Game releases need to be spread - Gosen

Not all about Christmas, argues exec David Gosen, the marketing man behind the Xbox 360 in Europe, has conceded that the games industry needs to look beyond the festive season when planning the release of big titles. Chatting with MCV , he said that while Christmas remains the biggest sales period, that good games can do well regardless of the time of year - and there is less risk of new titles being buried amid the deluge, too. "We launched GTA IV at this time last year, and Capcom's Resident Evil has shown that you can be successful. As more publishers do this, we'll create a second or third release window, and that will be great news for the industry," Gosen enthused. "We still have a very seasonally-focused business. You only need look at last Christmas, when nearly 200 titles were released in the space of three or four weeks. There was that crazy week, third week of November. "The big brands reached the top and everything else was left by the wayside. It's becoming harder and ... (link)