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The Market For Computer & Video Games


EVERY BUYER  EVERY BRANCH  EVERY WEEK Issue 717 Friday December 7th 2012 £3.25 ‘Tis the season to be jolly Merry mood on the High Street despite November decline and miserly market conditions  Hopes high for 2013


by James Batchelor and Billy Langsworthy


Hopes are


remarkably high for this year’s Christmas takings.





arrival of new consoles and Grand Theft Auto Vas reasons to be hopeful. Hopes are remarkably high for this year’s Christmas takings as well, despite a tough market throughout October and November. A lot rests on the next three weeks of sales. We spoke to over 100 retailers to gauge the mood of the High Street this year. You can read the full results on page 15.


04 NINTENDO’S NEXT MOVE The platform holder promises to maintain momentum for Wii U with plenty of titles in Q1


UK GAMES retailers are surprisingly upbeat in the face of significant market declines. MCV’s annual retail survey shows that a whopping 75 per cent of store managers and retail buyers are confident about the next year, with those on the frontline pointing to the


FESTIVE CHEER


NEARLY 70 per cent of video games retailers expect a merry Christmas. According to MCV’s annual retail survey, 38 per cent of stores believe their Xmas takings will be greater this year than in 2011, while 30 per cent predict a similar year-on-year performance. It’s a remarkable display of optimism in the face of a market that just saw November sales fall year-on- year by 22.2 per cent. Stores told MCVthey believe strong sales of Activision shooter Black Ops


THE ONLINE MENACE


IT’S NOT all smiles and Christmas cheer: more than half of all High Street stores surveyed expressed concerns about the threats from supermarkets and online retailers. 30 per cent of participating firms declared online stores to be the biggest problem the specialist market faces – a massive leap from the eight per cent that shared this fear in 2011’s survey.


INSIDE THIS ISSUE OF MCV


06 NEGATIVE NOVEMBER UK retail sold 6.4m games last month, a drop of 23 per cent compared to November 2011


22 THE DEVIL YOU KNOW MCVtalks to Capcom about the upcoming reboot of its popular Devil May Cry franchise


24 INDIA REPORT We explore the changing Indian games market, such as the rise of specialist retailers


29 PREVIEWS We look at Studio Ghibli project Ni No Kuni, plus The Settlers Online and Warriors Orochi 3


A further 24 per cent were more troubled by supermarkets.


It’s easy to see why. Supermarkets are currently the No.1 games retail sector, while online retail is the fastest growing.


RETAIL LOVES COD


II and Wii U will help see them through December. However, a further 26 per cent of participating stores


weren’t so hopeful, while a remaining six per cent are cautious about the festive season.


BLACK OPS II’s sales were slower this year, but 41 per cent of retailers still listed it as their highlight of 2012. In fact, many firms associated with Call of Dutyreceived high praise in this year’s survey. Activision was the top publisher with 27 per cent of retail votes. Official supplier CentreSoft was voted the No.1 distributor by 59 per cents, while Turtle Beach – the firm behind the official Call of Duty headset range – was the top peripherals brand with 27 per cent.


AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR?


UK GAMES retailers expect a blockbuster 2012 with the help of a few new consoles. 58 per cent of stores told


MCVthey want new hardware, listing the next Xbox, PS4 and Wii U (our survey was conducted just ahead of the Wii U launch) as their most anticipated releases.


But the biggest hit was actually a game for current consoles – GTA V. 27 per cent said the next Rockstar blockbuster was their most anticipated release of 2013. Stores are also expecting much from the triple-A titles due during Q1, such as BioShock, Aliens, and Gears.


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