Game industry business news

63 different companies from across the games industry are nominated for prizes at this year’s MCV Industry Excellence Awards. Activision leads the pack with 11 nominations – five for its break-out kids’ hit Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. EA closely follows with 10 nominations, including nods for EA Origin, Battlefield and FIFA …

Some of the biggest names in UK retail are going head-to-head in the MCV Awards retail category this year. Nominees this year include GameStop, GAME, Steam, EA Origin, Tesco and Amazon, who get nods for things including breaking out and growing online brands, power-house digital distribution stores and mainstream sales …

THQ has confirmed a June 29th release for console and PC title Darksiders II in the UK. The game will be released on June 26th in the US. Two UK retailers have also signed up to offer specific pre-order incentives for the title. Those who commit to a purchase from …

Time has been called on the Comics section of the PSP’s PlayStation Store. Andriasang reports that no additional content will be added to the service after March 15th. The Comics section of PSN will disappear completely from September. Users will be able to access and download any existing of new …

The stock in computing behemoth Apple has exceeded $500 per share for the very first time. As of this morning the company is trading at $509.46, resulting in a market cap of $475bn. The rate of growth has been astronomical, by any standards. Apple stock was trading at around $300 …

Japanese publisher Square Enix is looking to establish a presence in India. Andriasang reports that the company is looking to hire staffers to open the new office. Requirements include a knowledge of the local market and the ability to speak ‘native level’ Hindi as well as conversational English and Japanese. …

Social gaming giant Zynga has posted its first ever quarterly financial report, delivering numbers roughly in line with expectations. Although it reported a loss of $435m for the quarter ending December 31st, this was widely expected and stems from the $510m stock-based compensation paid out to employees following its flotation. …

EA has confirmed that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be releasing 1st March in ANZ, Hong Kong and Singapore. The game has been out in North America and Europe since 20th December last year, leaving many Australian and New Zealand consumers with the option of waiting for a release …

GameSpot is reporting that the new Federal Minister for Home Affairs is predicting an R18+ rating by next year. Jason Clare indicated that he believes the bill will become legislation by 1st January 2013, after introducing the bill into parliament today. It was initially unknown whether the previous Minister for …

Social games company earnings at five cents a share, but GAAP earnings down