MCV 806 September 26th 2014

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES ISSUE 806 FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH 2014

FORZA’S BACK

PAGE 16

WE GO UNDER THE HOOD OF THE LATEST UK-DEVELOPED XBOX ONE EXCLUSIVE

WAR GAMES HOW SMARTPHONE GAMES CAN HELP WARGAMING.NET CONQUER THE NEXT 100M PLAYERS PAGE 04

Q4 ACCESSORIES GUIDE

GAMES MEDIA CRISIS

WE TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE PRODUCTS SET FOR STORES THIS CHRISTMAS

HAS A GAMER BACKLASH PERMANENTLY HARMED GAMES JOURNALISM?

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CHEAT SHEET

THE EDITOR

THE WEEK IN VIDEO GAM

WHERE IS THE REAL NEXT-GEN REVOLUTION?

O

nce upon a time a new generation of consoles brought with it a major step forward in game content.

From Super Mario World to Super Mario 64 and Grand Theft Auto III to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, each generation has brought with it something that has forever transformed how video games are played and built.

Almost 12 months into the life of PS4 and Xbox One, I can’t help but wonder: when are those platforms going to get those types of redefining experiences?

Titanfall, Watch Dogs and Destiny were heralded as nextgen proof of concepts. But they aren’t. Call of Duty with jet packs, GTA with hacking, Halo as an MMO... these are not things that were ‘impossible’ on the previous consoles. Hell, they’re even available on the previous consoles. And they hold up quite nicely.

Too easily, ’new’ games chase the same trends. This Christmas racing fans will be truly spoilt for choice in terms of amazinglooking driving games. Well, they are spoiled if they want nothing but an ‘open world sociallyconnected racing experience’.

What I would give for a racing game on a track that allowed for four-player split-screen multiplayer. Now that would be a real social gaming experience, even if it would cost £135 in extra controllers (but retailers wouldn’t be sniffy about that...).

The new machines need more variety, content and inspiration.

So far, my oft-repeated ‘best thing’ about the new consoles is the fact I can update my PS4 in the background without waiting.

September 26th 2014

These new machines still need to prove themselves.

There’s no room for complacency.

This may be a contradictory thing for the editor of MCV to write. Xbox and PlayStation have both broken their own records this year. Titanfall, Watch Dogs and Destiny are entirely new brands that are now firmly established.

The latter two proved to the world that a new IP can be as powerful and successful as a major sequel. In a business sense, those games have performed wonderfully.

But for all the sales and the corporate back slapping, these new machines still need to prove themselves. There’s no room for complacency.

This year, PS4 and Xbox One have had it all their own way. There’s no Wii-style game changer to upset their progress.

But next year? Well, that’s when the Steam Machines arrive, that’s when virtual reality becomes a reality... and who knows, maybe Nintendo will drop one of those once-a-decade wild cards.

And that’s not to mention the inevitable progress of tablet tech and streaming platforms.

The sales charts suggest that console gaming is back on top of the world. Yet the current range of content makes you wonder if it’s doing enough to stay there.

Chris.Dring@intentmedia.co.uk

Alden Kroll (right) says Steam’s new UI combats discoverability issues

Market Data It’s the week after Destiny and unsurprisingly the market plummets by more than half. FIFA will change all that next week £30m

£15m

£27m 653,827 units

£10m 344,220 units

£7.6m 260,998

£0m

02

Week Ending September 7th

Week Ending September 14th

Week Ending September 21st

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CHEAT SHEET

MES STEAM OVERHAULED TO CALM UNHAPPY PC DEVS GAMES industry giant Valve has significantly updated its Steam PC store in an effort to appease developers who say there are ‘just too many games.’

PC developers are confronted with a similar problem faced by the mobile sector, where there are so many games that it makes discovering content difficult.

Valve says over 1,000 games

DOWN It is still No.1 but Destiny’s sales are down 78 per cent weekon-week

UP Wii U game sales spiked 270 per cent thanks to Hyrule Warriors

have been released on Steam so far this year.

So the firm has updated its Steam home page in a bid to make finding games easier.

The new update offers user recommendations based on past purchases, recent play time and friend recommendations. Steam Search has also been updated with extra detailed filters, while a new mode called ‘Curators’ will let gamers set their own recommended list and, if they’re lucky, attract a following.

Some of the ideas are similar to discoverability measures introduced

by Green Man Gaming and social games website GamesGrabr.

“Our old problem was throughput,’” explains Valve’s UI designer Alden Kroll. “As soon as we started increasing the number of titles being published, we knew discoverability would be the new problem.

“With an increasingly large number of new, interesting

UK RETAIL TOP 10

1

DESTINY

2

Disney Infinity 2.0

3

Hyrule Warriors

4

Watch Dogs

5

The Sims 4

6

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition

7

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Our biggest stories for the week ending Sep 23rd

1 Sony has the potential to make the game console market its exclusive territory, analyst claims 2 UK PS4 sales up 300 per cent thanks to Destiny launch 3 Super Smash Bros sells 1m in Japan as Wii U release date seemingly leaks 4 Digital version of Minecraft Xbox One Edition is exclusive to GAME on the High Street 5 Roberts: There’s ‘potential’ for Star Citizen on PS4 and Xbox One

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FIFA 15 INCL BONUS FUT CARDS (PS4)

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FIFA Inc Bonus FUT Cards (Xbox One)

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Super Smash Bros (3DS)

Nintendo

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Grand Theft Auto V (PS4

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games getting made, we foresee our throughput continuing to increase as well.

“These updates are designed to utilise community feedback to help identify the right games in the Steam catalog to highlight to each player.”

He added: “At the end of the day, New Releases and Top Sellers are interesting categories. But that isn’t the only way customers want to shop. And giving customers more options means giving developers more places for their product to make a connection.”

Kroll says the firm can make recommendations based on how long people play for, what sort of games they actually finish and whether they buy DLC or not. But he is wary of putting too much emphasis on player behaviour.

“There are many great opportunities. But we also know there is danger in trying to make assumptions of a player’s intent based on their behaviour, so we’ll continue carefully down this path.”

TOP ONLINE STORIES THIS WEEK

EA

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare

03

September 26th 2014

INTERVIEW WARGAMING

WAR OF THE WORLDS Last year, online games giant Wargaming finally launched its World of Tanks followup – World of Warplanes – to disappointing results. Now in 2014, it believes it can bounce back with its first foray onto mobile and the impending launch of World of Warships. Christopher Dring speaks to CEO Victor Kislyi

There’s been a few developments at Wargaming recently...

Oh yes. We have announced that we have 100m registered players across all of our products.

It has been four years since the commercial launch of World of Tanks. It feels like yesterday, of course, but it’s been a long time; the game has evolved and it’s now a much, much better product.

The industry also changed along the way, and we think we helped it to do that with this ‘free-to-play, free-to-win’ concept.

We keep working, the company is growing; it is now more than 3,000 people. We have 16 offices all around the world; in every major territory we have a physical presence.

But we are not just updating World of Tanks; we are producing new games. It is not that easy to make yet another hit game, and we know that it’s not just a case of copying a few good ideas and building another legendary game.

So that is why we have to work hard, and right now we are more data-driven and produce a lot of analysis around our games.

We are also moving to new platforms. Three months ago we released World of Tanks Blitz on iOS, and we are currently readying the Android version.

And at Gamescom we showed World of Warships gameplay to people for the first time.

World of Warships looked quite far along. Is it close to release?

I don’t know. It is not about me saying: ‘We have to be out October 1st.’ It doesn’t work

September 26th 2014

like that. Through focus testing and data-driven decisions, we have to make sure that this game will be enjoyable. We need to make sure people will eagerly play it for days and months and years. Our bosses, our final decision makers, are the players. We don’t want them to play ten battles and then go away. And there is no investment bank or stock exchange to tell us when to release.

Is this approach a reaction to the disappointment around the World of Warplanes launch?

Yes, we had certain misconceptions there. We thought that because we had this nice free-to-play idea and these nice visuals, it would automatically become a global success. It does not work like this. Every game, we found out, is completely different. Yes, it is from Wargaming, it has this similar progression line, yes it has this free-to-win philosophy. But at the end of the day, tanks are tanks, planes are planes and ships are nothing like either of those.

World of Warplanes was not as successful as we had anticipated, and that’s partly because its biggest competitor is World of Tanks. But we are not in despair. We have now moved to this data-driven method.

We have carefully analysed the player engagement with World of Warplanes, we have talked to the players, and we realise that some things need to be done differently. So right now the team is finalising significant changes to the game. And we will make World

04

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WARGAMING INTERVIEW

World of Warships is the third ‘World of’ title from Wargaming

of Warplanes more enjoyable now that we know how.

was worth it. But the work has only just begun. We are introducing new elements and updates.

On the other hand, the reaction to World of Tanks Blitz on iOS has been pretty positive...

Yes, we already have something like 5m registered users. And on the technology side it is pushing the limits. Blitz is one of the most beautiful and technological games on those devices. Apple likes it and featured it on the front page of the App Store. And the reviews have been great.

What about other platforms like Virtual Reality?

In today’s fast-moving world, you never say never. Of course, we have tried the Oculus Rift, but right now it is not quite there. VR will be a big part of the entertainment industry, that is for sure, but for the free-to-win model you need huge critical mass and install base, because 75 per cent of people will never pay anything.

Mobile is a world away from hardcore PC gaming. How have you found it?

Right now the mobile gaming world is dominated by those ‘whale economy games’, where if consumers don’t pay they’re cannon fodder, and if they do pay they have to pay a lot.

But here we follow our free-to-win philosophy, where you can keep playing without paying a thing and still win and be competitive.

It requires courage and character to do that, because the investment in Blitz is in the millions. It is probably one of our most expensive games; it took a long time, but it

One of your recent announcements was that you’ve integrated Twitch. Why do that?

It is part of our eSports initiative. We have to have streaming involved. eSports is a new economy but I think it will be a very big part of entertainment in the near future.

It’s not only us doing this, of course, but together we are pushing and making eSports part of everyday lives.

A couple of months ago we had the grand finale for our first year of the Wargaming.net league, with 40,000 teams around the world competing online. The best 14

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Nobody can say we stopped innovating and just sat back with our success, relaxing and sipping cocktails.

