Game industry business news

SALES TEAM Who is eligible for this award?Any UK-based sales team or specialist sales force, including in-house staff and outsourced service companies. How is this award won?MCV will take soundings from the industry and consider any direct lobbying from retailers, suppliers or general readers before announcing a set of Finalists …

NEW GAME BRAND Who is eligible for this award?Any company that has introduced a new game brand over the past 12 months that has made a significant impact at consumer level within the UK marketplace. How is this award won?MCV will take soundings from the industry and consider any direct …

Nolan Bushnell, the man behind Pong who is often credited as the original pioneer of arcade and home video gaming, will receive the Fellowship at this year’s Game British Academy Video Games Awards. The original Atari founder said: I am humbled to be selected for this honour from the British …

Some of the biggest names in the casual games sector have told MCV’s sister site CasualGaming.biz that the casual games sector can not just survive the global recession, but actually benefit from it – though some aspects of the business may struggle to cope amidst the downturn. CasualGaming.biz spoke to …

The strength of the YEN has caused Nintendo to cut its operating income forecasts by 15.9 per cent. The news comes as Nintendo reports its Q3 financial results for the three months to the end of 2008, which saw net sales increase by 17 per cent to reach 1.5 trillion …

The joint Administrators of Zavvi UK have today announced the immediate closure of a further 15 stores. The closures will lead to the redundancy of 295 employees, bringing the total number of jobs lost since the firm went into administration to 889. Administrator Ernst & Young closed 18 stores on …

Sony has posted some grim numbers for its gaming division for the three months ending December 31st 2008 that show falling sales for all three of its current PlayStation consoles. Sales at its games division hit YEN 393.8bn, down 32.2 per cent on the same period in 2007. Unit sales …

Capcom is to tour UK retailers with the original Street Fighter IV arcade release, giving the public a chance to sample the game in its original form before the February 20th console release. Starting in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gamestation, Capcom has currently confirmed five dates, including a stop at London’s …

As had been previously suggested, a long-awaited new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII has confirmed that the next-gen Square Enix RPG will be released on PS3 in Japan this year. However, as MCV revealed earlier this month, there’s still no word on when the game will be released in either …

With the Japanese market suffering a significant decline in value in 2008 and the UK enjoying record sales, MCV is predicting that the UK games market will by the end of the year grow to become the second most valuable in the world. Whilst the Japanese market was worth 520,000 …