MCV883 June 17th by Future PLC

SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO? ISSUE 883 FRIDAY 17TH JUNE 2016

HOW THE BREXIT COULD AFFECT THE UK GAMES INDUSTRY P04

IT’S ALIVE For all the talk of its demise, E3 2016 was one of the noisiest, decadent and most eventful shows in its history

TURN THE PAGE FOR OUR E3 2016 ROUNDUP

PLUS WE SPEAK TO WOMEN IN GAMES’ NEW CEO WHAT’S NEW IN FIFA 17?

E3 REVIEW

Exc3ss - violence, drama and million dollar events Christopher Dring reports from E3 at Los Angeles on an eventful 36-hours for the video games business

o you remember when EA ‘wasn’t at E3’? It was an entertaining story for a while, until we ended up in LA, and saw that the apparently AWOL EA had actually taken over ﬁve ﬂoors of its own venue, before it held a press conference that took place across two continents. Activision, too. It’s not at E3 either. Unless you count the fact it had not one, not two but three games - one a completely new announcement - on stage during Sony’s E3 press conference. This was an E3 of noise - never before have we seen so many consumers at the event, whooping and hollering at every new announcement, every perfectly delivered PR line and every gory on-screen murder. It would be enough to make you cringe at the best of times, but E3 took place during one of the worst tragedies in US history, with the mass murder of 50 people in Orlando just as the show was about to start. Publishers and platform holders did their best to address it, but it felt disingenuous when the thoughts and prayers were quickly followed by graphic depictions of stabbing deer, or mowing down hoards of monsters, or skewering security guards in the neck - scenes that were greeted with adulation from the baying crowd. Yet the show must go on, and it did. E3 2016 was a busy one for the games business, and there was a lot to talk about – both from what was shown and what wasn’t. So let MCV take you through 36 hours of games industry news.

Sunday, June 12th 1.00pm Electronic Arts EA’S non-E3 press conference kicked oﬀ the week, and was

June 17th 2016

Sunday, June 12th,

perhaps the most reserved of the showcases we witnessed. The firm showed the first gameplay of Titanfall 2, the shooter that arrives on October 28th. It also unveiled more details around Battlefield 1, which comes out the week before. There was more details on Madden, while FIFA saw its story mode announced. That was pretty much it. EA clearly decided to focus on the games that players could actually get hands on with that week, which was a commendable decision. However, the absence of some key titles resulted in disappointment amongst certain fans. The one new announcement of note was that EA is launching an indie games publishing division called Originals. It showed off its first Originals project, too, an artistic platformer called Fe.

7:30pm Bethesda THIS was quite possibly the most lavish and extravagant E3 press event in almost a decade. Featuring a live performance from Blink 182 at a huge after party, Bethesda utilised E3 to focus on its blockbuster sequels. Quake Champions was the big surprise, although very little was revealed about it. Meanwhile, a new Prey game and a PS4/Xbox One remake of Skyrim was also brieﬂy shown - although many knew about that ahead of the conference. Bethesda also announced its move into VR with a Doom demo and a VR version of Fallout 4 both coming to HTC Vive. Yet its real push was around Dishonored 2. Judging by the sheer amount of stage time it has, Bethesda is clearly eager to

turn Dishonored into another one of its pillar franchises. It will be interesting to see whether a game that has such a niche concept can break through into the mainstream.

Monday, June 13th, 9:30am Xbox MICROSOFT’S press conference was quite a safe one in many ways. The games on show were mostly ones we had seen or known about before - including ﬁrst party titles Halo Wars 2, Gears of War 4, ReCore and Sea of Thieves. Meanwhile, new announcements involved Forza Horizon 2 and Dead Rising 4. Crackdown, which has been pushed to 2017, was nowhere to be seen. Yet this was a press event that will be best remembered for its double hardware announcements. Microsoft kicked oﬀ the presentation

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E3 REVIEW

by confirming the existence of the Xbox One S - a slimmed down version of the Xbox One, with 4K support for video and Blu-ray, plus a new and improved controller. The white machine can also be stood on its side and has a retail price starting at £250. It is due in August. Then, to cap it off, Phil Spencer confirmed the existence of Project Scorpio. Scorpio is a new Xbox One that will be, according to the company, ’the most powerful games console of all’. There was a lot of jargon as Xbox unveiled the specifications for the machines. No details on its price came out of the show, but we have a while to go yet - Scorpio isn’t due until the end of 2017. It laid out a market for Sony to hit.

Monday, June 13th, 1.00pm Ubisoft BEFORE Sony’s go, however, we had Ubisoft’s traditional weird and charming conference. There were unusual indie-type titles like Grow Up (a sequel to 2015’s Grow Home) and Trials of the Blood Dragon (an unpredictable mash-up of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon with the Trials series). There were big triple-A releases such as For Honor, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Watch Dogs 2, South Park: The Fractured But Whole and a new action sports IP called Steep. And there were multiple VR titles, most notable of which was the new Star Trek game, Bridge Crew. And that’s not even referencing the Assassin’s Creed movie, which is set for December, and the annual Just Dance product. It was actually a very impressive show, with the ﬁrm celebrating its 30th birthday. And when you add all those games together, you can see why Ubisoft is internally describing this ﬁnancial year as its biggest on record. However, there was a hint of potential sadness at the end. As Yves Guillemot said his earnest thanks to the fans, he was joined onstage by his development teams. Ubisoft is facing down a hostile take-over attempt from

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E3 Biggest Announcements

Vivendi, and if Yves and his team can’t fend it oﬀ, then that may have been the publisher’s much-loved leader’s ﬁnal public appearance.

Xbox One S (Microsoft) August 2016 ReCore (Microsoft) September 13th 2016 Forza Horizon 3 (Microsoft) September 27th 2016 FIFA 17 (EA) September 29th 2016 PlayStation VR (Sony) October 13th 2016 Battleﬁeld 1 (EA) October 21st 2016 The Last Guardian (Sony) October 25th 2016 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Remastered (Bethesda) October 28th 2016 Titanfall 2 (EA) October 28th 2016 Just Dance 2017 (Ubisoft) October 2016 Dishonored 2 (Bethesda) November 11th 2016 South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Ubisoft) December 6th 2016 Steep (Ubisoft) December 2016 Dead Rising 4 (Microsoft) Q4 2016 Eagle Flight (Ubisoft) Q4 2016 Star Trek: Bridge Crew (Ubisoft) Q4 2016 Trackmania Turbo VR (Ubisoft) Q4 2016 Werewolves Within (Ubisoft) Q4 2016 Resident Evil VII (Capcom) January 24th 2017 For Honor (Ubisoft) February 14th 2017 Halo Wars 2 (Microsoft) February 21st 2017 Horizon Zero Dawn (Sony) March 3rd 2017 Ghost Recon: Wildlands (Ubisoft) March 7th 2017 Mass Eﬀect: Andromeda (EA) Q1 2017 Tekken 7 (Bandai Namco) Q1 2017 Crackdown 3 (Microsoft) 2017 Fallout 4 VR (Bethesda) 2017 Prey (Bethesda) 2017 Scalebound (Microsoft) 2017 State of Decay 2 (Microsoft) 2017

Monday, June 13th, 6.00pm PlayStation SONY decided to face-off against Xbox and its new hardware reveals by showing nothing but software. Make no mistake, PlayStation is planning a new model to compete with Xbox One’s Scorpio, but PlayStation Neo just wasn’t here. We will have to wait for a later date to see what the platform holder has planned. Instead, Sony delivered a string of huge triple-A titles, with no sign of any small scale indie projects. God of War achieved the biggest cheer of the night, while the reveal that Capcom’s creepy Kitchen game was actually a precursor to Resident Evil VII was warmly received - the game seemed to be returning to its survival horror roots. In fact, there were quite a number of surprises during the PlayStation press conference. We had a new action survival horror game called Days Gone, which featured an horrific chase from hundreds of the undead. Hideo Kojima’s new title Death Stranding was teased, sending the audience into a frenzy, while Crash Bandicoot is returning with a remake of the first three titles. Oh and Insomniac is making a SpiderMan game. There were other impressive demos of Horizon: Zero Dawn, Detroit, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Skylanders Imaginators (now with added Crash), but the biggest focus was on PlayStation VR. Sony announced that its new headset will have 50 games available on it by the end of the year, and they will include a dog fighting mission from Star Wars Battlefront, Batman Arkham VR and a Final Fantasy XV VR experience. All in, despite the lack of hardware, it was another show-stopping performance from PlayStation.