Victor Kislyi, Wargaming

05

teams came together in Warsaw for the finale, which was watched live and streamed online to millions of people. It was great for publicity and engagement of the players.

We and a few companies are writing history today. But you can’t build a game thinking it will be for the eSports community and have it become that automatically; it works the other way around.

First of all, you have to make an enjoyable product for the masses, and then a certain percentage of those will feel more competitive about it and want to be the best.

Those people are the ones that join professional eSports teams.

It is quite a sophisticated ecosystem and we have a special programme to help new teams find sponsors. There’s an entire business here, and it is growing fast. By its very nature it is social, viral and online.

Today we have 40 people in the company working solely on eSports.

It’s a new venture for us, but we are helping to shape this industry and it feels natural for our times.

100m registered players is a lot for such hardcore titles. Can it really get any bigger?

There are 1bn computers in the world. In China alone there are over 600m internet users. It’s a big world but, via social networks and online, it’s a small world as well. The whole world is our market place, and then the whole world is our factory as well. That is why we are spread all over the world; we go where the talent is, and also so we are closer to the markets and the consumers.

With the rapid growth of mobile devices, our userbase will grow beyond 100m. The only really challenge is quality. You have to stay true to your principles and philosophy.

But we have to make sure to avoid screw ups, as well. If you do screw up, never lie. Because those millions of players will figure it out and they will backlash.

Nobody can say we stopped innovating and just sat back with our success, relaxing and sipping cocktails. We keep reinvesting our money in new game modes, new studios... we are very active in finding new ways to bring fun to players all around the world.

September 26th 2014

MARKETING

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY

[INFO] Released: November 14th Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Distributor: Exertis Gem Contact: 01279 822 822

UBISOFT has launched a unique online experience to promote its upcoming Xbox One and PS4 title Assassin’s Creed Unity.

Entitled Project Widow – referring to a nickname for the guillotine – the city night walk experience provides gamers with an online interactive guided tour around late 18th century Paris – the location where the openworld game takes place.

Leading players around the city will be Lord of the Rings and Rise of the Planet of the Apes actor Andy Serkis, who provides the narration.

Users can view the sites of key moments in the French Revolution in a 360-degree street level view, immersing them in the historical setting of Unity protagonist Arno’s tale.

Participants can also discover hotspots, locate hidden Unity art

September 26th 2014

and video content, and win prizes and exclusives.

The experience has been created by Biff New Media and Villain and Co in partnership with Ubisoft UK, and will be supported with targeted paid promotion on Facebook and Twitter, and through Ubisoft-owned channels, the EGX event and a Yogscast promotion, as well as earned media opportunities.

Mark Bassett, digital marketing manager at Ubisoft UK, commented: “The night walk is a great digital concept and delivers an exciting online experience in anticipation of the blockbuster video game, Assassin’s Creed Unity.

“The teams at Biff New Media and Villain and Co have truly embraced bringing the game’s setting to life for consumers in an exciting, shareable and innovative way.”

The Project Widow tie-in experience will allow players to explore sites of the French Revolution

06

Jodie Brock, creative director at Villain and Co, added: “Ubisoft gave us scope to get really creative in our thinking, leading to the idea of a uniquely dark and immersive guided tour.

“We wanted to inspire gamers by breathing vivid bloody life into 18th century Revolutionary Paris, and allow them to explore its secrets, generating even more excitement about the game.”

Biff New Media’s creative director, Leigh Kirwan, said the project did have its challenges: “Project Widow really gave us the opportunity to push the boundaries and to explore creative and interesting ways to align it with the world of Paris during the French Revolution. It has been a huge technical undertaking but we feel we’ve managed to create a completely immersive and engaging experience for Assassin’s fans.”

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MARKETING

BRAND PROFILE TRAIN SIMULATOR Dovetail’s Doug McConkey on the journey of the blockbuster rail simulation title DOVETAIL Games started life as Railsimulator. com back in early 2009 with a team of six staff.

Established to develop simulation products for train enthusiasts, the company started by acquiring the rights to an existing product called Rail Simulator, which had originally been developed by Kuju

rebranded to Train Simulator. The company wanted to have a name that gave a clear and precise indication of exactly what the product was about.

Today Train Simulator is the market-leading train simulation series. The game caters to an enthusiastic community of players globally and an updated version is released annually, encouraging new players into the series yearon-year. In a unique move, existing players receive the latest updates free of charge via Steam every year.

Entertainment Limited and was published in partnership with EA. The team’s focus was on improving the game to make it more accessible to a wider range of consumers. In June 2009, it released its first train simulation title, RailWorks, on the Steam digital platform, having recognised that the video games market was increasingly moving to an online distribution model.

The RailWorks games continued to be launched every year until 2011, when the game was

The series offers a wide range of downloadable content, allowing players to fully customise their own gaming experience with their preferred routes and locomotives, making Train Simulator the ultimate digital hobby.

Since its launch in 2009, Dovetail Games has grown to a staff of over 70, working across three UK sites – Chatham (HQ), Godalming and Stirling. Its aim is to become the number one simulation entertainment company in the world.

AUGUST 2014: THE MONTH IN REVIEW This week, GameTime looks at how Farm Heroes Saga and The Last of Us rule the airwaves

2,500

30 25 20

1,500

15 1,000

10

500 0

Brand Count

Individual TVRs

2,000

5 Jun

CONSOLIDATED data for August 2014 reveals an increase in total TV market ad pressure for the games and consoles sector, correlating with a month-on-month increase in the number of individual brands on air.

In total, the market is 57 per cent up in terms of total individual

Jul

Aug

0

Rank

Owner

TVRs (IND)

1

KING.COM FARM HEROES SAGA

430

2

SONY THE LAST OF US REMASTERED

247

3

MICROSOFT XBOX ONE CONSOLE

223

4

ACTIVISION DIABLO III

128

5

KING.COM CANDY CRUSH SAGA

127

6

GOODGAME EMPIRE ONLINE

111

7

NINTENDO 3DS & 2DS GAMES

110

8

KING.COM BUBBLE WITCH SAGA 2

74

9

NINTENDO TOMODACHI LIFE

65

10

NINTENDO YOSHI’S NEW ISLAND

63

August with its Farm Heroes Saga campaign averaging over 100 individual TVRs per week. When taking all King.com brands into account, the advertiser retained a 35 per cent total TV advertising market share across the month (individual TVRs).

TV viewer ratings (TVRs) in the market year-on-year.

This is despite fewer games and consoles brands having TV advertised so far this year vs the same period last year (162 vs 179).

As has often been the case this year, King.com reigned supreme in

The second biggest campaign for August 2014 was for Naughty Dog’s smash hit The Last of Us Remastered on PlayStation 4. Starting at the back end of July, this campaign averaged just over 60 individual TVRs per week across the month.

MCV GameTime is provided by Generation Media 0207 255 4650 | www.generationmedia.co.uk

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September 26th 2014

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

NEW FACES JOIN MCV RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD Microsoft’s Urquhart and Dixons’ Watson join board O PES chief leaves Konami O New members for ERA MCV RAB | SIMON URQUHART (left) and CRAIG WATSON (below left) have joined MCV’s Retail Advisory Board (RAB).

Formerly PC gaming and components category manager at Dixons Retail, Urquhart departed the business in April He recently joined Microsoft as a buyer for Microsoft Store EMEA, and re-joins the RAB in his new role.

Watson takes over from Urquhart as the representative for Dixons Retail on the board.

Now assistant category manager for PC gaming, Watson

interested in demo feedback, but for now off to walk dog.”

Murphy’s parting follows that of Castlevania veteran Dave Cox last month, who left the company “to explore new opportunities”.

Murphy’s responsibilities will be taken over by PES European product manager Adam Bhatti.

previously served as assistant category manager for Windows laptops and tablets.

KONAMI | JON MURPHY, team leader for PES in the UK, has departed the company.

Murphy spent 16 years at the firm, during which he stewarded the PES brand throughout its early success and later battle against EA’s FIFA franchise.

For a long period Murphy served as the public corporate face of the PES series in the UK. “After 16 years at Konami I’ve decided to seek new challenges,” he tweeted. “Amazing messages from all. Genuinely surprised/ touched. Thank you. Really

ERA | The Entertainment Retailer’s Association has named RAOUL CHATTERJEE as its new chairman.

Chatterjee is the SVP for music at 7Digital and replaces PAUL QUIRK, who led ERA for the past six years. His past experience includes a stint at Warner Music UK.

“I am honoured to have been elected by my peers to chair ERA at this crucial point for entertainment retailing,” said Chatterjee. “It is vital that we work together with our suppliers, our fellow trade associations and with legislators to ensure the healthy business environment we need to continue this work.

Rudy Osorio, head of visual at HMV, has been re-elected deputy chairman and Chris O’Reilly of Presto Classical has been re-elected treasurer.

Sanjay Kooper (Asda), Charlotte Knight (GAME) and Michael Mulligan (Tesco) were re-elected to the ERA board.

Meanwhile, Markus Bhatia (The Hut) and Drew Hill (Proper Music) join for the first time.

AROUND THE INDUSTRY MLG | Internet celebrity Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg has signed a timed exclusivity deal with Major League Gaming.

Under the agreement, episodes of PewDiePie’s BroKen podcast have begun to debut on MLG.tv before becoming available elsewhere.

“We’re excited to introduce PewDiePie to the MLG.tv network as we continue to deliver exclusive content from the best producers in the world,” MLG’s VP of programming Ryan Wyatt said.

“Our vision for MLG.tv is to make it the home for premium content and producers like PewDiePie and his show BroKen. This programming deal with PewDiePie is a great example of the premier talent we have joining the growing MLG.tv line-up.”

In August a US survey named Kjellberg as one of the most

September 26th 2014

08

influential people on the planet amongst 13 to 18-year-olds.

Kjellberg tweeted: “We are hosting the Broken podscast live on MLG for a few weeks, that’s it. My soul is still mine, honest.”

FUTURE | The publisher is restructuring, moving all of its gaming magazines to its Bath HQ. Daniel Dawkins has been appointed group editor-inchief for games. James Jarvis has been appointed senior producer for games and tech, and will be responsible for all of games video output.

Among the brands moving is OXM, with editor Jon Hicks, staff writer Aoife Wilson and production editor Jenny Meade departing the company.

