MCV879 May 20th

WAR GAMES ISSUE 879 FRIDAY MAY 20TH 2016

SEGA’S CLARK TALKS PC, DLC AND LISTENING TO THE FANS P14

Toys-to-life bigger than ever Disney Infinity falls, but LEGO Dimension pushes toys-to-life sector to new heights

by Christopher Dring FORGET the toys-to-life crisis.

More than 620,000 UK gamers have bought Disney Infinity 3, LEGO Dimensions or Skylanders Superchargers.

That’s a rise of 21.2 per cent compared with the number of toys-to-life starter packs sold during the same period a year before.

The data follows concerns for the genre sparked by the collapse of the Disney Infinity franchise.

The rise is driven by Warner Bros’ LEGO Dimensions, which is a new entry in the category. Both Disney Infinity 3 and Skylanders Superchargers suffered declines in sales compared with their

previous iterations (2014’s Disney Infinity 2 and Skylanders: Trap Team). If you discount LEGO Dimensions, toys-to-life game sales are down by 27 per cent in the UK. That’s why Disney chose to cancel its Infinity range and close developer Avalanche Software.

“I think it comes down to a failure to evolve and innovate,” said Alex Fleetwood from Sensible Object, the team behind unique toys-to-life concept Fabulous Beasts.

“There are a ton of amazing ways that Disney could have extended the Infinity concept into different games, technologies and IPs, bringing more people to the concept and diversifying sales risk. It was always a console-first

Disney Infinity’s collapse comes down to a failure to evolve and innovate.

Alex Fleetwood, Sensible Object

proposition and that’s not where the audience is now.”

He added: “Skylanders and LEGO Dimensions have an awful lot of life left in them. Amiibo plays by its own rules.

“More broadly, toys-to-life is rapidly being subsumed into a more diverse genre called connected play, which includes things like Sphero, Osmo, Anki Drive, even XCOM: The Board Game.“ Earlier in the year, GfK Entertainment told MCV that £129m was generated by toys-to-life products (including action figures) in the UK during 2015 - an increase of 39 per cent year-over-year and the first time the market has generated over £100m.

PLUS MAXIMUM ON WHY IT BOUGHT AVANQUEST THE BIG GAME: HOMEFRONT

NEWS

VR devs have to be prepared to play the long game It’s a challenge to charge a reasonable price in a small market so VR devs shouldn’t expect to ‘make millions’

by Ben Parfitt LIKE any new sector, virtual reality faces a number of challenges as it fights for its place in the market – and short-term profit is certainly one of them.

While hype for the technology is through the roof, one thing that will likely not be is software sales. With headsets costing well over £500 and a tiny install base currently in place, developers face a tricky task in hitting a price point that will lure consumers but also recoup development costs.

“The challenge is that it’s an entirely new platform and nobody knows what works and doesn’t work,” CCP’s chief customer officer Maria Sayans said. “We live in an environment with many different pricing models, but they’re all on relatively mature platforms, so it’s easy to forget what it was like when the App Store or Steam first came out.”

VR developer Dave Ranyard agrees with the App Store comparison. “Pricing is not stable at this stage. Remember the start of App Store pricing? It was premium for a while until a new

Sayans, Schwartz and Ranyard say pricing VR games like Job Simulator is tricky

business model emerged (F2P).

I think VR is in a similar position.

Devs need to charge a reasonable price in a small market.

“However, interesting games are selling and becoming profitable; just look at Unseen Diplomacy, it recouped it’s dev cost in a day.”

Last month, Owlchemy Labs cut the price of its VR launch title Job Simulator by 25 per cent. Founder and CEO Alex Schwartz has told MCV that developers must ensure they are positioned to endure if they wish to survive until the VR gravy train finally arrives at the station.

The trick is to be able to sustain yourself as a VR company while the market grows in size.

Alex Schwartz, Owlchemy

“The amount of hardware out in the wild is much smaller than at an initial console launch due to the fact that the VR hardware manufacturers have no precedent to draw upon and these units use custom hardware that’s never been mass produced,” he said.

“Devs of early VR titles shouldn’t be expecting to make millions on their content, but instead should be thinking about the long game.

The trick is to be able to sustain yourself as a VR company while the market grows in size.”

Sayans said CCP’s approach has been similar.

“We’ve come into this with our eyes wide open,” she added. “We know that the numbers will be small at launch, but we’re counting on a long tail here, and we’re in this for the long haul. Our method has been to invest rationally and intelligently.

We have quite a few VR efforts in development, but none are massive investments that have to pay off in the short term. We’ve been focused on putting the company in a position that allows us to be wrong about our models, and maybe even some of our bets, without risking the company’s future.”

Ubisoft UK promotes key PR and marketing staff

by Marie Dealessandri THE Division publisher has announced four promotions within its UK marketing team.

PR executive David Burroughs has been promoted to junior PR manager. He will be taking the lead on the Just Dance franchise over the next year.

After spending over a year as marketing exec, Will Buck is now Ubisoft’s junior brand manager.

He has taken on management

May 20th 2016

of the post-launch campaigns for both Rainbow Six: Siege and The Division, and will be taking a leading role on For Honor.

Meanwhile, Ben Talbot has been promoted from digital manager to senior digital manager, after leading YouTuber activities for Rainbow: Six Siege and The Division.

Finally, Oliver Coe has been appointed brand manager after holding the position of junior brand manager. Coe took ownership of the Just Dance

(Clockwise from top left) Ubisoft’s Talbot, Buck, Burroughs and Coe

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brand last year, as well as managing some of Ubisoft’s biggest events including the Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Tour.

“Looking ahead to another huge year for Ubisoft, we believe it’s important to recognise and nurture the talent we have in order for them to achieve their full potential,” said marketing director Mark Slaughter. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank the whole team for their passion and hard work.”

www.mcvuk.com

NEWS

THE EDITOR

Dark Souls III was the No.1 UK game in April

by Christopher Dring BANDAI Namco had the bestselling UK physical game of April in Dark Souls III. But it was a poor month overall for game sales. 1m boxed games were sold in total, a drop of 24 per cent over the same period a month before. £30.8m was generated from software sales, down 21 per cent year-on-year.

Easter fell in April last year, whereas it took place in March this year, which may have had some impact on the figures.

However, the games market had a stronger April release slate this year, with Dark Souls III joined

by Ratchet & Clank (No.2), Dirt Rally (No.4) and Quantum Break (No.5).

All data is courtesy of UKIE/ GfK Entertainment.

In the digital charts, supplied

by SuperData, Call of Duty: Black Ops III remains the No.1 title thanks to the release of some DLC last month. The game generated £7.44m in digital sales in the UK. For more on the monthly games charts, head to page 12.

TOYS-TO-LIFE SECTOR NEEDS FRESH INNOVATION

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ast week, the media quoted EA CEO Andrew Wilson of saying that Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 appealed to ‘different audiences’.

He was responding to the fact both games are launching in Q4.

But that’s not what he said, mainly because both games appeal to the exact same (admittedly huge) audience of young males. What he actually told investors is that both games are different experiences, and therefore there will be plenty of people that will want both.

Although launching two major shooters within weeks of each other is far from a sensible strategy, the fact that both takes on the genre is so different should reduce the cannibalisation of sales.

There’s a lesson here for toys-to-life.

Toys-to-life is a concept invented by Activision in 2011 with the first Skylanders. It was the idea of taking physical toys and playing with them in the digital world.

Yet the game’s inevitable competitors viewed the category more as a genre, and what we have now are three very similar games. LEGO Dimensions, Disney Infinity 3, Skylanders Superchargers are all action platformers that involved putting toys on a portal. Sure, one involved building, one featured Star Wars and the other boasted vehicles, but these are just variations on the same concept.

As a result, there won’t be many who will buy more than one toys-to-life game.

Dark Souls III was the best-selling title in the UK in April

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If only Disney had looked at Anki Drive or Fabulous Beasts for inspiration, it would perhaps still be around today.

Although toys-to-life is increasing in popularity, it’s not rising fast enough to sustain three triple-A products, hence Disney’s decision to stop making Infinity games.

This is not the end for the lucrative category. Skylanders has a TV show to come, while Warner Bros, now that Disney has abandoned ship, will be able to add Star Wars and Marvel to LEGO Dimensions.

Yet Disney may well have endured if only it did something different to the formula laid out

by Activision in 2011.

We are starting to see some innovation in this space now.

Anki Drive is a product that combines an app experience with a physical scalextric-style racetrack. Then there’s Fabulous Beasts, a stacking, Jenga-ish strategy game that is one of the hardest things to explain accurately in a sentence.

If only Disney had looked at these for inspiration, then perhaps Infinity could have complemented, and not necessarily competed, with all those other ‘portal’ games. And still be around today. cdring@nbmedia.com

May 20th 2016

NEWS

Avanquest now ‘100% focused on games’ after name change Company now called Maximum Games following US acquisition O New line-up includes TellTale’s 7 Days to Die

By Christopher Dring PUBLISHER Avanquest is now entirely dedicated to video games.

The UK firm used to publish a number of non-game software, but that has now changed following the firm’s acquisition by US publisher Maximum Games.

Avanquest will now be called Maximum Games, and its line-up for the year includes PS4 and Xbox One titles 7 Days To Die, The Technomancer, VR game Loading Human and snowboarding title Mark McMorris Infinite Air. “What people don’t know is that the bulk of our revenue over the last 24 months has been derived from games,” said MD Steve Powell.

“For those partners that we are working with, we provided a first class service and gave them real reach across the UK market - that won’t change. All that changes now is that we will become 100 per cent focused on games, whereas before we were perhaps 85 per cent focused on games.

We have great relationships with UK retail partners, which is held up when you look at games like Frozen on Nintendo, and how we delivered consistent sales yearover-year on that format. And we’ve done the same as we’ve moved onto PlayStation and Xbox.”

Maximum Games is currently on the look out for games to release during Q4 2017.

Maximum Games’ Steve Powell said the firm is focused on games only

Doctor Who: Legacy devs move to the UK to join brewery

Focus Home Interactive expects sci-fi video game saturation

By Marie Dealessandri FOCUS Home Interactive’s boss Cédric Lagarrigue believes that sci-fi games will flood the market over the next two to three years.

His prediction comes ahead of the launch of his new game The Technomancer.

It also follows the announcement of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, which is set in space, and will go head-tohead with another sci-fi shooter, EA’s Titanfall 2.

“After presenting many fantasy titles during the past years, we’ve decided to invade the

May 20th 2016

sci-fi universe, as there’s an empty space to fill there,” Lagarrigue explained.

“With Battlefleet Gothic, The Technomancer, The Surge or Space Hulk, we’re filling this empty space perfectly. But it’s possible that the next game of [The Technomancer developer] Spiders Studio will be set on Earth, as we anticipate that the sci-fi genre will be a little saturated in two to three years.”

The French publisher is launching The Technomancer in the UK on June 21st, via a new partnership with Maximum Games.

By Alex Calvin THE team behind Doctor Who: Legacy has moved from the United States to the UK. Tiny Rebel Games has traded the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles for a new office in Newport, South Wales.

The studio’s creative director Lee Cummings grew up in the region, and his family owns and runs the Tiny Rebel Brewery – as

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well as the two Urban Tap House pubs in Cardiff and Newport.

“We have a lot of family and business here. We own the Tiny Rebel Brewery which is winning loads of awards – that’s going fantastic,” executive producer Susan Cummings said.

“We’ve always been involved because of my business background. We’re looking forward to being involved in more immediately now that we’re over here.”

www.mcvuk.com

NEWS

Busy May could boost summer sales, says Homefront’s dev Deep Silver expects gamers to keep spending during June, July and August after congested release slate

By Alex Calvin THE busy May release schedule could result in healthy sales throughout the summer.

Speaking to MCV, the narrative designer for Homefront: The Revolution, Stephen Rhodes, said that many people will be unable to afford all of the games launching this month. Thus, consumers will continue to buy them throughout the quiet summer months.

This May has already seen the release of Sony’s smash hit Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, as well as Bethesda’s Doom, Battleborn

have games to release. They all just seem to pick times, almost at random. This year, everyone releases in May and that’s fine. But they’re all very different titles and people will pick up the releases that appeal to them.

“If not, there’s the entire summer. I can’t imagine June, July and August are going to be busy because they never are. It gives everyone a chance to buy all the games that dropped in May because there’s no way everyone is buying all of them.”

You can read more about Homefront on page 18

from 2K, Sega’s latest RTS title Total War: Warhammer as well as Homefront: The Revolution.

And Blizzard is launching its team shooter Overwatch next week.

“It’s difficult to worry about [the competition this month]. It’s so random in the games industry,” Rhodes said.

“You look at May 2015 and there was only really The Witcher 3. Fast forward 12 months and there’s ten massive high-budget releases coming out in May. You can’t really worry about it because there are so many different publishers and so many companies who

Sega Europe: We’re very interested in bringing Atlus games to UK

By Alex Calvin TITLES from Japanese games giant Atlus could be coming to Europe by way of Sega.

Atlus’ releases were previously launched in the UK and Europe by NIS America. However, following the finalisation of Sega’s purchase of Atlus, relations with NIS America have become strained and the two

terminated their relationship in April.

This left many UK fans wondering how these titles – including eagerly-awaited upcoming JRPG Persona 5 – would be coming out in the region.

“We’re very interested in bringing all of the group’s Japanese content not just to the West, but to Europe in particular,”

SVP of commercial publishing John Clark said.

“We are always trying to find a way. And that’s an on-going process. That’s something we are continually assessing and talking to and if there are really strong opportunities to support the Japanese content in Europe, we’ll do it.”

Read the full interview on page 14

Payne, Livingstone and Yusuf named GamesAid patrons

By Christopher Dring ANDY PAYNE, Ian Livingstone and Imran Yusuf are the first three patrons of GamesAid. The trio were voted in by the trustees and will represent the games industry charity within the games community.

“When we set up GamesAid back in 2007, we never realised it would raise over £2m to support so many great charities focused on children and young people,” Payne said. “To be asked to be a founding patron for GamesAid is an amazing honour.”

www.mcvuk.com

Ian Livingstone continued: “It has been a privilege to have served as a Trustee of GamesAid these past six years. So I am delighted to become a patron to promote the incredible work the charity does.”

And comedian Imran Yusuf added: “After leaving the industry to become a comic so many years go I have missed working with incredibly bright and passionate people who love games as much as I do. And as a patron of GamesAid it is an honour and privilege to still be part of the British games industry family”.

When we set up GamesAid in 2007, we never realised it would raise over £2m to support so many great charities.

Andy Payne

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May 20th 2016

CHEAT SHEET

UP & DOWN

Market Data Software revenue triples thanks to the launches of Uncharted 4 and Doom

£20m £15m

£30m £10m

BATTLEBORN drops from first place to No.12 with sales decreasing 75 per cent

£16.3m 403,683 units £6.1m 215,881 units

£5.4m 192,956 units

Week Ending April 30th

Week Ending May 7th

Week Ending May 14th

STAR WARS Battlefront returns to the Top Ten as sales rise 28 per cent

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK: HOMEFRONT: THE REVOLUTION

[INFO] FORMATS: PS4, XO, PC RELEASED: May 20th PUBLISHER: Deep Silver DISTRIBUTOR: Koch Media CONTACT: 01256 385 200

May 20th 2016

BEFORE marketing The Revolution, publisher Deep Silver went back to assess the reception Homefront received when it launched back in 2011.

It discovered that 80 per cent of consumers who played that title would buy a sequel.

Thus, Deep Silver opted to make community the centre of its marketing push.

Pre-launch, the firm has focused on core first person shooter fans before transitioning to mainstream fans of the genre. The publisher says it was important to explain The Revolution’s USP – the guerrilla warfare twist on the typical first person shooter title.

Deep Silver purchased TV ads around the final game of this Premier League season as well as video-on-demand commercials pushed towards males between 16=to-34 years old.

That’s on top of a six-page out of home campaign, and ads

Deep Silver has focused on community in its marketing push for this new Homefront game

appearing on both the London Underground and on buses.

Creative has also appeared in both specialist and mainstream media – online and print.

“The Revolution is an openworld first person shooter where you must lead the Resistance movement in guerrilla warfare against a superior military force,” head of marketing Mark Fisher said.

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“A living, breathing, open world responds to your actions - you and your resistance cell can inspire a rebellion on the streets and turn occupation into revolution, as oppressed civilians take up the fight.

“This thoroughly unique and engaging gameplay is backed by a strong consumer and trade marketing campaign.”

www.mcvuk.com

CHEAT SHEET

PRESENTS

5 SECOND FACTS

THE NEWS IN 140 CHARACTERS The Tweets you might have missed in the last seven days

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

DISNEY AXES INFINITY TOYS-TO-LIFE BRAND, CLOSES AVALANCHE SOFTWARE

200,000

Disney Infinity is no more – the firm has cancelled the toys-to-life range and closed Avalanche Software, the studio behind the games. Disney is moving to a licensing model for console games, similar to the one it has with EA for its Star Wars IP.

Space strategy game Stellaris shifted 200,000 copies in its first 24 hours, publisher Paradox has announced

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@benfritz Disney has no problem making big investments when it believes in a business and no problem cutting losses promptly when things don’t work.

Ben Fritz, Wall Street Journal Tuesday, May 10th

@joeparlock My big problem with Disney Infinity was it never really focused on “core” Disney.

@PatrickDane Wow. Disney Infinity is done? That is...bizarre? Amazing series. I thought it was doing great.

@saikocat Urgh this Disney and Avalanche news is just sad times.

Wish I could give all those affected a hug and a strong drink.

Joe Parlock, Destructoid UK Tuesday, May 10th

Patrick Dane, Bleeding Cool Tuesday, May 10th

Cat Karskens, Square Enix Tuesday, May 10th

@JohnVignocchi When looked back upon, I hope Disney Infinity is remembered and celebrated for being the best darnn video game we’ve ever made at Disney.

John Vignocchi, Disney Interactive Tuesday, May 10th

@MegMgumi Sad news to hear about the closure of Avalanche Software and the end of Disney Infinity. Thoughts go out to everyone involved.

@grantkirkhope Blimey, Disney Infinity and Avalanche Software shuttered, why can’t Disney do better in the games market? Their mobile stuff does great.

Grant Kirkhope, former-Rare Tuesday, May 10th

@VG_Dave Sad to see it go but Disney Infinity was always a huge missed opportunity. Massive, classic properties ignored for movie tie-in stuff.

David Scammell, Videogamer Tuesday, May 10th

Meg Rice, PlayHubs Tuesday, May 10th

Bandai Namco has revealed that it has shipped three million copies of Dark Souls III globally since its March release

90% Mobile analytics firm App Annie reports that games make up 90 per cent of Google Play’s revenue since 2012

9.5m Publisher Ubisoft has announced that 9.5 million people have played The Division since its March launch

9.7m The beta for upcoming multiplayer shooter Overwatch was played by 9.7m people ANKA Headset - PDP Design and manufacture the Officially licensed Microsoft – fully Wireless Headset for Xbox ONE

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GAMESAID THIS WEEK ....................................................

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

www.mcvuk.com

GUILDFORD GAMES NIGHT

GAMESAID GOLF DAY

STAND UP FOR GAMESAID

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Until Dawn developer Supermassive is holding the Guildford Games Night on May 25th. The event is taking place at Pews Bar with all proceeds going to GamesAid. You can donate here: justgiving.com/GuildfordGames-Night-2016

The annual GamesAid golf and spa day returns on July 14th. Since its debut in 2008 the event has raised more than £375,000.

Tickets can be booked on golfandspaday.com or by contacting Keeley Munden at keeley2703@hotmail.com.

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

May 20th 2016

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

Steel Media hires new operations manager Bradley joins from Future O Creative Assembly names new COO O Hartmann joins Oculus STEEL MEDIA | The Pocket Gamer publisher has appointed DAVE BRADLEY as operations manager.

Bradley joins from Future, where he first started as staff writer in 1997. His most recent position was editor-in-chief of Future’s Film Group. He was in charge of the teams behind SFX, Total Film, Comic Heroes and Crime Scene.

Managing director CHRIS JAMES commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Dave Bradley, a media veteran with 20 years experience at the highest level of the games and entertainment media markets.”

