MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
275,000 physical games were sold in the UK last week. Xbox Live title State of Decay sold 250,000 units in two days in the same week. It’s an observation made by UK journalist Lee Bradley and is one that perfectly illustrates the changing dynamics of the video game market. Of …
Read More »Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 5 skips physical release
Capcom has confirmed that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies will not be released physically in Europe or North America. Historically it’s been tough to attract long term retail support for Ace Attorney titles,” a rep stated on the Capcom forums. With the release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney …
Read More »Minecraft to be sold on boxed shiny polycarbonate discs
Or DVDs, as they are otherwise known. Microsoft has announced that Minecraft will for the first time be made available in physical form thanks to a boxed release on Xbox 360. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will also ship with a free 48-hour Xbox Live Gold subscription allowing buyers to get …
Read More »Majority of publishers shunning boxed product
Six out of ten publishers have admitted that they either rarely release or never release their games in boxed physical form. The exception, of course, is console and PC releases where the majority of publishers either release game physically or via a ‘Buy&Download’ model. That’s just one of many findings …
Read More »SimCity sales reach 1.1m copies, breaks Origin records
EA’s controversial city-simulator SimCity has passed the 1m unit sales mark. The publisher has announced that the game, which was released in the UK on March 8th, has to date shifted 1.1m copies. The game also broke Origin records, helping the service to 1.3m concurrent users. Furthermore, 54 per cent …
Read More »Packaged sales down and digital up as EA claims iOS crown; FIFA smashes records
EA has reported a decline in revenues for FY13 Q3 with a surge in digital sales unable to offset a decline in physical games sales. Digital net revenue for the quarter ending December 31st climbed from $274m last year to $321m, but revenue from packaged goods fell from $738m to …
Read More »Persona 4 Golden gets digital jump on retail release
RPG hit Persona 4 Golden will be released digitally BEFORE it goes on sale at retail. NIS America’s game will be released at UK retail on February 22nd, although Vita owners will now be able to download the title from PSN from February 20th. It is becoming increasingly common for …
Read More »Jurgen Post: Digital comes first for new Sega
2013 will be the first full year for the new Sega: a big publisher that focuses on digital first, complemented by select boxed brands. MCV asks European COO Jurgen Post how these plans will come to fruition this year.. The restructure Sega announced last year showed a focus on digital …
Read More »Overall UK games market down 17.4% in 2012
The ERA has said that the UK video games market declined 17.4 per cent to 1.598bn in 2012. Those numbers include both physical and digital sales. By contrast, music was down just 5.5 per cent and video 10 per cent. The overall entertainment market decline was 12 per cent, with …
Read More »Digital vs Physical – the REAL Christmas No.1
Think this year’s Xmas No.1 in games will be Call of Duty or FIFA? It is more likely to be Angry Birds or Minecraft. Xbox Live, Steam, iOS, PSN and the rest are expecting a surge in downloads on December 25th, as gamers receive consoles, tablets, PCs and points cards …
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