Future tech mag T3 has also seen some changes; editor Matt Hill has moved across to Gizmodo UK, becoming editor.

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EDITORIAL CONTACTS

EDITORIAL CONTACTS WE ARE PLAYING...

I played the FIFA 15 demo.

My keeper fell over when a penalty was fired right at him.

I wonder what PES is like?

Christopher Dring, Editor

Out of frustration with Dark Souls, I bought a PS4 and Destiny. Something had to force my hand.

Alex Calvin, Staff Writer

Chris.Dring@intentmedia.co.uk

Alex Calvin@intentmedia.co.uk

Some Destiny with Matt and more Desert Golfing, but mainly just waiting for the last bit of Dark Souls II DLC. Ben Parfitt, Associate Editor

Surprise, surprise, I’ve been playing Destiny. 20 levels and countless loot drops, and I’m still not brave enough to enter the Vault of Glass.

Matt Jarvis, Staff Writer

Ben.Parfitt@intentmedia.co.uk

Matt.Jarvis@intentmedia.co.uk

Publisher: Michael French Michael.French@intentmedia.co.uk

Head of Operations: Stuart Moody Stuart.Moody@intentmedia.co.uk

Group Sales Manager: Alex.Boucher Alex.Boucher@intentmedia.co.uk

Circulation: Lianne Davey Lianne.Davey@intentmedia.co.uk

Account Manager: Conor Tallon Conor.Tallon@intentmedia.co.uk

Finance Manager: Michael Canham Michael.Canham@intentmedia.co.uk

Production Manager: Alice Sanz Alice.Sanz@intentmedia.co.uk

Head of Design and Production: Kelly Sambridge Kelly.Sambridge@intentmedia.co.uk

Designer: Sam Richwood Sam.Richwood@intentmedia.co.uk

Saxon House, 6a St. Andrew Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire, England SG14 1JA Intent Media specialises in tradededicated print and digital publishing for entertainment and leisure markets.

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

US Correspondent Erik Johnson Erik.Johnson@intentmedia.co.uk

Special Projects: Lisa Carter Lisa.Carter@intentmedia.co.uk

© Intent Media 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher.

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

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

ISSN: 1469-4832 Copyright 2014

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

THE RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD MCV takes soundings from its Retail Advisory Board on the biggest issues in the industry. The current members are...

Charlotte Knight GAME

Steve Moore Simply Games

Jon Hayes Tesco

Ketu Patel Amazon

Sarah Jasper The Hut

Phil Moore Grainger Games

David Firth Shop Direct

Don McCabe CHIPS

Gurdeep Hunjan Sainsbury’s

Steve Thomas Xbite

Simon Urquhart Microsoft

Robert Lindsay Games Centre

Igor Cipolletta ShopTo

Dermot Stapleton Get Games

Niall Lawlor GameStop

Phil Browes HMV

Stephen Staley Robert Hennessy Gameseek John Lewis

Paul Sulyok Green Man

James Cooke Argos

Craig Watson Dixons Retail

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September 26th 2014

DATA ANALYSIS Source Games and Charts compiled by GfK Chart-Track

DATA & RESEARCH Destiny holds off the return of Disney Infinity and the debut of Hyrule Warriors THIS week saw a number of new releases, but none of them manage to knock ACTIVISION’s Destiny from the chart top spot.

The ambitious sci-fi shooter also continued to bolster PS4 hardware sales, with the Destiny bundle comprising over 72 per cent of PS4 sales.

This means that Disney Infinity 2.0 has to settle for number two.

However, DISNEY’s toys-to-life sequel does place one higher than its predecessor’s debut, with approximately a third more units sold in its first week.

The interest in toysto-life seems to have benefitted Infinity rival Skylanders, with

Swap Force rising 12 places to 23rd.

Also joining the multiple new releases this week is NINTENDO’s Wii U exclusive Zelda/Dynasty Warriors mashup Hyrule Warriors, which sees a podium entry at number three.

Nintendo fans are in for another treat this week, too. SQUARE ENIX’s rhythm game followup Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is now on 3DS and achieved 17th place in the rankings.

All of these new releases obviously shake up the chart stalwarts.

Among the biggest drops is EA hockey title NHL 15, which plumments from seventh to 25th.

TOP 10 STEAM CHARTS

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 01 02 RE NEW 04 08 06 RE 03

WASTELAND 2 PUBLISHER: INXILE ENTERTAINMENT DEVELOPER: INXILE ENTERTAINMENT

TITLE PUBLISHER The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – LE Bethesda Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Valve Left 4 Dead 2 Valve Life Is Feudal: Your Own Bitbox DayZ Bohemia Interactive Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Bandai Namco Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (P) Warner Bros Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (P) 2K Games Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition Microsoft

TOP 40 UK RETAIL 01 TW 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 03 02 06 04 09 05 08 12 11 16 15 13 20 NEW 19 RE 14 23 27 35 26 07 17 10 18 25 28 21 RE 30 32 40 RE 31 RE 36 RE

DESTINY ACTIVISION FORMATS: PS4, XO, PS3, 360

TITLE DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 HYRULE WARRIORS WATCH DOGS THE SIMS 4 MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION 3 EDITION THE LAST OF US: REMASTERED PLANTS VS ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEOGAME GRAND THEFT AUTO V TOMODACHI LIFE TITANFALL DIABLO III ROS ULTIMATE EVIL EDN SNIPER ELITE 3 THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY: CURTAIN CALL TERRARIA LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES METRO REDUX ASSASSIN’S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG FROZEN: OLAF’S QUEST SKYLANDERS: SWAP FORCE SKATE 3 NHL 15 INFAMOUS: FIRST LIGHT NARUTO ULTIMATE NINJA STORM REV MADDEN NFL 15 BATTLEFIELD 4 MARIO KART 8 WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW ORDER POKÉMON BLACK VERSION RAYMAN LEGENDS LEGO THE HOBBIT FORZA MOTORSPORT 5 POKÉMON WHITE VERSION FIFA 14 JUST DANCE 2014 NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS WWE 2K14

Week ending September 21st

September 26th 2014

DEVELOPER: BUNGIE FORMAT PUBLISHER PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft PC EA 360 Microsoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS3 Sony PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360 EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS3, 360 Rockstar 3DS Nintendo XO, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 505 Games 3DS Square Enix PS3, 360, PC 505 Games/Merge PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Deep Silver PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Ubisoft 3DS, DS GPS/Avanquest PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Wii Activision Blizzard PS3, 360 EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360 EA PS4 Sony PS3, 360 Bandai Namco PS4, XO, PS3, 360 EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA Wii U Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Bethesda 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, Vita, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros XO Microsoft 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, Vita, PSP, PC, PS2 EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, Wii Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360 EA PS3, 360 2K Games

Week ending September 21st

10

www.mcvuk.com

DATA ANALYSIS Source

TOP 10 IPAD PAID CHARTS

TOP 20 INDIVIDUAL FORMAT

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

LW 02 03 NEW NEW 05 04 07 09 NEW 06 08 NEW 11 NEW 15 NEW 20 10 NEW

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

DESTINY ACTIVISION FORMAT: PS4

DEVELOPER: BUNGIE

TITLE DESTINY DESTINY HYRULE WARRIORS DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 THE SIMS 4 DESTINY MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION 3 EDITION DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 THE LAST OF US: REMASTERED WATCH DOGS DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 TOMODACHI LIFE THEATRHYTHM FINALFANTASY: CURTAIN CALL GRAND THEFT AUTO V DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS DISNEY INFINITY 2.0

FORMAT XO 360 Wii U 360 PC PS3 360 PS3 PS3 PS4 PS4 PS4 3DS 3DS 360 XO XO PS4 Wii U

PUBLISHER Activision Activision Nintendo Disney EA Activision Microsoft Sony Disney Sony Ubisoft Disney Nintendo Square Enix Rockstar Disney Activision Activision Disney

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Football Manager Handheld 2014 Flightradar24 Pro Gruffalo: Games Goblin Sword Terraria Tipping Point Worms 3 Photon Flash Player for iPad The Chase

DEVELOPER Sega Flightradar24 AB Magic Light Pictures Eleftherios Christodoulatos 505 Games Barnstorm Games Team17 Appsverse Barnstorm Games

Week ending September 21st

TOP 10 IPHONE PAID CHARTS

01

Week ending September 21st

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE 2014/15 DEVELOPER: PREMIER LEAGUE

TITLE 7 Minute Workout Challenge Football Manager Handheld 2014 Minecraft – Pocket Edition Worms 3 Heads Up! All-in Fitness The Official DSA Theory Test Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock Afterlight

DEVELOPER Fitness Guide Inc Sega Mojang Team17 Warner Bros Plus Sports TSO Northcube AB Afterlight Collective

TOP 10 XBOX LIVE (UK) 01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW RE 01 RE 03 02 05 06 08 09

Week ending September 21st

TOP 10 GOOGLE PLAY CHARTS

THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND: SE

01

DEVELOPER: LUCASARTS TITLE MONKEY ISLAND 2 SPECIAL EDITION: LECHUCK’S REVENGE MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION VALIANT HEARTS: THE GREAT WAR TERRARIA: XBOX 360 EDITION APOCZ CASTLEMINER Z WHITE NOISE ONLINE AVATAR WARFARE THE WALKING DEAD: SEASON TWO

PUBLISHER LucasArts Microsoft Ubisoft 505 Games Sick Kreations DigitalDNA Milkstone Studios Raoghard Telltale

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

TITLE Goat Simulator 2 Theory Test UK 2014 DTS Flightradar24 Pro Football Manager Handheld Edition Fantasy Premier League 2014/15 The Chase Terraria Poweramp Full Version Unlocker The Room

PUBLISHER Coffee Stain Studios Focus Multimedia Flightradar24 AB Sega All Apped Up Barnstorm Games 505 Games Max MP Fireproof Games

Week ending September 21st

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

Read and remember these stats so you can sound clever at the next Monday morning meeting...

