MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry

Rental specialist Blockbuster is offering a 4.99 trade-in deal on tomorrow’s release Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Customers wishing to take advantage of the deal need hand over a copy of one of the following titles – Mass Effect 3, FIFA Street, Twisted Metal or Street Fighter X Tekken. For …

But Atari and NCsoft confirm no-show; Blizzard and Nexon yet to decide

Retail giant GameStop has said it expects to open international stores opportunistically while keeping square footage flat”. The statement comes as behind-closed doors negotiations between GAME and other companies continue ahead of its move into administration in nine days time. For Q4 the retailer suffered a 3.6 per cent drop …

More than 90 digital entertainment firms from around the world set to attend Paris event

An exclusive short film based on new iOS release Angry Birds Space will get its first airing on the UK this Friday (March 23rd) at 6pm. It ties in with today’s global release of Angry Birds Space. The film is exclusive to Nickelodeon and tells the story of how the …

Up to £10 million made available at low interest rates to encourage small business growth

The pressure is on for action RPG Dragon’s Dogma as Capcom aims to make its newest IP a global smash hit. Videogamer reports that the publisher is targeting global sales of at least 10m units – no small feat considering how many Japanese-developed titles struggle to reach such heights in …

The average price of video games last year was 25.63. That’s an increase of 5.4 per cent year-on-year. In 2010, the average cost of games was 24.32.Specialists, generalists and indies increased prices the most, up 7.1 per centfor an average selling price of 27.01. Supermarket game prices were up 6.5 …

There are fewer stores than ever selling games, ERA and Chart-Track says. Last year 6,644 stores sold games, down 1.7 per cent year-on-year. It means since 2007 there are now 1,000 fewer shops selling video games. A reduction in entertainment specialists and electrical retailers are the main reason for the …

Growth in digital has seen video games overtake movies as the most lucrative entertainment medium in the UK. The figures published in the ERA Yearbook 2012 shows that despite faltering physical sales, digital downloads and apps meant UK games market sales reached 1.92bn in 2011. That’s well ahead of video …