Bradley added: “I’m thrilled to be joining Steel Media in its

May 20th 2016

EDMONDSON as its new COO. He previously held the position of CEO at mobile publisher Thumbstar Games for over four years. Before that, he worked as managing director at Ubisoft’s Reflections studio.

Edmondson said: “The prospect of working for one of the most respected studios in the business, with such tremendous development calibre, is a huge privilege, especially in a role which will enable me to provide strategic direction.”

Studio director TIM HEATON added: “We are proud to announce Gareth’s arrival at Creative Assembly and the team are looking forward to the positive impact which his wealth

10th anniversary year. I’ve long admired the way Chris and his talented team have been first to cover so many emerging trends, and the way they’ve expanded creatively.

“Steel has been part of the ever-growing mobile games business since the start and with its conferences, websites and apps, it continues to lead the way.

There’s fantastic potential to bring this content to a wide audience and I’m excited about how I can help shape the company for its next 10 years.”

CREATIVE ASSEMBLY | The British studio named industry veteran GARETH

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of experience will undoubtedly bring. As the largest developer in the UK, strengthening the leadership team here at Creative Assembly is key to our continued success and Gareth will be a major asset in this regard.”

OCULUS | Former Fitbit COO HANS HARTMANN has been appointed as Oculus’ COO. He is replacing LAIRD MALAMED who is heading to the firm’s Seattle office to serve as VP and GM. Malamed stated: “Hans joins Oculus at an incredible time as we grow out of our start-up roots and into a global company. I’m excited about everything that Hans brings to Oculus.”

www.mcvuk.com

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

WEEKLY CHARTS PS4 exclusive title Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End debuts at the top of the charts this week.

It’s, by far, the most successful launch in the franchise’s history, beating Uncharted 3’s first week sales by 66 per cent.

Elsewhere, Bethesda’s Doom settled for second place, outselling Doom 3’s debut by 67 per cent.

Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III is No.3 this week, with sales decreasing by 46 per cent.

The rest of the Top Five consists of the usual suspects: Sony’s Ratchet & Clank at No.4 and Ubisoft’s The Division at No.5.

Meanwhile, EA’s Star Wars Battlefront saw its sales rise 28 per cent, and makes its comeback into the

Top 10 after a two week absence.

Last week’s No.1, 2K’s Battleborn, has been pushed down to No.12.

Over on Steam, Doom enters the listings at No.1. Two new titles also debut on the charts this week: Paradox’s Stellaris is at at No.2, and Square Enix’s Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster arrives at No.4.

Meanwhile on mobile, Risky Road has beaten Slither.io and is this week’s No.1 in the iPhone free games charts.

Ubisoft’s latest mobile title, Hungry Shark World, also performed well during its first week.

It ranked second in the iPad free charts, pushing down Disney Crossy Road from its usual spot, and debuted at No.3 in the iPhone free listings.

GLOBAL STEAM CHARTS (UNITS)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

LW NEW 02 NEW 05 03 01 RE 07

DOOM DEVELOPER: ID SOFTWARE PUBLISHER: BETHESDA

TITLE PUBLISHER Stellaris Paradox Interactive Doom (P) Bethesda Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster Square Enix Stellaris (P) Paradox Interactive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Valve Dark Souls III Bandai Namco Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Complete Edition 2K Games Total War: Warhammer Sega

TOP 40 UK PHYSICAL RETAIL 02

01

TW 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

LW NEW NEW 02 03 05 06 04 10 07 12 09 01 08 27 19 23 11 17 16 20 29 13 14 22 21 15 30 24 28 18 26 25 37 31 34 38 33 RE RE RE

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

Source: Steam, Period: May 9th to 15th May 20th 2016

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04

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Format Publisher PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO EA PS4, XO, PC 2K Games PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco PS4, XO, PC Bethesda XO Microsoft XO Microsoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco XO, 360 Microsoft PS4, PS3 Konami XO, 360 Square Enix PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games PS4 Sony PS4, PS3, Vita Sony PS4, XO Codemasters PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Telltale Games/Avanquest PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard XO Microsoft 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS Activision PS4, XO, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC 505 Games PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Warner Bros PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Sports PS4, XO, PC EA PS3, 360, Wii, DS LucasArts

Source: UKIE/GfK Entertainment, Period: Week ending May 14th 10

www.mcvuk.com

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

UK IPAD PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 06 RE 03 RE 02 07 05 10 RE

UK IPHONE PAID

(UNITS)

01

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title The Sims 3 Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Tracks of Terror Terraria Dark Dimensions: Homecoming HD Crazy Craft Mod for Minecraft PC Edition Soccer Physics LEGO Jurassic World Minecraft: Story Mode Bloons TD 5 HD

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer EA Big Fish 505 Games Big Fish Franko Bucker Otto-Ville Ojala Warner Bros Telltale Ninja Kiwi

LW 01 NEW 02 04 07 03 05 RE 06

(UNITS)

GROWING PUG DEVELOPER: BLIMPS

Title Minecraft: Pocket Edition INKS. Heads Up! Storage Hunters UK : The Game Angry Birds Plague Inc. Football Manager Mobile 2016 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Monopoly Game

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: May 2nd to May 8th

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: May 2nd to May 8th

UK IPAD GROSSING (REVENUE)

UK IPHONE GROSSING (REVENUE)

01

01

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 02 03 07 04 05 RE 06 08 09

CANDY CRUSH SAGA DEVELOPER: KING

Title Clash of Clans Game of War - Fire Age Clash Royale Candy Crush Soda Saga Mobile Strike The Sims FreePlay Hay Day Gummy Drop!

Candy Crush Jelly Saga

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

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

LW 03 01 02 04 06 10 08 RE 07

CLASH ROYALE DEVELOPER: SUPERCELL

Title Candy Crush Saga Clash of Clans Game of War - Fire Age Mobile Strike Candy Crush Soda Saga 8 Ball Pool Marvel Contest of Champions Candy Crush Jelly Saga Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: May 2nd to May 8th

UK IPHONE FREE (UNITS)

01

01

LW NEW 03 02 NEW RE NEW NEW 08 RE

SLITHER.IO DEVELOPER: STEVE HOWSE

Title Hungry Shark World Angry Birds Action!

Disney Crossy Road Risky Road Las Vegas Valet Limo and Sports Car Parking Hovercraft: Takedown - Custum Combat Cars Sea Hero Quest Color Switch 8 Ball Pool

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Ubisoft Rovio Disney Ketchapp Play with Games High Score Hero Glitchers Marc Lejeune Miniclip.com

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: May 2nd to May 8th www.mcvuk.com

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

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: May 2nd to May 8th

UK IPAD FREE (UNITS)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Mojang State of Play Warner Bros UKTV Interactive Rovio Ndemic Creations Sega Rockstar EA

LW 01 NEW RE 03 04 07 RE 09 RE

RISKY ROAD DEVELOPER: KETCHAPP

Title Slither.io Hungry Shark World Reign of Heroes Color Switch Stack Angry Birds Action!

8 Ball Pool Disney Crossy Road Piano Tiles 2

Developer Steve Howse Ubisoft Matt Gibson Marc Lejeune Ketchapp Rovio Miniclip.com Disney Cheetah Technology

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: May 2nd to May 8th 11

May 20th 2016

MONTHLY SALES CHARTS

APRIL CHARTS ACTION RPG Dark Souls III was the UK’s best-selling title in April. The game allowed Bandai Namco to re-enter the publisher rankings, at No.2 in revenue and No.3 in units.

As a result, Dark Souls III dev FromSoftware made an impressive comeback in the developer rankings, jumping from No.43 to No.1.

In the meantime, last month’s No.1, Ubisoft’s The Division, has been pushed down to No.3.

The April Top Five is also packed with new entries: Sony’s Ratchet & Clank debuts at No.2, Codemasters’ Dirt Rally at No.4 and Microsoft’s Quantum Break at No.5.

The developer listings have also changed accordingly, with Codemasters (Dirt Rally), Remedy (Quantum Break) and Insomniac (Ratchet & Clank) re-entering the rankings, at No.4, No.5 and No.6 respectively.

Some other new titles also enter the charts this

month: Nintendo’s Star Fox Zero (at No.22) and the platform holder’s budget release of New Super Mario Bros + New Super Luigi at No.40. But these good performances were not enough for Nintendo to keep its position in the console rankings (in revenue): after spending March ahead of Microsoft’s Xbox 360, the Wii U ended up loosing its No.3 spot in April.

Meanwhile, PQube’s MXGP2 debuted at No.24 and Alternative’s Rugby Challenge 3 entered the charts at No.38.

EA was the No.1 publisher in April, both in revenue and units, thanks to four titles in the charts: EA Sports UFC 2 at No.7, FIFA 16 at No.8, Star Wars Battlefront at No.11 and Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 at No.13.

Elsewhere, Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III is at the top of the digital sales listings, pushing down FIFA 16 to No.2.

