UK retailers expect GTA IV to lead the way

UK retailers are looking forward to continued growth in 2008, with GTA IV leading the way.
"We expect the market to continue to grow based on increaseavailability of hardware, publishers spreading their release scheduleacross the year and product innovation," Patrick Kelly, Zavvi's head ofgames, told GamesIndustry.biz.
"The expectation is that publishers will continue to push thecapabilities of next generation hardware and we’ll see some outstandinggames during 2008," remarked Play.com's head games buyer, Gian Luzio.
Marc Dean, the home entertainment buyer for Morrisons, agreed.
"We expect developers and publishers to continue broadening the market with more family and mass market products," he said.
Although the retailers think that 2008 will see family/social gamingtake a larger slice of the pie - with titles such as Wii Fit and RockBand - they all agreed that the biggest release of the year will beRockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV.
Despite some analysts predicting that the PlayStation is poised tohave a bright year, the retailers didn't see an end to the "consolewars" any time soon.
"The release schedule for 2008 is looking strong for all threeformats and pre-orders for cross platform titles such as GTA IV andStar Wars: The Force Unleashed suggest a very level playing field,"Luzio said.
"It's unlikely that the console battle will be won or lost in the space of a year."
"I really hope that PS3 comes through for us - it has not peaked as we expected," admitted tgrav.com's Matt Holland.
"However, with more titles launching on the format and some fabulousperipherals I am hopeful that with Sony's support we can deliver somegreat numbers for them."
"I'm sure Sony are delighted with recent announcements regardingBlu-ray versus HD DVD, but that is only one aspect of the consolebattle," said Tim Ellis, head of games for HMV.
"Consumers are lucky to have three strong home console propositionswith their own USPs and I'm sure we'll still be debating what's best ina year's time."
The complete interview with representatives from various UK retailers can be read here.