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Sainsbury’s: Our £26 Modern Warfare 2 put us on the map
Low price point and marketing drew queues not seen since World War II, says retailer by James Batchelor
CALL OF DUTY: Modern Warfare 2 has established Sainsbury’s as a major player in games, claims the supermarket. The retailer celebrated the impact of the game’s launch during its 2010 Entertainment Conference, highlighting the event as one of its most
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“The important thing about this release for us is that it put Sainsbury’s and games on the map. Ever since then, Sainsbury’s has continued to perform really, really well in the games category. “Call of Duty was a key catalyst to that. We’ve now got over 100,000 new video games customers that we can
Our market-leading price caused a big buzz in terms of PR and press publicity, which we’re very proud of.
Sheetal Meakin, Sainsbury’s
successful ventures in the past twelve months – thanks to its £26 price point. “We priced it very aggressively, but we also set it up as a very big event by giving it TV advertising and a lot of store space,” said Sainsbury’s games manager Gurdeep Hunjan.
MCV 16/07/10 7 Sponsored by
EA: FIFA 11 has been dated – the multiformat football title will hit shelves in Europe and the UK on October 1st. The US version of the game will arrive a few days earlier on September 28th.
SONY: A ‘Classic White’ PS3 slim will launch in Japan on July 29th. Consumers have the option of buying a system with a 160GB or 320GB hard drive.
TAKE-TWO: Four Red Dead RedemptionDLC packs will be released over the next few months, providing players with new characters, environments and weapons.
sell to and support in a range of different ways.”
Hunjan explained that the success of MW2 led the Sainsbury’s business to take games more seriously, giving his team access to more floor space and marketing resources. Entertainment marketing manager Sheetal Meakin added:
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A NEW UK games trade site has launched, which offers consumers three ways to buy and sell titles.
GaBoom.co.uk allows users to either contact other members on the site’s forum to agree on postage terms, use GaBoom’s own escrow service or ‘Secure Swap’ feature for a safer transaction. “We have developed a safe, easy and unique way of trading games online,” said GaBoom founder Jess Ratcliffe. “We provide users not only with our automatic user- matching system but two secure and insured postage options to take the hassle and risk out of trading their games online.”
GaBoom founder Jess Ratcliffe emphasises the site’s secured and insured postage options
Sainsbury’s says MW2 pulled in over 100,000 new games customers
“Call of Duty signified a massive step change in how Sainsbury’s perceived entertainment. “This is where we came to the forefront of the business’ mind. Our market-leading price caused a big buzz in terms of PR and press publicity, which we’re very proud of.
“People were queuing for hours before the store opened on launch day – I believe that hasn’t happened since World War II, when people were queuing up for their rations.” For more on Sainsbury’s conference, turn to Page 14. Sainsbury’s: 020 7695 6000
Another trade-in site emerges GaBoom was set up
following the rise in popularity in the pre-owned market. A number of big-name retailers have embraced pre-owned this year including supermarkets Tesco and Asda as well as catalogue retailer Argos. Ratcliffe added: “With approximately 12.4m people in the UK currently buying their games second-hand, it is going to take something massive for all of them to switch to only buying new.”
GaBoom joins other trading sites including Computer Exchange,
SwapGame.com, US-based
SwitchGames.com and
tradeyourgames.co.uk.
www.gaboom.co.uk
CHECK OUT THIS WEEK’S VIDEOS:
Force Unleashed II – P8 Metroid: Other M – P25 StarCraft II – P30
Videos are available within the free iPad Edition of MCV on iTunes and the PC Digital Edition, which can be accessed at
MCVUK.com
BIOWARE: Dragon Age 2 has been officially confirmed. The sequel will get a new game engine and storyline courtesy of developer BioWare. It will be published by EA next year.
SEGA: Upcoming sci-fi shooter Vanquishwill hit UK retail on October 22nd for PS3 and Xbox 360. Those who pre-order the game will get an extra DLC pack.
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