MCV874 April 15th by Future PLC

THE WORLD WILL ALWAYS NEED HEROES

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF... FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE Soldiers. Scientists. Adventurers. Oddities. In a time of global crisis, an international task force of heroes banded together to restore peace to a war-torn world: Overwatch. It ended the crisis and helped to maintain peace in the decades that followed, inspiring an era of exploration, innovation, and discovery. But after fZgr r^Zkl% Ho^kpZm\a l bgĂ&#x153; n^g\^ pZg^]% Zg] bm pZl ^o^gmnZeer ]bl[Zg]^]'

CHOOSE A HERO

Overwatch features a wide array of unique heroes, ranging from a time-jumping adventurer, to an armoured, rocket-hammer-wielding warrior, to a transcendent robot monk. Every hero plays differently, and mastering their abilities is the key to unlocking their potential. No two heroes are the same.

PLAY YOUR ROLE

Pa^ma^k rhn k^ ^g`Z`bg` in combat on the front line, providing defensive cover with your energy shield, or supporting your allies by amplifying their ]ZfZ`^% ^o^kr a^kh l Z[bebmb^l are designed to be effective as part of a team. Learning to utilise your abilities in concert with your m^ZffZm^l bl ma^ d^r mh ob\mhkr'

TEAM-BASED OBJECTIVES

Teams of heroes do battle across the planet. From protecting the secrets of the mysterious Temple of Anubis, to safely escorting an EMP device makhn`a Dbg` l Khp% ma^ phke] bl rhnk [Zmme^Ă&#x203A; ^e]'

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

ON THE CHEAP

ISSUE 874 FRIDAY APRIL 15TH 2016

ARE WE CHARGING ENOUGH FOR INDIE GAMES? P14

Codemasters back on track after posting first profit in five years Publisher predicts double-digit growth next year after securing Evolution team By Alex Calvin RACING firm Codemasters has made its first operational profit in five years and predicts ‘double digit’ growth going forwards. The news follows the publisher’s acquisition of the Evolution team, the creators of games such as DriveClub and Motorstorm. Speaking to MCV, Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier said that the firm had endured a challenging few years as it struggled with the move to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. “The company has been through some difficult years,” Sagnier said. “The transition to the new machines has not been easy and in the last couple of years we have focused on what we are good at, doubling down on racing and

cutting the areas which we didn’t feel were strategic for us. We have ended up in fiscal year 2016 with our first operational profit in five years, which is a big achievement. “For as far as we can see, we are growing every year and we’re talking big double digits, we’re not talking about a few per cent.” The firm’s big release this week, Dirt Rally, debuted at No.2 in the charts, and was just a handful of units behind Quantum Break. He continued: “It’s a very positive time for the company. Dirt Rally has done very well. F1 2015 was successful, we did two-and-ahalf times the number of units we did the year before. Our morale is up because when you do good games and they’re successful, your employees are happy. And, by the way, so are your shareholders.”

Codemasters has enjoyed success with Dirt Rally and F1 2015

GAMEFest targets 100,000 visitors By Christopher Dring RETAILER GAME expects its next Insomnia festival – which will include the GAMEFest expo – to be the UK’s most popular gaming event this year. The ﬁrm targets a record number of attendees over the August Bank Holiday weekend, and says it will be investing heavily to ensure it hits this goal. “We are planning to break 100,000 visitors in August, and we

are scaling up very, very quickly to make sure we make it a memorable event,” said GAME marketing and insight director Fred Prego. “There will be plenty for visitors to do. It is the ﬁrst time for people to play games announced at E3 and Gamescom.” He added: “We are planning our biggest marketing campaign ever for Insomnia58. We are ready to invest to make sure that this is deﬁnitely the biggest UK gaming event of this year.”

Meanwhile, Prego plays down the rivalry with EGX, which takes place at the same venue four weeks later. EGX told MCV last week it was ‘disappointed’ by GAME’s decision to host a consumer show. “Insomnia has always happened in the Bank Holiday weekend in August,” he said. “As a company, GAME has always been very supportive of all gaming events – including EGX. I am sure there is room for everyone.”

PLUS UNCHARTED’S FINAL CHAPTER QA AND LOCALISATION FIRMS TALK VR

NEWS

Atari: We won’t walk away from Rollercoaster Tycoon Publisher promises long-term support for troubled PC game O Up to 80 staff working on the sim project by Christopher Dring IT may have received a critical mauling, but Atari says it’s not about to give up on its new Rollercoaster Tycoon game. The CEO of Atari says Rollercoaster Tycoon World is already looking and playing better than it was a week ago, and that there are 55 full-time staff working on the project – a number that rises to around 80 when you factor in contractors. Rollercoaster Tycoon World has gone through multiple developers and was due to arrive at the end of 2015. It finally turned up on Steam’s Early Access - a platform for unfinished titles - last month, with the user reviews being ‘mostly negative’. “We have had a number of negative reactions from launch,” said Atari CEO Frederic Chesnais. “But if you look at the number of concurrent users – people playing the game – I think it is pretty good. It’s a long run, this isn’t a hit and run project, we’re not about to walk away. There is a lot to come, and we have a post-launch plan to introduce new features.”

Atari CEO Fred Chesnais says there’s a lot to come for RTW

One of the game’s criticisms focused on its low quality visuals, and Chesnais says this was due to the team being nervous about the game’s performance. “I take the blame on that,” he said. “We were just a bit shy and afraid of things like frame rates. Before we launched Rollercoaster Tycoon World we were receiving feedback about frame rate issues that we weren’t seeing on our end sometimes. So we thought

Rollercoaster Tycoon World is not a hit and run project for us. Fred Chesnais, Atari

there might be a disconnect and that perhaps we were asking too much from players in terms of performance from their computers. So I said let’s put the focus on performance over the visual quality. “We could have released the game in 4K, but we decided to go in the direction of performance over visual quality. I think the balance hasn’t been right, so that is why we have eﬀectively reversed it with our latest update.” He added that the ﬁrm has read all the online reviews, although not all of them have been helpful. Chesnais added: “If you work two years on a project and love your game, and then you release it and you have positive and negative reviews and other reviews – and by ‘other’ I mean people who trash the game even if they’ve barely played it – then, well, you have to love your job, right? “What I want to say is that we do read what people are writing. Even if it is positive or negative, we look at it and work out how to make the game better. We do read all the reviews. We do care.”

Amazon and Tesco games bosses join MCV Retail Advisory Board by Alex Calvin THE game heads of two of the UK’s largest retailers have joined MCV’s Retail Advisory Board. Amazon’s software and video games category leader Russell Jones has come on board, alongside Tesco senior buying manager Alison Mair. Mair replaces buying manager Jon Hayes, who moved to Call of Duty publisher Activision in a channel controller role in January.

April 15th 2016

on the Retail Advisory Board,” Mair said. “Gaming is a key focus for the business, and I am relishing the opportunity to be part of a group focussed on driving the industry forward, at a time of such exciting developments in digital and VR gaming, along with the incredible gaming releases in the calendar for 2016 and beyond.” Amazon’s Jones added: “I look forward to representing the needs of our customers as part of the MCV RAB.”

Shop Direct also has a new face on MCV’s RAB – gaming and photography buyer Joe Danson replaced Jennifer Johnson after she moved to the retailer’s technology and wearable departments. Danson joined the RAB in February. The RAB is an elite group of the UK games industry’s top buyers. The board was set up to keep MCV up-to-date on the latest happenings in UK games retail. “It is a great pleasure to have been asked to represent Tesco

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NEWS

The Division and Far Cry Primal rescue March for retail

THE EDITOR

by Christopher Dring UBISOFT was the hero on the High Street last month, with The Division and Far Cry Primal topping the UK charts. The Division was by far and away the biggest seller of the month, shifting almost half a million physical copies during the period. 1.72m boxed games were sold during March 2016, a rise of 2.6 per cent over the same period the year before. In total, the market generated £57.7m from software sales, a rise of more than ﬁve per cent. This is all courtesy of GfK Entertainment/UKIE sales ﬁgures. The third best-selling title of the month belonged to EA, with a strong return for its UFC franchise. There were four EA

The Division was the biggest seller of the month, shifting almost half a million physical copies

LONDON GAMES FESTIVAL WAS A TRIUMPH

knew the return of London Games Festival would be good (it had former MCV head Michael French involved, for starters), but I didn’t expect it to be this exciting. Yes, there were the big names to draw in the media and the crowds - BAFTAs looked like another excellent show and one that is ﬁnally getting the wider media recognition it deserves, and EGX Rezzed is perhaps one of the most interesting consumer expos in the world, let alone the UK. But really what made LGF so special (and, in many ways, escape the shadows of its predecessors) was all those smaller, independent events that were either incredibly useful or utterly irreverent. The Videogamer Awards, or those BFI talks, or that giant Monopoly Board on Trafalgar Square. In fact, the whole festival encapsulated that independent creative spirit and eclecticism that sums up the British games industry (and not just London). I don’t mean to be too sycophantic and I am sure there is plenty that needs improving (we couldn’t attend even half of the events that took place last week, so we can’t speak for it all), but for a festival that wasn’t even announced until January, this was a very strong start. I now eagerly await next year.

games in the Top Ten in total (with FIFA 16, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, Star Wars Battlefront making up the other three). But it was Ubisoft that was comfortably the most successful publisher of the period. There is also a rare appearance from a Wii U game, as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD makes it to No.9.