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Watch Dogs 2 inc. Zodiac Killer extra mission (XO)

Bethesda Ubisoft

June 17th 2016

DATA UK GAMES AND THE BREXIT

How could the Brexit impact the UK games industry? On June 23rd, the UK will decide whether or not we stay in the EU. But what does the games industry have to say on the matter, and how would it be affected by leaving? Alex Calvin reports with help from UKIE

ext week, the UK will vote in the EU Referendum. Whether we remain within the European Union or leave, the decision will have farreaching consequences for our country’s future. But how will the games industry be voting? According to a survey of its members carried out by UK games trade body UKIE in April, 80.6 per cent of UK games companies want to stay in the EU. Only 3.2 per cent backed the so-called ‘Brexit’, while the remaining 16.2 per cent were undecided about how they are going to vote.

How positive are you about the UK games industry’s potential for growth over the next two years if the UK remains in the EU? 70%

66.1%

60%

50%

40%

30%

25.4%

20%

10% 3.4%

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE UKIE has since carried out another survey. This new poll indicates strong support for remaining a member of the European Union. 66.1 per cent of respondents said that they felt ‘very positive’ about the future of the UK games industry should we remain in the UK (right above), with another 25.4 per cent saying they were ‘fairly positive’. 3.4 per cent answered that leaving or remaining makes no difference towards the future of the UK games industry. Conversely, only 18.7 per cent of the UK games industry felt positive about the UK games industry’s potential for growth should we leave the EU (right). In fact, 71.2 per cent of respondents said that they were ‘not very positive’ or ‘not at all positive’ about the UK games industry’s prospects in the next two years should a Brexit occur.

June 17th 2016

1.7%

0% Very positive

Fairly positive

Makes no difference

Not very positive

3.4% 0% Not at all positive

Uncertain

How positive are you about the UK games industry’s potential for growth over the next two years if the UK leaves the EU? 40% 35.6%

35.6%

30%

20%

11.9% 6.5%

10% 6.81% 1.7% 0% Very positive

Fairly positive

Makes no difference

Not very positive

Not at all positive

Uncertain

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UK GAMES AND THE BREXIT DATA

A QUESTION OF TALENT

WHAT IF WE DO LEAVE?

There is currently enough home-grown high-skilled or specialised talent to meet my firm’s needs

THE data from UKIE’s survey points towards the UK games industry voting to remain in the European Union. But if the UK does indeed vote to leave, the games industry is ill-prepared to deal with the consequences of this shift. According to UKIE’s data, 41.1 per cent of UK games companies have not even had discussions to plan for the eventuality of a Brexit. A further 35.6 per cent companies have had internal

35% 28.6%

30% 23.7%

25% 20%

16.9%

15% 10%

6.8%

5% 0%

0% Strongly agree

Agree

Neither Disagree Strongly disagree

Don’t Know

Did not say

Which of these best describes your company’s activity in advance of the Referendum? 50%

MANY in the Remain camp argue that leaving the EU will hamper the UK’s ability to attract talent from Europe, and by extension, the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Leave’s argument is that a ‘points-based’ immigration system – similar to that seen in Australia – will mean a stronger hold on our borders and mean the UK can focus on bringing in higher-skilled workers. Replies to UKIE’s poll suggest the UK games industry relies on overseas workers. When asked to respond to the statement: ‘There is currently enough home-grown high-skilled or specialist talent to meet my firm’s needs’ (above), only 6.8 per cent of UK firms strongly agreed, while 16.9 per cent said that they agreed. However, the biggest proportion of respondents – 28.8 per cent - said they disagree, with a further 16.9 per cent strongly disagreeing.

discussions, but no decisions for action have been taken as of yet. Meanwhile, 13.6 per cent of UK games firms have internal discussions about the implications of leaving the EU. Only 1.7 per cent have undertaken a serious degree of planning for this eventuality. It would be wise for more companies to have a serious conversation about how a Brexit would affect them - because this is a very real possibility.

In response to a separate question, 52.5 per cent of UK games firms strongly agree that free movement of workers within the EU is vital to fill positions requiring high levels of skill and experience, with another 25.4 per cent agreeing. Only 6.8 per cent of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed. Respondents were also asked how much they agreed with the following statement: ‘Leaving the EU will create new opportunities for high-skilled migration from across the world’. Only 11.9 per cent strongly agreed while no-one agreed. 28.8 disagreed with the statement, while 30.5 per cent strongly disagreed. It appears clear that the free movement of workers within the EU is vital to the continued strength of the UK games industry, and that leaving the EU will have a grave impact on the UK skills market in games.

44.1%

35.6%

40% 30% 20%

13.6%

10%

5.1% 1.7%

0% Some No activity Some Undertaken in advance internal internal a detailed of a discussion, discussions scenario potential held on the planning for but no decision to next steps immediate a potential leace the have been implications decision to EU of a potential leave the agreed decision to EU leave the EU.

Did not want to say

SHOULD WE STAY? Arguments to Remain in the European Union: Q We are economically stronger in the EU Q Wealth of overseas, highskilled talent results in a healthy UK games industry Q Because we have access to best talent in Europe we can win business from across the world

Q The EU represents 560m potential customers, which can be reached instantly Q Leaving means we will have no say in the EU market Q The UK acts as a link between the US and EU. Because of our language, our competitive labour market and access to talent. This happens as the UK is in Europe and governed by the same rules

OR SHOULD WE GO? Arguments to Leave the European Union: Q The UK would gain sovereignty and EU regulations, seen as onerous and impeding growth, could be scrapped Q The UK could cut better trade deals with the rest of the world, rather than focusing on the EU or relying on the EU to do this Q A ‘points-based’ immigration

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system would enable the UK to better control its borders and focus on highskilled talent the UK needs rather than letting in workers from EU countries on an unrestricted basis Q Fears about exit from single market are unfounded as EU would have to strike a good deal with the UK because of the size of its market

June 17th 2016

CHEAT SHEET

UP & DOWN

Market Data Game sales and revenue dip 30 per cent with a lack of new releases hitting shelves

£10m £15m

£30m £5m

UNCHARTED 4 falls two places to No.4 with sales dipping 45 per cent

£10m 293,169 units £8.5m 284,290 units

Week Ending May 28th

£6.1m 198,901 units

Week Ending June 4th

THE EURO 16 SKU of PES rises six places to No.8 as the European Championship kicks oﬀ

Week Ending June 11th

EVENT CALENDAR JULY 2016 ........................................................................... DEVELOP: BRIGHTON CONFERENCE Hilton Metropole, Brighton Tuesday, July 12th – Thursday, July 14th Q The development community will gather in Brighton for 2016’s Develop: Brighton Q This year’s event will focus on seven ﬁelds: Design, Art, Coding, Business, Marketing, Audio and, for the ﬁrst time, VR. DEVELOP INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2016 Hilton Metropole, Brighton Wednesday, July 13th Q Over 500 people from 170 companies are coming to this year’s Develop Awards Q 21 prizes are split into three segments: creativity, studios and tech RESONATE - TOTAL GAMING Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow Friday, July 29th - Sunday, July 31st Q A new games festival launches in Glasgow this summer Q Organised by QD events, this show will focus on eSports and gaming

June 17th 2016

Q eSports ﬁrm Gﬁnity is in attendance, holding a FIFA tournament

AUGUST 2016 ........................................................................... GAMESCOM 2016 Koelnmesse, Cologne Wednesday, August 17th – Sunday, August 12st Q The biggest trade fair for video games in Europe is coming back this summer Q Organiser Koelnmesse predicts over 800 companies from more than 40 countries at this year’s show Q Ticket registrations 60 per cent higher than those for Gamescom 2015 INSOMNIA58 NEC Birmingham Friday, August 26th – Monday, August 29th Q As well as a main stage, Insomnia features 24-hour LAN areas, panel talks, retro and indie zones, console tournaments and a massive retail zone Q For the ﬁrst time, High Street retailer will be holding GAMEFest at this iteration of Insomnia

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CHEAT SHEET

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

THE NEWS IN 140 CHARACTERS The Tweets you might have missed about this year’s E3

@LauraAllitt3D Another cracking E3 from Bethesda. There’s a ton of stuﬀ there I’m excited to delve into, particularly Dishonoured 2 and Skyrim.

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

@Dinky_Gamer For me Xbox JUST edged it, but E3 has been great so far.

Samantha-Sophia Felton, GAME Tuesday, June 14th

Laura Allitt, Ubisoft Monday, June 13th

$1m EA is donating $1m to ﬁve charities, including the UK’s very own SpecialEﬀect

$26.2bn @kezamacdonald Rare’s Sea of Thieves was the highlight of a press conference that was starting to send me to sleep, there. Looks like great fun.