Dark Souls III debuts at the top of the charts and is the first No.1 for Bandai Namco this year

TOP 40 UK PHYSICAL RETAIL 02

01

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

LM NEW NEW 01 NEW NEW 05 03 04 02 06 10 08 07 15 11 19 14 18 20 25 24 NEW 12 NEW 17 16 23 21 34 RE 31 RE RE RE 26 32 29 NEW 13 RE

03

04

05

Title Format Publisher Dark Souls III PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco Ratchet & Clank PS4 Sony Tom Clancy’s The Division PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Dirt Rally PS4, XO, PC Codemasters Quantum Break XO Microsoft Call of Duty: Black Ops III PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard EA Sports UFC 2 PS4, XO EA FIFA 16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA Far Cry Primal PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Grand Theft Auto V PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar Star Wars Battlefront PS4, XO, PC EA LEGO Marvel’s Avengers PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita Warner Bros Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 PS4, XO, PC EA LEGO Jurassic World PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita Warner Bros Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft WWE 2K16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360 2K Games Minecraft: Xbox Edition XO, 360 Microsoft Minecraft: Story Mode PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Telltale Games Minecraft: PlayStation Edition PS4, PS3, Vita Sony Destiny: The Taken King PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard Disney Infinity 3.0 PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Disney Star Fox Zero Wii U Nintendo Forza Motorsport 6 XO Microsoft MXGP2 – The Official Motocross Videogame PS4, XO, PC PQube Assassin’s Creed Syndicate PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Fallout 4 PS4, XO, PC Bethesda Just Cause 3 PS4, XO, PC Square Enix Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection PS4 Sony UEFA Euro 2016 Pro Evolution Soccer PS4, PS3 Konami Batman: Arkham Knight PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros Terraria PS4, XO, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC 505 Games/Merge NBA 2K16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Sports Trackmania Turbo PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga PS3, 360, Wii, DS LucasArts Halo 5: Guardians XO Microsoft LEGO Dimensions PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Warner Bros Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Konami Rugby Challenge 3 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Alternative Pokkén Tournament Wii U Nintendo New Super Mario Bros + New Super Luigi Wii U Nintendo

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: April 3rd to April 30th May 20th 2016

12

www.mcvuk.com

MONTHLY SALES CHARTS

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY STUDIO (REVENUE)

TOP 10 UK CONSOLE DIGITAL SALES BY REVENUE (APRIL)

01 TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 02 01 RE RE RE 04 03 06 07

FROM SOFTWARE PARENT COMPANY: KADOKAWA

Developer EA Canada Massive Entertainment Codemasters Remedy Entertainment Insomniac Traveller’s Tales Ubisoft Montreal Treyarch Rockstar North

Parent company EA Ubisoft Codemasters Independent Independent Warner Bros Ubisoft Activision Blizzard Take-Two

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Title Call of Duty: Black Ops III FIFA 16 Tom Clancy’s The Division Grand Theft Auto V Dark Souls III Star Wars Battlefront Fallout 4 Rocket League Destiny FIFA 15

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: April 3rd to April 30th

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY PUBLISHER (REVENUE)

01 TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM RE 01 08 07 03 RE 05 04 05

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY COMPANY (UNITS)

LM 01 RE 07 03 08 04 05 06 RE

Revenue £7.44m £6.29m £3.24m £2.60m £1.37m £1.26m £1.09m £0.86m £0.79m £0.76m

Source: SuperData, Period: April 1st to April 30th

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

LM 01 02 04 03 05 06 07 09 08 10

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

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: April 3rd to April 30th

TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Publisher Activision Blizzard Electronic Arts Ubisoft Rockstar Bandai Namco Electronic Arts Bethesda Psyonix Activision Blizzard Electronic Arts

ELECTRONIC ARTS Publisher Bandai Namco Ubisoft Microsoft Sony Nintendo Codemasters Activision Blizzard Warner Bros Take-Two

01

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

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

Market Share 46.6% 35.6% 4.5% 4.4% 4.2% 2.5% 1.8% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1%

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: April 3rd to April 30th

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SALES BY FORMAT (UNITS)

ELECTRONIC ARTS Publisher Ubisoft Bandai Namco Sony Nintendo Microsoft Warner Bros Activision Blizzard Take-Two Codemasters

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

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

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: April 3rd to April 30th www.mcvuk.com

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

Market Share 42% 31.7% 7.9% 5.3% 4.7% 4.5% 2.8% 0.5% 0.5% 0.2%

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: April 3rd to April 30th 13

May 20th 2016

INTERVIEW JOHN CLARK, SEGA

How PC has shaped the future of Sega It’s doubling down on PC with games like Total War: Warhammer and Dawn of War III. It’s bringing some of its cult Japanese hits to the West. It’s investing in small start-up companies. Alex Calvin speaks to Sega Europe’s SVP of commercial publishing John Clark to talk about PC, DLC and listening to the fans

S

ega, once a dominant force in the console space, has reduced its presence in the sector over the years.

Though it still supports console platforms, the firm is today best known as a PC publisher, producing the likes of Football Manager, Total War, Company of Heroes and Dawn of War. “When I talk about studios, there are three I focus on in particular – Relic in Vancouver (Dawn of War, Company of Heroes), Sports Interactive (Football Manager) and Creative Assembly (Total War),” Sega Europe’s SVP of commercial publishing John Clark says. “And our four key franchises [listed above] are core PC properties.

“With our consumer and studioled strategy, we’re in a really good position for driving community value and experiences. We’ve really enhanced our business through PC, based on the flexibility that gives us in terms of getting feedback and content created by the community, which is really valuable. Plus, being able to see through data and analytics how consumers interact with the content is really important.

“It doesn’t mean that we are exclusive to PC. We see PS4 and Xbox One as key platforms for us going forward, especially as they develop their digital capabilities.

That’s very exciting for us.”

DIGITAL WARFARE Though Sega has high hopes for Total War: Warhammer, it hasn’t been all good news for the fantasy strategy title. In October 2015, Creative Assembly announced that the in-game Chaos race would be a preorder incentive – news met with

May 20th 2016

Total War: Warhammer’s Chaos race is paid DLC – something met with a negative reaction

a negative reaction from some members of the fanbase.

“We look at DLC as enhancing the gaming experience, offering choice for fans to pick the experience they want,” Clark says.

“We have been working with that strategy for many years and trying to refine it. You do something for DLC and some people are more supportive than others – that’s clear. There’s a range of DLC that’s offered, some of it is free, some of it is paid-for content. But it is all to enhance the game and the Chaos race is no different.

“In terms of people who were annoyed about this, we listened to them and tried to understand why they felt that way.

“It all comes down to quality of the game. People wanted to wait and see what Total War: Warhammer is like when it launches, hence why we have extended the duration of the preorder until one week after release.”

But Sega isn’t entirely focused on PC and is bringing a number

We’ve really enhanced our business through PC, based on the flexibility and data it provides us.

John Clark, Sega Europe

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of popular Japanese games to the Western console market. Following a PC remaster release in November 2014, Sega is launching RPG Valkyria Chronicles Remastered on PS4. And last December it brought Yakuza 5 to PS3.

“It’s about listening to the consumers,” Clark says. “For every Sega lover out there and all the fan sites, here at Sega we also employ lots of Sega fans.

They all have the same desires and aspirations of the Sega fans that don’t work here. We have a concerted effort and almost internal campaign for people wanting to bring all the Japanese content out in the West.

“Valkyria Chronicles is a great example of that where internally we pushed and found a way to remaster it for PC, which has gone on to lead to the console release. We’ll continue to do that and we feel we have a really good handle on the fanbase because we have a reciprocal fanbase within Sega.”

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JOHN CLARK, SEGA INTERVIEW SUPER SONIC THOUGH still an instantly recognisable company mascot, Sonic was missing from Sega’s line-up in 2015. This followed years of annual releases that varied from mediocre – 2013’s Sonic: Lost Word stands at 63 on Metacritic – or dire – Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, launched in 2014 and has a Metacritic rating of 32. What are Sega’s plans for the Sonic brand going forward?

“We have the 25th anniversary coming up and there have been items and news stories in the press about that milestone,” SVP of commercial publishing John Clark says. “That’s imminent.

We have a very talented team over in the US that are currently working out the best and strongest direction to take Sonic the Hedgehog as a franchise.”

Sega is releasing Valkyria Chronicles on PS4 following a PC launch in 2014

Unsurprisingly, the publisher has also had a lot of demand for the release of an HD remaster of the first two Shenmue games, even before the surprise announcement of Shenmue 3 at E3 2015. “‘You should bring Shenmue 1 and 2 out’ is probably one of the first things that people say when they start at Sega,” Clark laughs.

“Or when you tell someone you work here. That’s one of the most popular questions we get asked.”

ALL EYES ON LA As E3 approaches, the question about whether Sega will be in attendance arises.

Though one of the founding fathers of the LA trade show, the firm was all but absent last year, not having its own stand on the show floor and instead showing Total War: Warhammer at Koch Media’s booth.

“At this year’s E3, we’re going to be showing Dawn of War III behind closed doors, which is certainly one of our most-anticipated and biggest releases that we’re going to have coming up in the near

www.mcvuk.com

future,” Clark says. “And through Atlus we’re going to be showing Yakuza 0. We are going to announce the full E3 line-up in the coming weeks.”

And looking to the coming twelve months, Sega has a pretty strong release schedule.

“Over the next twelve months, we’ve got a full house of triple-A new releases with Total War: Warhammer from Creative Assembly and Relic’s Dawn of War III to be added to the offerings from Sports Interactive,” Clark says. “It’s a fantastic place to be in.

“Additionally, we will have Yakuza. And we also have the exciting announcement that we’re partnering up with a small studio in Guildford called Playsport Games headed up by Christian West. He launched a mobile app called Motorsport Manager, which has been very successful and we worked with that team to develop a PC version of Motorsport Manager. We’re really excited about that because it’s been the first time for many, many years that we have invested in a startup to try and bring brand new IP to the market.”

IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN THE UK SINCE the start of 2016, things have gone awry in the UK games development scene.

In April, Microsoft closed Fable developer Lionhead, while Sony shut Evolution – the studio behind 2014’s DriveClub (though its staff have since moved to Codemasters). In April, meanwhile, Activision ‘restructured’ Guitar Hero Live studio FreeStyle.

Sega is a publisher with a sizeable presence in UK games development – Football Manager maker Sports Interactive is based in Shoreditch, Total War studio Creative Assembly is based in Horsham while Leamington Spa is home to mobile specialist Hardlight. And Sega is bullish about the state of the UK games scene.

“As well as being really talented teams, our UK studios are based in three hubs of games development in this country,” Sega Europe senior vice president of

15

commercial publishing John Clark says.

“In those areas there’s a lot of vibrancy and with a great deal of talent that’s out there. Yes, some studios are closing down, which is really unfortunate, but we’re seeing a lot of exciting startups appear.

“We’re seeing more and more talent being employed by our growing studios, whether it’s Hardlight, Creative Assembly or Sports Interactive – those are studios that are growing.

“We see a lot of positivity in the sector, and we’re seeing the positive benefit that UK games tax relief has had on the industry, as well.

“Additionally, when we are looking for content, we’re seeing a lot more ideas and innovation coming through at a start-up level and from the mid-to-large sized UK developers. There’s a lot going on within the development community.”

May 20th 2016

INTERVIEW MAXIMUM GAMES

Maximum’s Quest US publisher Maximum Games has made a move into Europe by acquiring UK firm Avanquest. What does this mean for us? Christopher Dring asks CEO Christina Seelye and MD Steve Powell

What attracted Maximum to Avanquest?

