Keywords Studios chief confident of a good year for console games market

(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) The first quarter of 2015 promises to be a busy time for the games industry according to Keywords Studios (LON:KWS) chief executive Andrew Day.

Keywords the video game services contractor is currently working on many of the big game titles due for release in the first quarter.

Day’s comments come after a successful Christmas for the games console market which saw strong uptake in both Playstation 4 and Xbox One sales.

It means the addressable market - or as industry talking heads call it the ‘installed user base’ - has increased markedly and now momentum is building in the pipeline of games development for the next generation machines.

A busier release schedule and growing confidence among developers bodes well for Keywords.

“The market as a whole now feels comfortable that there are enough [next generation] units out there to justify investment in new games so developers are getting back to business as usual and are making games for the Xbox One and PS4 with confidence" Day said.

“So 2015 is going to be good year for console games and of course there is no sign of any slowdown in the mobile games sector either.”

Events of the Christmas period also highlight the significance of Keywords' latest acquisition and its broader strategy of expanding into customer support services.

Social networks jammed as gamers searched out solutions amid the collapse of the Xbox and Playstation online platforms on Christmas Day.

While something of an extreme example it underlines the fact that games are no longer the off-the-shelf standalone products they once were.

Constantly evolving increasingly online games require developers to remain engaged with users beyond the point of sale.

Regular online game expansion releases customary software updates and the nuances of connectivity create a market where after-care is much more important to consumer satisfaction.

It is a natural step for game studios which largely focus on the creative side of the business to outsource the customer care function. This is particularly true where games have been distributed in multiple languages Day says.

Keywords acquisition of Alchemic Dream for up to C$1.25mln represents a significant foothold in the sector.

“It is an accelerated entry into a market that otherwise we would be developing from a standing start” Day said.

“We had made reasonable progress in building that [side of the business] organically.

“We started putting our offering together last year and had some reasonable traction with it but the acquired business will fuel that development even more.”

The company will offer a full range of gamer support services leveraging a pool of 1500 specialists in 12 locations and three continents.

Keywords also said this morning that it is trading in-line with expectations and it confirmed the closing of a €300000 deal to buy Brazil-based Reverb Localization - another acquisition that brings additional translation expertise as well as high-end computer-assisted translation tools.

Reverb marks Keywords’ first representation in South America where the market for computer games is predicted to grow by some 13% per year. It is forecast to be a US$5.1bn market by 2018.

Day added: “Brazilian Portuguese has risen to take its place in our top five languages alongside the more established languages of French Spanish German and Italian.

“The acquisition of Reverb provides us with a small but high quality foothold in this important growth market and we expect to be able grow our revenues and improve our margins for this language as a result.”