Game industry business news

The Consumer Products & Services division of Sony, which houses amongst other things its PlayStation business, has reported a loss of $1.009bn for the quarter ending December 31st 2011. Overall sales at the unit reached $12.776bn – an annual decline of almost 25 per cent. Amongst other things, the increased …

You could almost smell the desperation in some quarters of the game press for EA’s Star Wars: The Old Republic to fail. Well guess what? It’s been a huge hit. Since its release in December the game has sold in excess of 2m copies worldwide, with 1.7 players signing up …

Publishing powerhouse EA last night admitted to concerns about the financial health of a "major European retail partner" thought to be GAME. As reported by MCV yesterday, GAME has been rocked by credit insurance issues forcing it into negotiations with publishing partners to secure stock of upcoming releases. "We are …

240 staff from THQ will be impacted by its latest restructuring – over ten per cent of staff. In an SEC filings this evening, the firm detailed how the previously announced withdrawal from the kids’ licensed games market will hit its business. The resulting restructuring, the firm says, will "appropriately …

Nearly 13 years after it first hit the market, Sony Online Entertainment has decided to convert EverQuest into a free-to-play title. A number of new payment options will be introduced. Standard all-you-can-eat subscriptions will remain an option, but a F2P version supported by microtransactions will also be available. Those who …

Facebook games group denies culture of kleptomania

Trion Worlds has expanded the trial version of its flagship MMO, essentially making the game free-to-play. Rift Lite drops the time limit and lets new players enjoy the the game for free until they reach level 20. If they enjoy the game, they can sign up for full membership, with …

Flight simulators have been around since the early days of computer games, with the first one landing around 30 years ago. Technology and business models have advanced dramatically, but flying sims have always remained a more traditional part of the market. Lucrative, too: Microsoft releases new version, third-parties sell extra …

Assassin’s Creed icon Ezio will attract fans of other games to Soul Calibur V – and future fighters – says Namco Bandai. The Ubisoft character is playable in the fighting title as part of a collaboration between the two publishers. With the Creed franchise generating over 31m unit sales worldwide, …

Nintendo TV is now available to view in 3D. The show (which is handled by Future Publishing’s Official Nintendo Magazine team) was first made available on Wii 18 months ago, and has been viewed over 1m times. The 3DS version first appeared before Christmas and its second episode goes live …