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MCV 19/12/08 13
MCV INTERVIEW ANDY PAYNE, CHAIRMAN, ELSPA & LISA MORGAN, CEO, GAME
As guest editor of this week’s MCV, Andy Payne grills GAME’s CEO Lisa Morgan... over a gin & tonic or two
In every country we have the same brand, customer focus and product offer. It’s fascinating to take these basics and work with the local teams to create a local offer that maximises the opportunity in each market. Cultures and habits vary but the passion and dedication of our teams is the same – they’re committed to driving the best specialist offer in their market and driving success for the wider Group. Do you think GAME and Gamestation will widen their portfolio and maybe sell games related merchandise in the future? We already sell games-related merchandise like t-shirts in both our brands and offer additional products like BluRay discs and iPods in Gamestation. As specialists, video games will always be our core focus but we will look for opportunities to ensure that we are giving our customers what they want.
Do you think that there will ever be a PS4 and Xbox 720 or do you think that the days of closed formats are coming to an end? We have to assume that there will be new consoles, to build on the success of the existing machines. The video games market is a huge industry and console hardware has always formed an essential part of this. Customers always look forward to the next machine and we would certainly hope to see new iterations of consoles coming to market in the future. But we still believe there is plenty of life left in the current formats, as the industry statistics are showing. Much has been made of the onset of digital distribution of games – when do you think this will be a significant part of the overall GAME business? We recognise that it’s growing but
future growth depends on a number of key factors: broadband capacity which can efficiently handle huge file sizes in a timely manner and customers wanting to participate and buy their products in this way. We already offer a download service powered by Metaboli but this is still a very small part of our overall business. However, as this market develops, I can guarantee that we remain committed to giving our customers what they want and will watch, learn and respond accordingly as digital distribution develops. How does a busy person like you actually relax and what are your plans for Christmas? Time out of work is incredibly precious. I relax by spending time at home with my family and riding my horse. Christmas will be a family occasion with my husband and two stepdaughters. We’ll cook a huge meal, over-indulge
and enjoy some great home entertainment… This year with a 3:1 female to male ratio, my bet’s on Mamma Mia, followed by SingStar: Abba! What games do you like playing and what is on your DS or PSP right now? I’m a typical family gamer and really enjoy some of the fun interactive products that are available now across all of the different formats. In my opinion, the best DS game at the moment is Professor Layton – it’s addictive. If you could have three wishes for 2009 what would they be? A brighter outlook in the global economy An even stronger video games market And maybe the release of Singstar: Take That…?!