Gem wants to move into new areas of games, and claim more business from its rivals in 2011. And it’s hired former GAME man Alex Croft to help make that happen. Croft, who left the retailer in the summer, strengthens the distributor’s exec team as group strategic development director. He …

The biggest night on the trade calendar returns on April 7th, but will be cheaper to attend. Table prices have been cut by up to 200, whilst individual seats have also been cut by 20. The MCV Industry Excellence Awards moves into its ninth year in 2011 and will take …

HMV UK and Ireland sales have fallen 15.3 per cent for the 26 weeks ending October 23rd, 2010. The overall group sales – which includes book retailer Waterstones – are down 6 per cent to 749m, compared to the 797m posted in 2009. The loss after tax is at 30.5m, …

TopWare Interactive has announced plans to open a UK publishing office within the next six months. The news comes as the German developer-publisher takes back UK publishing rights to RPG sequel Two Worlds II following a revised deal with SouthPeak Games. The title is already out in most European territories …

32.4m current generation game consoles are now in circulation in the UK, according to Gfk Chart-Track. That means retail has sold 5.2m DS, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 and PSP consoles this year. However, that’s a 26 per cent slowdown in hardware sales compared to 2009. For the same year-to-date period …

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 …