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LEADER
BIG NUMBERS SHOW TRUE HEALTH OF GAMES
OUR REPORT on GAME’s struggle in the previous issue put on hold my promise to show you the real power of the UK market. But here it is on our cover this week.
£520m spent on online games and subscriptions in the UK. £158m made via mobile gaming. £60m revenues from toys inspired by games. These aren’t just analyst estimates – we’ve double checked them confidentially with key publishers and developers. And it all adds up to show the market is actually worth in excess of £3bn in 2011, a huge leap from the ‘down’ market we’re so used to seeing in charts and data based on just the sale of boxed games. You should point to this impressive stat next time a colleague, commentator or contemporary claims the market is suffering. Thanks goes to those analysts and publishers who guided me: the
likes of NPD, Official Charts Company and GfK Chart-Track, plus data from Juniper and Nick Parker/IHS Screen Digest. When combined, their collective knowledge shows that games brands are as popular as ever, if not moreso as things like The Sims spins out to Facebook and Moshistorms the High Street’s toy aisles. But the fact it takes more sources than you can count on one hand to prove the real scale of our market shows how much the market is maturing. And fracturing.
AND THE FINALISTS ARE… …a pretty diverse bunch, actually. 63 different companies are nominated for the MCV Awards this year.
SPECIAL AWARDS
MCV RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD: SPECIAL RECOGNITION Rosemary Buahin (SCE UK) Martin Defries (Rising Star Games)
Darren Houghton (Gem) Paul Oughton (Bethesda) Ralph Pitt-Stanley (505 Games)
Disco & Bar Partner GRAND PRIX
The winner of this award is voted for entirely by MCVand is selected based on both historical industry support and stature, plus key successes over the last 12 months. Nothing will be revealed until the awards night on April 19th.
Event Partner Award Partner
Based on the shortlist alone, the ceremony itself will be a hell of a night. 20 games are under consideration for things like new games brand, sales triumph or marketing campaign. 28 different retailers will be competing for six different prizes. We’ve even got a little GameStop vs GAME face-off brewing in the specialist category. Fierce lobbying for our digital and social media prizes prove that games firms new and old are making good of that fractured market I mention above. Skylanders, PS Vita, EA Origin… these are just three new and original propositions from the most established firms hoping to exploit a fast changing world. Congratulations to those who made it this far – and good luck for Thursday, April 19th.