MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The Italian video game market has begun to approach the maturity of its European counterparts, France and the UK, as strong retail chains cash in on opportunities for growth. While the market has grown by almost 25 per cent over the course of 2008, it is still seen to be …
Read More »US: GameStop launches DS reservation scheme
DS stock seems to be a festive issue in North America – GameStop has launched a program allowing consumers to reserve a Nintendo DS and have it delivered to them within a month. Reservations must be made in person at any US GameStop store. Consumers must make pay the full …
Read More »Tomorrow is the biggest day for UK retail
Global credit giant Visa has claimed that tomorrow, Saturday December 20th, will be the busiest day on the UK High Street this Christmas. The firm expects to process over 15 million transactions throughout the day, totalling around 750 million. To be even more specific, Visa says the busiest five minutes …
Read More »GameStop depends on core gamers
GameStop will be relying on core gamers to help it through this difficult Christmas period, as the economic recession causes the usual customer shift to be less predicatable than in previous years. The retailer has cut its earnings targets for its fiscal fourth quarter – but the company’s chief executive …
Read More »Core Gamers crucial to surviving recession
Despite the popularity of the Wii and DS leading Microsoft and Sony to expand their casual appeal, the games industry may have to depend on its more traditional ‘core’ market to surviving the economic crisis. A report from Associated Press states core gamers a proving crucial” to giving the industry …
Read More »Wii is UKs most searched for Christmas gift
Nintendo has once again dominated the UK’s festive online shopping searches, with the Wii and DS Lite becoming the first and second most searched for products online in November, according to date from retail analysts Hitwise. The pair overtake October’s leader Wii Fit, though that remains the most searched for …
Read More »Silent Hill coming home in February
Konami will finally release Silent Hill Homecoming, the latest iteration in the company’s long-running survival horror series, on February 27th next year. The eagerly anticipated game is the sixth in the series and will be released on both PS3 and Xbox 360, marking the franchise’s first appearance on current generation …
Read More »Mainstream chains better specialists online offering
Mainstream retailers, from electricals outlets to supermarkets, have outperformed specialist game retailers in a recent survey of retail websites. The Retail Bulletin study judged sites on a range of criteria, including function, accessibility, code quality, and performance. Specialist website testing company Sitemorse gathered the survey data using an automated testing …
Read More »HMV reports £19.8 million six-month loss
The HMV Group has revealed its financial results for the six months ending October 25th, reporting a post-tax loss of 19.8 million. The entertainment group – which also includes book specialist Waterstones – revealed that sales were up 3.5 per cent, but like-for-like sales had fallen flat. Like-for-like sales at …
Read More »Early December High Street stats positive
The latest UK High Street statistics from Synovate Retail Performance show that the number of non-food shopping trips made between November 30th and December 6th climbed by 10.1 per cent compared to the week before – though the number is still 4.1 per cent down on the same week in …
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