@Fwiz Xbox One S at $299 just made the console market much more interesting.

Ryan Wyatt, YouTube Gaming Monday, June 13th

Keza MacDonald, Kotaku UK Monday, June 13th

@Kazperstan Xbox Scorpio looks like it’s packing a punch.

@johntdrake I feel like Ubisoft really came correct with this brieﬁng. Lots of game play, VR badassery, and some brand new stuﬀ. Really great.

Karen Stanley, Sony London Studios Monday, June 13th

John Drake, PlayStation, Monday, June 13th

@PatrickDane Wow. I really doubted it. But Sony have gone f*cking hard on PlayStation VR in a really cool way.

@DomsPlaying Where was No Man’s Sky? Other indies or smaller games? I know Sony brought the ‘big guns’, but these were lacking.

Patrick Dane, Bleeding Cool, Monday, June 13th

Microsoft is acquiring business social network LinkedIn for $26.2bn

4 Sony has conﬁrmed the existence of an upgraded version of the PlayStation 4 codenamed Neo

2 Finnish developer Remedy says that it has two games in development, one of which is a new IP

$350 Bethesda is releasing a $350 Fallout 4 Pip-Boy smart watch accessory

Domenic Callocchia, Working Casual Monday, June 13th

@LiamBME Watched Death Stranding trailer again. How does Kojima do it? Honestly. The intrigue alone can carry him for four lifetimes.

@brettclaxton Resident Evil 7 has basically justiﬁed my decision to buy PlayStation VR. I bought the PS2 Network adapter just for Outbreak

Liam Edwards, Final Games Cast Tuesday, June 14th

Brett Claxton, PushStartPlay Tuesday, June 14th

ANKA Headset - PDP Design and manufacture the Oﬃcially licensed Microsoft – fully Wireless Headset for Xbox ONE

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

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NEW PATRONS JOIN GAMESAID

GAMESAID GOLF DAY

STAND UP FOR GAMESAID

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

The games industry charity GamesAid has three new patrons. Industry vets Ian Livingstone and Andy Payne, as well as comedian Imran Yusuf have joined the organisation. The three will promote GamesAid within the industry.

The annual GamesAid golf and spa day returns on July 14th. Since its debut 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.

The fourth annual Stand Up For GamesAid comedy night happened on Monday, May 9th at London’s The Comedy Store. Over £9,000 was raised through ticket sales and a raﬄe – a record for the event.

June 17th 2016

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

Premier appoints new senior publicist Bradley makes the leap to PR O Supermassive strengthens VR team O Wargaming hires head of marketing PREMIER | Former journalist LEE BRADLEY has joined Premier PR as a senior publicist. He previously worked for the likes of Xbox Achievements and PlayStation Trophies. DOM PEPPIATT is replacing him as features editor on both sites. He joins from Imagine Publishing, where he worked on Gadget Magazine and 3DArtist Magazine. Premier director GARETH WILLIAMS said: “I’m delighted Lee has joined Premier as we continue to expand our business. Lee’s enthusiasm and drive is something I rate highly, and I’m sure he’ll do great things.”

June 17th 2016

Finally, IAN PALMER (bottom left) has been appointed as art director. He previously worked at EA UK, Criterion and Codemasters. MD PETE SAMUELS stated: “We are very pleased to be welcoming Gary, Steve and Ian to the Supermassive Games team. They bring a combined 44 years of development experience across a wide range of disciplines. These hires signify our ambition to be a leading UK studio producing powerful VR and storytelling experiences.”

SUPERMASSIVE GAMES | The indie dev announced three key hires in its VR team. Former Lionhead employee STEVE BROWN (above left) joins as audio director. Before Lionhead, he was at Brighton’s Zoe Mode, where he worked on Haunt and Guitar Hero. Sony’s lead designer GARY NAPPER (above middle) has also been hired as game director. He has 16 years of experience in the industry from studios such as EA UK, Bright Light, Criterion, Creative Assembly and Sony.

WARGAMING | The World of Tanks developer has hired JUUSO MYLLYRINNE

as its new head of global marketing and PR. He will be in charge of the company’s global communications and marketing strategies. Myllyrinne joins from TBWA’s Digital Arts Network, where he was VP and head of strategy. He previously worked for McDonald’s, Nissan and Nokia. Wargaming CEO VICTOR KISLYI commented: “The success Juuso has had in building brand and digital strategies, and leading successful teams, means that he is a perfect fit to lead our marketing and PR efforts.” Myllyrinne added: “I’m excited to be embracing the challenges and opportunities that will help Wargaming bolster its positions.”

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22-25 SEPT 2016 THE NEC, BIRMINGHAM

AS SEEN IN:

THE ONLY UK GAMES EVENT ON THE GLOBAL STAGE

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

WEEKLY CHARTS OVERWATCH holds its No.1 spot in the charts for the third consecutive week, in spite of sales decreasing by 44 per cent. EA’s Mirror’s Edge Catalyst thus debuts at No.2. GfK reports that the previous entry in the franchise, 2008’s Mirror’s Edge, was a ‘sleeper hit’, having sold only 60 per cent of its lifetime sales after 12 weeks, when big games usually sell 80 per cent during the same period. Last week’s No.2, Sony’s Uncharted 4, drops two places to No.4. Sales for the title fell 45 per cent. Doom managed to keep its No.3 spot, despite a 28 per cent dip in sales. There are also two new releases in the charts this week.

Nintendo’s Kirby: Planet Robobot debuts at No.15, while PQube’s Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter enters the listings at No.37. Elsewhere, Konami’s UEFA Euro 2016 version of PES climbed six places to No.8, boosted by the start of the tournament. Deadpool also reentered the listings this week, at No.31. Activision’s title certainly beneﬁted from the DVD release of the movie last week. Over on Steam, the ﬁfth chapter in Paradox’s Hearts of Iron series debuts at No.1. It is followed by usual suspects Total War: Warhammer and Grand Theft Auto V, Meanwhile, Clash of Clans and Minecraft still dominate the mobile charts.

GLOBAL STEAM CHARTS (UNITS)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

LW 02 01 06 05 04 NEW RE RE

HEARTS OF IRON IV DEVELOPER: PARADOX PUBLISHER: PARADOX INTERACTIVE

TITLE Total War: Warhammer Grand Theft Auto V Counter-Strike: Global Oﬀensive Youtubers Life Doom Arma 3 Apex Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege ARK: Survival Evolved

PUBLISHER Sega Rockstar Valve U-Play Bethesda Bohemia Interactive Ubisoft Studio Wildcard

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

Title Overwatch Mirror’s Edge Catalyst Doom Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End FIFA 16 Grand Theft Auto V Tom Clancy’s The Division UEFA Euro 2016 Pro Evolution Soccer Dead Island: Deﬁnitive Edition Ratchet & Clank LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Call of Duty: Black Ops III Homefront: The Revolution Fallout 4 Kirby: Planet Robobot Star Wars Battlefront LEGO Jurassic World Far Cry Primal Destiny: The Taken King Forza Motorsport 6 Minecraft: Xbox Edition Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege EA Sports UFC 2 Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 WWE 2K16 Minecraft: Story Mode Halo 5: Guardians Minecraft: PlayStation Edition The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt Batman: Arkham Knight Deadpool Dirt Rally Skylanders Superchargers TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan Battleborn Yo-Kai Watch Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter Rise of the Tomb Raider Dark Souls III LEGO Dimensions

Source: Steam, Period: June 6th to 12th June 17th 2016

Format Publisher PS4, XO, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, PS3 Konami PS4, XO Deep Silver PS4 Sony PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PC Deep Silver PS4, XO, PC Bethesda 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard XO Microsoft XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO EA PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Telltale Games/Avanquest XO Microsoft PS4, PS3, Vita Sony PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO Codemasters PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PC 2K Games 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PC PQube XO, 360 Square Enix PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Warner Bros

Source: UKIE/GfK Entertainment, Period: Week ending June 11th 10

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WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

UK IPAD PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 02 03 05 10 08 NEW RE NEW RE

UK IPHONE PAID

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Goat Simulator: Waste of Space Soccer Physics Terraria Bloons TD 5 HD WWE 2K Surface: Return to Another World Goat Simulator Sable Maze: Twelve Fears HD Hey Duggee: The Big Outdoor App

