Specialist games retailers cannot survive without second-hand, says Blockbuster. The firm’s UK commercial director Gerry Butler has hit back at trade-in critics, and told MCV that the current new release business model is broken and in need of a radical overhaul. If you’re a specialist you need certain margins to …

Online retailers have listed a September release window for upcoming Square Enix game Hitman: Absolution. Zavvi says the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC game will arrive in the UK on September 17th, while ShopTo states a September 24th release date. A post on HotUKDeals also lists a September 17th street …

UK retailers saw a year-on-year decline in sales as excessive rain deterred shoppers from venturing to the High Street. Like-for-like sales across all sectors fell by 3.3 per cent when compared to the same period last year, according to data from the British Retail Consortium. The BBC reports that the …

Images snapped supposedly from Blockbuster UK have surfaced showing what appears to be a third-party title list for Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U console. Go Nintendo (via Shacknews) reports the list includes several games currently slated for PS3 and Xbox 360, such as Metro: Last Light and Aliens: Colonial Marines. It’s …

EA has revealed Mass Effect 3 has brought in over $200m in sales at retail. The company shared the figure as part of their Q4 earnings announcement earlier today. EA didn’t provide digital sales figures, and units sold for both retail and digital were also nowhere to be found in …

The launch of Prototype 2 helped the boxed market rise slightly over the prior week, with overall unit sales up five per cent to 441,401 games sold. It’s Activision’s first No.1 of the year. UK games retail generated 10.45m overall from sales last week – an increase of eight per …

Indian specialist games retailer Game4U has introduced a military-themed customer loyalty and rewards program called Team Elite. A purchase worth Rs 450 or more at one of Game4U’s eight stores across India or its online store qualifies the customer for Team Elite membership. The membership kit includes a personalised membership …

Amazon has revealed that day one pre-orders for Call of Duty: Black Ops II were three times higher than those achieved by predecessor Black Ops in 2010. Set to be one of the biggest games of the year, it’s great to see so much enthusiasm and anticipation for Call of …

Bolton-based PC gaming retailer Scan Computers International is selling a 21,000 PC – which doubles up as a desk. Scan was recently listed as one of this year’s 20 best indie games retailers as part of MCV and Koch Media’s Independent Retail Month. The pricey PC rig is designed and …

MCV has teamed up with distributor Koch Media to kick off Independent Retail Month, starting with a list of 20 of the most successful UK indie games retailers. It may be tougher than ever being an independent retailer but there are still plenty thriving, from bricks and mortar chains to …