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The Market For Computer & Video Games


EVERY BUYER  EVERY BRANCH  EVERY WEEK Issue 696 Friday July 13th 2012 £3.25


Blockbusters at the ready for Gamescom


Vita and Call of Duty set for Cologne  GTA V?  Organisers promise 300 game debuts by Christopher Dring


MICROSOFT and Nintendo may be giving Gamescom a miss, but will we even notice they are absent?


The rest of the industry is determined to make this year’s event the biggest yet. Over 300 ‘premieres’ will be made at this year’s show, with EA, Activision and Sony amongst the big names preparing blockbuster reveals. Vita and Call of Dutywill be amongst the headliners, while rumours persist that GTA V could make an appearance. “Gamescom remains a very important date in the SCEE calendar, and both our focus


PSN charts


now in MCV THE TOP Ten best-selling PSN titles will now be revealed every week in MCV. The chart covers the whole of Europe, and will run in MCV’s market-leading seven-page charts section, which you can find on page 39 of this very issue. This week Resident Evil Chronicles HDis the No.1 PSN game.


IN THIS ISSUE


02 A SECOND-HAND DIGITAL DOWNLOAD MARKET? Could a new EU ruling change the face of digital retailing?


06 JUNE CHARTS We reveal the biggest publishers, platforms and video games at retail last month


14 FIRST CLASS POST Sega’s Euro COO Jurgen Post on cutting boxed games, embracing digital and ‘the Hello Kitty dream’


16 EA’S ORIGIN


In the second of four major EA interviews, we quiz Origin boss David DeMartini


21 RECOMMENDED We check prices, speak to indies and preview Square Enix’s Sleeping Dogs


and line-up this year, will be as strong as ever,” an SCEE spokesperson told MCV. 2K’s Markus Wilding


2K is going to be at Gamescom in a big way.


“ Markus Wilding, 2K


will have ample opportunity to get their hands on our games using 100 demo pods on our 600m² booth.


added: “2K is going to be at Gamescom this year, and in a big way no less. Consumers


EA and Sony will premiere upcoming games at Gamescom this year


“The gameplay will be complemented by hourly stage shows where fans will have can win merchandise.” THQ and Sega are also absent this year. But


Gamescom has replaced these names with


newcomers such as GREE and Samsung.


Gamescom runs from August 15th to the 19th.


UK games retail down 40% in June


by Christopher Dring


2.1M games were sold at retail last month – a drop of more than 40 per cent compared with June 2011. In total, stores generated


£48.4m from software sales throughout June, down 38.2 per cent from the £78.4m made during the same period last year.


The biggest new release of the month was LEGO Batman 2, which reached No.2 in the charts. However, the No.1 game was Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon: Future Solider, which came out in May. All data is courtesy of UKIE and GfK Chart-Track. For a more in-depth look at the June chart data, turn to page 8.


New games boss for Asda as Thompson moves on by Christopher Dring


CRAIG THIRKELL is Asda’s new games buying manager. Thirkell is an Asda veteran of 17 years, joining the firm as a store manager in 1995. He has held numerous roles, including head of Asda mobile. He most recently worked as buying manager for vision and audio, and takes his new role from August 1st.


portable media and computing. Thompson joined Asda in 2009 following a six-year stint at Gamestation.


Craig Thirkell (above) takes over games from Thompson (right)


He replaces Andrew Thompson who leaves the games industry after ten


years to work within the supermarket’s electronics department, heading up


“It is with much sadness that I leave the games industry after ten fantastic years. However, I am extremely excited about the forthcoming change and the new challenge that lays ahead for me,” said Thompson.


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