dash Escapists - Back in Prison: Survival Hunter Terraria Countdown - The Official TV Show App Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe’s The Mystery of Marie Roget The Sims 3

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Wang Wei Telltale Big Fish RobTop Games Plute Gemilla 505 Games Barnstorm Games Big Fish EA

LW 02 03 04 05 NEW 07 RE 09 06

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: January 18th to January 24th

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Heads Up! Football Manager Mobile 2016 Geometry Dash Monopoly Game Exploding Kittens - The Official Game Plague Inc Lifeline: Silent Night Bloons TD 5 Storage Hunters UK: The Game

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: January 18th to January 24th

UK IPAD GROSSING (REVENUE)

UK IPHONE GROSSING (REVENUE)

01

01

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 02 04 03 05 07 06 08 11 09

CLASH OF CLANS DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Candy Crush Saga Game of War- Fire Age Candy Crush Soda Saga Boom Beach Candy Crush Jelly Saga Hay Day The Sims FreePlay Farm Heroes Saga Gummy Drop!

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer King Machine Zone King Supercell King Supercell EA King Big Fish

LW 02 03 05 04 06 10 08 07 09

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: January 18th to January 24th

CLASH OF CLANS DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Candy Crush Saga Game of War – Fire Age Boom Beach Candy Crush Soda Saga 8 Ball Pool Mobile Strike Candy Crush Jelly Saga Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes Episode - Choose your Story

UK IPHONE FREE (UNITS)

01

01

LW 03 01 04 05 NEW 10 09 12 RE

WORLD CHEF DEVELOPER: SOCIAL POINT

Title Color Switch Candy Crush Jelly Saga Piano Tiles 2 Swing Plane Flying Parking Simulator Traffic Rider Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes Pocket Mortys Racing in Car

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Samuel Ratumaitavuki King Cheetah Technology Ketchapp Aidem Media Soner Kara EA Adult Swim Caner Kara

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: January 18th to January 24th www.mcvuk.com

Developer King Machine Zone Supercell King Miniclip.com Epic War King EA Episode Interactive

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: January 18th to January 24th

UK IPAD FREE (UNITS)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Warner Bros Sega RobTop Games EA Exploding Kittens Ndemic Creations 3 Minutes Games Ninja Kiwi UKTV Interactive

LW 02 04 07 RE 05 06 03 08 RE

COLOR SWITCH DEVELOPER: SAMUEL RATUMAITAVUKI

Title Swing Piano Tiles 2 World Chef The Pit Pixduel Racing in Car Candy Crush Jelly Saga Twist Flappy Returns - The Classic Original Bird

Developer Ketchapp Cheetah Technology Social Point Ketchapp FEO Media Caner Kara King Ketchapp Obsessive-C Lab

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: January 18th to January 24th 11

February 5th 2016

INSIGHT GENERATION MEDIA

ANALYSIS

How TV ads drive opening sales in games and film seeing Battlefront TV ads at least once and 51 per cent seeing The Force Awakens at least once.

While both were heavily weighted and successful in terms of sales, the contrasting approach of the film shows how beneficial it can be to start campaigning that little bit further in advance.

Generation Media assistant media executive JOE PHELAN looks at how TV advertising differs between the biggest movies and video games

T

here’s no arguing that the level of anticipation in both games and cinema is unrivalled compared to various other forms of entertainment, enthusiasts line outside retailer’s doors while film buffs stampede premieres.

But upon investigation, both industries had a different approach as to when they began TV deployment in 2015. On average across the Top Ten selling new games titles in the UK last year, TV spots started 34 days before release.

Cinema averaged at 53 days before release. While Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Halo 5 have brought these averages

up due to starting their early broadcast marketing activity, it is still cinema that sees titles promoted earlier.

EARLY STARTERS This contrast in TV deployment is highlighted through the varying approaches of game and cinema releases of Star Wars this year.

The blockbuster film began its campaign on the small screen 236 days in advance, but this was not consistent across each day and gathered momentum closer to December. In contrast, Battlefront started deployment five days before the game hit the shelves.

Both received incredible attention with 30 per cent of individuals

Top Ten 2015

Top Ten New Game Releases (GFK Entertainment)

Cinema Top Ten Releases (DCM)

OPENING SALVO It is also worth noting the closing gap between how important opening sales are for games and cinema. Hollywood has always placed a big emphasis on opening weekend Box Office numbers and 2015 is no different. Opening weekend attributed to 32 per cent of all admissions across the Top Ten grossing films in the UK. Aside from Star Wars, Spectre achieved the highest opening across the Top Ten. The film accumulated over £41.3m in its opening weekend – 44 per cent of its overall admissions last year.

On the other hand, while the games market has always created

Start of TV Advertising

Release Date

Difference (Days)

anticipation around a new release, 2015 saw games surpass cinema in terms of the percentage of overall unit sales acquired during the opening week.

While, like cinema, these numbers will become more diluted as the game sells more, the average is three percentile points higher at 35 per cent (games vs film). This has been largely boosted by strong opening performances by Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain, Fallout 4 and Batman: Arkham Knight. It is possible that the shorter time period between TV ads airing and release date has a direct correlation with the performance of the opening week/weekend.

It’s evident that the time between the start of a TV campaign and release varies depending on the IP. The costs associated with longer teaser campaigns mean that the smaller firms may not have the confidence or resources to match the likes of Star Wars and Halo.

Ind TVRs

1+ Cover

OTS

FIFA 16 Call of Duty: Black Ops III Fallout 4 Star Wars: Battlefront Batman: Arkham Knight Assasins Creed Syndicate LEGO Jurassic World The Witcher 3: WIld Hunt Battlefield Hardline Halo 5: Guardians

September 16th October 23rd October 23rd November 14th May 23rd October 11th June 1st May 9th * April 15th

September 25th November 6th November 10th November 19th June 23rd October 23rd June 12th May 19th March 19th October 27th

9 14 18 5 31 12 11 10 * 196

137 228 216 49 127 107 72 137 * 205

45 64 59 30 47 44 15 48 * 58

3 4 4 2 3 2 5 3 * 4

Spectre Star Wars: The Force Awakens Jurrasic World The Avengers: Age of Ultron Minions Inside Out Fast and Furious 7 Fifty Shades of Grey The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 Home

October 11th April 26th April 21st April 14th April 3rd May 20th February 14th January 26th October 25th February 16th

October 26th December 17th June 12th April 23rd June 11th June 21st April 3rd February 12th November 5th March 20th

15 236 53 9 70 32 49 17 11 33

503 136 511 95 42 6 320 218 92 496

79 51 77 41 25 2 67 62 38 72

6 3 7 2 2 3 5 4 2 7

Source: DDS/BARB Jan 2016 *Press activity, no TV advertising - Addynamix 2016

Generation Media is a Media Planning and Buying firm focused on the leisure and entertainment markets.

