Game industry business news

Five and a half years since it first hit European retail shelves, Sony has confirmed that total worldwide sales of its SingStar series have now passed the 20m units barrier. The news comes as a number of new features go live for owners of the PS3 version, including a range …

Search engine leader Google has published its Zeitgeist 2009 report – which lists the Top Ten searches in North America across a number of popular entertainment sectors over the last year – and Atari’s Ghostbusters has emerged as the winner. Google’s report is compiled from the billions of queries people …

Travellerâ??s Talesâ?? Jon Burton foresees the end of physical media for games

Nintendo’s Wii has become the fastest-selling home console in the history of the UK, surpassing six million sales after just three years on the market. According to GfK-ChartTrack upweighted data, the console hit the milestone in week 48 this year – exactly two years and 51 weeks after it went …

The UK games industry has slashed a third off its Q4 marketing spend for this year – as the economic slowdown wounds the trade in its most crucial period. MCV estimates show that 2009’s Q4 figure is over 30 per cent down compared to last year’s astronomical 139m total rate …

Publisher EA has, as revealed by MCV early last month, announced that its next Medal of Honor title will ditch the series’ traditional WWII theme in favour of a contemporary setting – more specifically, Afghanistan. Simply called Medal of Honor, the game, which is being seen as a re-set for …

The Hut product director Gian Luzio has left the retailer after less than a year. Luzio joined the firm following a successful stint at Play.com, where he helped grow the firm’s video games range. The Hut CEO Matthew Moulding stated: Gian made a positive impact on the business during the …

Total Disc Repair is to ramp up awareness for its disc cleaning machines with an in-store marketing campaign. The firm will release posters, counter boards, flyers, t-shirts, mugs and floor displays into independent retail, and have also created two consumer websites. The first site, playlikenew.com, promotes the benefits of disc …

Though it remains the daddy of the current console market, sales of Nintendo’s Wii are showing year-on-year declines across the board – and the company’s manufacturing partners are now feeling the full effect. Nikkei reports, courtesy of Kotaku, that manufacturing pair Mitsumi and Hosiden are set to suffer a year-on-year …

Publisher THQ has signed an extension to its partnership with animation studio Dreamworks that will see three new titles released over the next two years. Alongside the previously announced MegaMind, THQ will now also publish Kung Fu Panda: The KaBoom of Doom, Puss in Boots and The Penguins of Madagascar, …