THE MARCH UK PHYSICAL TOP 10

TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION

Far Cry Primal

EA Sports UFC 2

UBISOFT

Ubisoft EA EA

FIFA 16

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Activision

Grand Theft Auto V

Rockstar

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2

LEGO Marvel Avengers

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

Star Wars Battlefront

EA Warner Bros Nintendo EA SPONSORED BY

PRE-ORDER TOP 10

DARK SOULS III INC. 32 PAGE COMIC (PS4)

BANDAI NAMCO

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Launch Edition (PS4)

Sony

Final Fantasy XV (PS4)

Ratchet & Clank inc. The Bouncer DLC (PS4)

Dark Souls III inc. Dark Souls & 32 page Comic (XO)

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered (PS4)

Doom inc. Demon Multiplayer Pack (PS4)

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Special Edition (PS4)

Doom inc. Demon Multiplayer Pack (XO)

Bethesda

Star Fox Zero (Wii U)

Nintendo

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Square Enix Sony Bandai Namco

FALLOUT 4 FALL OUT Bethesda’s Fallout 4 won the Best Game award at the BAFTAs last week, and judging by the reaction on Twitter, they may as well have given

Sega Bethesda Sony

The BAFTA Video Game Awards was a triumphant event but we should not take them too seriously. the prize to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5. Fallout 4 deserves its success, even if it seemed out of place alongside other innovative winners like Her Story and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. Awards are great. They highlight achievement and are good fun, but there is never a perfect way to judge who should win them. Most BAFTAs are judged by panels of experts, which makes them very credible prizes. But it also means the winners are subjective and based on the views of just a handful of people. By comparison, the Best Game award is voted for by the entire BAFTA membership - a far bigger pool of judges. But that means the more populist games - like Fallout 4 - are likely to get more votes. As a result, it’s a wonderful achievement if you win, but it really doesn’t mean anything if you don’t. The BAFTA Video Game Awards was another triumphant event and a great celebration of industry talent. But try not to take them, or any awards for that matter, too seriously. cdring@nbmedia.com

April 15th 2016

NEWS

Naughty Dog: ‘There’s a lot of sadness about Uncharted’s end’ Lead designer Ricky Cambier also says this final chapter is the best Uncharted title the studio has ever produced by Christopher Dring DEVELOPER Naughty Dog says it became emotional as it put the finishing touches to Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The major PS4 sequel, which is due on May 10th, will be the studio’s final ever Uncharted game. Lead designer Ricky Cambier tells MCV that the studio feels this is the best Uncharted title it has ever produced, and admits that some of the team are finding it hard to say goodbye. “It kind of varies throughout the studio,” said Cambier. “I came on-board with Uncharted 3, so for

me it’s an honour to be part of the team that is sending this guy off. It is actually a bit of a celebration. “But for other people that have been with him since the inception, there is a lot of sadness. There is a lot of being with him for ten years. Bruce Staley, the game director who started as an art director on Uncharted 1, was working on this last sequence and we were basically sketching in what was effectively Nathan Drake’s final big jump. And he was getting a little emotional because that is such an iconic Nathan Drake moment, and here was his last one.” For more on this, turn to page 18.

Ricky Cambier says Uncharted 4 is the best title in the franchise

Loading Bar to start selling digital games via DLCSoft service to London’s Soho in 2013. The bar relocated to Dalston in April 2014, before Dance and company opened a second location in Stratford in November 2015. “In 2014 we were lucky enough to win the MCV Award for best Retail Concept,” Dance said. “So it was about time we put that into practice.”

by Alex Calvin LONDON video games watering hole Loading Bar will soon be selling the latest releases alongside its game-themed cocktails. Retail has been a long-running ambition for the bar and soon the outlet will be selling digital games, courtesy of distributor CentreSoft’s DLCSoft service. However, the ﬁrm is hoping to involve physical releases, too. Owner and founder James Dance told MCV that the venue will be stocking boxed games when there is the possibility of running a launch event. The ﬁrst instance of this is a party for PlayStation 4-exclusive Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which hits stores on May 10th. Originally hailing from Falmouth in Cornwall, Loading Bar moved

April 15th 2016

Loading Bar owner and founder James Dance (right)

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NEWS

Enter the Gungeon makes $3m in ﬁrst week on sale Indie action PC game only beaten by Dark Souls III pre-orders on Steam by Alex Calvin DEVOLVER DIGITAL’S latest release Enter the Gungeon generated $3m (£2.1m) globally in its first week on sale. The dungeon-crawling twinstick shooter launched on April 5th for PC and PlayStation 4 and was developed by Dodge Roll. It was the second bestselling title on Steam worldwide last week, behind pre-orders for Bandai Namco’s Dark Souls III. As of Tuesday, April 12th, analytics ﬁrm Steam Spy says that the title has sold around 153,939 copies on PC.

Enter the Gungeon was the second best-selling title on Steam last week

Enter the Gungeon released to positive reviews, with Metacritic ratings of 84 and 81 on PC and PS4 respectively. “Enter the Gungeon is closing in on $3 million worldwide during its first week of release

so plans are underway to build a real-life gungeon at Devolver Digital HQ complete with a hot tub made of platinum and unicorn tears,“ Devolver Digital chief financial officer Fork Parker told MCV.

Xbox: Quantum Break ‘surpassing expectations’ MICROSOFT says that its ambitious new IP Quantum Break is performing better than expected. The game received a warm reception from critics with a 77 on Metacritic, and the title topped the UK charts this week. “We’re delighted that Quantum Break has been so well received by fans and critics, it’s a testament to the hard work, ambition and commitment of the team at Remedy that the game is already surpassing expectations,” said Jon Edney, senior category manager, Xbox Studios. “The game has already built up a passionate fanbase and we look forward to seeing and hearing about their experiences in Riverport.”

Indie stores dress up for Dark Souls III by Marie Dealessandri DARK SOULS III took over some of the UK’s biggest indie stores last week. UK distributor Advantage challenged independent retailers to dress up their shops ahead of the launch of FromSoftware’s latest RPG. The ﬁrm supplied point-of-sale material, with the best dressed store given the chance to win a Dark Souls knight statue, a copy of the limited Prestige Edition (£299.99) or a copy of the Collector’s Edition (£99.99). Stores such as Console Yourself (Pontrefact), Console Connections (Truro), Grainger Games (Blyth) and Extreme Games (Ashby) were amongst the stand out stores. ShopTo also created a dedicated microsite.

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(From left to right) Grainger Games, MK DVDs and Extreme Games

April 15th 2016

CHEAT SHEET

UP & DOWN

Market Data New titles Quantum Break and Dirt Rally result in a six per cent rise in games

£15m

£30m £7.5m

£11m 362,805 units £8.5m 306,883 units

Week Ending March 26th

THE DIVISION falls two places to No.3 as sales dip 41 per cent weekon-week

£9m 296,911 units

Week Ending April 2nd

LAUNCH WEEK sales of Dirt Rally were 197 per cent higher than 2012’s Dirt Showdown

Week Ending April 9th

EVENT CALENDAR APRIL 2016 ..................................................................................