300%

$325M

52%

PS4 console sales shot up by over three times weekon-week following the release of Destiny

Destiny generated more than $325m worldwide in its first five days

More women than men now play games in the UK, with 52 per cent of women playing games in the last six months, according to the IAB

www.mcvuk.com

Correct as of September 22nd

11

1M Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros for 3DS sold in excess PDP design & manufacture the of one million units in its Afterglow Communicator PlayStation first week in Japan europesales@pdp.com

www.pdp.com September 26th 2014

GAMES MEDIA

GAMES MEDIA’S CONFIDENCE CRISIS It seems like the dust is finally settling on the recent #gamergate scandal, but what longerterm effects could accusations of corruption have on games journalism as a whole?

Matthew Jarvis asks Simon Parkin, Matt Lees and Keith Stuart Will the recent events deter people from joining the industry?

Matt Lees: It’s already caused people to loudly leave, and we’ll see plenty more quietly shuffle off because of this in the next few months.

Multiple events across a number of years have made one simple fact clear: success as a woman in the games industry will likely lead to severe harassment at some point.

We’ve seen the media and a few studios stand up against this awful trend, but publishers need to have a stance on the matter – it’s an environment where vocal women can never feel safe. Who wouldn’t feel deterred by that?

Simon Parkin: There are already many deterrents for would-be journalists in 2014; there’s the decline of print media, the economic impossibility of static freelance rates, the erosion of salaried positions and the resultant increase in competition for those that remain. Then there’s the on-going struggle for many online publications to make the kind of money necessary to support interesting and rigorous journalism, and the fact that writing about games is still culturally stigmatised.

By this point, any prospective writer who still wants to enter the profession won’t be deterred by a hostile, yet ultimately niche, element of the prospective audience.

Keith Stuart: I really hope not - but if it does, maybe they were not cut out for this in the first place.

As a media professional in the digital era, you are going to attract criticism, and some of it will hurt.

It is fine for the media to be under constant scrutiny - but unfortunately that can become invasive.

Journalists, like developers, have to be able to cope.

September 26th 2014

Freelance journalists Matt Lees (above) and Simon Parkin (above), and The Guardian’s games editor Keith Stuart (above)

We also have to maintain perspective. Whatever the motivations of the Gamergate movement, it represents a minority of gamers. It’s bloody hard to retain perspective, but it’s vital.

What other long-term effects could the events have?

ML: This movement has actually exacerbated a very real and present problem; too much games media is solely supported by advertisements from video game publishers.

The advertising issue is also being hurt by the swarming nature of angry hate-mobs. People don’t

Have the events affected the ways you address your audience?

ML: So much of the ire aimed at the media boils down to a complete disdain for games journalists and a complete lack of any kind of trust.

I don’t see any point in negotiating – anyone who thinks we’re scumbags and liars will never be convinced of anything otherwise.

When dealing with people who have irrational beliefs about widespread conspiracies and corruption, you’ve got to be pragmatic about what you’re likely to gain from any conversation.

Anything that makes journalists assess how they operate is probably a good thing.

Keith Stuart, The Guardian

want to advertise on websites filled with comments by scumbags, which is rough – because these people aren’t indicative of the actual audience, and often aren’t even a part of the audience at all.

Unless something changes, the future of games journalism will either mean arriving with a thick suit of armour or explicitly avoiding all contentious topics.

KS: Will Gamergate make us re-assess who we use as freelance writers and columnists? No. If you employ columnists who don’t challenge and even sometimes upset people, you are employing the wrong columnists.

12

SP: Sadly, this will not affect relationships between journalists and powerful companies so much as it will affect relationships between journalists and independent creators.

It will, perhaps, cause some writers to think more carefully about potential conflicts of interest between a subject and coverage but, alas, the focus of the ethical debate, such that it is, has been mainly focused in the wrong places.

KS: Anything that makes journalists assess how they operate is probably a good thing - even if there are utterly horrible aspects to the events of the last few months.

Most major sites are doing okay - they understand their reader bases; they understand that alienating them will directly affect revenue eventually, and they behave accordingly.

I honestly don’t understand the endgame of some of those in the Gamergate movement. If you don’t like sites, don’t read them - set up alternatives. Maybe that - a lot more game sites - will be the outcome.

I hope so, because that would be something positive, and lord knows we need some positivity right now.

www.mcvuk.com

GAMES MEDIA

STOP THE PRESS:

MCV CATCHES UP WITH SOME OF THE BIGGEST GAMES MEDIA OUTLETS IN THE UK, AND ASKS HOW THEY’RE ADAPTING TO CHANGE IN THE INDUSTRY

AROUND THE WORLD IGN continues to be one of the biggest media outlets in the world.

Dan Kilby, commercial projects and marketing manager, explains how it plans to expand further FOR nearly two decades IGN has remained one of the most recognisable names in games.

This is partly thanks to the site’s ability to change with the times – from apps to podcasts, video content to mobile, IGN has embodied much of the games media zeitgeist of the last 18 years.

And it is continuing to do so.

“This year we launched IGN First – month-long coverage of new and unannounced games – which has been a huge success, and we have some really exciting things coming up in the next few months,” Dan Kilby, commercial projects and marketing manager, tells MCV.

We’re seeing increased engagement around titles that take a dripfeed approach to PR as opposed to consistent floods of information.

And IGN’s video content remains a hot destination for consumers.

“Video is proving ever-popular and is the reason we launched Watch/Read this summer, which gives the user the option to consume content in either video or written form before they’re even taken to the article page,” says Kilby.

“We’re witnessing a pattern in content popularity where less is becoming more; we’re seeing increased engagement around titles that take a dripfeed approach to PR drops as opposed to consistent floods of information.”

Dan Kilby, IGN

A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE Daniel Dawkins, group editor-inchief for games, tells MCV about Future Publishing’s major transition and the challenge of good journalism

What are your main campaigns at the moment?

We’re busy with the Golden Joysticks Awards, which move to a fantastic new venue this year, Indigo at 02.

We’ve already broken a million votes, and are hoping to beat last year’s whopping 10 million votes before the awards on October 24th.

Our social media presence has rocketed: OXM has over 2.7m Facebook followers, OPM is budging toward a million – having been on less than 50k eight months ago – and PC Gamer is closing in on 3m.

Kotaku UK welcomed its millionth visitor only four months after launch, and we’re working on another

www.mcvuk.com

The challenge facing the industry is its popularity, and the diversity that creates: you need to pick your battles, and know how to delight your audience.

volume of our successful Minecraft bookazine before Christmas.

PCGamer.com debuts its new responsive site design in early October, with a renewed focus on hardware and kit.

Daniel Dawkins, Future

How is ‘New Future’ coming along?

I don’t want to make wild promises, but I’m delighted by our renewed clarity of focus, especially in digital, which will allow us to showcase the brilliant work of Future’s 50-plus world-class games journalists in one place.

Kilby adds that content on mobile is also a hit.

“Campaign performance overall on mobile is very strong as the IGN mobile environment is uncluttered and attracts high engagement; we are continually urging marketers to include mobile in their IGN campaigns,” he explains. “We are also increasingly working with our partners around content marketing, and in part this is driven by the fact that it works well across all platforms.”

‘New Future’ is the response to our biggest challenge: how do we structure our multiple successful brands – or rather, our volume of fantastic journalists – to face the myriad demands of the new games industry? I’m hopeful we can showcase our best content when and where people want to find it – be that online, print, video or on mobile.

The wider challenge facing the industry is its popularity, and the diversity that creates: you need to pick your battles, and know how to delight your audience.

Of course, there’s a small, but militant, section of the audience that believes all journalists are foie grasmunching servants of the illuminati, but great journalism stands on its own two feet.

What are the biggest challenges you are currently facing?

13

September 26th 2014

GAMES MEDIA

MORE OF A BLESSING Curse’s Nathan Lindberg discusses how the young firm rivals old veterans of the industry – and what it has set its targets on next DESPITE being less than a decade old, Curse has quickly established itself as a player to watch.

The firm’s Union for Gamers network on YouTube, a tool which allows players to monetise their channels, now has over 26 million global unique visitors and over 500 million monetisable views each month; 1.3 million and 14 million respectively of these in the UK. In total, the firm’s portfolio of websites, video channels, social media profiles and a desktop application now reaches over 50

While journalism serves a purpose, it’s certainly getting some stiff competition from homegrown community activists.

million people. But the firm isn’t finished growing.

“Our YouTube network and eSports social media reach is massive and that’s grown like a rocket over the last two years,” says Nathan Lindberg, vice president of sales for Curse.

“According to ComScore, our website Futhead.com in the UK has more monthly pages consumed than IGN Entertainment and Gamespot, combined.”

So what’s next?

“Mobile expansion is huge for us, it is a main priority,” says

Nathan Lindberg, Curse

FAR FROM JINXED Chris Bond, senior staff writer and producer for Ginx TV, chats about the success of Videogame Nation and what’s next for the outlet

THINK OF THE CHILDREN Gareth Whelan, editor of DC Thompson’s kids gaming title 110% Gaming, outlines the publisher’s entry into the market ONE of the UK’s longeststanding publishing houses, DC Thompson has been behind some of the biggest kids magazines of the last century. Now the firm is breaking into games journalism for the first time with 110% Gaming, a new publication aimed at children aged eight to 13.

It’s arguably a bold move, with many now decrying print journalism as dead. But editor Gareth Whelan is confident that 110% Gaming has what it takes to succeed.

“The primary boys’ magazine market is a highly competitive sector,” he admits. “That being said, DC Thomson has a long history of investment in innovation and we’re doing just that.

September 26th 2014

Lindberg. “We’ve added talented developers to increase our mobile offerings to not only our users, but our advertisers.”

Lindberg sees Curse’s success as a sign of the shift towards usergenerated content among gamers.

“While journalism serves a purpose, it’s certainly getting some stiff competition from homegrown community activists,” he explains.

“Does that mean editorial is done?

Absolutely not, but it means there’s another player in the marketplace.”

“Our research showed that parents limit children’s screen time and kids are keen on having a physical magazine to read when they aren’t playing games,” he adds. “It’s important for us to ensure that the content we produce is engaging and relevant enough to ensure that kids become regular readers.

“It’s challenging marrying the requirements of the children and their parents, but I think we’ve done a great job.”

LAUNCHED back in 2008, Ginx TV has managed to avoid the early death suffered by many of its video games TV channel rivals.

In fact, the London-based network is growing, now reaching 26 million households around the world.

