Game industry business news

How much did GameStop pay for Kongregate?

Though the price GameStop paid for casual games portal giant Kongregate wasn’t divulged as part of the surprise announcement of the acquisition earlier today, one analyst has had a stab at guessing the figure. We view the acquisition of Kongregate as a slight positive for GameStop,” Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter …

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Cousens issues pre-owned warning

Publishers must find a way to monetize sales of pre-owned software if developers are to maintain their ability to expand the potential of games – that’s the warning of Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens. In terms of traditional publishing, the maturing formats have shown rapid decline and portable markets have been …

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ANALYSIS: H1 2010 market

In January 2010, UK games execs told MCV they were hopeful of a positive start to the New Year. And it was easy to see why: publishers had pushed their big Q4 2009 titles into 2010, and we had a mammoth release slate of blockbuster titles – including BioShock 2, …

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Activision backs Bond to shine

There is no new Bond movie on the horizon, but Activision says it can help plug the gap with two blockbuster Christmas releases. The 23rd Bond movie was postponed indefinitely in April due to uncertainty over the future of film company MGM. But that hasn’t derailed Activision’s plans for the …

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New video games league debuts

The best UK gamers can win up to 30,000 in a new video game league. Play the Gamer kicked off earlier this month, and is run by events agency Living It Loving It – better known for its live poker and crime scene nights in the UK, US and Europe. …

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Starcraft II gets £44.99 RRP

Publisher Activision has seemingly challenged the established norms of UK video game RRPs by apparently placing an official price of 44.99 on today’s new release Starcraft II. Though 45-50 tends to be the RRP of console titles, the very top rate for PC product tends to be between 35-40. However, …

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PlayStation logo going global

In a fresh move to cash in on what has become a globally popular brand, Sony has announced that it is to expand its licensing program to allow the use of the PlayStation brand on a range of non-gaming products. In June last year Sony confirmed that it was to …

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Sony expected to report profit

Sony’s financial Q1 is set to bring with it a significant boost in operating profit, according to a report in Japanese paper Nikkei, as spotted by Andriasang. It claims that the period will see an operating profit anywhere between YEN 10m and YEN 30bn for the quarter ending June 30th. …

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GameStop swoops for Kongregate

In what can only be described as a hugely significant move, video games retailer GameStop has acquired leading online Flash games portal Kongregate. The website boasts in the region of 10m users and is one of the most important players in the increasingly significant casual games sector. Kongregate will now …

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