NEWS
“We see DLC growing from a $3bn global category today to a $6.4bn category by 2014.” Monetising cloud gaming p15
‘It’s too late for game retailers to start offering digital downloads’
Indie Gameseek abandons plan to add digital distribution to offer, saying Steam is too popular to launch against by Dominic Sacco
ONLINE retailer Gameseek has warned other boxed game retailers that it’s too late to join the digital download market.
The website – which has been online since 2000 – scrapped its download service earlier this year due to low demand. MD Stephen Staley told
MCVthat the success of established services such as Steam and Xbox Live means the digital window of opportunity has closed for physical retailers hoping to crack into that space. “It’s too late for
traditionally boxed game retailers to start thinking
about a download service, as known services such as Steam and Xbox Live are way ahead,” he said. “The downloads only accounted
“
RECORD label EMI is already promoting the Wii video game based on its Now music compilation.
Flyers for the game will be published in the 79th Now That’s What I Call Music album, out at the end of the month. The game will also be promoted in the subsequent three Now releases due out in November and December – coinciding with the game’s debut on the High Street. EMI and publisher Tubby Games are working closely on the release, and this first joint marketing effort underlines the potential they see in converting the current Now album audience into Now video gamers. Revealed in MCVlast week, the Now game is the first in a proposed series of titles. It hits Wii in November and already has a tracklist of headline pop talent – including the likes of Tinie Tempah, Rihanna, Dizzee Rascal, JLS and Jessie J. “Nowis an evergreen title that can hold in the charts over time,” Neil Meredith, strategic director at publisher Tubby Games, told MCVlast week. “We have had a great reaction from retailers already.”
6 July 15th 2011
There was just not enough demand for downloading games.
Stephen Staley, Gameseek
to about 0.1 per cent of our business so it was not a big loss. However, we expected it to do better.”
NOW GAME GETS ALBUM PROMO
Gameseek went live with game downloads in January 2008 in parnership with specialist online service Metaboli, before scrapping the offering this year. “We tried to push the service but there just was not enough demand for downloading games. We receive a lot of traffic to our site so we thought it would have been more successful than it was, but the service never really took off.” The news comes after a host of independent retailers – including ShopTo and Barkman Computers – told MCVthey wanted to add downloadable games to their product range. Gameseek: 08712 882 472
Gameseek’s MD Stephen Staley believes Steam is too far ahead of its game to compete with
Definitive industry reference guide returns by James Batchelor
THIS YEAR’S edition of Sourcebook– the definitive reference guide for businesses serving the video games industry – is now available.
The publication covers every sector of the games business, including: creative and promotional, customer services, accessories, distribution, localisation, QA & testing, recruitment, development and UK distribution and logistics.
Sourcebook 2011 showcases the key players across each sector, offering an at-a-glance snapshot of the wealth of companies servicing the games industry. 20,000 copies of the print version will be put into circulation, including 10,000 copies delivered with this issue of MCV. It will also be included with selected reader codes of Developand PCR, and distributed at events. A digital edition will be available online at
www.intent
media.co.uk/sourcebook
www.mcvuk.com
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