April 15th 2016

Bithell will share their insight into the indie development sector

INSOMNIA GAMING SCOTLAND EICC, Edinburgh Friday, April 29th 2016 - Sunday May 1st 2016 Q For the ﬁrst time, event organiser Multiplay is taking its popular Insomnia event to Scotland Q The event features a large exhibition hall where gamers can get their hands-on with the latest releases Q That’s on top of LAN gaming areas, a main stage with live shows as well as zones dedicated to indie, retro and board games

MCV WOMEN IN GAMES AWARDS 2016 Hamyard Hotel, London Thursday, May 19th Q MCV’s Women in Games Awards return for the second year Q Six prizes will be handed out on the night – Rising Star, Businesswomen of the Year, Creative Impact, Unsung Hero, Campaigner and Outstanding Contribution of the year Q Julia Hardy will be hosting the ceremony

MAY 2016

JUNE 2016

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

INTERFACE 2016 St Mary’s Church, Marylebone, London Thursday, May 5th Q MCV and Develop’s indie pitching event returns for the third time Q The event will bring together over 350 developers, publishers and investors Q As well as face-to-face pitching, Interface also features a conference. Speakers including The Chinese Room’s Dan Pinchbeck and the maker of Thomas Was Alone Mike

INSOMNIA GAMING IRELAND INEC, Killarney Friday, June 10th - Sunday, June 12th Q Event organiser Multiplay is bringing its Insomnia event to Ireland Q Attendees will have the chance to play the latest games, watch live shows, enter PC and console competitions, speak with their favourite YouTubers and attend panel talks Q That’s on top of merchandise which can be found in the retail zone

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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

CODEMASTERS HIRES EVOLUTION STAFF

Racing studio Codemasters has stepped in to save staﬀ from DriveClub (pictured) studio Evolution. The developer was recently closed by Sony following a reassessment of its European studio structure. Evolution co-founder Mike Hocking has also been named Codemasters’ VP of product development.

Telltale Games is expanding its publishing business as it helps release The Fun Pimps’ 7 Days to Die on PS4 and Xbox One

£624m

@AceyBongos Such good news. Codemasters is building a powerhouse of driving game talent. Good things to come here I think.

@MegMgumi Great news that Evolution Studios is joining Codemasters. It’s awesome to see teams looking out for each other in this way. Nice one, guys. Meg Rice, Playhubs Monday, April 12th

Graeme Boyd, Xbox UK Monday, April 12th

BRITS AND INDIES WIN BIG AT BAFTAS

HARMONIX AXES PC VERSION OF ROCK BAND 4

Her Story, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and Rocket League all walked away with three prizes from this year’s BAFTA Game Awards. Batman: Arkham Knight won the British Game gong, too.

After trying and failing to crowdfund $1.5m to make a PC version of Rock Band 4, developer Harmonix has cancelled the game, saying it was ‘disappointed’ that the title missed its funding goal.

@TonyEvs So pleased for Jess Curry winning the BAFTA tonight. A lovelier woman you’ll never meet. Fully deserved too.

@Toadsanime Harmonix has been suﬀering blow after blow: poor Rock Band 4 sales, poor Amplitude sales, and now this. Can’t see ‘em lasting.

Tony Evans, Cupboard Games Thursday, April 7th

Ryan Brown, Daily Mirror Wednesday, April 6th

@2plus2isjoe Rocket League beat FIFA and Forza to the Best Sports BAFTA. Proof that football with cars is better than football or cars.

Research ﬁrm Strategy Analytics has predicted that VR headsets will generate $895 (£624m) in 2016

7 Final Fantasy VII Remake will be comprised of several episodes, each of which will be the size of a full game, Square has said

2 EA has teased Titanfall 2. The title will be multiplatform with the full announcement coming at EA Play in June

9 PC shipments have fallen to nine-year low, according tech research ﬁrm Gartner

@LightSamus Shame the Rock Band 4 PC Kickstarter failed. Asking for $1.5m was nuts and they only managed 50 per cent of it, which in itself is impressive. Daniel Horkan, Sega Wednesday, April 6th

Joe Skrebels, IGN UK Friday, April 8th

Wii U Mario Fight Pad - PDP Design and manufacture the Oﬃcially Licenced Nintendo GameCube Styled Classic Pro Controller for Wii U europesales@pdp.com

www.pdp.com

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

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LONDON MARATHON

GAMESAID GOLF DAY

STAND UP FOR GAMESAID

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

Next month, 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 and donations can be made via the platform JustGiving.

The annual GamesAid golf and spa day returns on July 14th. Since its debuts in 2008 the event has raised more than £375,000. Tickets can be booked on golfandspaday.com or by contacting Keeley Munden at keeley2703@hotmail.com.

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

April 15th 2016

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

New editor for eSports Pro Mike Stubbs replaces Higgins O Verrey launches Big Boy PR O ERA hires marketing and communications boss NEWBAY MEDIA | MIKE STUBBS has joined MCV as editor of eSports Pro. He joins from God is a Geek, where he started as staff writer in 2013 before he became eSports editor in 2015. Stubbs has also been a freelance journalist specialising in games and eSports for the past three years. He has been published by RedBull eSports, VICE and the International Business Times. He said: “I am delighted to join MCV after spending many years learning the trade over at God is a Geek. I hope to try and advance the eSports Pro coverage and bring eSports to a new audience, who may not be overly

April 15th 2016

the Legends Of Gaming Live show organised by Endemol in September and US-based company LucidSound, which launched in Europe last week. “With over 20 years’ experience working in video games, I’m tremendously excited to offer my services to the broader industry which I love. Big Boy PR is about big ideas and big results,” Verrey enthused. “LucidSound is retaining my services as director of global PR and communications, and I’m thrilled and humbled to be part of such a dynamic group. The company was founded by the creators of the Tritton brand and I believe that they are poised for remarkable success.”

knowledgeable about the subject. It’s great to be able to take over an already established sub-brand and I will be bringing my own style to eSports Pro.” Content director ANDREW WOODEN added: “We are delighted to welcome Mike onto the team, his experience and knowledge of eSports will be invaluable as we increase our coverage in the exciting sector. “ BIG BOY PR | Former communications director at Mad Catz ALEX VERREY has departed the firm after nearly 10 years. He has now set-up Big Boy PR and is already representing a number of clients, including

ERA | The Entertainment Retailers Association has appointed LYNN LI as its new director of marketing and communications. Li joins from Universal Pictures where she was head of PR, social media and brand promotions CEO KIM BAYLEY said: “We are delighted that Lynn is joining us. Her extensive experience working within the home entertainment industry will allow ERA to amplify our members’ voice.” Li added: “I’m looking forward to working alongside our members and partners to help drive growth and understanding during this time of dynamic change within the industry.”

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BANDAI NAMCO MCV AWARDS INTERVIEW

The Witcher 3’s victory lap Having picked up plaudits from critics and its fair share of Game of the Year gongs, The Witcher 3 won the Sales Triumph category at this year’s MCV Awards. Marie Dealessandri speaks to Bandai Namco PR and marketing boss Lee Kirton to find out how CD Projekt RED’s RPG did it Congratulations again on your victory with The Witcher 3. What does it mean for you to win this award? It’s always nice for the studio who created the game to be rewarded for their passion. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has won so many deserved awards that it’s great to win something that is the result of the marketing, PR, community and sales teams efforts. Both [developer] CD Projekt RED and Bandai Namco are extremely happy. Why do you think The Witcher 3 performed so well? We have worked with CD Projekt for a long time now with an amazing series of games. Honestly, it’s a truly epic experience with reviews and Game of the Year awards to prove what an achievement in development brilliance it is. The game quality, passion and dedication to the fans of the series, and new fans interested in the universe, have always been the focus.

We supported CD Projekt RED throughout the campaign.

technology and narrative available on today’s hardware, it’s truly one of the most exciting genres to be in.

Did The Witcher 3’s performance surpass your expectations? We had a planned strategy and campaign in place with a lot of market analysis to determine our performance. The reaction of the game from fans has been amazing and I know how happy CD Projekt RED is with the truly amazing number of awards. The team is very humble and truly thrilled at the reaction from the players.

How would you evaluate 2015 for Bandai Namco? We had a very strong year with titles such as Dragon Ball Xenoverse, the Dark Souls franchise, Pac-Man 256, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and bringing new IPs like Project CARS to the market with stunning results. We had a very strong year overall across all our titles.

What are your expectations for your other big RPG release, Dark Souls III? Dark Souls III is exciting and it’s been receiving a lot of praise from media and fans alike who have played it at shows. We have high expectations for the game and we have been working hard to showcase the title.

Our expectations were always high. We all believed in the quality of what The Witcher 3 was going to deliver. Lee Kirton, Bandai Namco

How would you assess the state of the RPG market in the UK? Very strong. And with the

Before launch, what were your expectations for the game? They were always high. We all believed in the quality of what CD Projekt was going to deliver. And with all early showings of the game, the teams were incredibly excited about this open universe. We had a very detailed strategy spanning over a number of years and carefully planned campaigns in place to really show off core parts of the game, the wonderful game engine, the engaging story, narrative, music, sound design and overall experience.