Christina Seelye, CEO: Previously, we primarily focused on North and South America and we wouldn’t have worldwide distribution rights for the games we released. As the company has grown over the last five years, we have invested in our own games that we have global rights for. We had worked with Avanquest in the past, so we thought this would be a great opportunity for us to have a base of operations for Europe, and with people that understood the market - specifically UK, but can also help facilitate our business in France and Germany and the rest of the world.

What does that mean for the former Avanquest business?

Steve Powell, MD: What people don’t necessarily know is that the bulk of our revenue over the last 24 months has been derived from games. We have 300 different SKUs in our portfolio, which covered games and non-games, and when you looked from the outside, it wasn’t easy to tell what we did.

For those partners that we are working with, we provided a first class service and gave them real reach across the UK market - that won’t change. All that changes now is that we will become 100 per cent focused on games, whereas before we were perhaps 85 per cent focused on games.

We have great relationships with UK retail partners out there, which is held up when you look at games like Frozen on Nintendo, and how we delivered consistent sales

May 20th 2016

year-over-year on that format.

And we’ve done the same as we’ve moved onto PlayStation and Xbox, especially on the back of the success of some of those TellTale products we released, like Minecraft: Story Mode.

You touched upon the move from DS to new machines, is PS4 and Xbox One your main focus now?

Powell: When you look at the lineup (see Maximum Effort), these products are primarily on PS4 and Xbox One, because those are the platforms that are really driving the volume. We are not abandoning Nintendo. It has been an amazing platform for us, we are still developing games for Nintendo platforms and we have other products in the line-up this year.

And who knows what Nintendo will do? Nintendo is an amazing marketing machine and produce amazing products. So if there is an opportunity to be on the NX when it launches next year, we will want to be there.

Also later in the year, Maximum will bring our first VR game called Loading Human. As we start to go out and talk to our partners about this game, there’s a real buzz around VR. There’s a real unknown as well, because what will VR deliver in Q4 this year? It is a really exciting opportunity for us to be at the front end of a launch of a new platform like VR.

All that changes now is that we will become 100 per cent focused on games.

Steve Powell, Maximum Games

Do you have any expectations for VR? Seelye: I probably have as much expectation as you do. As for Loading Human, we don’t need

16

it to be crazy successful in order for us to do a good job. The short answer is that we don’t know but we are hoping for the best.

There are a couple of things that is really interesting. When you see somebody play it, or when you do it yourself, it is surprising how compelling and emotional it is. Where it is going to be this Q4 is with very early adopters, but as it grows, it will be more interesting for gamers that want a fully enveloped experience. The software is going to need to catch up, and right now the stuff I’ve seen tends to be pretty small and contained. It is a lot of tech demos and lots of on-rails, controlled experiences. We are going to need to see content pushing the envelope a little bit. Loading Human is not on-rails. You can go anywhere and touch anything.

Powell: Whilst there are some reservations, people see this as the biggest thing since the launch of a console. It could be phenomenal and it will take time to get going.

Price is going to be a real factor in driving that. As we head into Q1 2017, we will be interested to see where price goes.

How significant is the physical retail side of your business?

Seelye: We are definitely seeing an increase in digital with every launch that we do. That said, it is still a smaller percentage than what we are seeing in physical. Because Avanquest, now Maximum Games, and us have long-standing relationships with physical retailers, we can do a really good job of placing

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MAXIMUM GAMES INTERVIEW

MAXIMUM EFFORT As a result of Maximum Games’ acquisition of Avanquest Software, there is now a plethora of new games coming to market. Here is what to expect:

TellTale’s 7 Days to Die will come to retail via Maximum Games

products physically. Ultimately, it creates a better outcome for that content if you can launch it both physically and digitally, because you are getting more marketing, more visibility, more consumer awareness on the shelf and online.

We will be in both spaces as long as both spaces are relevant.

Powell: As we open up the EMEA territories and look at the emerging markets, where broadband speeds are slower and there isn’t the infrastructure that exists in the US and the UK, physical is a strong market in many of those territories.

Often we think about the UK and US, but actually when you go beyond mainland Europe, there are some interesting territories that perhaps aren’t there from a digital perspective.

What is your current strategy for finding and signing games?

Seelye: It’s interesting, out of our entire line-up, we only have one development partner in the US. Every other partner we work with is either in Canada or across Europe. So from a content acquisition strategy, it makes sense to partner closely with Steve and his team. They are in the market and in similar time zones, so there is a lot that can be done to help us acquire and work with

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Kick-off Revival Release date: June 17th Format(s): PS4 Dino Dini’s reboot of a 1990s soccer classic.

developers. We are specifically looking at what studios will have for Holiday 2017 and evaluating what fits with our road map and what we think we can do a good job with.

Mike and the Knight and the Great Gallop Release date: June 17th Format: 3DS The latest game based on the hit animated kids TV show.

Any particular genre?

Seelye: We will look at every different opportunity on its own and make sure it’s something we can do a good job with. Are we looking for an FPS that can compete with Call of Duty? No. We don’t have the capability of launching that. We will look for stuff that is slightly left of genre, something that might take a bit more explanation, something that might need a bit more love - that’s what we can do a good job with.

The Technomancer Release date: June 28th Format(s): PS4/Xbox One High-end sci-fi action RPG set on Mars.

7 Days To Die Release Date: July 1st Format(s): PS4/Xbox One An open-world survival horror game that was signed

by TellTale.

Road Rage Release date: September Format(s): PS4/Xbox One Road Rash-inspired melee combat racing game.

What’s the long-term plan for Maximum Games?

Seelye: We think there is room in the video games publishing space for mid-tier studios to have a home. Right now if you look at the Top 15 video games companies according to NPD, there isn’t a lot of choice for developers. We can now bring truly worldwide support.

We are really good partners to studios. We are not ripping them off, we are not trying to control what they are creating, we want to partner with them to get the best outcome possible.

Loading Human Release Date: October Format(s): PSVR/Oculus VR game that allows players to walk around a virtual world.

Mark McMorris Infinite Air Release Date: October Format(s): PS4/Xbox One Action sports title starring the world’s No.1 snowboarder.

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May 20th 2016

THE BIG GAME HOMEFRONT: THE REVOLUTION

Children of The Revolution It looked like it would never come out but now, finally, Homefront: The Revolution is launching.

Alex Calvin talks to narrative designer Stephen Rhodes about the franchise’s direction and finding an audience in the busy shooter space

A

s a franchise, Homefront tells a pretty bleak story – and I’m not referring to the series’ narrative of the USA being invaded by Korea.

The first Homefront, a hugely ambitious release for THQ, launched to mediocre reviews (70 on Metacritic) in March 2011 and saw publisher THQ’s stock price fall 26 per cent. Three months later, the publisher closed developer Kaos. Crytek was hired to work on a sequel – but following THQ’s demise, the developer bought the Homefront IP. The Nottingham-based studio continued work on a sequel – The Revolution – but this ran into issues as money dried up. That was before Koch Media swooped in to save the day, purchasing both the Homefront IP and hiring the team working on it.

Looking at this tale, it’s almost a miracle that Homefront: The Revolution is coming out at all.

May 20th 2016

“Yeah, it’s a relief,” narrative designer Stephen Rhodes laughs.

“It’s scary as well. It’s coming out very soon. It’s a relief to have the game done, but it’s also in that tense moment just before launch where everything is gearing up and everything’s exciting. It’s a good feeling to have it finished.”

Following the rather average response to the original Homefront, the team at Deep Silver Dambusters (as the studio is now called) is feeling the pressure to really deliver with The Revolution – but Rhodes says this is nothing unusual.

“There’s always pressure to deliver with a game launch,” he says.

“It’s had several years development and has a team of 100 people working on it. The pressure is always there to make something that people will enjoy and that they’re going to like and will make a lasting impression.

It’s a case of creating the vision we want to make and writing

I’m not worried about competition – we offer something different to many games in the shooter space at the moment.

Stephen Rhodes, Deep Silver Dambuster

18

the story we want to tell and hoping that people will like it as much as we liked making it. I’ve worked on big titles before and the pressure is always there, but it’s nice to see the reactions that people have to your hard work. Even the criticism to your hard work is good. It’s always nice to get feedback and see what people think about what you have spent a couple of years of your life making.”

THE EVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED The Revolution may carry on the story of the first title, but in terms of gameplay, things have evolved.

“The game has changed in some obvious ways, as well as some not so clear ways,” Rhodes explains.

“It’s obviously no longer a linear experience – it’s openworld. It’s got a brand new history, a brand new timeline, brand new storyline with new characters. The thing that we

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HOMEFRONT: THE REVOLUTION THE BIG GAME

DLC FOR FREE LIKE almost all triple-A games, Homefront: The Revolution is going to benefit from a wealth of post-release content. But developer Dambusters says consumers can either pay for it or earn the extra DLC. “Having gated content for a mode like our co-op Resistance mode is difficult because then you have to say to your friends: ‘we’re still playing this, you have to buy this and that to play with us’,” narrative designer Stephen Rhodes explains.

“Just coming out and saying: ‘for the next 12 months, any content we make for the multiplayer, will all be available to everyone’ just takes away that feeling and that worry that people have. I’m a gamer and when a big co-op FPS comes out there’s always that thing with my friends of: ‘are we all buying the Season Pass as well?’. We need to sit down and plan it early as we don’t want to get two months in and not have everyone with the same content. It’s frustrating when that happens.

“The fact all DLC is free for multiplayer is great as it frees that up and allows people to buy the game knowing full well that they’ll be able to play it free for the whole year with their friends and not worry about someone that hasn’t got the right content. It’s a good idea to do that sort of thing.”

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May 20th 2016

THE BIG GAME HOMEFRONT: THE REVOLUTION

COME WHAT MAY HOMEFRONT is launching towards the end of one of the busiest May release windows in recent years. Not only is it competing with rival shooters such as Battleborn, Doom and Overwatch, it has to contend with Sony’s juggernaut Uncharted 4 as well as Total War: Warhammer.

“It’s difficult to worry about that. It’s so random in the games industry,” narrative designer Stephen Rhodes says.

“You look at May 2015 and there was only really The Witcher 3. Fast forward 12 months and there’s ten massive high-budget releases coming out in May. You can’t

really worry about it because there are so many different publishers and so many companies who have games to release. They all just seem to pick times, almost at random. This year, everyone releases in May and that’s fine. But they’re all very different titles and people will pick up the releases that appeal to them.

