MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
It is ‘absolutely nuts’ online retailers can avoid tax so easily, says HMV. The Government is closing down the Channel Island tax loophole from April, but HMV CEO Simon Fox says this doesn’t go far enough. He believes that HMV’s big name online rivals such as Play, The Hut and …
Read More »HMV: ‘We’d still be No.1 if not for games’
HMV says a report claiming Amazon is now the UK’s No.1 entertainment retailer is misleading”, as it takes game sales into account. Kantar Worldpanel said Amazon overtook HMV as the UK’s biggest entertainment retailer in the three months ending December 25th. This is in terms of boxed films, games and …
Read More »Amazon is the UK’s No.1 entertainment retailer
New numbers from Kantar Worldpanel suggest that Amazon overtook HMV in the three months ending December 25th to become the UK’s biggest entertainment retailer for the first time. Amazon grew its market share from 19.4 per cent to 22.4 per cent throughout the period while HMV’s share slipped 2.1 per …
Read More »HMV fights back: ‘We won’t give up on games’
HMV won’t turn its back on games, CEO Simon Fox has told MCV. But it will cut in-store space given to the category following a year where it lost market share. Fox said nervous games firms did not back HMV enough last year – unlike ‘highly supportive’ music and DVD …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Retail veterans under pressure
We’ve been down this road before. Another bleak set of retailer financials, another article in MCV wondering what can be done about it. But now the situation has become more pressured. GAME posted devastating festive results, with sales down 17.6 per across UK and Ireland. While over at HMV, the …
Read More »HMV’s future secured by bank rescue package
Good news at last for HMV, as its banks have agreed to support the troubled retailer. The Group’s future has been in doubt for over 12 months, with the entertainment giant forced to sell its Waterstone’s and HMV Canada businesses. And its position wasn’t helped by yet another difficult Christmas …
Read More »INTERVIEW: Ian Shepherd
Last week GAME revealed its poor Christmas financials, with UK and Ireland retail sales down 17.6 per cent over the festive period. We speak to CEO Ian Shepherd about the state of the market and how the Group can turn its fortunes around. So what went wrong? The video games …
Read More »HMV laments tough games market
HMV’s Xmas would have been a lot better had there been more video games to sell, says CEO Simon Fox. His words came ahead of news that the firm has merged its games and technology teams, leading to the departure of popular games boss Tim Ellis. Ewan Pinder is now …
Read More »HMV backing away from video games
The competition from supermarkets and online retailers has lead HMV to admit that it is reconsidering its interest in the video games market. Though the retailer’s market share remained static for both music and DVDa, its gaming market share fell by 16 per cent over Christmas. Games now account for …
Read More »HMV upbeat despite Xmas sales slump
HMV’s retail sales dropped 8.2 per cent over Christmas. It is obviously still a challenging time for the entertainment specialist, but the results are better than they were when the Group last updated the City in December. The results are for the five weeks ending December 31st, 2011. HMV’s improved …
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