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Coﬀee Stain Studios Otto-Ville Ojala 505 Games Ninja Kiwi 2K Big Fish Coﬀee Stain Studios Big Fish BBC Worldwide

LW 03 05 01 06 04 10 09 08 RE

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Heads Up! New Star Soccer G-Story Growing Pug Plague Inc. Football Manager Mobile 2016 Angry Birds Monopoly Game Bloons TD 5 WWE 2K

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: May 30th to June 5th

UK IPAD GROSSING (REVENUE)

UK IPHONE GROSSING (REVENUE)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 02 04 03 05 06 07 RE 08 RE

CLASH OF CLANS DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Candy Crush Saga Mobile Strike Game of War - Fire Age Candy Crush Soda Saga Clash Royale Hay Day TheSims FreePlay Gummy Drop! Minecraft: Pocket Edition

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer King Epic War Machine Zone King Supercell Supercell EA Big Fish Mojang

LW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

CLASH OF CLANS DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Mobile Strike Candy Crush Saga Game of War - Fire Age Clash Royale Candy Crush Soda Saga 8 Ball Pool Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes Marvel Contest of Champions Episode - Choose Your Story, feat. Mean Girls: Senior Year

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: May 30th to June 5th

UK IPHONE FREE (UNITS)

LW 02 RE 10 11 06 RE 05 08 NEW

SLITHER.IO DEVELOPER: STEVE HOWSE

Title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Legends Diep.io War - Free Color Tank Guns Roblox Drive Ahead! Disney Crossy Road Piano Tiles 2 Skylanders Battlecast Snail Bob 2 EggPunch 2 HD

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Ludia Tra My Nguyen Roblox Corporation Dodreams Disney Cheetah Technology Activision Andrei Kovalishin EggPunch

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: May 30th to June 5th www.mcvuk.com

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

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: May 30th to June 5th

UK IPAD FREE (UNITS)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Warner Bros Five Aces Blimps Ndemic Creations Sega Rovio EA Ninja Kiwi 2K

LW 03 06 04 RE RE NEW 01 RE RE

SLITHER.IO DEVELOPER: STEVE HOWSE

Title Bud Farm: Grass Roots Color Switch RiskyRoad Piano Tiles 2 Crossy Maze Ketchapp Basketball UEFA Euro 2016 Fantasy MMX Hill Climb — Oﬀ-Road Racing With Friends Subway Surfers

Developer LDRLY Marc Lejeune Ketchapp Cheetah Technology Tigrido Ketchapp UEFA Hutch Games Kiloo

Source: UKIE/Reﬂ ection, Period: May 30th to June 5th 11

June 17th 2016

MONTHLY SALES CHARTS

MAY CHARTS A LOT of new titles entered the UK charts in May, starting with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which claims the No.1 spot. The last chapter in Nathan Drake’s adventures allowed developer Naughty Dog to become the top studio in terms of revenue - the ﬁrm was No.59 last month. Another consequence is Sony claiming the No.1 spots in the publishers charts, in both revenue and units, Uncharted 4 comes ahead of Doom, which debuts at No.2, and Blizzard’s Overwatch, which enters the rankings in third. These performances allowed their respective developers (Id Software and Blizzard Entertainment) to re-enter the studios listings in second and third. Doom’s publisher Bethesda also re-enters the publishers listings at No.2 both in revenues and units. Homefront: The Revolution is another

new entry of the month, debuting in sixth, while 2K’s Battleborn begins at No.10. Closer to the bottom of the charts, Nintendo’s new Fire Emblems Fates titles, Birthright and Conquest, debut respectively at No.28 and 36. Another 3DS title published by the platform holder appears for the ﬁrst time in the charts: Yo-kai Watch, which debuts at No.37. Amongst the other new releases, Total War: Warhammer enters the ranks at No.32. Meanwhile, Sega’s PS4 exclusive title Valkyria Chronicles Remastered debuts at No.35. PlayStation 4 actually performed very well last month. ln April, the console had 46.6 per cent of the market share in revenue - a ﬁgure that has now increased to an impressive 62.8 per cent. In terms of units, PS4 now holds 55.4 per cent of the market, against 42 per cent in April.

Sony’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was the best-selling title in the UK in May

TOP 40 UK PHYSICAL RETAIL 02

TM 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

LM NEW NEW NEW 06 02 NEW 03 10 08 NEW 12 09 11 07 01 35 26 14 23 29 17 13 04 RE 16 19 RE NEW 20 15 21 NEW 28 18 NEW NEW NEW 05 30 25

Title Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Doom Overwatch Call of Duty: Black Ops III Ratchet & Clank Homefront: The Revolution Tom Clancy’s The Division Grand Theft Auto V FIFA 16 Battleborn LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Far Cry Primal Star Wars Battlefront EA Sports UFC 2 Dark Souls III Halo 5: Guardians Fallout 4 LEGO Jurassic World Forza Motorsport 6 UEFA Euro 2016 Pro Evolution Soccer Minecraft: Xbox Edition Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 Dirt Rally The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt WWE 2K16 Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Rise of the Tomb Raider Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright Destiny: The Taken King Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege Disney Inﬁnity 3.0 Total War: Warhammer Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection Minecraft: Story Mode Valkyria Chronicles Remastered Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest Yo-Kai Watch Quantum Break Batman: Arkham Knight Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

Format Publisher PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4 Sony XO, PC Deep Silver PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PC 2K Games PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO EA PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco XO Microsoft PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita Warner Bros XO Microsoft PS4, PS3 Konami XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, PC Codemasters PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco PS4, XO, PS3, 360 2K Games PS4, PS3, Vita Sony PS4, XO, 360, PC Microsoft 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney PC Sega PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Telltale Games PS4 Sega 3DS Nintendo 3DS Nintendo XO Microsoft PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: May 1st to May 28th June 17th 2016

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MONTHLY SALES CHARTS

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY STUDIO (REVENUE)

TOP 10 UK CONSOLE DIGITAL SALES BY REVENUE (MAY)

01 TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM RE RE 02 07 RE 03 09 RE 06

NAUGHTY DOG PARENT COMPANY: KADOKAWA

Developer Id Software Blizzard Entertainment EA Canada Traveller’s Tales Deep Silver Dambuster Massive Entertainment Treyarch Gearbox Software Insomniac

Parent company Zenimax Media Activision Blizzard EA Warner Bros Koch Media Ubisoft Activision Blizzard Independent Independent

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Title FIFA 16 Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Call of Duty: Black Ops III Overwatch Grand Theft Auto V Tom Clancy’s The Division Doom Star Wars Battlefront Fallout 4 Destiny

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: May 1st to May 28th

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY PUBLISHER (REVENUE)

01 TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM RE 08 01 06 03 10 09 RE RE

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY COMPANY (UNITS)

LM RE 08 05 01 02 07 09 06 RE

Revenue £7.42m £3.59m £3.50m £2.59m £2.49m £2.18m £1.75m £1.01m £1.01m £0.81m

Source: SuperData, Period: May 1st to May 31st

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SALES BY FORMAT (REVENUE) TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 01 02 05 07 03 04 06 09 08 10

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

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: May 1st to May 28th

TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Publisher Electronic Arts Sony Activision Blizzard Rockstar Ubisoft Bethesda Electronic Arts Bethesda Activision Blizzard

SONY Publisher Bethesda Activision Blizzard Electronics Arts Nintendo Ubisoft Take-Two Warner Bros Koch Media Microsoft

Format PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC PS4 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC PS4. XO, PC PS4. XO, PS3, 360 PS4, XO, PC PS4. XO, PC PS4, XO PS4, XO PS4, XO, PS3, 360

Manufacturer Sony Microsoft Nintendo N/A Microsoft Nintendo Sony Sony Nintendo Nintendo

Market Share 62.8% 23.1% 4.4% 3.4% 2.7% 1.8% 1.4% 0.2% 0.1% 0%

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: May 1st to May 28th

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SALES BY FORMAT (UNITS)

SONY Publisher Bethesda Activision Blizzard Nintendo Electronics Arts Ubisoft Warner Bros Take-Two Microsoft Koch Media

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 01 02 03 04 07 06 05 08 09 10

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

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: May 1st to May 28th www.mcvuk.com

Manufacturer Sony Microsoft Microsoft Nintendo N/A Sony Nintendo Nintendo Sony Nintendo

Market Share 55.4% 23.6% 5.4% 5.2% 4% 3.1% 2.4% 0.3% 0.4% 0.2%

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: May 1st to May 28th 13

June 17th 2016

OPINION

INSIGHT

Emotional labour in the games media (and beyond) sense of exposure? The emotional labour required the extent of expectation surrounding how a person has to manage their feelings, in order to perform within a given job – could be staggering, potentially.

