Game industry business news

New figures from the British Video Association show that hi-def disc format Blu-ray enjoyed a bumper Christmas in the UK, with sales climbing significantly compared to the same period last year. The BVA claims that 1.5 million Blu-ray movies were sold in the UK in December – a number that’s …

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is to inherit stores from troubled retailer Zavvi – suggesting Virgin Megastores could return to the High Street 16 months after it left UK retail. Zavvi administrator Ernst & Young has told MCV that Branson still holds the leases on seven Zavvi outlets. Zavvi was …

President of EA Sports Peter Moore has revealed on his blog that the critically acclaimed FIFA ’09 is on course to sell through ten million units. The statement came during a light-hearted rant made over the game’s absence from Eurogamer’s Top 50 Games of 2008, posted over the Christmas break. …

Business managers from the world’s leadings companies are set to make use of Sony’s PlayStation Home service to house virtual meetings. The move is part of a project commissioned by Advanced Workplace Associates, which will see how large corporations can use virtual worlds in reducing travel costs and carbon emissions. …

Japanese television executives have spoken of their fear over Nintendo’s new video channel for Wii. One leading TV official in the country said that the Wii was the centrepiece of the living room”. And an executive at Fuji Television, Japan’s biggest commercial broadcaster, told The Times that the launch of …

Japan’s largest ad agency Dentsu Inc has teamed up with Nintendo to launch a video distribution service on Wii. The two companies plan to offer original programmes created for the service, a Dentsu spokesman told Reuters (via Nikkei) – in contrast to Xbox 360 and PS3, which tend to carry …

Woolworths administrator Deloitte has announced that the final closure of the retailer’s remaining outlets will be delayed by one working day. The last 200 Woolworths stores were due to be closed today, but will now open on Saturday in order to sell leftover stock. They will now close on Tuesday, …

Video games publishers and developers could be able to use Popeye the Sailorman’s image for free from this week. The copyright expired on the spinach-munching character yesterday, becoming public domain in Britain under an EU law that restricts the rights of authors to 70 years after their death. Elzie Segar, …

Video games have been blamed for helping create speech problems amongst toddlers – ahead of a possible nationwide screening programme of the problem. Two-year-olds will reportedly be screened to tackle the problem which experts say is now more prevalent than dyslexia or autism. According to the Telegraph: ‘Toddlers could be …

Global president of 2K Games Christoph Hartmann believes that UK retail is the best in the world at creating an ‘event’ for key new products – but its impatience is putting it in danger of losing out to digital distribution. Speaking exclusively to MCV, Hartmann, whose label has had great …