Game industry business news

Yakuza 6 has gone straight in at No.1 in Japan this week, according to data from Famitsu. The PS4 exclusive isn’t due in Europe until 2018, but Sega’s highly anticipated open world game sold 201,211 units in its first week. Naturally, PS4 hardware sales continued its lead from last week, …

The graphics on Nintendo’s Switch won’t be as good as even those found on the now three-year-old PS4. That’s according to VentureBeat, which reports that two sources have told it that Switch will be built using Nvidia’s last-generation Maxwell architecture and not its new Pascal design, as the latter is …

Here’s our take on the big events in the games industry this year. There were some very big releases this year; though some weren’t quite as big as hoped for. As we’ve discussed that ad nauseam in recent weeks, we’ll have no more talk of that here. We’ve picked out …

eSports news site Dexerto has partnered with SCL, a company that provides sport education in the UK, to launch eSports academies in the UK.  The academies will be for 16 to 18 year olds, and will offer them the chance to earn a BTEC Level 3 qualification, which is the …

Skillsearch’s head of business development Guy DeRosa discusses the increasing demand for VR and AR professionals. Tell us about your company. Skillsearch is one of Europe’s largest recruitment agencies working within the games industry. We’re also known as the organisers of the annual charity bash Play@Develop, and have become best …

Boom.TV has attracted investment totally $3.5m to launch a livestreaming platform that allows users to view eSports action from any angle they choose. VentureBeat reports that the tech streams a 3D construction of the game in real time. Viewers can then watch the action from whatever angle they choose. It’s …

Niantic’s world conquering Pokemon Go has now arrived in the world’s second most populated country. As of today, trainers living in India and other South Asian countries including Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh can download Pokemon Go and explore their neighbourhoods in search of Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle …

Microsoft has mirrored by Sony by introducing its own $50 post Black Friday discount to Xbox One in the US. Sony last week confirmed that its $250 500GB Uncharted 4 PS4 Slim bundle would be returning for Christmas. Now Microsoft has rolled out a $250 500GB Battlefield 1 bundle, along …

Microsoft has said that nearly half of Xbox One owners have taken advantage of the machine’s backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games. Now over 300 back compat titles,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer tweeted. Nearly 50% of XB1 owners playing BC games is great to see. Thanks for supporting the program.” …

Oculus has divided itself into separate PC and mobile divisions, with CEO Brendan Iribe stepping down as part of the changes. Iribe will head up the new PC business, while former Microsoft man Jon Thomason, who joined the company in August, will lead its mobile operations. Both founder Palmer Luckey …