MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The official figures are in and – as we predicted just before Christmas – 2008 was a record year for video games sales in the UK. In total, the games market was at an all time high last year according to ELSPA/GFK Chart-Track figures with the total software and market …
Read More »2008 figures show big gains for Sony and Microsoft, too
While the official figures from ELSPA/GFK Chart-Track point out that Nintendo led the way as part of last year’s record-breaking 4bn market value, it’s clear that both Sony and Microsoft formats made considerable gains as well. According to the data today, The PlayStation 3’s first full year of software sales …
Read More »Family-based gaming spurred market growth says ELSPA
ELSPA MD Michael Rawlinson has singled out the popularity of family-based gaming as the key force behind 2008’s market growth. Game sales in 2008 leapt 23 per cent compared to 2007, and Rawlinson believes the popularity of titles such as Wii Fit has opened the market up to an entirely …
Read More »Software for Nintendo formats sold over 40m in 2008
While 2008’s 4bn market boom comes thanks to the overall wider demographic served by the industry, ELSPA/GFK Chart-Track say that it was Nintendo which ‘led the way’ in growth during 2008. Unit sales of games for the format-holder’s Wii and DS platforms amounted to 40m in total. Wii games sales …
Read More »Oxygen ceases internal development efforts
London-based publisher Oxygen has decided to cease internal development efforts at its studio in the capital. Oxygen Studios was established in 2007 and employed 14 people, primarily working on mainstream DS and Wii titles. A source close to the development team told Develop that the news was broken to the …
Read More »360 storms past 8m sales in EMEA
Microsoft has claimed that Christmas 2008 was the biggest sales period in the Xbox brand’s six-year European history – with sales of Xbox 360 almost doubling those during Christmas 2007. The company also announced that over eight million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold in Europe, the Middle East and …
Read More »EUK administrator heading for legal battle with suppliers
EUK administrator Deloitte is in hot water with entertainment suppliers, who are preparing legal action to to claw back millions of pounds of stock. The Times reports that EUK still has CDs, DVDs and computer games worth tens of millions of pounds in its warehouses – and suppliers are battling …
Read More »‘2008 was a perfect storm’
From the storming of the Bastille, to the King of England being expelled from Parliament, to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, or more recently the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, the effect of these actions is truly life changing. On September 15th this year a …
Read More »Spring in her step
Future Publishing’s preliminary annual results made for pretty special reading last month – complete with a year-on-year profits rise and a ten per cent reduction in debt. But how did CEO Stevie Spring and her team manage it? And, more to the point, how has her company managed to rebuff …
Read More »Virgin to return to UK High Street?
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is to inherit stores from troubled retailer Zavvi – suggesting Virgin Megastores could return to the High Street 16 months after it left UK retail. Zavvi administrator Ernst & Young has told MCV that Branson still holds the leases on seven Zavvi outlets. Zavvi was …
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