Game industry business news

Hollywood’s march into the games industry continues unabated: the American production company Genius Products, the majority shareholders of which are Miramax founders the Weinstein brothers, is moving into the games market. Take a look at the full story over on Develop.

Pirates of the Caribbean director developing new title, says the 'broken' games industry model 'has to change'

With any luck, MCV’s recent story stating that games now make more money at retail that music will have raised some very senior-ranking eyebrows at retail last week. It is a shift in the balance of power that should make every supermarket and entertainment store in the UK re-assess where …

Microsoft Europe exec jumps up to new role; will manage publishing, development and Xbox Live in Europe

European boss of Xbox Chris Lewis has been promoted to Vice President, Interactive Entertainment Business EMEA for Microsoft. The new role will see Lewis add two more vital strings to his bow, taking complete responsibility for Microsoft’s interactive business in the region – including the firm’s development teams and Xbox …

Microsoft has staked its claim as the market leader in the console space with two bold claims this morning – not least that it has taken over 40 per cent of ‘life-to-date’ revenue across hardware, games and peripherals sales. In addition, the firm has confirmed a whopping 17.7 million global …

MCV had it right last week : Microsoft has confirmed that it will drop the price of all three Xbox 360 SKUs in the UK and across Europe on Friday. The estimated retail price (ERP) for its entry-level Arcade SKU has dipped to €199.99/159.99 – a drop of €80/50. The …

An ex-employee of North American games rating body the ESRB has stated that the firm doesn’t actually play the games it rates, Gamepolitics.com reports. Jerry Bonner, who claims to have rated over 700 games in his six months at the company, stated: The ESRB’s current pool of fulltime raters does …

Though first talk of its Brighton office emerged almost exactly a year ago , Linden Lab has to date been quiet about its South Coast operations – though a new recruitment drive from the firm could indicate a considerable upscaling of its operations. Linden Lab is the developer behind the …

The Daily Mirror reports that Brits spend more time playing computer games in bed than they do having sex – in fact, sex is apparently only the 10th most popular activity between the sheets. Sleep is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most popular bed-based pursuit, though it is followed by the likes …