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WWW.MCVUK.COM NEWS ‘superbrand’ push  In-house digital games offering in the works


‘New’ Ignition aims to be ‘Pixar’ of games


by Christopher Dring


HMV CEO Simon Fox wants HMV to become a consumer-facing entertainment brand in its own right


have done, but we don’t really think that will take us forward. “We’re trying to avoid doing it in a ‘me too’ way.” Furthermore, HMV will increase its efforts in delivering lucrative pre-order offers, following the success it saw


last year with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.


Hayes revealed the company took around £2 million for the night vision goggle Prestige Edition before the game had even launched. HMV: 020 7432 2000


UK SOFTWARE SALES MONITOR


Your weekly guide to the UK games software market…


 The UK games market continues to slide in terms of value, with sales down four per cent to £14.7 million. However, unit sales increased slightly, up three per cent to 716,167 units.


 The reason for the dip was a distinct lack of new titles. Toy Story 3was the biggest release of the week, and it debuted in fifth position. Crackdown 2is once again No.1.


 The reason for the increase in unit sales is down to the launch of Xbox 360 S, which was bundled with games such as Alan Wake.


 Next week’s big title is Square Enix’s Dragon Quest IXfor DS, while Blizzard’s anticipated StarCraft IIis due the following week.


£14.7m


[WEEKLY MARKET VALUE] Week Ending July 17th 2010


20 Source: ELSPA/ChartTrack and Intent Media Total UK Software Sales


UTV IGNITION will leave its sub-distribution days behind as it transforms into a triple-A digital games giant. The company has recently opened three studios in Tokyo, Florida and London, and has hired former IGN Europe chief Justin Keeling to head up its global digital strategy. This includes recruiting developers to create high- profile, big-budget digital games for WiiWare, PSN, XBLA, Google Games, Steam, Facebook, iPhone and more. The new hires and studio openings have been funded by the company’s parent UTV, an Indian media conglomerate. “It is not often you get a major new player in the games sector,” said Keeling. “Ignition as a brand has been around for a while, but this is the re-birth of the company. I think we can do some good. We want to work with the best industry talent.” “From a publishing


perspective, my goal is to make UTV Ignition the


Pixar of games in two to three years. I want us to be raising the bar of quality.” It isn’t all about digital – the company is also working on boxed IPs for PS3 and Xbox 360: El Shaddai, War Devil and Reich.


“I had a few offers for work, and when I saw what these guys were up to, they were top of my list,” said Keeling. “There’s not many people investing in the top talent with no-expense spared. It is going to be quite a surprise when you see what we are building.”


MCV 23/07/10 5


TOP 10


FIFA 2011 PS3, EA


2. PLAYSTATION MOVE MOTION PS3 ..........................................SONY


3. PLAYSTATION MOVE NAVIGATION PS3 ..........................................SONY


4. FABLE III COLLECTORS’ EDITION 360 ..................................MICROSOFT


5. FORMULA ONE 2010 (F1) 360 ..............................CODEMASTERS


6. FIFA 2011 360 ..............................................EA


7. STARCRAFT II: WINGS OF LIBERTY PC ......................................BLIZZARD


8. PLAYSTATION MOVE STARTER PACK PS3 ..........................................SONY


9. FORMULA ONE 2010 (F1) PS3 ..............................CODEMASTERS


10. MAFIA II PS3 ....................................2K GAMES


Week ending: July 17th Source: SHOPTO.NET


 Turn to page 37 for more pre-order charts from leading online retailers


[PRE ORDERS]


15


10 £15.4m 5


688,728 Units


Crackdown 2 held on to the top spot in the charts 0 Week Ending July 3rd Week Ending July 10th Week Ending July 17th £15.3m


695,991 Units


£14.7m


716,167 Units


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