Game industry business news

A bumper Christmas that saw non-food sales grow at three times the rate as groceries has lead Sainsbury’s to declare that it is one of the fastest entertainment retailers”. The supermarket reported record Q3 sales for the three months ending January 14th 2011, with total year-on-year growth of six per …

In the same was as Apple scrapped its exclusivity deal with O2 in the UK in 2009, telcom operator Verizon has ended AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity in the US by grabbing its own distribution deal for the smartphone. But as well as the change in operators, Appel has also quietly changed …

Atari Europe’s superhero MMO Champions Online will officially become a free-to-play title on January 25th. Developer Cryptic first revealed its intention to remove mandatory subscription charges back in October. Though the game will be free to play to all, a number of premium additions will also be available to purchase. …

The industry will finally find out what form the PSP2 will take at a press event in Tokyo on January 27th, trade sources have confirmed to MCV. Claims emerging this morning about an impending reveal for the long-rumoured PSP2 are true. Publishers were informed late last year of the plans, …

Gameloft has hit back at critics who say its games are clones of popular console titles such as Uncharted and God of War. Several gaming websites have posted comparison articles and videos, suggesting Gameloft has borrowed content heavily from other titles. But the firm says ‘many games are just re-expressions …

Microsoft and Activision are running a huge half-price sale on the latter’s Xbox Live content. Consumers can save 50 per cent on selected add-ons such as map packs for titles such as Call of Duty 2, 3, Modern Warfare and World at War, as well as Transformers: War For Cybertron. …

Publisher EA has released a new free-to-play golf game on Facebook. EA Sports PGA Tour Golf Challenge, which is developed by EA Tiburon, blends to connectivity of the social network with proper 3D graphics and a host of real-life golf courses including Pebble Beach, St Andrews and Sawgrass. Casual-friendly controls …

3DS is on the way and Sony’s handheld masterminds are working on multiple devices, but don’t expect Microsoft to announce a portable Xbox any time soon. Speaking to Kotaku at CES, the company insisted it has already launched a handheld games platform in Windows Phone 7. This is our mobile …

A number of sites have gone live with pre-orders for the Nintendo 3DS, with a placeholder price of 299 having been put in place. Eurogamer spotted the listings on The Hut, WHSmith, Best Buy and Woolworths. What the site didn’t note, though, is that all of these portals are run …

Bungie has filed a number of trademarks which may give a clue as to what the developer’s next game will be called. The Washington studio has submitted the following copyrighted titles to the United States Copyright Office: New Monarchy, Dead Orbit, Osiris and Seven Seraphs. Bungie has also registered a …