NEWS
UK games retail plunges in February
23.3% fewer games sold year-on-year Another month at the top for EA, Black Ops and Xbox 360
by Christopher Dring
FEBRUARY was a tough month for UK retail, with sales of new boxed games down 23 per cent year-on-year. In total 3,261,590 games were sold last month. In terms of revenue retail took home £72.6m. This was down 22.1 per cent compared to February 2010.
Once again 360 was the dominant platform, with Xbox games accounting for 29 per cent of all the titles sold last
month. PS3 followed in second place, with Wii coming in third.
Meanwhile, EA continues to be the biggest publisher, taking over 20 per cent of the market last month.
The firm had four games in the month’s Top Ten, including Dead Space 2at No.2 and new release Bulletstorm. In terms of units, Ubisoft is the second biggest publisher and Nintendo is third. In terms of value, those positions are reversed.
LEADER CAN THQ MAKE IT HOME?
IN AN EXCITING age of handhelds – you can’t move in our nine pages of news this week without seeing a 3DS, NGP or smartphone – it’s easy to forget the equally exciting stuff going on for console content. For new IP junkies like me, Q1 is often our Christmas, and this year it’s been no different.
Across digital and retail, a raft of quality, fresh games have emerged since Christmas, including my current favourites Ilomilo and Bulletstorm.
THQ has also been pumping new ideas into the market. And I don’t mean its odd new optical-illusion-esque logo. It has championed the new in clever products, small bets like a download game about Russian stacking dolls, or bigger gambles like uDrawand next week’s Next Big Thing, Homefront.
On the one hand, repeated claims of putting quality first and boasting ‘creative relationships’ with the likes of movie director Guillermo del Toro are clichés from the Great Big Book of Publisher Proverbs. (Remember EA’s Spielberg deal? Jerry Bruckheimer’s presumed-dead studio? Mark Ecko’s PS2 game? Exactly.)
But THQ is making good on its claims so far – from the top-level execs right down to the UK team, who seem to have promoted Homefrontto its limit.
“So far THQ is making good on its promises.”
With £2m behind it, that release will hopefully remind many that even when the value of games is being undermined by apps, the right triple-A titles will always pack a punch.
And this one can potentially push THQ back up the publisher ranking after a terrible time in the doldrums.
TRION FORCE SOME SPECIAL praise in the new property stakes is also deserved for Trion Worlds this week.
THE FEBRUARY TOP TEN 1. Call of Duty: Black
Ops....................................Activision Blizzard 2: Dead Space 2...........................................................................................EA 3. FIFA 11.........................................................................................................EA 4. Test Drive Unlimited
2................................Atari/Namco Bandai 5. Just Dance 2...................................................................................Ubisoft 6. Killzone
3...............................................................................................Sony 7. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.............................................Ubisoft 8. Bulletstorm...............................................................................................EA 9. Marvel vs Capcom
3.................................................................Capcom 10. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit..........................................................EA
www.mcvuk.com
This new publisher managed a Top 20 position in the All Formats chart with its relatively niche MMO Rift. Take digital sales into account, and the first few days of launch went very well. It was only beaten in the PC boxed chart by, fittingly, a new Warhammergame from THQ. So a real success for a new UK publishing team that didn’t exist until Christmas, when they moved into an office on Tottenham Court Road.
Going from a standing start
like that to a best-seller with its first game, in just two months deserves applause. Proof there’s still wiggle room for the underdog.
Michael.French @
intentmedia.co.uk
March 11th 2011 5
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