You can contact the company on 0207 307 7900 February 5th 2016

12

www.mcvuk.com

RECRUITMENT GUIDE

Climbing the job ladder It’s that time of the year when people consider a change in job and even career.

Alex Calvin seeks out the best advice about finding new work HOT JOBS AS ever, the jobs required by the games industry change as the market itself does. But what roles are recruiters seeing a real hunger for at the moment?

“The demand for people experienced in boxed product – marketing or sales and business development - is much slower now,” Sharon Hibble, commercial consultant at recruitment firm OPM says.

“People are looking for CRM, social media and streaming experience. Media buying is also a big common denominator in the last 12 months, be it a sales,

FIRST IMPRESSIONS THE magical ‘perfect CV’ is a constant concern in the jobs market. Alongside a covering letter, a CV will inform a recruiter’s first impression of you. And, as we know, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

“A CV should have well structured information that tells me not just that the candidate’s work history is brilliant, but just as important is the candidate themselves,” Premier PR’s games director Gareth Williams explains.

“I want to know who they are, and what they want to achieve.”

account manager or a marketing role, media buying seems to fall into one of those job descriptions quite a lot now.”

Stig Strand, head of recruitment at Amiqus, adds: “VR stands out at the moment.

It’s going to be a good year for people looking to develop relationships with people in that market. With the pressure of VR’s success being fundamental, it’s essential to get involved in it.

“And people with experience in monetisation, analytics or mathematics are still in high demand.”

BACK TO SCHOOL OFTEN, setting your sights on a new role means revisiting and updating your skill set.

One person who has retrained himself to keep up with the market is Videogamer’s Simon Miller who taught himself how to make videos after years of being a ‘traditional’ journalist.

“It’s daunting,” he explains.

“Persevering and being open to falling flat on your face is half the battle. There are mistakes and errors in everything that I do, but they’re the biggest asset in getting better at the process.

As you notice them it’s yet more

Amiqus’ recruitment boss Stig Strand adds: “CVs need to be shorter than three pages.

Individuals should tailor CVs to the role that they are applying to, rather than a one-size-fits-all type CV. Date gaps need to be covered, if you have taken career breaks or worked on personal projects. They need to be included and kept positive.

“And a large number of recruiters look online for CVs, so ensure yours is keyword friendly and easily identifiable when uploading to CV tanks or online social media like LinkedIn.”

education in what the right approach is.”

But you can also use skills from one sector of the industry to move to another. IGN UK news editor Luke Karmali did just that, moving from the world of journalism to PR at Bastion.

“I know what journalists want to get out of events and look for in press releases, which means I can streamline several processes here,” he explains.

“It also means in terms of briefs I can suggest ideas that are more than just PR stunts, but have actual value in terms of coverage.”

(From left to right): Premier PR’s Williams, Bastion’s Karmali, OPM’s Hibble, Videogamer’s Miller, Amiqus’ Strand and Universally Speaking’s Nicholas

February 5th 2016

14

www.mcvuk.com

RECRUITMENT GUIDE

Candidates should research the person interviewing them to avoid nerves on the day, says Amiqus’ Strand

FACE-TO-FACE CONVINCING a recruiter that you are the right candidate for the job on paper is one thing – but bolstering that first impression in person comes with many pitfalls.

So what do the best and worst job interviews consist of?

“The best interview I’ve had was with a candidate that was honest and open, while being positive about their current employer,” Premier PR games boss Gareth Williams explains.

“They articulated why they wanted this particular job.”

Amiqus head of recruitment Stig Strand adds: “Interviews that go wrong are ones that are unprepared. Candidates haven’t researched the hiring managers, they haven’t taken a look at online footprints to understand the personalities of the people they are

www.mcvuk.com

WHAT IF THE JOB IS ABROAD? meeting and their interview nerves get the better of them. That can be countered by quickly taking a look at someone’s name on Google.“ Universally Speaking business development exec Thomas Nicholas also believes research is important.

“Know the business, not just about what you offer but everything else, too,” he explains.

And as much as you want to me memorable in your interview, sometimes that’s not a good thing.

“I interviewed someone who came dressed in a shirt unbuttoned to his belly,” OPM commercial consultant Sharon Hibble says. “He spent the interview swinging on his chair thinking everything he said was insightful. That was a long time ago and he still sits in my mind.”

ACCORDING to OPM commercial consultant Sharon Hibble, there is a huge demand for roles in the games industry in Europe, particularly France and Germany.

Moving jobs or even changing your career is daunting enough for most people when it’s in the same country. But the prospect of applying for work abroad presents even more issues to be aware of.

“If someone is looking at applying for a job in another country, they must do their research first,” Hibble explains.

“That’s something that recruitment companies can help out with – we’re familiar with different countries and their taxation systems and economics and things like that. We do try and help people and point them

15

in the right direction. Keeping in mind languages, their new job may well be in an Englishspeaking office. So they may have the ability to move abroad for work and do their job without any issues.

“And if the candidate has a partner or family, and that person is outside of the games industry, finding another job abroad for them might not be so easy.

“Doing research is the main thing. Otherwise, it’s just being aware of the cultural differences really. If the country is in the European Union, it’s not so bad.

But in somewhere like China, there are cultural differences as well as general standard language ones that candidates need to be aware of.”

February 5th 2016

GAMES INDUSTRY SALARY SURVEY

HOW MUCH ARE YOU WORTH? Overall Average Games Industry Salary: £29,000 GAMES MEDIA AVERAGE:

RETAIL AVERAGE SALARY:

GAMES PUBLISHING AVERAGE SALARY:

DEVELOPMENT AVERAGE SALARY:

£22,000

£22,500

£35,500

£30,000

Editor: £27,500

Category Manager: £27,000

Senior Management: £90,000

Artist: £30,000

Staff Writer: £18,500

Junior Buyer: £24,800

Sales Manager: £45,500

Lead Artist : £44,000

Video producer: £23,000

Sales Assistant: £12,200

Product Manager: £31,500

Junior Coder: £20,000

Production Executive: £19,900

Store Manager: £20,600

Marketing Manager: £36,000

Coder: £29,000

Marketing Director: £56,400

Lead Coder: £47,650

Producer (External): £32,200

Designer: £26,000

Senior PR Executive: £37,000

Lead Designer: £35,700

Community Manager: £25,000

Producer (Internal): £31,750

Junior PR Executive: £24,500

QA Tester: £16,700

T

his year’s Salary Survey highlights how little has changed in games industry pay packets - despite a rise in the number of independent businesses. £29,000 was this year’s UK average salary, which is the exact same number as last year, and broadly in line with the previous two (2014: £30,400 2013: £29,600) Over 1,000 people filled in our latest survey (more than 650 from the UK), making it the most successful salary survey so far. Men were the highest earners, with £30,000, versus women who generated £26,500.

