Game industry business news

Asda will sell Activision’s Call Of Duty: World At War for just 27 from midnight tonight. The supermarket has taken out adverts in the national press to promote the deal. COD: WaW is the current favourite to hit the Christmas No.1 spot in the All Formats chart.

Japan’s games market suffered a significant dip in October, with the total market value 21.6 per cent down on the same month in 2007 according to figures from Famitsu owner Enterbrain. Hardware sales dropped by 29.1 per cent, and software by 14.9 per cent. Sony’s PSP was the strongest performer, …

Online shopping stats firm Hitwise has revealed that Nintendo’s Wii Fit is currently the most searched for product by internet shoppers in the UK – with the Wii console itself and Apple’s iPhone close behind. In total, Wii Fit accounted for one in six searches for video game products in …

Best Buy has lowered its guidance for the fiscal year due to falling consumer spending, driven by ‘the recent turmoil in the financial markets and other macro economic factors’. "Since mid-September, rapid, seismic changes in consumer behavior have created the most difficult climate we’ve ever seen. Best Buy simply can’t …

Over 2,500 gamers turned out last night to HMV on London’s Oxford Street last night to celebrate the launch of what is hotly anticipated to be one of the biggest games of the year: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. The game, which is published by Activision Blizzard, …

Hollywood starlet Angelina Jolie has become the latest celebrity fan of video games. According to ContactMusic, new mum Jolie is shedding her babyweight by working out using her kids’ video game console. The site reports: ‘And her eldest son Maddox, seven, has shown her the way – by teaching her …

Just one day after Koch-owned publisher Deep Silver announced it’s own competitor in a marketplace already catered to by the likes of Nintendo’s Wii Fit and Atari’s Family Trainer, EA has announced its debut entry into the market – EA Sports Active. Unlike Deep Silver’s title, EA Sports Active will …

Casual gaming devs have once again proved that their finger’s on the pulse of current affairs by releasing a new Flash game paying tribute to the USA’s new President elect. Super Obama World boasts more than a passing resemblance to Nintendo’s legendary SNES classic Super Mario World, though the familiar …

Ubisoft is to invest a substantial 4 million in TV advertising of its Wii and DS products in the run up to Christmas as it attempts to cement its position as one of the strongest casual software publishers. The publisher’s UK marketing director Jon Rosenblatt stated: From now until Christmas …

Time magazine has included the launch of the original Xbox as a key ‘Microsoft Moment’. In part of a feature the influential magazine ran to mark the 25th anniversary of the Windows operating system, it rated the launch of the Xbox as a key moment in the firm’s history: By …