“If not, there’s the entire summer. I can’t imagine June, July and August are going to be busy because they never are.

It gives everyone a chance to buy all the games that dropped in May because there’s no way everyone is buying all of them.”

After being pushed back from 2015, The Revolution is launching this week

kept from the first game that we have really evolved has literally been the premise of an occupied America. We’ve really taken that.

We know people had issues with the first game and how the whole invasion was portrayed.

We have taken that on board and really worked on the narrative and worked on the back story and created this really interesting alternate timeline where there’s lots of factors at play that lead up to the events of the game in 2029.

“People are going to be really interested and surprised by that and want to know more about this universe we’ve dropped them into. We’ve done a lot with the mechanics. We have an openworld and it’s not an on-rails experience, so we have a lot of immersive systems and really cool modding technology that makes it feel quite unique.”

SHOTS FIRED The games space is a perpetually competitive one, and no where is this more true than in the first person shooter genre. In this month alone, there are number of highprofile triple-A shooters hitting shelves – something that will divide the FPS audience.

“It’s a very competitive space, you’re quite right,” Rhodes says.

May 20th 2016

“But I’m not worried about competition in any which way as we offer something quite different to a lot of the games that are filling that space at the moment. If you look at just this month (more about that in Come What May), you’ve got Doom, Battleborn, Overwatch all coming which are all – in essence – first person shooters, but they’re all very different games.

“Doom is action-orientated, Overwatch is about playervs-player and Battleborn is in Gearbox’s line of insane, over the top and humorous gameplay and world-building.

“Our title is positioned quite well – it offers something unique. It’s a grim alternate history, it’s very much down the lines of [Philip K. Dick story and Amazon Prime TV show] The Man in the High Castle.

You’re not playing a super human or super hero or an action star, you’re playing a resistance member fighting against an oppressive foreign regime. It stands out as being very story-driven. I don’t think many other first person shooters these days are very story-driven.

“They’ve all taken a shift to providing some sort of multiplayer component to try and attack different revenue streams. Our game is solely focused on the story experience. That makes it

stand out quite well against all the different FPS games that are dominating the space right now.”

Homefront is very story-driven. Not many other firstperson shooters these days can say the same.

Stephen Rhodes, Deep Silver Dambuster

20

SHOOTING STAR Deep Silver is confident in the game’s potential. Speaking to MCV earlier in the year, Koch Media boss Klemens Kundratitz said that the firm was ‘going to establish Homefront as a well-recognised IP in the shooter genre’. But what are Dambusters’ own expectations?

“Honestly, we hope it does well and people enjoy it,” Rhodes says.

“We have really gone back and spent a lot of time and effort building out this alternate history and this alternate America. We only really explore Philadelphia in The Revolution, so there’s a lot of scope for us to explore other parts of the country and the rest of the world. Korea and America are so different in the game, what’s to say that other nations aren’t different?

It gives us lots of nice building blocks to then go forward and explore more. We’re going to get a lot of questions when the game launches about what happens in a certain part of the world.

“That’s going to help us decide where to go and what we do in the future. We have laid the groundwork to explore this alternate timeline more.”

www.mcvuk.comJ

HOMEFRONT : THE REVOLUTION

FREE T

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

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

www.Superindie.co.uk

P es Pr esen e te t d by b © 2016 and published by Deep Silver, a division of Koch Media, Austria. Developed by Deep Silver Dambuster Studios. Homefront, Deep Silver and their respective logos are trademarks of Koch Media GmbH. Portions of this software are included under license © 2004-2016 Crytek GmbH. All rights reserved. Crytek, CryEngine and their respective logos are trademarks of Crytek Group. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

“2”, “PlayStation” and “Ô are registered trademarks and the “Õ” logo and “Ø” is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

ROB DAVIS, PLAYNIAC INTERVIEW

INDIE INTERVIEW The road less travelled Playniac has been behind a variety of projects, from a Kung Fu Panda release to a word game about cats and mice. And now it is on the verge of launching its latest experimental title, Insane Robots. Alex Calvin reports

T

hanks to the endless stream of suited execs on stage at various trade shows, words like ‘innovative’ have lost much of their meaning within video games.

But looking at the projects from Playniac, few other words fit the bill. The studio – founded and headed up by Rob Davis – has produced a variety of weird titles.

Sure, these include some work-for-hire projects for the likes of British Gas (Journey to Fossil Island) and Nickelodeon (Kung Fu Panda: The Adversary). But Playniac is also behind some alarmingly different games.

“When I set up Playniac, I wanted to develop interesting, novel and unusual games,” Davis says. “We are able to do that with an unusual design process and that’s enabled us to make each game something different, something quite original. We usually do something that’s in a new genre or something outside or pushing the boundaries in a genre that we’re working in.”

CAT AND MOUSE Take Cat On Yer Head. For starters, it’s not a video game, rather a crowd experience about game design that sees an imaginary cat being passed from player to player chasing an imaginary mouse. Participants can change the rules – the mouse can hide, it can eat cheese, or turn into a cat-eating mouse, among other things.

“My practice has always been led by iterative development, by prototyping in different ways,” Davis explains. “I’ve spoken at conferences a bit about how much we enjoy having fun with our games, playing with them as we design them and using all different techniques. I started doing that with [PC and mobile release] International Racing Squirrels, where we went and ran the game in pubs and played with our team but also drinkers to find out what was good and bad about the game, what we could improve upon, what works, what felt right and what’s the right aesthetic for the game.

“That’s a technique that’s been applied to pretty much every project I’ve done since. I personally find it a really fun and interesting way to design a game. It gives you lots of

www.mcvuk.com

Cat on Yer Head sees an imaginary cat passed from player-to-player with participants able to change the game’s rules

We used to go to the pub and play games with the drinkers to find out what was good and bad about the title, what felt right and that the correct aesthetic for a project.

Rob Davis, Playniac

23

understanding of your game at all stages. Even before you start making anything, you start to develop this really good understanding, the language within your team and what you are trying to make.”

Although it began as a crowd game for live events, it has since been released as a book and is played all over the world.

“The book shows people how to play the game and gives you the different rules for the game and all the variants invented by audiences around the world and is a really fun way to get into Cat On Yer Head. I get tweets about that game being played in Tokyo in a school and it’s being used in UK classrooms to teach game design.”

The studio’s ‘different’ approach has also been used on its latest title, turn-based roguelike [game featuring procedurally-generated levels with death meaning returning to the start of the game] Insane Robots.

“We prototyped Insane Robots using card decks and ran the game at festivals around the world. We used that to design it and make the project very much a conversation with other designers. It’s an on-going evolving process of design. We took all that feedback into the physical game and took lots of things from that prototype into the digital game.”

May 20th 2016

MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE Adrian Hill tells MCV about Console Yourself’s balance between retro and current-gen, how classic gaming is increasingly popular and why selling merchandise is the right way to keep a shop interesting rather wait for something to blow me away next year... It’s always been about quality over quantity with Nintendo, which is fine by me.

How has business been lately?

Pretty good, we seem to be selling just as much retro consoles and games as we are current gen at the moment. We’ve always stocked retro games and consoles, but it seems to have become more and more popular over the past few years and not just people who remembered it first time around, it also seems to be a big thing now with the college kids. Out of all the retro consoles we sell, the Super Nintendo still seems to be the best

seller. Our store is big enough to stock a decent amount of new and old, and this really stands us out. We seem to have hit the right balance between retro and current gen.

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

PRICE CHECK: BASILDON

What games have you been selling particularly well recently?

Uncharted 4 has got off to a great start and The Division did better than expected. The PS4 is still outselling the Xbox One two to one.

What are your thoughts on Nintendo’s recent announcements?

Nintendo hasn’t had a good time recently with the Wii U so I can understand them just sitting back and focusing all attention on the NX. I’m not concerned and would much

You sell some merchandise as well - how is that performing?

TOP 10 PRE-ORDERS 1. CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE LEGACY EDITION Activision, PS4 2. Battlefield 1 inc. Hellfighter Pack EA .............................................................................PS4 3. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Legacy Edition Activision .................................................................XO 4. Battlefield 1 incl Hellfighter Pack EA ................................................................................XO

THE WITCHER III: THE WILD HUNT

7. Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness Ltd Ed Square Enix..........................................................PS4

9. Doom inc. Demon Multiplayer Pack Bethesda ..................................................................XO 10. No Man’s Sky Sony.........................................................................PS4

The latest digital releases coming to market

£19.99

£49.99

£29.99

N/A

£17.99

£49.99

£46.99

£49.99

£24.99

£24.99

£24.99

£34.99

£27.99

£26.35

£40.37

£24.50

£47.49

£34.74

£43.95

£26.96

MINECRAFT: SUPER MARIO MASH-UP PACK

PERFECT UNIVERSE

TURNON

This DLC for Minecraft: Wii U Edition gives access to Mario-themed items

After a successful launch on Steam, Excalibur’s title has landed on PS4

Brainy Studio’s sidescroller debuts on Xbox One and PC

OUT: NOW

May 20th 2016

Activision, PS4

IN STORE

8. Overwatch Origins inc. Noire Widowmaker Skin & Badge set Activision Blizzard ............................................PS4

FALLOUT 4 Bethesda, XO

Bandai Namco, XO

6. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Nintendo............................................................. Wii U

UPLOADING

Sony, PS4

DESTINY: THE TAKEN KING LEGENDARY EDITION

ONLINE

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

BLOODBORNE

OUT: NOW

24

OUT: JUNE 1ST

www.mcvuk.com

MARKETPLACE

Console Yourself 12 Gillygate, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF8 1PQ

Phone: 01977 695666 Facebook: /ConsoleYourselfPontefract Email: consoleyourself@gmail.com

We do well with the figures, we stock a lot of imported Japanese manga figures and it does really well, it’s just another angle to keep the shop interesting and not just a wall of games, which is the look most places seem to adopt.

What challenges are you facing at the moment?

The sunshine - the potential of a hot summer always hurts sales! Apart from that, we just want to carry on doing what we’ve been doing for the

past 14 years and sticking to being a complete game store, not deviating off into the mobile phone/tablet market like most other game stores seem to be doing.

