MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Publisher EA has countered the belief that digital will eventually cannibalise the packaged games market. The evidence, EA’s boss claims, comes from its FIFA series. FIFA has been a cornerstone of the console market for nearly 20 years but has in recent times expanded onto new platform such as iOS …
Read More »Vita software pricing confirms retail’s worst fear
PlayStation Vita owners will face a very stark choice when the system arrives in the UK next year – pay a premium price for boxed games or a discounted price to download the digital version. This will for the first time place Sony squarely up against retail as opponents, fighting …
Read More »Software Sales Monitor: Market soars to £53.8m
The market value leaped 94 per cent week-on-week to 53.8m following FIFA 12’s release – the biggest week for games retail so far this year. Units are up 73 per cent to over 1.5m. FIFA 12 beat FIFA 11’s launch week with 18 per cent more games sold. And retail …
Read More »New, boxed games lose out in US market
NPD’s Games Industry: Total Consumer Spend report has claimed new, boxed game sales in the US accounted for the minority of the market in Q2 2011. In total $1.44bn was spent by US consumers on new, physical console and PC games in the period. In contrast, the combined spend on …
Read More »THQ opens online store
Publisher THQ has opened an online store on its official website. The portal sells both boxed console releases and downloadable titles for PC. Note, however, the somewhat pricey postage charges applied to the former. For instance, a copy of WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 costs 18.71 but upon ordering British …
Read More »THQ: Transition from boxed to digital is underway
Cloud gaming will prove a positive development for consumers, publishers and developers, THQ CEO Brian Farrell has told an audience at the Cloud Gaming USA conference in San Jose. "The box, ship and done model is transitioning to: observe, measure, and modify," he said, as reported by GamesIndustry. "Games [are …
Read More »Experts says digital will pass discs in two years
Sales of online games are expected to pass physical retail from 2013, an analyst at DFC Intelligence has claimed. The report predicts that online sales will increase from $19.3 billion in 2010 to $37.9 billion by 2016, driving the overall industry value to $81 billion.It also states that traditional retail …
Read More »Origin is selling Valve games
Many of EA’s titles may remain unavailable on Valve’s Steam network. But right now US gamers can buy three different Valve titles on EA’s Origin download service. There is one caveat, though. They’re boxed versions. Rock Paper Shotgun reports that as part of a ‘buy two get one free’ offer …
Read More »UK software sales monitor: Market makes £11.5m
The weekly entertainment UKsoftware value rose to 11.5m, up slightly from the 11.2m generated from game sales last week. UK retail sold 606,290 games during the seven days, a 3.3 per cent increase over last week’s 586,596.Both sales and the market value rose despite a lack of new releases. Unsurprisingly …
Read More »New EA scheme lets gamers download FIFA 12 before it hits shelves
Consumers will be able to download FIFA 12 days before the game hits store shelves, EA Sports has confirmed. It’s a part of EA Sports’ new ‘Season Ticket’ service which charges users an annual fee of 2,000 Microsoft Points or $24.99 in exchange for a range of digital benefits. As …
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