Senior staff writer and producer for Ginx Chris Bond tells MCV that the company aims to doubledown on this global expansion.

“As an international TV channel, our main focus is expanding into new territories and widening our cross-cultural appeal,” he says. “At home, our focus is on Videogame Nation on Challenge, which we’ve just revamped to huge success. The drive has been to make the format more authentic, and bring in some of the most talented people in the UK gaming scene.”

Currently broadcast through Virgin Media’s cable TV offering, Ginx is also looking at making the jump to more modern video platforms.

“At the moment we’re working on additional avenues of bringing

14

our TV channel to our viewers; the first one of these will be streaming through Amazon Fire TV, where we’re launching in October,” reveals Bond. “We want to be where the audience is, which everyone knows is increasingly using multiple devices to access their favourite content.”

So what can we expect next from the flourishing outlet?

“We are focusing on adding immediacy to the channel and you will shortly see the introduction of a weekly live show to allow us to deliver true cross-media news and entertainment. That’s what’s next.”

www.mcvuk.com

GAMES MEDIA

‘SPOT THE DIFFERENCE The GameSpot team reveals what its been working on over the last year – and what to expect in the next twelve months

REBORN in 2006 after a fouryear hiatus, GameSpot UK has quickly distinguished itself as more than just a subsidiary of its American brethren.

And now it’s working on new video content – with some British flavouring.

The power of crowdfunding has seen the birth of hundreds of new games, new studios, and classics titles being brought back to life.

“We’ve has been working in partnership with Activision to produce Aim Down Sights, a weekly show eading up to the launch of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare,” a spokesperson tells MCV. “Following the hiring of Lucy James as GameSpot’s newest video producer

GameSpot

VIDEO STAR Adam McCann, MD of Pro-G Media, tells MCV about VideoGamer’s rebirth and the constant battle against Google

EGX-PANSION Gamer Network co-founder and CEO Rupert Loman talks about the future of hit games event EGX EUROGAMER has long been a staple of the UK games press, and the outlet’s events are similarly becoming a cornerstone of the consumer games circuit.

The firm’s EGX show is expected to attract over 80,000 gamers this year – 20 times the number of visitors its debut in 2008 saw.

“In addition to our events, we’ve just seen record web traffic on Eurogamer.net,” Gamer Network

www.mcvuk.com

we’ve also been working on an original show that Lucy will host.

“Look out for some excellent British humour, and some calls back to GameSpot UK’s former magazine show, Start/Select.”

GameSpot has also been expanding its coverage of hardware.

“We’ve introduced GameTech, a new section of the site focusing on the latest in gaming technology.”

But new mediums and genres of software is also a key concern.

“There’s a brand new interest in indie games. The power of crowdfunding has seen the birth of hundreds of new games, new studios, and classics titles being brought back to life. Free-to-play continues to attract a huge audience.”

co-founder and CEO Rupert Loman tells MCV. “The fact that we’re seeing record traffic on our websites whilst video and mobile also surge forward proves that there is an appetite for different media and content depending on what users are looking for.”

Eurogamer is now spread across a variety of mediums – so what does Loman think of the future for traditional media?

“The role of games media is undoubtedly changing,” he replies. “Having a strong editorial identity, a large and loyal audience and the best writers means we are well placed to adapt our content offering as the industry continues to evolve.”

2014 is a big year for VideoGamer – the site has doubled down on its titular format and is preparing to launch a complete refresh of its site.

Adam McCann, MD of website parent Pro-G Media, says the site has grown in key areas.

“Video has been a big focus for us in the last 18 months, and we’ve had good results – our YouTube channel exploded early last year and continues to go from strength to strength, and our weekly live streams on Twitch have been very well received,” he tells MCV. “We’re still working on improving and growing our written editorial, continually adapting to see how we can more efficiently convey coverage to our users,” he explains.

“There’s also been more of a spotlight on indie games over the last year, and we have followed suit with some fantastic coverage.”

15

And now it’s launching a new website.

“The company is gearing up for the launch of the next version of VideoGamer, which has been developed completely from scratch with a modernised design and backend infrastructure,” states McCann.

But despite this evolution, McCann says that VideoGamer still struggles to keep up with the shifting challenge of discoverability.

“Google and its constant algorithm changes are an ongoing challenge for us,” he admits. “Their guidelines state that you should not think too hard about your sites from an SEO perspective, but instead build them around what your users want and expect to see.

“But we find we have to focus on appeasing their always-evolving requirements to not fall behind.”

September 26th 2014

FORZA HORIZON 2

ON THE HORIZON Forza Horizon 2 brings the Xbox open-world racing sub-series to a new generation.

Ralph Fulton, creative director at Playground Games, takes Matthew Jarvis for a spin

I

t’s a rare thing to hear a racing game described as ‘magical’.

‘Pulse-pounding’, ‘rubberburning’, ‘white-knuckle’; these are the staple phrases associated with zipping along roads in exotic sports cars. But for Ralph Fulton, creative director for Forza Horizon 2 at developer Playground Games, it seems that driving is as much about where you go and who you get there with as it is about how fast you can move.

There are other games coming this Christmas that promise a similar ‘socially-connected open-world’ racing experience, namely Ubisoft’s The Crew and Sony’s DriveClub. But Fulton remains unmoved by these potential rivals.

“We’ve been heads-down, trying to achieve the things which are really important to Horizon,” he says. “One of them is the social aspect; making sure that players can enjoy the game together with their friends, and maybe even make new friends through the game via features like car meets and clubs. It’s also about fun, it’s about beauty, it’s about freedom; those are the pillars of Horizon that we look to when we try to judge how well we are doing.”

THE OPEN ROAD Playground’s vision for Horizon 2, the follow-up to the Xbox 360-exclusive racer released in 2012, is built around an open world (based on picturesque European landscapes) designed to give players the freedom to explore – road or otherwise.

September 26th 2014

Horizon 2’s sprawling cities and fields are based on European landscapes

Fulton says that the key to the game’s vast environment is motivating players to go against conventional driving wisdom and depart from the racing line to explore every hidden secret scattered across the world.

“The approach we take is less ‘How are people going to find these things?’, more ‘How can we encourage people to go off the beaten track and explore this world we’ve created?’” he explains. “Horizon 2 is so much more open than the original game; we’ve knocked away all the barriers, you can smash through fences, you can drive through fields and forests.

That’s fun in and of itself – we’re all about fun with Horizon.But also we want to reward you for that exploration, so we’ve put bucket list challenges at the top

We want Forza Horizon 2 to be a racing game, but we also want it to be a laid-back driving game as well.

Ralph Fulton, Playground Games

16

of hills or in forests. We hide discoverables and secrets. We have barn finds, which in Horizon 2 you’ll really have to look for, because this world is wide open.

But the upside is the cars you will discover and restore from barn finds, more than half of them are cars you’ve never seen in Forza before. So there’s a real payoff for that exploration.”

And this is all part of the ‘magic’ that makes Horizon something other than a racing game, Fulton adds confidently.

“We want this to be a racing game, but we also want it to be a laid-back driving game as well,” he explains. “A game you can play to relax, a game in which you’re not always competing with people; a game that is just about the joy of driving and seeing what you can find.”

www.mcvuk.com

FORZA HORIZON 2

Boundaries are no problem – players can smash through fences to drive where they want

MAGICAL MULTIPLAYER The idea of an open world can present issues for some titles – large maps can often transform into wastelands if bereft of other life.

But Fulton says that the Drivatar technology, which debuted in Forza Motorsport 5 and replaces AI rivals with virtual recreations of real players’ driving styles, combined with new seamless multiplayer, will make the motor-filled world feel distinctly human.And with the use of cutting-edge tech like Drivatar, and new connectivity options, Fulton says that Horizon 2 will also highlight just what the new generation of console hardware can offer that the older consoles can’t “We’ve talked a lot about how social a game Horizon 2 is,” he states. “A lot of that has been enabled by the power of Xbox One and Xbox Live. We’ve been able to spin up dedicated servers just on demand, and that’s been a great boon for us. It’s enabled us to cut out the waiting time from joining an online session.

“We felt right at the start that going to sit in a lobby while you’re waiting to join an online session feels like a very last-gen thing to do. So now we do it all seamlessly in the background.

www.mcvuk.com

“We have true match technology, which is always just finding sessions and asynchronously matchmaking you, so when you press a button to say ‘Yeah, I want to join online’, you can do it without even stopping your car. It’s a little thing but, with that legacy of always having to sit in lobbies and wait in racing games, experiencing this new system in Horizon 2 is a revelation. It’s a really magical moment which has been enabled by moving to Xbox One.”

HAPPY CAMPERS

OBVIOUSLY, a racing game would be nothing without something to race. Horizon 2 sees the franchise’s vehicular portfolio expand to over 200 machines. But it’s not all muscle and rally cars – players are bound to be surprised by some of the less conventional automobiles on offer.

“We take the view of: why not?” says Ralph Fulton, creative director at Playground Games.

“One of the luxuries of having more than 200 vehicles is that we’re able to have the cars that you have to have for a racing game. But beyond that, we’re able to listen to our community and bring some cult classics into the game.”

One such classic is the 1963 Volkswagen Camper van –

BEYOND THE HORIZON There’s that word – ‘magical’.

Between its open world, new multiplayer technology and next-gen graphics, Fulton hopes Forza Horizon 2 stands out as something other than a mere sequel – and says there’s more magic to come as the new console hardware matures.

“We’re right at the start of a generation,” he states. “We’re in a very privileged position in that, at Playground, we have developers who have worked on two next-gen titles now.

“For us, we’re only just starting to realise the power that the new generation of Xbox One technology gives us. I can’t wait to see where we go in the future. There’s a lot more to come.”

17

hardly the obvious choice for a high-octane racing title.

“Horizon is the kind of game that will allow for some unexpected choices,” explains Fulton. “Conventional wisdom is: what’s a Camper van doing in a racing game? Honestly, it’s giving you loads and loads of fun. It’s an iconic vehicle, it looks really cool, it’s awesome for painting liveries on, and with Forza’s upgrading and tuning system you can engine swap it and stick a much more powerful engine into it – you can really make that thing move.

Those are the kind of principles that we use across our car list when we’re selecting; what are the cars that fans really want to drive? What new and fun experiences can we give them?”

