Game industry business news

KOEI has announced Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 will be released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in Europe on March 27. Gundam 2 is the latest game in the long-running Dynasty Warriors franchise, a series that is hugely popular in Japan. This version trades in the traditional sword-based battles for armoured …

Cats, Evita and more top stage musicals could all soon have their own video games, as the company in charge of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s most famous brands enters discussions with video games companies. The Really Useful Group, the international musical entertainment company founded in 1977 by Lloyd-Webber, has begun preliminary discussions …

Sega and THQ’s annual Business Partners Summit has been retired after two successful years. MCV understands that both companies wanted to find alternative routes to showcase their products to European retail in 2009. Sega has confirmed to MCV that it will be switching support to this year’s less US-centric E3. …

Mock the Week star â??delightedâ?? to present 2009 event

HMV’s buyout of 14 Zavvi stores has saved 269 jobs at the beleaguered entertainment chain, it has emerged. Zavvi administrator Ernst & Young has revealed the locations of the stores – after MCV broke the news yesterday. The nine stores HMV has bought in the UK include one in Crewe, …

There was more doom and gloom on the High Street this morning as two major players in the entertainment retail sector reported significant sales declines over the Christmas period, The Retail Bulletin reports. Argos suffered a 7.5 per cent like-for-like decline in the 18 weeks to January 3rd compared to …

Irish comedian Dara O’Briain is set to host this year’s GAME British Academy Video Games Awards. As well as being a popular stand up comic, O’Briain has presented a number of TV shows including Live At The Apollo and Mock The Week. He is also a graduate of Dublin’s University …

HMV has acquired 14 Zavvi stores from its rival’s administrators, Ernst & Young. HMV expects the cost of its acquisition to be around 2m, including a purchase price of 700,000 plus the refit and rebranding of the outlets. The locations of the stores are currently unclear, but they are in …

HMV has defied the odds on the High Street to pull off its biggest ever Christmas – enjoying a 5.8 per cent sales growth for the ten weeks to January 3rd. Like-for-like growth was up three per cent on the same period in 2008. The total HMV Group – which …

North America’s fastest-growing specialist is ready to take on GAME and Gamestation – as it launches its first stores in the UK later this year. GamerDoc, a franchise concept that offers the opportunity to own, develop and operate a retail video games store, was launched in December 2007. President of …