WHICH GAMES PUBLISHER HAD THE BEST QUALITY AND ATTITUDE TO RETAIL IN 2012? EA 16%
Ubisoft 18%
Microsoft 12%
Actvision 27% 2K 8% Rockstar 7% Sony 4%
Bethesda 2%
Warner Bros 3%
Square Enix 3%
ACTIVISION won over more than a quarter of participating retailers, no doubt thanks to both the success of Call of Duty and toy phenomenon Skylanders. It’s a dramatic change from last year, when the publisher took just five per cent of votes. Regular favourite Ubisoft holds second place after a solid year with Assassin’s Creed III, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Just Dance 4. It won 18 per cent of votes, followed very closely by FIFA publisher EA with 16 per cent. All were thanked for their continued support, although some stores claimed that broadly publishers had been less helpful this year. Microsoft was the most popular of the three platform holders, with 12 per cent of retailers championing the firm for the continued success of the Xbox 360 and the release of Halo 4. Despite the debut of the PlayStation Vita, plenty of first party games and a new, more affordable PS3, Sony only took four per cent of votes. Meanwhile, Nintendo – which took the biggest share in last year’s survey – is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps this will change next year as the Wii U finds its feet.
WHICH UK DISTRIBUTOR WOULD YOU COMMEND FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE? CentreSoft 59%
Gem 28%
Creative 1%
Advantage 5%
Ideal Software 6%
Keen 1%
CENTRESOFT continues to dominate the distribution sector with more than half of voters thanking the UK firm for its service over the past 12 months. The distributor handles releases from key publishers such as Activision, EA, Sony, Sega and Warner Bros, all of whom have released some of the best-selling titles of the year, including Call of Duty, FIFA, LEGO Batman 2 and the Olympics tie-in games.
Gem also fared well, taking more than a quarter of the vote, just as it did last year. The distributor handles releases for Ubisoft, 2K Games, and of course platform holder Microsoft. Other key players mentioned include Advantage, Creative, Keen and Ideal Software. Last year, many independent retailers opted out of this question due to a “lack of support for indies”, but MCV received no such complaints in this year’s survey. Hopefully this means distributors have dedicated more time to looking after the nation’s smaller games stores. Also a change from last year, no retailers named supermarkets as their favourite distributor, having bought their stock from grocers in the past.
WHAT NEW CONSOLE, GAME OR ACCESSORY ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS? New Xbox 21%
Wii U 20%
GTA V 27% New
PlayStation 17%
Gears of War: Judgment 2%
OTHER:
Devil May Cry, Watch Dogs, Delta 6 Gun controller for FPS
Aliens:
Colonial Marines 2%
Vita 2% BioShock Infinite 4%
GRAND THEFT AUTO is top of retailers’ wishlists for 2013, with 27 per cent eagerly waiting for the release of Rockstar’s next epic. GTA V outperformed all other games, and even the next generation of hardware. Beyond the next Grand Theft Auto, the most anticipated games of 2013 all fall within Q1, including BioShock Infinite, Aliens: Colonial Marines, and Gears of War: Judgment. However, it is new consoles that the High Street is desperate for, as a combined 58 per cent of store managers said they were most looking forward to the next Xbox, PlayStation 4 and increased activity from Wii U. Each of the three took a relatively even share of the votes. Retailers are also looking forward to more releases and activity from
PlayStation Vita, with one predicting the handheld would be treated “like a new console” in 2013.
There are of course still pessimists out there. When asked what console or game they were most looking forward to, one retailer replied: “None of them, because we won’t make money on a single one.”