September 26th 2014

Q4 ACCESSORIES

ALL THEY WANT FOR CHRISTMAS As we enter one of the busiest periods for retailers, Matthew Jarvis looks at one of the biggest sectors for the games industry – accessories – and finds out what UK stores should be stocking this Q4

C

hristmas is three months away, and retailers need to be prepared for the influx of consumers looking for accessories and peripherals. But what will gamers be searching for on store shelves this year?

In years gone by, motion controllers and cameras were top sellers (See ‘Christmases Past’).

But today it’s more high-end products... and toys.

“2011 saw sales of gaming headsets take off,” says ChartTrack senior account manager Chris Poole. “More recently, the majority of revenue comes from digital content and non-traditional gaming products such as Skylanders and Disney Infinity.”

With market demand continually evolving, Tom Hodge, sales director at accessories specialist Venom, adds that retailers should be aware that consumers are far more clued-in when shopping for products.

“As the games market has fluctuated, the appetite for accessories has endured,” he states. “Consumers have changed their buying habits, becoming increasingly more brand aware and knowledgeable when it comes to the purchase.

The explosion of social media has meant that accessories are becoming more transparent with online reviews and feedback playing a big part.”

HEADSET FOR SUCCESS Headsets are among the products currently most in demand, driven by the integration of online multiplayer and people live-streaming their gameplay online.

September 26th 2014

Headsets are set to be a big seller this Christmas, thanks to online games

“The growth in online gaming over the last five years has had an impact on how gamers like to play, and a key aspect has been having the ability to communicate with their friends quickly and effectively,” comments Neal McCann, marketing assistant at SCEE. Retailers may also consider stocking products targeted at certain platforms.

“It looks like Xbox Live users, rather than PSN gamers, are more inclined to use a headset,” advises Poole.

According to GfK, premium console gaming headsets for the Xbox One have helped to grow the gaming headset sector to its highest year-to-date share of ‘traditional’ console gaming accessories (non-Skylanders, non-

Consumers have changed their buying habits, becoming increasingly more brand aware and knowledgeable when it comes to the purchase.

Tom Hodge, Venom

18

digital cards), now comprising 27.8 per cent of the market.

Hodge says headset charging stations are also popular.

“Headsets and charging solutions are proving to be our biggest categories,” he tells MCV. “As people game for longer and online they want to be able to do that without being interrupted because their batteries have run out or their headset is uncomfortable.”

It’s not just expensive Turtle Beach headsets that are doing the business either.

“The majority of sales are in the sub-£50 price point,” explains Gioteck GM Alan Jones, adding that PC players are a particularly prospective audience for retailers: “The PC market, with a smaller serious gaming community, tends to be less fashion-orientated;

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Q4 ACCESSORIES

whilst hardware penetration has stalled in recent years as the mass market has adopted the tablet format, the accessories market is still sizeable and probably worth £40 million per annum in the UK alone.”

PRODUCTS OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE With headsets seemingly set to be at the top of many gamers’ Christmas lists this year, what will be the product picks of Q4s to come?

“Beyond the continued importance of audio and controller products we see opportunities in wired and wireless charging, storage devices for downloaded content and new ways of interfacing with multimedia consoles other than a traditional joypad,” says Jones.

Hodge expects headsets to continue to generate strong sales.

He adds that while the PS4 and Xbox One provide the perfect

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opportunity to stock next-gen accessories, existing last-gen products will continue to sell well.

“The next-gen consoles obviously stimulate demand in the gaming market and the need for accessories,” he explains. “The market has undoubtedly benefitted from this additional publicity and associated interest.

“The new hardware launches offer a welcome opportunity for new fresh designs. Headsets and charging solutions continue to be our focus. We’ve seen significant uptake of nextgen accessories, with very little effect on our existing product portfolio.”

Jones predicts that the accessories market is finally on the up.

“We expect the overall console accessories market to grow this year by five to 10 per cent,” he forecasts. “But growth in 2015 and 2016 will be far stronger.”

The next-gen consoles stimulate demand in the gaming market and the need for accessories.

Tom Hodge, Venom

19

CHRISTMASES PAST CHART-Track’s Chris Poole looks back at the biggest accessories of years gone by.

“Five years ago, the Wii MotionPlus was the biggest selling gaming accessory,” he says. “In fact, the Top Five best-selling gaming accessories that year were all Wii accessories – MotionPlus, the Wii Fit Balance Board, Wiimote, Wheel and Nunchuk.”

He continues: “Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s PlayStation Move in 2010 created a big shift in the accessories market.

“The original Kinect sensor is currently the biggest-grossing gaming accessory we have on record.”

September 26th 2014

Q4 ACCESSORIES

PS4 DUALSHOCK 4 RECHARGABLE BATTERY PACK The Rechargeable Battery Pack is an officially licensed product designed for use with the PS4. The pack fits to the DualShock 4 wireless controller and provides up to 20 hours of gameplay on a full charge. The battery pack is powered by USB ports on the PS4 system.

SRP: £19.99 Distributor: Venom Contact: 01763 284 181

4GAMERS PS4 WHITE STEREO GAMING HEADSET The dual format headset is designed for gaming on the go. The device can be disconnected from the PS4’s DualShock 4 controller and connected to the PlayStation Vita, allowing players to continue their gameplay on the move.

SRP: £24.99 Distributor: A4T Contact: 01204 369 230

PLAYSTATION WIRELESS STEREO HEADSET 2.0 Using this official PlayStation headset, gamers can experience gameplay audio in 7.1 virtual surround sound on their PlayStation 4.

The high-quality internal microphone allows communication with friends in party chat and online multiplayer. The headset is also compatible with PlayStation Vita and other mobile devices.

SRP: £79.99 Distributor: CentreSoft Contact: 0121 625 3388

PS4 DUALSHOCK 4 THUMB GRIPS Venom’s Thumb Grips are designed to allow gamers to play for longer stretches of time in comfort.. The ergonomically-designed textured rubber grips fit over both analogue sticks of the DualShock 4 wireless controller to boost grip and increase comfort for endurance during longer playing sessions. Two different designs are available.

SRP: £4.99 Distributor: Venom Contact: 01763 284 181

XBOX ONE CONTROLLER TWIN DOCKING STATION This rapid recharge cradle enables players to power up two wireless controllers without having to leave their Xbox One on. The cradle has a polished black finish to match the controllers and red charging LED indicators which turn green to indicate a full charge. The two rechargeable battery packs provide up to 18 hours of gameplay.

SRP: £24.99 Distributor: Venom Contact: 01763 284 181

September 26th 2014

20

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Q4 ACCESSORIES

4GAMERS PS3 CP-01 STEREO GAMING HEADSET The PS3 CP-01 Stereo Gaming Headset has been released in two new colour schemes. The current black model is joined by high gloss blue and red SKUs. The new headsets are aimed at teenagers now playing PS3 games in their bedrooms following the launch of the PS4.

SRP: £19.99 Distributor: A4T Contact: 01204 369 230

4GAMERS BT-01 ARCTIC CAMOUFLAGE BT HEADSET Gamers can connect the PS3 BT-01 Arctic Camouflage Bluetooth Headset to their console in order to chat and commentate while playing online titles.

SRP: £12.99 Distributor: A4T Contact: 01204 369 230

PS4 CONTROLLER KIT This Controller Kit provides two additions for the DualShock 4. The textured rubber grips fit over the controller, while thumb grips attach to the analogue sticks for improved grip and comfort. Decals are included for the Home button and also for the PS4 light bar.

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

4GAMERS PS4 COMPACT RACING WHEEL The PlayStation 4 Compact Racing Wheel will launch alongside upcoming PS4 racing game DriveClub on October 10th, providing the ideal product for driving fans picking up the game. The accessory is designed to enhance gameplay with all driving games that support tiltto-steer control. It is fully compatible with all DualShock 4 controllers.

SRP: £12.99 Distributor: A4T Contact: 01204 369 230

4GAMERS PLAYSTATION 4 DUAL CONTROLLER STAND This desk stand securely holds DualShock 4 controllers for charging or storing between gameplay. It charges the gamepads using the included USB cable, and can hold up to two wireless controllers. The stand is covered with a smooth gloss and matte textured finish to complement the design of the PlayStation 4.

SRP: £9.99 Distributor: A4T Contact: 01204 369 230

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21

September 26th 2014

MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE MCV chats with Bryan Grieve, business partner at Video Gaming 247 in Chester-le-Street, about the lack of demand for Destiny and the decline it’s seen in local competition How has business been?

Pretty quiet this year, but we’ve seen it pick up in the last few weeks.

Has that been due to any particular new releases?

It’s been generally across the board that it’s picked up.

With there having been very few new releases out, it has been a bit slow up until recently – but now it’s getting there.

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

Did you do anything for the launch of Destiny?

No. It went out in bigger numbers than most normal titles, but it didn’t go out in huge numbers.

We will be holding a midnight launch for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. That looks like that will be a Sunday night for that Day Zero edition.

So you didn’t hold a midnight launch event for the game?

We didn’t, no. We only do a midnight launch for Call of Duty.

We did ask customers to see if there would be demand for Destiny, but it seemed like there wasn’t enough – it wasn’t worth it.

What is your social media presence like?

We’ve got a lot more Facebook followers recently. I don’t know why, because we haven’t really done anything, but all of a sudden there’s a lot of people who’ve liked us on Facebook and Twitter.

In this day and age you’ve got to have a presence on social media. I’m surprised how many shops don’t.

Bryan Grieve, Video Gaming 247

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MARKETPLACE

Video Gaming 247 134 Front Street, Chester-le-Street, DH3 3AY

Do you think stores need to have a social media presence?

In this day and age you’ve got to have it. I’m surprised how many shops don’t.

What’s the local competition like in Chester-le Street?

Recently we lost Blockbuster when that went bust, so now we’re the only games store in this town. We saw CHIPS go two or three years ago. There’s no GAME; we’re quite a small

Website: videogaming247.co.uk Phone: 0191 387 5620 Twitter: @joy_stix Facebook: /VideoGaming247

town, there’s only a population of about 23,000 here, and the big boys tend to stay away from that – they go for towns with a population of about 90,000 to 100,000.

How has that benefitted you?

