Smart spending

12 months later and the story is a little different. Budgets are tighter, the release schedule is lighter and advertising costs have fallen.

97 million is still a mighty big number, but a 30 per cent year-on-year drop shows what a tough year it has been, and how scrutinised spending is today.

But marketing spends haven’t ceased completely. You can’t change channel on TV at the moment without seeing Ant and Dec prance around on a Wii or Microsoft promote its new Xbox Live services. And that’s not to mention the sheer number of ads for Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted and Mario & Sonic.

Overall there is more judicial spending going on.

Activision’s new GAME for Good campaign is one such more considered push. Pairing Modern Warfare 2 up with a charity will not only drive awareness, but generate good will at the right time of year – a nice antidote to other more negative pieces in the press.