However, it’s important to note the large disparity between female and male respondents, which means those numbers are not as comparable as they may appear.

One of the interesting elements of this year’s survey was the

February 5th 2016

disparity between pay within certain roles - there was a rise in smaller businesses, particularly within publishing, development and media, with staff earning a little lower (most of the time), than those in similar positions at larger institutions.

As well as questions about pay, we asked the global games industry to discuss how they feel about working in the market.

Although respondents lamented the lack of bonuses and schemes, bemoaned the long hours, and complained about the absence of overtime pay, they do enjoy working within the industry. Just 9.2 per cent of those surveyed said they expected to leave the games industry over the next five years, with only two per cent saying they will ‘definitely’ be leaving within that time.

Meanwhile, 76.7 per cent of respondants are confident about their job security.

HOW DID WE DO IT? WE surveyed the global games industry from midDecember until the end of January. When working out averages, we removed parttime workers and those with extremely high pay. We used median averages (opposed to mean) so that the average is not skewed by those paid on the extreme ends of the scale.

16

Quality Lead: £25,000 OTHER SECTORS DUE to limited replies from support sectors, we could not split these by job titles.

But broadly, recruitment staff make £22,000, outsource QA and localisation workers took home £19,500, analysts make £36,500, while PR agency staff are paid £36,000. www.mcvuk.com

GAMES INDUSTRY SALARY SURVEY

GLOBAL GAMES INDUSTRY EMPLOYEE SURVEY

What is your staff saying? And what is it really like to work in video games?

Are you attracted to work overseas?

73.08% of respondents expect to remain in the games industry for the next five years. Just 9.2% expect to leave. Meanwhile, 76.7% are confident about their work situation in 2016.

52.6% Yes 47.4% No

61.4% of respondents expect their salaries to rise.

34.17% expect pay to stay the same.

4.41% fear a decline in wages.

59.7% 79.4%

of games industry employees are not paid extra for overtime.

45.9%

3

Are expected to work overtime on a regular basis.

1

2

The No.1 reason people gave for considering a change in career is the promise of better pay (23.06%).

The second was the prospect of a new challenge (22.48%), and the third most common reason is ‘limited opportunity’ at current employer (12.02%).

34.6% of respondents do not receive any work bonuses, including pension schemes or additional training. But, 64% say the offer of bonuses does impact their employer decisions. www.mcvuk.com

of respondents claim they work more than 40 hours a week.

17

February 5th 2016

INTERVIEW MIKE BITHELL

INDIE INTERVIEW Bithell speaks Volumes Mike Bithell dreamed that he may sell enough copies of Thomas Was Alone to buy an iPad. Now he’s on the cusp of opening his own dedicated studio. Ben Parfitt catches up to talk about the future

A

side from the time it takes, the biggest pain from transcribing an interview is spotting the points you failed to jump on at the time and the jokes you missed and didn’t laugh at. In this instance, I‘m annoyed that I didn’t catch Mike Bithell’s ‘non-fascistic purity’ joke and didn’t take the chance to talk far more about the majesty of Jean-Luc Picard.

The creator of Thomas Was Alone and Volume was also right in identifying the response that will probably be most keenly noted – that the small solo project he’s in the process of bringing to market might be the last thing he ever codes.

“I have a smaller project which I think will surprise people by how quickly it comes out,” he tells MCV in an East London coffee shop when asked about what’s on the horizon after Volume’s already announced virtual reality expansion, Coda. “It’s something I’ve been fiddling with since the end of Volume, so about six months. A little idea – a few ideas I’ve bashed together, actually.

“It’s probably the last thing I’ll code if everything goes to plan, and that’s a horrible thing to say. That’s a quote that some smart ass will throw at me in ten years time when I’m sat in my shed.”

That’s far from the only project Bithell has on the go, however.

“Then there’s definitely seismic, massive stuff as well which is super exciting and completely secret,” Bithell adds.

“Volume opened some very cool doors. We were already talking to various people about various things but once Volume came out and sold well and reviewed well, a lot of people became interested in working with us.”

The next chapter in the life of Mike Bithell involves the opening of a dedicated game development studio, full of in-house developers.

Volume, Bithell’s most recent release, started with a team of five people. By the end that had grown to 30. Opening his own studio, beyond the confines of the flat he currently shares with his girlfriend, feels like the inevitable next step.

Fortunately, the journey from Unity amateur

February 5th 2016

I have a smaller project which I think will suprise people by how quickly it comes out. It’s probably the last thing I’ll code if everything goes to plan.

Mike Bithell

to studio overseer is one that the developer has admirably taken in his stride.

“Before I was independent I worked on games including tiny little projects and million dollar projects, so I know how someone like me fits into those processes,” Bithell explains. “I didn’t do much coding in the last six months of Volume’s development. I did the core game, but the servers weren’t me, a lot of the underlying UI and porting wasn’t me, so it’s something I feel I’ve transitioned into.

“I can see myself bouncing between smaller things and bigger things, doing smaller things on the side while making a bigger thing. I’m not

18

sure how it will play out. I’m always gonna have that interest in both ends. I play a lot of triple-A stuff but I also like small games and I want to make both. Diversity is the objective.”

There’s no better illustration of Bithell’s meteoric rise than his Gamescom Sony appearance where he announced the upcoming Volume VR expansion. Having watched the reaction to No Man’s Sky at E3, Bithell thought: “‘I want to do that, it looks fun’. Basically, I emailed everyone at Sony and asked whether I could do that, please. And the response came back saying yeah, we could try it.

“Sony was amazing to work with on Volume.

That’s reflected in how it’s doing – it’s doing rather well on PlayStation. That’s paid off very well, both on a personal and business level.”

Interestingly, Bithell’s home-based isolation provided the foundation for his blossoming relationship with the platform holder. Twitter, he says, plays a big part in the lives of a lot of indie developers as it replaces the void that was once filled with office chatter. “I miss the atmosphere,” Bithell admits, before adding that “genuinely, a Twitter DM has been involved in most of my little coups”.

We’ll have to wait to discover what megaproject Bithell has in the works, although if his excitement is any measure then it will be worth the wait. Equally as interesting, however, will be to see the smaller, more intimate projects that emerge from the developer who lives on behind the businessman.

Having admitted that none of his in-progress projects currently feature a jump button (so no Thomas Was Alone 2), Bithell also enthuses about some of the mobile titles he enjoys.

