MCV 2012 UK salary survey shows industry pay up 10 percent year over year

by Jordan Mallory on Jan 13th 2012 4:00AM

MCV's 2012 UK Games Industry Salary Survey, which polled 975 people (597 of whom worked in United Kingdom), showed an average UK games industry salary of £33,123 ($50,741), more than a 10 percent increase from 2011's average of £30,667 ($46,979).

That figure was created using survey results from "all sectors - development, publishing, retail, PR & marketing, services, technology and business development," according to MCV. Ten percent of respondents were women, which is reportedly in-scale with their overall presence in the British gaming industry.

The study's average salary figure is a median average rather than a mean average, we should note, and does not include "the group of very senior, and very well paid, execs" that also participated in the survey. Including their data, the average salary is £35,790. If you include the 378 non-British respondents, the average rose to £34,263, indicating that junior-level employees may be earning more outside of the UK.

The survey also showed a disparity between the average salaries of men and women, with industry women making £1.35 an hour less than their male counterparts. This is disproportionate to MCV's global findings, which show that women in the games industry earn more than men on average, albeit only by a few hundred pounds. Here is your reward for making it all the way through a facts-oriented article about salaries and averages.

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UK game industry holiday snapshot suggests weakening retail sales

by Jessica Conditt on Jan 11th 2012 3:00AM

Two major UK video-game retailers, HMV and Game, saw a drop in sales over Christmas, prompting HMV to reconsider its investment in games as a whole, The Telegraph reports. HMV's gaming market share fell 16 percent over the holidays, while sales in music and DVDs saw no change; games now account for 20 percent of HMV's sales. Chief Executive Simon Fox said HMV may focus only on AAA titles in the future.

Game's Christmas retail sales were down 15 percent, while year-on-year it lost 13 percent in sales, GamesIndustry.biz says. Online sales rose 4 percent, and sales for the year ending January 2012 dropped 12 percent, less than the UK gaming market's total loss of 13 percent. Game recently closed 39 stores and is expected to have 550 in the UK by 2013, GamesIndustry notes. CEO Ian Shepherd is banking on the Wii U and PS Vita to revitalize sales in 2012.

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NPD 2011: Sales across industry between $16.3 and $16.6 billion, Ubi tops software sales list

by Ben Gilbert on Jan 12th 2012 7:00PM

Assassination and dancing has proven to be a lucrative mix, as Just Dance 2 and 3 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations helped Ubisoft to lead this year's best seller's list with three entries. That's according to the NPD Group, which also estimates the video game industry's profits, comprising "new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games," reached sales of somewhere between $16.3 and $16.6 billion in 2011.

Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 took top honors (it's kind of a big deal), while Just Dance 3 and Skyrim occupied the second and third spots, respectively. NPD also says that, despite sales growth in the digital sector yet again, physical copies offered at retail outlets still accounted for the majority of sales coming in at $9.3 billion, "an 8 percent decline over the $10.1 billion in 2010."

That decline was "partially" offset by increases in digital, mobile, and used game sales, which NPD expects to be a focus moving into 2012. "Our overall estimate of the market continues to point toward the increased imperative for deeper visibility into digital distribution than is available today, not only in the U.S. but globally," said NPD prez David McQuillan. Our waning shelf space agrees.
2011 TOTAL CONSUMER SPEND ON ALL GAMES CONTENT IN THE U.S. ESTIMATED BETWEEN $16.3 TO $16.6 BILLION
- U.S. VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY NEW PHYSICAL RETAIL CONTENT SALES REACH $9.3 BILLION -

PORT WASHINGTON, NY, January 12, 2012 – According to leading market research company, The NPD Group, the preliminary estimate* for total consumer spend on gaming content via all monetization methods, including new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games, is between $16.3 to $16.6 billion. This total consumer spend on games content in 2011, which includes both physical and digital formats, represents sales that are down approximately 2 percent when compared to 2010.

Based on this estimate, spending on new physical content at retail continues to account for the majority of the total consumer spend on games content. U.S. retail sales of new physical video game content, which includes portable, console and PC game software, generated revenues of $9.3 billion, an 8 percent decline over the $10.1 billion generated in 2010.

Bright spots came from HD console software sales, which were up 9 percent in 2011, as well as increases in the consumer spend on used games sales, full-game digital downloads and downloadable content, and mobile gaming apps, which partially offset declines in the other areas of consumer spend on content.

"Overall industry results are not entirely surprising given that we are on the back end of the current console lifecycle, combined with the continued digital evolution of gaming. Core gamers continue to be engaged and spend on established franchises across both the digital and physical format using multiple devices for different gaming occasions," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.

"Our overall estimate of the market continues to point toward the increased imperative for deeper visibility into digital distribution than is available today, not only in the U.S. but globally. This is the goal of our partnership with EEDAR, and central to our discussions with publishers and others in the gaming community," said David McQuillan, president, Games at The NPD Group.

* A final estimate of the total consumer spend on the games industry will be released in March with the final 2011 issue of the Games Market Dynamics: U.S. (2011)

About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 2,000 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, entertainment, fashion, food, home and office, sports, technology, toys, video games, and wireless. For more information, contact us, visithttp://www.npd.com/, or follow us Twitter at https://twitter.com/npdgroup.

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Square Enix's Mike Fischer on trends and the changing game industry

by Richard Mitchell on Jul 25th 2011 9:00PM

In an interview with Gamasutra, Mike Fischer, recently appointed president of Square Enix's US operations, spoke at great length about the current state of the game industry. Fischer noted that Square Enix is necessarily focused on building games for "gamers," primarily because he believes that the definition of gamer is "very subjective."

As an example, Fischer pointed to television networks canceling soap operas because their primary audience are spending time playing games. "If they're playing more games an hour than a college student, who is the gamer?" he asked.

That said, even though social games are "hot" right now Square Enix won't abandon traditional game development for the sake of a trend that Fischer believes may not last. The company has, according to Fischer, a "strong lineup and strong IP" that gives him "confidence in a long term success" and an opportunity to take part in current trends outside of core games.

Check out Gamasutra for the full interview, which covers Square Enix's strategy going forward and Fischer's thoughts on new IP, the console development cycle and more.

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Epic's Mike Capps: Game industry at 'an inflection point'

by Richard Mitchell on Apr 20th 2011 10:15PM

According to Epic president Mike Capps, the times are definitely a-changing for the games industry. Capps recently told Industry Gamers that the future of the games industry has not been so "uncertain" in twenty years. He questioned whether or not physical retail distribution of games will still exist in five to ten years, what will become of next-generation consoles and how PC gaming will fare.

His number one concern, however, seems to be the current trend of incredibly cheap mobile games. The one thing "killing" traditional game creators, said Capps, is "dollar apps," adding that it could be hard to sell a $60 game to a consumer used to paying pennies.

Capps isn't the first traditional game creator to express concern over the ever-growing stream of cheap games. During a GDC keynote earlier this year, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata had harsh words for inexpensive mobile games, asking whether or not they really offer a "high value." Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime recently offered similar comments, noting that Nintendo isn't interested in publishing the work of inexperienced developers, a stark contrast to the relatively open publishing structures in iOS and Android development.

Of course, mobile developers aren't keeping quiet. Peter Vesterbacka, head of Angry Birds developer Rovio, recently fired back at Fils-Aime, stating that it made sense for traditional game publishers to defend their "$49 piece of plastic." For what it's worth, while Capps admits that times are uncertain, they are also "exciting" for developers and publishers that make the right choices. In other words, there's going to be a showdown.

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