MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The UK games industry needs to increase its retail base before the next gen consoles, says Sony. The firm told MCV it hopes the PS4 can provide the ‘kick in the market’ that the High Street is crying out for. And encourages existing specialists to expand its store count and …
Read More »February sales plunge as blockbusters fail to shine
UK games execs were left scratching their heads last month after a string of big budget action games failed to lift games retail out of the gloom. Last month UK games stores sold 1,854,954 games, a drop of 19.9% over February 2012. And that’s despite big name releases including Dead …
Read More »THE BIG INTERVIEW: Sony UK; Gara, Pannell and Coultate talk PlayStation
PS4 may be grabbing the headlines, but Sony still has big plans for PSN, PS Vita and PS3. UK MD Fergal Gara, marketing director Murray Pannell and commercial director Alex Coultate discuss retail, the next generation, PS3’s line-up and what’s next for Vita… So how would you evaluate 2012 for …
Read More »SimCity launches smoothly in the UK; Amazon pulls digital game from sale in the US
After what has been a wretched start to life this week, SimCity has finally arrived in the UK – and everything’s fine! Gamers have been reporting a largely trouble-free time both downloading the game and logging into its servers ever since it went live at midnight. EA confirmed via Twitter …
Read More »EA "aggressively undergoing server maintenance" to fix SimCity woes
The clock is ticking ahead of the UK launch of SimCity at midnight. The game has endured a torrid start to life so far thanks to a combination of always-on internet DRM and Origin server woes. The result has been multiple reports of gamers being locked out of the single-player …
Read More »EA promises a smooth UK launch for SimCity
The server woes that darkened SimCity’s US launch yesterday will not be repeated when the game hits the UK this Friday. That’s according to EA, which has vowed to correct the wrongs of yesterday’s mistakes by the end of the week. "We’re making changes to prevent further issues and are …
Read More »Stackhouse takes charge of Activision UK as Brown heads to US
Activision has named Roy Stackhouse as the new general manager of its UK & Ireland arm. He replaces outgoing boss Andrew Brown, who MCV understands has accepted a role in the US. Stackhouse has been at Activision for over six years, and had most recently been the company’s commercial director …
Read More »Sony "was the No.1 console maker in the UK last year"
The world is excited by PS4, but there’s still plenty of PS3s to sell, says Sony. The company told MCV?this week that in terms of combined hardware, it was actually the No.1 console maker in the UK last year. PlayStation platforms accounted for 36 per cent of the market, compared …
Read More »Crysis 3 claims second UK No.1
EA’s high-tech shooter Crysis 3 is the UK’s No.1 for the second week, despite a 43 per cent drop in sales. It’s a one-two for EA, in fact, with FIFA 13 claiming second in the UKIE GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40, although its sales fell 35 per cent. The …
Read More »Ahead of the game: Game Informer arrives in the UK
At first glance, Game Informer’s UK expansion is hardly an invasion. Last week, as you’ll have read in MCV, the biggest games magazine in the US is now on sale in the UK, but for now only as a digital edition in web browsers (UK iPad and tablet versions are …
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