“I play Threes constantly,” he admits, before name-dropping both Hitman Go and Lara Croft Go. “It’s the kind of game I like where it’s incredibly clean - that’s probably a theme you’ve noticed,” he said of Sirvo’s puzzler. “I like purity, in a non-fascistic way.”

We don’t know what’s coming next from Bithell, although when I observe it is unlikely to be a gritty, pixel art RPG set in a mud-filled forest, Bithell replies: “If I did it would have a really great UI.”

www.mcvuk.com

MIKE BITHELL INTERVIEW

OK, MAYBE FREE-TO-PLAY ISN’T ENTIRELY EVIL “I’VE definitely softened in my views on F2P,” Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell, a famously harsh critic of the model, tells MCV. “I think it has led to some very negative approaches to treating customers, I think everyone can agree on that. But I wouldn’t say it’s inherently bad. I used to feel that way but there have now been enough F2P experiences I’ve had where I’ve been like, yeah this is fine, this is good solid fun.”

In fact, Bithell says that he’d certainly consider the model for a future title if he felt it was a fit.

“If it makes sense and it’s designed for the platform,” he concedes. “It just so happens the last two games I made felt great on a controller. We figured out how to make Thomas Was Alone work but I remain to be convinced we can make Volume good enough on a mobile. There’s no mobile version of Volume in the works. Although I would have told you a year into Thomas Was Alone’s life there’s no way we’d make a mobile version so who knows, but for now definitely not. I’ve not got anything against mobile and I’m convinced premium titles can work on there.”

Bithell also reveals that he’s put some thought into how to make a good licensed game. “I’m always impressed when someone gets the licence right and respects it while building on it,” he reveals, before elaborating on his thinking via his beloved Star Trek.

“The two bad outcomes of a licensed game are where you have someone who doesn’t get what Star Trek is or someone who goes ‘I’m going to do a game based on [fan favourite The Next Generation episode] Best of Both Worlds’.

I don’t want either of those things. I want something that’s its own thing but understand why the logo is on the box.”

Bithell says the success of Volume, especially on PlayStation, has opened up plenty of new doors for him

THOMAS WAS A SURPRISE THE post-Volume world is a very different one for Bithell than that which existed when he was making Thomas Was Alone in his spare time. The project file on his computer for the game is still called ‘Teaching Myself Unity’. His hope was that he might make enough money to buy himself an iPad, and perhaps have a holiday to Disney World.

“It was me trying to learn how an engine worked so I could go make what would become Volume,” Bithell recalls.

“I also had this creeping feeling it was going to be my last opportunity. The crazy ‘oh my god this could happen’ objective was to get minimum wage for a year so I could go and have a proper go at it. I didn’t think Thomas Was Alone was going to be that proper go.

“There is an alternative universe where Thomas Was Alone made an iPad’s worth of money, didn’t do as well as it did and I’m back at work and have lost two of the best years of my life. It was a very big gamble and I’m very fortunate to live in this universe.”

And he still hasn’t made it to Disney World.

www.mcvuk.com

Thomas Was Alone was only ever intended to be a stepping stone for Bithell to learn the skills needed to make Volume

19

February 5th 2016

XXX XXX INTERVIEW JOE HARLAND, BBC

Radio head Radio 1 has dipped its toe into video games before, but now the broadcaster is diving into the sector with a brand new dedicated monthly show. Alex Calvin catches up with the BBC’s head of visual radio, Joe Garland, to find out about The Radio 1 Gaming Show

F

or almost half a century, BBC Radio 1 has been famous for having its finger on the pulse of youth culture.

The station has had the ability to make or break artists and bring new voices to the mainstream.

And now Radio 1 wants to have a go at covering video games.

Not that this is new territory for the station; Radio 1 has touched upon games in the past, such as media personality Julia Hardy’s special gaming programme last December.

But now it is launching a dedicated monthly show – imaginatively called The Radio 1 Gaming Show. It’s starting on March 11th with Hardy handling presenting duties once again.

“Radio 1 has wanted to do video games for a very long time,” the BBC’s head of visual radio Joe Harland says “But games are a very difficult thing to get right, particularly when you are a radio station and the audience can’t see what’s happening. Now Radio 1 has an iPlayer channel on your TV, on all your devices. So we have our platform, we’ve got a presenter in Julia Hardy, who is brilliant and great at all the different disciplines of broadcasting that we need her to do, and has significant expertise.”

BROAD SPECTRUM Each episode will focus on a specific title, but will also feature previews of upcoming releases, bring listeners exclusive firstlooks at games, plus offer insight into titles still in development.

Harland is well aware that producing a show that will please every single gamer – from the

February 5th 2016

Julia Hardy is presenting The Radio 1 Gaming Show, which the BBC’s Harland (below) says is aimed at ‘young gamers’

hardcore Call of Duty players to casual fans swiping away on Candy Crush Saga – is all but impossible.

“If you look for a musical comparison, you have people who like music, people who love music and people who live music,” Harland explains.

“There are similar comparisons with gaming and we want to make programmes that can be viewed by hundreds of thousands of British gamers on iPlayer, potentially millions worldwide, and then offer them something that is true to what the BBC has always done, which is make great informative, educational and entertaining content. This time, it happens to be about video games. What I’m not naive to is the fact it isn’t possible to make a gaming programme that everybody will like.”

But games are not new. The medium has a heritage spanning

Gamers spend hours and hours watching YouTubers. We want to be in that conversation with that audience.

Joe Harland, BBC

00 20

40 years. So why is the BBC deciding to cover games now?

“Radio 1 has always sought to reflect youth interests and things that are exciting them,” Harland says.

“Games obviously go back several decades. Increasingly we have worked with YouTube superstars like Dan Howell and Phil Lester (on the Dan and Phil radio show) over the last four years as we saw that was where the audience was spending hours and hours.

“We want to be in that conversation with the audience, just as much as we want to be in the conversation with them about music and live bands and festivals and social issues.”

Games are a highly visual medium, which on the surface presents a challenge when talking about them on the radio.

“It is a challenge,” Harland admits. “But as well as iPlayer, we have a YouTube channel with just shy of three million subscribers.

We have a large social video following, so we don’t have to painfully describe on the radio everything that is happening. Now we can just say: ‘go online and take a look at this’.

“The fact that Radio 1 is now not just a radio station is enormously helpful in that. Just as much as you’ll hear a movie reviewer on the radio talking engagingly and enthusiastically about a film, but you have go online to see what the film is about, that’s the exact same quality that Julia brings. She is able to excite even non-gamers about a title, but then creating video content that is of interest to people who want that slightly deeper journey.”

www.mcvuk.com

XXX XXX INTERVIEW HANS VAN BRAKEL, SOEDESCO

The reinvention of Soedesco 2015 was the point in which Dutch publisher Soedesco realised its ambition of becoming a games publisher.

