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MCV 01/05/09 5
NEWS
competition Pre-owned data released for the first time Morgan acknowledges the competition is attracted to games, but is confident that GAME and Gamestation can take on all-comers
WILL THIS HALT A PREOCCUPATION WITH PRE-OWNED? GAME also detailed the size of its trade-in games business for the first time last week, saying that it accounted for 18 per of its turnover – or £353m – in FY08, with a gross margin of 38 per cent across second-hand. This move to transparency might help stem any ill-feeling towards pre-owned games from publishers: the stat proves that 82 per cent of the retailer’s sales come from new stock. “Pre-owned is of growing importance in our business and we thought it was important now to be transparent in order for our partners to better understand our business model,” said CEO Lisa Morgan. “We consider pre-owned is a key component of our customer offer. Trade-in is probably more important today than at any other point in time.”
and the competition. I think it’s really important that you never become complacent – you need to have a compelling offer that is evolving constantly to ensure you are looking after customers better than anyone else. It will always be competitive because it is an attractive market to be in.” She added: “We are best placed to take advantage of that market growth.” Morgan reiterated the group’s cautious optimism for the year ahead, pointing out that the robust games market is “still performing really well” and could once again buck trends in 2009. She said: “We have to be cautious given the wider issues in the market – but at the same time we have a good geographical spread, we have a customer offer that lends itself to today’s consumer extremely well and we are working hard to drive overall group profitability. “So we are cautious but confident in the year ahead – the industry is still performing really well.”
Reeves: The UK [PRE ORDERS] leads the world TOP 10 RETIRING SCEE president David Reeves believes that the UK’s studios are creating more innovative, impressive titles than their US and Japanese equivalents. The industry stalwart told MCV in an exclusive interview this week that he leaves Sony full of confidence that the industry has a rosy future. Reeves retires from Sony today, after 15 years service at the platform holder. “The industry has such a great future, and particularly in the UK,” he told us. “I would say the UK is going to be ahead of both the US and Japan in terms of creativity within two years. That’s if it’s not there already.” Reeves joined Sony in 1995, overseeing the launch of PlayStation and established the brand in Europe. He moved back to the UK in 1999 as SVP for sales and marketing – securing an 82 per cent market share for the
UFC 2009 UNDISPUTED PS3 THQ
2. inFAMOUS PS3 ..................................................SONY
3. UFC 2009 UNDISPUTED 360 ....................................................THQ UK games studios rule the world, says Reeves
PlayStation brand in PAL territories, with over 102 markets reporting to him. He became SCEE president in 2004. In an exclusive interview on his time at Sony, Reeves told MCV that his most difficult time at the firm came around the launch of PS3 two years ago. “PlayStation 3 launched after the competition, after other regions and at a high price,” he said. “But we’re starting to come up trumps now.” To read our full interview with David Reeves, please turn to page 12
4. THE SIMS 3 PC ........................................................EA
5. WII SPORTS RESORT WII ............................................NINTENDO
6. OPERATION FLASHPOINT 2: DRAGON 360 ......................................CODEMASTERS
7. GHOSTBUSTERS 360 ..................................................ATARI
8. GHOSTBUSTERS PS3 ..................................................ATARI
9. BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM PS3..................................................EIDOS
10. OPERATION FLASHPOINT 2: DRAGON PC........................................CODEMASTERS Week ending April 25th Source: SHOPTO.COM
[MARKET VALUE]
ELSPA ‘delighted’ by new Govt ad £15.8m ELSPA has expressed its joy over the Government’s new Change4Life TV ad, which praises the role of active games as part of a healthy lifestyle. Change4Life’s previous print ad drew fire from games industry companies such as EA, Sega, Codemasters and Atari. It depicted a young boy playing a console under the tagline: ‘Risk an Early Death. Just Do Nothing.’ The new Change4Life TV ad, which aired last Friday, urges families to make sure their kids have 60 ‘active’ minutes each day, and gives camera time to ‘games in which require kids to move about’.
DANCING HAPPY: New Government ad shows that ‘active’ video games can play a key role in the healthy lifestyle of children
Director general of ELSPA Mike Rawlinson told MCV: "We have been working with the DoH for some time and are delighted that the Minister listened to what we had to
say. Games can be a part of a healthy lifestyle.” ELSPA held discussions with the Department of Health and the three NGOs involved in the offending print
ad – Cancer Research, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation – following its publication last month. Minister for public health Dawn Primarolo added: “Active video games, where kids need to jump up and down or dance about as part of the game, are a great way to get kids moving more. “Little bits of activity like this, throughout the day can easily add up to the 60 active minutes kids need. But our survey shows that at the moment our kids just aren’t getting up and about enough.” The new ad was created by Aardman Animations.
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
£31.8m
£24.8m
£15.8m
1,306,014 Units
1,118,632 Units
758,122 Units
Week Ending April 18th
Week Ending April 25th
0 Week Ending April 11th
Total UK Software Sales Source: ELSPA/ChartTrack and Intent Media