IHS games analyst STEVE BAILEY asks if we need to be concerned about the sheer extent of hostility that can sometimes face people who work in the games media

OVER THE LINE I’m not here to try to address why there’s so much combative response out there, or tactics for minimising it. Instead, I think there’s another important facet of the conversation that needs to be addressed: if the weight of such emotional labour begins to adversely affect someone in the games media, what provision do we have for dealing with it? Having to experience a continuum of toxic noise can easily cause someone to cramp up on the inside, over time. And then what happens? If they get into such trouble, does it mean that they’re bad at their job? Dealing with this stuff doesn’t seem to be in the job description. This is not exclusive to the games media, or even just games, but that doesn’t excuse us from discussing it. We also see it in the

was a freelance games journalist up until 2008, writing almost exclusively for print. Then, gaming forums featured some hostility toward the specialist games media: I could reliably click on a thread discussing a new issue of a magazine I’d contributed to and find comments that called my very existence into question, with varying degrees of acidity, because I’d given the ‘wrong’ review score to a game that the person was yet to play themselves. Reading such sentiment did rankle a little, of course. But these were only slight prickles, and it wasn’t difficult to keep perspective on what was valuable feedback, and what was someone indulging in a rant. Fast-forward until today and it feels as if the extent of aggression toward games journalists has grown vastly. Any errors, misunderstandings, or minor differences of opinion can now be grounds for a variety of threats, or even attempts to have a person’s livelihood dismantled. Consumer vigilance is necessary for everyone’s health in the marketplace, and journalists/critics lay no claim to intellectual comfort. But this doesn’t permit open season on an individual’s wellbeing. It makes me wonder – if I hadn’t left games journalism behind all those years ago, would I have struggled to maintain my mental health, under such a spiralling June 17th 2016

If the weight of emotional labour begins to adversely aﬀect someone in the games media, how do we deal with it? Steve Bailey, IHS

way that smaller developers are now expected to conduct their own PR, say, with little grounding in how to cope if their efforts backfire. Or in the way that YouTubers sometimes air their disagreements in public - and get tutted at for doing so - but what other recourse for resolution do they feel that they have to hand? Which institution here should be taking responsibility for education/provision on such a matter, if at all? The classical idea of employment, that brings with it all manner of guarantees regarding health, safety, illness, fairness and non-retaliation, is fading. No longer having such facilities to hand introduces a potentially tremendous new channel of stress that you have to learn to manage yourself, whether you’ve established a sufficient support network or not. It can result in what’s known as a ‘placeless anxiety’, a constant sense of coming under attack that has no discernible source for you to tackle. And when the pressure is very real but we feel that we’re not allowed to acknowledge it – well, this is the ideal recipe for a breakdown.

Hello Games received death threats after No Man’s Sky was delayed, as did many journalists reporting the news 14

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INTERVIEW NICK CHANNON, EA

Road to victory This year’s big addition to EA’s juggernaut FIFA franchise is... a story mode created with the help of BioWare, complete with cutscenes and an actual plot. Alex Calvin speaks to senior producer Nick Channon for more information

ach and every year, around E3 time, EA reveals what’s new with the latest FIFA. Usually, these are tweaks to the physics and core gameplay, or – recently – innovations within the lucrative Ultimate Team mode. But this year’s changes to FIFA are more significant than we’ve seen in years, including the introduction of a story mode. Yes, you read that correctly: a fleshed out story starring one Alex Hunter and told in cutscenes between matches. It’s made with the aid of Mass Effect narrative gurus BioWare. It even lets players make choices at key moments. “It’s something the players have been asking for,” senior producer Nick Channon said. “We’ve been asked for a narrative-driven story mode. It’s something that we have wanted to look at ourselves, too. While we believe we have a very deep game, we wanted to look at how we can broaden that even further. And obviously a narrative story was the one area that was missing from FIFA entirely. It’s been something we have wanted to do for a while, but we didn’t have the technology in place to be able to do it easily. The move to Frostbite helps [more on that later] – that engine has been doing that for years. Battlefield has had narrative story, BioWare’s games, too. It’s the perfect time to bring it in.” He continues: “We just felt it was important to do a story. We want to create a game where players have got lots of options. We have Career Mode, which is very popular. We wanted to give players another option: to create a story that

June 17th 2016

FIFA 17’s Story Mode has gamers playing as talented young footballer Alex Hunter

felt very different and took players to places that they hadn’t seen before, like the tunnel and changing rooms.” FEELING THE BITE Story Mode isn’t the only big change to FIFA this year. EA Vancouver has changed engines. The publisher made a lot of noise about the Ignite engine before the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The tech was going to be its sports engine for these new machines. But just three years after it was rolled out, EA has ditched it in favour of DICE’s Frostbite, the engine on which Battlefield, Star War Battlefront and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst have been built. “Having such a great engine within the company is amazing,” Channon said. “It’s genuinely one of the world’s leading engines and for us to be able to move to that allowed us to be able to work with the great teams more closely. We always talk to DICE and the Battlefield team,

Story Mode is the biggest new addition since FIFA Ultimate Team. It’s incredibly exciting. Nick Channon, EA

but once you are on the same technology, you can really start to do cool things. “We’ve worked closely with DICE; the team there has helped us out with things like lighting and how we can use some of their techniques. Now we are on the engine it’s much easier to be able to collaborate in that way. We learnt lots by working with BioWare on narrative as well and they have learnt lots from us, too. It’s a great thing for the game, as well as the company.” HELPING HANDS As Channon says, EA Vancouver has collaborated with a number of the publisher’s other studios for FIFA 17. It has turned to BioWare for help with the football game’s narrative, while DICE has provided guidance in getting the most out of its Frostbite engine. This is a similar style of development to Ubisoft whereby one studio heads up a project while drawing on the expertise of other teams within the publisher’s roster.

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NICK CHANNON, EA INTERVIEW

ROCKET POWERED NORMALLY the big football video game battle is between two players: Konami’s PES and EA’s own FIFA series. But last year, another football title stole headlines: car five-aside game Rocket League from indie developer Psyonix. That release has gone on to generate more than $110m in sales and has sold well over 5m units. Has EA taken anything away from that different, more arcadey approach to the beautiful game?

“Authenticity is always going to be the bedrock of FIFA and I don’t see that changing,” senior producer Nick Channon says. “People want a realistic experience. That’s what we are and that’s what we’ll continue to be. At the end of the day, having more diversity and choice for players can only be good. We can learn from any title. We are all gamers and play a huge variety of releases and are inspired by many things. It can’t be a bad thing.”

For FIFA 17, EA has moved from its sports-focused Ignite engine to DICE’s Frostbite

Every year we innovate and create new things in the game. This is one of our biggest ever gameplay years. Nick Channon, EA

“Our core will always be gameplay,” Channon insists. “Driving gameplay is what drives a game. Every year we innovate and create new things within the gameplay itself because that’s what people really want. We have continued to do that and it’s one of our biggest gameplay years, too. We have huge innovation in physics. “Going back to Story mode – for us it was about looking at the game itself. We have lots of fans who play Ultimate Team, lots of players who enjoy Career Mode and play the various modes we have on offer. We felt that we wanted to add to that depth of the experience and that Story Mode was one of the key missing ingredients.” FIFA 17, with its Story Mode, new engine and masses of core gameplay tweaks, certainly feels like a bigger-than-usual entry in the football series. “We have some big things this year,” Channon says. “It’s a huge point for us in our series. Frostbite is a massive step forward for us and it builds a platform for a great game this year and also sets that platform for future years to come. “Story Mode is the biggest new addition since Ultimate Team. It is incredibly exciting.”

“We’re very fortunate to work in a company that has an amazing portfolio of franchises,” Channon says. “We get together and talk about the games that we are making and the ideas that we have. But when you are then on a technology base that is shared, then you can truly collaborate closely in terms of what you are doing and the features you are creating. With the lighting, that came about by collaborating with DICE using the same toolset. It makes it a much easier process. You can get a philosophy but when you are doing it in the same toolset it’s something you can bring to life pretty quickly.” TO THE CORE One accusation that has been fired at FIFA in recent years is that the developers have become obsessed with the lucrative Ultimate Team mode and not given much attention to the gameplay – a view Channon refutes. And this year, FIFA’s core gameplay is getting a real overhaul. EA Vancouver has changed how physical play work – how character models work together, in essence. Not only that, teammates have improved AI, meaning they will move into space. Set pieces have been revised, too.

www.mcvuk.com

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME LAST year’s FIFA featured female players in a first for the series. It was clearly a positive step to take, but some of the more unpleasant commentators were, inexplicably, angry about the decision. However, the game’s senior producer Nick Channon says that introducing female teams was one of the crowning moments of his career. “I have been doing FIFA for six years, and announcing the women players last year was one of my proudest moments,” he says. “That was an incredibly positive experience and we have seen that run through launch and people playing it. We’re very impressed with the addition of the women’s teams. They gave a diverse feeling of play – they felt very different to the men’s teams, which is what we were trying to achieve. Looking at the stats, people have played as the women’s teams in large numbers.”