Are you looking forward to VR? Yeah, I’m like a big kid with any new tech. I think the price will be a big deterrent for people, but if Sony rolls out demo units instore, it will certainly help push it. We are only stocking the PS VR and have quite a few preorders down already.

INCOMING TITLE

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

Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Fates and Deep Silver’s Homefront: The Revolution both hit shelves today and next week will see the launch of Overwatch FORMAT

GENRE

PUBLISHER

TELEPHONE

DISTRIBUTOR

Fire Emblem Fates

3DS

RPG

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

Homefront: The Revolution

PS4/XO/PC

FPS

Deep Silver

01256 385 200

Koch Media

Overwatch

PS4/XO/PC

Shooter

Activision Blizzard

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Total War: Warhammer

PC

Strategy

Sega

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Dungeons 2

PS4

Strategy

Kalypso Media

01215 069 590

Advantage

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan

PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC

Action

Activision Blizzard

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Tropico 5 Penultimate Edition

XO

Simulation

Kalypso Media

01215 069 590

Advantage

PS4/XO/PC

Action

Deep Silver

01256 385 200

Koch Media

Assetto Corsa

PS4/XO/PC

Racing

505 Games

01215 069 590

Advantage

One Piece: Burning Blood

PS4/XO/Vita

Fighting

Bandai Namco

01215 069 590

Advantage

PS4/XO/PC

Action-adventure

EA

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

May 20th

May 24th

May 27th

May 31st Dead Island Definitive Collection

June 3rd

June 9th Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

June 10th Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book

PS4/Vita

RPG

Koei Tecmo

01462 476130

Open

Guilty Gear XRD Revelator

PS4/PS3

Fighting

PQube

01216 253 388

CentreSoft

Kirby: Planet Robobot

3DS

Platformer

Nintendo

01753 483 700

Open

Professional Farmer 2017

PS4/XO/PC

Simulation

UIG Entertainment

01902 861 527

Pavillion

www.mcvuk.com

25

May 20th 2016

RACING GAMES

RACING GAMES The racing genre has always been one of the most popular.

Marie Dealessandri has selected the top accessories to race like a pro and the latest tiein products based on the best-known titles

THE racing genre is one of the most prolific video games categories.

Every year sees the launch of sequels for well-known franchises as well as new IPs trying to conquer the market.

In 2015, we enjoyed F1 2015, The Crew: Wild Run, Project CARS, Need for Speed, Forza Motorsport 6, Ride, MotoGP 15 and the vehicle/ football title Rocket League.

This year, we’ve already had Dirt Rally, while Assetto Corsa as well as MX vs ATV Supercross Encore

Last year, the bestselling racing title was Forza Motorsport 6, No.24 of the 2015 UK charts.

are both hitting shelves in June. And there are titles like Gran Turismo set to arrive, too.

With the launch of VR, we can bet more titles will also be announced over the course of the year.

Last year, Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport 6 was the big winner, as expected. The title was No.24 in the top 50 physical games of 2015 in the UK – and the highest racing game in the charts.

However, Slightly Mad’s new IP Project CARS

NEXT LEVEL RACING - GT ULTIMATE V2 COMPLETE SIMULATOR COCKPIT This is the ultimate accessory for racing games’ hardcore fans – if they have enough money to afford it. This simulator features an adjustable racing seat with a harness in case things get a little heated while playing. It is compatible with all major wheels and pedals and can hold up to three 27” screens or one 55” screen (although the monitor stand is not included). Players who have £50 remaining can purchase a ‘Flight Pack’ to convert it into a full flight simulator cockpit.

SRP: £599 Manufacturer: Next Level Racing Distributor: Pagnian Contact: sales@pagnian.co.uk

WII U MARIO KART 8 RACING WHEEL

DIRT RALLY T-SHIRT LIMITED EDITION

LOGITECH G29

Some gamers take Mario Kart 8 pretty seriously, so there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have their own wheel.

Codemasters released a limited amount of these Dirt Rally T-shirts. Some sizes are already sold out.

This steering wheel was designed for PlayStation consoles but is also compatible with PC.

SRP: £9.99 Manufacturer: Nintendo Distributor: Open Contact: 01753 483 700

SRP: £15.99 Manufacturer: Codemasters Distributor: Codemasters Contact: support_codemasters@pepitastore.com

SRP: £309 Manufacturer: Logitech Distributor: Logitech Contact: 0175 387 09 00

May 20th 2016

26

www.mcvuk.com

RACING GAMES Sponsored by

O

gaming merchandise uk

put pressure on this big title and finished the year as the second best-selling racing game of the year, at No.43 of the UK charts.

When the game launched last year, creative director Andy Tudor told MCV: “All the publishers were saying that Project CARS was way too risky.

We’re trying to take on the big guys – Forza and Gran Turismo – how could we ever hope to compete?”

But the title competed very

well and added its name to the ever growing racing genre list.

Driving games may not be big eSports (yet) but there’s plenty of accessories to help fans race like a pro. From low-priced wheels to expensive simulator cockpits, gamers have an impressive range of products to choose from. In addition to these items, the genre doesn’t escape from the merchandise trend and big franchises, as well as more indie titles, have their share of tie-in products.

THRUSMASTER TX RACING WHEEL LEATHER EDITION A wheel and a pedal set are must-have items for every racing fanatic. This special edition includes a three-pedals set and a detachable hand-stitched leather wheel, for maximum comfort. The wheel also features a contactless magnetic sensor so that precision doesn’t decrease over time. This bundle is for Xbox One and PC only.

SRP: £399 Manufacturer: Thrustmaster Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

ROCKET LEAGUE STRESSBALL This stressball may be useful to those who constantly play football-meets-cars title Rocket League.

SRP: $8 (£5.50) Manufacturer: Psyonix Distributor: Psyonix Contact: rlorders@psyonix.com

www.mcvuk.com

PLAYSEAT GRAN TURISMO RACING SEAT

PROJECT CARS SNAP BACK HAT

Sitting comfortably while playing Gran Turismo might increase the gamers’ performance.

Fans can support Bandai Namco and Slightly Mad’s title by wearing this cap.

SRP: £299 Manufacturer: Playseat Distributor: Interactive Minds Contact: 0845 260 1490

SRP: £16.66 Manufacturer: Yupoong Distributor: Kleerfreight Contact: projectcars@kleerfreight.com

27

May 20th 2016

MARKETING, PR & CREATIVE AGENCIES

LEGAL

AUDIO IN

GERARD FOX LAW

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

charne@sprintmail.com www.gerardfoxlaw.com ........................................................................................................

BIG TOP PR Tel: 07784 778197 www.bigtop-pr.co.uk ........................................................................................................

TRADE BODY UKIE

DEAD GOOD MEDIA Tel: +44 (0)7780 600 728 www.deadgoodmedia.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: +44 (0) 207 534 0580 www.ukie.org.uk ........................................................................................................

STUDIO DIVA

PUBLISHING

Tel: 0117 214 0404 www.studiodiva.co.uk ........................................................................................................

FUNBOX MEDIA LTD

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

KENNEDY MONK Tel: 0207 636 9142 www.kennedymonk.com ........................................................................................................

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

info@funboxmedia.co.uk www.funboxmedia.co.uk ........................................................................................................

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES & RECRUITMENT

Tel: +44 (0) 208 664 3456 www.creativedistribution.co.uk/ ........................................................................................................

DC GAMES GROUP Tel: +971-50-9287220 www.Doostan-Co.com ........................................................................................................

INCOMM Tel: 01489 588 200 www.incomm.com ........................................................................................................

Tel: 0207 688 6789 www.oklogistics.de ........................................................................................................

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

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

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

OPM RECRUITMENT

QA & LOCALISATION, PAYMENT & SOLUTION

CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION

OK MEDIA LTD

AUDIOMOTION

UBER

RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION & MANUFACTURING

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

PERIPHERALS, ACCESSORIES & MERCHANDISE

RAGTAG DEVELOPMENTS LTD

GAMING MERCHANDISE UK LTD

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

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

REMOTE CONTROL PRODUCTS

LIME DISTRIBUTION

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

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

UNIVERSALLY SPEAKING

SOUNDING SWEET LTD.

PERFORMANCE DESIGNED PRODUCTS LTD

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT AGENCIES AND SERVICE COMPANIES

COMPANY PROFILE / INCOMM KEY CONTACTS: Email

Telephone

Laura Willavoys lwillavoys@incomm.com

01489 588 200

INCOMM is a leader in the development of ground-breaking prepaid products and transaction technologies. Our Fastcard® Technology helped sparked the evolution of the prepaid industry, and our retail and brand partners have relied on our dedication to continuing innovation for over 20 years.

We provide turnkey solutions by leveraging our extensive retail expertise, a growing list of global patents, proven best practices in marketing and optimised promotion.

By applying the same kinds of innovations, InComm has dominated the games retail market. We were the first to launch programmes with top-tier gaming partners like Blizzard, Riot Games, Sony, Microsoft and more. InComm has built a platform of expanded retail distribution, allowing our partners to reach the largest and most diverse networks in the industry.

Our partners enjoy several other benefits of our programme, including: Q Increased Brand Exposure Q Increased Retail Success Q Award-winning Turnkey Solutions

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THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

THE BUSINESS OF VIDEO ISSUE 859 FRIDAY DECEMBER

GAMES

4TH 2015

INDIE THICK OF IT ISSUE 860 FRIDAY DECEMBER 11TH

2015

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

THE A TEAM DEBBIEP16 BESTWICK TAKES US THROUGH 25 YEARS

AT SONY N SHAHID AHMAD ON 10 YEARS PLAYSTATION’S DEV CHAMPIO

OF TEAM17 P18

UK RETAIL SPEAKS OUT 55%

70%

believe PS4 will rule next year (above top),

Twist think virtual reality is doomedUKIE’s SuperData’s van Dreunen

(above middle) and Reflection’s Leksell (above)

ack are bdig Charts ital e y’r time, the And this

19%

ches charts console data Q MCV re-laun rtnerships for mobile and digital demand m

section

41%

picked Uncharted 4 as their most anticipated game of 2016

DIRECTORY

WHO?