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The Witcher 3 has picked up numerous ‘best game’ awards

Historically, Bandai Namco publishes a lot of Japanese games. Has the success of Western titles like The Witcher and Project CARS changed your strategy at all? We have strong line-ups each year, and as a company that develops, publishes and distributes titles across many different genres and ages our focus hasn’t changed. We still focus on our key franchises and our blockbuster releases, and give them all the love and passion they deserve. The teams work incredibly hard to achieve some big goals and eventful marketing, PR, events and community efforts. What are your plans for 2016? We are still focusing on our key titles, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Project CARS, Kung Fu Panda, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 and so on, and continuing to invest in these titles throughout 2016. Our new financial year starts strongly with Dark Souls III and we have many other exciting titles to come.

April 15th 2016

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

WEEKLY CHARTS AFTER four weeks at the top of the UK charts, Ubisoft’s The Division has conceded its spot to Quantum Break. Microsoft’s thirdperson shooter debuts at No.1, and that’s only counting Xbox One’s boxed versions as the PC release was digital only. It is also the fastestselling new Microsoft IP launched this generation beating Sunset Overdrive. It is followed very closely by another new entry, Codemasters’ Dirt Rally, which enters the charts at No.2. The performance is all the more impressive since the title launched on PC a year ago. It beat the launch week of the 2012 game Dirt Showdown by 197 per cent. The Division has been relegated to No.3 and two familiar names complete

the Top 5: EA’s FIFA 16 and Far Cry Primal, also published by Ubisoft. In the meantime, the second installment in PQube’s racing series, MXGP 2, debuts at No.17. Over on Steam, pre-orders for Bandai Namco’s Dark Souls III still dominate the listings. But indie title Enter the Gungeon, published by Devolver Digital, also performed well and enters the ranks at No.3. On the day it launched, the game even brieﬂy was Steam’s best selling game. On mobile, a non-oﬃcial guide for Minecraft, Crazy Craft Mod for Minecraft PC Edition, unexpectedly made it to the third spot of the paid iPad games charts. It outperformed Warner Bros’ LEGO Jurassic World, which debuts at No.4.

GLOBAL STEAM CHARTS (UNITS)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 05 NEW 06 04 02 09 01 07 RE

DARK SOULS III (P) DEVELOPER: FROMSOFTWARE PUBLISHER: BANDAI NAMCO

TITLE Dark Souls III Deluxe Edition (P) Enter the Gungeon Counter-Strike: Global Oﬀensive Stardew Valley Tom Clancy’s The Division Factorio Grand Theft Auto V Hyper Light Drifter Space Engineers

PUBLISHER Bandai Namco Devolver Digital Valve Chuckleﬁsh Ubisoft Wube Rockstar Heart Machine Keen Software House

TOP 40 UK PHYSICAL RETAIL 02

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

Title Format Publisher Quantum Break XO Microsoft Dirt Rally PS4, XO Codemasters Tom Clancy’s The Division PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft FIFA 16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA Far Cry Primal PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Grand Theft Auto V PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar Call of Duty: Black Ops III PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard EA Sports UFC 2 PS4, XO EA Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Star Wars Battlefront PS4, XO, PC EA LEGO Marvel’s Avengers PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 PS4, XO, PC EA WWE 2K16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games LEGO Jurassic World PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros Minecraft: Xbox Edition XO, 360 Microsoft Minecraft: Story Mode PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Telltale Games/Avanquest MXGP2 – The Oﬃcial Motocross Videogame PS4, XO, PC PQube Minecraft: PlayStation Edition PS4, PS3, Vita Sony Assassin’s Creed Syndicate PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection PS4 Sony Fallout 4 PS4, XO, PC Bethesda Disney Inﬁnity 3.0 PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney Just Cause 3 PS4, XO, PC Square Enix Destiny: The Taken King PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard Forza Motorsport 6 XO Microsoft Trackmania Turbo PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Pokkén Tournament Wii U Nintendo Terraria PS4, XO, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC 505 Games Skylanders Superchargers PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS Activision Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer 3DS Nintendo NBA 2K16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Sports LEGO Dimensions PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Warner Bros Batman: Arkham Knight PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros Need for Speed PS4, XO EA LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros The Last of Us: Remastered PS4 Sony Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Konami Rory McIlroy PGA Tour PS4, XO EA Gears of War: Ultimate Edition XO, PC Microsoft LEGO Marvel Super Heroes PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros

Source: Steam, Period: April 4th to 10th April 15th 2016

Source: UKIE/GfK Entertainment, Period: Week ending April 9th 12

www.mcvuk.com

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

UK IPAD PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 03 NEW NEW 10 RE 02 07 RE RE

UK IPHONE PAID

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Terraria Crazy Craft Mod For Minecraft PC Edition LEGO Jurassic World Heads Up! Minecraft: Story Mode Goat Simulator The Sims 3 League of Light: Silent Mountain Peppa Pig: Theme Park

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer 505 Games Franko Bucker Warner Bros Warner Bros Telltale Coﬀee Stain Studios EA Big Fish Entertainment One

LW 01 04 05 02 06 09 08 RE RE

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Hitman: Sniper Heads Up! Monopoly Game Football Manager Mobile 2016 Plague Inc. Bloons TD 5 Geometry Dash Terraria Angry Birds

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 28th to April 3rd

UK IPAD GROSSING (REVENUE)

UK IPHONE GROSSING (REVENUE)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 03 02 05 04 06 10 08 07 RE

CLASH OF CLANS DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Candy Crush Saga Game of War - Fire Age Candy Crush Soda Saga Clash Royale Mobile Strike The Sims FreePlay Hay Day Boom Beach Far Heroes Saga

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer King Machine Zone King Supercell Epic War EA Supercell Supercell King

LW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 RE 09

CLASH ROYALE DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Clash of Clans Candy Crush Saga Game of War - Fire Age Mobile Strike Candy Crush Soda Saga Candy Crush Jelly Saga Boom Beach Episode - Choose Your Story, feat. Mean Girls: Senior Year 8 Ball Pool

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 28th to April 3rd

UK IPHONE FREE (UNITS)

LW 02 NEW 05 08 06 01 RE RE RE

DRIVING SCHOOL 2016 DEVELOPER: ALEXANDRU MARUSAC

Title Color Switch Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2 Stack Piano Tiles 2 Clash Royale Basketball Stars Roblox Agar.io Ever After High: Baby Dragons

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Marc Lejeune Marvel Entertainment Ketchapp Cheetah Technology Supercell Miniclip.com Roblox Corporation Miniclip.com Mattel

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 28th to April 3rd www.mcvuk.com

Developer Supercell King Supercell Epic War King King Supercell Episode Interactive Miniclip.com

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 28th to April 3rd

UK IPAD FREE (UNITS)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Square Enix Warner Bros EA Sega Ndemic Creations Ninja Kiwi RobTop Games 505 Games Rovio

LW 02 03 RE 01 RE 07 NEW RE 04

DRIVING SCHOOL 2016 DEVELOPER: ALEXANDRU MARUSAC

Title Stack Color Switch Flappy Bird : Original Version Basketball Stars GyroSphere Trials Piano Tiles 2 Qubed Patience Clash Royale

Developer Ketchapp Marc Lejeune Liangshang Zhou Miniclip.com Pronetis Cheetah Technology The Blu Market Harpan Supercell

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: March 28th to April 3rd 13

April 15th 2016

NEWS ANALYSIS INDIE PRICING

Are we charging enough for indie games? Ambitious indie projects like The Witness and Firewatch have been met with consumer criticism over their above-average price points. As the budgets, scope and production values of independent projects rises, is it too late to start charging more for indie games? Alex Calvin speaks to leading publishers in the sector

ince 2012 we have been spoilt with a near-constant stream of indie titles coming to digital store fronts. Each and every week, a plethora of smaller projects come to Steam, PSN, Xbox Live and Nintendo’s eShop. They’re even on Xbox and PlayStation’s stages at the likes of E3 and Gamescom alongside the triple-A blockbusters. Simply put, indie titles are a huge part of today’s games market. Not that you’d know this by looking at how much these products cost to buy. Speaking in very general terms (and there are of course exceptions), most indie games will set consumers back around £10 – a tiny figure compared to their triple-A brethren. “As an industry, in some sections, we are undervaluing indie games,” says Team17 MD Debbie Bestwick. “We all need to work at this, there’s a big gap between pillar indie games – with a sales potential of over 500,000 units – and the rest. “The bigger challenge is changing the consumer perception of just what indie means. It doesn’t mean cheap and low quality, but instead more creative freedom and agile approach to both business models and consumers.” Rising Star’s Martin Mathers adds: “For the most part, yes, we should be charging more for indie games. But there is a difference between ‘indie’ games and larger projects. The whole thing comes down to entitlement. That’s why a lot of games can’t be priced at over £15 – it is a buyer’s market, especially on PC. Users will sit there saying: ‘No, you entertain me. I deserve this, I’m entitled to this’. My response to that mentality is: ‘No, you’re not’.”

