Announcements
Rest of World
Two month celebration and interesting news pieces
Our celebrations go on and on. Exactly two months ago we launched the Rest of the World group and now we are already 6200 members strong and number 25 in the biggest Steam Communities!
=======================
Short group news: Our regular chat (come on by sometime) members are currently addicted to Trials 2 (worldwide release!) and we have created our own Trials 2 group. You are more than welcome to join our group. The groupname is RoW and password is ubisoft.
=======================
We said we would keep you updated with news regarding our cause and today is a good day to show you what we have found or heard in the last month. First up is an answer by Valve’s very own Gabe regarding the global distribution on Steam.
“Finally, I asked Gabe about his stated plans to have every game ever on Steam. And why some publishers are choosing not to release outside of the North American market. Gabe explains that they are pursuing publishers and developers, and encouraging them to make their back catalogues available. Valve believe that this will happen, and that as Steam becomes more familiar, and as people get used to what Gabe calls “this new world”, they will begin to trust it more.
Jason Holtman added that many are nervous. They don’t know why publisher choose not to release games internationally, but believe it might be due to being unsure of the New World. But he says that as some come in and discover that the world didn’t end when they put their catalogue up, others will follow, and other territories will follow.” (Courtesy rockpapershotgun.com).
=======================
Steampowered forum member kfccaleb made an interesting discovery. According to Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) in their research “Video Gamers in Europe – 2008” the sales are bigger as ever in Europe.
“Key European markets driving sector growth
The European market represents a greater share of global videogame-related sales than ever before. In 2007, interactive software sales in nine major European markets reached an estimated level of €7.3 billion. Representing games software alone (i.e. the games themselves, excluding the revenue generated by sales of hardware), this figure represents an increase of 25% year on year. The UK alone generated €2.3 billion in revenue, followed by France (€1.6bn), Germany (€1.4bn), Spain (€0.7bn) and Italy €0.6bn).”
And with that in mind when we look at this graph (http://restofworld.guildbase.eu/img/eu_vs_row.jpg ) made by the same organization you can clearly see that Europe and Asia generate more game sales then North America.
Which publishers are part of this organization? Activision, *Atari*, Electronic Arts, Eidos, Konami, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Take 2 Interactive Software, THQ, *UbiSoft* etc.
=======================
Next up is our promise to email every publisher with an letter stating that their current ways aren’t really the best way to handle digital distribution. We emailed every publisher just as promised. Unfortunately not one publisher felt the need to email back. In a follow up announcement we will make the letter a public letter in the hope one of the publishers reacts then.
=======================
Short group news: Our regular chat (come on by sometime) members are currently addicted to Trials 2 (worldwide release!) and we have created our own Trials 2 group. You are more than welcome to join our group. The groupname is RoW and password is ubisoft.
=======================
We said we would keep you updated with news regarding our cause and today is a good day to show you what we have found or heard in the last month. First up is an answer by Valve’s very own Gabe regarding the global distribution on Steam.
“Finally, I asked Gabe about his stated plans to have every game ever on Steam. And why some publishers are choosing not to release outside of the North American market. Gabe explains that they are pursuing publishers and developers, and encouraging them to make their back catalogues available. Valve believe that this will happen, and that as Steam becomes more familiar, and as people get used to what Gabe calls “this new world”, they will begin to trust it more.
Jason Holtman added that many are nervous. They don’t know why publisher choose not to release games internationally, but believe it might be due to being unsure of the New World. But he says that as some come in and discover that the world didn’t end when they put their catalogue up, others will follow, and other territories will follow.” (Courtesy rockpapershotgun.com).
=======================
Steampowered forum member kfccaleb made an interesting discovery. According to Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) in their research “Video Gamers in Europe – 2008” the sales are bigger as ever in Europe.
“Key European markets driving sector growth
The European market represents a greater share of global videogame-related sales than ever before. In 2007, interactive software sales in nine major European markets reached an estimated level of €7.3 billion. Representing games software alone (i.e. the games themselves, excluding the revenue generated by sales of hardware), this figure represents an increase of 25% year on year. The UK alone generated €2.3 billion in revenue, followed by France (€1.6bn), Germany (€1.4bn), Spain (€0.7bn) and Italy €0.6bn).”
And with that in mind when we look at this graph (http://restofworld.guildbase.eu/img/eu_vs_row.jpg ) made by the same organization you can clearly see that Europe and Asia generate more game sales then North America.
Which publishers are part of this organization? Activision, *Atari*, Electronic Arts, Eidos, Konami, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Take 2 Interactive Software, THQ, *UbiSoft* etc.
=======================
Next up is our promise to email every publisher with an letter stating that their current ways aren’t really the best way to handle digital distribution. We emailed every publisher just as promised. Unfortunately not one publisher felt the need to email back. In a follow up announcement we will make the letter a public letter in the hope one of the publishers reacts then.
