Game industry business news

Microsoft: No question downloads will overtake retail

Microsoft says there is ‘no question’ that the sale of downloaded games will overtake the sales of games at retail in the coming years. According to David Gosen, Xbox Europe’s VP of strategic marketing and Live, There’s no question digital will overtake physical. It happened in music and will happen …

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Warner IP to fuel new LEGO titles

The highly anticipated LEGO Batman is just the beginning of developer Traveller’s Tales brick-based output under parent Warner Bros, the boss of the studio has revealed. Traveller’s Tales president Jon Burton said that the company was already working on LEGO titles based on Warner IP. Warner Bros., which acquired Traveller’s …

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Warcraft launches in Russia

Blizzard’s World Of Warcraft and its expansion The Burning Crusade have both finally seen a release in Russia. The titles have been fully localised and allow consumers to begin playing on dedicated realms with the benefit of a Russian-language customer-support team. The release is the fifth European-language version of World …

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MGS4 pushes Konami Q1 profits up 32%

‘Sensational’ sales of Metal Gear Solid 4 pushed Konami’s Q1 net profits up 32 per cent year on year, the company has reported. Net income stood at 5.7 billion Japanese Yen ($52.57m) for the three-month period to June 30th – which compared favourably with last year’s post of 3.9 billion …

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Olympic standards

It may be embroiled in political controversy and concerns over pollution, but the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is set to be the biggest sporting event of the year. At Athens in 2004, more than 300 TV channels provided 35,000 hours of Olympic coverage to 3.9 billion people in 220 countries. …

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Riccitiello: Crappy licensed games take the industry backwards

It seems that barely a day passes without EA CEO John Riccitiello hitting the headlines – and this time the outspoken boss has lashed out at below-par license-based games. Though Riccitiello admits that EA has churned out some poor licensed titles in its time, he also states that things are …

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Gears 2 given violence filter

Microsoft shoot ’em up Gears of War 2 will come with a parental control facility when it’s released for Xbox 360 on November 7th. The game, which was earlier given an ‘M’ rating by the ESRB, will attempt to placate concerned parents by giving them an option to substitute blood …

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