DANCE GAMES Haven’t stopped dancing yet…
In fact, the singing and dancing game genre should hit a new high this year – but it’s becoming as competitive as it is lucrative. Dave Roberts talks to some of the major players
TEN YEARS ago, the UK market for ‘singing’ and ‘dancing’ games was about 75,000 units a year. Last year it climbed to over 3,750,000, and when 2011 is closed for business it will probably reach a new peak. (The quote marks, incidentally,
aren’t to denigrate the efforts of gamers eveywhere, but instead to make it clear that we’re discussing two different genres, rather than ‘singing and dancing’ games – of which there are very few. They will be dispensed with henceforth) The recent boom has been fuelled by, first, Ubisoft’s Just Dancefranchise and, this year, by 505’s Zumba phenomenon (which GfK ChartTrack classifies as a dancing game). Pioneering work was done in the late ‘90s by Konami and its Dance Dance Revolution, although the franchise has more or less missed out this time around. Another key product was Sony’s SingStar, first released in the mid- noughties and still going strong. 23 million discs have been shifted since the original first hit PlayStation 2 in 2004. Over 12 million tracks have been downloaded from the SingStore, which boasts a library of 2,200 songs. SCE UK’s marketing chief Alan Duncan says: “SingStarplayed a
www.mcvuk.com “
The success of Just Dance is due to its accessibility and the popularity of dancing in the UK.
Rachael Grant, Ubisoft
major part in the second half of the PS2 success story by making it a truly social console. It broadened the role a console could play in people’s lives by creating new moments of play, livening up dinner parties and getting everyone in the mood before – or after – a big night out.” He believes that “as much as GT, Wipeoutand Heavy Rain, SingStar embodies the PlayStation brand; credible, entertaining and exciting”. The brand’s foray onto the dance
floor, SingStar Dance, wasn’t too successful, but it will be making a second attempt with DanceStar Party. The word ‘Sing’ has been dropped, notice, and the emphasis this time around is more on hitting the floor rather than the right note. Duncan asserts: “DanceStar Party revisits all the values that made SingStarsuch a success and brings them to the dance genre. It’s our biggest title for PlayStation Move this autumn.”
DANCE-OFF DanceStar Partywill face stiff competition from Just Dance 3, as this October the Ubisoft sales phenomenon branches out from its Wii roots and sashays its way onto PS3 and Xbox 360.
August 12th 2011 45
The original caught the market by surprise at Christmas 2009 and the franchise has subsequently sold 15 million units worldwide.
Ubisoft’s brand manager Rachael Grant says: “I think the key factors in the success of Just Danceare the accessibility of the product – literally anyone can play along and enjoy themselves – and also the fact that dancing is so popular in the UK. “The game is exuberant and people just love playing together at home or with friends – and that’s what we wanted consumers to get out of the game, to really let loose and enjoy themselves.” Zumba, from 505, whilst having a more overt fitness agenda, is in many ways this year’s Just Dance– it’s certainly a surprise hit that has been a true hero for retail. It has been No.1 in the All Formats chart for eight consecutive weeks – and 11 weeks in total during 2011.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84