April 15th 2016

Hello Games and Sony announced a £50 price for No Man’s Sky

But Curve publishing director Simon Byron says that this lower price point helps indie games compete with triple-A rivals. “The indie sector has to work harder to push itself up ahead of gamers buying anything else. Price can be one of the best ways to do that,” he explains. “But publishers aren’t undervaluing indie games. We are picking the price points that we know work for the types of games that we are publishing.” TinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik adds: “We shouldn’t charge more. Anyone can make an indie game and it’s a very busy scene. By pricing your game a little bit lower and – making it more accessible – you actually get more of a chance of gaining a lot exposure. The market for indie games is huge, millions of people play indie games.”

We can only charge more for indie games if we do it as a collective, otherwise those pricing their stuff higher will suffer. Martin Mathers, Rising Star Games

THE BIG AND THE BOLD But some indie games have rejected this low pricing trend. The likes of

Jonathan Blow’s The Witness, Campo Santo’s Firewatch and No Man’s Sky from Hello Games come with higher price tags (£30, £15 and £50 respectively) – price tags met with negative reaction when they were announced. These are clearly exceptional projects – The Witness cost near $6m and took seven years to make, while No Man’s Sky has the backing of Sony and is set in a near-infinite universe (and whether it’s really an ‘indie’ game is up for debate). Yet they speak to a trend in the indie space, of rising production values and game budgets in order to satisfy gamer demands. Thus, prices should also increase to recoup these growing costs. But with consumers crying robbery at indie games priced at over £10, is it too late to start charging more? “Absolutely not. You should charge what the game is worth,” Team17’s Bestwick says.

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INDIE PRICING NEWS ANALYSIS

(Below left to right): Curve’s Byron, Rising Star’s Mathers, TinyBuild’s Nichiporchik and Team17’s Bestwick debate the higher priced indie games like The Witness

“We have small games and large games on our label. Each is priced to reflect what is best after lots of research and planning. “This is a perception issue that we need to address. We have to educate our audience on what to expect and what is an indie game: a complete dynamic ecosystem with less commercial barriers and more creative freedom that allow us to experiment new ideas and bring back old ones, with a really agile development model.” Curve’s Byron adds: “It’s not too late. Indie pricing was set originally to set them apart from triple-A products. They clearly still require a lot of time, money and effort to make, but they are no Call of Duty and are priced appropriately. “What we are seeing now from the indie sector is that production values are rising and the cost of making games is shooting up. That’s where you’re seeing the SRP go up. Firewatch sold 500,000 copies in its first month,

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making its development costs back on the first day, which is brilliant. But it was a huge risk that those guys took. They were a small team but one that needed money. The tech they were using costs money, all of it does.”

WAITING FOR THE FALL ONE of the big concerns with pricing games is the sale mentality. On digital storefronts, consumers are well aware that there is going to be heavy discounting on products, so there’s less incentive to buy a game at launch. On Steam, these price reductions are particularly deep thanks to the regular – and infamous – Steam Sales “PC is ruined because Valve has ingratiated everyone with this idea that there are going to be two, probably more, sales a year,” Rising Star’s Martin Mathers explains. “A game comes out and just sits on 15,000 wishlists.” But Curve’s publishing director Simon Byron says that there’s a way of tackling this mentality: “Indie games are often released with a launch discount. Over time that price

SAFETY IN NUMBERS Rising Star’s Mathers believes that there needs to be solidarity in pricing with indie publishers. “We can only charge more if we do it as a collective,” he explains. “The whole industry needs to do something about this. Otherwise, the only thing that’s going to happen is that the people that do price their stuff slightly higher will suffer because the games won’t sell. That would be a pity. On the other end of the spectrum, you have EA asking for over £100 for a special edition of Battlefront, which has virtually no content in the first place. “There has to be a tapering at both ends, so to speak.”

cut has varied and it’s getting bigger. 10 per cent used to be normal, now people are moving towards 20 per cent. “What that’s doing is saying: ‘hey guys, if you get it now, not only do you get a great game but you also get it at a price that’s cheaper than it will be in two weeks. The indie sector has to work harder to push itself up ahead of gamers buying anything else and price can be one of the best ways of doing that.” He continues: “In most cases, wishlist numbers will outweigh the number of people that have purchased it initially. They are just waiting for it to come down in price. Wishlists are consumers flirting with you and that shows they are waiting for the price to fall. How do you judge price? It’s entirely relative.”

April 15th 2016

THE BIG GAME UNCHARTED 4

UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END

The end of Nathan Drake Uncharted is one of PlayStation’s most popular franchises, and next month the game’s acclaimed creators are planning on ending it. Are they mad? Christopher Dring speaks to Uncharted 4 lead designer Ricky Cambier Release Date: May 10th Formats: PS4 Publisher: Sony Developer: Naughty Dog

our appears to be the magic number for Sony’s Naughty Dog studio. It made four Crash Bandicoot games on the first PlayStation, before walking away from the smash hit series. It created four Jak and Daxter titles on PS2, and then waved goodbye to those characters. And now it says it’s about to do the same with Uncharted. “We like to keep growing,” says Ricky Cambier, lead designer at the Santa Monica studio. “But to truly wrap up a series, and say from the outset that this is this guy’s last story... It’s never been done quite like that.” At least not with a series as commercially successful as this one. With 21m games sold, Uncharted is one of Sony’s most popular franchises. Yet Naughty Dog is a studio that has never paid much attention to sales figures. Back in 2011, in the wake of Uncharted 3 and with the action adventure series at its all-time peak, Naughty Dog decided to step away to create an ambitious, big-budget story-driven horror game called The Last of Us. MCV joked with Cambier that Sony executives must find the studio’s dogged refusal to follow the money quite infuriating.

April 15th 2016

– while there has been an increased focus on stealth. Naughty Dog has also created larger spaces to explore. “There have been games before that have done pretty big spaces,” acknowledges Cambier. “We wanted to do it at a certain visual quality that wouldn’t have ever been possible except on the PS4. We are able to give you this much room to explore and still offer that level of detail. “Also, one of the things we are doing for the first time is that there are no pre-rendered cut scenes. In the past, we always went over to a black frame and we switch over into a movie. We don’t do that anymore. That was a limitation we sort of accepted back then. The impact Ricky Cambier, Naughty Dog of removing that has been kind of profound. You just seamlessly go into these cut scenes and then come out of them – that whole transition goes away.” A lot has changed in the action adventure genre since the last Uncharted game. There was Naughty Dog’s own dark apocalyptic story The Last of Us, which pushed the boundaries in terms of telling stories in video games. There was also the reboot of Tomb Raider, which was a wonderful, if harrowing, Lara Croft origin story.

“Yeah: ‘Hey Sony, by the way, we are going to make this really dark game called The Last of Us,’” he laughs. “‘Oh, Sony, by the way, we are now just going to finish Uncharted off.’” Of course, Sony knows that it can trust Naughty Dog - this is a studio that has launched four multi-million selling franchises, after all. So if it wants to stop making Uncharted games, then so be it. “We are fortunate that we have a pretty good relationship with Sony, where we are not super beholden to expectations,” says Cambier. “We can push that envelope where we can.”

There is no shortage of pressure at Naughty Dog. And with each new game we raise bar higher.

AN EPIC FINALE There’s no point weeping about Uncharted’s goodbye just yet because there is, after all, one last epic adventure to go on. Uncharted 4 looks visually stunning, but Naughty Dog insists the move to PS4 has allowed them to do more than just improve the graphics. The studio has introduced a number of new gameplay elements, including the ability to drive a jeep and swing on ropes. The combat spaces also feature more verticality – the game’s hero Nathan Drake will need to keep an eye above and below

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UNCHARTED 4 THE BIG GAME

MULTIPLAYER MANIA

Uncharted is best known for its single-player adventure story, but ever since Uncharted 2, it’s had a significant multiplayer component, too. It may not seem like a natural fit for the series, but developing the Uncharted multiplayer has allowed the game’s creators to improve the single-player, too. And multiplayer also lets the team, and the players, experiment with more unusual ideas. “I came into the studio just after Uncharted 2, but the guys on that game would tell me that the multiplayer actually affected the singleplayer game,” explains lead designer Ricky Cambier. “They saw how important it was to have very responsive controllers in multiplayer, because if a player wants to move, he needs to be able to move quickly. That meant they sped up a lot of the traversal and that made the single-player feel way better. “For Uncharted 4, we gave the team permission to do what they want. So they’ve incorporated these mystical items and more fantastical things, which allow players to turn the tide of the battle. “It is all about giving people the opportunity to play around in the world more.”

