MCV889 August 26th

ISSUE 889 FRIDAY AUGUST 26TH 2016

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‘COM ONE, ‘COM ALL ISSUE 889 FRIDAY AUGUST 26TH 2016

OUR REVIEW OF ANOTHER HUGE GAMESCOM

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Masterchef maker launches UK games studio Endemol Shine announces Good Catch, a standalone video games unit O Original IP part of the company’s vision THE firm behind Masterchef, Mr Bean and Pointless has opened a games studio in London.

Endemol Shine has launched Good Catch, a developer and publisher that will focus on mobile development, but will also create products for PC and console, too.

“Endemol Shine is a big global TV firm, and it has been doing bits and pieces in the digital space,” said Good Catch MD Anil Mistry.

“We’ve done a few things like the Pointless Quiz app. But we were outsourcing a lot of development. If we want to do this properly, we need to get some investment and a bigger team.

“The idea behind Good Catch is to create a developer and a publisher, and bring all those bits together under one header.”

He added: “We are a standalone company that is wholly owned by Endemol Shine. We have set up a brand that can be consumer and industry facing. The TV and games industries are incredibly different and we wanted our own identity.

“Good Catch gives us brands, reach and independence.

We’ve been doing this for a while, and we’ve made good and bad decisions. We have experience and teams, it is about consolidation and moving forward.”

The company can currently work on two titles simultaneously, but is on the hunt for talent so it can handle five projects. Mistry says Good Catch will create games based on its big global brands such as Mr Bean, but will avoid older, more local IP such as Big Brother or Deal or No Deal.

The company is also eager to split its efforts between new and existing properties.

“The dream is to make a game that’s a new IP, that we can then grow beyond games,” he told MCV. “If we could make a TV show based on one of our games, that would be great. We have the infrastructure around us to do that.”

PLUS MICROSOFT ON XBOX ONE S, WINDOWS 10 AND FIFA THE NEW DEUS EX

NEWS

Microsoft ‘optimistic’ about British games development despite Brexit ‘Some of the very best games developers are in the UK,’ says marketing chief O US giant monitoring situation

by Christopher Dring XBOX is ‘really optimistic’ about the future of UK games development, despite the recent Brexit result.

Microsoft remains one of the biggest investors in UK games development, even after the closure of its Lionhead studio earlier in the year. It owns Rare in Twycross and Lift in London, while it has outsourced the development of Forza Horizon 3, Halo Wars and Crackdown to UK studios.

“Right now, we don’t anticipate any immediate implications to our products and services in the UK,” Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg told MCV when discussing the potential fallout from Britain’s decision to exit the European Union.

“We continue to monitor the UK regulatory landscape. Really

the focus is to make sure that our investments in the UK meets the needs of our fans. We have seen the UK as an incredible hot bed of talent that creates great games.

Some of the very best game developers are there, and some of them we own, like the team at Rare. But then we also get to work with folks like Creative Assembly and Playground Games, which are creating other great blockbuster experiences.

“If you look at probably the hottest bed of Xbox game development, it is probably in the UK. Crackdown is being built there, Forza Horizon is being built there, Sea of Thieves is being built there, Halo Wars 2... so many titles for us are coming out of that market. So we continue to be really optimistic about the opportunities in the UK.” For more from Greenberg, turn to page 20.

Sea of Thieves is one of four Microsoft games in development in the UK

THQ Nordic: We’ll test the casual market on consoles

Nominations for MCV’s 2016 30 Under 30 is now open 30 Under 30 returns in October.

Once again, we will be showcasing the 30 most talented individuals under the age of 30 working in the UK games industry.

MCV’s 30 Under 30 is open to all involved in the games business – publishers, retailers, media and supporting industries. It will not be featuring development talent – our sister title Develop has its own 30 Under 30.

To be eligible to appear on our 30 Under 30 list,

August 26th 2016

nominees must be under the age of 30 on Friday, October 7th, To put someone forward, please email Alex Calvin at acalvin@nbmedia.com with a name, job title, a high resolution image and a brief argument for why they should appear on the list.

by Alex Calvin PUBLISHER THQ Nordic says its upcoming We Sing title will be a litmus test to see if there is a casual market on console.

CEO Lars Wingefors told MCV that if the karaoke title is a hit, the firm could invest in family titles.

“From what we have seen in the market, PS4 and Xbox One have not been ready [for kids and family games] because consumers have not been there,” Wingefors says.

“We’re going to test the water with We Sing but I’m curious to

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see if there will be a casual market on the major consoles. People have been waiting since the Wii died for some console, other than mobile, to become casual in some way. If Sony and Microsoft could catch a few million families, we’d be interested in trying out casual products.

“I’m sure there will be a casual market again, but it will never be the same as it was on Wii or PS2.

We’ll continue with our hardcore games, but we will test the water with We Sing. It’s a top product and if it goes well, we’ll see.”

www.mcvuk.com

NEWS

FIFA, Call of Duty and Metal Gear conquer Gamescom 2016

THE EDITOR

New COD trailer is most watched, with 9.3m views

by Christopher Dring IT will come as little surprise to discover that FIFA 17, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Metal Gear Survive were the most talked about games at Gamescom.

Across all social and PR channels (media, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), FIFA 17 was the highest ranked game present.

Yet in terms of individual trailers, the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Zombies in Spaceland trailer generated 9.3m views across all channels between August 16th to 21st. It’s by far the biggest individual trailer, eclipsing the second placed title, Metal

Gear Survive, which garnered 3.4m views. FIFA 17 was the third most viewed trailer. The ‘Football, Powered by Frostbite’ trailer gained 2.95m views.

Around 1,111 games presented at Gamescom were featured on websites, with EA achieving the most media coverage overall.

The publisher’s Titanfall 2 was the game that received the second highest coverage by the press, with Battlefield 1 at No.7.

IGN was the website that featured the most amount of Gamescom activity, although there were 728 websites in total that covered Gamescom titles.

All data courtesy of Fancensus

GAMESCOM DELIVERED, IF YOU LOOKED HARD ENOUGH

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alking to the games media can, at times, be slightly dispiriting.

Half the conversations we had with them at Gamescom centred on the lack of announcements this year, and which games generated the most traffic.

I get it, of course. These journalists have been flown to Cologne and put up in hotels. They have to deliver the numbers. And this year all they had to report on were a few betas, a Metal Gear game that seemed designed to piss off its entire fanbase, and the almost annual Xbox One/ FIFA bundle (admittedly made sweeter this year by the inclusion of that new S model).

Gamescom lost Sony’s European press conference to Paris Games Week in 2015 and it didn’t win it back this year.

Xbox had little new to show post-E3. The modern EA only likes to talk about what it can show gamers right away.

It all made for an unspectacular show that lacked the noise and clamour of previous years.

Yet delve beyond the Call of Duty and Resident Evil trailers, and lurking within Gamescom’s giant halls were some real gems and interesting little businesses.

Take the UK Game of the Show, Blackwood Crossing.

That game had a solitary demo pod on the end of UKIE’s booth. Or The Sexy Brutale, an inventive new game from former Lionhead developers, which was behind

Call of Duty’s Zombies in Spaceland trailer generated 9.3m views

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For companies that want to find the ‘next big thing’, Gamescom is a show full of potential. a closed door, down an almost hidden corridor on someone else’s booth in the hall that was furthest away from anything.

There are, we’re sure, countless examples of this.

Of new talent lurking in the corners with a game, or accessory, or a piece of technology to show. MCV only saw a slice of what was on offer in those cavernous halls.

Gamescom is, in many ways, the anti-E3. Whereas the LA show is about spectacle, excitement, blockbuster sequels and the biggest names, its Cologne rival has become more about new faces, original concepts and emerging businesses.

Both definitely have a place in the industry calendar.

For those sectors (such as the mainstream media) that are built on Battlefield hype, Gamescom perhaps offers very little. Yet for us, and for those companies that want to find the ‘next big thing’, this is a show full of potential.

Long may it continue. cdring@nbmedia.com

August 26th 2016

GAMESCOM REVIEW

What we learnt from Gamescom 2016 The reveals and announcements may not have come thick and fast at Gamescom 2016, but there were still plenty of developments coming out of the show floor. Christopher Dring, Alex Calvin and Matthew Jarvis look at the key things we took away from this year’s show

TITANFALL 2 IS CALL OF DUTY’S TRUE RIVAL THIS YEAR, NOT BATTLEFIELD 1 EA’S marketing boss Chris Bruzzo told MCV that consumers who enjoy Call of Duty should be playing Titanfall 2 .

When asked whether he felt that the positive reaction to Battlefield 1 suggested that game would beat Call of Duty this year, Bruzzo said that the rivalry was not between those two games.

Titanfall 2 was one of the most talked-about games at the show. According to data firm Fancensus, it scored the most coverage the day before the show kicked off.

“I think that the style of play that Call of Duty has become known for is a great fit for players who should be playing Titanfall 2,” Bruzzo said.

“Honestly, the people at Respawn were one of the originators of that style of play. If you want to put games next to each other, I’d put Titanfall up against Call of Duty and ask which one is doing interesting things.

“As it relates to Battlefield, it’s a whole other thing. It’s way

August 26th 2016

more strategic and thoughtful.

Even though they are all FPS’, they’re all very different.

“Battlefield is going to find a big audience. The reception to some of the content has been so strong. I hope we bring people in to the genre that have never played before.”

Furthermore, developer Respawn said that despite Titanfall 2 having a ‘2’ in its title, the studio is treating the game like a new IP. This is due to the fact that the original title was an Xbox exclusive and as a result many consumers won’t have played the game.

“We’re really excited to welcome back that original Xbox One, 360 and PC audience,” COO Dusty Welch said.

“But Titanfall 2 is really a new IP at launch if you think about it. The Xbox One install base is two or three times what it was when Titanfall launched, the PC audience continues to grow. Then there’s the PS4 install base, which is enormous.”

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GAMESCOM REVIEW

MICROSOFT IS COUNTING ON FIFA TO SELL XBOX ONE S CONSOLES IN EUROPE PLATFORM holder Microsoft announced at Gamescom that the upcoming 1TB and 500GB SKUs of its Xbox One S console will be launching with a free download of FIFA 17 – one week before its official launch.

The firm is betting on EA’s football title to help shift Xbox One S consoles in Europe, with marketing boss Aaron Greenberg citing the title’s No.1 position in the region.

“We know FIFA is the No.1 title across Europe, which is why we have a multi-year partnership with EA on the franchise,” he said.

“To be able to drive new console adoption, with a new model, then add a tonne of value, to give people the ability to play the game seven

days early... that is a massive differentiator for FIFA fans, for gamers, and for the millions of people across Europe that haven’t bought a next-gen console yet. We believe this is a big differentiator that will help us drive share gains in those key markets.”

FIFA senior producer Nick Channon added: “All we can do is make a great game. That’s what we’ll be focusing on. This year is outstanding. There’s huge value for our players with lots of changes. But it’s hugely gratifying for us and we take it as a compliment.

It’s something we don’t want to take for granted, we want to keep innovating and developing and making the best FIFA that we can.”

OCULUS RIFT IS COMING TO RETAIL VIRTUAL reality headset Oculus Rift is finally coming to shops in the UK. The tech will be available from retailers including Amazon, John Lewis, Curry’s and GAME from September 20th.

