Game industry business news

Sony is spending 750,000 to ensure PlayStation Move is embraced by mainstream audiences when it launches next week. But the ad spend dodges specialist media and games retail to favour a supermarket tour, lifestyle press promotions and ads around major TV shows such as Big Brother, X-Factor and Premier League …

Studio behind Plants vs Zombies still turning down â??crazy numberâ?? buyout offers

As anyone who uses games forums will tell you, getting a game on day one still remains hugely important to a large part of the core games userbase – something that clearly hasn’t escaped the attentions of online retailer Amazon. Gamasutra reports that the US arm of Amazon is now …

Sony has announced that Team Ico will be at hand at next week’s Tokyo Game Show to at last reveal some new details about its upcoming PS3 title The Last Guardian. The game was first aired way back at E3 2009, before which it had been previously referred to as …

Final Fantasy XIII was to be the recipient of some form of post-release DLC – that is, until publisher Square Enix abandoned the plans. According to 1UP, the game’s director Motomu Toriyama previously told gamers to hold on to their game save after completing the game. However, speaking to Famitsu …

Zavvi.com customers can now purchase goods more easily from the online retailer courtesy of its new iPhone app. The Hut Group-owned retailer has implemented ‘See It, Snap It, Snag It’ technology into the app, which allows users to take a photograph of an item then find it and buy it …

Distribution is the third pillar of self-publishing. In this week's column, Lovell looks at how the role of distribution has changed from the days of warehouse, vans and men with barrows.

Though a big part in the resurgence of PS3 has been the launch of the Slim and the drop in price, SCE president and CEO Kaz Hirai has told MCV that it’s also down to the company’s new international, and less Japan-centric, view on the global games market. Japanese-born Hirai …

The UK game industry is 96 per cent male dominated, new data suggests. A study undertaken by the University of Liverpool concludes that females take up just four per cent of the British industry workforce – eight per cent lower than the results of a similar survey taken in 2006. …

Katamari Damacy maestro Keita Takahashi has walked out on his publishing partner Namco Bandai, the company has confirmed to play.tm. Takahashi – a widely revered game designer routinely praised for not buying into the big business that drives the industry – may now be departing from game design for good. …