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April 15th 2016

THE BIG GAME UNCHARTED 4

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is coming to PS4 on May 10th after several delays

Naughty Dog says that obviously things have moved on in the world of Uncharted, but fans shouldn’t expect a drastic shift in tone. “I’ve played the first Tomb Raider, but the second one isn’t yet available on PlayStation, so I’ve not had the chance to play that,” says Cambier of its rival. “I like the things that Tomb Raider has done. I saw some of the stuff they did for E3 [for Rise of the Tomb Raider] and going into much more of that survival-type game, which actually seems to borrow more from The Last of Us than Uncharted. “From the start, we knew that we didn’t want to reboot Uncharted. We wanted to add driveable vehicles and the rope and stuff like that, we didn’t want to introduce weapon upgrades or try to skill up. We want to keep it as the Uncharted you know and now see what that means when we take that to PlayStation 4.” PLAYSTATION POSTER BOY Right now, Uncharted – along with Gran Turismo – is PlayStation’s most popular franchise. Indeed, Uncharted 4 is probably the biggest platform exclusive to launch on the PS4 since the machine launched. Does that expectation create much pressure for the team?

April 15th 2016

“There is no shortage of pressure at Naughty Dog anyways,” says Cambier. “From the very start, the studio has done things differently and pushed the PlayStation hardware. We continue to develop these high expectations just internally, and then we put that on ourselves. Before fans, before Sony, it is us that’s setting this bar. And with each new game we set that bar higher. Every time we do [a game], we create a long list of stuff we know we can do better, or things we want to explore. Even now we will start working on what’s next, and we have a list.” Whatever it is that comes next, it won’t be Uncharted. So looking back at almost ten years of the series, is there anything Cambier regrets? “I can’t think of any creative project that I have ever worked on where, as soon as it is done, I’m not like: ‘Yeah, I could do that a little bit better.’ If we go to make Uncharted 4 again, it would be different. But there is nothing I regret in this at all. This is the game we wanted to make and, I think, it’s the best Uncharted yet.”

We are very relieved and it’s nice to be done. But it’s also quite signiﬁcant to end a franchise like Uncharted. Ricky Cambier, Naughty Dog

GOODBYE MY FRIEND There’s little doubt that Uncharted 4 will be a big seller, even in an

unusually congested May. Sony has already invested heavily in the game’s marketing and anticipation for the title is high ahead of its May 10th release. It’s been a long journey, too. The game was announced in 2013 and underwent a number of changes on the way to release – it’s even suffered a series of delays. “We are very relieved and it’s very nice to be done and get back to our friends and families and those things we weren’t able to give much attention to over the last few months,” Cambier says about the game’s completion. “But it’s also quite significant to end a franchise like Uncharted and say goodbye to Nathan Drake.” Naughty Dog has walked away from franchises before – it’s never made another Crash Bandicoot or Jak and Daxter – yet this is the first time it announced it was doing so. Has that made the game’s finale few months of development a bittersweet experience? “That kind of varies throughout the studio,” concludes Cambier. “For me, I met Nathan Drake on Uncharted 1 and 2 as a fan, and then I came in on 3. I then worked on The Last of Us and now Uncharted 4. So for me it’s an honour to be part of the creative team that is sending this guy off. To me, it is actually a bit of a celebration. “But for other people that have been with him since the inception, there is a lot of sadness. There is a lot of being with him for ten years, and the way they have changed and their family dynamics have been changed... all of this stuff are things they start to reflect on. “Speaking to Bruce Staley, the game director who started as an art director on Uncharted 1, he was working on this last sequence at the end of the game and we were basically sketching in what was effectively Nathan Drake’s final big jump. And he was getting a little emotional because that’s such an iconic Nathan Drake moment... and here was his last one.”

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TRIPLE PACK EXPANSION INCLUDES: BONUS SINGLE-PLAYER STORY* TWO PACKS OF UNIQUE, RARE AND LEGENDARY MULTIPLAYER ITEMS. *The DLC in the Triple Pack will not be available at launch. Check unchartedthegame.com for updates

QA AND LOCALISATION SPECIAL

Testing times Having changed how they work to make way for mobile and a wealth of post-release content for big releases, QA and localisation studios are now ramping up to deal with a new challenge – virtual reality. Alex Calvin speaks to some of the UK’s top firms to find out more

ou’ve got to feel a bit sorry for bug testing and localisation companies. Every time an exec takes to the stage at E3 and reveals their company’s latest ‘awesome innovation’, you can picture teams at QA firms around the world holding their heads in their hands, knowing that this new ‘exciting announcement’ is potentially going to cause them a world of pain. In recent memory, we’ve had the dawn of mobile gaming and motion controls. Then there’s been the trend of publishers patching their games on launch day and beyond. And of course, there’s the road-map of DLC and add-on content that needs to be tested for a considerable length of time after a title’s release. And now it’s VR – a new technology that has the potential to change the industry as we know it. But it once again forces QA and localisation firms to adapt. “Just like when Kinect first came out, we need our testers to be comfortable using the equipment, and avoid any repercussions from over use,” Universally Speaking director Loreto Sanz Fueyo says. “This means taking frequent breaks during testing, which may affect how long it takes to complete a round. For instance, Oculus suggests a 10 to 15 minute break every 30 minutes. In addition, should any discomfort be experienced by the tester then they would be asked to take a break. The cause would then need to be checked by the team, to ensure it’s not a game

April 15th 2016

vigorously tested to ensure that the movement was as easy and intuitive as possible. Compare the same type of testing to VR and all of a sudden unnatural movement leads to testers becoming disorientated, which in turn leads to the testers needing to take more regular breaks. Issues such as these would be rigorously tested

or device issue, and stems from the user. “In many ways, VR lends itself to an array of issues that would not necessarily be considered with non-VR testing, like motion sickness. In a non-VR game, unnatural player movement would just be an annoyance to the player, which would then be

on non-VR games, but within VR these kinds of issues need to be handled more carefully.” Pole To Win Europe’s director of localisation Chris Rowley adds: “You can’t sit with a VR headset on for eight hours a day and test. You have to have better planning in some ways for your testers and they would work in shorter cycles before you give them breaks. We had to do something similar when Kinect came out on the Xbox 360 because people can’t go running around for eight hours a day. It’s the same thing with VR headsets.” VIRTUALLY CRAWLING Testology MD Andy Robson also says that the mere fact testers are wearing goggles has slowed down the process. “Testing for VR has slowed things down a bit,” he explains. “Because you have a headset, you have an entirely different environment to test in. And when you come to reporting a bug, you have to take the headset off and write it down, go back and try to reproduce it. It is a slow process. “You also need to have a lot of space around you a bit like you had to do with the Kinect. It’s slowed it down a bit. And it also takes time to adjust to new technology and how you test and develop on it. Over a period of time it will get easier. But ultimately you are still testing a piece of software. The testing process never really changes, it’s just the technology and the games.” Leading QA firms are making sizeable investments in

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QA AND LOCALISATION SPECIAL

ADULT ENTERTAINMENT THERE’S a saying: any new tech will get big attention from two industries in particular – the military and the porn sector. The latter has taken a keen interest in VR (the former might, too, but we’re less likely to hear about that). And Testology boss Andy Robson says that his firm is speaking to leaders in porn to help test their upcoming releases. “VR is going to be massive in the porn industry,” Robson says. “We don’t stand still when it comes to VR in games – we are looking at it in the digital media space. VR is going to be big in other entertainment sectors. If you are going to be at the forefront of testing, you need to be doing everything.”