MCV talks to executive manager Hans van Brakel about the highs and lows of the last year How would you assess 2015 for Soedesco?

It was a good year for us.

Preparations began in 2014, but the real business started in 2015.

We launched seven games in retail and released four on Steam, so we were pretty happy. We did very well, especially in Europe, and opened up to the US. We started and saw growth, both from the retail and digital side of things. So we’re pretty happy.

What were the biggest changes to Soedesco’s business last year?

Basically, everything besides retail and distribution. We started from scratch, we hired some people in pretty much every department – people who are capable of helping us with the transition.

In a short time we went from just doing retail to working

February 5th 2016

Rain Games’ Teslagrad went from digital release to physical retail last year via Soedesco

on our own IP. Every time I went to an event, people were saying ‘oh, you’re that retail publisher’ and three months later it was ‘oh, you’re that indie publisher’ and three months after that it was ‘oh, you guys bought Adam’s Venture’.

Our biggest area of growth in 2015 was on the digital side.

Hans van Brakel, Soedesco

And where were the biggest areas of growth?

The biggest growth was on the digital side.

We had a certain inroad to the console publishing route, we had a certain basis in distribution, we knew what we could expect, we knew what we could do.

We improved that, but to start with we didn’t do anything on the digital side. Our first Steam title came out at the end of July.

And we are already seeing growth in the digital space.

What other challenges did you face in 2015?

The hardest thing for us was to find the right balance between marketing, PR and sales, especially on the digital side of things. We were talking with a lot of developers about releasing their titles on the digital market, and about how to handle marketing and PR. But the problem is that PR and marketing don’t always have an influence on sales. We’ve seen a lot of popular games with good marketing and PR campaigns fail. And we’ve seen a lot of good games without marketing and PR pushes doing pretty well. Finding the balance on that and explaining to developers why they need to make certain decisions, that’s the challenge.

00 22

2015 was when Soedesco doubled down on its publishing business. But you also started acquiring and working on your own IP, too.

We love what indies are doing – they are making creative games that everyone loves to play and that we are always willing to publish. But there are also a lot of people that want to play more traditional adventure games, or more traditional shooting games and so on. We want to make titles for these people as well. We started with Adam’s Venture, and when we released the first one, we knew there were going to be people saying: ‘I hope you release a sequel fast’. That’s something that we’re definitely willing to do.

But making a franchise is always easier when you have a bit more control. Doing our own IP as well as publishing the amazing games of smaller indies; we think that’s a good balance.

What were your biggest learnings from the year?

It’s all in the little things. It’s hard to name one specific thing that I would have done differently.

Every developer is different, so with each one you learn about how to handle certain things.

But the same goes for platform holders, about how to discuss certain matters, how to handle certain things. It’s all about that communication. Whether it’s business-to-business or business-to-consumer, communication is the hardest thing to do. It’s something we think we can do really well, but it’s also something that always changes. So you need to be prepared for that.

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SHELF LIFE Wayne Roberts, manager of Wayne’s Movies and Games in Callington, discusses virtual reality, accessories sales and his picks for the biggest games and consoles for 2016 How has your business been lately?

Things have been picking up quite nicely right after Christmas. We are just waiting for a few more new releases to boost the sales.

What games are you looking forward to this year?

Tom Clancy’s The Division and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End are the main releases I am looking forward to.

What games have been selling

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

to compete with online sales and getting everyone back to shopping in stores.

particularly well recently?

There is not a specific game that has been selling particularly well.

What comes to my mind however is that I have been selling a lot of accessories rather than software recently: mainly controllers and headsets.

I have been selling a lot of accessories, mainly controllers and headsets, rather than software lately.

What are your prospects for 2016?

There is a nice selection of titles coming to stores in the months to come, so these are going to keep things steady, I think.

What challenges are you facing at the moment?

The problem is always the same: it is still the online aspect of things, that is to say trying

What platform do you think will perform the best this year?

PlayStation 4 will perform better.

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MARKETPLACE

Phone: 01579 384 484

Wayne’s Movies & Games 5 The Arcade, Biscombes Ln, Callington, PL17 7NR

It seems to be the most popular format.

meantime. This is impossible for an indie store like mine.

Is there any event you are looking forward to this year?

Although I would like to attend games related events in the country, I don’t really have time to go unfortunately. This is the problem when you are alone to manage a shop: going to games shows across the country would mean taking two days off for a day event, and closing the shop in the

What are your thoughts on VR? I think there are two sides concerning VR: the gaming aspect and the business aspect. I think the business aspect is going to do quite well. But until the price comes down, things will be difficult for gamers. I am looking forward to the release though because it is going to be interesting to see what is going to happen.

INCOMING TITLE

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

2K Games’ long-awaited XCOM 2 hits the shelves today, while Dying Light fans will have to wait until next week to enjoy the title’s expansion FORMAT

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February 5th 2016

STREET FIGHTER

STREET FIGHTER The new Street Fighter title is hitting shelves this February, which is the perfect occasion for Marie Dealessandri to take a look at the newest merchandise related to the iconic franchise

CAPCOM’S long-awaited Street Fighter V debuts on PlayStation 4 and PC on February 16th. The title was announced in 2014 and will feature 16 fighters to begin with, including four new characters: FANG, Laura Matsuda, Necalli and Rashid.

Six additional characters will also be available as post-launch downloadable content - Alex, Balrog, Guile, Ibuki, Juri and Urien.

The first Street Fighter game was released in 1987 but the franchise

The Street Fighter franchise has sold more than 36 million copies worldwide

really became a hit with 1991’s Street Fighter II, which remains the best-selling title of the series to this day.

As of September 2015, the SNES version of Street Fighter II was still No.3 among Capcom’s best-selling games, with 6.3m copies sold. The whole series, which includes 81 games, has shifted more than 36 million units worldwide according to Capcom’s 2014 figures.

For the upcoming title, series developer Yoshinori Ono has

MAD CATZ STREET FIGHTER V ARCADE FIGHTSTICK TOURNAMENT EDITION 2+ FOR PS4 & PS3 Mad Catz has revealed a new range of Street Fighter-related products, including this FightStick. This updated edition of Mad Catz’ original Tournament Edition FightSticks now boasts L3 and R3 buttons, and a built-in touchpad for compatible PS4 games.

SRP: £199.99 Manufacturer: Mad Catz Distributor: Entatech Contact: 0333 101 1000

IRON GUT PUBLISHING “THAT’S GOOD KUNG-FU!” ART PRINT

VENOM STREET FIGHTER V STICKER KIT (MITTS)

STREET FIGHTER DVD

A limited edition collectible artwork (only 5,000 are available worldwide) featuring all of Street Fighter’s iconic characters.

