Game industry business news

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has admitted the company made mistakes when it acquired well-known developers. Speak at DICE last week, he said that integrating the teams at independents such as Bullfrog, Westwood and Origin ultimately stifled the creative talent there: "We at EA blew it, and to a degree …

Are the installed base figures you released ahead of expectations? The figures are very positive but are really a reflection of demand and the huge amount of work that has been done with logistics in trying to ship as much product as we can to try and help satisfy the …

In fact, leading headline and hyperbole aside, I couldn’t have been more pleased with the words of The Guardian’s political editor. According to the paper, the government proposes to adopt a wide-spread classification system for all video games, ultimately putting the medium in line with film. Also, retailers will be …

If MCV and The Guardian’s predictions are correct, then there will soon be universal BBFC ‘cinema-style’ ratings for all game releases. Do you think this is a good thing? Will it lead to less blame for the industry and a clearer classification system? Or will it be a time-consuming, needless …

Fresh planning restrictions, designed to stem local dominance of individual supermarkets, is to be unveiled this week, according to the Metro newspaper. The Competition Commission’s chairman, Peter Freeman, has been conducting a two-year inquiry into the grocery sector, which is reportedly worth 95 billion. Freeman is expected to set out …

Riccitiello admits to DICE audience that publisher fumbled integrating the likes of Bullfrog, Westwood and Origin

EA is to unveil a new development team focused on games for casual networks, reports MCV sister site Develop – head over there for the full story

MCV genuinely hates to say we told you so today – as The Guardian’s front page excitedly reports that Gordon Brown is to unleash an aggressive ‘clampdown’ on the sale of violent video games. As predicted in this week’s MCV, Labour appears to have settled on a new ‘cinema style’ …

The company has already closed its doors and laid off all 15 staff, with a petition for administration having been filed earlier this week. Popular with a wide variety of entertainment stores, Just was founded by former Planet Distribution owner Yash Chadha and had traded for seven years. The company …

Speaking to a reporter from The New York Times, Microsoft Game Studios corporate VP Shane Kim has said that there’s a long way to go before the winner of the current generation of consoles is crowned. When asked about Wii’s seemingly unstoppable momentum, Wired quotes Kim as saying: "The generation …