Game industry business news

Though the final official confirmation is not expected to arrive until tomorrow , it seems that the world has accepted that the long-fought hi-def format war is at and end – and US retailers are reacting quickly to the news. Reuters reports that many leading North American retailers, such as …

Toshiba has refused to officially confirm that its HD-DVD format is dead following reports over the weekend that it is to scrap the technology – though confirmation is still expected to arrive shortly. A statement from the firm read: "The media reported that Toshiba will discontinue its HD DVD business. …

Japanese software sales were down 21.1 per cent compared to last year, while hardware fell 0.9 per cent, according to Famistu publisher, market analyst and MCV media partner Enterbrain. The decline is blamed on the delay of Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii, which fell outside the data collection preiod …

Development veterans Bob Rafei and E. Daniel Arey, former employees of Naughty Dog, have launched Big Red Button. Big Red Button is set up to create original character-based IP for cross platform and cross media developments. Six of these projects are said to be in development. "Games are now the …

The Interactive Software Federation of Europe has fired out a worrying warning to Gordon Brown – labelling any move to drop its PEGI ratings in the wake of Dr. Tanya Byron’s inquiry a ‘mistake’ and a ‘backwards step’ for the UK. ISFE director general Patrice Chazerand told MCV that the …

It’s official – the hi-def format war is over, with news of Toshiba’s decision to cease production of HD-DVD equipment, handing victory to Sony’s Blu-Ray technology. Reuters reports that the news was broken by Japanese broadcaster NHK, with the outlet predicting that Toshiba’s losses could amount to hundreds of millions …

While setting out his vision for a new Atari, CEO David Gardner admitted that the firm’s US-based operation has lost Infogrames money – but insists that there will be no sell-off within the loss-making division. It’s true it has lost plenty of money,” he told MCV. We don’t directly control …

GTA publisher, Take-Two, has unveiled three new appointments to its management team. The Board of directors has named Strauss Zelnick, currently non-executive chairman, as the new executive chairman. Ben Feder has been employed as CEO of Take-Two until October 31st 2012. And Karl Slatoff was named executive vice president, with …

What do you think was the secret behind such a successful 2007 for the company? The key to the performance was a combination of elements. The most important was innovation. We were able to be successful with new products on the casual business, with a lot of new products for …

Gardner’s CV is not to be sniffed at – most would be pleased enough with setting up and running EA Europe in the mid-eighties, but he subsequently climbed the ranks of the industry’s largest third party publisher to become VP of international publishing and then EVP of EA’s worldwide studios, …