This vinyl sticker kit includes two controller skins and two PS4 skins, which can be applied horizontally or vertically.

The 1994 Street Fighter movie adaptation starred Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia.

SRP: £12 Manufacturer: Iron Gut Publishing Distributor: Iron Gut Publishing Contact: sales@irongutpublishing.com

SRP: £12.99 Manufacturer: Venom Distributor: Venom Contact: 01763 284 181

SRP: £4 Manufacturer: Capcom Entertainment Distributor: Columbia Pictures Contact: 020 7533 1111

February 5th 2016

26

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STREET FIGHTER Sponsored by

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explained he tried to make it more accessible compared to Street Fighter IV. The latter was released in 2008 and was widely acclaimed, but it also trigerred some critics for being too complex.

Street Fighter V is also targeting the growing eSports market. “eSports is booming at the moment and we want to make sure that Street Fighter is at the forefront of that. Right now – in terms of fighting games – we’re not at the level of League of Legends,

but that’s where we want to be.

We want to be the headline name in fighting eSports games,” said Capcom’s marketing director Antoine Molant.

The title will be present at leading eSports events this year, he added: “We have the Capcom Pro Tour – an annual tournament we introduced in 2014. There are also two UK events, which take place at EGX and Versus Fighting. We’ll look to integrate Street Fighter V with them.”

STREET FIGHTER RYU HADOKEN COLLECTOR STATUES These USB-powered Ryu statues feature a light up base and a pulsing Hadoken burst (which can be switched to constantly on, fast pulse, slow pulse, or off). Fans can choose between a classic white gi Ryu and an evil one in a charcoal gi. Both are over 25cm tall.

SRP: $75 (£52) Manufacturer: Capcom Distributor: Capcom Europe Contact: 020 8600 6100

STREET FIGHTER V STRATEGY GUIDE - COLLECTOR’S EDITION

CHUN-LI HOODIE SAPPHIRE BLUE

STREET FIGHTER CLASSIC VOLUME 1: HADOKEN

This Street Fighter V bible contains 400 pages of data, tactics and combos, as well as an entire section dedicated to concept art.

The hoodie shows Chun-Li’s special attack, the spinning bird kick. The colour is a reference to the outfit she wore in Street Fighter II.

This hardcover version of UDON’s comics collects the original Street Fighter #1-10 and some additional stories.

SRP: £19.99 Manufacturer: Prima Games Distributor: DK Contact: sales@uk.dk.com

SRP: £35 Manufacturer: Echo3 Distributor: Echo3 Contact: sales@streetfighterofficial.com

SRP: £30 Manufacturer: Udon Entertainment Distributor: Diamond Book Distributors UK Contact: orders@diamondcomics.co.uk

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February 5th 2016

MARKETING, PR & CREATIVE AGENCIES

LEGAL

AUDIO IN

GERARD FOX LAW

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charne@sprintmail.com www.gerardfoxlaw.com ........................................................................................................

BIG TOP PR Tel: 07784 778197 www.bigtop-pr.co.uk ........................................................................................................

TRADE BODY UKIE

DEAD GOOD MEDIA Tel: +44 (0)7780 600 728 www.deadgoodmedia.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: +44 (0) 207 534 0580 www.ukie.org.uk ........................................................................................................

STUDIO DIVA

PUBLISHING

Tel: 0117 214 0404 www.studiodiva.co.uk ........................................................................................................

FUNBOX MEDIA LTD

FLUID Tel: +44 (0)121 212 0121 www.fl uidesign.co.uk ........................................................................................................

KENNEDY MONK Tel: 0207 636 9142 www.kennedymonk.com ........................................................................................................

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info@funboxmedia.co.uk www.funboxmedia.co.uk ........................................................................................................

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES & RECRUITMENT

Tel: +44 (0) 208 664 3456 www.creativedistribution.co.uk/ ........................................................................................................

DC GAMES GROUP Tel: +971-50-9287220 www.Doostan-Co.com ........................................................................................................

INCOMM Tel: 01489 588 200 www.incomm.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: 0207 688 6789 www.oklogistics.de ........................................................................................................

PLAY DISTRIBUTION Tel: +64-9-815-3852 www.playdistribution.com ........................................................................................................

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RAGTAG DEVELOPMENTS LTD

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hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com www.gamingmerchandiseuk.com ........................................................................................................

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TO LIST YOUR COMPANY HERE AND ONLINE EVERY WEEK PLEASE CONTACT CNANGLE@NBMEDIA.COM OR CALL 020 7354 6000

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT AGENCIES AND SERVICE COMPANIES

COMPANY PROFILE / STUDIO DIVA KEY CONTACTS: Andy Barnes Managing Director

Suzy Barnes Director, Strategy

Kat Osezuah Studio Manager

andy.barnes@studiodiva.co.uk

suzy.barnes@studiodiva.co.uk

kat.osezuah@studiodiva.co.uk

ADDRESS: 62 Queen Square, Bristol, BS1 4JZ

STUDIO DIVA is a creative agency built on the belief that happy people produce the best work.

We’ve gathered a talented team of creative individuals who share our love of video games, sport, entertainment & leisure. The result is a thriving lifestyle agency, packed with amazing people, who love what they do.

We think this makes us a better agency to work with. Our team’s personal passion for our core sectors brings with it a breadth of market knowledge, customer insight and raw enthusiasm that is simply invaluable to clients and, crucially, produces the brightest ideas and the highest standard of work.

The experience of working with us is equally important, and our success is measured as much by the size of the smile on your face as the end result. We always take a collaborative approach to the creative journey, working in an inclusive way to combine your own brand insights, with our unique take on things, to deliver the most impactful campaigns. Our longstanding relationships with the likes of Activision Blizzard, Sony PlayStation, Bandai Namco and Turtle Beach are testament to the fact that we continue to get this right.

Check out our website to see some of our latest work.

