MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Major UK distributors have advised games retailers of new SRPs to accommodate next month’s VAT increase, confirming that trade prices will not be lowered. Earlier this month retail pleaded with suppliers to lower their trade prices so as to remove pressure to lower margins. If this isn’t done, retailers may …
Read More »Kongregate talk GameStop gift cards
Kongregate's CEO shares more details on the digital distributor's new gift card initiative
Read More »Sony: Digital retail is confusing
SCEE president Andrew House has deep reservations over digital downloading. He acknowledges that digital is becoming an increasingly important part of the games market, but believes it still has significant challenges to overcome. The reason retail has been around for thousands of years is because it works really well at …
Read More »Cataclysm shatters PC sales records
PC MMO title World of Warcraft: Cataclysm sold 3.3m copies in its first 24 hours on sale, developer Blizzard has announced. The company says the numbers make it the best selling PC title of all time. Previous WoW release Wrath of the Lich King sold 2.8m copies in its first …
Read More »Retail threatens Steam ban
The world’s biggest digital games retailer is under attack. MCV understands that key ‘traditional’ retailers will drop titles that integrate the popular Steam service as fears mount that the it has a ‘monopoly’ on the download market. Insiders say Steam, run by US studio Valve, serves a massive 80 per …
Read More »NPD: DS and 360 dominate
Nintendo DS was the best selling console of November in the US, according to NPD. Nintendo said its family of DS products sold 1.5 million units last month, driven by the new red SKU. Meanwhile, Xbox 360 was the biggest selling home console by shifting 1.37 million units – an …
Read More »NPD: Dance games spark music recovery
US sales tracker NPD has finally revealed some good news for the struggling music genre. Music game sales are 38 per cent higher in November 2010 than they were during the same period the year before. But it’s not Rock Band 3 or Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock that did …
Read More »NPD: Black Ops sells 8.4m in the US
Call of Duty: Black Ops has broken records in North America, selling 8.4 million units in just one month. It is the biggest launch month for any video game in US history, and is already the seventh best-selling game of all time. Black Ops accounted for 25 per cent of …
Read More »NPD: US sales up 8% in November
US game sales are up eight per cent in November compared to the year before, NPD has revealed. The industry made $2.99 billion last month, up from $2.7bn the year before. This includes $1.08bn in hardware, $1.46bn in software and $413.3m in accessories. All up from the year before. The …
Read More »Retailers bullish despite downturn
GAMES RETAIL has never been more challenging, but store managers are confident about their business as the New Year approaches. 85 per cent of retailers say they are positive about the health of their business moving into 2011. This is despite market shrinkage in 2010, several independent retailers closing their …
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