June 17th 2016

THE STORY OF BURNOUT

Burnout At the turn of the millennium, a studio called Criterion revolutionised the racing genre. Its game wasn’t a perfect driving sim; it was about being reckless, dangerous and fun. Alex Calvin speaks Fiona Sperry about the birth of Burnout

ack in the late ‘90s, Gran Turismo was the No.1 racing game. Although there was a number of unique driving titles, it felt like everyone was following the GT template. But a studio called Criterion wanted to shake up the genre with its new game, Burnout. The title was going to mix the realism of the sim racer with the fun of the arcade. “The pitch was: ‘how do you drive a car when you rent one?’. When you get a rental you drive it like you would never drive your own car,” former Criterion boss Fiona Sperry says. “We wanted to make a game that wasn’t about pristine driving. Then Gran Turismo was the big racing game. It was all about being a real simulation being behind the wheel. While we respect that series immensely, we wanted to make the complete antithesis to it. If Gran Turismo was Dom Perignon champagne, we were the Jack Daniels. We wanted to make something that wasn’t about realism. It was about ragging the car and driving to the limits.” She continues: ‘It was trying to be a racing game with car chases like those in the film Ronin.” DREAM BIG Not only did the studio want to turn the racing genre on its head – Sperry says that Criterion had big dreams for the title. “We said at the time we wanted to make a game that would sell 1m copies,” she says. “At the time, only EA was saying things like that. For us it was a bit stupid and naive. “We didn’t even have a publisher right up until we had finished the game, and we ended up releasing it with Acclaim. We really didn’t know what we were going to do. “But actually we hit our goal, which I suppose is a great example of how you should set yourself ludicrous goals: sometimes you can achieve them.” This new, chaotic racing title launched to favourable reviews, with a Metacritic rating of 79. “It’s all such a blur because we then went straight on to do Burnout 2,” Sperry says. “The reviews were pretty good. We were pretty pleased. It was very much a thing of ten people giving it a go and seeing what happened.”

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Burnout was created as the polar opposite to simulations like Sony’s Gran Turismo

If Gran Turismo was Dom Perignon champage, then Burnout was Jack Daniels. Fiona Sperry, Three Fields/ex-Criterion

Not only did it score well – it helped prove there was still an audience for the arcade, high score games. “Arcade-type games had been written off as outdated and sort of old fashioned,” Sperry says. “We showed that you could do that and it could do well. High scores and competition between friends never go out of fashion. People naturally do that in their real lives. High scoring became a theme for all the games we made.” The series was rooted in this competitive arcade mentality, which helped the series change with new innovations in the industry. “We knew from when we looked at the online games of the time, like Climax’s MotoGP, that as soon as we let people race online they would make each other crash,” Sperry explains. “In MotoGP people would park across the track so you’d smack straight into them. We realised that people don’t play nice in real life and will try and screw each other over. “So we implemented Takedowns [where players win points for causing other racers to crash]. The first two Burnouts were traditional in some ways. They weren’t about fighting unlike Burnout 3. And when we got to Paradise, it became more about the online social element and playing together. That high score arcade root, the importance of friends and games as a sport, really has been a constant theme for all our games. That’s true in how we have seen that influence some other games as well.”

June 17th 2014

INTERVIEW LOVABLE HAT CULT

INDIE INTERVIEW No sex please, we’re Apple Lovable Hat Cult is no stranger to the taboo, but the studio has recently risen to prominence after Apple took down its new game, the sensual La Petite Mort, for being ‘crude’. Alex Calvin speaks to the team

enmark’s Lovable Hat Cult has always made experiences that deal with taboo subjects. The studio rose out of a group of local developers called Copenhagen Game Collective. The projects coming out of this initiative deal with risqué subject matter. One multiplayer title, Dark Room Sex Game, had no visuals. The title saw players moving Wii Remotes at the same rhythm until they reached a climax. It was a sensual and intimate experience which has bled into Lovable Hat Cult’s subsequent titles. “It was interesting as it showed that games could do a lot of things that they weren’t doing at that time,” designer Patrick Jarnfelt tells MCV. “They could be very social, they could touch upon subjects that can be taboo. This is what we are trying to explore.” LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX Lovable Hat Cult has recently made headlines for its latest mobile game, La Petite Mort. The title has players touching the screen in response to audio and visual feedback in order to reach the experience’s climax. Just to drive the game’s message home, ‘La petite mort’ is a colloquial term for ‘orgasm’. It’s an interesting way of approaching this subject matter. But Apple was not on-board, removing the title from the App Store for being ‘excessively objectionable or crude’. “We suspected that something might happen,” producer Andrea Hasselager says. “But then we also were like: ‘Come on, there’s nothing explicit in what we have done, it’s really subtle’. Also, we put an age limit on it. It’s not like we targeted seven year-olds.” Jarnfelt adds: “There’s nothing explicit in the game, but on top of that it’s a very positive experience. It’s trying to be about pleasure and happiness. It’s strange how something positive like this can be ‘objectionable’. It’s so easy in games to kill you press a button in a game and you can

June 17th 2016

La Petite Mort is still on Google Play but Hasselager (top) and Jarnfelt (above) are worried about its title being removed if they try and update it

La Petite Mort is about pleasure. It’s strange that Apple thinks it’s ‘objectionable’. Yet in games it’s so easy to kill – that has somehow become accepted. Patrick Jarnfelt, Lovable Hat Cult

take a life. That has somehow became super accepted, which is so crazy.” When the studio saw its game had been removed it reached out to Apple for an explanation and was told the tech giant was trying to reach a broad market and wanted content to be family friendly. “Not everybody is a family. There are so many people who don’t have kids, it’s really absurd,” Hasselager say. “It’s sad for Apple as it’s cutting itself off from a lot of unique things. It could be a really interesting platform. There

are so many things it could do, but it seems to be so conservative.” Apple can obviously sell what it wants: as a retailer, that is its prerogative. Ultimately the tech giant knows its audience better than anyone. But by taking down experimental and taboo games like La Petite Mort, a negative message could be sent out to the development community: don’t try anything different if you want to reach our massive mobile market. “Definitely, that’s such a valid point,” Jarnfelt says. “I’ve actually had developers say to me since that we are really daring because we are trying to do these things – it takes time to develop a game and if Apple says no, we’ve been locked out of more than half of the market on mobile. Just like that, half of your income is gone.” Jarnfelt also questions the hold that Apple and Google have on the games space. “People are taking what happened to us seriously and questioning why it is like this,” he says. “I’d love it if something could happen to this weird monopoly right now. Why are Apple and Google the gatekeepers of art basically, of reaching an audience? It’s two American companies and they are the main powers in play.”

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HOMEFRONT : THE REVOLUTION

FREE T

For every unit of Homefront: The Revolution purchased you will receive one special edition t-shirt while stocks last.

To place an order contact Superindie on 01183 345 736 or order online at Superindie.co.uk

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P esen Pr e te t d by b © 2016 and published by Deep Silver, a division of Koch Media, Austria. Developed by Deep Silver Dambuster Studios. Homefront, Deep Silver and their respective logos are trademarks of Koch Media GmbH. Portions of this software are included under license © 2004-2016 Crytek GmbH. All rights reserved. Crytek, CryEngine and their respective logos are trademarks of Crytek Group. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. “2”, “PlayStation” and “Ã” are registered trademarks and the “Õ” logo and “Ø” is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

FREDRIK WESTER, PARADOX INTERVIEW

Shooting for the stars Following a record-breaking 2015 with Cities: Skylines, Paradox Interactive is on course for another blockbuster year thanks to the success of its space sim title Stellaris. Alex Calvin speaks to CEO Fredrik Wester

aradox has been around since 1999 but it’s only recently that the Swedish firm has reached mainstream attention. Its stock has risen so much that Chinese games giant Tencent recently took a five per cent stake in the firm for £286m. In March 2015, Paradox released Cities: Skylines, a title that showed SimCity how city builders are done. It sold 250,000 units in its first day, before reaching half a million copies in its first week. Today, sales sit at 2m units. “The past 12 months has shown us that we can achieve a lot of growth within a limited time period and that our organisation is ready to take the next step,” CEO Fredrik Wester says. “We had a record year with record selling SKUs but that was also true for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 with the releases of Magicka, Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis IV respectively. This is a long-term trend of Paradox being able to build better games and continue to support our fans with great content.” During 2015, the firm’s net revenue increased 241 per cent to SEK 604m (£51m). And this was largely driven by the surprise success of Cities: Skylines. “Together with studio Colossal Order we were just trying to give people what they were asking for, no more and no less,” Wester says. “Sometimes it doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.” As well as being successful for Paradox, Cities: Skylines was hugely influential and was an indication that the city sim – previously thought dead after 2013’s troubled SimCity – was alive and well.