Speaking to MCV at Gamescom, Oculus said that the retail launch in America had been a hit and that stores are big fans of Rift as demos for the tech are driving consumers into outlets.

Head of content Jason Rubin says that vendors are happy to make the trade off between floor space and demo space because large numbers of consumers flock into stores to try the new tech

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“Retailers love it,” he said.

“Beyond the normal things they think about, it’s drawing people to stores who otherwise would not go there. People are signing up online and going two weeks later, they’re going into shops in the US and playing demos. It’s like going to the movies.

“And once they’re at a retailer, companies love the fact that whether they buy a drink, a cable or a $2,000 bundle with a PC and a Rift, it’s more people that are in the store.”

He continued: “It does take a lot of room to do a VR demo. There is an investment.

Retailers are excited to make that trade from retail space to demo space because it’s bringing people into the shop.”

August 26th 2016

GAMESCOM REVIEW

THE BIG NUMBERS OF GAMESCOM

345,000 500,000

877

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Number of visitors that

In total, Koelnmesse

This year, there was a nine

2K, Ubisoft, Microsoft and

The average distance

attended this year’s

believes that Gamescom

per cent rise in the number

Nintendo all walked away

walked by a member of

Gamescom, according to

attracted over 500,000

of companies attending

with three prizes from the

MCV editorial staff over the

organisers Koelnmesse

people to Cologne

the show

Gamescom Award

course of Gamescom 2016

METAL GEAR RETURNS IN one of the few big reveals of the show, Konami announced a new Metal Gear title.

Dubbed Metal Gear Survive, this is the first entry in the franchise since series creator Hideo Kojima left. The new release picks up at the end of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes with a group of soldiers being sucked through a wormhole to another reality.

So far, so Metal Gear.

In this new universe, the soldiers must fight off a zombie horde. Gameplay-wise, this is a co-op survival title, with Konami insisting there will be stealth elements, too. It’s set for a 2017 release on PS4, Xbox One and PC. According to data firm Fancensus, this trailer racked up 700,000 views during its first day on show, while it was also the most talked-about game on Facebook, and the second most talkedabout on Twitter.

CREATIVE ASSEMBLY WANTS TO ATTRACT NEW RTS FANS WITH HALO WARS 2 THE real time strategy genre is infamous for being a very hardcore market, but developer Creative Assembly says that the upcoming Halo Wars 2 is going to be its most accessible strategy game yet.

Producer David Nicholson says he hopes the game will turn Halo fans who will pick up the title into RTS lovers. Likewise, Xbox marketing chief Aaron Greenberg also believes that Halo Wars 2 will turn PC fans into Halo enthusiasts.

“First and foremost, we want to make a really good RTS game,” Nicholson said.

“We are trying to make an ‘RTS for everyone’.

If you’ve never played an RTS before, I would encourage you to play Halo Wars 2. We still retain

August 26th 2016

the depth, so if you are a big RTS fan, all of that stuff is there, but we are bringing a lot of accessibility.”

He added: “There will be significant differences between the PC and Xbox versions, certainly with the user interface and the control schemes. So people familiar with RTS on the PC will feel very comfortable with how it is presented.

“People who have played great Halo games but have never been attracted to an RTS game may buy this for the story and the Halo connection, but they will also be introduced to the genre. There are several different modes that gives you an introduction to the core mechanics of an RTS game.”

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GAMESCOM REVIEW

TELLTALE THINKS WE NEED TO CHANGE HOW WE CATEGORISE VIDEO GAMES THE developer of The Walking Dead, Minecraft Story Mode and Game of Thrones says the games industry ought to re-think how it defines genres.

Telltale’s head of worldwide creative communications, Job Stauffer, observed that – unlike film, TV and books – video games define their genres by gameplay mechanics (RPG, first person shooter) rather than narrative theme.

Telltale’s titles are adventure games, according to their mechanics, but in terms of story they cover a variety of styles including fantasy (Game of Thrones), kids (Minecraft:

Story Mode) and horror (The Walking Dead).

“In the language of the games industry for the past 30-plus years, games have always been defined by their mechanics,” Stauffer said.

“When we think of games, here at Gamescom, I could ask you: did you see any racing games?

Any fighting games? Any RPGs? Any action or adventure games?

“Telltale is in the adventure genre, and we’re proud of that, but when your games are focused on narrative and narrative is defining the game itself, we need to adopt the same philosophies that we apply to TV and film.”

PLAYSTACK WANTS TO ‘FIX THE WORD PUBLISHER’ NEW UK games company PlayStack wants to change the perception of the word ‘publisher’ in the eyes of developers.

PlayStack is looking to offer marketing, PR, tech and funding support for studios.

“Publisher is not a nice word,” CEO Harvey Elliott said. “I’ve been in the industry my entire career, either making games or making tech for games. That’s why I wanted to be a publisher, because I know how I would have liked a publisher to behave.

I want to fix the word publisher.

“I want to redefine what publishing means to people.

As a developer, you want to be supported, you want to be funded, you want to have people that know what they’re doing in terms of bringing a game to market, and who can give you the right advice. My job is to provide that, get developers backed, get their messaging right, get their games right, bring them to market with a great marketing campaign, and deliver them to the world.”

LOOK WHO’S TALKING

Aaron Greenberg Chris Bruzzo Xbox EA

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David Nicholson Dusty Welch Creative Assembly Respawn

Harvey Elliott PlayStack

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Jason Rubin Oculus VR

Job Stauffer Telltale Games

Nick Channon EA

August 26th 2016

GAMESCOM’S HIDDEN GAMES

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Gamescom’s secret seven MCV’s Christopher Dring and Alex Calvin scoured the Gamescom show floor to find the hidden games that we think you should be paying attention to

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attlefield 1. Titanfall 2.

Metal Gear Survive. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

Resident Evil VII. These were the big games of Gamescom. The ones that demanded attention, that drew millions of people in with their flashy trailers and received towering stands and snaking queues. But you know about those games already.

MCV’s team spent some of its time visiting games hidden deep in the business halls – titles that you may not have heard of (or given much thought to).

These are our Gamescom secret seven (in no particular order).

August 26th 2016

1. THE SEXY BRUTALE

2. Q.U.B.E 2

3. BLACKWOOD CROSSING

Cavalier Games is a new studio made up of former Lionhead alumni. It has teamed up with Tequila Works (famous for Deadlight and Rime) to create this game – a masquerade ball murder mystery that looks a little like Luigi’s Mansion, has the sort of time-travelling mechanics of Majora’s Mask and gameplay unlike anything.

It’s a puzzle adventure game, with gamers forced to re-live a murder over and over, until they find a way to stop the killer.

It looks unique and distinctly British. It is due out on Xbox One, PS4 and PC next year.

It may be a sequel, but we still think Qube 2 is obscure enough to warrant your attention. The game looks and feels like Valve’s hit Portal, with players – in a first person view – manipulating blocks in an effort to get out of a room.

Using Unreal Engine 4, the game appears more refined than the slightly scrappy 2011 original, with the bouncing mechanics feeling especially satisfying. We were only meant to give the game a quick play, but we were soon addicted and dying to play the whole thing.

It’s due on consoles and PC.

The winner of the UK Game of the Show, this single-player narrative puzzle adventure is one of the more uncanny things we discovered at Gamescom.

The game follows two orphaned siblings: Scarlett and Finn, who end up on a mysterious train journey, filled with characters wearing unusual animal masks. From the section we witnessed, the writing is strong, the voice talent is good and the visual style is unique. It is being created by PaperSeven, published by Vision Games and is due on PS4, Xbox One and PC this year.

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www.mcvuk.com

GAMESCOM’S HIDDEN GAMES

4. RIPCOIL

5. FORMULA FUSION

6. LITTLE NIGHTMARES

7. WILSON’S HEART

Let’s get straight to it – RipCoil is virtual reality Pong.

Sanzaru Games’ multiplayer title has players attempting to get a disc into their opponent’s goal while simultaneously defending their own. Gamers are able to move up and down their goal on a hoverboard.

RipCoil makes good use of the head and hand tracking functionality of the Oculus Rift.

Leaning to the left takes your board in that direction; learning right does the opposite. Picking up a disc in VR and being able to throw it in a variety of ways is a very satisfying feeling.

From R8 Games, Formula Fusion is the latest project to try and bring back the antigravity racing genre.

The title feels just like WipeOut. It is fast with a focus on weapons, hitting boosts and looping, colourful tracks. Even the air-breaking mechanic feels reminiscent of the ‘90s PlayStation classic. Former WipeOut dev Andrew Walker is working on the title, as is The Designer’s Republic, the firm that gave the PSOne game its distinctive style.

The project is currently on Steam Early Access.

This title is from Swedish studio Tarsier, the team whose credits include LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway. The game was first unveiled two years ago, then under the name Hunger, and now it has re-emerged with a new name and a new publisher – Bandai Namco.

The disturbing horror platformer stars a young girl in a yellow raincoat, who has been captured and placed on a ship filled with monsters. Players must overcome obstacles and puzzles to survive. It’s coming out in spring next year for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

The winner of the Gamescom 2016 Best Virtual Reality Game award, Twisted Pixel’s Wilson’s Heart is highly deserving of the praise. The title is an adventure game set within an abandoned asylum; players wake up strapped to a bed and have to explore the hospital for a way out.

Wilson’s Heart boasts atmospheric sound that really draws players into the world, and there are some genuinely terrifying moments. The title also makes excellent use of Oculus’ Touch controllers, which make the world feel more tangible.

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August 26th 2016

CHEAT SHEET

UP & DOWN

Market Data Software revenue drops by 40 per cent due to a lack of major releases last week

£10m £15m

NO MAN’S SKY falls one place to No.2 as sales plummet 81 per cent in its second week

£9.5m 269,814 units

£30m £5m

£5.9m 188,953 units

£4.7m 180,790 units

Week Ending August 6th

Week Ending August 13th

MIRROR’S Edge Catalyst returns to the Top 40 at No.29 with a 90 per cent sales rise

Week Ending August 20th

EVENT CALENDAR AUGUST 2016 ...........................................................................

INSOMNIA58 NEC Birmingham Friday, August 26th – Monday, August 29th Q As well as a main stage, Insomnia features 24-hour LAN areas, panel talks, retro and indie zones and console tournaments Q For the first time, High Street retailer GAME will be holding GAMEFest at the show Q Multiplay is also holding a League of Legends event, League Fest, at the show for the first time

SEPTEMBER 2016 ...........................................................................

EUROPEAN WOMEN IN GAMES CONFERENCE University of Greenwich, London Wednesday, September 7th Q The sixth edition of the European Women in Games Conference takes place at University of Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College Q Over 40 speakers will be delivering keynotes, panel discussions and workshops on subjects including careers, eSports and BAME diversity

August 26th 2016

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LEGENDS OF GAMING LIVE 2016 Alexandra Palace, London Saturday, September 10th – Sunday, September 11th Q For two days next month, fans will be meeting the stars of YouTube. Almost 20,000 gamers are expected to be in attendance Q YouTube personalities such as Ali-A, DanTDM, Spencer FC and LDShadowLady will be at the show EGX NEC, Birmingham Thursday, September 22nd – Sunday, September 25th Q EGX returns for its second year at NEC Birmingham Q This year’s expo features panel discussions, a career fair, a cosplay stage, retro and board game ones, and merchandise to purchase

OCTOBER 2016 ...........................................................................

