THE MARKET FOR COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES Issue 606 Friday September 24 2010 £3.25
04 Digital Rising Capcom explains how its paid-for DLC prequel was more effective than TV ads
17 Super Hero Guitar Hero Europe boss Peter Royea on keeping the series fresh
43 Retail Biz Our comprehensive product guides include an in-depth look at Just Dance 2
WITH THIS ISSUE Your guide to Konami’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
EVERY BUYER EVERY BRANCH EVERY INDIE EVERY WEEK EA takes aim at Activision
FIFA-like transformation will see Medal of Honor beat Call of Duty, says Euro boss by Michael French
IT MIGHT take a year or two to accomplish, but EA is intent on knocking Call of Duty from its perch.
EA Europe SVP Jens Uwe Intat has told MCV that the firm wants the resurgent Medal of Honor to outgun Activision’s powerhouse series. The first Medal of Honor in three years hits shelves next month. It marks the first step in a crusade to overtake Call of Duty – and will rise in the same way FIFA beat Konami’s PES, Intat said. “We certainly want to get back on top for shooters with Medal of Honor,” he said.
“We’re not going to outdo Call of Duty this year but it will get dangerously close. This is going to be a journey, as it has been with the way FIFA overtook PES.
At last! Halo effect gives High Street reasons to be cheerful
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THE BLOCKBUSTER arrival of the latest Halo put the UK games market back on track. The 360 exclusive helped retailers make over £28m in sales. It was the best week for games retail all year, and a far cry from the week prior, when the UK market value plummeted to its lowest level since May 2006. According to MCV calculations based on GfK Chart-Track data, retailers have made £761.5 million on software so far this year, a drop of 16 per cent compared to the same period in 2009. But at
Jens Uwe Intat, Electronic Arts ”
Halo: Reach kicks off the Q4 sales surge But new data shows market could shrink by Christopher Dring
YET THERE’S STILL SOME WAY TO GO…
DESPITE the uplift, there’s much distance to cover if the UK market hopes to match 2009’s sales. Having generated £761.5m in 2010 so far, UK retail will have
to rake in just under £1bn if it hopes to match 2009’s performance of £1.621bn. Alas, Gfk Chart-Track says the UK games software market is currently set to make £1.475 billion this year, a decline of nine per cent.
last there is reason to cheer, with a new Chart-Track report predicting that UK retail is on course to generate another £700m in game sales over the next three months. Certainly, the big releases now come thick and fast. FIFA 11 kicks off the busy Q4 season next week, with a major multiplatform blockbuster due out every week until December – including PES, Medal of Honor, Fallout: New Vegas, Wii Party, Just Dance 2, The Sims 3, Gran Turismo 5, Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty: Black Ops.
We are definitely going to beat Call of Duty. This is a journey, as it was with FIFA versus PES.
“In the years to come, we’re definitely going to beat Activision and Call of Duty. "The combination of digital marketing and advertising with the strength of word of mouth – something that really helped FIFA – should help the comeback “We actually have two IP bullets in our gun; Battlefield. sold very well this spring and in some countries it came close to outperforming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.”
INCORPORATING
Mass market and online retailers close in on specialists
by Christopher Dring
SPECIALISTS may have driven the Halo: Reach launch excitement, but new research shows they are still losing ground to supermarkets. According to GfK Chart-
Track, mass market grocers sold 29 per cent of all video games purchased during the first 34 weeks of the year. That’s an eight per cent rise compared to 2009.
Supermarkets have ramped up their efforts in the video games space over the past 18 months. The likes of Tesco and Asda have added to their games teams, while both have also begun rolling out a pre- owned offer in many stores. In contrast, High Street stores have suffered a 29 per cent decrease in their sales. The likes of HMV, GAME and Gamestation now account for under 50 per cent of the UK games market. However, the retailers posting the biggest gains in 2010 are actually mail order experts. The likes of
Play.com, The Hut and Amazon have increased their share from 17 per cent for the first 34 weeks of 2009 to 22 per cent for the same period this year.
PERSONNEL 39 RETAIL BIZ 43 NEW RELEASES 54 HIGH STREET 56 CHARTS 58
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