INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE Wholesaler and distributor of video games, consoles and accessories USA
MCV looks at one of the world’s most vital territories for video games
THE FACTS Population: 315,724,000 Currency: United States dollar GDP (Per Capita): $49,922 Capital City: Washington D.C Languages: English
KEY RETAILERS AND DISTRIBUTORS
Best Buy, EB Games, E One, Gamers, GameStop, GameWorld, Importel, Just4Games, Koch Media, MCD Video Games, Microplay, Play N Trade, Target, US Games Distribution, Vidéoglobe, Walmart
TOP DEVELOPERS
343 Industries, Bethesda Softworks, BioWare, Bungie Studios, Blizzard Entertainment, Crystal Dynamics, Double Fine Productions, Epic Games, Gearbox Software, Insomniac Games, Irrational Games, Maxis, Obsidian Entertainment, Rockstar San Diego, Valve
ABOUT THE MARKET
THE US is the biggest video games market in the world. And it’s hard to fit everything about this massive market in just a single page. But we’ll give it a go.
The US is home to games giants EA, Activision, Valve, Microsoft and GameStop. Consumers across the States spend hundreds of millions of dollars of video games hardware and software every month, and often well over $1bn per month around the peak Christmas season. However, like almost every major gaming territory, the market has suffered slower-than-expected sales this year. After a slight year- on-year rise in January, total sales dropped by 25 per cent year-on- year in February to $810m, and down ten per cent to $992.5m in March. Console sales are down even further Stern Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia expects declines to continue until
60 Around the World
eSports is helping offset the decline at US retail, and is rivalling mainstream sport in terms of media attention.
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GTA V launches in September. The release of this title, plus new consoles from Sony and Microsoft should revitalise the market considerably. Away from retail, there is still plenty of money flowing into the games market. Notably eSports is on the rise in North America, with Major League Gaming co-founder Sundance DiGioVanni claiming the sector is “well on its way” to matching the popularity of professional gaming in South Korea. Digital game sales are also on the rise in the US, helping offset the decline posted at retail. The free-to- play space is growing faster in the US than in the UK.
The US games trade body is the Entertainment Software Association, which handles E3 and the ratings body ESRB. An ESRB awareness campaign is currently in production. You can read more US games industry news at
MCVUSA.com.
www.mcvuk.com
PUBLISHERS WITH A LOCAL OFFICE
Activision, Bethesda, Capcom, Deep Silver/Koch Media, Disney, EA, Konami, Microsoft, Namco Bandai, Nintendo, Take-Two, Sega, Sony, Ubisoft, Warner Bros
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