PLAY EXPO EventCity. Manchester Saturday, October 8th – Sunday, October 9th Q Play Expo returns for its fifth year at Manchester’s EventCity exhibition centre

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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

PLAYSTATION 4 SLIM SEEMINGLY LEAKED

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In what has to be one of the more bizarre stories, a PlayStation 4 Slim console has apparently been leaked by... someone selling it on Gumtree.

Eurogamer has verified the device to be real. Sony is yet to announce the existence of such a device, though it is holding an event in New York on September 7th where this may be revealed.

Microsoft has announced that the 1TB and 500GB versions of its new Xbox One S console will launch on September 22nd

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@bskipper27 PS4 Slim is either the most elaborate, convincing fake ever or the biggest leak ever.

On September 7th, Sony is holding an event in New York where it’s expected to reveal a new PlayStation model

@ObvItsAmy That PS4 Slim though... it’s pretty sexy.

Ben Skipper, IBT Monday, August 22nd

Amy Marie Graves, Square Enix Sunday, August 21st

KONAMI ANNOUNCES NEW METAL GEAR GAME

TWITCH TO ACQUIRE MEDIA FIRM CURSE

Publisher Konami has revealed its first Metal Gear console game since series creator Hideo Kojima left.

Dubbed Metal Gear Survive, this is a co-op survival title that features zombies.

Amazon-owned streaming giant Twitch has announced its intention to purchase online tech and media company Curse. The firm has a network of game sites as well as secure voice chat technology.

@TommyRefenes Metal Gear Survive looks like a Metal Gear game made by people who don’t like Metal Gear and never played Metal Gear.

@AssembledAdam Twitch buys Curse, wow. Plus full on pivot to gaming chat, and one of the slickest UIs I’ve seen in ages. Very well done to them.

Adam McCann, Candy Banana Wednesday, August 17th

Tommy Refenes, indie developer Wednesday, August 17th @joeparlock I like how ‘explosion throws soldiers-for-hire into a parallel universe with zombies’ is the most sensible Metal Gear plot yet.

$9.1m Chinese eSports team Wings Gaming walked away with $9.1m from DOTA 2 competition, The International 6

10 Windows 10 is getting an Early Access-style system based on Xbox Game Preview

22% Research firm Sensor Tower says the mobile games sector grew by 22 per cent in the three months ending June 30th

@Thomas_Burleigh Twitch bought Curse... So Twitch now has a hold within the YouTube network industry... interesting.

Joe Parlock, Let’s Play Video Games Wednesday, August 17th

Thomas Burleigh, Bent Pixels Saturday, August 20th

AG Prismatic Controller - PDP Design and manufacture the Afterglow Prismatic Controller for Xbox ONE Officially licensed by Microsoft europesales@pdp.com

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GAMESAID THIS WEEK GAMESAID GOLF DAY RAISES £30,OOO

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

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GAMESCOM TO BRIGHTON CYCLE RIDE

GAMESAID CHEQUE GIVING 2016

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The annual GamesAid Golf and Spa Day returned for the ninth time on Thursday, July 14th. The event raised a whopping £30,000. This year it was once again held at The Grove in Watford.

A number of GamesAid members cycled 352 miles from Cologne to Brighton for charity, raising £3,430 in the process. You can still donate here www. justgiving.com/teams/ gamescomtobrighton2016

On September 15th at London’s Warner House, GamesAid will announce which charities will receive funding this year. Last year, GamesAid raised £564,000, which was donated to eight different organisations.

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August 26th 2016

MARKET MOVES

APPOINTMENTS

UKIE hires new business development executive Rice replaces Jenny Brammall O New editor for PocketGamer.biz O Regan leaves Indigo Pearl UKIE | The UK games industry trade body has hired MEGAN RICE as business development executive.

She replaces JENNY BRAMMALL, who left to join nDreams earlier this year.

Rice previously worked at games incubator and co-working space Playhubs as a community manager. Prior to that, she worked for the likes of the BAFTA Youth Board, Curve and Bossa.

DR JO TWIST OBE, CEO of UKIE, said: “We’re thrilled to have Meg join. She is already well known among many of our members and is the perfect addition to support our growing membership across the country.”

August 26th 2016

POCKET GAMER | The mobile-focused site is starting a new chapter with some staff changes.

CRAIG CHAPPLE, (top left) former deputy editor at MCV’s sister title Develop, has been appointed as editor of PocketGamer.biz.

He had been a freelance journalist since May, after working as online editor at Nintendo of Europe.

RIC COWLEY (second from top, left) and MATT SUCKLEY (second from bottom, left) have

also been respectively promoted to news editor and features editor. Both previously were staff writers at PocketGamer.biz.

Meanwhile, JON JORDAN (bottom left) will be stepping back from the editor-in-chief role but will stay in the company as contributing editor.

These changes happen as the website is launching a brand new section called the Mobile Games University, which aims at providing insight on the mobile games business to professionals.

Steel Media MD CHRIS JAMES commented: “We’re delighted to have Craig on board. He brings some fantastic ideas and experience to the company. We’re excited about

14

all the opportunities that lie ahead. Craig, Ric and Matt together form a brilliant young team for PG.biz, with big plans for the future.’’

INDIGO PEARL | Former account executive TOM REGAN has departed Indigo Pearl to work as a freelancer.

He commented: “After an amazing year and a half in PR I’ve returned to doing what I love the most – writing. I’m London based and I am now offering games journalism, copy writing and gaming consultancy services.”

Regan has previously written for the likes of IGN, God is a Geek and Expansive.

www.mcvuk.com

NOVEMBER 21ST, THE BREWERY

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WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

WEEKLY CHARTS NO MAN’S SKY did not reign long. After only one week at No.1, Hello Games’ title has been pushed down to No.2 by Codemasters’ F1 2016.

Launch sales for the racing title are down 32 per cent compared to the previous game in the franchise, F1 2015. It’s the only new entry in this week’s charts.

Meanwhile, No Man’s Sky sales decreased by 81 per cent.

LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens takes the third spot, with sales rising 13 per cent.

Elsewhere, Nintendo’s 3DS titles continue to take over the charts, with New Super Mario Bros. 2 gaining 16 places to No.17, Tomodachi Life climbing to No.23 and Pokémon titles

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire still managing to respectively get the No.24 and No.35 spots.

But the big winner this week is EA’s Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, which comes back to the listings at No.27 with sales increasing 90 per cent.

Over on Steam, No Man’s Sky managed to keep its No.1 spot, while pre-orders for Deus Ex: Mankind Divived took the third position.

Codemasters’ F1 2016 also enters the platform’s charts at No.8.

On mobile, Pokémon GO remains the top title in the free iPad chart, as well as in the free and grossing iPhone Top Ten. Meanwhile, Devolver’s new title Reigns is No.2 in both iPad and iPhone paid games.

GLOBAL STEAM CHARTS (UNITS)

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 10 RE 07 RE RE RE NEW RE RE

NO MAN’S SKY DEVELOPER: HELLO GAMES PUBLISHER: HELLO GAMES

TITLE Grand Theft Auto V Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (P) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive RimWorld Dead by Daylight Just Cause 3 XL F1 2016 Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen Starbound

PUBLISHER Rockstar Square Enix Valve Ludeon Studios Starbreeze Square Enix Codemasters Capcom Chucklefish

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

04

05

Title Format Publisher F1 2016 PS4, XO, PC Codemasters No Man’s Sky PS4 Sony LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens PS4, XO, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros Overwatch PS4, XO, PC Activision Blizzard Grand Theft Auto V PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar Rocket League PS4, XO 505 Games FIFA 16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End PS4 Sony Doom PS4, XO, PC Bethesda Minecraft: Xbox Edition XO, 360 Microsoft Call of Duty: Black Ops III PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard LEGO Marvel’s Avengers PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, PC Warner Bros Fallout 4 PS4, XO, PC Bethesda LEGO Jurassic World PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros Star Wars Battlefront PS4, XO, PC EA Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympics Wii U, 3DS Nintendo New Super Mario Bros. 2 3DS Nintendo Minecraft: Story Mode PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Telltale Games/Avanquest Homefront: The Revolution PS4, XO, PC Deep Silver Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Minecraft: PlayStation Edition PS4, PS3, Vita Sony Disney Infinity 3.0 PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, PC Disney Tomodachi Life 3DS Nintendo Pokémon Omega Ruby 3DS Nintendo Tom Clancy’s The Division PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Far Cry Primal PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft Mirror’s Edge Catalyst PS4, XO, PC EA EA Sports UFC 2 PS4, XO EA Batman: Arkham Knight PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros Heavy Rain & Beyond Two Souls Collection PS4 Sony Minecraft: Wii U Edition Wii U Nintendo LEGO Marvel Super Heroes PS4, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros WWE 2K16 PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC 2K Games Forza Motorsport 6 XO Microsoft Pokémon Alpha Sapphire 3DS Nintendo Just Cause 3 PS4, XO, PC Square Enix Ratchet & Clank PS4 Sony Mortal Kombat XL PS4, XO Warner Bros Bloodborne PS4 Sony Monster Hunter Generations 3DS Capcom

Source: Steam, Period: August 15th to 21st August 26th 2016

03

Source: UKIE/GfK Entertainment, Period: Week ending August 20th 16

www.mcvuk.com

WEEKLY SALES CHARTS

UK IPAD PAID

01 TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 02 NEW RE NEW 07 NEW RE 05 RE

UK IPHONE PAID

(UNITS)

01

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Minecraft: Story Mode Reigns Football Manager Mobile 2016 Subliminal Realms: The Masterpiece HD Terraria Fear for Sale: City of the Past HD Bloons TD 5 HD Draw a Stickman: Epic 2 Geometry Dash

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Telltale Devolver Digital Sega Big Fish 505 Games Big Fish Ninja Kiwi Hitcents.com RobTop Games

LW 02 NEW 06 04 10 06 05 07 09

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: August 8th to August 14th

(UNITS)

MINECRAFT: POCKET EDITION DEVELOPER: MOJANG

Title Heads Up! Reigns Football Manager Mobile 2016 Plague Inc. Geometry Dash Bloons TD 5 Monopoly Game Hitman: Sniper The Chase

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: August 8th to August 14th

UK IPAD GROSSING (REVENUE)

UK IPHONE GROSSING (REVENUE)

01

01

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LW 04 05 03 02 07 RE 06 RE 08

CANDY CRUSH SAGA DEVELOPER: KING

Title Game of War - Fire Age Candy Crush Soda Saga Mobile Strike Clash of Clans Pokémon GO Township Hay Day Roblox Minecraft: Pocket Edition

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Machine Zone King Epic War Supercell Niantic Playrix Supercell Roblox Corporation Mojang

LW 03 04 02 06 07 08 05 09 10

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: August 8th to August 14th

POKÉMON GO DEVELOPER: NIANTIC

Title Candy Crush Saga Game of War - Fire Age Mobile Strike Candy Crush Soda Saga CSR Racing 2 Episode - Choose Your Story, feat. Mean Girls: Senior Year Clash of Clans 8 Ball Pool Marvel Contest of Champions

UK IPHONE FREE (UNITS)

01

01

LW 07 RE 02 NEW 05 NEW 10 04 RE

POKÉMON GO DEVELOPER: NIANTIC

Title Rio 2016 Olympic Games Fit The Fat 2 Slither.io Taxi Sim 2016 CSR Racing 2 Ketchapp Summer Sports Roblox Sports Hero Geometry Dash Lite

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Neowiz Games Five Bits Steve Howse Alexandru Marusac NaturalMotion Ketchapp Roblox Corporation Cherrypick Games RobTop Games

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: August 8th to August 14th www.mcvuk.com

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

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: August 8th to August 14th

UK IPAD FREE (UNITS)

TW 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Developer Warner Bros Devolver Digital Sega Ndemic Creations RobTop Games Ninja Kiwi EA Square Enix Barnstorm Games

LW NEW RE RE 07 02 04 NEW 05 RE

POKÉMON GO DEVELOPER: NIANTIC

Title Ketchapp Summer Sports Fit The Fat 2 PokéAlert - Realtime Map for Pokémon GO Rio 2016 Olympic Games 50 50 - The Addictive Slicing Game Talking Tom Gold Run Bowmasters Slither.io Geometry Dash Lite

Developer Ketchapp Five Bits Meiji Media Neowiz Games App Design Outfit7 Playgendary Steve Howse RobTop Games

Source: UKIE/Refl ection, Period: August 8th to August 14th 17

August 26th 2016

MONTHLY SALES CHARTS

JULY CHARTS IT’S without surprise that LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens took the top spot in the July charts.

