Game industry business news

Xi3 launches war of words with Valve

Valve seems to have ruffled some feathers with its recent assertion that it is not connected in any way with Xi3’s Piston Steam Box. A statement from Valve yesterday claimed that the company began some exploratory work with Xi3 last year, but currently has no involvement in any product of …

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Apple refunds parents whose kid blew £980 on Tapped Out donuts

Haven’t we been here before? The Daily Mail has today run yet another story of a child racking up a overdraft-smashing bill on a free-to-play iOS title. This time it’s The Simpsons Tapped out, in which eight-year-old Theo Rowland-Fry spent 980 on virtual donuts. It was only when my wife …

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International Factfile: Iran

The heavily populated Middle Eastern nation of Iran has a much higher proportion of younger consumers, with around half of Iranians younger than 35. Theoretically, this makes Iran a promising market for video games publishers, but the industry’s potential is hindered by a barren retail landscape. There are very few …

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GAME confirms Defiance lock-ins

Namco Bandai and Trion Worlds have partnered with GAME to run five Defiance lock-ins. Each event will allow attendees to try the action MMO, which is not due for release in the UK until April 2nd. They will also receive free beta access keys, and get some free food and …

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Reports contest Maxis’ claims that SimCity cannot work offline

Despite the fact that SimCity is now working, the online games community continues to target it. Accusations of all sorts are being flung online, ranging from broken AI pathfinding to critical services bugs, but perhaps the most significant is the claim that EA has lied about the game’s dependency on …

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Miyamoto on Wii U sales: "I’m not at the point where I’m concerned yet"

Nintendo’s design boss Shigeru Miyamoto insists that he remains confident about the Wii U’s long-term prospects. He does concede, however, that he had hoped for a better performance than the machine has achieved to date. I think that the Wii U still has a long future,” Miyamoto told The New …

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Square Enix opens India office; to create mobile games for local market

Japanese developer/publisher Square Enix has opened its first India office in Mumbai. Atul Vibhandik heads the company’s India operations and takes on the role ofvice president at Square Enix India. The India office currently comprises of only 4-5 employees, however the company does plan to expand over the coming months. …

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Criterion opens doors to aspiring devs

Racing game studio Criterion is holding an open day for students eager to get a start in the game industry. The open day will take place on April 11th at Criterion’s office in Guildford, UK, where students will get to meet the development team behind Need for Speed Most Wanted …

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