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‘People don’t want to pay for games’ Consumer attraction to free-to-play will result in higher quality games, claim experts Console market next? by Christopher Dring
FREEMIUM will become the dominant force throughout the global games industry, leading experts claim. Digital specialists at EA and BBC have both told MCVthat free is the price that consumers want to buy their games. And that the model – which is currently popular online and on mobile – could even come to the console space. “The future is not about one-time payments, the future is about freemium,” says EA Interactive senior VP Nick Earl. “A decent number of people convert to paying and they may not pay a lot but most of them actually pay more than you’d think. “I don’t know if freemium gets to console but I do know that humans like free stuff. I also know humans
who will pay for something if they’ve tried it out and they like it.
“I’ve wondered if
freemium expands beyond the tablet, Facebook and
Most players of freemium titles pay more than
you would think. Nick Earl, EA
“
smartphones, and out into consoles? I don’t think it’s impossible for that to happen.” BBC Worldwide’s EVP of digital entertainment and games Robert Nashak added: “It turns out free is the price point people want to pay for games. What’s beautiful about it is the
SONY has revealed a brand new management structure for its UK office. Former Ubisoft marketing boss Murray Pannell has been named as the new SCE UK marketing director. Pannell left Ubisoft earlier this month and replaces Alan Duncan, whose departure was revealed by MCVuk.com last week. Former employers throughout Pannell’s 11-year-long career include EA and Microsoft. He’s just one of three recent hires appointed by new SCE UK and Ireland chief Fergal Gara to grow Sony’s activity and ‘lead the business to the next level’. Alex Coultate has been named as SCE UK commercial
4 July 27th 2012
director for the UK and Ireland. He joins from Universal Pictures where he was head of sales. He previously served served as DVD and video buying manager for Asda.
Elsewhere, former senior commercial manager for mobile at Virgin Media Nick Dickinson assumes the newly created role of head of business development.
fermium model really favours quality games because everyone gets to try before they buy and I think it’s going to lead overall to better quality, because if you’re not hooking people in you can’t monetise. I think freemium changes the landscape and raises the quality bar in a good way.”
Developers share the view that the rise of freemium will result in better video games. And the studio boss at EA’s BioWare Mythic says that rental firms like Blockbuster is partly responsible for the rise of free-to-play.
“I’m a big believer in free,”
says Eugene Evans. “For me that really did start when I saw the retailer Blockbuster started renting out games. I’m convinced that probably put some studios out of business.
New era for SCE UK after restructure
MEET THE TEAM: (Pictured left to right) Pannell, Gara, Coultate and Dickinson are now the faces of Sony Computer Entertainment UK Current Sony faces
We now have the senior structure to take the SCE
business forward. Fergal Gara, SCE UK
“
Robin Phillips and David Considine become head of sales for the UK and Ireland respectively.
The rest of UK and Ireland
MD Fergal Gara’s new team is comprised of UK marketing manager Mark Bowles, Irish marketing director Marea Gray, head of UK trade marketing Rose Buahin and PR boss David Wilson.
Gara said: “I am confident we now have the senior structure to take the business forward and deliver fantastic initiatives for our end consumers and our industry partners.
“I’m delighted to welcome Alex, Murray and Nick to PlayStation. They bring a wealth of fresh experience to the SCE team.”