Gamasutra - EuroSpeak

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Despite my complaints last week concerning publisher's instance on flooding the Christmas schedules with millions of releases, it looks like their scattershot approach has still managed to pay off. The last week has been the biggest, in retail terms, the UK has seen all year with sales up 23% for a total of £26.1 million ($41.8m) sales so far. Although the quality of software on sale at the moment clearly doesn't justify it, Sony has had the most to crow about with sales of the PlayStation hitting its highest ever in a single week with 110,000 units passing through retailers doors in just seven days.

Nintendo hopes to see an even quicker rise in their hardware sales, due to the fact thatit's actually got some games to release for once, but thus far there is no evidence of a truly significant upsurge. No doubt it wil take heart in the effect Zelda 64 has had on its home market, and hope it can do the same here.

In the UK's all-format charts only one game in the top five - the dull Mario 64 clone Spyro The Dragon - is not a sequel. FIFA 99 actually outsold Tomb Raider III on the PlayStation, as its predecessor did to TR3's predecessor last year. However, just like last year, sales on the PC managed to vaunt Lara to the top of the all formats. Clearly you don't have to be a clairvoyant to predict the Christmas charts in the games industry.

In terms of games that have actually been created by designers, not marketing men, the only rays of hope are Nintendo 64's Zelda 64 and Turok 2 (although one could point out that both are in fact still sequels.) Zelda 64 and Turok 2 won't hit Europe until the 11th and 18th of December, respectively. This may mean Nintendo won't get a chance to work up enough steam to knock off FIFA or TR3 from the top spot. The chart below may well see little change by the 25th. As has been commented on by many, the public only gets the games they deserve. With a dreary line-up like this, it seems Father Christmas thinks we've all been very naughty boys and girls this year.

UK All Formats Chart
Rank	Title	Publisher	Format
1	Tomb Raider III	Eidos	PC/Playstation
2	FIFA 99	EA Sports	Playstation
3	Spyro the Dragon	Sony	Playstation
4	Tekken 3	Namco/Sony	Playstation
5	Formula I '98	Psygnosis	Playstation

With a reasonably successful Japanese launch behind them Sega is now drawing up its Dreamcast plans for the rest of the world. Sega Europe has just taken delivery of a new CEO, in the form of Jean-François Cecillon. Monsieur Cecillon plans to have his Dreamcast launch strategy in place by the end of January ready for the European launch in September. This is going to mean a few late nights for the former music industry executive. According to an interview in CTW, Cecillon's first task is to "pin down" who Sega's target consumers are and how to reach them, which seems rather an understatement. Making other key appointments in Sega Europe and building closer ties with games developers are two tasks on the top of his "To Do" list. Only slighter lower down that list is the task of deciding how much the hardware will sell for, what the initial games line-up and release schedule will be, what the marketing budget is, and how exactly the Dremacast's online features will be utilized, including the long unanswered question of whether the modem will be included with the machine or available as a separate product. The overtime from sorting through that little lot is clearly going to be rather substantial.

Jean-François isn't the only Frenchman to find new employment with Sega. Dominique Cor has just been installed as the new head of Sega France (which unfortunately sounds like a cross-channel ferry). Previously the marketing director at Electronic Arts, Cor's first act has been to bump up his staff from 12 to 40. Two of these include a new commercial director: Jean-Pierre Luc from Cendant, and a new marketing director: Philippe Renauden, also from EA. Cor has indicated that having a number of French originated titles ready for the hardware launch will make a big difference to the format's success in France, and will be the first time a console has been launched with such local software support.

It seems that Infogrames could be about to lose its lucrative connections with the French media giant Canal Plus. Canal Plus is Europe's largest pay-TV operator with huge interests in film and multimedia on the continent. Infogrames, currently Europe's biggest games publisher, have long had a worldwide distribution deal with the company, the current contract of which is due to run out in 2000. Normally a renewal wouldn't be a problem but Cendant Software has been acquired by French conglomerate Vivendi (for a cool $985m). Vivendi owns 34% of Canal Plus and it now seems that any future distribution deals will be through its new acquisition. The subsequent loss of revenue for Infogrames could impede its existing plans for an assault on the US market.

In other non-Gallic news, both ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association) and Miller Freeman are looking to organize one or more consumer game shows for next year in Europe. With the Miller Freeman-organized ECTS now as well established as Europe's premier (if still far from perfect) multimedia trade show, there have been a number of calls for a companion consumer event.

ELSPA's idea is to run three or four separate events in the UK, and if it is successful, to then move onto mainland Europe. Miller Freeman, on the other hand, has already pencilled in a number of dates and venues for its own consumer events, but admits that the response from the industry has not be universally ecstatic, largely due to the prohibitive costs of large and complex stands.

The UK has in the past run a number of successful consumer shows, most recently Future Publishing's Future Entertainment Show of a few years back. As usual with these sorts of endeavours, though, an eventual lack of industry support spelled an end to it.

David Jenkins (david.jenkins@dial.pipex.com) is a freelance writer working in England. He has previously been the editor of the Develop newsletter, worked on British Telecom’s Wireplay news service, and contributed to CTW, PlayStation Plus and many other video game publications. He has also been involved in the organization of the Develop! and Online conferences in London.