MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
UK High Street retail sales stumbled 0.4 per cent in February in terms of value, the British Retail Consortium has announced. However total units sold increased 1.1 per cent year-on-year – compared to a 4.5 per cent rise seen in February 2010. This is the smallest gain since May 2009. …
Read More »Warner announces Mortal Kombat tournament
Warner Bros is running a UK Mortal Kombat tournament to promote the upcoming game. Kicking off on Monday, March 14th, the competitions challenges fans to compete at various GAME and Gamestation stores around the country. The finalists with battle in a special Fight Arena at this year’s The Gadget Show …
Read More »Asda will open 168 shops this year
Supermarket giant Asda will open 168 stores this year. It marks the largest year of store-growth for the firm in the company’s history. Most of those shops will be converted Netto stores – 147 to be precise. The first Netto stores, which are much smaller than traditional Asda’s traditional out-of-town …
Read More »Retail needed to push PC games
The rise in digital distribution won’t bring an end to PC games retail – it will just change its function, according to NCsoft. The MMO publisher – whose titles include City of Heroes, Aion, Lineage and the upcoming Guild Wars 2 – claims bricks-and-mortar stores will always serve a purpose …
Read More »Moshi mania at online games pop-up shop
Some 1,700 kids and parents swarmed to London’s Moshi Monsters pop-up shop during its first 24 hours. Mind Candy – the developer behind the hit online virtual pets game – opened the one-off spin-off shop two weeks ago. The firm even had to draft in extra security to cope with …
Read More »Sony wants to sell PSN games in shops
SCEE President Andrew House wants to sell PSN games on the High Street. Microsoft is already active in this space: GAME started selling XBLA titles in-store two weeks ago. We actually already have the same programme in place with GameStop in the US,” he told MCV. We would like to work …
Read More »Troubling times for Alworths
Less than two years after it rose from the ashes of former High Street giant Woolworths, rumours are circulating that the chain might be heading for trouble. Retail Week reports that the 17 store chain, which is headed up by Woolworths’ former head of store and concession development Andy Latham, …
Read More »Cliffy B: ‘Middle class games are dead’
Cliff Bleszinski has claimed that any middle class games” released are doomed to failure in the current market. Speaking to developers at GDC 2011 in San Francisco, he said that only triple-A or indie titles can hope to see success because they stand out, according to Eurogamer. I’m going to …
Read More »Black Ops ‘is biggest PS3 title’
Activision has declared that Call of Duty: Black Ops is the best-selling PS3 game of all time. The publisher claimed this achievement had been proved by figures from GfK Chart-Track and NPD, although no sales figures was given. If true, this means Black Ops has topped records set by Gran …
Read More »OPINION: Retail and the handheld revolution
With 3DS just weeks away, NGP on the horizon, and continued growth in iPad and mobile, 2011 is shaping up to be a transformative year for portable games. But that means retailers will have to face up to some tough facts of life. These platforms are proving to be the …
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