NEWS
RETAIL INTELLIGENCE Head to
www.mcvuk.com for daily market data and news. This week our Retail Essentials section starts on p25
The only way is up – UK games retail suffers worst month on record
Boxed games sector collapses over summer, but August schedule promises recovery Last of Us No.1 seller in July by Christopher Dring
The UK games market took a beating last month, but major launches such as Saints Row IV (below) should give it a lift in August
THE UK games retail market has suffered its worst month in history. Just over 1m boxed games were sold last month, 40.4 per cent lower than June and 33.3 per cent below July 2012. In total stores generated just over £23m from game sales, almost half the figure posted the month previously, according to GfK Chart-Track. July was expected to be a bleak month for sales. The market has been in a steady decline as PlayStation and Xbox gear up to launch their next-generation consoles. Meanwhile last month was severely lacking in new software. Out of the Top 50 best-selling games of July there were just three new releases – Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros, Pikmin 3 and Dynasty Warriors 8.
But the figures have also been hit by the hot weather, with consumers staying away from shops in favour of outdoor pursuits. For all the gloom, retailers will be gearing up for August 23rd, when the market is expected to recover with the release of Saints Row, Splinter Cell, The Bureau: XCom and Disney Infinity. MCV analysis predicts the UK High Street should generate over £1bn between now and Christmas. And July wasn’t a complete disappointment for everyone. Nintendo told MCV it was delighted by the sales of 3DS, which gained market share last month. Meanwhile, Sony’s The Last of Us was the No.1 seller of July, and is now the second best selling game of the year. All market data is courtesy of UKIE/GfK Chart-Track.
THE JULY TOP 10
1: The Last of Us ................................................................ Sony 2: Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition .................................... Microsoft 3. Animal Crossing: New Leaf ........................................ Nintendo 4. FIFA 13 .................................................................................................. EA 5. Far Cry 3 .................................................................................... Ubisoft 6. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros............................ Nintendo 7. Tomb Raider.................................................................... Square Enix 8. Assassin’s Creed III.............................................................. Ubisoft 9. Call of Duty: Black Ops II.............................................. Activision 10. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim –
Legendary..........Bethesda
Sega: “No one’s talking about the failures in F2P” President of Sega Europe says Phantasy Star Online publisher is excited for free-to-play, but aware of the risks
by Michael French
SEGA will launch more free- to-play titles as it grows its digital business.
But the firm says that “old models are still very relevant” despite excitement around mobile and social games. In an interview with MCV,
Sega Europe president Jurgen Post told us that new online fields are as risky as boxed product. Sega games like Phantasy Star Online, already a F2P
4 August 9th 2013
hit in Japan, will eventually debut in the West, alongside the already-released titles such as Total War Arena and Sonic Jump. Post said some of the big F2P successes, like GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons –making millions of dollars each day in microtransactions – are “hugely inspiring”. “You hear those stories, and some of them are very successful, but no one is talking about the failures in that space.
You have to invest for the long run. You can’t switch it off if it fails after a month.
“ Jurgen Post, Sega Europe
“It would be great to have Total War Arenabe a breakthrough game in F2P, but we have to be realistic – you need some luck, good people, a great game, and you might get somewhere. “But there’s a huge amount of risk to those games too because you have to invest for the long run. You can’t just launch it and forget or switch it off if it fails after a month.”
Read the full interview with Post on page 14.
www.mcvuk.com
In total, stores generated £23m from software sales, almost half the takings of June.
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