The title was already No.2 last month, only a few days after its launch. In July, sales for the game were up two per cent.

As a consequence, Warner Bros tops the publisher listings, in both value and units.

Developer Traveller’s Tales also remains No.1 in the studios charts, Last month’s No.1, Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch, has been pushed down to No.3 with sales decreasing 59 per cent and Sony’s Uncharted 4 has taken the second position with sales down 48 per cent.

505 Games’ Rocket League had some impressive figures last month, climbing from No.26 to No.7 - its sales were up 88 per cent.

There were only two new titles in the charts last month - and both are 3DS games.

Capcom’s Monster Hunter Generations debuted at No.9 and Nintendo’s Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016

Olympic Games entered the charts at No.22.

Nintendo is actually the big winner of the July rankings, thanks to the landslide success of Pokémon Go. The latest 3DS titles in the franchise, Pokémon Alpha Sapphire (up 137 per cent in sales) and Omega Ruby (up 124 per cent) are both back in the charts, respectively at No.30 and No.32.

3DS titles Tomodachi Life and New Super Mario Bros. 2 are also back in the Top 40.

Consequently, the market share of the 3DS has increased in July, reaching 11.7 per cent in both value and units compared to 4.9 per cent in revenue and 5.6 per cent in units in June.

Another consequence is the comeback of Game Freak, the studio behind the main Pokémon games, in the developers rankings.

The studio gained 15 spots, jumping from No.22 to No.7.

In the digital rankings, FIFA 16, Call of Duty: Black Ops III and GTA V remain at the top.

Warner Bros’ LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the bestselling title in July

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 02 04 01 05 03 06 26 08 NEW 17 10 13 14 15 09 RE 21 19 28 18 16 NEW 23 29 31 20 24 07 12 RE RE RE RE RE RE 30 32 25 RE RE

03

Title LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Overwatch FIFA 16 Doom Grand Theft Auto V Rocket League Call of Duty: Black Ops III Monster Hunter Generations Minecraft: Xbox Edition Ratchet & Clank LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Star Wars Battlefront Fallout 4 Tom Clancy’s The Division 7 Days to Die LEGO Jurassic World EA Sports UFC 2 Minecraft: PlayStation Edition Destiny: The Taken King Homefront: The Revolution Mario & Sonic: Rio 2016 Olympic Games Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege Minecraft: Story Mode Batman: Arkham Knight Far Cry Primal WWE 2K16 Mirror’s Edge Catalyst UEFA Euro 2016 Pro Evolution Soccer Pokémon Alpha Sapphire Minecraft: Wii U Edition Pokémon Omega Ruby Tomodachi Life Guitar Hero Live The Elder Scrolls Online Deadpool The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 New Super Mario Bros. 2 Zoo Tycoon

04

05

Format Publisher PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4 Sony PS4, XO, PC Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC EA PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Rockstar PS4, XO 505 Games PS4, XO, PS3, 360, PC Activision Blizzard 3DS Capcom XO, 360 Microsoft PS4 Sony PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO Telltale Games PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita Warner Bros PS4, XO EA PS4, PS3, Vita Sony PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard XO, PC Deep Silver Wii U, 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Telltale Games PS4, XO, PC Warner Bros PS4, XO, PC Ubisoft PS4, XO, PS3, 360 2K Games PS4, XO, PC EA PS4, PS3 Konami 3DS Nintendo Wii U Nintendo 3DS Nintendo 3DS Nintendo PS4, XO, Wii U, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PC Bethesda PS4, XO, PS3, 360 Activision Blizzard PS4, XO, PC Bandai Namco PS4, XO, PC EA 3DS Nintendo XO Microsoft

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: July 3rd to July 30th August 26th 2016

18

www.mcvuk.com

MONTHLY SALES CHARTS

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY STUDIO (REVENUE)

TOP 10 UK CONSOLE DIGITAL SALES BY REVENUE (JULY)

01 TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 02 03 05 07 04 RE RE RE 06

TRAVELLER’S TALES PARENT COMPANY: WARNER BROS

Developer Blizzard Entertainment Naughty Dog EA Canada Rockstar North Id Software Game Freak Capcom Nintendo DICE

Parent company Activision Blizzard Sony EA Take-Two Zenimax Media Independent Capcom Nintendo EA

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

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

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

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY PUBLISHER (REVENUE)

01 TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 01 06 02 04 07 05 06 10 RE

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SHARE BY PUBLISHER (UNITS)

LM 06 01 02 04 05 07 08 09 RE

Revenue £6.77m £3.68m £3.02m £1.05m £0.94m £0.75m £0.72m £0.70m £0.69m £0.66m

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

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

LM 01 02 03 04 05 07 06 08 09 10

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

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

TM 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

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

WARNER BROS Publisher Activision Blizzard Nintendo Electronic Arts Sony Take-Two Bethesda Ubisoft Microsoft Capcom

01

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

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

Market Share 43.8% 28% 11.7% 5.5% 4.7% 3.1% 2.2% 0.6% 0.2% 0.1%

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

PHYSICAL SOFTWARE SALES BY FORMAT (UNITS)

WARNER BROS Publisher Nintendo Activision Blizzard Electronic Arts Sony Bethesda Take-Two Ubisoft Microsoft 505 Games

TM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

LM 01 02 04 03 05 07 06 08 09 10

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

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

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

Market Share 39.3% 26.8% 11.7% 8% 5% 4.6% 3.1% 0.9% 0.4% 0.3%

Source: UKIE/Gfk Chart-Track, Period: July 3rd to July 30th 19

August 26th 2016

INTERVIEW AARON GREENBERG, XBOX

Xbox’s battle for Europe Aaron Greenberg, head of Xbox Games Marketing, talks new hardware, FIFA 17, eSports and Pokémon Go with Christopher Dring

Xbox One S 2TB has sold out in most markets now. Can we read much into this?

We had a massive briefing at E3 where we revealed two new consoles, a lot of games and innovation for the platform. Then, coming out of that, we got word from NPD that we were the No.1 selling console in the US for the month of July, which was great news. That is in advance of the Xbox One S launch. Then two weeks ago, in the UK, we were also the No.1 selling console. So we have seen some really nice momentum post-E3, leading up to and into the launches of Xbox One S. We’ve seen similar momentum across Europe, frankly, some really great sales. We are seeing overwhelming, unprecedented demand.

The focus now is on the Xbox One S 500GB and 1TB models with FIFA 17, as you revealed at Gamescom. Do you expect this to maintain the momentum across Europe?

We know FIFA is the No.1 title across Europe, which is why we have a multi-year partnership with EA on the franchise. For us to be able to do that, both with the game and to have exclusive content like the FIFA Ultimate Team Legends, has been great. But to be able to drive new console adoption, with a new model, then add a tonne of value, to give people the ability to play the game seven days early... we think that is a massive differentiator for FIFA fans, for gamers, and for the millions and millions of people across Europe that haven’t bought a next-gen console yet. We believe this is a big differentiator that will help us drive share gains in those key markets.

August 26th 2016

Has it not been challenging pushing the S, when you’ve announced that the Scorpio is out next year? Are consumers not waiting for that one?

For us, it is nice to be able to have the new console, the 40 per cent smaller model, to deliver a lot of the benefits for folks that are looking for 4K content for 4K TVs and things like that – HDR gaming, 4K video streaming and a 4K Blu-ray player at an incredible value. We are really proud of the design and the work that the team put in to bring Xbox One S to market. We are going to continue to be very, very aggressive in terms of how we promote and go to market with this box, really focused on delivering on value with bundles and what you get for the price.

At the same time, as we spoke at E3, Project Scorpio is an opportunity for us to bring true 4K gaming for the first time to the console market.

We think that is the next big leap in innovation for gaming and is something that has never been done before on console.

We’re building the most powerful console ever created with a six teraflop GPU. We announced that early at E3 so that we can start working with developers and partners who we know will want to take advantage of that incredible amount of power and have a good year plus to be able to plan for it.

We’re outlining a longer-term vision about building a future beyond console generations, and where gamers can play without boundaries.

Aaron Greenberg, Xbox

Then there’s the PC space, too.

Isn’t your Windows 10 strategy potentially harmful to Xbox hardware? Or are we moving into a space where it doesn’t matter which machine gamers own?

For us, we really want to bring our games to as many people as possible. There are over 139m PC gamers in Europe. We are bringing a whole lot of new content to the PC, we are letting people play ReCore, Gears of War, Forza Horizon 3... that’s a lot of great stuff. At the same time, we also know that PC gamers like different types of genres and have different preferences, so we are also going to be there with titles like Halo Wars 2. That’s an action real-time strategy game, which is a genre that has done very well on the PC. We think of a title like that as almost PC-first, with the ability to bring in a lot of new fans into that franchise because we are bringing it to the PC. For us, what you’re seeing is that we’re outlining a longer-term vision about building a future beyond console generations, and where gamers can play without boundaries. That is the focus of what we are doing.

A lot of these games are for core users. With your move away from Kinect, are you giving up on trying to attract a kids and family audience?

In many ways, we look at the PEGI ratings of the titles, and we have a pretty diverse line-up of games. Things like Minecraft, which is rated for all ages, Forza Horizon 3 is another great example.

20

www.mcvuk.com

AARON GREENBERG, XBOX INTERVIEW

GO TIME XBOX marketing boss Aaron Greenberg may be enjoying the new Gears of War, but he’s also been obsessively playing another title – smartphone hit Pokémon Go. “I try to play everything and I have definitely played many, many, many hours of Pokémon Go,” says Greenberg. “It is so neat to see a product like that capture so many people’s attention – young, old, male, female. And gosh it has got me to do so many unnatural things – walking to places I would never walk.

“There is a real simplicity to how much fun that is. It is great to see the traditional Pokémon audience get captivated by it, but also to see adults involved as well.

