Budget boosted by supermarket growth

The budget games sector has seen its sales soar at key UK supermarkets.

Leading grocers have doubled their market share in games over the last 12 months, which has had a positive impact on value PC publishers, such as Focus, Mastertronic and Avanquest.

Supermarkets have become a key destination for games players,” said Mastertronic MD Andy Payne.

There is an appetite for more casual-style entertainment products, such as puzzlers and ‘match three’ titles, at supermarkets. Morrisons in particular is a star in this field.”

The price-sensitive nature of supermarket shoppers has made them prime targets for budget publishers.

And over recent years, grocers have attracted more core gamers by discounting big-name titles, such as Modern Warfare 2 – which certainly hasn’t hurt value publishers’ sales.

Price promotions have reinforced supermarkets as destination stores for games,” said Focus Multimedia’s PR and marketing manager Alan Wild.

Working closely with them allows us to ensure we are well represented in their stores.”

Avanquest’s European games director Simon Reynolds added: Where retailers carry out loss-leading promotions, we benefit in the exact way you would expect us to. Their high profile campaigns drive traffic into stores and we benefit from impulse purchasers buying products that they wouldn’t otherwise have bought.”

To read MCV’s in-depth feature about the budget sector, click here.