World of Warcraft hits 10m subscribers

Having just passed the 9 million milestone in November, MMO giant Blizzard has now announced that its global phenomenon World of Warcraft has accrued over 10 million users worldwide. Of those users, 2 million are based in Europe, 2.5 million in North America and 5.5 million in Asia. Blizzard CEO …

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US: Guitar Hero series hits $1 billion

NPD Group figures confirm that the franchise as a whole has raked in a cool $1 billion in North America alone. Since its initial release in 2005, the Guitar Hero franchise has sold in excess of 14 million units in North America alone, according to The NPD Group. In ten …

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JAPAN: Wii breaks five million mark

Japanese sales for Nintendo’s Wii have broken through the five million barrier, reports MCV’s exclusive media partner Enterbrain . The research company announced that, as of January 20th, the console has sold an estimated 5,019,337 units in just over one year. Also revealed in the data were approximate sales figures …

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OPINION: What went wrong at SCi

UK publisher SCi has seen plenty of ups and downs over the last few years – from successfully fighting off US giant Elevation Partners in 2005 to last week’s managerial clear-out. With a comprehensive knowledge of the publishers’ history and circumstances, Lovell offers unparallelled insight into SCi’s successes and struggles …

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What went wrong at SCi

In April 2005, the games industry was gripped by a David-and-Goliath battle with Eidos as the prize. In the red corner stood Elevation Partners, the investment fund led by John Riccitiello, who had secured the backing of Eidos’s management for a takeover. Mike McGarvey and his team were unpopular with …

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