There is a Pokémon Gym outside my office, so it’s nice to look outside my window and see people sit out there and battle for the Gym. We’ve had some summer interns here who have been out there quite a bit.

It’s impressive.”

Xbox is pushing Gears of War 4 heavily as a progaming title

FIFA, another one. Sure, on one end we have Gears of War 4, Dead Rising 4 and others that are more for the core, older gamer. But we do have a wide variety of content from core to casual. We will continue to offer a diverse line-up of content. And that doesn’t even include when you get into what our developers are doing on the ID@ Xbox programme. There are tonnes of innovation happening there and a lot of them have a broader appeal, as well.

Changing the subject briefly, you’ve recently acquired the Twitch-rival streaming service Beam. Why invest in this area?

Beam is a live-streaming service, but what is innovative about it, is it gives viewers the ability to watch and also play

www.mcvuk.com

along with their favourite game streamers in real time. We saw something really innovative there that we felt would benefit our network and our gamers, and would be something that would make Xbox Live more social and fun. It is a small team that has created something really unique. They have won a number of awards and it has just been really, really fun to get to work with that team.

What we like about it is that it moves traditional game streaming from a passive experience into a more interactive, real-time participation. We think that has the ability to bring in more people to that experience, and so we are excited to add them to the family, and do more things with them across Xbox Live.

XBOX AT GAMESCOM: MICROSOFT showed off its biggest exclusive games at Gamescom 2016, including Gears of War 4, Dead Rising 4, Halo Wars 2, Forza Horizon 3, Sea of Thieves and a host of indie projects.

Yet there were two pieces of news to emerge from the show, too. This included the news that the 1TB Xbox One S and the 500GB model will launch on September 22th, 2016. Both versions will come with a digital copy of FIFA 17, plus a one-month trial of EA Access – which will allow consumers to play the football game a week early.The game will

21

also include free extras for the FIFA Ultimate Team mode.

The 1TB model will cost £299, with the 500GB version set for £249.

Microsoft also revealed that it will be launching its Games Preview programme on Windows 10.

The firm developed its version of Early Access – where creators can release titles before they’re finished – last year for Xbox One. Now it is allowing those developers to bring their games to the PC with a Windows 10 Game Preview programme. The first titles to use it will be Rocketfish Games’ Everspace.

August 26th 2016

INTERVIEW AARON GREENBERG, XBOX

Microsoft is bundling Xbox One S 1TB and 500GB consoles with FIFA 17

Another major area of investment for Xbox has been in eSports. How do you approach this market? Is it a big money generator do you think, or more a marketing tool?

It is about investing in the brand and franchise. The model for how you launch, market and sustain your community around games has evolved. Before, we would go off and every couple of years we bring out a new triple-A blockbuster from a franchise, we launch it, maybe there’s a couple of pieces of DLC, and then we go away and work on the next version for a number of years. That model has evolved and what we are seeing is a lot more sustained engagement, with people having an appetite to stay around and play the games month in and month out.

If you look at Halo 5 as an example, even eight months post-launch we were introducing new modes. We saw our monthly average users for Halo grow month over month, three months in a row, into the eighth month post-launch. That is really kind

August 26th 2016

of breaking the traditional curves of engagement, but it does show that if you give people new content and new things to experience, they will come back.

With eSports it is aligned around the same thing. A lot of it is about bringing new content and competition to the space, but also giving players the ability to watch and see some of the greatest players in the world compete.

That drives awareness and new game modes. It has obviously been a booming thing for the industry widely, but we made a big bet around Halo with the Halo World Championship. We had the largest console eSports grand prize ever in the history of gaming.

We actually gave the winning four players $1m - split between them - which is incredible. And we are doing something similar with Gears of War 4 and our eSports offering there.

Beam moves traditional game streaming from a passive experience to a more interactive, realtime participation.

Aaron Greenberg, Xbox

There’s a big clamour amongst your community to allow Xbox fans to compete with PlayStation owners. Now that you have cross-play with PC,

22

how close are we to being able to see PS4 and Xbox One owners compete together?

We put it in the hands of the developers. You have seen with things like Rocket League where we have enabled them to connect Xbox Live gamers with a much broader network of players.

For them, we have built the bridge our end. We know that for a game like that it makes sense to allow players on other platforms to compete in the same arenas. We think that is good gamers.

Our strategy is to put gamers at the centre of everything we do, and that has led us to support things like that where a developer wants to connect people on Steam, for example. They’re doing that today. In terms of connecting with gamers on the PlayStation Network, we fully support them to do that. And I believe they’re talking to Sony about it, but I don’t know the latest.

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LARS WINGEFORS, THQ NORDIC INTERVIEW

Meet the new THQ In 2013, Nordic bought a number of IPs from THQ. The following year, it came back to claim the name.

Now it has rebranded itself as THQ Nordic. Alex Calvin speaks to CEO Lars Wingefors to find out why

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HQ has been heavily tied to Nordic Games’ growth.

Before the European publisher bought a number of IPs from the bankrupt THQ, no-one really knew who it was.

“The day we announced we were making acquisitions from THQ, there were a number of headlines like: ‘Who the fuck is Nordic Games?’ – no-one had ever heard of us,” CEO Lars Wingefors says.

“THQ was very centered around US gamers, with IP like MX vs ATV. There was a lot of interest in us and it transformed the entire business into something else.

“Before, we were a European player, with a legacy in Austria, Germany and Scandinavia, rather than being an international publisher. I’m not saying we’re an international publisher; we’re just a small player when compared with the big guys. But we have some big ambitions for the future.”

WHAT’S IN A NAME After buying a number of THQ IP, Nordic purchased the THQ name in 2014. And earlier this month, it rebranded itself as THQ Nordic.

“Since we acquired the THQ brand, we have come to realise just how big that name actually is,” Wingefors says.

“Our business is so centred around IP we purchased from THQ that I just felt that we are a mixture of THQ and Nordic Games. That’s why we have made the name THQ Nordic. It’s still called Nordic as we have a legacy in Sweden and Austria.”

The firm has 23 titles in the works; 13 of which are projects that are yet to be revealed. And though Wingefors is unable to

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In 2013, Nordic Games purchased IP such as Darksiders from a bankrupt THQ

share details, some of these titles will be from the THQ stable.

“I can’t comment on each IP, but I can say that quite a few of the unannounced games are from the THQ portfolio,” he says. “I am really excited about having those announced in the coming few months or the next year. There will be more news soon.”

FAMILY VALUES When MCV spoke to Nordic earlier this year, the firm talked about its ambition to have an IP in every single core gaming genre. Nordic is also releasing We Sing, a casual karaoke title made in partnership with Wired Productions and Le Cortex.

THQ had a number of family franchises in its portfolio, including de Blob and Wheel of Fortune.

“From what we have seen in the market, PS4 and Xbox One have

Since we acquired the THQ name, we came to realise just how big that brand actually is.

Lars Wingefors, Nordic Games

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not been ready [for kids and family games] because consumers have not been there,” Wingefors says.

“We are going to test the water with We Sing and I’m curious to see if there will be a casual market on the major console formats. People have been waiting since the Wii died for some other games console other than mobile or iPad to actually become casual in some way. If Sony and Microsoft could catch a few million families, we’d be interested in trying out good casual products.

“I’m sure there will be a casual market again, but it will never be the same as it was on Wii or during the PS2 days. Does it mean we will become a casual player or have the same impact as THQ had? No, I don’t think so.

“We’ll continue with our hardcore games, but we will test the water with We Sing. It’s a top product.

And if stuff goes well, we’ll see.”

August 26th 2016

ANALYSIS BOARD GAMES

On board Board games based on video games are becoming increasingly common – from Bandai Namco to Sony, publishers are turning to designers to transform their virtual IPs into physical products. Marie Dealessandri speaks to board games distributor Esdevium and creator Steamforged to find out more

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loodborne, XCOM, Minecraft, Civilization, Street Fighter, Doom, This War of Mine, The Witcher, Plague Inc...

The list is quite endless: board games based on video games are unquestionably on the rise.

And we’re not even talking about all the Monopoly editions. It seems that every single successful game out there has its Monopoly version.

So what’s pushing publishers and developers to turn their IPs into board games?

“It is important to understand that the vast majority of board gamers are also keen video gamers,” explains Ben Hogg, marketing manager at UK games distributor Esdevium, whose catalogue contains licensed board games such as Warhammer Quest, Doom, Gears of War and Civilization.

“Due to this, board games provide an excellent crossover audience for video games properties. When an IP moves from one gaming genre to another, that’s an exciting proposition for those board gamers who are already a fan of the video games series... and even if they are not, they might be if they play the board game.”

With board games based on existing IPs, it’s potentially a win-win situation. Developers, publishers, board games designers, distributors and retailers: everybody can benefit from the move... provided the adaptation is of good quality.

“Like any licensed game, they benefit from a pre-existing awareness and fan base, so initial interest is already there,” Hogg says.

“But the challenge for the designers is to create a game that remains true to what the fans have come

August 26th 2016

to expect from the property, whilst being different enough to be a new experience.”

That’s a challenge Steamforged Games has been eager to tackle.

The Stockport-based board games creator launched a Kickstarter campaign last April to fund a Dark Souls board game.

The £50.000 goal was reached in three minutes and the team ended up with over £3m.

“We don’t think anyone could have expected the success that it reached,” says Steamforged designer and director Rich Loxam.

“To break so many records, have such a strong community support...

We and Bandai Namco are over the moon! Praise the sun,” he laughs.

It’s Steamforged’s first foray into adapting a video game, and Loxam agrees that getting it right is a difficult task – especially when it comes to Dark Souls, which is known for being a Herculean challenge. That’s where gamers came into play.

“We have had a lot of development and refining based off backers input via the Kickstarter,” Loxam explains.

“It’s been an exciting experience to try and cram in as much Dark Souls into the game as possible while retaining the accessibility of the product.”

‘Prepare to die’, ‘hardest board game you have ever played’, ‘brutally hard’: the Steamforged

team have warned players on several occasions about the difficulty of the title.

“Although the board game is hard, it reflects the nature of Dark Souls,” Loxam justifies. “This isn’t a board game where you can run into rooms and swing your gigantic sword around without dying... You have to think carefully about each action you do as making the wrong choice can spell your end. Although the difficulty is high, the barrier for entry is not.”

Now people are just ‘gamers’, which is not exclusive to board or video games. If the game is good, they’ll play it.

Ben Hogg, Esdevium

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IMMERSION NEEDED An easy setup, a satisfying quality and remaining true to the original video game, these things are all the more important when you consider that licensed board games are not exactly cheap – usually well over £30.

“Due to additional royalties and fees, licensed games are usually more expensive to produce and so the retail price is generally higher,” Hogg says. “As such, a gamer would expect a high degree of quality from the game to justify this higher price.” So, with that in

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BOARD GAMES ANALYSIS mind, how are these games doing sales wise? “It varies, depending on the IP and quality of the game, but a video games licensed board game generally is quite an exciting proposition,” he answers.

“Word of mouth counts for an awful lot and gamers are generally a little wary of video game tie-ins, not just because of the higher price, but also because in the past the licence has been deemed the most important aspect of this type of game and the gameplay has suffered as a result. Although there have been some great successes, such as the Gears of War or the Civilization board game a few years ago, if the game is not up to scratch, demand will dry up and it will not get subsequent prints.”

