Platform holders plan massive Christmas marketing

Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are planning to spend around £20 million on marketing in the UK this Christmas, in a move which should help to drive one of the largest holiday sales seasons the market has ever seen.

Following the recent price-cut to the GameCube, Nintendo is set to support its platforms with a â'¬35 million (£24m) pan-European campaign, with some £6 million of that earmarked for the UK.

Its campaign will focus largely on the forthcoming release of Mario Kart: Double Dash and the accompanying GameCube bundle deal, with the company promising a heavyweight TV campaign targeting kids and families alongside major in-store promotions and print support for its headlining title. The company will also be marketing the Game Boy Advance through heavy print campaigns and cinema campaigns for selected titles.

Market leader Sony will be spending some £5 million in the same period, according to UK trade magazine MCV, which reports that the company will be running a six-week TV campaign featuring its "Fun, Anyone?" advertisements which were originally created to promote the PlayStation Experience event at the start of Autumn. Individual software ads will also run for WRC III and EyeToy: Groove, while Ratchet & Clank 2 will be supported with a three-week cinema campaign.

Last but not least, Microsoft is rolling out its deep pockets for Christmas marketing - with a spend which could easily top £10 million for the entire period, almost double that being earmarked by either of its rivals. The giant software company has set aside £3 million in marketing for Project Gotham Racing 2, with a similar amount set to be spent on promoting the Xbox Live online service - while further marketing spend is due to go on Rare's first Xbox title, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and the company's own Music Mixer software.

Microsoft will also be throwing its weight behind key third party titles such as Ubisoft's Rainbow Six 3 - an alliance which worked well last Christmas when Ubisoft's Splinter Cell, boosted by Microsoft's marketing dollars, gave the Xbox a much-needed seasonal hit.