(Above left to right) Testology’s Robson, Pole To Win’s Rowson and Universally Speaking’s Sanz Fueyo

VR. Testronic recently announced it was opening a dedicated lab for the new tech – and it’s not the only one. “We have recently acquired new facilities to dedicate to VR testing,” Universally Speaking’s Sanz Fueyo says. “This allows us to offer our clients unprecedented VR testing capabilities. Our test teams have access to a huge range of VR devices and a highly protected working environment, which allows them to work efficiently and safely. We have also invested heavily in training for our testers so that they can learn and become comfortable with all of the VR devices currently on offer, especially with Oculus, HTC and Sony devices.” HEDGING THEIR BETAS VR is not the only issue facing QA and localisation. Increasingly publishers are doing betas to try out the online functionality of their upcoming releases. And leading QA firms suggest that these publishers are trying to crowdsource their bug testing for the online components of their games. “Crowdsourced testing has its pros and cons, just as professional QA does, and developers need to

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know what they want to get out of QA before making an investment,” Sanz Fueyo says. “Crowdsourcing can be cheaper, more flexible, and sometimes more diverse. But while it may seem like the safer option you have to consider the testing process and the end result. QA firms like us establish a relationship with our clients, which makes communication a lot easier, and makes the entire experience more personable by being able to interact with testers directly. “This proximity allows for communication to be a lot more effective as well, and can save a lot of time allowing for more testing to be performed. We also pride ourselves on being able to integrate ourselves straight into our clients’ systems and processes, where our teams can then be guided through testing and be held directly accountable for all issues found.” Testology’s Robson adds: “They are trying to test their games for free. There’s no way a testing company or publisher can simulate real-world conditions where millions are playing a title. These betas are more about testing their infrastructure, and

If you’re crowdsourcing bug testing, the quality of work isn’t going to be as good as actual QA testers. Andy Robson, Testology

there are loads of people going on and finding issues in their game. “To be honest, you get what you pay for – if you’re going to crowdsource bug testing, the quality of work isn’t going to be as good as if it was an internal QA department or an outsource firm.” But Pole To Win’s Rowley says that multiplayer betas are more to do with playtesting games than bug testing. “Betas are primarily about getting people to play for fun, it’s less about bug testing, it’s crowdsourcing the playability,” he explains. “Is the player engagement there? Is what we think makes a game fun to play correct? That’s what they’re doing rather than testing the game to get rid of bugs. There is an important difference between the two. Ultimately on top of that you’re looking at publishers and developers looking to stress-test their systems. You try the beta and it works with 10,000 people. Does it now work with 50,000? What about 100,000 users simultaneously? “They’re infrastructure testing, too,”

April 15th 2016

FOR ALL YOUR QA NEEDS

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PHIL CLANDILLON, FOAM INTERVIEW

INDIE INTERVIEW Shut up and Drive After working in music for years, Phil Clandillon left the industry to focus on making games. Now, his Early Access title Drive Any Track is approaching release. Alex Calvin speaks to him to find out why he switched industries

ake one look at Drive Any Track and it probably won’t come as a surprise that the developer’s background is in music. It’s a racing title that procedurally generates a track based on any song, made by Foam Entertainment, a studio founded by two veterans of the music industry – Phil Clandillon and Steve Milbourne. Initially part of Sony Music, Foam worked on interactive content for artists including AC/DC, Kasabian and Mark Ronson. Clandillon and Milbourne eventually spun Foam out of Sony to focus on developing its own games. “We were gaming geeks, into music-based titles like PaRappa The Rapper as well as games with great soundtracks like Grand Theft Auto III,” creative director Clandillon says. “We wanted to do a music game, but we didn’t want to make a traditional rhythmn title. We wanted to make a driving game that was connected to music.” THE CROWD GOES WILD The game was launched onto Early Access in May 2015 and this has proved incredibly useful during its development “Drive Any Track is such an experimental and unique game,” Clandillon says. “We were prototyping the game and doing the first build, we got the title through the Greenlight process and it ended up on Early Access and got some great feedback. But there were particular aspects of the game that some people hated. That was to do with the way that we generated the tracks. “We found out that the way we had been playing the game was different to how everyone else was playing it. We were competing against each other on specific songs and we were really memorising the tracks. One of the things we included were these barriers which could come from anywhere on the race track. “What we found was people didn’t view it in the same way we did, they weren’t memorising tracks, they were exploring their own music library. There was also a high percentage of gamers who wanted to just go and drive and

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Drive Any Track launched on Early Access in May 2015 and is set for a summer 2016 release

explore rather than hardcore competing against each other.” “One of the first things Early Access was really good for was refining the game design, and one of the first big changes we made was editing the algorithm so it didn’t generate blind barriers.

So long as you use Early Access to make your game better, it’s a great idea. But if you use it purely to make money, it can go wrong. Phil Clandillon, Foam Entertainment

BAD VIBRATIONS Early Access has had its fair share of success, but it has also garnered a bad reputation. The programme has become rife with in-development projects that may never be finished. “That’s a fair assessment,” Clandillon says. “It’s because people have been using Early Access in what I could consider to be the wrong way, which is using it to try and fund development perhaps inspired by unfinished games having a fair amount of success on there. Some developers saw that and figured they could make money there. The way we have used Early Access is getting feedback from players and involving the community and making sure the game is going in the right direction. “So long as you use Early Access to make your game better, it’s a great idea. If you use it to try and run you business, it can go wrong.”

April 15th 2016

MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE Matthew Ridge from Chips Stockton tells MCV about the challenge of attracting people to the High Street and why PlayStation 4 will perform better than Xbox One this year How has your business been doing lately? It has remained stable so far, there’s been a few releases going great, so it’s going OK at the moment. The Division has been doing well since its launch, as well as Far Cry Primal and the new Dirt Rally. Which platform performs the best for you? PlayStation 4 at the moment. There’s just more support I suppose, more releases and more exclusives.

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

And what about Nintendo? Do you sell a lot of Wii U games? Yes, we do actually. It’s not amazing but the Twilight Princess HD game that came out last month did OK.

And which platform do you think will perform the best over the course of the year? PlayStation 4 again, I think. PlayStation 4 has always been performing better than Xbox One. And Uncharted 4 is a very hyped game so I suppose there are going to be a lot of people buying the console to play that as well. We do digital cards for both also, and PlayStation does all right. Not so much on Season Passes but the ‘top ups’ are doing quite well.

What are your thoughts on Nintendo’s next console? I have to say that I’m quite optimistic but I would need to see it before I actually make a judgement on that. But hopefully we’ll ﬁnd out more about that at E3.

There are not many shops on the High Street at the moment, so it’s a bit of a challenge. Matthew Ridge, Chips Stockton

PRICE CHECK: MANSFIELD

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. DARK SOULS III INC. 32 PAGE COMIC Bandai Namco, PS4

2. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Launch Edition Sony.........................................................................PS4

MXGP

3. Final Fantasy XV Square Enix..........................................................PS4

Milestone, PS4

WRC 5 Big Ben, PS4

4. Ratchet & Clank inc. The Bouncer DLC Sony.........................................................................PS4

Microsoft, XO

Milestone, XO

£39.99

N/A

£29.99

£49.99

£31.99

£14.99

N/A

£41.99

£37.99

£19.99

£24.99

£29.99

9. Doom inc Demon Multiplayer Pack Bethesda ..................................................................XO

£33.24

£19.45

£23

£26.89

10. Star Fox Zero Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

£46.68

£22.69

£39.77

£45.62

6. Valkyria Chronicles Remastered Sega ........................................................................PS4

ONLINE

5. Dark Souls III inc. Dark Souls & 32 page Comic Bandai Namco ......................................................XO

SÉBASTIEN LOEB RALLY EVO

FORZA MOTORSPORT 6

7. Doom inc Demon Multiplayer Pack Bethesda ...............................................................PS4

UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

LOUD ON PLANET X

MINECRAFT: STORY MODE EPISODE 5

ENTER THE GUNGEON

The indie rhythm/tower defence mash-up arrives on PS4 and PC

This ﬁfth episode, Order Up!, is out on PC, Xbox One, 360, PS4 and PS3

Devolver Digital’s latest title debuts on PlayStation 4 and PC

OUT: APRIL 19TH

April 15th 2016

IN STORE

8. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Special Edition Sony.........................................................................PS4

OUT: NOW

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MARKETPLACE

Phone: 01642 618256 Website: www.chipsworld.co.uk Email: webby@chipsworld.co.uk

Chips Stockton 26 Silver Street Stockton-on-Tees TS18 1SX

What challenges are you facing at the moment? Probably the fact that the High Street is kind of dying... There are not many shops on the High Street at the moment, so it’s a bit of a challenge to try and actually bring people to the High Street and come to our shop. What are your prospects for the year to come? It will probably stay as it is. Maybe PlayStation 4 will sell a lot more.

Hopefully, with the VR technology coming at the end of the year, business will kick oﬀ. Obviously, it will sell quite well but I don’t expect any dramatic changes. What are your thoughts on VR? I did not have the chance to play VR titles yet, but this looks like a nice piece of technology, so I can’t wait to give it a go. It will deﬁnitely do quite well at launch. And if games keep coming, I imagine it will keep selling well for the years to come.

