April 26, 2008
SingStar Scores 12 Million Sales
5 million units sold in FY2007, 1 Million
Download tracks from the SingStore, officially the world’s number one singing
title: there’s no stopping SingStar
With 12 million units sold across PAL to date – 5
million of them in the Fiscal Year of 2007 (April 07 – March 08) alone – and the
brand now branching further into digital business via SingStore on PLAYSTATION
3, SingStar is going from strength to strength.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE)
released the first SingStar title on PlayStation 2 in 2004, changing the way
people interacted with the PlayStation brand. Audiences who hadn’t been
traditionally interested in gaming could use PlayStation as a source of
entertainment. Since its launch, SingStar has turned singing into a competitive
game and has amassed fans of all ages across the world.
December 2007 saw the franchise move onto the
next-generation PS3 platform, breaking into a new business model of downloadable
extra content in which players have the option of purchasing individual tracks
by downloading from SingStore. SingStar PS3 is also supported by several online
features within the game, notably My SingStar Online, an arena where fans can
share their recorded performances with the worldwide SingStar community.
The SingStar community has embraced the new
online elements within the brand. In SingStore’s first four months of trading,
one million tracks were downloaded across the PAL region. My SingStar Online has
also proved to be a popular place for SingStar fans, attracting 140,000
registered users who, combined with visitors to
www.singstargame.com,
have shared over 20,000 videos of their SingStar performances that have been
watched a total of 2.5 million times.
Mark Hardy, Director of Product Marketing of SCEE
said, “The term ‘social gaming’ is widely recognized in 2008 – however, it was
relatively new when we launched the first SingStar title in 2004. That game
entered the charts at number one in many countries, allowing us to pioneer the
social gaming category and a new market of consumers who might not have bought
games before. We really are teaching the world to sing with SingStar – and
business for 2008 is looking excellent.”
Paulina Bozek, executive producer of SingStar
said, “SingStar’s success is built upon simple and entertaining game play.
Historically we have added new music tracks to keep the experience fresh but the
arrival of PS3 has allowed us to think differently. We can now take advantage of
the next-generation features to take the next step forward in the SingStar
experience. The launch of SingStore and My SingStar Online is the realization of
this and the experience is now more user-focused, personalized and interactive.”
SingStar was the catalyst for a new area of the
gaming industry that’s now attracting mainstream audiences and taking the social
phenomena to new and exciting experiences. Over the past four years the titles
added to the SingStar catalogue have included a mixture of genre and themes
including: musical decades (SingStar ‘80s SingStar ‘90s), musical genres
(SingStar Rocks, SingStar R&B, SingStar Pop, SingStar Pop Hits) and musical
themes (SingStar Legends, SingStar Party SingStar Summer Party). All of these
titles have continued to deliver sales as SingStar collectors seek out the
entire back catalogue.
As well as the international titles above,
country-specific titles have also been big sellers, with titles such as SingStar
Deutsch Rock Pop (Available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and SingStar
Latino (Available in Spain and Portugal) delivering strong sales locally.
SingStar’s commitment to localization has been the key to its success – titles
are available with localized tracklists for French, German, Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Polish and Croatian
Speaking Countries.
As the social gaming market expands to include
other titles such as SCEE’s quiz spectacular Buzz! the SingStar brand continues
to lead the way in sales, consumer brand awareness and product innovation. This
year, SingStar on PS3 even took three Guinness World Records: Most Successful
Singing Game, First Customizable Track in a Singing Game and First Music Game to
Let Players Record Their Performances and Share Them Online.
For all of this innovation, SingStar remains one
brand with the same core values. To find out more, visit
www.singstargame.com.
