Game industry business news

As the Game Convention Asia Conference gets underway in Singapore this week, the event’s head has told us that the Asia-Pacific region is primed for expansion that could see it become a key market for the industry – comparable to Europe, Japan or North America. Specifically Joerg Zeissig, MD of …

Atari has revealed that 90 per cent of its output will be online-only in a few years as it increasingly favours online titles over traditional retail. The publisher’s recent deal with Namco Bandai includes a clause which gives the Japanese developer and publisher the option to buy Infogrames’ distribution business …

After a brief hiccup yesterday that saw the service pulled after launching a little prematurely, Sony has now officially released its free Life With PlayStation service for PS3 owners. The software, which can now be downloaded via the Folding@Home icon in the PS3’s network folder, allows users to access up …

Could you explain what your intentions are with the Namco Bandai deal? David Gardner: We’ve being saying all along that we want to make the business online and so what we’ve decided to do is separate the distribution company. The distribution side will handle Infogrames, Namco Bandai and other publishers’ …

The High Street battle currently raging between long-time gaming favourite Guitar Hero and plucky newcomer Rock Band is one of the more ferocious in today’s industry – and now Activision boss Bobby Kotick has detailed the many reasons why he believes his firm’s title has the upper hand. Speaking at …

As the countdown to Christmas continues, Nintendo has unveiled a series of new DS bundles designed to appeal to the whole family. Each pack is set to hit retail across Europe in time for the Christmas period, with the following five bundles set for the UK next month: – White …

SPECIAL REPORT: Harrison and Gardner on restaffing the resurgent publisher's creative teams

Valve’s Doug Lombardi has described today’s rumourmongering that the studio is to be bought by Google as "100% rumour". Speaking to Spong, the marketing boss’ description of the story is the first comment made by the studio. Google has described the story as "rumour and speculation", although clearly both have …

Zavvi managing director Simon Douglas has been elected chairman at the Entertainment Retailers’ Association for the next year. The decision was made at the ERA’s Annual General Meeting, which took place in London this morning. Douglas – who last year led the buy-out of the Virgin Megastores chain to create …

Developer shrugs off speculation that it is about to be bought by web giant