Game industry business news

The death knell has rung for Woolworths – with administrators Deloitte confirming that all 807 remaining stores will be closed down by January 5th. The first stores will close on December 27th – and in more sad news for the firm, all 27,000 permanent and temporary staff will lose their …

Update adds compressed audio playback, optimisations

Harmonix has announced the Wii version of Rock Band 2 will be released in the US on December 18th, and apologised to its community for the delay in the process. A member of the development team posted the news on the official forums, saying: We want to apologise for the …

US electronics chain Best Buy has reported its 2009 Q3 fiscal results, with revenues jumping 16 per cent to $11.5 billion for the week ending November 29th 2008. The revenues jump follows the opening of 181 new European stores over the past 12 months, however, earnings have plummeted year-on-year from …

Atari president Phil Harrison has told MCV that he wants to leave Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick red-faced for dumping the Ghostbusters game. The title, which Atari announced it had picked up this month, was originally on Vivendi’s release schedule before the ‘merger’ between the company and Activision in December …

Nintendo has once again dominated the UK’s festive online shopping searches, with the Wii and DS Lite becoming the first and second most searched for products online in November, according to date from retail analysts Hitwise. The pair overtake October’s leader Wii Fit, though that remains the most searched for …

Japanese publisher and developer Konami has finally revealed the meaning behind its Metal Gear teaser earlier this month – and as predicted by one eagle-eyed reader, it is indeed a new iPhone and iPod Touch outing. Metal Gear Solid Touch is an original title based on the characters and events …

Midway has unveiled a new cost reduction plan which will see it reduce its headcount by 25 per cent – which amounts to some 180 developers. The publisher will close its Austin, Texas studio and also see lay offs at its San Diego office. Click here to see the full …

25 per cent of US studio staff gone; Austin team shuttered; but 'cost-reduction' method leaves firm strong says CEO

Kesa Electricals has revealed that its UK chain Comet made a half-year loss of 8.1m for the period up until October, with the retail chain blaming deteriorating market conditions for the results. That was in stark contrast to its 10.6m profit for the same period in 2007. MCV’s sister publication …