ISSUE 859 FRIDAY DECEMBER

GAMES

4TH 2015

INDIE THICK OF IT ISSUE 860 FRIDAY DECEMBER 11TH

2015

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

THE A TEAM

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO

N SHAHID AHMAD ON 10 YEARS PLAYSTATION’S DEV CHAMPIO

BESTWICK TAKES US THROUGH 25 YEARS SONY P16 ATDEBBIE OF TEAM17

P18

UK RETAIL SPEAKS OUT 55%

70%

believe PS4 will rule next year (above top),

Twist think virtual reality is doomedUKIE’s SuperData’s van Dreunen

(above middle) and Reflection’s Leksell (above)

ack are bdig Charts ital e y’r the time, And this

19%

for mobile and digital console

data Q MCV re-launches charts

section

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picked Uncharted 4 as their most anticipated game of 2016

DIRECTORY

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

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

GAMING ACCESSORIES DISC REPAIR

L3I.................................................................................. 01923 881000

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

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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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February 5th 2016

Web: www.totaldiscrepair.co.uk

30

www.mcvuk.com

DIRECTORY

ENQUIRIES CONOR TALLON Tel: 02073 546000 ctallon@nbmedia.com

FINK

CREATIVE

DISTRIBUTION

CLICK ENTERTAINMENT

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

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

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Web: www.enarxis.eu

Tel: +44 (0) 207 462 6200

31

Web: www.sonydadc.com

February 5th 2016

DIRECTORY

L3I

GAMING ACCESSORIES

Tel: 01923 881000

Web: www.logic3.com

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WANT TO ADVERTISE IN OUR DIRECTORY?

CALL CONOR TALLON ON 020 7354 6000 OR EMAIL HIM AT CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM

February 5th 2016

32

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INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE KENNEDY MONK

DIRECTORY

WHO? Specialism: Creative design Location: Tudor House 35 Gresse Street, London W1T 1QY

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

Stuart Monk, managing director at Kennedy Monk, gives MCV a glimpse of intriguing new projects

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

Tell us about your company.

Kennedy Monk is an integrated creative agency set up in 2002. We create and deliver incredible artwork, killer trailers and the most engaging online experiences. From our roots in the movie business we have now become synonymous with the computer games industry, having worked on triple-A franchises such as Crysis, Deus Ex and Burnout all the way through to Just Cause and The Witcher.

THIS MONTH’S DIRECTORY SPOTLIGHT: CRYTEK ..........................................................................cryengine@crytek.com

What successes have you seen recently?

2015 was a great year for Kennedy Monk. Amongst many other things, we wrote and produced the awesome Just Cause 3: World on Fire comic for Square Enix, celebrated 35 years of Pac-Man by commissioning and curating 35 individual pieces of art for Bandai Namco, and rolled out the hugely successful The Witcher III campaign on TV, in print and online.

What are you looking forward to in the games industry?

Without doubt the development of VR games is going to shift the way people play games.

What’s going to be interesting is watching how games will naturally evolve to develop a narrative that can be viewed and experienced from a multitude of vantage points, and sometimes not even in the field of vision it’s certainly an exciting time to be a gamer.

W I T H C R Y E N G I N E ® , W E H AV E A S I M P L E G O A L : T O C R E AT E T H E M O S T P O W E R F U L G A M E E N G I N E I N T H E I N D U S T R Y.

L E A R N M O R E AT W W W . C R Y E N G I N E . C O M

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

The development of VR games is going to shift the way people play games Stuart Monk, Kennedy Monk

What are you currently working on?

We’ve just written and recorded a treatment for a really exciting project, which features the voicing talents of a Hollywood star. We also have several key art and digital projects as well as some website builds for some exciting IPs that we’re hoping to announce in the summer.

What changes in the games industry are impacting you?

To see so many developers take up publishing themselves. It gives us an opportunity to get involved with a title earlier to help develop it into a hit brand.

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

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

Contact: W: www.kennedymonk.com E: thinkmore@kennedymonk.com P: 0207 636 9142 T: @Kennedy_Monk

33

February 5th 2016

FACTFILE FRANCE

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: FRANCE Population: 64,641,000 Capital City: Paris Currency: Euro GDP (Per Capita): $42,338.6 KEY RETAILERS Auchan, Leclerc, Fnac, Carrefour, Micromania, Darty KEY DISTRIBUTORS Koch Media, BigBen Interactive, Exertis, Just For Games, Micromania

THE French video games market generated more than $2.4bn (£1.6bn) in revenues in 2015, which is a slight increase of 1.4 per cent compared to the previous year. The industry is expected to keep on growing by 1.5 per cent until 2018. France is the third European market in terms of revenues.

49 per cent of the 30.7 million French gamers spend money on games according to data company Newzoo. They spend an average of $164.01 (£115.3) per year, which is higher than both Germany and the UK. According to French industry trade body SELL, physical games retail is the main driving force behind the market, as it accounts for 33 per cent of the industry’s revenues.

SELL is also the organisation behind the Paris Games Week.

The event has been held every year since 2010. 307,000 visitors attended in 2015, which represents a 13 per cent jump compared to the previous edition.

Concerning platforms, Sony’s PlayStation 4 is dominating the

February 5th 2016

TOP DEVELOPERS Ubisoft, Quantic Dream, Bigpoint, Gameloft, Eugen Systems, Focus Home Interactive, Ketchapp NOTABLE GAMES FIRMS WITH A LOCAL OFFICE Ubisoft, EA, Capcom, Activision Blizzard, Gameloft

France is the third biggest European games market in terms of revenues, with £1.6bn.

French market: over 1m units have been sold in 2015, according to research firm Gfk. Surprisingly, the PS4 is followed by Nintendo’s 3DS, which sold 686,000 units in 2015. Microsoft’s Xbox One is far behind with only 298,000 units sold during the past year.

France is also marked by the decreasing amount of specialised gaming stores. GAME France had to close down in 2013 and the number of indie stores has fallen by 57 per cent between 1996 and 2012.

Micromania remains the principal specialised distributor and retailer in the country, with 430 stores and 31 per cent of the market share.

34

www.mcvuk.com

FRANCE FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... THE UNITED STATES PlayStation headquarters will soon move to California, leaving Japan and its struggling console games market behind SONY has decided to move PlayStation headquarters from its hometown of Tokyo to San Mateo (California), in the US. This is the result of the company’s decision to merge its Computer Entertainment and Network Entertainment operations together, to form Sony Interactive Entertainment. The change is effective as of April 1st.

Andrew House, who is currently Sony Computer Entertainment’s CEO, will be in charge of the new division.

But the fact that the Japanese console market is continuing to decline may well have been a key

www.mcvuk.com

35

factor in Sony’s decision to move PlayStation HQ. Sony has sold just 2.2m PS4 units since its release in the country in February 2014. In the meantime, worldwide PS4 sales have reached 35.9m units.

In 2015, Japan’s games market has fallen to its lowest point in 26 years.

Console sales decreased by 8.5 per cent, reaching ¥130bn (£0.7bn).