Demand doesn’t seem to dry up though, with “board games sales increasing faster and faster, generally up to around 20 to 30 per cent” a year, Hogg points

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out. “This will only increase the appeal of the market to video games developers in the future and I expect to see many more IPs converted for this audience.”

Loxam further says: “The miniature board games like Dark Souls will especially attract players.

“Having physical models that accurately represent the characters they know and love helps to immerse people into the world.

Add in the social aspect of getting together and playing, and it’s a pretty appealing mix. Board game cafes are becoming more and more popular because of this — people want to interact with each other more than just sat around drinking, watching a film, and so on.”

Board games sales are increasing faster, up to 20 to 30 per cent a year.

‘JUST GAMERS’ The social aspect is not the only reason why licensed board games have been so huge these

Ben Hogg, Esdevium

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past few years. Hogg believes the line between video gamers and board gamers is becoming increasingly blurred.

“I think because of apps, video games crossovers and new tech in board games, people are generally becoming less and less segmented in their gaming,” he says.

“Now people are just ‘gamers’, which is not exclusive to board games or video games. If the product is good and the theme appeals to them, they’ll play it. We see this general interest at video games shows, where we will demo the latest board games offering, often having no relevance to video game properties. But it doesn’t matter, people are simply after a fun experience.”

Loxam also believes video games and board games appeal to the same audience.

“On our Kickstarter we saw a large number of new backers we hadn’t seen before [the firm also used Kickstarter on previous product Guild Ball], indicating that there was a potential big swing of video game players backing the project.

There are a lot of similar traits to board gamers and video gamers — competitive natures, collecting habits, completionists, dedication to goals... all lead to both products appealing to the same people.”

Players also want to experience different worlds in as many formats as possible – if they love a video game, they’ll be eager to learn more about its universe through a board game, which will allow them to see its subtleties from another perspective. That’s exactly why Steamforged wanted to design a Dark Souls board game.

“There are so many different varieties and variations of location that Dark Souls begged to be presented as a board game,” Loxam enthuses. “The Dark Souls board game will be a complement to the video game. It allows current players or new players to extend their experiences within the Dark Souls universe and gives them a different experience within the world they love. Board games don’t pose a threat to the video game industry - or vice versa - they both complement each other and, when done right, will provide players new ways to experience titles they love.”

August 26th 2016

THE BIG GAME DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED

God in the machine After bringing back Deus Ex in 2011 with Human Revolution, Eidos Montreal is releasing its follow-up, Mankind Divided. Alex Calvin speaks to the studio about the pressure to live up to its predecessor and the reaction to some of the game’s darker themes

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ince it started working on the Deus Ex franchise, developer Eidos Montreal has been under a great deal of pressure.

For 2011’s Human Revolution, it was under scrutiny to prove its game could live up to the quality and depth of the original Deus Ex. And now, having proven itself once, it has to do it all over again.

“This time, we know what goes into making [a Deus Ex game], so we needed the courage to take it on and do it again,” gameplay director Patrick Fortier says.

“The team was really motivated by that. People appreciate being able to work on a franchise like this that has so much depth.

There are our gameplay pillars, the combat, the hacking, the social interactions... these deep worlds where things are justified, where nothing is black and white, where we take the time to do character studies and go into the details.

People revel in the opportunity to do that.

“With Human Revolution, we didn’t know there was an audience for our interpretation of the Deus Ex universe. We know now that there is. There is pressure to live up to Human Revolution, create something that’s going to be strong and memorable, and that is going to touch people in the same way.”

REAL WORLD MATTERS If the Mankind Divided reviews that were published as this article was being written are anything to go by [85 on Metacritic], it would appear that Eidos Montreal has done it again. But press surrounding the game hasn’t been entirely positive.

August 26th 2016

Mankind Divided can be played in many styles, including stealth

As is the norm for Deus Ex games, Mankind Divided deals with some fairly heavy subject matter. This time around, as the game’s title suggests, Deus Ex is examining a fragmented world where ‘normal’ humans and their enhanced counterparts [people with technological augmentations dubbed ‘augs’] are segregated.

This is due to an event at the end of Human Revolution that saw augs become dangerous after their enhancements were hacked by a malevolent force.

The team at Eidos Montreal has described this segregation as ‘mechanical apartheid’, a term that was criticised for being insensitive.

And recently, concept art for the game showed the slogan ‘Augs Lives Matter’, which was believed to be a hijacking of the anti-racism campaign, Black Lives Matter.

“That’s more of an unfortunate thing and a coincidence,” Fortier

Gameplay director Fortier (top) and senior brand manager Lelu (above)

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says. “I understand that people may not like that answer. The thing is, the game has been in development for five years. When I saw that come up, I thought: ‘Oh God, it never dawned on me’ because there are lots of different slogans and stuff in the game. It’s unfortunate if it hurts or insults anybody. Our team is not like that, there is no benefit or satisfaction in getting a headline [about Augs Lives Matter].

“But I understand that perception becomes reality and it’s not the right time for that perception because things are happening daily. I sympathise with that.”

Yet Fortier believes that it is important for video games to talk about real world issues.

“This is the medium that I grew up with,” he says. “As a kid, it was great playing Mario or Sonic. But I’m older now, not just as a player but as a developer. I’m in my 40s

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DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED THE BIG GAME

MARKETING MACHINE ON April 2015, Square announced it was going to be doing a livestream to announced a new game. The stream was called ‘Can’t Kill Progress’, and depicted a man trapped in a room. Viewers could make decisions that would affect this person. It was certainly unusual.

“The objective was to announce to our fans that Deus Ex was back,” senior brand manager Rodney Lelu says.

“We wanted to get the support from Square Enix so it was doing some kind of promotion on Twitch about the fact that a new game was being announced. We couldn’t say that it was Eidos Montreal otherwise everyone would have known that it was Deus Ex. “Deus Ex is all about choice and consequences in a universe that is ours a few years from now. So we wanted to reflect that. At the end of each day, we had a

major choice for viewers that had major consequences. The audience was able to choose the fate and the path through the story. On the last day, the guy revealed he had an augmentation. People in the chat understood that it was definitely Deus Ex. Then you had the announcement trailer.”

This stunt – like a lot of Eidos Montreal’s promotion – is a simultaneous effort between the design and marketing teams. The result is a campaign that accurately embodies the game being sold.

“Our marketing guys communicate and talk to us, there’s that back and forth,” Fortier says. “That was a great way to launch it. It was very original. It’s about talking the same language. We’re not trying to sell an augmented James Bond, we’re doing something with mature themes.

The marketing team gets that and it hits the right notes.”

Protagonist Adam Jensen returns in Mankind Divided

and I’m interested in different things. It was interesting because the core creative team is all in its 40s and wants to explore certain things that are interesting, that are meaty, that are meaningful for us.

“It’s not about making a particular statement and pointing the finger and saying: ‘You should think this’ but it is an affirmation of the fact that life is complicated and we do live in a world where there is a lot of nuance. Things are heavy. As a kid in the ‘80s, I’d watch films and it’d be about the good guys and the bad guys and everything was simple.

“Now, it’s not like that. You watch those things and they make no sense logistically. That’s where we are now. Games are our medium of expression and we just want that complexity and richness and interesting themes to be reflected in the games that we make.”

MANY GODS Publisher Square Enix has made a

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considerable investment in Deus Ex. Not only did Mankind Divided launch earlier this week, Square released mobile title Deus Ex Go the week before. All of this is under the Deus Ex Universe name, an umbrella that includes additional content like comic book tie-ins “Obviously there’s so much effort and energy that goes into it,” Fortier says.

“Last time, I’m not sure if the success was a surprise but the team really believed in it. There aren’t many examples of this kind of game out in the market. It creates a situation where sometimes people lack imagination a little bit and just look at last week’s top selling games. The game found an audience and got a lot of word of mouth.

“When we announced Mankind Divided, we got a tremendous response. When you ship a game then that’s it – you don’t really hear

There is pressure to live up to Human Revolution and create something that’s going to be strong and memorable.

Patrick Fortier, Eidos Montreal

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about it anymore. It’s when you have the opportunity to do another one, you get that feedback and see that there is that community and it did touch people’s lives. Some people really, really like it and are really happy there’s a new one.

It’s really gratifying for your work because you feel like you’re doing something that matters.”

With this level of investment, the calibre of the development staff and the positive reviews, Deus Ex Mankind Divided seems set to be a hit. But this isn’t Fortier’s ambition for the game.

“I hope people are going to be able to get into it and draw a lot of satisfaction from the different possibilities and consequences of the game,” he says. “I hope that it’s an experience that resonates after players are finished with it. Maybe they’ll finish the game and think about transhumanism.

“That’s what I am hoping – it will resonate in some way and inspire some critical thoughts.”

August 26th 2016

GAMESAID CHARITIES

GamesAid voting: Meet the charities The UK industry charity is about to give a record-breaking amount of money to great causes supporting young people in the UK. MCV breaks down the charities in the running for this year’s money. Make sure to vote for your favourite

THE UK games industry charity GamesAid is about to reveal the amount of money it has raised for good causes across the UK. The industry has put forward 19 charities, and now it’s up to you to vote for which ones will receive financial support.

You need to be a GamesAid member to vote. It’s free and you won’t be bombarded with emails. Simply visit: http://www. gamesaid.org/join-us/.

Once you’ve signed up, you’ll receive an email Polling Card, and with one click, you can back one of the charities that help disadvantaged young people across the UK. The deadline is September 5th.

MCV has put together this handy guide of the 19 charities up for selection...

AIDIS TRUST Since 1975, Aidis Trust helps children with physical and learning difficulties to benefit from technology. The charity’s ‘Everyone Can Game’ service adapts computers to help disabled children play video games and have fun.

Aidis visits disabled children who struggle to socially integrate, helping them to become an active part of a group and form friendships through gaming. The team finds fun games that suit children with varying levels of learning and physical disability.

August 26th 2016

ACCESS SPORT This group enhances the life prospects of children by providing opportunities to enjoy the power of sport. The charity builds thriving sports clubs in the most disadvantaged areas of London, Bristol, Manchester and Oxford. These clubs provide opportunities for local, vulnerable young people, whilst creating a lasting, locallyowned community resource.

Their work supports young people aged five to 25, with an emphasis on under 18s who are disabled, disadvantaged or excluded from society.

APPS FOR GOOD This firm aims to grow the next generation of problem-solvers and tech entrepreneurs; young people that learn how to build, market and launch digital tools to solve problems that they care about, changing their world.

Partnering with schools and colleges, Apps for Good trains educators to deliver the programme to students aged 10 to 18 from a diverse range of socio-economic, ethnic and gender backgrounds, transforming the way technology is taught in schools.

ACCURO Accuro is a charity that provides high quality support for children, young people and adults with a disability in West Essex. For over 30 years, it has offered access to leisure and social opportunities via its youth groups, a Saturday Play Club, a school Holiday Scheme, a Drama Project and

an Adult Friendship Scheme.

The charity’s work enhances people’s lives by developing their independence, social skills, self-esteem, confidence and by reducing their social isolation.

