MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Amidst all the numbers and gushing praise for Guitar Hero, Activision Blizzard also found time in its recent financial posting to stoke up the hype machine for Bizarre Creations’ upcoming new racing IP Blur. From a business perspective, we are targeting Blur to do for racing what Call of Duty …
Read More »Guitar Hero outselling Rock Band 10:1 in Europe
Following impressive financial numbers, Activision Blizzard’s Mike Griffith has stated that the franchise now accounts for the majority share of music game genre sales in Europe and North America – in other words, it’s beating Rock Band. The publisher also revealed that 34m DLC tracks have been downloaded by Guitar …
Read More »RETAIL BIZ: The Sims 3
Head over to the RETAIL BIZ previews section for a look at some of the hottest games approaching retail in the near future. This week, MCV takes a look at EA’s The Sims 3, the third iteration in Will Wright’s renowned virtual dollhouse series that is set to satisfy millions …
Read More »Activision Q1 revenues smash expectations at $981m
Activision Blizzard has excelled expectations by posting revenues of $981 million for its first quarter in 2009, along with profits rising to $189 million, all driven by a strong slate lucrative franchises such as Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. Those figures had smashed analyst expectations, as …
Read More »EA snares Google Apps chief
The development boss of Google’s AdWords, AdSense and Google Apps services has joined EA’s board of directors. Jeff Huber, who will continue to serve as senior VP of engineering at Google, previously held management positions at eBay and Excite@Home. He said: EA has an exciting vision for innovating and delivering …
Read More »THQ: PS3 price cut expected, Wii a little soft
On the back of THQ’s recent financial results, CEO Brian Farrell has stated that he believes Sony will cut the price of PS3 this year, whilst also admitting that the Wii market is slowing. We are not expecting a price cut at E3 but we do expect one later in …
Read More »Industry confronts Govt over disappointing Digital Britain report
The industry’s most notable faces met with Labour Ministers last week – to discuss games’ exclusion from a major Government report into ‘Britain’s online future’. The Digital Britain report, headed up by Lord Stephen Carter, aims to ‘secure the UK’s digital future’, and maximise the country’s economic online potential. However, …
Read More »Are we immune?
Indeed, the latest GfK-ChartTrack figures this week suggest healthy hardware sales and a slightly up software sector. No wonder, then that we continue to chronicle the expanding nature of games retail. As HMV CEO Simon Fox says elsewhere in this issue, the retail landscape has changed more in the last …
Read More »Rebellion: Govt support halted by generation gap
The strength and virtues of the UK game development sector is not being recognised by politicians due to a ‘generation gap’. This was the explanation given by Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley as numerous game businesses and industry groups across the UK call on Brown’s government to provide better support for …
Read More »GAME appoints new finance director
Leading UK games retailer GAME has announced that current group finance director David Thomas is leaving his post and will be replaced in July by Ben White. Barratt leaves to become group finance director at Barratt Developments. White will leave his current post of group reporting and investor relations director …
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