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

John Earner was undoubtedly one of the stars of this year’s London Games Conference. As part of a panel that wasn’t exactly short on smarts or lacking in gravitas (it included luminaries such as Q Entertainment founder Shuji Utsumi and was chaired by games industry legend Phil Harrison), he spoke …

Retailer GAME has stated that second-hand will account for 25 per cent of its sales this financial year. That’s up from 21 per cent in 2009. The news comes as part of the firm’s interim statement, which revealed that GAME’s sales are down 8.8 per cent for the 44 weeks …

It’s not just publishers developing titles for the new motion controllers – peripherals vendor BigBen is also making PlayStation Move games. The firm will release at least one title for Sony’s 1.5 million-selling hardware next year as it re-establishes its publishing business, the company told MCV. BigBen already develops and …

A new independent-friendly distribution firm has been set up just in time for Christmas. A Game Distribution – which also sponsored the MCV/Xbox 360 industry Pub Quiz last week – focuses on independent retailers across Europe. It also offers logistics and promotional services. The London-based firm was established last month …

GAME has warned that its profit margins will fall more than expected this financial year as it cuts prices in the face of increased retail competition. The firm also revealed that for the 44 weeks ending December 4th, 2010, like-for-like group sales were down 8.8 per cent, while UK sales …

Richard Keith’s start-up media firm The Games Tribe has announced a series of new genre-specific websites. A number of Nintendo fans will head up www.3dstribe.com, while online journalist Adrian Vergara will look after www.fpstribe.com and games journalist Dean Samways will take care of www.kapowgames.com. These sites will cover news on …

One of the most senior execs at Electronic Arts believes non-online-enabled games are a finished” commodity. EA Games label president Frank Gibeau said that online components in all the division’s games are now borderline compulsory – a move that illustrates the startling evolutionary pace of the modern games industry. I …

Electronic Arts to trial new digital price-points and free-to-play models, Gibeau reveals

This was the generation where MMO gaming was supposed to break onto consoles… but it hasn’t really happened. There are a few exceptions, of course, such as Final Fantasy XI and Phantasy Star Universe on Xbox 360. And it could very well be argued that the levelling-up elements found in …

Console and PC MMO the Agency is still in development, and is currently scheduled for release on both PS3 and PC in the latter half of 2011, Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley has stated. There was a moment in time in our company where we looked at our own …