ACTION FOR KIDS This group is working tirelessly to support disabled children, helping them move towards independence by funding vital specialist equipment not available on the NHS. The charity is also delivering a wide range of education programmes, offering accredited courses in life and

work skills. Action For Kids also assists them by providing paid and volunteer work placements, sourcing work opportunities, and providing sporting, social and creative activities.

AUTISTICA This charity targets children who are written off, bullied or isolated due to autism.

Autistica says that too many autistic children face a lifelong struggle because of a lack of appropriate support and services.

Research has the power to transform this by ensuring that services are based on the best scientific evidence. Autistica exists to harness the potential of cutting-edge science to transform the lives of autistic children and adults.

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BLACKPOOL CARERS CENTRE Blackpool Carers Centre provides a range of services to support and enhance the lives of unpaid carers of all ages throughout Blackpool and The Fylde Coast. Carers provide help and support to a family member who could not manage without their help.

This could be due to age, frailty, physical or mental illness, substance misuse or disability.

The Carer Centre offers respite activity and emotional and practical support, which is often a lifeline for many carers who would otherwise feel isolated.

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GAMESAID CHARITIES

Last year, GamesAid gathered over ÂŁ564,000

THE CLOCK TOWER SANCTUARY Based in Brighton, The Clock Tower Sanctuary is the only drop-in service providing information, advice and support for homeless young people aged 16 to 25 in the city.

It aims to intervene early with vulnerable, isolated young people to help turn their lives around and prevent a potential life of entrenched homelessness.

It provides crisis support to help young people with their immediate needs and help them to unlock their potential.

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IMPETUS The team is a Brighton and Hove-based charity that helps vulnerable people who are dealing with loneliness and isolation because of disability, poor mental or physical health or age through befriending, advocacy and support services.

We help people make the right

connections in their community, build skills which improve lives and wellbeing, and we do this through a large network of trained volunteers.

JIGSAW4U Jigsaw4U was formed in 1997 to support children and young people through trauma, loss and bereavement. Jigsaw4U undertakes family group work and individual support sessions to help children to communicate their feelings and share these in a safe environment, reducing

their feelings of isolation and difference. The charity also supports communication in families to ensure that parents and children talk about the person who has died.

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LIFELITES Lifelites is the only charity that provides specialist inclusive and assistive technologies to help life-limited and disabled children in every hospice in the British Isles to feel â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;normalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for a while. Thanks to Lifelites, these children are able to play games with their brothers and sisters on a level playing field, use a computer, communicate with their parents and carers and have some control over their lives. Best of all, they can relax with their families and escape from their illness at what is often a difficult time for them.

August 26th 2016

GAMESAID CHARITIES

MAPS Mentoring, Advocacy, and Peer Support helps children and young people who are experiencing mental or emotional distress and have complex and multiple needs.

These young people have feelings of low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, self-harm,

social isolation or risk-taking behaviours. MAPS provides mentors, positive role models, who provide a safe space each week for the young person to unpack life with a trusted adult.

PANATHLON This charity inspires severely disabled, deaf and/or visually impaired young people across England by giving new opportunities in sport, officiating, coaching and leadership.

The Panathlon Foundation had over 10,000 disabled young

people involved in the 2015-16 school year, through 242 activity days of sport and 1,590 leaders associated with these days across 27 countries.

SAFE@LAST Safe@Last provides services and support for children and young people who are at risk of harm before, during and after running away in South Yorkshire. The charity offers a range of services for young people from prevention to crisis intervention, including a helpline, prevention and education programme and specialised support for young people and their families.

It aims to reduce running away and young people making risky choices associated with running away.

August 26th 2016

PARENTING SPECIAL CHILDREN This Berkshire charity offers a range of free workshops, courses and one-to-one support to families who have children with special needs, including ADHD, autism and looked after and adopted children. Parenting Special Children is unique in that all of those working and volunteering for the charity are parents of children with special needs themselves, as well as having a professional background in health or education.

SOLVING KIDS’ CANCER The team here helps children, and their families, who are affected by the rarest and most aggressive childhood cancers. It offers emotional, practical and clinical support to families, and helps children to access cutting-edge clinical trials available outside the UK, which represent their

best chance of survival. Putting the immediate needs of families at the centre of their work, the team fights childhood cancer on all fronts; through research, education and awareness.

SPECIAL EFFECT ‘The gamer charity’ puts fun and inclusion back into the lives of people with physical disabilities by helping them to play games.

By using technology ranging from modified joypads to eyecontrol, it’s finding a way for people to play to the very best of their abilities.

But they’re not just doing it for fun. By levelling the playing field, they’re bringing families and friends together, having a positive impact on therapy, confidence and rehabilitation.

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ROUNDABOUT This is Sheffield’s local youth housing charity, which provides shelter, support and life skills to over 150 young people everyday who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

It provides emergency accommodation at its hostel for homeless 16 to 21 year-olds in Sheffield, a range of medium term accommodation in safe bedsits and in shared housing throughout the city. It also supports young people to live in their own accommodation, who might otherwise struggle to do so – putting them at risk.

UPRISING The UK has some of the lowest level of social mobility in the developed world.

Uprising therefore recruits talented young people from disadvantaged communities to become tomorrow’s socially-conscious leaders by enabling them to take part in its Leadership Programme.

Here they learn how the power landscape works, how they can influence it, how to present themselves and their chosen causes, and how to use networks to achieve their aims.

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P R E S E N T E D

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INTERVIEW DANIEL LEAVER, DREADBIT

INDIE INTERVIEW The angel’s game After working at LittleBigPlanet maker Media Molecule for several years, Daniel Leaver departed to set up a studio where he could make games about ‘blowing stuff up’ and, well, angels. Alex Calvin reports

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hen MCV sat down to chat to Dreadbit’s founder and designer Daniel Leaver, he’s a very happy man.

He had just managed to get his current game Seraph to run at 60 frames per second on PlayStation 4. This matters because the title is a fast-paced action game in the vein of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta.

“Now the tagline is ‘skill-based acrobatic shooter without aiming’,” Leaver says.

“When I pitched it to the team, I’m fairly sure I said: ‘I want to make a [2002 dystopian action film] Equilibrium-esque 2D shooter’. They liked that. I want to have that feeling where you look cool at all times doing it. The coolness of Equilibrium was how fast it was. It was like: ‘We’ve done bullet time, we’ve done slo-mo [with The Matrix]. That looks awesome... but you know what’s really cool? Incredibly fast choreographed gunplay’, and I love that.”

A CHANGE OF PACE Leaver is a veteran of Media Molecule, working both in and out of house on the LittleBigPlanet series as well as the Tearaway games. He left that developer because he ’wanted to go make games that featured things that blew up, not cute things’. So he set up Dreadbit, a developer with an interesting way of doing things.

“I founded Dreadbit on the business model of something more Hollywood-like,” Leaver says.

“You see this in film development where basically I would be the director or the producer of a game, and I pitch the idea to a bunch of developer friends that I know, I trust and have loved working with in the past.

“If I can get them excited about the idea, then they agree to sign up for the duration of the project and they bring their own expertise and experience to the project. We work together closely for six to twelve months depending on project size, and then we ship and go our separate ways at the end.”

This approach is also a good way of gauging the quality of a game pitch.

“I’ve had plenty turn me down,” Leaver says.

“I’ve pitched ideas to people and they’ve gone:

August 26th 2016

Dreadbit’s Leaver originally pitched Seraph as a 2D shooter with gun fights like those seen in 2002 action film Equilibrium

Early Access has brought in a couple of thousand really awesome bits of feedback.

Now I feel that we are much better prepared for when we launch properly.

Daniel Leaver, Dreadbit

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‘Nope, not sure I like this one’. You can then take that feedback and think: ‘Three out of the five people I showed that concept to didn’t like it, so it’s clearly not got legs’.

“That is a great barometer for a game idea.

If you can convince someone to spend twelve months of their life making something, it’s probably worth pursuing.”

Seraph launched into Early Access in April 2016 with a full release on PC and PS4 coming later this year. For Leaver, this wasn’t an attempt to get money to finish the game; it was a chance to get vital feedback on the title.

“We didn’t need the money, we had secured funding to the end of development,” he says.

“What Early Access has done is bring in a couple of thousand really awesome bits of feedback. We have created whole new game modes based upon the feedback and added new enemy types because of what players have said. It’s just stuff I wouldn’t have seen coming until we launched.

“Now I feel that we are much better prepared for when we launch properly. We’ve gone through that initial teething period you get after a game launch. That’s gone and we now know what the general consensus is for those thousands of people.”

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MARKETPLACE

SHELF LIFE Louis Maciver from Tech Mobile tells MCV about the impact of being located on a small island, on the PS4 performance at his store, and about moving into the pre-owned market How has business been lately?

It has started to pick up again — it was pretty quiet for the first few months of the year.

What games have been selling well recently?

No Man’s Sky did really well, with pre-orders on par with games like Call of Duty. We’ve had quite a few pre-orders for F1 2016 as well.

What challenge you are facing with your shop at the moment?

PRE-ORDER CHARTS

these games on PS4 compared to the Xbox One.

The challenge at the moment is probably online pricing. If you compare it to the distributor pricing, sometimes it’s cheaper to buy games online than directly from distribution.

Do you think the PS4 will remain No.1 over the course of the year?

I would say so, yes. I think what’s happened as far as we are concerned is we’re a small island and PS4 and Xbox One came out pretty much at the same time, but we were able to get more stock of PS4 consoles. So I think that because we sold a lot more PS4

What platform performs the best at your store?

The PS4. EA games tend to do particularly well — FIFA always does well on our end — and Sony’s own games, like No Man’s Sky. We probably sell about double of

PRICE CHECK: CHATHAM

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UPLOADING The latest digital releases coming to market

JOTUN: VALHALLA EDITION

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The Kickstarted hand-drawn game hits PS4, Xbox One and Wii U next month

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OUT: SEPTEMBER 9TH

August 26th 2016

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36

OUT: NOW

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MARKETPLACE

Tech Mobile 17 Bayhead Street Stornoway Isle of Lewis, Western Isles HS1 2DU

Phone: 01851 700 178 Website: www.tech-mobile.co.uk

from the start because we couldn’t get the Xbox One, people have all gone for the same console so that they can talk to each other and play with each other.

How is the Wii U performing?

Not very well, we only sell maybe two, three or four games every couple of weeks.

What are your expectations for Nintendo’s next console?

It was a bit complicated with the Wii U but I think the NX should do pretty well. But we’re actually also looking forward to Nintendo’s Mini NES with built-in retro games.

What are your prospects for the rest of the year and 2017?

The business just turned 12 last week, we have been selling games and consoles for about nine years of that, and we are wanting to start pre-owned games later this year. So if anybody has any advice please get in touch.

INCOMING TITLE

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

A.O.T. Wings of Freedom finally hits Western shelves today, alongside the latest entry in Team17’s Worms franchise and 505 Games’ Assetto Corsa FORMAT

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37

August 26th 2016

XBOX

XBOX Microsoft may be trailing behind Sony this generation but the firm has a stellar firstparty line-up and the Xbox One remains a powerful product. Marie Dealessandri takes a look at what’s new on shelves for Microsoft’s IPs and console

IN its fierce console war against Sony and the PlayStation 4, Microsoft has stepped up the pace with the Xbox One this year.

