Game industry business news

PC publisher Ascaron is moving into the handheld market for the first time, with a range of new DS releases this Q4. The firm told MCV it will follow its two pre-Christmas DS titles, with two further games slated for early 2009. The Berlin headquartered publisher had previously stuck to …

Increasingly it’s not just those blockbusting triple-A exclusive software titles that sell games consoles to consumers – it’s their online offering too. With generations ever more adept with the workings and possibilities of the ‘net, it’s no longer enough to just play single player campaigns for many consumers. And it’s …

Atari’s parent company Infrogrames has announced an increase of net revenue of 44.5 per cent for its fiscal first half 2009-2009 ending September 30th. Despite falling 7.5 per cent, losses still totalled €85.67 million, though they were outweighed by a total net revenue for the period of €131.8 million, which …

SouthPeak Interactive reported a drop in sales and net loss in its Q1 financials ending September 30th. Quarterly sales dropped to $8.4 million, a reduction from $18.4 million in a like-for-like period. However, losses also fell for SouthPeak, with net loss at $1.6 million from last year’s $3.4 million. Meanwhile …

UK development outfit The Games Company has reached the final stages of a high-profile games design competition on Facebook – and now it’s urging its UK contemporaries to come out in support. To read the full story, head on over to MCV’s development-orientated sister magazine Develop.

UK devs see Facebook app â??Social Arcadeâ?? reach games competition finals; asks industry for support

With the highly-anticipated Left 4 Dead just a week away, Valve is giving gamers the chance to buy its entire back catalogue for under $100 (70). The Complete Pack is available to download via Steam, and features 22 titles including the entire Half Life series, Portal, Team Fortress and Counter-Strike, …

UK developer Sports Interactive has announced that Liverpool-based Premiership football team Everton has signed a first-of-its-kind deal that will officially allow club manager David Moyes and his backroom staff unrivalled access to the player database of Football Manager 2009. The studio boasts that the FM2009 databse includes over 370,000 players …

Corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios Shane Kim has shown a touching bit of festive spirit by praising rival platform holder Nintendo for the success it has had in broadening the market. Speaking to VentureBeat, Kim admitted: I can tell you how that conversation goes at Microsoft. They say, …

Variety is reporting that troubled US publisher Brash will close its doors for good today. The news follows the departure of top execs Thomas Tull, Larry Shapiro and Nicholas Longano from the firm last month, citing the disappointing quality of the publisher’s output as the reason. In addition, a further …