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The Market For Computer & Video Games


EVERY BUYER  EVERY BRANCH  EVERY WEEK


UK GAMES INDUSTRY IS SPENDING UNDER £100M ON Q4 ADVERTISING. THAT’S A DROP OF 40 PER CENT YEAR-ON-YEAR


Losing a few pounds


by Christopher Dring


THE AGE of excess is clearly over. UK games firms are spending £99m on advertising this Christmas, MCVcan reveal.


That’s a drop of 40 per cent year-on-year.


The figures are based on a survey of the biggest companies in the UK games industry. In comparison, publishers, retailers and developers spent £165m on advertising during Q4 2011, Our research is in-line with the state of the advertising market so far this year. According to Generation Media, TV advertising ‘pressure’ measured in ratings for video games is 37 per cent down so far in 2012, while industry recorded spend has dropped 41 per cent. “The video game industry has been one of the market leaders in terms of


advertising declines in 2012. So it’s certainly not a


surprise to see that continue into Christmas,” Generation Media’s AV manager Jonathan Chambers told MCV.


“ INSIDE THIS ISSUE OF MCV


04 SKYLANDERS ZOO The hit kids franchise heads to London Zoo as part of its multi- million pound marketing push


35 LICENSING BONANZA MCVdiscusses the growing importance of video game licensing and merchandise


47 RECOMMENDED Call of Duty, F1, Forza, LittleBigPlanetand Epic Mickey 2are previewed


18 PLUS! WII U TRADE GUIDE In our eight-page guide we check out the line-up, talk to the trade and detail the hardware ahead of the console’s launch


is in decline. Marketing for


certain big


triple-A releases has


Video games have been one of the market leaders in terms of advertising


declines in 2012. Jonathan Chambers, Generation Media


“The marketing


departments appear to be the area that has been most heavily hit by the sales declines posted in the market this year.


“In comparison, the toy


market has been relatively flat in terms of advertising spend year-over-year.” However, not every area of video games advertising


never been bigger, with titles including Ubisoft’s


Assassin’s Creed III claiming budgets of £4m or more. Meanwhile, it is important to note that some of the biggest releases over the coming months – including Nintendo Wii U, Activison’s Skylanders Giantsand Sony’s Wonderbook – are targeting broader and younger audiences, says Chambers.


“Buying around kids media is a lot more cost effective than booking advertising around programming aimed at the 16 to 34 year-old male,” he said.


Issue 710 Friday October 19th 2012 £3.25


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