Publishing

Sources at Sony’s Liverpool, UK studio say that its head-count will ultimately be reduced by about half. The news comes after the format-holder confirmed last week that the development team was to be ‘restructured’ following project cancellations. At the weekend sources told Develop that as much as 50 per cent …

Mass Effect 2 is this week’s UK No.1 According to GfK Chart-Track data for the week ending January 30th, the PC/360 title was the best-selling game, knocking two-week champion Just Dance from the top. Mass Effect 2 had, according to EA, debuted with 2m units sold – the game has …

Publisher EA has confirmed that, according to internal estimates, Mass Effect 2 has already sold over 2m copies worldwide. It was released in the US on Tuesday and hit UK retail today. The game currently boasts a Metacritic average of 96 per cent, making it the second highest rated Xbox …

Games from Italian publisher Black Bean will be released in the UK via up-and-coming firm Tradewest, MCV can reveal. The new publisher label, founded by Martin Spiess following the collapse of Midway’s European operation, has been chosen to distribute Black Bean’s games in the UK and France. All of the …

The surviving elements of UK distributor Trilogy are soon to be rebranded as Gem Logistics. The move follows Gem’s acquisition of Trilogy back in December, and will allow the distributor to further develop both businesses. Trilogy founder and Gem Logistics’ general manager Matthew Allen revealed the imminent changes during an …

BBC Worldwide has told MCV that talks are underway to turn Doctor Who into an array of new games. Last week the broadcaster exclusively revealed via MCV that it plans to re-enter games – after killing off its BBC Multimedia division in 2005. As part of the move, a variety …

Win or lose, at least guests at this year’s MCV Awards will be able to shake their booty into the small hours thanks to current chart-topper Just Dance. The Wii game from Ubisoft has provided the biggest surprise of 2010 so far by out-selling everything during mid-January, remaining at number …

inXile Entertainment crime romp cancelled as publisher confirms internal focus

Numbers from US mag Advertising Age claim that The Beatles: Rock Band outsold rival Guitar Hero 5 in North America in 2009, thanks in part, the publication claims, to Viacom’s skilled use of one of music’s key IPs. MTV’s Rock Band tie-in sold 1.18m units in the territory throughout the …

'A number of projects to cease immediately' at Wipeout studio