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Stellaris broke records for Paradox, selling 200,000 units in its ﬁrst 24 hours

“Whenever a surprise hit is released it of course attracts a lot of attention from other developers,” Wester says. “We are constantly inspired by other titles and the people at Paradox are avid gamers. It doesn’t even have to be a big hit for us to be impressed, sometimes the coolest and most innovative mechanics come from completely new teams without a previous track record.”

Stellaris has gone far above expectations for us, which of course feels great. Fredrik Wester, Paradox Interactive

STAR STUDDED Following a successful 2015, it appears that Paradox is on track to have another significant year. The company recently released its internally developed space strategy title Stellaris, a title that broke Paradox’s revenue records with 200,000 sales in one day. “Stellaris has gone far above expectations for us, which of course feels great,” Wester says. “Stellaris fills a gap in between the traditional 4X games (which is a type of strategy game) and our own grand strategy

titles that seems to be attractive to a fairly large audience.” The title was generally met with favourable reviews, with a 79 Metacritic score. IGN’s assessment was on the negative side of things, with Rowan Kaiser giving the game a 6.3/10 rating. This was met with a negative reaction from a vocal minority of gamers. Kaiser even faced harassment online. But Paradox came to his defence, sticking up for his review and the critical freedom of journalists. “We stood against online harassment that the IGN reviewer was exposed to,” Wester says. “It was not an endorsement of the review. It’s not up to us to comment on specific reviews.” With Stellaris’ success, it seems 2016 is going to be yet another record-breaking year for Paradox. “Our ambition is always to grow and to make better games,” Wester says. “We are looking to expand within the genres where we are currently active and hopefully develop new cool services for our fans.”

June 17th 2016

INTERVIEW MARIE-CLAIRE ISAAMAN, WIGJ

The woman of the hour Marie-Claire Isaaman has just been hired as the Women in Games boss. Marie Dealessandri had a chat with the newly appointed CEO about her ambitions for the organisation and how she intends to improve diversity in the industry

s the new CEO of Women in Games, Marie-Claire Isaaman hopes to be part of the movement leading to gender equality in the games industry. But actually she has already done her fair share of work to improve diversity, as a researcher and education consultant in games at the Norwich University of the Arts, where she worked for eight years. “During my time at Norwich, I worked incredibly hard to get the gender balance as equal as possible,” she tells MCV. “When I started, there were no female staff and only two female students. By the time I left, which was in February of this year, there were 40 per cent female staff and students across the course.” This impressive result highlights why Isaaman was picked for her new role: in 2012, a study by Creative Skillset showed that 14 per cent of the games industry workforce were women. Today, that number is 19 per cent. So things are getting better - but slowly. And Isaaman, who keeps telling us how ‘excited’ she is about her new job, certainly appears to be passionate enough to step up the pace a little. It’s also during her time at Norwich that she became a member of the Women in Games executive team. Then, in 2014, she was the first person from education to receive a European Women in Games Hall of Fame award. “I’ve been involved in initiatives and conferences, working in education and supporting many young women into the sector, but this job gives me the opportunity to do something on a larger scale,” Isaaman says about her new

June 17th 2016

position as CEO. “The work that I did for the course that I taught at the Norwich University of the Arts was one step, this is another step, because this represents something that I can do on national and international levels.”

I want to reimagine education and revitalise the talent pipeline. Without women coming through that pipeline, we won’t have women to employ.

FOCUSING ON EDUCATION Women in Games’ ambition is to double the percentage of women working in the industry by 2025, “making the UK a global exemplar for gender equality,” Isaaman explains. Her first priority to achieve this goal will be to increase the number of women actually making games, she says. “My goals are based on my experience and on research that I have undertaken. One of my findings was, although there are women working in the games industry, they tend to be in marketing or HR. There is a very small percentage of women involved in making games in art, design, programming.” Isaaman believes that the industry needs to design and market games specifically to engage the huge number of female players. And

Marie-Claire Isaaman, WIGJ

more women making these games would definitely have an impact on how appealing gaming is to women. Having creators from different backgrounds would also lead to more diverse content. “More women making and designing would definitely have an impact on creating engaging content,” Isaaman argues. Isaaman also wants to further increase the number of women in management. “One of the other findings of my report was that there aren’t many women at Board room level. I think that that’s really important because it has an impact on the kind of strategies that companies make: if you have more women, you have a more balanced perspective.” As a scholar herself, Isaaman’s third priority will be to work hand in hand with schools and universities. There’s a tremendous job to be done in order to get rid of the idea that gaming is a ‘boys club’ – and that job begins in schools. “I want to engage fully with the games industry and educators. I want to reimagine education and

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MARIE-CLAIRE ISAAMAN INTERVIEW

As the new WIGJ CEO, Marie-Claire Isaaman wants to make the UK a global exemplar for gender equality in the games industry

revitalise the talent pipeline because lots of companies want to employ women but they’re not coming through,” she explains. “In the survey that I did as part of my research, one company said that, over the course of the year, they had thousands of applications, and only nine of them were from women. So you can see that it tends to be very difficult: it’s hard to employ women if there are not enough coming through the education pipeline.” ADVANCING THE ORGANISATION But Isaaman’s ambitions don’t stop here. As well as working on increasing the number of women within the industry, she wishes to shake things a little inside her own organisation. “I think it’s less change and more to do with advancing the organisation,” she says. “My predecessors have done some amazing work. Women in Games is seven years old, it started really small and it’s now grown, it has a big reach. But I’d like to further engage with the members and increase the membership.

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“One way to do that is to set up regional chapters throughout the UK, so that more women can be involved and the organisation can get more communication.” Isaaman also wants to make the most of her background as a researcher and engage in more studies to identify the key issues. “I think it’s in the field of research that you can really try to understand where the granular issue is. Everybody knows the big issues, but you have to dig deeper if you want to find out things in more detail. For this report that I’ve just written, I was able to dig down enough to see that there is a discrepancy in the types of jobs that women do in the games industry. If you know that, you can understand what more you can do about it. Women in Games is really hoping to engage in some new research moving forward, that will obviously form new strategies for the organisation, and this will support more women into the sector.” The new CEO also thinks we can learn a lot from other industries: Creative Skillset found that out of all

There is an increasing awareness of the fact that it would be positive for the industry to be more diverse. Marie-Claire Isaaman, WIGJ

the creative industries, games have the lowest percentage of women. So ‘what are they doing that we don’t?’ is the question she wants to answer. “There’s a lot of things that can be shared,” she says. “Obviously the games industry is not the only place with inequality. I’d like to reach out to other organisations because together we can be very strong.” Although Isaaman is full of ideas, ambitions and expectations, she’s aware that the journey will be long. But once the first step – awareness – is achieved, the circle can only be virtuous, she believes. “There is a lot of work to be done. There is an increasing awareness of the fact that it would be very positive for the industry to be more diverse because then the products would be more diverse, and of a higher level and, if they were of a higher level, then globally it’s going to bring success to the games industry and the economy. “But, as I said, I think we need to focus on education because, without women coming through that pipeline, we won’t have women to employ. It’s a bigger journey.”

June 17th 2016

MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE Daniel Grossett from Playnation Games in Croydon tells MCV about why retailers need to diversify their range of products and shares his thoughts on virtual reality - which is only a toy according to him the online side of things. We’re also looking to expand our range, not just on video games, but also on card and board games, toys, collectibles, those kind of things. Really, you’ve got to be more eﬃcient; you can’t just be selling video games anymore, unfortunately.