February 5th 2016

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

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

BELGIUM

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

BRAZIL Sony Music Entertainment Brasil # 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

IRAN

SWEDEN

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

GAME OUTLET EUROPE AB PO Box 5083, S-650 05 Karlstad, Sweden Sales dept: ali.manzuri@gameoutlet.se Sales dept: andreas.lindberg@gameoutlet.se Purchase dept: hamed.manzuri@gameoutlet.se Purchase dept: david.nilsson@gameoutlet.se Web: www.gameoutlet.se

NORDIC

UAE

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

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

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

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

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

WWW.MCVPACIFIC.COM

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

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION PLEASE CONTACT CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM February 5th 2016

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www.mcvuk.com

OFF THE RECORD

OFF THE RECORD This week, Kojima’s off on a jolly, Peter Molyneux’s not retiring, Barbie’s becoming a games developer and EA’s been given a subtle hint KOJIMA ON TOUR YOU know what it’s like after you split up with a long-term partner.

You want a break. A change of scenery. Perhaps a bit of a drink.

Some food. An adventure. Hideo Kojima has ticked all of these boxes on a recent world tour of assorted game studios across the US and Europe.

Along with glimpses of developers including SCEA, Media Molecule, Guerrilla Games and Quantic Dream, Kojima’s Twitterdocumented escapade also offered some more revelations about the man behind the legend.

Such as how much he likes wine.

And breakfast. Although not together, from what we can tell.

Saying that, why not? Boys on tour etc. He’s also seen Mad Max A LOT. And clearly loves David Bowie.

Had his trip been this week, we like to think his feed would have been filled with tributes to Wogan.

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February 5th 2016

OFF THE RECORD

MOLYNEUX’S HACKED OFF THE internet was set alight for approximately 13 minutes last week when acclaimed developer Peter Molyneux announced his retirement on Twitter.

There was just enough time for those of sharp mind to publish their stories and those of mean spirit to tweet some cruel jibes, before Peter revealed that his account had been hacked and that the whole thing was a hoax. Which is great, because despite what some folk would have you believe, Peter’s a legend and we love him very much.

GET YOUR SKATES ON “RIGHT, so we’ve got Mirror’s Edge and the new Mass Effect on the way.

Then there’s the next Battlefield and FIFA 17. Oh, and Madden. Do we still do that ice stick one as well? Ok, well add that to the list. Then there’s all that extra DLC for Star Wars Battlefront. And that UFC thing. A new Need for Speed? Yeah, we’d best OK that. And don’t forget about that golf game we make. That’s plenty to be getting on with, I reckon? Still, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something missing. A hole in our release schedule.

A gap in the market we’re not servicing. But what is it that our fans want?

If only they could find a way of letting us know. Perhaps by bombarding one of our social media channels, maybe Instagram, with endless requests for whatever it is. Even on posts that have no connection with the requested game whatsoever. That would be a big help.”

IN A BARBIE WORLD THE daughters of MCV have been raised correctly and are into Doctor Who, Transformers, Noby Noby Boy and Minecraft. It takes all sorts, however, and for some wee lasses Barbie is still top dog. Mattel realises that in this changing world, the impossibly skinny blonde is a pretty two dimensional ideal to be feeding our children. That’s why the company has revealed a new range of Barbie dolls designed to better represent the assortment of colours, shapes and skills that can be found among the world’s female contingent. And one of these new characters is called ‘Game Developer’ Barbie. She wears skinny jeans and glasses and comes with a laptop and headset. How well she’ll endure a 120-hour working week during crunch time, and unfairly being paid less than her male colleagues, remains to be seen.

February 5th 2016

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www.mcvuk.com

OFF THE RECORD

Monty Mole :)

I would give my right arm to see Stubbs The Zombie come back in some fashion

Gary Smith #À EEO Roger Wilco

Captain Falcon, Manny Calavera, Kyle Hyde

WITH LARA CROFT BACK ON PC, WHAT OTHER GAMING HEROES WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MAKE A COMEBACK? #GMGASKS

Tubz @Tubzbuster I’d like to see Raziel back.

Nosgoth was a shambles.

Something more like Darksiders 2 is what I want.

thecache.net @thecachenet Crash Bandicoot

Friki Català @friki_bcn

David Yell @YellDavid Conrad from Flashback.

And not that crap-tastic remake they did, even the included classic version was screwed up.

Mojomancer @Mojomancer

How about Cool Spot...

The hero we all need.

Not a hero, but Yuri from Red Alert 2. Man I so want a new Red Alert in that style

Malforian @Malforian

Mike G. @Gx3RComics Carmen Sandiego.

ABOBO @fulldepwell

The Wizard @BiNkStEr21

CONTACTS Christopher Dring

Kelly Sambridge

Andrew Wooden

Editor cdring@nbmedia.com

Head of Design and Production ksambridge@nbmedia.com

Content Director awooden@nbmedia.com

Ben Parfitt

Elizabeth Newton

Conor Tallon

Associate Editor bparfitt@nbmedia.com

Production Executive enewton@nbmedia.com

Senior Account Manager ctallon@nbmedia.com

Alex Calvin

Sam Richwood

Lesley McDiarmid

Staff Writer acalvin@nbmedia.com

Designer srichwood@nbmedia.com

Senior Account Manager lmcDiarmid@nbmedia.com

Marie Dealessandri

Michael Canham

Sarah Goldhawk

Staff Writer mdealessandri@nbmedia.com

Finance Manager mcanham@nbmedia.com

Account Manager sgoldhawk@nbmedia.com

Stuart Moody

Charlotte Nangle

Head of Operations smoody@nbmedia.com

Sales Executive cnangle@nbmedia.com

Please address all enquiries to: Newbay Media, MCV, Saxon House, 6a St. Andrew Street, Hertford, SG14 1JA. Printed By: Pensord, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood, NP12 2YA

Saxon House, 6a St. Andrew Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire, England SG14 1JA

© Newbay Media 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher.

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

MCV is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association.

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

Newbay Media specialises in tradededicated print and digital publishing for entertainment and leisure markets.

As well as MCV, Newbay publishes Develop, PCR, ToyNews, Music Week, MI Pro, Audio Pro International and BikeBiz. It also has two onlineonly brands: Mobile Entertainment, dedicated to the growing mass market smartphone sector, and Licensing.biz, for everyone in the global licensing industry. It also runs a number of events including the MCV Industry Excellence Awards, the London Games Conference and the Games Media Awards.

ISSN: 1469-4832 Copyright 2016

MCV has an exclusive media partnership with Famitsu – Japan’s leading video games analyst and news source

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February 5th 2016

S E C C, G L A S G O W 2 9 -3 1 J U LY 2 0 1 6

S E C U R E YO U R P L AC E N OW AT S C OT L A N D ’ S L E A D I N G F E S T I VA L O F E S P O R T S A N D G A M I N G !

E M A I L

R E S O N AT E @ Q D E V E N T S . C O . U K TO B O O K YO U R S TA N D

T I C K E T S AVA I L A B L E N OW R E S O N AT E TOTA LG A M I N G . C O M

R E S O N AT E TOTA LG A M I N G

# R TG F E S T