Game industry business news

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 …

US publisher Activision has pledged to reassess its Tony Hawk’s franchise and introduce a number of new innovations into the next instalment, which is expected to hit shelves later this year. EA recently claimed that its new extreme-sports contender Skate had outsold Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground by a ratio …

As part of its third quarter financial statement , US publisher Activision also confirmed that a new instalment to its Call of Duty series will be with us in fiscal 2009 – in other words between April this year and March next. Furthermore, the next game will also be released …

Valve’s digital entertainment platform has surpassed the 15 million account milestone. Valve confirmed that it has seen a sales growth of 158 per cent over the 2007 holiday period, citing the launch of Call of Duty 4, Bioshock and The Orange Box as the reason for the growth. "PC gaming …

The R4 device gives gamers free reign to pick and choose which DS titles to download for free over the web – and is widely available through online retailers like Amazon. Amid growing concerns at retail that it is increasingly affecting sales, ELSPA has responded by preparing to crackdown on …