Last week brought about some interesting quotes from game industry folk. Specifically, Mr. David Lau-Kee stating things along the lines of piracy is good, traditional publishers are bloodsucking leeches, and the PS4 and Xbox 720 will be browser based. All of these comments and more thanks to a panel in London which I was lucky enough to attend called, BAFTA Presents: Digital Distribution hosted by GamesIndustry.biz.
It was a nice insightful and entertaining talk on the impact of Digital Distribution in the gaming industry with some key people. The panel was comprised of Simon Oliver, the creator of Ronaldo on the iPhone. James Brooksby, Studio Director from Doublesix Games. David Lau-Kee, co-founder of Criterion, former EA VP, current Kerb Games director, and Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive, all hosted by Phil Elliot of GamesIndustry.biz. Hit the jump to find out what all the buzz was about and what was conveniently overlooked.
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Piracy in the UK has been dealt another blow. Last Thursday the ELSPA, Camden Trading Standards, and Met Police raided an unnamed company based in Camden, hauling in the UK’s largest seizure of illegal game copying devices. A total in excess of 50,000 items ranging from the aforementioned game copying devices to knock off peripherals for the Wii, 360, and PS3. They haven’t specified what illegal devices they were, and they didn’t mention the DS so I guess R4 cards aren’t on the list. I’m curious to find out what these devices are… but I guess the ELSPA isn’t interested in distributing the names and methods of piracy. The full press release is beyond the jump.
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According the ELSPA press release today, games sales for 2008 in the UK came in at GBP 4.034 billion, a 23% increase over 2007. That is simply great growth for the past year. The credit crunch started to hit the UK towards the end of 2007 and has continued strong through today so its great news to see an industry going strong.
Here is a glimpse at the software sales for the top systems:
- Nintendo Wii: 20 million units in 2008 vs 7.9 million in 2007 a 153% increase
- Nintendo DS: 19.1 million units in 2008 vs 14.9 million in 2007 a 29% increase
- Sony Playstation 3: 10.4 million units in 2008 vs 4.2 million in 2007 a 145% increase
- Microsoft Xbox 360: 14.9 million units in 2008 vs 9.8 million in 2007 a 51% increase
This is a doubling of the UK market in 5 years. Given the present economic conditions these numbers are impressive. Hopefully some good news from the UK retail market will bring some of the development and publishing power back to the UK.
Hit the Jump for the Press Release.
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With the London Games Festival kicked off in the capital, of course politicians needed to say a few words about the game industry and get their face plastered in the papers.
Brace yourselves.
As per the Guardian, Dan Foster, a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament in the UK has said,
“I hardly play any games – I’m not from that generation – but because of my job, I had to research the industry. The vast majority of my parliamentary colleagues are always wanting to ban the latest game, but they don’t know the details of the industry. Few people in this country realise how important it is to the UK economy.”
It’s nice to finally see a political statement that is not trying to sink a game or industry but let me tell you some of the background to his comment.
Hit the jump for more »
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