It’s good. A lot of people don’t have cars and it’s about a 15 to 20-minute drive or half-hour to 40-minute bus ride to go to somewhere else, so they come to us.

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23

SSeptember 26th 2014

LORD OF THE RINGS

THE LORD OF THE RINGS The worlds of Tolkien are a powerful force for games retailers, with a massive range of titles and merchandise based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Matthew Jarvis sets off on an unexpected journey

DESPITE being originally published over six decades ago, The Lord of the Rings continues to be one of the strongest franchises for retail, with myriad products based on the fantasy series and its predecessor, The Hobbit, released every year.

The popularity of Peter Jackson’s cinematic Lord of the Rings trilogy released in the early 2000s reignited mass-market popularity for the series, with publisher EA securing the rights to all three movies and releasing titles based on

Lord of the Rings’ clout was multiplied further when combined with the similarly dominant LEGO brand.

the second and third films. The firm also produced a variety of spin-off games, including turn-based RPG The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age and RTS series The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth.

In addition to this, developer Turbine released an MMO in 2007 entitled The Lord of the Rings Online. Initially supported by subscriptions, the game’s revenue tripled when it switched to a free-to-play business model in 2010. The game continues to be

THE ONE RING COSTUME RING One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to impress them all and at retail be purchased by them.

SRP: £17.99 Distributor: The Noble Collection Contact: customerservice@noblecollection.com

MOLESKINE THE HOBBIT LIMITED EDITION POCKET NOTEBOOK

TREE OF GONDOR BATHROBE

THE HOBBIT FEET SOCKS

Tolkien fans can write their own epic with this debossed pad.

Consumers can dry off from the Dead Marshes in this emblazoned cotton robe.

These socks will keep feet comfy on the long walk to Mount Doom.

SRP: £13.99 Distributor: Moleskine Contact: www.moleskine.com/gb/

SRP: TBC Distributor: Warner Bros Contact: affiliates@wbshop.com

SRP: £8.99 Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

September 26th 2014

24

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LORD OF THE RINGS

Sponsored by

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gaming merchandise uk

popularity among players, bolstered by the release of multiple expansion packs, most recently in 2013.

Powerful alone, the franchise’s clout was multiplied further when combined with the similarly dominant LEGO brand. Both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit have been given the plastic brick treatment, resulting in a string of successful LEGO video games and construction kits inspired by the iconic licence.

Tolkien’s world returned to the silver screen in 2012 with Peter

Jackson’s expansive adaptation of The Hobbit, with the last of the cinematic triplet set for release this December.

Before then is the highlyanticipated release of the next Lord of the Rings video game.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will land on PC on September 30th, followed by PS4 and Xbox One on October 3rd.

With the franchise clearly set to endure for years to come, now is the time to stock Tolkienesque merchandise.

LEGO THE TOWER OF ORTHANC This brick-based replica of Saruman’s iconic tower includes a LEGO Great Eagle and buildable Ent. The product is the ideal kit to stock alongside the LEGO Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit titles.

SRP: £169.99 Distributor: LEGO Contact: 01753 495 000

GANDALF THE GREY ILLUMINATING STAFF REPLICA

WREBBIT CITADEL OF MINAS TIRITH 3D PUZZLE

BEARDS OF MIDDLE EARTH T-SHIRT

YOU SHALL NOT PASS (up the chance to stock this full-size replica of the grey wizard’s staff).

Lord of the Rings enthusiasts can recreate the Gondorian capital with this 3D puzzle.

Fans can show their appreciation for Middleearth facial hair with this shirt.

SRP: £159.99 Distributor: The Noble Collection Contact: customerservice@noblecollection.com

SRP: £30 Distributor: Coiledspring Games Contact: sales@coiledspring.co.uk

SRP: £19.99 Distributor: Gaming Merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

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25

September 26th 2014

HOT PRODUCTS

HOT PRODUCTS MCV takes a look at the best accessories heading to UK retail. This week, Matthew Jarvis checks out the PC version of the Xbox One controller and a new Mad Catz keyboard XBOX ONE CONTROLLER AND CABLE FOR WINDOWS The Xbox One Controller is about to make the leap onto PC. The Xbox One Controller and Cable for Windows allows PC players to connect the controller directly to a Windows computer to use with compatible games. All games that currently support the Xbox 360 controller should support the Xbox One controller by default.

The controller is identical to the wireless Xbox One controller, featuring the latter’s comfort-boosting ergonomic shape, redesigned thumbsticks – improving grip and accuracy – and all-new D-pad.

Just like the original controller, players can feel tactile feedback from games in their fingertips thanks to vibrating Impulse Triggers.

Overall, Microsoft claims that it has made over 40 innovations and improvements to the controller.

Arguably, the controller features one major improvement over the wireless console controller – the wired connection means that gamers never need to change the batteries in their controller.

In addition to the wired connection to Windows, the Xbox One Controller and Cable for Windows can be used as a wired or wireless controller on gamers’ Xbox One consoles.

The controller supports machines running Windows 7, 8 and 8.1.

PC drivers for the original wireless Xbox One controller were released

by Microsoft earlier this year.

[INFO] RRP: £44.99 Release Date: TBC Distributor: Exertis Gem Contact: 01279 822 822

[INFO] RRP: £119.99 Release Date: September 30th Distributor: Entatech Contact: 0333 101 1000

MAD CATZ STRIKE TE MECHANICAL GAMING KEYBOARD FOR PC The Mad Catz STRIKE Tournament Edition (TE) is a tournament-focused addition to the accessories specialist’s STRIKE keyboard range, designed to appeal to professional and high-level players.

The keyboard is constructed from an aluminium chassis and 109 mechanical keys. The keys are of the ‘Kailh Brown’ standard, providing rapid keyboard response times for gamers playing fast-paced titles.

The ‘Brown’ keys are said by Mad Catz to be the switch of choice for the worlds’ leading eSports athletes. This popularity

September 26th 2014

partially stems from the keys’ reliability – every key has an estimated lifetime of more than 50 million keystrokes.

In addition to this, the keyboard incorporates full-key anti-ghosting with 30-key rollover, meaning that the TE registers up to 30 keys pressed simultaneously without creating ‘phantom’ strokes.

12 programmable macro buttons are included for players looking to create their own custom commands. Three modes can be saved, enabling 36 different userdefined executions.

26

Pre-made profiles are included for more than 25 of the PC’s most popular games, but for those looking to assign their own, the drag-and-drop macro programming provides uncomplicated setup.

The TE also looks the part. The keyboard features multi-zone illuminated backlighting, which can be programmed to individually brighten specific areas of the peripheral.

A Windows Key lock switch disables the key to avoid accidental switching.

The STRIKE TE will be available in matte black and gloss black, white and red colours.

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

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LOCALISATION, QA & TESTING KEYWORDS STUDIOS GROUP Tel: +353 1 902 2730 www.keywordsstudios.com

SUPERHERO Tel: +4020 3031 6180 www.superheroscreen.com ........................................................................................................

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THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT AGENCIES AND SERVICE COMPANIES MEDIA & MARKETING CURSE, INC. Tel: +1 415 856 0056 www.curseinc.com ........................................................................................................

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September 26th 2014

DIRECTORY

GAMING ACCESSORIES

L3I

GAMING ACCESSORIES

VENOM

New officially licensed product coming soon Rechargeable Battery Pack

SERIOUS ABOUT GAMING SERIOUS ABOUT ACCESSORIES

Tel: + (0)1923 471 020

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Fully recharges the DUALSHOCK®4 wireless controller for up to 20 hours of gameplay.

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“ ”, “PlayStation” and “DUALSHOCK” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Also, “ ” is a trademark of the same company. All rights reserved.

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CALL CONOR TALLON ON 01992 535647 OR EMAIL HIM AT CONOR.TALLON@INTENTMEDIA.CO.UK

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Venom UK Gaming @VenomGamingUK

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INSIDER’S GUIDE

INSIDER’S GUIDE DELTADNA

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WHO? Specialism: Data and analytics Location: 25 Greenside Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3AA

Develop is the only dedicated publication for the UK and European games development community. It reaches over 8,500 subscribers every month.

Mark Robinson, CEO of analytics firm DeltaDNA, tells MCV about the company’s work in free-to-play

FOR GREAT ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES, CONTACT ALEX BOUCHER ALEX.BOUCHER@INTENTMEDIA.CO.UK

Tell us about your company.

DeltaDNA is a player relationship management platform that helps publishers and developers to improve engagement in online games by personalising the player experience.

Our platform allows deep analytics and real-time targeted tailored intervention strategies to different player segments.

THIS MONTH’S DIRECTORY SPOTLIGHT: Epic Games .................................................. www.epicgames.com/careers

What is your biggest success to date?

We’ve been able to work with some of the smartest and most innovative people in our industry and really make a difference to their game performance. Clients such as Sony, Ubisoft and Sega, as well as newer free-to-play publishers, have experienced up to a 350 per cent increase in engaged players and up to a sixfold increase in revenues.

What are you working on?

We recently launched our acquisition optimiser tool. This allows developers to improve the effectiveness of their acquisition budget by understanding which player segments and acquisition channels are delivering highvalue and engaged players.

Accurate predictive models allow early decisions to be made about acquisition spend, improving the return on marketing investment by three to five-fold.

What are the biggest challenges you face?

Our clients have experienced up to a six-fold increase in revenues.

Mark Robinson, DeltaDNA

Uniquely cross-platform, we improve player satisfaction and increase game revenue for free-to-play games, social casino and real money gambling. However, the biggest challenge for us lies in actually grasping this global opportunity that we have created for our proposition.

Tell us something about your company no one knows.

Fellow co-founder Chris Wright and I planned the business launch over post-match beers after Sunday night squash matches.

WANT TO FEATURE YOUR COMPANY IN INSIDER’S GUIDE?

