THE FINALISTS 2012 YOUR TEAM • YOUR GAMES • YOUR AWARDS Previous Winners 10th Anniversary
Any publisher – big or small – has a chance to snap up this award, which will highlight the product that has achieved better-than-expected sales at UK retail
2008: Cooking Mama 2009: Fallout 3 2010: Just Dance 2011: F1 2010
ANGRY BIRDS PC (FOCUS
MULTIMEDIA/ROVIO) The hit mobile game was once a success story reserved only for its developer and merchandise licensees. However, a deal between studio Rovio and publisher Focus meant retailers could enjoy revenues from the soaring franchise. As soon as it launched, the budget PC Angry Birds game became an instant bestseller in the UK, with the Rio spin-off also selling well. The pair have sat high in the PC budget charts ever since, with five consecutive number ones for the first Angry Birds and a No.1 for the whole month of December.
DEAD ISLAND
(KOCH MEDIA) Breaking a new IP into the market is hard enough, never mind what your sales
expectations are. But the sales of Dead Island have proven the hype for this zombie FPS was not hollow – the game sold through over 100,000 units in its first weekend on sale and went straight to the No.1 slot in the UK, where it sat for two weeks. It was the second-best new IP launch in three years in the UK, and stood out amongst a sea of sequels, a sterling testament to Koch Mediaʼs relatively small team of sales and publishing execs in the UK.
MOSHI MONSTERS: MOSHLING ZOO (ACTIVISION/MIND
CANDY) Moshling Zoo is the Nintendo DS spin-off of the popular online kids game. According to creator Mind Candy, one in every two kids aged six to 12 in the UK owns a Moshi Monster on www.moshimonsters.com, and the video game takes all the key elements from the online world to create a mobile gaming phenomenon. The handheld game, co-published with Activision, launched on November 11th and soon became a massive hit with kids, with many stores running out of stock within a couple of weeks of its release. The game made it to No.7 in the All Formats chart in the same week that COD: MW3 and The Elder Scrolls launched, impressive for a single-format game in the heady Q4 period. The game was No.1 in the Nintendo DS chart in its opening two weeks and secured a third week on top at the end of 2011. It has already clocked up further No.1s in the NDS chart in 2012.
PORTAL 2
(EA/VALVE) Valve built on the much-loved and critically acclaimed Portal game included with The Orange Box compilation for Portal 2 – and the result was unanimously acclaimed by the media. Distribution partner EA says the game was a real over- achiever commercially, becoming the surprise hit in the first half of 2011, and scoring the UK No.1 slot in consecutive weeks. Latterly, the game went on to achieve several Game of the Year accolades.