Top 20 Game chart 2012: MVC

From the table above we can see that from the Top 10, 3 of the top 6 of the major games were published by EA games (Fifa 13, Need for Speed and Medal of Honor), one of which, as just mentioned, is their multinational Fifa franchise which makes a remarkable return every year, making the game chart in the top 10 every year. This is no surprise as they go overboard on marketing and as is visible in the table, it is the game that is available across the widest range of platforms at hand, allowing the largest range of convergence/symbiosis to market and increase profits of the game. Also it is the only game to still be sold to the PS2, which is unlikely for new blockbuster games these days, maximising profits and sales further,which may be a contributing factor in the rank of 2nd in these game charts. The reasoning behind this is that EA are branching out to countries such as India and Brazil where the PS2 is still a very popular, leading console, making Fifa a top rated game in these countries. You can also see that there is only one game that is only available for purchase for the Xbox 360. This shows that through the market, established IP's have the most success compared to new IP's from: Forza  Horizon,- only available on one established platform out ranking games such as Dishonored (published by Bethesda Softworks), the only new IP in the chart for this year, that ranked 10 and available to 3 different platforms. An example of this would be Assassins Creed, ranked first being a highly successful, well known franchise. This shows that most publishers are more confident and comfortable creating/re-releasing an established franchise to ensure success than spending profits producing a new IP on the risk that it won't sell. However, it is still apparent that new IP's are well sought after and still very popular as Dishonoured still topped games such as Resident Evil 6 which is a well established franchise and available on all 3 major selling platforms; Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. One thing I particularly noticed was that a good selection of the top 20 games are targeted at a more mature audience through the violence and tasks/aims throughout the games such as Assassins creed, Resident Evil and Medal of Honour. Most of the new big releases these days are targeted at this age generation of around 18+ however there are still major blockbuster games that are aimed at a younger demographic that are amongst the best selling new games that are set to be Christmas hits this year such as the renowned Skylanders: Giants and a lesser known but still successful Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park.