Game industry business news

Online games developer and publisher K2 has acquired the APB IP from the administrator of collapsed Dundee studio Realtime Worlds, inside sources have told Develop. California based K2 Network, a heavily VC-funded company responsible for the free-to-play service GamersFirst, has reportedly spent in the region of 1.5 million for the …

All Points Bulletin may soon return as free-to-play offering

Warren Spector’s journey from adult game Deus Ex to Disney has been a long but by no means ardous one. Back in 2004, Epic Mickey’s creative director left Ion Storm to form his own development house Junction Point Studios. There, he quickly began work on his next project but soon …

Atari’s online games division outperformed its console operations in the first half of the year, but were unable to prevent overall losses in revenue. For the six months ended September 30th, 2010, the publisher’s online games generated revenues of €12.9 million – a significant increase from the €1.8 million achieved …

Ahead of the release of the first sales numbers of Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops today, the state media of Cuba has denounced the title, claiming that it stimulates sociopathic attitudes”. Much of the reaction stems from the game’s opening mission, which sees players taking part in an attempted …

Publisher EA has announced that it has updated the terms of its global publishing agreement with LucasArts that will see it assume extra responsibilities toward the title. The company will now handle additional publishing, marketing and distribution responsibilities that LucasArts was previously handling. It claims the move has been made …

Sony is to embark on a dedicated marketing campaign in Latin America following a tremendous boom for the PlayStation market in the region. The new ad spots, made by sector specialist Saatchi & Saatchi, feature both the PS3 and PlayStation Move and focus on a character called ‘babyman’ (who has …

High Street giants: â??We will refuse to sell Steam gamesâ??

A report from TheStreet claims that on its first day of release Microsoft sold just 40,000 Windows Phone 7 units. TheStreet adds that the number doesn’t account for the 89,000 free Windows Phone 7 devices that were handed out to Microsoft employees. The numbers are thon into stark contrast when …

Steam’s grip on the PC download sector has made the market far too competitive to bother with, rivals warn. MCV understands that at least two big-name digital retailers are facing financial difficulties as they struggle to compete. They are now calling on publishers to develop Steam-free SKUs – as Sports …