The 20 games that will save Xmas 2012

August 6th, 2012, 20:45 Posted By: wraggster

UK games buyers have chosen the 20 games they think will be the biggest blockbusters this Christmas.
These are the releases that are crucial in retail’s bid to reduce the 33 per cent drop in sales that the boxed market has suffered so far this year.
In fact, these 20 titles could be worth a combined value of over £320m.
This year’s list is notable for being more family friendly than in previous years. Moshi Monsters, Skylanders, LEGO, Mario, Pokémon and Sony’s Wonderbook all make the Top 20.
But it’s the core games that are likely to be the biggest sellers, with familiar names Call of Duty, FIFA, Medal of Honor, Need for Speed, Assassin’s Creed and Hitman making the cut. Meanwhile, Bethesda is tipped to have the big new IP of Xmas with stealth FPS Dishonored.
Last year, £728m was generated from boxed games during the last three months of the year alone, which is over 50 per cent of the entire year’s market value. And 52 per cent of Q4 sales were generated by the Top 20 titles. That’s £378.5m from just 20 games.
In a more staggering figure, the Top Five boxed games of Xmas 2011 (FIFA?12, Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Just Dance 3 and Assassin’s Creed:?Revelations) generated £269m. That’s 37 per cent of all the software revenue generated during Q4 2011 (they accounted for 31 per cent of the units sold).

All figures are from GfK Chart-Track. The 20 games were compiled by MCV based on extensive feedback from our Retail Advisory Board.
OUTSIDE BETS
Even MCV and games retail can get it wrong sometimes. There’s a number of games we wrestled over right until the last minute.
THQ’s WWE 13 is a contender: last year’s game was the 21st best seller of Q4 2011, and the brand has had a good year.
Codemasters’ F1 2011 was the 23rd best-selling Q4 game last year, and F1 is likely to be a big brand this Q4 with F1 2012 in September and family-friendly F1 Race Stars in November.
There’s also a growing expectation behind Konami’s PES 2013 – could that make a return to the Top 20? And Layton has been a regular in the Chart-Track Q4 Top 20, but this year’s title is a 3DS exclusive, which obviously has a smaller install base.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/the-2...s-2012/0100763

There are 0 comments - Join In and Discuss Here