MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
CONTACT: 01273 746864
Rupert Loman – Founder
Rupert@eurogamer.net
EUROGAMER’S ABCe STATS
5,216,449 (November 2010)
2010 was a very good year for Eurogamer.
The company continued to grow its presence across both Europe and the UK – most notably with the launch of kids-centric games site Megaton and the expanded Eurogamer Expo, which attracted 20,000 visitors.
Crucially, the firm has been building its resources behind the scenes as well.
We have invested further in the Eurogamer.net news team so that we now have full-time reporters in Europe and the US,” says founder Rupert Loman.
We have also put more resources into our reviews and features, allowing us to publish more content than ever in Q4.”
This certainly paid off, with Eurogamer’s November 2010 ABCe showing the firm’s sites have reached record traffic levels, with 5.2 million monthly unique users.
The media company has also established stronger foundations in key markets across the continent, opting to provide locally-created rather than localised content wherever possible.
Eurogamer Sweden launch in 2010, meaning our content is now available in eleven languages,” says Loman.
We are happy with the size of the network for now but we wouldn’t rule out launching in additional territories if we can find the right partners. Our European network is a key differentiator for us and we’re delighted to be seeing such growth and success in so many territories.”
Meanwhile, industry gossip continues to suggest Eurogamer will target American gamers, and Loman reveals his team are close to laying those rumours to rest.
Expanding in the US is the next logical step for our business, and we will be revealing more of our plans on this front soon,” he teases.
In the meantime, Eurogamer has plenty up its sleeves for 2011.
We have quite a lot in store,” says Loman. We want to build on Eurogamer Expo’s momentum, and we’re moving to new offices soon to accommodate our growth. We also have a couple of new developments we can’t wait to share with people.”
CONTACT: contact@videogamer.com
Adam McCann – Operations Director
Adam.McCann@videogamer.com
The crowded online landscape makes it difficult for any site to stand out, but VideoGamer.com has successfully seized an admirable market share in recent years.
Its owner Pro-G Media will take this up a notch in 2011 with a brand new look for the site that will reinvigorate VideoGamer and its relationship with its audience.
The re-vamped VideoGamer.com will be launched this year,” says operations director Adam McCann.
Readers can look forward to a complete overhaul, a fresh design that has been modernised and improved in every aspect. Video content will even be viewable on all modern devices, including mobile.
The site will also have better integration of social networks and our podcasts will get a dedicated streaming audio player so users can listen as they browse.
And those features only scratch the surface of what’s new, but we’ll be revealing more later on in the year.”
A VideoGamer.com app will also be launched at the same time as the revamp, enabling access to iOS-optimised versions of the site’s content. McCann claims the interface will be highly accessible, promising anyone who’s used the Facebook app for iPhone will instantly be familiar with it”.
Before this launch, however, Pro-G is taking steps to gain a greater understanding of its readership. Crucially, it will focus on social media such as Facebook and Twitter to reach VideoGamer’s more elusive readers.
Our editorial direction has changed in 2010,” says McCann. We’re taking a slightly more informal approach but we have also realigned our focus slightly to prioritise news content and we’re already seeing a traffic bump from this switch.
We’re now completely dedicated to fostering and encouraging our community. We’ve learned that almost half of the site’s Facebook fans are female – we don’t have such an equal split on our forums, so we know we’re no longer overlooking those people. We try to make sure readers know that we listen and respond to comments. We’re not lurkers and we don’t bite.”
CONTACT: 020 7021 1000
Ben Howard – Publishing Director
Ben.Howard@cbsinteractive.com
GAMESPOT’S ABCe RESULTS
4,612,274 (December 2010)
No longer the London office of a US website, GameSpot UK has worked hard over the past few years to gain recognition as an online powerhouse in its own right.
The team’s editorial, as well as other media content such as the podcast and video show Start/Select, has earned the CBS-owned site regular visits from an audience of over 4.5 million consumers – a figure that rivals the global readership of some of its competitors.
According to publishing director Ben Howard, the key is its specialist focus and dedication to local users.
GameSpot remains unique by being the largest site focused purely on gaming in the UK,” he says. We’re a trusted source for informative, expert opinion, presented with passion by genuine video game fans.
We also have a genuinely global editorial team. For example, nobody covers E3 with the size and depth of content that we do: last year we produced over 470 videos, more than 400 previews and over 20 hours of live streaming coverage – and this year will be even bigger.”
GameSpot has also forged bridges with the industry thanks to its GameSpot Trax system, which gives companies access to data on reader activity. This also forms the basis of the site’s latest initiative.
Our biggest development has been the launch of our Lifecycle Marketing programme with a hugely successful campaign for Fallout: New Vegas,” Howard says.
Lifecycle tracks buzz around games and allows publishers to positively build this interest with PR and marketing activity throughout the game’s entire lifecycle.”
Of course, the team hasn’t been neglecting its editorial. Howard assures us that GameSpot UK will continue to play to its strengths.
The most important part of our business is to balance these strong advertising relationships with audience engagement and editorial integrity,” says Howard.
Start/Select will be going weekly and we also hope to build on our partnership with Inside Xbox with several other exciting partnerships that will take GameSpot into some brand new areas.”
CONTACT
Adam Doree – Publisher
Adam@kikizo.com
VideoGamesDaily is a website that prides itself on quality editorial, something that lies at the heart of its growth plans.
Formerly known as Kikizo (which is still the name of its parent company), the revamped site turned eight years old this month and retains a strong readership of gamers that love VGD for having balls and punching abov
