Retail braces for blockbusting release week

UK retail's steadying itself for a bumper release week, with the likes of Wrath of the Lich King, Mirror’s Edge, Football Manager and Call of Duty: World at War all on the slate for this Friday.

“The November 14 week is shaping up to be one of the biggest launch weeks ever,” said Chart-Track boss Dorian Bloch.

“Actually, from now until mid-December we seem to be putting 40-50 SKUs on our system week in, week out. The big difference with this week is that the titles coming out all have the potential to enter the Top 40.”

It's not all roses in gaming's crunch season bed, though. Some would prefer publishers to move more key games into other periods in the year.

Zavvi’s head of games Patrick Kelly said, “Overall Zavvi would prefer the release schedule to be more evenly spread over the course of the year. However, we are very excited about the line-up on November 14 as the quality and diverse range of titles suits our wide customer base.”

Much more on MCV.