INSIDER’S GUIDE AARDVARK SWIFT RECRUITMENT

Specialism: Recruitment Location: 16, Nightingale Court, Nightingale Cl, Rotherham S60 2AB

Contact: W: www.aswift.com P: 01709834777 E: info@aswift.com

MD Ian Goodall talks about Aardvark’s competitions for games students and the digital transition Tell us about your company.

We’re the UK’s first recruitment agency dedicated to the video games industry. We work with clients worldwide, from major multinational publishers to large independent developers to small indie studios.

What successes have you seen recently?

This year has been our most successful year yet, winning a TIGA award for our Grads in Games initiative, improving the link between the games industry and

What are the biggest trends affecting you right now?

Many publishers are continuing to transition to digital publishing, and many are also focusing on a small number of key titles. This impacts the number of people they’re hiring, and the type of person they’re looking for, so we have to work hard to make sure we find the right match.

UK academia. This year also saw the launch of our new Search for a Star and Rising Star art competition, which ran alongside our existing code one. We had record numbers of students entering the 2016 competitions.

What are you currently working on?

We’re busy planning our upcoming competitions. Our graduate team is now organising our 2016 Get in the Game tour, where we visit 70 universities across the UK to provide careers advice.

What are you looking forward to?

We’re looking forward to seeing smaller developers reaching better deals with publishers and finding a way of working together.

DISC REPAIR

TOTAL DISC REPAIR

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 489500

May 20th 2016

Web: www.totaldiscrepair.co.uk

30

www.mcvuk.com

DIRECTORY

ENQUIRIES CONOR TALLON Tel: 02073 546000 ctallon@nbmedia.com

FINK

CREATIVE

DISTRIBUTION

CLICK ENTERTAINMENT

Artworking Mastertronic Brand Identity Ukie Localisation Rising Star Games Advertising BBFC Website Design Deep Silver Exhibition Bethesda Illustration Just Flight Appynation Digital Media IntentMedia Charity GamesAid Banners & Takeovers Konami Packaging Design Just Flight Email: info@finkcreative.com CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION

Tel: +44 (0) 208 6643456 ENARXIS DYNAMIC MEDIA

Web: www.finkcreative.com

Tel: +44 (0)203 137 3781

DISTRIBUTION

email: sales@click-entertainment.com

CURVEBALL LEISURE

Web: www.creativedistribution.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1792 652521

DISTRIBUTION

SONY DADC

DISTRIBUTION

Web: www.curveball-leisure.com DISTRIBUTION

Empowering your creative business

Tel: +44 207 361 8000 games@sonydadc.com

www.sonydadc.com

Tel: +302 1090 11900

www.mcvuk.com

Web: www.enarxis.eu

Tel: +44 (0) 207 462 6200

31

Web: www.sonydadc.com

May 20th 2016

DIRECTORY

L3I

GAMING ACCESSORIES

Tel: 01923 881000

Web: www.logic3.com

LIME DISTRIBUTION

GAMING ACCESSORIES

Tel: 01622 845 161

Web: www.limedistribution.co.uk

ADVERTISE WITH US

WANT TO ADVERTISE IN OUR DIRECTORY?

CALL CONOR TALLON ON 020 7354 6000 OR EMAIL HIM AT CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM

May 20th 2016

32

www.mcvuk.com

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

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

BRAZIL Sony Music Entertainment Brasil # 1 Physical Distributor in Brazil Rua Lauro Muller n°. 116 – 40°. Andar Salas 4001 a 4003 Botafogo Rio de Janeiro RJ CEP. 22.290-160 Tel. +55 21 2128-0771 Fax: +55 21 2128-0747 Email : rodrigo.altieri@sonymusic.com Website: www.sonymusic.com.br | www.day1e.com.br

IRAN

UAE 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

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

WORLDWIDE CLICK ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED Email: info@click-entertainment.com Web: www.click-entertainment.com Phone: +44 (0)203 137 3781

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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

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May 20th 2016

FACTFILE ITALY

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: ITALY Population: 61,070,000 Capital City: Rome Currency: Euro GDP (Per Capita): $35,243.1 KEY RETAILERS Expert, Gamelife, GameStop, La Feltrinelli, Mediaworld, Mondadori Megastore, OpenGames, Gruppo Pam, CeX KEY DISTRIBUTORS Cidiverte, Digital Bros/Halifax, Koch Media, Big Ben Interactive, Erregame

ACCORDING to the latest report by Italian games industry trade body AESVI, the video games market in the country had a turnover of nearly €1bn (£0.79bn) in 2015, which represented a 6.9 per cent rise year-on-year.

Data firm Newzoo ranks Italy as the tenth biggest market worldwide – the fifth in Europe.

Software sales remain the key segment of the market, with a 59.8 per cent share of the sector’s turnover in 2015.

Boxed games continue to be the gamers’ preference as they stand for 61.5 per cent of the transactions. But this figure has slightly declined by 1.9 per cent compared to 2014. In the meantime, digital sales grew by 21.6 per cent, reaching revenues of over €200m (£157m).

Current-gen software saw an impressive growth in 2015, ending the year with a rise of 74.3 per cent in value and 92.6

May 20th 2016

TOP DEVELOPERS Adventure’s Planet, Artematica, Bad Seed, Digital Tales, GhostShark Games, Milestone, Mixed Bag, Naps Team, Ovosonico, Studio Evil, Ubisoft Milan, White Milk Games PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION 505 Games, Activision Blizzard, Disney, Electronic Arts, GamePix, Microsoft, Bandai Namco, Nintendo, Sony, Ubisoft, Warner Bros

per cent in volume. They now represent a 64 per cent share of the market, compared to 37 per cent in 2014.

As expected, the best-selling title in Italy in 2015 was FIFA 16, followed by Call of Duty: Black Ops III and, more surprisingly, Minecraft.

AESVI’s study also points out that Italian gamers’ favourite genre is action-adventure (31.7 per cent of the sales), followed by sports titles (22.8 per cent) and shooters (14 per cent).

The report further says that 49.7 per cent of the Italian population over 14 plays video games. Gamers in the country are equally divided between men (50 per cent) and women (50 per cent).

According to Euromonitor, video games sales will reach €1.7bn (£1.33bn) by 2019. Digital sales will see a strong increase during the same period, at an annual rate of 10 per cent every year.

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ITALY FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... CHINA Chinese firm Fuze is launching a new console in the country, the Tomahawk F1, in order to compete with the Xbox One and PS4 SONY and Microsoft will soon have a new rival in China, as Fuze Entertainment announced the launch of a brand new console in the country.

The Tomahawk F1 will be released on June 1st and Fuze wants it to be a low-priced alternative to the PS4 and Xbox One. The console will launch at ¥899 (£95) and an Elite version will cost ¥1,499 (£159). This version includes a bigger hard drive and a wireless controller charger.

Fuze also announced that the company had already signed partnerships with over 200 developers and

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publishers to bring games to Tomahawk F1, such a Koei Tecmo, Codemasters, Ubisoft and Deep Silver.

Around 76 games should launch alongside the console and

Fuze talked about ‘over 100 titles’ already in development.

The company also announced plans to launch a VR headset.

May 20th 2016

OFF THE RECORD

OFF THE RECORD This week, Stand Up for GamesAid helps us to learn more about the meaning of Super Saiyan, we witness Ian Livingstone’s encounter with Apple founder Steve Wozniak and Studio Wildcard’s Rapczak picks the horse-sized duck OLD PEOPLE STAND Up for GamesAid is one of our favourite nights of the games industry calendar. This year’s event at the Comedy Store raised a wonderful £9,000, which is its highest total yet.

Whoop!

The news was announced via an email entitled “Stand Up for GamesAid goes Super Saiyan”. Now, while we have some young whippersnappers on the MCV team who say things like “could care less” and put “lol” at the end of their emails, some of us are very old. We don’t know what a Super Saiyan is. It sounds a bit like that chicken dish we ordered from Oriental Chef last Saturday. Or maybe it’s that platform game we imported on the SNES back in 1994.

So yeah, we had to look it up. As per Google: “Super Saiyan: The standard Super Saiyan transformation. It is achieved when a powerful Saiyan reaches varying levels of anger, as shown by Goku when Frieza killed Krillin, Vegeta when Goku surpassed his abilities, and Future Trunks when the Androids killed Future Gohan.”

Literally still clueless.

WOULD YOU RATHER FIGHT ONE HORSE-SIZED DUCK OR 100 DUCK-SIZED HORSES?

LEGENDS COLLIDE IAN LIVINGSTONE is, according to his Develop Award, an actual Legend.

He launched Tomb Raider. Wrote those books where you pick which page to go to. He had a lot to do with Games Workshop as well. Oh, and he’s helped transform the education system in the UK. He’s a pretty big deal.

But even big deals can act like fawning fanboys at times. And that’s what happened when Livingstone and Apple founder Steve Wozniak met at Business Rocks in Manchester. Not only did Ian get the customary photo, he even got his iPhone signed.

Next week, we’ll run a picture of that time the MCV team ran into Anthea Turner.

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Jesse Rapczak – Co-Founder and Co-Creative Director, Studio Wildcard “I would say the horse-sized duck because 100 duck-sized horses sound like the Compy [Compsognathus] from our game and those things are not easy when there are 100 of them. I’d rather worry about one big thing rather than 100 little things that I might not be able to even see all the time.”

37

May 20th 2016

OFF THE RECORD

Green Man Gaming Asks...

What’s your most memorable level in a ȴ UVW SHUVRQ VKRRWHU" #GMGasks

Each week Green Man Gaming asks the Twitter community what they think about the biggest gaming topics trending today.

Tag your reply with #GMGasks to have your say!

‘Tower of Babel’ in the original Doom. GOOD LORD that Cyberdemon scared me to death!!!

‘The UAC’ from Doom LV GHȴ QLWHO\ XS there. Maybe the opening level of Turok 2.

@BlueLightsShine

@Fehnnis

Probably when Dom VDFULȴ FHV KLPVHOI WR save Marcus and the others, & the beginning of The Last of Us when his daughter dies.

First level of Perfect Dark. Such a good game

@NotSoMLGDanny

@9reen9uy

Instantly my brain said ‘Clear the crash site, go go go! We got jackals in the courtyard!’ So GHȴ QLWHO\ Halo 2 crash site.

Silent Cartographer in Halo:CE. Absolute belter!

@Nojrenlew

@PhatLad321

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