To be included in the Develop Directory (which appears every month in Develop and now every week in MCV) contact alex.boucher@intentmedia.co.uk

PLEASE CONTACT

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

Contact: W: www.deltadna.com E: info@deltadna.com P: +44 (0) 131 466 3690 T: @delta_DNA

MATTHEW.JARVIS@INTENTMEDIA.CO.UK OR CALL 01992 515 303

33

September 26th 2014

FACTFILE POLAND Sponsored by

Wholesaler and distributor of video games, consoles and accessories

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: POLAND Population: 38,485,779 Capital City: Warsaw Currency: Zloty GDP (Per Capita): $13,334 KEY RETAILERS Empik, Gram.pl, Gry Online, Media Markt, Toys R Us, GOG.com, Sklep Gram

TOP DEVELOPERS CD Projekt, Wargaming, Epic Games Poland, Techland, Flying Wild Hog, CI Games

TOP DISTRIBUTORS CD Projekt, Cenega, Galapagos, LEM

PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION CI Games, Codemasters, EA, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Ubisoft

POLAND is a burgeoning market for games firms, driven by the popularity of PC titles.

According to recent statistics from the Ministry of Treasury for the Republic of Poland, revenue for the Polish games industry is expected to see steady growth of approximately four per cent over the next three years.

Market tracker PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates that the Polish games market was worth $375 million (£231m) at the end of 2012, equivalent to a 0.56 per cent share of the global video games industry.

The Ministry of Treasury expects this amount to rise to $437 million (£269m) by 2017.

There are an estimated 11.8 million active gamers in Poland.

Of these, the Ministry of Treasury predicts that just over half (53 per cent) are consumers who purchase titles legally – a

proportion slightly lower than that of European countries and the US. Polish gamers are big fans of the PC – research firm Newzoo states that 98 per cent of gamers play computer titles.

Those who play on PC prefer to purchase games in traditional outlets. 60 per cent of PC games are bought in brick and mortar stores, with the remaining 40 per cent purchased online.

Unusually, when it comes to consoles (which according to Newzoo are preferred by 43 per cent of Polish gamers) the exact opposite is true – 60 per cent of console titles are downloaded digitally, with only 40 per cent brought in-store.

While PC is more widespread than consoles, the latter segment is far more profitable. The Ministry of Treasury says that console titles comprise 25 per cent of games sales revenue due to higher average selling prices than PC.

60 per cent of PC games are bought in brick and mortar stores by Polish players.

September 26th 2014

34

www.mcvuk.com

POLAND FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... NORTH AMERICA Sony’s PS4 is winning the US next-gen console race, outselling Microsoft’s Xbox One for the eighth month running THE PS4 has outsold the Xbox One for the eighth consecutive month in the US. Analyst NPD reports that the Sony console remained the top-selling piece of gaming hardware throughout August, driven by strong sales of games originally released on the PS3 last year.

These included Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition and The Last of Us Remastered. The former sold more on PS4 than Xbox One, while the latter was the month’s best-selling first-party title. EA’s American football sports title Madden NFL 15 was the overall top-selling software for the month.

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35

Despite the success of both new consoles, total US software sales declined year-on-year, due to consumers departing from the last-generation PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

However, NPD says the US

hardware market grew by 116 per cent in comparison with 2012. The PS4 and Xbox One accounted for 70 per cent of sales – a record high for both.

September 26th 2014

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

Sponsored by

Wholesaler and distributor of video games, consoles and accessories

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

BELGIUM

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

GREECE

ENARXIS DYNAMIC MEDIA LTD. 68 llia lliou Street 117 44, Neos Kosmos, Athens, Greece Tel: +30 210 9011900 Fax: +30 210 9028700 Email: sales@enarxis.eu

IRAN

POLAND TECHLAND SP. Z O.O. ul. Jana Szczyrki 12, 54-426 Wroclaw, Poland Email: business@techland.pl Web: www.techland.pl Phone: +48 71 354 46 10 Fax: +48 71 354 46 10

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

SWEDEN

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

SOEDESCO B.V. Koddeweg 13, 3194 DH Rotterdam The Netherlands Tel: +31 104722462 Fax: +31 104722893 Email: info@soedesco.com Web: www.soedesco.com

NORDIC

UAE WENDROS AB SWEDEN, NORWAY, DENMARK & FINLAND Jakobsdalsvägen 17 12653 Hägersten Sweden Phone: +46 8 51942500 Fax: +46 8 7466790 Email: HM@wendros.se LM@wendros.se Web: www.wendros.se

ALESAYI UNITED COMPANY Video Games Distributor in the Middle East, P.O BOX 16999 Jebel Ali Free Zone Dubai U.A.E. Tel: 00971 4 883 5960 Fax: 00971 4 883 5175 Email: marketing@alesayi.ae U.A.E. Website: www.alesayi.ae Group Website: www.alesayi.com

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

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

WWW.MCVPACIFIC.COM

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

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION PLEASE CONTACT CONOR.TALLON@INTENTMEDIA.CO.UK September 26th 2014

36

www.mcvuk.com

OFF THE RECORD

OFF THE RECORD This week we grab some drinks after Games Retail 2020, stay up all night with Nvidia’s latest event, burn rubber with indies and go for a run with GamesAid RETAIL RELAXATION Last week marked the inaugural Games Retail 2020 event, which burst into London’s BAFTA to let UK firms know what was on the horizon for games retail over the next six years.

For the attendees, it was a day to remember, stuffed full of useful facts and advice on how to future-proof their business until 2020 – and beyond.

Like any good conference, once the speakers and panel discussions had their say, it was time for networking. Delegates from companies including Konami, Xbox, GAME, Amazon, Tesco and Nintendo hit the BAFTA bar to discuss over a few drinks.

Thanks to our sponsors Xbox and GamesGRABR.

THE WEEK IN 140 CHARACTERS The Tweets you might have missed in the last seven days @LydiaWinters Please be kind to the Mojangstas. The founders made this decision, so we have a lot of emotions going on too :)

@djbteamsters @MCVonline Congrats guys great event.

Today and thanks for letting me be involved was fun.

Lydia Winters, Mojang Monday September 15th

Deborah Bestwick, Team 17 Tuesday September 16th

@D_Nye_Griffiths Well, that’s Minecraft for Oculus Rift back on, everyone!

@kobunheat Three years ago, Rovio turned down a buyout offer of exactly $2.5B. Would anybody pay that for Angry Birds now?

Daniel Nye Griffiths, Wired Monday September 15th

Chris Kohler, Wired Tuesday September 16th

@MikeDrucker I just hope Microsoft will keep Minecraft a fun, easy-to-use experience like they did with Windows, Microsoft Office, Xbox Live, and– God no.

@byronicman Race to the bottom finished: Can’t even be bothered to get a free game from Humble.

Mike Drucker, writer Monday September 15th

Simon Byron, Premier PR Tuesday September 16th

@sarcan Thanks @Michael_French for inviting me to participate in #gamesretail2020 with awesome @InsertCoinTees and Egmont!

@Laralyn It’s really convenient to discount casual games and their players when you want to make the point that “games are for men”.

Sandra Arcan, Konami Tuesday September 16th

Laralyn McWilliams, The Workshop Entertainment Wednesday September 17th

@adam_hopkinson #gamesretail2020 this conference is fascinating. Really enjoying. Thanks @MCVonline.

@TheGamingBrit People like to talk shit about the 7th gen, but I tell ya, everything’s gonna change when they finally unlock the power of the cell.

Adam Hopkinson, IGN Tuesday September 16th

www.mcvuk.com

Charlie Cade, games critic Wednesday September 17th

37

September 26th 2014

OFF THE RECORD

ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT ‘There are only so many hours in the day,’ people say. And Nvidia wants to ďŹ ll every single one of them with PC gaming.

The graphics hardware specialist kicked o its ďŹ rst 24-hour PC gaming event Game24 last Friday.

At the events, which took place in cities including Stockholm, Shanghai, Los Angeles and London, Nvidia fans were given the opportunity to play upcoming PC titles, grab freebies, win competitions and try new tech.

SORE FEET FOR GOOD CAUSES INDIE CAR RACING Bracknell-based indie retailer Virtual Games has sponsored local racing driver Paul Inglis, who represented Team Hard in the last round of this year’s Volkswagen Cup at Donington race circuit.

Tony Gilham, British Touring Car racer and Team Hard owner, commented: “Paul drove an excellent race. It’s all about experience.�

Virtual Games added that it hopes to get involved in the racing sector itself in the future.

Picture credit: Pau

l Mortimer

Not content with sending members of the industry pedaling from Cologne to Brighton, GamesAid is now inviting eet-footed games folk to run the Windsor Half Marathon this weekend (September 28th).

Of course, it’s all in the name of charity, with the money raised going towards helping disadvantaged and disabled children and young people.

Among those taking the challenge is Amazon’s Frazer Locke, who also aims to complete the Great North Run less than a month later – having already trekked up Mount Snowdon last Saturday. If that doesn’t deserve a donation, we don’t know what does.

You don’t even need to jog 13.1 miles or climb a peak to help out – support the team by donating at www. justgiving.com/teams/GamesAid-Windsor-Half-Marathon.

A little light on lore, epic loading times... Otherwise, a fantastic entry in to the gaming world. #Hooked

John Pinnick @ProtoFoe I can see the things it is ODFNLQJ LQ EXW VWLOO Âż QG P\VHOI playing it.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF DESTINY AND HOW DOES BUNGIE’S EPIC NEW SCI-FI SHOOTER COMPARE TO OTHER SHOOTERS AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS? #GMGASKS

TBH, shallow and disappointing but still fun somehow. Not enough MMO features, not enough shooter elements.

Phil Cummings @Hydronus

Michael Hutchesson

Hate the PvP but love everything else. Too much focus on PvP and PvP rewards.

@apoisonedgift

Gamer Amelli It’s good, plus setting and gameplay are ace. Even though it’s not the revolution or the behemoth they promised, by far.

Matteo Scannavini @mattscanna

September 26th 2014

@GamerAmelli Streams look fun but I’ll never know for myself if it doesn’t come to PC.

william @dubbtherogue

38

It’s like a #overhyped puppy that knows only one trick, and everyone loves puppies.

Hoping for more tricks as it matures.

Elvin Jensen @Nivle84 I love it so much! Most fun I’ve had with a game in a long time. Although, there are some serious issues with the story.

Roland Veasey @Roltron Great core gameplay loop.

Coop experience is great, but almost every feature of the game seems incomplete in some way.

Kory Harsh @kharsh07 I think it may just be an introductory 1st chapter of Destiny. It’s going to be an ongoing game that may get better.

Brian Wolf @Blacksteel25

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