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Cover-Mount War Strikes Britain A
new cover-mount war in Britain?
The British games industry is poised for war. Ultimatums have been issued,
hyperbole is being stockpiled, and spin doctors are being briefed. You
might wonder what could be the cause of so much concern. What event could
have been so upsetting as to cause Roger Bennett of the European Leisure
Software Publishers Association (ELSPA)
to say "In every possible way it is damaging to the industry"?
Was he referring to a massive new pirating ring? Censorship of violent
games? A new law against any title have more than two sequels?
What's this "Cover-Mount War", you ask? This bitter conflict was waged primarily between Future Publishing's Amiga Format magazine and various rival publications from EMAP Images, and eventually it sucked in all of the Amiga and PC magazine around at the time. The idea, from Amiga Format magazine's point of view, was to increase the magazine's circulation by bundling in a game with an issue. And indeed the circulation did jump, especially when various magazines began mimicking this practice, and newer and better games were given away. The game industry was far from pleased, though, and gradually began to feel that these cover-mounted freebies were devaluing software in the eyes of the consumer, and causing people to buy fewer full-priced games. The war ended when both the game industry and the magazines agreed never again to have cover-mounted full-price games. Thus far, IDG's decision to break the agreement has not caused the bigger-selling PC magazines to break their word and start their own game bundling business. Indeed, their editors have indicated that they do not intend to. ELSPA, however, doesn't want to take any chances, especially since they failed to get any reassurance from IDG that it would not repeat this practice in the future. Interestingly, the deal itself seems to have been directly with Earth 2140's developer (Germany's TopWare), rather than with Interplay -- the games original publisher in the UK. Whether this means that further cover mounts will be easier or harder for magazines to obtain remains to be seen, but the shadow of war looms ever closer.  EB
shuns hunting game. One game that isn't likely to be getting cover-mounted
in the near future is NFK (Natural Fawn Killers). In fact,
the game is having enough trouble making it into stores. The Gameplay Company,
which publishes the game, claims that Electronics Boutique's refusal to
stock the title is because the store has a policy against selling games
that depict violence against animals (as animals are presumably a natural
target for air-gun-obsessed youngsters who get their ideas from video games
already). Other sources back up the claim that EB has this policy, but the
store itself denies it -- it claims that it isn't stocking the title because
it feels that the title won't sell well in the U.K. Which is a valid defense
-- gun fanatics are publicly shunned in Britain. So EB's decision seems
to make some sort of business, and perhaps even moral, sense. The problem
is that EB go on to explain their lack of faith in NFK and other
hunting simulators by insisting that U.S. chart buster Deer Hunter
"didn't sell that well in the States". Cue a Homer Simpson-esque
"D'oh!" and sack EB's entire buyer and research staff for that
misinformed statement. Sega, European telcos talk. Despite teetering on the edge of a massive fiasco after announcing their weak Dremacast software line up, Sega is gradually putting together the pieces for their autumn launch in Europe. Despite the fact that Sega still lacks a proper European public relations office, it has at least begun to set up online partners in various countries. To support the console's online features, Sega has approached British Telecom, Deutsche Telecom, and French Telecom as possible partners to provide discounted Internet access and services for Dreamcast customers. Sega claims it will have a business plan for its online services completed by the end of February, and it intends to cement deals by March or April. Perhaps the company might even determine whether the modem will be packaged with the console or be sold separately, as that decision has yet to be made. 
Vigin-Interplay deal nearing closure. After languishing in sell-off
limbo for a while, Virgin's fortunes might finally be on the upturn, as
it has nearly finalized its proposed merger with Interplay. Interplay has
been interested in obtaining Virgin's much admired European distribution
network, but it opted out of acquiring Virgin outright from Viacom. If Tim
Chaney's management buy-out team completes this merger, Interplay's U.K.
headquarters will probably move from Marlow to London, and I think it will
quell the nerves of employees at both companies.  Psygnosis
pins hopes on PC titles. Psygnosis continues to drift further and further
from its previous position as unassailable media darlings and the bastion
of Britsoft. Perhaps the company's long-standing insistence on producing
games in which style heavily outweighs content has finally backfired. Whatever
the case, the company recently lost 15% of the staff from its U.K.-based
Stroud office, which came on the heels of the company's staff reduction
in its San Francisco development studio, the closure of a secondary London
office, the recent loss of the Wipeout team, the defection of Reflections
(which developed Destruction Derby 1 & 2) to GT Interactive,
the departure of founder Ian Hetherington, and of course Sony's aborted
purchase of the company. Not, it would seem, a good couple of months for
the company. Psygnosis has put its best face on things, however, and it
insists that the most recent departures will not affect the release of G
Police: Weapons of Justice from their Stroud studios. The company is
pinning its hopes this year on a number of PC-only titles, including
G Police 2, Lander, Drakan, Metal Fatigue, and Hired Guns. What
is a little frightening is that Psygnosis's PC-only games have not had any
major success to date. But hey, there's a first time for everything.
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News
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