INCOMING TITLE

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Sony is bringing back Ratchet and Clank on PlayStation 4 next week, while Nintendo is releasing Star Fox Zero on Wii U on the same day FORMAT

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April 15th 2016

SEGA

SEGA Sega may not be a console giant anymore, but the publisher still has plenty of iconic franchises and retro fans. From Sonic to Total War, Marie Dealessandri has selected some unique Sega products

FOR the past 30 years, Sega has endured ups and downs, to put it mildly. It may never return to its ‘90s glory days, but it is currently enjoying a new lease of life on PC and mobile. Sega has revitalised its iconic character Sonic, created in 1991, by launching mobile titles since 2007. One such game, Sonic Dash, has been downloaded over 98 million times and was developed in the UK by Hardlight.

Sega’s Sonic Dash has been downloaded over 98 million times.

But ironically, some of Sonic’s most successful appearances these past few years were in titles published by Nintendo, Sega’s former nemesis. The character first appeared on a Nintendo console in 2002 with Sonic Adventure 2: Battle on GameCube, one year after Sega stopped manufacturing its last console, the Dreamcast. Nintendo and Sega signed an exclusive partnership in 2013 to bring the Sonic franchise to Wii U and 3DS.

SEGA MEGADRIVE WITH WIRELESS CONTROLLERS Those nostalgic for Sega’s hardware will be delighted with this retro console that features 80 built-in titles, including Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2 and all three original Mortal Kombat games. Ultimate fans can also use original Megadrive cartridges from all regions with this console. It comes with two wireless controllers. SRP: £49.99 Manufacturer: AtGames Distributor: PQube Contact: 01462 487 373

SONIC NO.26 AMIIBO

DREAMCAST CONSOLE NOTEBOOK

THE FOOTBALL MANAGER’S GUIDE TO FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT

Now the Sega and Nintendo console war is over, fans can enjoy playing with Sonic’s Amiibo in Super Smash Bros on Wii U and 3DS.

This notebook is designed to look like Sega’s ill-fated Dreamcast and is a perfect gift for retro gaming fans.

In this book, football specialist Iain Macintosh details real-life managerial techniques that players can use in Football Manager.

SRP: £10.99 Manufacturer: Nintendo Distributor: Open Contact: 01753 483 700

SRP: £4.99 Manufacturer: Numskull Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

SRP: £7.99 Manufacturer: Century Distributor: Penguin Random House Contact: uktrademgmt@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

April 15th 2016

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SEGA Sponsored by

gaming merchandise uk

Sonic has even competed with Mario in a series of Olympics tiein games, including a new Rio 2016 game released on 3DS last week. But Sonic is not the only character in Sega’s universe. The publisher acquired UK developer Sports Interactive in 2006, the studio behind the highly successful Football Manager franchise. The latest title in the series has 650,000 registered players.

In 2005, the Japanese firm also acquired British studio The Creative Assembly, which will release the tenth instalment of its Total War franchise next month. Total War: Warhammer will be the first fantasy-based title in the series, as Total War games usually follow historical battles. Needless to say, with all these successful franchises, plus Sega’s legacy as a hardware development company, there’s plenty of merchandise for fans to purchase.

TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER HIGH KING EDITION Total War meets Warhammer’s universe in a few weeks. To celebrate this new release, Sega has put some unique items in a box and called it ‘High King Edition’. It includes a metal ring that can also be used as a dice, a whetstone pendant, a drinking horn, a canvas map, an art book and a strategy guide. This limited edition will launch on May 24th but is already available to pre-order. SRP: £99.99 Manufacturer: Sega Distributor: CentreSoft Contact: 01216 253 388

CASINO NIGHTS - SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 DRESS

THE ART OF TOTAL WAR

The iconic and striking level from one of Sega’s most popular game is re-created in dress form.

Published just after Total War: Rome II, this book contains 192 pages of concept art and commentaries from the franchise creators.

SRP: £28 Manufacturer: Insert Coin Distributor: Insert Coin Contact: 01702 521 850

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

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SONIC WALLET IN COLLECTORS TIN

This wallet displays a discreet print of Sonic on the front and comes in a nice metal tin. SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: Sonic The Hedgehog Oﬃcial Merchandise/Sega Distributor: Five Elements Distribution Contact: info@ﬁveelementdistribution.co.uk

April 15th 2016

MARKETING, PR & CREATIVE AGENCIES

LEGAL

AUDIO IN

GERARD FOX LAW

Tel: 0044 7985678437 www.audioin.co.uk ........................................................................................................

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

Tel: +44 (0) 114 278 7100 www.uberagency.com/ ........................................................................................................

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 info@playdistribution.com www.playdistribution.com ........................................................................................................

WHOLESGAME info@wholesgame.com www.wholesgame.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: + 44 (0) 8701 600 504 www.audiomotion.com ........................................................................................................

OPM RECRUITMENT

QA & LOCALISATION, PAYMENT & SOLUTION

CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION

OK MEDIA LTD

AUDIOMOTION

UBER

RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION & MANUFACTURING

Tel: +44 [0] 1206 214421 http://opmjobs.com/ ........................................................................................................

PERIPHERALS, ACCESSORIES & MERCHANDISE

RAGTAG DEVELOPMENTS LTD

GAMING MERCHANDISE UK LTD

Tel: +44 (0)1295 817617 www.ragtagdev.com ........................................................................................................

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

REMOTE CONTROL PRODUCTS

LIME DISTRIBUTION

LA MARQUE ROSE Tel: +33 1 43 14 88 00 info@lamarquerose.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: +49 (0) 89 / 210 205 70 http://www.r-control.de/ ........................................................................................................

UNIVERSALLY SPEAKING

SOUNDING SWEET LTD.

PERFORMANCE DESIGNED PRODUCTS LTD

Tel: +44 (0) 1480210621 www.usspeaking.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: +44 (0) 1789 297453 www.soundingsweet.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: 01628 509 047 www.pdp.com ........................................................................................................

EXEQUO Tel: +1 425 279 7855 sbonﬁ ls@exequo.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: 01622 845 161 www.limedistribution.co.uk ........................................................................................................

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COMPANY PROFILE /

REMOTE CONTROL PRODUCTS KEY CONTACTS:

ADDRESS: Remote Control Productions GmbH Karlstr. 68 80335 Munich Germany

Email info@r-control.de

REMOTE control productions (rcp) is an independent production house focusing on development and production of games and gaming applications, and leads Europe’s major developer family. Since 2005 the Munich-based company is supporting, financing and coaching start-ups and development studios. rcp is also participating in projects in the areas of serious games, gamification, conferences, education and lobbying. rcp has partnered up with and become co-owners of multiple development studios; the ever-expanding network consists of a dozen studios with different fields of expertise like mobile games, browser games, serious games or gamification applications. Thanks to the internal network and additional partners nationally and internationally, rcp has established itself as a credible, efficient and reliable production partner on more than 50 projects for PC, mobile, browser and console. Our work for hire, publishing and licensing partners include Rovio Entertainment, Deep Silver/Fishlabs, Ubisoft, ProSiebenSat.1 Games, Ravensburger Digital, Deutsche Telekom, Gamevil, RNTS Media, Chillingo, Volkswagen, spilgames, DeNA, Bigpoint, Intel, Audi and many more. Our biggest success so far has been Angry Birds Epic, which was developed by rcp family studio Chimera Entertainment and has to date been downloaded more than 60 million times worldwide. For more information please visit: http://www.r-control.de/ or https://www.facebook. com/remote.control.productions/

MAKE BETTER GA MES.

GAME DEVELOPMENT

PUBLISHING CO-PUBLISHING

Florensia, relaunched by GAMESinFLAMES in 2015, 5x monthly revenue compared to 2014

SERIOUS GAMES GAMIFICATION

Serious Game GTS Driver for Porsche AG, developed by it Matters Games in under 12 weeks

GAMESinFLAMES is an independent Digital Only Publisher for all platforms with a focus on European territories. We love games with a twist.

Angry Birds Epic, developed by Chimera Entertainment and Rovio, 60+ million downloads

GAMIFY now! specialises in serious games, game-based trainings and gamification. Applying successful game design formulas allows us to increase profits, efficiency and costumer loyalty for any type of business or organisation.

euro e urope's major games developer netw ork www.r- control

Get G et in tou touch!

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO ISSUE 859 FRIDAY DECEMBER

GAMES

4TH 2015

ISSUE 860 FRIDAY DECEMBER 11TH

2015

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%

ips for mobile and digital dconsole

data Q MCV re-launches charts

section

jobs.r-c ontrol.d e

info@r- control .de

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

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INDIE THICK OF IT

.de

41%

picked Uncharted 4 as their most anticipated game of 2016