Retail

Xbox 360 platform holder Microsoft has cut the price of Gold membership to its Xbox Live service in both Europe and North America in what it is describing as a limited time” deal The North American price has dropped from $49.99 to $39.99 whilst the UK price has fallen 5 …

Japanese publisher Capcom has stated that it now believes that digital distribution is more important to the PC market that traditional High Street retail. Is digital distribution more important to the PC than retail? For me? Absolutely. No question in my mind,” Capcom’s vice president of strategic planning Christian Svensson …

Blockbuster has denied that it is using law firm Kirkland & Ellis to help it file for bankruptcy. National newspapers reported this morning that the retailer had recruited Kirkland to advise it on ‘bankruptcy or restructuring’. However, Blockbuster spokeswoman Karen Raskopf has told Bloomberg: We’ve hired them for refinancing and …

Giant entertainment retail chain Blockbuster is close to collapse, according to national reports. The US chain, which has 700 stores in the UK, has been suspended on the New York Stock Exchange after its shares fell more than 76 per cent. The firm has asked law firm Kirkland & Ellis …

RETAIL BIZ: MCV visited Staines, Middlesex, this week for its latest retail price check, looking at the price differentiation between High Street and online outlets on the latest releases. Play.com was the cheapest retailer overall, undercutting both its online and bricks-and-mortar rivals on three out of five titles. It sold …

Midway owner Mark Thomas, who bought the publisher for $100,000 last December , has admitted that Midway’s cash reserves are rapidly depleting. In a filing unearthed by GamePolitics, Thomas states: Midway has an immediate need to access and use AHS’s Cash Collateral [another company owned by Thomas]. Nor can it …

NASCR (the National Association of Specialist Computer Retailers) and ITACS (the Independent Trade Association of Computer Specialists) are to merge into one organisation, PC Retail reports. The leaders of both trade bodies hope a combined structure will help boost the firm’s capabilities, and provide a stronger representative voice for its …

Music Box Leisure is on the prowl for new retail accounts – as Morrisons appoints the firm its long-term exclusive distribution partner. Morrisons told MCV that its future supply route would be handled by Music Box last week, after the company stepped in following the collapse of its former wholesaler …

Codemasters has confirmed Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising will be released on consoles this summer. Previously announced as a PC-only title, the publisher has revealed Xbox 360 and PS3 versions also be released, presumably alongside the PC edition. The game is a sequel to the hugely popular 2001 FPS title, …

The Office of Fair Trading is investigating HMV’s acquisition of nine Zavvi stores. The body said in a statement that it was ‘considering whether arrangements are in progress or in contemplation which, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions …