NEWS New games buyer at Argos
Retailer confirms appointment of Dixons veteran Andrew Wilson by Dominic Sacco
NATIONAL chain Argos has unveiled its new games buyer. Andrew Wilson joined the
firm’s technology department late last year and is in charge of a team of five. He joins with 11 years of experience having worked at Dixons as a buyer for items such as consumer electronics, white goods and computing. Wilson replaces games buyer Anthony Stocker, who is now responsible for buying large kitchen appliances at the catalogue firm. “I’m really excited to be joining Argos as its video games buyer in the wider technology team,” Wilson told MCV.
“It’s my first role buying for video games, so for now I’ll be focusing on forming good working relationships with our suppliers and look at how we can stay competitive in this fast- paced market.”
Wilson also joins the MCV Retail Advisory Board. The
Former games buyer Stocker (above) has been replaced by Wilson (below)
Brady nabs GTA V licence
by Dominic Sacco
I’ll be focusing on how we can stay competitive in this fast-paced market. Andrew Wilson, Argos
“ by Dominic Sacco
SCOTLAND-based indie Games Centre is celebrating its 20th birthday by opening another shop. The chain – headquartered in Kilmarnock – has six stores in Central and Southern Scotland, with a seventh due to open soon in Dumfries. The news comes after Games Centre was nominated for an MCV Industry Excellence Award for the third year in a row. “We were delighted to find out that we had been nominated for an award,” MD Robert Lindsay told
www.mcvuk.com
MCV. “It’s always nice to receive a little recognition within our industry. “Our High Street
presence is an important
RAB is an elite group of the trade’s top games buyers, which was set up to keep MCVup-to-date on the latest happenings at the UK trade.
The members of the board are also responsible for picking the winner of the Special Recognition accolade at the MCV Industry Excellence Awards. Argos: 0845 603 667
BRADYGAMES believes it can become the No.1 guide publisher with GTA V. It’s part of a bid to claw a bigger market share from rival Prima Games in the UK. The company says it currently has a 40 per cent market share in the UK, with Prima leading the way with a 50 per cent share and Future Press making up around 10 per cent of the strategy guide sector. “We have Grand Theft
Auto Vsigned and we’re really excited about it,” Brady’s global strategy guide publisher Mike Degler told MCV. “We have a core group of licensing partners and Prima has a core group of partners. Then there’s a
Games Centre opens seventh store
seeing record numbers of empty units.
“With indie and specialist games retailer numbers falling, we are strongly placed to take advantage of the current climate.” Games Centre has appointed Steven Clark as head of web and software development, and Bartolmiej Rozmiarek as e-commerce director, in a bid to drive online growth.
part of our business, both financially and in terms of the community spirit which it creates, especially at a time when many areas are
It also plans to relocate its head office to a larger warehouse and office facility this Q3. Games Centre: 01563 570473
handful of titles that come out each year that we both scramble to get.
“What happens is during the years where our core group of partners have really big releases, our market share is usually bigger than Prima’s. And vice versa. “So when Grand Theft Auto V finally comes out, we’re going to have a really good year. We know we’re going to sell out of strategy guides for that game.”
US-based Brady says it has seen a shift in demand for strategy guides. “About five years ago we published about 100 titles – this year it’s about 60,” said Degler.
A popular guide can sell up to 300,000 copies worldwide, he says.
www.bradygames.com
NCsoft reveals Guild Wars 2 pre-order push
CONSUMERS can get early access to Guild Wars 2by pre-ordering the game. There will be three SKUs
– a Collector’s Edition (£129.99), a Digital Deluxe (£64.99) and the standard edition (£49.99). Players who pre-order the game will receive a one day head- start ahead of launch. Users who pre-purchase the digital version can enter all beta weekend events and will get a three-day head- start before launch. This offer begins April 10th. NCsoft: 01273 872000
March 16th 2012 7
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