How has business been lately? Good. PS4 has been doing really well. Obviously it’s been nothing like when a big game releases, like FIFA, but just a general mix of stuff. Uncharted and Overwatch did very well. We were selling a lot of Battleborn until Overwatch came out. You know, it’s very difficult to explain to customers that these are two very different games.

yes, but our main thing is selling retro games.

So you mainly sell PS4 titles? In terms of current-gen sales,

What are your prospects for 2016? We’ll probably focus more on

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

PRICE CHECK: KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES

What challenges are you facing? Online sales have been easily overshadowing in-store sales as of late. We sell online as well, and that’s been doing great. It’s easily a 60/40 ratio in favour of online. So, in that respect, in-store sales are the major challenge.

Virtual reality is not strong enough to be viable in terms of sales. Daniel Grossett, Playnation Games

And how is the merchandise and accessories side of things performing? We don’t stock many accessories

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. NO MAN’S SKY Sony, PS4

2. PlayStation VR Sony.........................................................................PS4 3. Gears of War 4 Microsoft ..................................................................XO 4. PlayStation VR & Camera Sony.........................................................................PS4

FORZA MOTORSPORT 6 HALO 5: GUARDIANS

Microsoft, XO

RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER QUANTUM BREAK

Microsoft, XO

£24.99

£37.99

£19.99

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£29.99

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£19.99

£12.85

£21.99

£36.84

£22

£45.62

£41.76

7. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst EA .............................................................................PS4 8. Battlefield 1 inc. Hellfighter Pack EA .............................................................................PS4 9. Horizon Zero Dawn Sony.........................................................................PS4 10. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Legacy Edition Activision Blizzard ......................................... PS4

UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

KIRBY’S DREAM COURSE

STEAMWORLD HEIST

FENIX FURIA

After the Wii U, the 1994 SNES title is now available on New Nintendo 3DS

The turn-based strategy shooter has landed on PC, PlayStation 4 and Vita

Green Lava Studios’ 2D platformer has launched on PS4 and Xbox One

OUT: NOW

June 17th 2016

IN STORE

£19.99

6. Final Fantasy VII Square Enix..........................................................PS4

ONLINE

5. Final Fantasy XV inc. Masamune, Saber & Gourmand DLC Square Enix..........................................................PS4

OUT: NOW

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MARKETPLACE

Playnation Games 17 High St, Croydon CR0 1QB

Phone: 020 8760 0749 Website: www.facebook.com/playnationgames

but we sell T-shirts, ﬁgurines and that type of stuﬀ, and they do very well. Currently, our best sellers are imported from Japan - a lot of anime merchandise. That does very well. What are you looking forward to this year, games-wise? I’m looking forward to seeing what Microsoft is planning to do with this all ‘Xbox One-Two’ thing. I’m also looking forward to No Man’s Sky.

What are your thoughts on VR? It’s not strong enough to be viable in terms of sales. It’s a toy at the moment. It’s fun but it’s still at the stage of infancy. I don’t see it becoming viable before a year or two. We had the PSVR in store for testing and it was pretty popular, but it’s not been something anyone has been pushing for. PSVR is pricy but most of the people actually already have the PS4. But in terms of PC the Vive is like £700 and you need to get a good PC. It’s too costly.

INCOMING TITLE

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

NIS America’s Grand Kingdom is hitting shelves today, as is the latest entry in PQube’s MotoGP franchise, MotoGP16: Valentino Rossi FORMAT

GENRE

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TELEPHONE

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PS4/XO/PC

Simulation

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June 28th

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Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

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www.mcvuk.com

June 17th 2016

IDEAL SOFTWARE

IDEAL SOFTWARE Distributor Ideal Software oﬀers a range of over 5,000 products, from toys to video games. Marie Dealessandri speaks to director Paul Williams about the company’s recent successes

IDEAL SOFTWARE is a 23-year veteran in video games distribution. When asked about the secret behind this longevity, director Paul Williams answers that he provides “top class customer service and transparent honesty.” “We distribute video games, accessories and merchandise, as well as toys like LEGO and Meccano. Ideal Software actively wholesales worldwide to companies dealing in such products,” he further details.

Merchandising products have seen large sales growth and a huge inﬂux of new customers. Paul Williams, Ideal Software

According to GfK, sales for boxed software decreased in 2015 in the UK: it represented £904m last year, against £935m in 2014. So at a time when the appeal for physical games seems to be decreasing, Ideal Software prides itself with seeing growth in adjacent sectors. “Ideal Software has seen success in the toy market and physical items that are not downloadable. Merchandising products have also seen large sales

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA - TWILIGHT PRINCESS: GANONDORF This colourful and meticulously detailed Ganondorf ﬁgure from The Legend of Zelda is 30 cm tall and stands on a sculpted base. SRP: £59.99 Manufacturer: First 4 Figures Distributor: Ideal Software Contact: 01767 689720

SONIC 2” ACTION FIGURES

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA SKYWARD SWORD: LINK

NINTENDO SUPER MARIO MINI FIGURES BOX SET SERIES 1

Celebrate Sonic’s 20th anniversary with Knuckles, Sonic, Super Sonic, Amy, Metal Sonic and Tails.

Link is ready to ﬁght in this Skyward Swordbased ﬁgure.

This set includes Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Bullet Bill, Bob-Omb and Paragoomba ﬁgures.

SRP: £3.99 Manufacturer: Together Plus Distributor: Ideal Software Contact: 01767 689720

SRP: £49.99 Manufacturer: First 4 Figures Distributor: Ideal Software Contact: 01767 689720

SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: Together Plus Distributor: Ideal Software Contact: 01767 689720

June 17th 2016

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IDEAL SOFTWARE Sponsored by

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growth, and a huge influx of new customers have occurred because of this,” Paul Williams tells MCV. The firm has succeeded in remaining particularly competitive in the accessories market, even though is has become more and more congested. “Although the accessories market has become more compact in terms of the amount of product needed and offered, innovative new product lines still carry a massive sales opportunity due to

the large audience that exists,” he says. Amongst these innovative lines, detailed figurines appeal to a large amount of customers. That’s why Ideal Software provides a wide range of figures based on Nintendo’s flagships, such as The Legend of Zelda and Mario. And Paul Williams won’t stop there. “We are currently working on bringing more exclusive items to increase our offering of over 5,000 product lines.”

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA – SKYWARD SWORD: SCERVO Skyward Sword’s skeletal pirate can now be purchased in ﬁgurine form. This one measures approximately 30cm tall. SRP: £59.99 Manufacturer: First 4 Figures Distributor: Ideal Software Contact: 01767 689720

NINTENDO SUPER MARIO MINI FIGURES BOX SET SERIES 2

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA TWILIGHT PRINCESS: LINK

NINTENDO SUPER MARIO MINI FIGURES BOX SET SERIES 3

Mario fans will enjoy this ﬁgures bundle featuring Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Koopa, Shy Guy and Lakitu.

Link’s ﬁgure stands 25cm tall and wears his traditional green outﬁt.

A box set of six ﬁgures containing Fire Mario, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong, Toad and Dixie Kong.

SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: Together Plus Distributor: Ideal Software Contact: 01767 689720

SRP: £49.99 Manufacturer: First 4 Figures Distributor: Ideal Software Contact: 01767 689720

SRP: £14.99 Manufacturer: Together Plus Distributor: Ideal Software Contact: 01767 689720

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June 17th 2016

MARKETING, PR & CREATIVE AGENCIES

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PLAY DISTRIBUTION info@playdistribution.com www.playdistribution.com ........................................................................................................

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

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

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

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PERFORMANCE DESIGNED PRODUCTS (PDP) is an industry leader in designing and manufacturing peripherals and accessories for all major video game platforms including PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS, 2DS and other handheld gaming platforms. In addition, the company has successfully entered into new consumer electronics accessory markets leveraging its tier one brands and technological superiority. New categories include Energizer-branded portable power solutions as well as mobile cases and accessories for iPhone, iPad, iPod and Galaxy smart phones. The company supports over 170 employees worldwide with a corporate HQ, based in Los Angeles, CA, and satellite oﬃces in San Diego, France, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and China. PDP manufactures and distributes products under the Afterglow, Rock Candy and Zumi brand names, as well as licensed products featuring Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Disney, EA, Energizer, Marvel, DC Comics, Warner Bros and Hasbro. The company’s products can be found in virtually every major retailer in North America including Walmart, Gamestop, Target, Best Buy and Toys R Us. PDP’s products are also widely distributed around the world at international accounts like Gamestop, GAME, Asda, Argos, Amazon, EB Games, FNAC, Carrefour, Media Markt, Elksöp and others.

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