2016 may have seen the end of the Xbox 360, but Microsoft also launched its new Xbox One S, which was instantly successful.

The 2TB version of this upgraded console, which launched on August 2nd, sold out in the UK almost immediately. This allowed sales of the console to increase by 75 per cent on the week of launch.

We’re bringing great triple-A titles that have traditionally been on the console to the PC. Aaron Greenberg, Xbox

Speaking to MCV, Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg said the Xbox One was the No.1 console in the UK that week.

“We have seen some really nice momentum post-E3,” he added.

“We have seen similar momentum across Europe.” In the US, Xbox One even beat the PS4 in the monthly sales race during July.

A Gears of War Limited Edition Xbox One S (pictured) is set to be released in October, and the 1TB and 500GB versions of the Xbox One S

SEA OF THIEVES - CARDS SUIT UNISEX T-SHIRT Exclusive Xbox One title Sea of Thieves is definitely one game PS4 enthusiasts will wish they had access to. MCV’s very own ‘Xbox Game of E3’ doesn’t have a release date but is highly anticipated. Developer Rare has already released a collection of apparel, including various T-shirts and hoodies, so fans already have their pirate outfit when the game comes out.

SRP: £20.99 Manufacturer: Rare Distributor: Tinderbox Contact: 020 7572 0858

TITANFALL IMC ATLAS TITAN BUILDING SET

XBOX POLO BLACK

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Titanfall is no longer Xbox exclusive, with Titanfall 2 set for PS4, too. Fans of the original can remember the good ol’ days with this figure.

Here’s a good way for players to show where their preferences lie, all while staying classy.

The fourth entry in Microsoft’s exclusive Gears of War franchise will launch on October 11th.

SRP: £29.99 Manufacturer: K’nex Distributor: Gaming merchandise UK Contact: hello@gamingmerchandiseuk.com

SRP: $19.95 (£15) Manufacturer: Microsoft Distributor: Exertis Contact: 01279 822 822

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August 26th 2016

38

www.mcvuk.com

XBOX Sponsored by

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just received a release date: both will launch on September 22nd.

And Microsoft won’t stop there.

As Sony works on its PS4 Neo, Microsoft unveiled its Project Scorpio at this year’s E3. The machine comes with six terraflops of power, will run 4K games at 60fps and is capable of handling ‘high fidelity VR’.

The platform holder is also increasingly promoting cross-play between its flagship console and Windows 10.

“We really want to take our titles to as many gamers as possible,” Greenberg told MCV. “We’re bringing great triple-A titles that have traditionally been on the console to the PC, letting people play ReCore or Gears of War 4 or Forza Horizon 3 – that’s a lot of great content.”

There’s great content in Xbox’s line-up through this year and into 2017, from Gears of War 4 to the highly awaited Sea of Thieves. And they all come with merchandise for die hard fans to pick up.

XBOX ONE CONTROLLERS – MAHOGANY & CHROME GOLD EDITIONS Custom Controllers UK offers up to 550 different controller designs. Within this massive offering, Xbox One controllers are well represented. Amongst the collections available, fans can purchase these Mahogany and Chrome Gold editions, or some limited versions related to specific games.

SRP: £79.99 Manufacturer: Custom Controllers UK Distributor: Lime Distribution Contact: 01622 845 161

HALO 5: GUARDIANS PLAY ARTS KAI SPARTAN LOCKE

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This highly detailed Halo 5 figure is not releasing until September but is now available to pre-order.

Gamers can now enjoy Xbox One racing titles, such as Forza 6, with this wheel that is exclusive to Microsoft’s console.

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39

August 26th 2016

MARKETING, PR & CREATIVE AGENCIES

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

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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 / FLUID

KEY CONTACTS: James Glover Creative Director

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james@fluidesign.co.uk

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A creative agency with a passion for visual impact and rich experiences.

Fluid is an award winning creative agency launched in 1995 offering innovative and engaging creative for some of the largest Entertainment Brands in the World.

Fluid is not only our name, but also our branding philosophy. We embrace the changing media landscape with a flexible, reactive approach enabled by a rich pool of outstanding talent from a wide range of artistic disciplines. At every stage of the creative process we guarantee flexible, comprehensive creative solutions that bear testament to the breadth of our experience and versatility of style.

We live by our ethos ‘Never Not Creating’ to ensure that every project we undertake benefits from an ingrained passion and cultural knowledge, earning Fluid a renowned reputation for consistently evolving creativity.

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Services: Design, Branding, Visual Identity, Art Direction, Advertising, CGI, Illustration, Packaging, Point of Sale, Motion Graphics, Web Development, Mobile, Social, Online Advertising Clients Include: 2K Games, Capcom, The Creative Assembly, eOne Entertainment, EA, Gioteck, ITV, Koch Media, MTV, Sega, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music, Square Enix, The Walt Disney Company, Universal, Warner Bros Interactive FLUIDESIGN.CO.UK

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Andrew Day, group CEO at Keywords Studios, talks about localisation, the acquisition of Synthesis and VR Tell us about your company.

Keywords Studios is an international technical service provider to the global video games industry. We have about 1,700 games passionate employees providing services for art and audio production, functional QA, localisation, localisation QA, customer support and community management, through 22 studios in 16 countries.

What successes have you seen recently?

In April, Keywords welcomed

Overwatch, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Dark Souls III, Doom, The Division, Clash Royale and Quantum Break, to name a few.

Synthesis, a world leader in the localisation of games, to our group.

This represents an important milestone in our continued efforts to create the ‘go to’ provider of services for game developers and publishers worldwide, increasing choice and adding to our pool of extremely talented individuals.

What are the biggest trends affecting you right now?

VR is the obvious answer, as it adds a new layer of complexity to the games industry and more widely to many forms of content developers. Our group has been at the forefront of the VR revolution from interface design and art asset creation, to audio, localisation and testing.

What are you currently working on?

Current projects are confidential, but in the last months we have worked on some of the biggest titles of the year, including

DISC REPAIR

TOTAL DISC REPAIR

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 489500

August 26th 2016

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42

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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

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43

Web: www.sonydadc.com

August 26th 2016

DIRECTORY

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August 26th 2016

44

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INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION Sponsored by

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

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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

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION PLEASE CONTACT CTALLON@NBMEDIA.COM www.mcvuk.com

45

August 26th 2016

FACTFILE DENMARK Sponsored by

INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: DENMARK Population: 5,691,000 Capital City: Copenhagen Currency: Danish Krone (DKK) GDP (Per Capita): $61,293.7 KEY RETAILERS Coolshop, CDON, Gucca, BilligeSpil, Dvdoo, DVD City, GameStop TOP DISTRIBUTORS Game Outlet, Nordic Game Supply, Creative Distribution

TOP DEVELOPERS BetaDwarf, IO Interactive, Playdead, Interceptor Entertainment, Press Play, Novasa Interactive, Reto-Moto, Serious Games Interactive, Oddlabs PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony, Warner Bros, Nordic Games, The Game Factory

THE Danish games market had revenues reaching $245m (£188m) as of June 2016, according to data firm Newzoo.

It is the 36th biggest market worldwide and No.15 in Europe.

Danish games industry trade body Interactive Denmark reported in its latest study that the industry’s turnover had increased by 196 per cent during the 2009 to 2014 period, reaching 1.7bn DKK (around £197m) in 2014 – that was a 35 per cent growth compared to 2013.

This report also points out that export was up 12 per cent between 2012 and 2013, representing 66 per cent of the Danish games industry’s turnover.

The number of companies involved in the games business has also increased in the country, jumping from 139 in 2013 to 190 firms in 2015, employing about 735 people.

Most of these companies are small studios though, such as Inside and Limbo developer

August 26th 2016

The Danish industry’s turnover increased by 196 per cent between 2009 and 2014.

Playdead, with only three firms employing 50 people or more.

Amongst these big companies is triple-A developer IO Interactive – the studio behind the Hitman franchise – which is owned by Square Enix.

66 per cent of the Danish games companies are located in its capital city, Copenhagen, Interactive Denmark also reports.

Games funding in the country is supported by the Danish Film Institute, which created a ‘Games Scheme’ aimed at “strengthening computer games as a culturebearing medium and securing better development and growth conditions for Danish computer games.”

46

www.mcvuk.com

DENMARK FACTFILE

MEANWHILE IN... IRAN Iran has banned Niantic’s Pokémon Go only a few weeks after its launch in the country, over alleged security concerns IRAN has become the first country to ban Pokémon Go because of ‘security concerns’.

“There are many problems with the game and, security-wise, it can create problems for the country and our people,” said judicial official Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, as reported by news agency Tasnim.

Niantic’s phenomenon launched in July in Iran and was eventually prohibited on August 8th.

But security concerns don’t appear to be the only reason as to why the game was banned.

“Any game that wants to operate nationwide in Iran needs to obtain permission

www.mcvuk.com

47

from the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance, and the Pokémon Go app has not yet requested such a permission,” said Abolhasan Firouzabadi, head of Iran’s supreme council of virtual space,

according to news agency Isna. Another reason could be that officials wanted the game’s server to be located inside the country, The Guardian reports.

August 26th 2016

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OFF THE RECORD

OFF THE RECORD This week, we’re still recovering from Gamescom.

Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to go to press on a Tuesday? We’re so, so tired BRITS ABROAD AS has become tradition, UKIE’s booth at Gamescom was a typically British affair, this year sporting a tea party theme.

With Union Jack bunting, tea and cakes, it was a very nice home away from home for us tired Brits.

The trade body also held drinks receptions on each evening of the business days. The first day saw a rousing speech from CEO Dr Jo Twist about how the UK is great for business (in the post-Brexit hellscape we now inhabit). Meanwhile, the Thursday reception saw the award for UK Game of the Show handed out, a prize that went to PaperSeven for Blackwood Crossing.

There were also shots. Lots of shots.

With gold flakes in them. Very British.

A PIRATE’S LIFE FOR ME XBOX was about the only company to have anything resembling a press conference at this year’s Gamescom, even if it was just marketing boss Aaron Greenberg and ID@Xbox boss Chris Charla briefly talking about Xbox One S release dates.

Perhaps more interesting than the aforementioned news was a group of actors (from DisneyLand, we hear) walking around the venue dressed as pirates and singing sea shanties to promote Rare’s upcoming pirate game Sea of Thieves. They were actually bloody good, arrrrr.

IT’S-A-ME AT MCV, we like a politician that doesn’t take themselves too seriously. No, not Boris.

So we have to respect Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, who during the closing ceremony for the Rio Olympics, appeared dressed as a littleknown Japanese cultural icon named Mario.

You might have heard of him. www.mcvuk.com

49

August 26th 2016

OFF THE RECORD

Green Man Gaming Asks...

With the rumoured PS4 Slim leaking out, what do you expect the Playstation Neo to look like? #GMGasks

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

Probably black, square or rectangular and have a PlayStation logo on it somewhere

Probably like two of the Slim models stacked on top. Pretty much like that.

@_Grimsley

@OnBoord

I expect the Playstation Neo to look awesome

Like a PS4 but smaller and around 10 per cent faster. Yay innovation

@madmanmarz

@vorticalbox

Hopefully a lot better than the ugly slim model

It’s going to be slim.

@backslashio

@DirtyLary

Tag your reply with #GMGasks to have your say!

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