Game industry business news

The founder of abandoned studio Bizarre Creations has broken silence on the swift collapse of the longstanding Liverpool stronghold. Martyn Chudley, who established Bizarre in 1995, that the studio’s culture had been tainted after publishing empire Activision acquired the group in 2007. We were always proudly independent," he told Edge …

THQ’s UFC fitness game is due in June, the firm has confirmed. Today the publisher has announced the game officially for the first time – although it actually told investors (and therefore the media) the game was coming back at E3 2010 in June.UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness System …

Three million units of Michael Jackson: The Experience have been sold worldwide, MCV can reveal. In the UK alone the game has sold 319,000 units to date according to GfK Chart-Track. The numbers include sales on Wii, DS and PSP. Ubisoft’s dance game is now set to get a boost …

New DX11 features; improved engine front-end; mobile game enhancements

GameStop plans to enter the fast-growing tablet computer market – and may even build its own games-oriented one. The word from the retailer comes a week after it bought two games download technology firms – Spawn Labs and Stardock’s Impulse – in a bid to grow its stake in the …

The tragic earthquakes and natural disasters that hit Japan last month haven’t necessarily slowed Sony’s production capacity. Earlier this week, SCEA boss Jack Tretton said that damage to one Sony Japan manufacturing plant could mean that parts production for the NGP handheld specifically could be delayed. But last night an …

EA CEO John Riccitiello says that the November marketing battle between Call of Duty and Battlefield will cost hundreds of millions as dollars. He made the prediction while outlining how this year, EA is hoping to dethrone rival Activision’s bestselling CoD franchise. EA’s Battlefield 3 launches in November – around …

Dish Network has bought Blockbuster in a $320m deal. The second-largest satellite TV company in the US snapped the company up through a bankruptcy auction, beating competition from Carl Icahn and a group od debtholders. The transaction still needs to be approved by a bankruptcy court however. Dish Network’s EVP …

A sequel to 2005 console and PC hit Sniper Elite is on the way next year from publisher 505 Games. Called Sniper Elite V2, the title is being developed by UK studio Rebellion whose other hits include Aliens vs Predator, Star Wars: Battlefront and Rogue Trooper – as well as …

Green Man Gaming occupies a unique position at the intersection of possibly the two hottest topics in the games industry – digital distribution and trade-ins. It couldn’t be more zeitgeisty if it dressed itself in a calendar and stripped off a layer every morning to reveal the new date. The …