MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Boris Johnson has given the UK games industry 1.2m to launch Games London and develop a new London Games Festival. LGF will take place between April 1st to April 10th, and includes a Games Finance Market, a series of BFI talks, and it will also encompass EGX Rezzed and the …
Read More »How did the UK games market perform in 2015?
The headline news from this year’s GfK report is this: There were fewer games sold last year, there were fewer consoles sold last year, but accessory sales continue to rise. Yet there are some significant victories to be found in the data from 2015, and those triumphs are largely centred …
Read More »New-look Curve eyes more acquisitions in bid to rejuvenate UK publishing scene
The new owner of UK publisher Curve says it is ‘absolutely’ open to further mergers and acquisitions. Curve was acquired by Kuju-owner The Catalis Group last week. Kuju and Curve were then merged to form a new business: Curve Digital Entertainment. The firm’s new boss Dominic Wheatley – the co-founder …
Read More »Retail dismayed by £500 Oculus Rift
The Oculus Rift is too expensive and lacking in must-have games, UK stores have warned. But VR is an exciting new area for the global games market and, in time, Oculus Rift could still emerge as the market leader. MCV contacted leading games stores following the news that the first …
Read More »PS4 and Xbox One shine but physical gaming sales drop to £2.1bn in 2015
PS4 and Xbox One UK game sales shot up by over 50 per cent in 2015. GfK’s latest stats reveal significant growth for the new consoles. However, the overall UK physical games market is down by eight per cent, dropping from 2.294bn in 2014 to 2.1bn last year. That number …
Read More »Comedian Miles Jupp to host MCV Awards 2016
BBC funnyman Miles Jupp will host the upcoming MCV Awards. The host of the hugely popular Radio 4 show The News Quiz, plus regular panelist on Have I Got News For You, Just A Minute and 8 Out of Ten Acts, Jupp is also an actor, script writer and author. …
Read More »GAME’s share price up 8% as New Year sales improve
GAME’s share price has improved slightly – up 8 per cent – after the retailer said its Christmas and New Year’s sales were not as bad as it feared. Sales trends improved for the three-week period ending January 9th, 2016, with transactions down 0.4 per cent. The retailer now repeats …
Read More »Curve Digital and Kuju merge to form ‘major new British publisher’
Kuju owner The Catalis Group has acquired UK indie publisher and developer Curve Digital. Kuju and Curve will now merge to form a new group – Curve Digital Entertainment – which the firm says has the potential to become ‘a major new British games publisher.’ The new business will be …
Read More »Activision buys MLG to ‘create the ESPN of eSports’
Activision has confirmed its acquisition of eSports giant Major League Gaming, and says it wants to create the ‘ESPN of eSports’. The eSports Observer reported that the firm was being acquired in a $46 million deal last week, although Activision has not revealed any financial details on the purchase. MLG …
Read More »Adele’s 25 pips FIFA 16 to become the biggest UK entertainment launch of 2015… if we pretend digital doesn’t exist
Unsurprising, Adele’s 25 album was the UK’s biggest entertainment product of 2015 with 2.6m sales, according to retail trade body ERA. But it was very close between the smash hit album and the video game FIFA 16. FIFA 16 sold over 2.5m units, and was on sale for a much …
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